The Chef Show (2019) s01e07 Episode Script

1
- This is your go-to spot?
- Yeah.
I come here all the time
for breakfast tacos.
How do you go here? What's the--
Well, I usually do
two steak tacos on flour
and a Don Chago.
- Nice.
- I'm not real into eggs.
- You're not?
-So, the Don Chago's kind of my jam.
So, is this an Austin tradition,
-the breakfast taco?
-Yeah, for sure.
'Cause we have more burritos, right?
-Back in LA?
- Yeah,
that's kind of what they call them
everywhere else, but, you know,
Austin's always a little different.
Gotta call 'em tacos.
And they are tacos.
You guys are wrong on this one.
The food truck scene here
is different than LA,
-because they're mostly trailers.
- Yeah.
- And they don't move.
-They don't have to roam,
they can park wherever.
You guys create lots and don't--
-Is that how Portland is?
-Portland's like that.
-But Portland's--
-Portland's got a ton of them, though.
I like it. This is a dream, man.
Okay, I'll get the food.
- Cool.
-Thank you.
-I built a--
-And that little, tiny trailer,
-that was your
-Yeah.
-That one I saw the picture of?
-Yeah, the little blue--
That's little.
That's half the size of this thing.
Super tiny.
And you would just drag it
around the back of the car, and
-No, it was just parked.
-You just parked it someplace, like here?
Yeah. We more or less opened up
a restaurant in a parking lot.
I mean, it started off with a trailer,
one cooker.
Like, had to build another cooker,
bought another cooker.
We had cookers,
kind of like the restaurant used to be
in the backyard.
Right. And that's where it started?
The lines started there
-or started when you moved?
-Started there. About two months.
We opened in early December,
and then, I'd say,
by the beginning of February,
we were starting to get
about ten, 12, 15, 20 people show up
before we opened.
'Cause I had a big slide gate
that I would open up.
I remember doing ribs
and looking through the windows,
like, "Oh, my God."
-Or like
- Oh, wow.
You know, ten people out there
with coolers
and lawn chairs. Like, "Oh, my God!
How're we gonna do this?"
And what-- So what is that like,
starting a smoking
opening up a smoking restaurant
-Not knowing how to cook anything?
-in Austin?
Well, you're in Texas. There's a lot of
Yeah, but at the time,
Austin didn't have anything going on.
A handful of local places,
but almost all of them used Ole Hickories,
and Southern Prides and stuff.
I mean,
barbecue's kind of seen weird trends.
And back in the '80s,
people were really switching over to,
like, these,
you know, rotisserie cookers
with gas assist and all that kinda stuff.
- Uh-uh.
-Um
You know,
more about the money than the craft.
So, nobody was really doing it for real.
What made you wanna go back
to the old style of cooking?
I don't know.
I never even thought about it.
-I didn't think there was an option.
- Yeah.
It was like,
"This is how you make barbecue.
This is how I do it,
and we're gonna do it."
I miss those days, though.
Do you miss the early days?
- Mm-hmm.
-The simpler times.
What you were just talking about--
I really do.
I mean, I used to drive around,
and we bought a blender
from CVS drugstore.
And, literally,
I would be looking for outlets,
so that we could keep making sauces
as we're driving to locations.
-That's crazy.
-Yeah.
-But so awesome.
-I would run into the bathroom
-and wash it in the Chevron
and come out, and we--
By the tire pump,
I'd tell my guys to watch out.
We'd be making sauce and then go
Gotta do what you gotta do.
You had to go to the gas station, why?
For the water?
-Or the power?
-No, for the power. For the outlet.
'Cause our trucks are
Generator stuff?
No, not even. Older-school than that.
You plug them in overnight,
and they work off of a battery.
-Oh, wow.
-Yeah, and there's no outlets,
there's no generator, no nothing.
That's all the food trucks?
The older ones we have, the old Grummans.
They're from the early '80s, late '70s.
I love it, man. See?
And that's the thing.
You know, how you did it.
There's not a whole ton of people
that are just really going for it. Like,
"This is all I got, and I'm doing it."
And with Kogi, where did you cook?
You cook on the truck when you started?
On the Truck. Everything on the truck.
If you ran out of lights, you
We used to wear the miner caps
with the light on it.
- And that's it.
So you cooked everything
on the trailer, yeah?
-Or outside?
-On that one cooker.
So, you learned to smoke on your own,
before you opened the trailer,
I'm guessing.
Yeah. I'd been doing backyard stuff
just for a long time.
So you had briskets that taste like
what's at Franklin in your backyard?
No, never,
but we figured it out pretty quick.
You figured it out
once you were up and running?
So that your first brisket
coming out of the trailer,
did it taste as on point
as what you--
Probably not, but pretty close.
I mean, the recipe hasn't, the rub,
or anything hasn't changed.
-Right.
-I mean, that's the same, uh
I've gotten better at cooking.
I mean, you don't really
I thought, like,
when we opened up the trailer,
I was like,
"Yeah, I'm getting pretty good at this."
I had way more passion than skill.
- Right.
- Yep.
But, you know, if you cook barbecue,
you're like, the weather's pretty,
you've got good wood,
-you know, and you're rested up,
-Yeah.
and it's not raining, and you're like,
"Man, I'm ready."
And then you have fun,
and you really get to watch it.
But then,
when you do it every single day
-Sure.
-one day it's snowing,
the next day it's raining,
the next day it's 80 degrees.
This wood's green, this wood's dry.
They didn't have this.
You had to buy this meat instead.
You've never cooked it before,
and you've got people waiting.
It's, like, then, you really
That's when I kind of hit a groove
pretty good. And just, like, head down,
and just trial-and-error-ed,
and just, like
So consistency is the-- is really--
Sounds like the--
That is our biggest thing.
That is the hardest thing we do, and--
Over the scale
and different circumstances, I think.
When I'm listening to Aaron, I see it,
'cause it happened to me, too.
Sometimes your whole life
is leading to that point.
And so when he starts his trailer,
I start Kogi--
It's like, even though we're--
we haven't done it before,
in a sense, like, on that scale.
And it's like we've been preparing
-for this moment.
-It's your life's masterpiece
that you've been working for.
-Yeah, your life takes you to this moment.
- It's kinda weird.
It's weird.
Not everyone gets to experience that.
You got it. We, all three of us
at this table, got that in different ways.
And then later, you look back.
You're just like, "Wow."
-"How did I pull that off?"
-"Where did I have the guts for that?"
Yeah. Like, "Where did that come from?"
Thank God it hit--
You just need it a few times in your life.
-Yeah.
-That moment that says,
"Jump off the diving board."
Even though you look down,
and you're scared.
Yeah, like, it's kind of like,
to think about, like,
how you felt at this moment,
how you felt at that moment, and--
It's weird,
'cause when you tell the story,
and you get used to telling the story,
and the story you tell is more real
than what really happened.
-'Cause you keep repeating it. Right?
-Yeah.
So every time
somebody asks you about it
And it starts to feel very inevitable.
-It starts to feel very
-Yeah, you start to connect the dots.
Yeah, and at the time,
it does not feel like that at all.
At the time, it feels like you are,
you know,
that your steering wheel just came off,
and you're just
Just holding on for dear life.
And you don't know
where the car's going. Yeah
Yeah, I really do miss those days, though.
It was so much work,
and I just cooked every night
and served every day,
and only made, like,
two briskets a day then.
-I mean, it wasn't
-Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, now it's 110.
Thems were simpler times.
Them were simpler times.
Hey, y'all should get on a steak taco,
also. I'll share that.
I was eyeballing that.
I like some salsa on there.
- Which one?
- Here-- No, that's not it.
- Oh, we need more.
- I'm not gonna argue with him.
I had that ordering regret
when I saw what we had,
and I saw those.
-Yeah.
-I wanted to take a bite.
I notice when I go someplace
that I'm anticipating,
or, like, the truck pulls up
It's happened a lot with the Kogi truck.
Or in town
And you go to your place.
There's so much anticipation
about what you're about to have
- Yeah.
-and so much expectation that you have,
that you really focus in on the moment.
Whereas, you could have the same food,
and if you're eating it,
driving in the car
-It's not the same.
-If I hand it to you, you wouldn't even--
-Your mind isn't open to it.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
-And so, I think it's-- I think maybe
that's why people are gravitating more
to these type of special places,
where you can either go to a food truck,
where you know it's gonna be
-a wait in line for just great food--
-The experience is a part of the meal.
And when I was first starting Kogi,
I couldn't understand that.
'Cause I was-- As a chef,
all I wanted to do was feed everyone
and push them through.
And I would go outside every, like,
ten minutes, and just yell,
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry it's taking so long!
We're getting you through"
And I would always give them pep talks,
-and they'd be like-- And after a while--
- Like, "Yeah!
-Right on! Cool. No problem."
-After a while, they'd be like,
"Ain't no fucking deal!"
And they'd put their headphones on,
and they're like, "We're here.
-We're here with you, Chef. Don't worry."
- Yeah, so cool.
You know, yeah, and then, I finally,
I got it, like--
'Cause for me, I didn't understand it,
'cause I'm on the other side,
just seeing them,
-their energy, looking at me.
- Right.
But, finally, I got it.
They made the choice to be here, you know?
Yeah, we tell ourselves that a lot
when the line is, like,
"God, people are waiting three,
four hours,
getting there at six in the morning.
-We don't open till eleven."
- I know.
You know, and I used to--
Kind of same thing. I was like,
"Hey, I'm sorry. I mean,
we just don't open, you know."
And they're like, "No, we're having--"
Same thing, you know?
"We're having fun. We're so excited."
It's a cool thing about waiting in line
for a movie or whatever.
Yeah. You're just like,
"Oh, hey, what are you?" "Oh, cool."
And then you make friends and stuff.
You have this unspoken kind of connection,
you know?
You get it in showbiz a lot.
And that's when you-- When people are,
like, waiting in line to see a movie
they've been waiting for. They'll see
the midnight show of Iron Man--
-Yeah.
- Star Wars, Purple Rain, all that.
You've been hearing so much,
you're anticipating,
and you're getting ready,
and so, as soon as it starts,
-and everybody else feels that same way.
-Mm-hmm.
And we're really communal animals,
where we pick up on each other's energy.
-Absolutely.
-So then it builds and builds
And I think all of these points--
Especially, as people are all on
their phones and doing their own thing,
when we all come together for a show,
a concert, a meal,
It's-- You appreciate it,
'cause it doesn't happen all the time.
It really doesn't.
And that's a thing that, like,
you can't calculate into a restaurant.
Oh, well, you know,
it's not just food.
It's not just, like, a pretty building,
or a fancy kitchen,
or like, some, you know,
fancy-pants chef guy.
Like, it's all of that other stuff.
All that sense of community,
all the energy, like,
the good vibes
that makes a restaurant a restaurant.
Or it makes
a barbecue thing a barbecue thing.
It makes
your house party a house party.
It's, like,
that's the stuff you can't calculate.
That it just has to organically happen.
With, like,
a certain combination of people
that are just happy.
Here's how I would carve a brisket
based on what you taught me.
It's gonna be the size
of a squirrel brisket
when you're done with it.
So what we're gonna do here,
Aaron, I'm gonna go
-for a quarter-inch fat cap, all around.
-Okay. Cool.
Get that deckle out.
I noticed, when you do it here,
-you try to keep it all streamlined.
- Yep.
But at home, I try to dig all that out.
So that's where they split the carcass.
I normally just make my leading line
right there.
Nicely done.
-And now you would trim that too, right?
-So, I would kind of round it off.
What I look for is kind of more of
like a race car kind of design.
I'm looking
You know, we cook on an offset,
so we have to work more
-with aerodynamics.
-With the airflow, yeah.
Now at home, what I like to do
is leave that on,
'cause it gives me something to eat
while I'm checking on it.
'Cause in an hour,
that's cooked, that's perfect.
-How's that, Chef?
- Looks good to me.
You're really doing a nice job. The--
You can tell by the way the fat changes
how close you're getting to the muscle.
So this is that puffy kinda fat
that you're looking for, yeah?
That's the stuff that renders nicely,
tastes good.
But you still want to take the top off.
I probably wouldn't take anything off
right in there.
So I'll get in there.
- Uh-oh.
- Now what happens there?
Just throw the whole thing away
and start over.
Now, you like to cut off anything
that looks like it's gonna burn?
-Like that?
- Yep. You got it.
This kind of looks like fun.
I think I want to trim one, too.
So when I was meeting Bill Murray
for the first time
to record for Jungle Book--
He played the bear, Baloo, in Jungle Book.
-Yeah?
-I smoked a brisket at home
and flew out with it in a cooler.
-Like an organ transplant.
-Yeah?
So, it was resting.
I wrapped it in towels,
-and I put it in the cooler.
- Man, that's awesome.
And it stayed at temp,
all the way from coast to coast.
And then I brought it to him,
and that's how we kind of met each other.
So this is the part
that I always get a little crazy with.
So the silver skin, we're gonna leave.
You like to leave the silver skin on here?
I don't like to leave it.
We just don't have time in the day
to get that stuff off.
So I'll start to get into this--
the deckle there, like that.
-Right?
- Yeah.
So now, you usually leave it
kind of rounded for the airflow?
It's not so much
about airflow on this part of it.
It's more about that top muscle,
the point collapsing
and giving a misshapen brisket.
You see where this seam kind of terminates
right about in there?
And there's that little line
that's running there up to the front?
I would trim that whole thing off
from, like, here
until you cannot see that quite anymore.
- Okay.
-That's not gonna cook right,
and when you're cutting this on the board
after it's cooked,
that's gonna just turn into crumble.
The finished product should be way better
just for that one cut.
Now here's the hard part, huh?
Does that go in here?
I usually cut this all off.
- I cut off as little as possible.
- Usually, I keep digging into it,
-Right.
-at home
because I don't have as much airflow
as you have
Well, you know what I do?
-We can't serve that part anyway.
- Yeah.
So I just leave that fat there,
just to hold up the part of the muscle
that I can use.
-Because that's going to waste anyway.
- I see. 'Cause you don't like
-that flapping around
-'Cause I don't like it flapping around,
and once I get pepper in there,
and if that starts to lay down,
then you have a weird pocket
-that doesn't get--
-I see.
So you want to dig in
as much as I would
-'cause you'll smoke it here?
- Yeah.
And I can take a little more off there?
-No?
-No, that's fine. Hey, it's your brisket.
Oh, okay.
I think it looks pretty good.
You want me to trim one?
- Huh?
- You want me to trim one?
-I'll walk you through my trim.
- Let's see how you do it.
That'll work.
The first thing clean hand.
Always keep your clean hand clean.
That way,
you don't have to pick up your knife,
go, you know, grab a drink,
or answer the phone, or whatever.
You always got a clean hand.
So, the first thing that I'm looking at is
this edge right here.
And see, that's the first one
that you trimmed also,
so it's got that factory edge
where they split the carcass.
So I'm gonna make a cut right there,
and then I'm gonna terminate it here.
'Cause this is just
That's kind of just junk right there.
So, I'm gonna make a real natural edge
Kind of goes in there.
I'm not gonna try to make
it all in one cut.
I'm just gonna score it.
That way, it can get in.
And I'll just follow that again.
And I cut off
that whole piece right there.
Kind of goes in there.
So, then my next cut is gonna be
right about here.
And then I want it to die out
right about there.
Something about like that.
So, this is a right-side brisket.
So, I'm gonna make a cut from
probably right about there.
This is total waste.
That's gonna burn up. Can't even serve it.
So, I'm gonna kind of make a line
about like that.
Now, at home,
I would never cut that much off. Yeah?
-Probably not.
-What could I do with that
-if I were to trim it like it that.
-Sausage
throw it in a beef stew,
-make some chili
-Right.
You know, grind it up for ground beef,
make burgers.
-Right.
-Stuff it into hot dogs, whatever.
It's great meat.
I mean, that's some of the best
burger stuff you could get.
So now, I've exposed really good meat.
I've also exposed that fatty tab
right there.
If you leave that on,
it's just gonna be a piece of gristle.
It's gonna be tough.
-I'm gonna get that out of there.
- A lot of why your brisket tastes
so good is because
before it ever goes in the cooker,
you've already eliminated anything that
Yeah, any variables
that aren't gonna be great.
It's gotta be as close to perfect
as possible.
Every square inch of this thing has to
have a perfect bark.
The fat has to be perfectly rendered
so when we cut it,
it's got the perfect amount of meat,
got the perfect amount of fat,
got the perfect amount of bark.
Every bite has the same salt,
the same pepper. It's all balanced.
It's looking pretty natural.
I can't help that.
This is an armpit tear
from where they pull the hide
a little bit too fast.
I hate it when it happens. It happens.
Just kind of long, nice strokes.
Ah!
-See? It happens.
Sometimes you just do it.
Papa's rusty on brisket trimming.
So here, I'm gonna get in
So, this stuff's fine.
I'm kind of feeling it with my fingers.
-You can feel--
- You like that pillowy texture?
I like the pillowy texture.
Like, that stuff's good. Um
Now, you like the point.
That's your
Yeah, that's the
That's what everybody wants.
I mean,
my favorite part's the flat, myself.
That's a lot harder
to cook this perfectly right
than it is this.
That's like a beefer. I mean,
of course it's gonna be good.
-Right.
-But this is tricky.
The trick also is
that you have to cook this
and this at the same time.
-It's like dark meat and white meat
-And they don't cook the same--
-Yeah. And they don't cook right.
-on a chicken. Yeah.
Little tiny bit.
Mm-hmm.
So, I'm gonna kind of
round it off a little bit.
I really wish there was fat right there.
That's at your end, closer to the fire.
Yup.
So, I'm gonna get in there
- Right there?
- Just follow that down
Now, you never separate
the point from the flat.
No, never.
But I know butchers
often will saw it right down.
So if you go and buy one,
you'll get just a flat.
They don't cook the same. Can't do it.
They don't cook the same separated.
It still takes ten hours
to get the point tender
if it's not on the flat,
and the flat never turns out halfway moist
without the point.
Right.
It's no good.
Just kind of follow it down
And there you go.
It's like the Millennium Falcon,
with the
- Yeah, right?
Could we season them?
-Could we season them together?
-Yeah.
So, this is a half-and-half.
Salt, peppers.
-Mix of
- Dalmatian?
-Dalmatian rub?
- Yep.
I'm just kind of
Flip her over.
Turn this, 'cause I want
a little more salt right here.
Why do you want salt
on the edge of the flat?
The leaner meat
doesn't absorb flavors
-the way that the fattier meats do.
- Mm-hmm.
There we go.
Pepper's expensive.
We accidentally throw away
way too much pepper.
Just like stuff on the side of the board.
I think it's about 200 bucks a week
in pepper we throw away.
That's a lot of money.
Little bit right there
This is about the texture
that I'm looking for.
If you have a good, rough,
lightly moist surface,
smoke will really stick to that
way better than a smooth surface,
and that's why we use
Morton's kosher salt,
'cause the granules are even,
and that's why we use
16-mesh black pepper.
We also age our black pepper.
Give it a good swirl. There you are.
-Girlfriend, looking good.
- Girlfriend!
-Yeah, I was about to say the same thing.
-He's like a seasoned pro.
- Ugh
-Oh, man, that was such a bad dad joke!
But you see how much easier the shaker is
-to get it super-duper even. Yeah.
-Yeah. Rather than pinching it.
Nice.
Now I want to get more pepper,
'cause I'm seeing a lot of salt.
So shake it up.
Give it a swirl.
It's just a little 99-cent shaker
and a ten-dollar shovel.
- Yep.
-Those are our most valuable tools.
Same with me.
As a taco cook, it's a spatula.
- Yeah.
- It's a two-dollar spatula.
- Do you ever just dab it like that?
- Yeah, totally.
You just pick it up and put it
on the board.
And also, if you get too much,
just pick it up,
slam it down, and shake it off.
I think it's looking real good.
Might get a little bit more in there.
-Right in there?
-But
Yeah.
All right.
- She's a beaut.
-Send pictures.
Nicely done, good sir.
- So, I guess it probably
- That's familiar.
Yeah. These went on
-at like 11:30
- That's beautiful.
10:30.
Probably at about eleven, though.
- Remind you of Chef?
- Yeah, right, totally!
That's the shot in Chef
where everybody groans
- That's it.
- Oh, man!
This is Texas OG barbecue.
These guys gotta stay up all night
and stoke those fires, low and slow.
Oh, man, that's gorgeous.
So how many can I get?
I guess four.
I'll take it.
Now you'll wrap them now?
They're gonna wrap in about an hour.
When you're getting ready to wrap,
you can kind of hit it with your finger,
and if your finger cracks through the fat,
then your bark's about right.
It's kind of not too bouncy.
So, it's really more for the bark
before you wrap.
How do you keep the bark
from getting soggy when you wrap it?
You take it too far,
and then you assume
that it's gonna back off when you wrap it.
So you get it really crunchy,
and then you let it soften up in the wrap.
-And then you wrap in butcher paper?
-Yep.
Nice and tight. You get pressure.
Super-duper tight,
and then it kind of steams,
but it still breathes a little bit
at the same time. Um
And then the bottom probably has, like,
three or four layers,
like, folded over, so it doesn't tear out
when you pick it up.
Where do you want it
when you're resting? At 200? 205?
-Probably 205.
-Yeah.
Maybe a little hotter. It depends.
That's the tricky part
because if it's in the summertime,
you pull way earlier.
But if it's in the wintertime,
you might take it further
because it's gonna back off
and tighten back up.
-You have to try to gauge--
-Now, if I fall asleep
and it goes too far,
I'm just done, right? 'Cause it's a--
You can always make chopped beef
out of it.
All the fat comes out.
You get chipped beef.
Yeah, and that's what you gotta do.
Yeah. Now, I notice the fans are all off.
Is that 'cause it's not too hot?
It's not hot enough to put them on?
Some people really like those fans.
I'm one of them.
I like the fresh air blowing across.
-Yeah
-It gives me fresh breath to breathe in.
Now, why would you not have
I don't know.
What's wrong with these kids?
They complain that it's too hot,
but there's fans, man.
-Just turn them on.
So, you wanna look at what your point is.
Kinda like
where your money shot is gonna be,
between those two muscles.
-Does that look all right? All right.
- Yeah.
So, if you'll notice
how I'm holding it like that,
I'm using my thumb to guide
where my thickness is.
It's kinda like I'm playing pool.
If I was double-jointed,
I'd have the cue like that.
But instead, I'm just
I got my thumb up like that,
-I'm using my palm to push on it.
- Mm-hmm.
And then I'm gonna finish it
on the pull stroke like that.
- Thank you so much.
- There you go.
-You want to give it a whirl?
-Sure.
Go for it.
Where's the bread? Right there?
So, get that thumb up a little bit.
If you get too fast,
your thumbnail will keep you
from breaking the skin.
I see.
So, it's kind of
a little protection a little bit.
-How's that?
-I think you're good.
- Is that enough for one?
- Yeah. It's great.
He's our newest employee!
Is that too healthy?
Okay, one thing to look at.
See how you're real thick on the bottom,
-but you're real thin on top?
-Yeah. Yeah?
Keep that wrist from spinning.
You just want to keep it straight in
and straight down.
- Better?
- Yeah, there you go.
Okay, now that's a good piece right there.
- Thank you.
- All right.
How's that, Chef?
So if you're in a tricky spot like that
you're pushing down on the meat
just a little bit too hard.
Kind of hold it,
and you get through the bark
-with kind of light strokes.
- Yeah.
See how I'm lightening up
on the pull,
-but I'm pushing a little on the push?
- Yeah.
It's great. He's got this.
- I'm gonna hit a weird grain there.
- So this is
That part's the part
you're not gonna serve,
-so you'll get one good slice out of this.
- Yeah.
And then you might run your blade
right on the edge of that burn-in.
It's got these two weird hunks
you'll just probably lump in
and then get it out.
You good?
I got some more bread coming.
Will it be fatty on there?
Next slice.
All right, here you go.
There we go.
Here it is.
Yeah! That's what I'm talking about.
We don't have a phone anymore.
We got it disconnected, finally.
The phone would randomly ring
at like three, four, five in the morning.
Every single time, it was some guy like,
"So, I just put a prime rib on."
I'm, like, with my family.
"Man, I'm so glad you answered the phone."
And, like, I would totally coach people
through, overnight--
He's probably on the East Coast,
though, so it's--
Yeah, I mean, who knows?