The Best Part of This Chicken Sandwich Isn’t the Chicken

In this video, I'm making a fried chicken sandwich, but instead of making a basic boring fried chicken sandwich, I'm adding a plum. So how are we going to do that? Well, this video is going to be broken down into three different sections. First, we'll make the sesame based sauce. Then I'm going to teach you how to actually fry the chicken. And lastly, the plum jam. Now we're starting with the first step. We're making a cucumber and edamame in sesame ranch sauce. So for the sauce, we're using cucumbers, edamame, shallots, lemon, dill, green onion, little bit of chili. So this is very important. Before I add this into my sauce, I want to talk about a common misconception. So what most people think is the more ingredients you add to your dish, the heavier it gets. But it's actually the opposite. Because if you understand how flavors work, how your palate works, you can pair the right flavors together. And the dish that is supposed to be heavy will taste lighter. So that is why I'm adding herb oil because fried chicken is heavy. And this will add a little bit of freshness, a little bit of lightness to our dish. I just blended a little bit of my herb oil with my egg yolks to create a really nice thick mayo. So now we're going to add this in here. Garlic powder, black pepper, sugar, vinegar, furikake, parsley. The reason why I'm adding these two ingredients is because one, I want a really nice intense flavor. And then two, it's going to pair really well with the sesame chicken that we'll be making after this. So we are done with our creamy, herby, fresh sauce right here. But what most people do is they just pile mayo on their fried chicken sandwiches. And I get that it is the standard, but it is very much so expected, right? So if you want to work with advanced ingredients, you need to understand how advanced flavors work. So that's why I added sesame seeds, sesame oil, edamame, cucumbers, and all that good stuff. And what makes this really interesting also is that it is very different from what people are used to, but it still works and pairs really well with the fried chicken that we'll be making next. Now that we made our sesame base, it is time to make my hot, crispy, fried, double bubbled fried chicken recipe. So the first step is to mix in gluten-free content like starches. So that's why I'm using a mix of cornstarch and a little bit of flour. And then the second step is to use baking soda to create more bubbles. These bubbles will create an airy, crispy crust. And I'm adding a little bit of a salt as well. The third step is what most people forget. When I'm doing my cooking classes, people are blown away about how we use this ingredient. So the third and final step is to mix in club soda into our dry mixture. That way we have a double bubble crispy fried chicken. Now that we have our tempura batter, I'm using chicken thighs because it has a higher fat content. That means it's going to stay as juicy as possible. But what I'm gonna do is get rid of the skin right here and also get rid of this bone. I have my chicken thighs all deboned and de-skinned. What I'm gonna do is add a little bit of flour. So before we dip this into tempura batter, it'll be easier for it to stick to the batter. So now before we finish this and move on to our third and final step for the entire dish, I'm crusting the chicken in sesame seeds. Now we're gonna fry. But make sure that the oil is hot enough so that it floats right after you drop the chicken. Look at this beautiful crispy sesame chicken. It is so incredibly crispy. I'm gonna show you. Look. Oh my god. I mean, come on. So now we have the sauce. We have the chicken. It is time to add my unexpected ingredient, clubs. So before we get started, let me explain you why I'm making this sauce. So we have a cold and creamy sauce that we just made. We have a crispy, hot, double bubble fried chicken. So we need a jammy, sweet sauce to complete this dish and balance everything out. I'm going to caramelize my brown sugar to add even more bitterness and layer to my plum jam. Look at this beautiful caramelization. Now we're going to deglaze it with a little bit of vinegar, soy sauce, gochujang, ponzu, pomegranate molasses, lemon. So I added all my liquids, all my sauces. Before I add my plums, I'm just going to get this to a caramel consistency. Now that we have the caramel-y texture, it is time to add our plums. So I just added my plums to my caramel-y sauce and this is going to take about 20 to 30 minutes to get that jammy texture. And after this, we're going to start assembling our fried chicken sandwich. This is a crispy, double bubble sesame chicken. It is so delicious, so crispy. It's also nutty from the sesame seeds. I'm going to season it with a little bit of a togarashi seasoning. And now, it's my favorite time ever. It is time to assemble, but before we assemble, I forgot something very important. How could I forget about this? We have our cheese that we're going to be melting on top of our crispy chicken with our torch. It's going to add a really nice, melty flavor. I'm going to grab my plum jam and what I like to do is add a little bit of fresh plums to my cooked plums jam as well because that's going to add one, a little bit of a fresh texture and then two, a little bit of more of that tart flavor that we want. Gorgeous, so glossy, so jammy. I think the brioche buns are the best for chicken sandwich because they're buttery, they're soft, but they also hold really well. So we're going to grab two of these right now. Yeah, two should be good enough. All right guys, you ready for this? This is going to be bomb. Holy moly. Oh my god, would you look at that? Oh my god, this might be the best sandwich I've ever made. The juicy chicken thighs, the plum jam that is sweet and savory and salty at the same time, the crunch from the cucumbers, the edamame, and the sesame taste. It is so light and also flavorful at the same time. Literally the most advanced chicken sandwich I have ever tasted in my life. So if you like this video, I have a lot more likes and you should check this one out right now. This is so good.