4 Levels of Egg Rolls: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious

foreign [Music] Chef I'm Lorenzo and I'm a level two Chef I'm Chef Chris and I've been a professional chef for 20 years I'm making crab rangoon egg rolls they're really simple ingredients that you could buy anywhere I'm making coleslaw and pork egg rolls I did say coleslaw it'll be fine I promise today I'm making three egg egg ones with salted duck eggs caviar and poached runny eggs [Music] I have this handy dandy imitation crab this says it's surimi which is a form of fresh meat with a lot of other add-ins so I have some beautiful pink prawns here head on shell on lots of flavor shells come off pretty easy especially on the large shrimp could just pop the head right off and the last thing I want to do is devein it take a slice right down the back and you want to remove all the stuff that you find after you slice it then I'm going to chop up the shrimp into slightly larger pieces because I want a nice big bite of shrimp in every egg roll bite I take first up I'm going to top up my greens I have some beautiful celery here scallions or green onions I'm using both the whites and greens yes the more the merrier the scallions just give it that nice kick and traditionally with a crab rangoon it's usually crab cream cheese and some greens yummy I have my garlic that's basically all you want and I'm going for the sausage next so Chinese sausage they actually are sun-dried it's a little bit more firmer from the regular sausage paired with shrimp hey surf and turf that's why you're level three sir this is the iconic salt today this salted egg is usually cured for about 60 days and it's also a duck egg duck eggs tend to be slightly gameier slightly larger and slightly more full flavor I am adding ground pork Chinese cooking uses high heat to meld the flavors as quickly as possible and the wok does that perfectly medium high heat little vegetable oil add my onions first and you get that nice Sizzle gently and you're just sweating the onions for a minute and then I'm going to add the rest of my aromatics since the wok is very hot you have to keep things moving around in the wok as much as you can I was just trying to Brown it slightly I'm not looking for any major texture on it ginger garlic in the shrimp goes these shrimp are big but they're going to cook pretty quick medding in my Chinese sausage it just needs to get hot and soften up a bit dried shiitake mushrooms that have been reconstituted in water next goes in The Salted Egg The Salted egg is going to add a real depth of savoriness to the filling I'm going to start adding my other vegetables gold slaw mix what a wonderful thing just buy it in the grocery I'm going to add my scallions now all of them right now I'm just gonna Wilt it I'm just trying to heat it through a little bit combine it with my pork shaoxing wine it goes well with so many Asian dishes because it's made with rice and that is the terror of China much like when you use grapes in Europe next is mushroom soy sauce the addition of mushrooms and soy sauce just actually makes it even deeper in the savoryness I'm gonna do a tablespoon soy sauce with that saltiness that I love and the tablespoon of Worcestershire it just adds another dimensional flavor to the filling and then I'm adding my hot sesame oil a little goes a long way I'm sorry it was hot oh I'm sorry I'm turning off the walk the MSG is going to bring out all that flavor and that extra depth of savoryness that you want all I have to do next is strain it if you don't it's going to make the wrapper very soggy please save whatever is coming out and make a sweet and sour sauce with it that is liquid gold folks I'm going to let this sit in the fridge overnight tomorrow it's going to be ready to put into my wrappers when I bite into it I want to taste the flavor of each bit my egg roll is loaded with eggs I've gone a poach an egg and also put that in my egg roll this is not your brunch poached egg I'm just cooking it lightly so it doesn't break when I put it in my egg oil I'm pulling the egg yolk out of the water and it's lightly coated with the egg white it should have a little bit of a bounce to it and in the ice water it goes so my filling is pretty much done but I want to add some of this fresh spring onion it just provides a crisp fresh flavor and texture to the filling I've got my egg roll wrapper Lorenzo's using Starbucks wrappers so see we are all in this together the very first step I like to do when making egg rolls is to make the egg roll dough and then we make that into a wrapper all-purpose flour salt sugar and then I'm going to crack my eggs I like mixing it with my hands because you start to feel the texture you're looking for a smooth but slightly tacky belt generally you need it until your arms fall off but 10 minutes will do I'm going to rest my dough overnight it's been in the fridge overnight it's a lot more pliable and that's what I want and then I'm going to cut nuggets out of it and then you want your wrapper to look like this look at that isn't that like heaven it almost reminds me of pie crust maybe a little thinner than a pastry dough so it's very pliable and easy to work with so I like to put my egg roll wrapper down on a diagonal and take a nice Spoonful I put it right from the middle closer to me on the lower Diamond quadrant right below the center line so then I'm going to take my Tobiko caviar caviar that's that's just fancy I want to make a little well with the caviar so it holds the egg yolks better in the egg roll and we're going to be daring hair and do two eggs I want to put some shredded napa cabbage right on top of the eggs you want to fold the edges in and then give it a roll tuck in my side sides to make a little envelope that you're going to send to Santa and then I want to seal it with just a little bit of water and wash and look at that little egg roll let's do it again and then I'm just going to brush the egg rolls with egg wash that'll provide a nice color when frying I've already preheated the air fryer to 400 degrees so I'm just going to gently place my egg rolls into the basket of the airfryer I'm going to do it in a single layer so that none of them touch each other let's go for it the larger the bubbles that means this the water content and the small little bubbles meaning that most of the water is started to cook out what I'm looking for is for the wrapper to turn golden brown it's going to be bubbly they'll be nice and crispy bits in there it almost looks like it has warts only takes a few minutes I actually take them out when it's this golden brown because sometimes I do like to refry them and heat them this is the one time word star a really yummy and good thing huh whoa these look great every great egg roll needs a great dipping sauce I'm about to make my sweet and sour sauce you know I'm not surprised that we're all doing sweet and sour sauces I'm going with a Thai sweet chili sauce it's really yummy you could buy it at most Asian supermarkets and I'm going to add my water then sugar I'm gonna heat up my oil I'm going to bloom my red pepper flakes a little bit and all that is is I'm just gonna let that Infuse the oil with its heat and spiciness and yumminess ketchup this is the staple ingredient in all sweet and sour sauces I have to say [Laughter] vinegar very fragrant dark vinegar oyster sauce gives a level of savoriness and depth this is black soy so it's a much darker thicker more intense soy sauce soy sauce it's always good to add salt bring those flavors out in Chinese cooking you don't normally put salt into food this is our sauce for salt and I'm just going to kick up the store-bought chili sauce with some add-ins like scallions it's just going to add another dimensional flavor to the sauce kind of like when you add things to your marinara sauce garlic half a teaspoon there I love Jarred condiments in Asian cooking so there's no harm no foul in that so good the scallion adds a little bit of crunch the garlic enhancing the flavor it just punches up this already super tasty sauce that I bought from the store this is my chicken stock and then this is my secret ingredient this is the juices of the sauteed vegetables my coleslaw mix my garlic my scallions and the pork granulated sugar which is the sweet of my sweet and sour sauce where is the sour right here like distilled vinegar that is the sour so this is sweet rice that's fermented it's going to give a really nice tank and add to the sweetness get a little bit of the juice white vinegar we're going to put our garlic in there our Ginger and we're going to put our dried chilies I like to crack the dry chili as I put it in there it makes it that much more spicy I want to infuse the sauce with a pineapple flavor so you could see it that it's separated a bit but that's just the fat from the strained juices from my filling it will dissipate and incorporate into the sauce when I add my slurry and a slurry basically is cornstarch mixed with water it should be one to one typically and then you add that cornstarch slurry to your sauce bring it up to a boil and it'll thicken the sauce oh I love it I love it a pineapple it really kicks it up a bit I cannot wait I am ready to Plate my egg rolls it's actually kind of a good luck thing if you have a lot of pineapple in your sauce so let's have extra pineapple I have a little extra coleslaw and it's just to create a bed I'm using it as drainage so the egg rolls don't just sit in their own oils first thing on the plate are the egg rolls I'm just gonna make a starburst see I'm an artist too I'm gonna put this beautiful sweet and sour glaze with these nice specks of ginger and garlic and the fermented rice right into the aramaican and on the plate and then I'm also putting that beautiful Zoo from The Filling which I can drizzle onto the egg roll after they're cut and [Music] these are my egg rolls these are my egg rolls and these are my egg rolls [Music] it looks like Goosebumps I'm getting Goosebumps because I'm so excited Chihuahua oh it's beautiful I'm loving how this looks the last thing left to do is to taste these puppies out dip right into the sweet and sour sauce oh my God the cream cheese is all melted it's covering the imitation crab it's just me so I'm allowed to double dip I can't stop the sweet and sour glaze this pecks I don't think you could stuff more flavor and texture in an egg roll than this this is actually the best part I got a little pocket that I could put some sauce in the pineapple I love it I'm sorry I said you huh you're looking at Brooklyn's best egg rolls right here egg rolls are a delicious crispy appetizer snack or meal popular all over the world let's see how each of our Three Chefs made their version John used imitation crab as his main ingredient most versions aren't more than two percent real crab meat with extracts added for crab flavor instead it's a blend of ground fish usually Pollock made into a paste with added starch sometimes sugar and proteins to imitate the real thing it's cooked before packaging so it needs no further treatment prior to consumption Lorenzo used shredded coleslaw mix cabbage can stay persistently crunchy at higher heat compared to other vegetables due to active enzymes that can withstand higher temperatures before becoming denatured chopping cabbage increases generation of flavor molecules by releasing them from precursors Chris Incorporated Chinese sausage that is made from Hogs that have darker meat it's combined with various spices additional pork fat is added which is neutral in flavor and doesn't melt or separate out as the sausage is ground and processed Chris's filling was intensely aromatic he added monosodium glutamate or MSG a compound that adds a Savory quality due to an active compound called glutamic acid he also added chopped salted duck eggs the eggs are soaked in brine or sometimes covered in salted charcoal the salt from the brine cures the egg through the process of osmosis over time the resulting texture is a firm salty white and a round slightly gelatinous yolk John and Lorenzo used store-bought wrappers these wrappers made mainly with wheat flour and water are versatile and convenient when you open a package you'll find a white powder dusting each wrapper that's cornstarch and helps to keep them from sticking together because the dry cornstarch doesn't easily absorb water without adding heat Chris made his wrappers which is not easy to do he used wheat flour water and eggs the addition of eggs adds a golden color from the carotenoids in the yolks egg whites add water and proteins that Aid in Browning when they're fried egg rolls fried in hot oil blister a bit adding to their distinctive look and crunchiness they made Lister slightly in an air fryer but only if the temperature is hot enough John cooked his egg rolls in an air fryer a popular roasting method that mimics the effect of frying in oil without the calories that come from the addition of oil hot air is circulated around the egg rolls at a high velocity in close proximity quickly dehydrating and consequently crisping the wrapper while simultaneously causing Browning both Lorenzo and Chris fried their egg rolls in hot vegetable oil the traditional method of preparation frying is a combination of convective and conductive Heating all Three Chefs made a sweet and sour dipping sauce taste is a chemical sense caused by chemicals fitting into specific receptor cells on our taste buds sweet and sour balance each other out in such an inviting way especially when combined with Savory flavors from the egg roll filling and the crunchy texture from being fried Lorenzo used the intensely flavorful drained liquid from his egg roll filling this reinforces the Savory pork flavor in his sweet sour and savory sauce Chris made a cooked sauce thickened with cornstarch and flavored with black soy sauce which is very dark and includes molasses he also added chunking vinegar which is very dark in color made from glutinous rice and aged for at least six months it's sour as you would expect from vinegar but also earthy and very slightly Smoky egg rolls are so yummy and satisfying filled with anything from vegetables shrimp pork or imitation crab you're going to love these dishes from our three amazing chefs

Channel: Epicurious

Views: 359,662

Keywords: 4 levels, 4 levels of egg rolls, cabbage egg rolls, chinese egg roll, chinese egg rolls, chinese-american food, egg roll, egg roll recipe, egg roll wrappers, egg rolls, eggrolls, epi, epi 4 levels, epicurious, epicurious 4 level, fried egg rolls, homemade egg roll, homemade egg rolls, homemade takeout, how to make egg roll, how to make egg rolls, how to make egg rolls with cabbage, make an egg roll, make egg rolls, pork egg rolls, rolls, spring rolls vs egg rolls

Id: mWur1kszKdE

Length: 15min 1sec (901 seconds)

Published: Tue May 16 2023