(judge speaking in Japanese)
(suspenseful music) - [Alvin] Hello there! Welcome back to another
episode of "Anime with Alvin." Today, I'll be making the fried bear from "Food Wars!" two ways. One of them will be the
main character's dish, and the other one will be his opponent's. Things are about to get pretty intense, so in classic anime fashion, we're gonna start with
the opponent's dish first. I have here legally sourced bear meat. We're starting with bear
ribs and bear kebab meat, which is probably cut-up sirloin. I'm taking the meat off the ribs, cutting up the fat in the kebab meat until they're nice little chunks, and throwing them in a 450
degree oven to roast them for about 30 minutes until
they get nice and brown. The roasted bear bones and meat are actually for a bear gravy, so we're gonna add these
golden-brown chunks into a large pot along
with two cut onions, three large carrots, a
head of halved garlic, a couple slices of ginger, a tablespoon of black
peppercorns, and two bay leaves, followed by a generous helping of water, just enough to cover everything. I'm now gonna let this
simmer for about four hours until the meat is tender and all the flavors had time to infuse. We got a lot of work to do. Now for the main part
of the opponent's dish: chicken-fried bear. I have here New York steak cut
from bear, so New York bear, which sounds both cool and
intimidating at the same time. After taking a meat mallet and pounding out each steak of bear, using Saran Wrap as a cushion, I'm cutting them into smaller,
more manageable chunks. It smells really intense, so we gotta do something about that. As the opponent cleverly does in the show, he makes a garlic-onion puree, cutting up one white onion into chunks but not crying like I always do, eight cloves of garlic,
couple slices of ginger, a teaspoon of kosher salt,
and some black pepper. These all go in a food processor
and pureed until smooth. The idea is that the intense
aromatics and flavors in this paste will go to war
with the flavors from the bear and hopefully win. So I'm giving our steaks a
nice ginger-garlic-onion bath and letting this marinade
for about a day or so. After the four hours are up, it's time to check in on
our stock and strain it. I like to press all the flavor and juices from all the sediment and
the meat and the vegetables, just to get everything in there. And to my pleasant surprise, this smells like chicken noodle soup. No detection of gaminess whatsoever. So I'd wager to say things are looking pretty good right now. The opponent also uses his
secret Cajun spice mix, so after locating the teaspoon measure, I'm combining a tablespoon of paprika, two teaspoons of garlic powder, two teaspoons of kosher salt, a teaspoon of onion powder, a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, a teaspoon of dried oregano, a teaspoon of dried thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne. I am officially done with this teaspoon. Tiny whisk everything together, and we have our own Cajun spice blend. Another technique the opponent uses is crushed-up juniper
berries as a seasoning. This apparently also combats the gaminess and adds an aromatic note,
so that's what we're doing with the mortal and pestle. Mortar. Not mortal.
(dramatic music) (Terunori speaking in Japanese) (Soma speaking in Japanese) I'm now gonna start with
the main character's dish. These are schisandra berries. Bear-ies. Good one. Schisandra berries are also
known as a five-flavor fruit, used widely in medicinal and
herbal cuisine throughout Asia. The main character steeps
these berries in sake, which apparently brings
out their essential oils and flavors, heightening
the effectiveness. I will do the same and let
them hang out for a few hours. All right, now bear with me
as we do some multitasking. Another good one. In the middle, I'm reducing
three cups of that bear stock down to one cup. On the right, I'm sauteing some onions and garlic in some
butter, and on the left, I'm slowly caramelizing honey, but not just any kind of
honey: Amur Cork tree honey, which the main character specifically uses for its slightly bitter undertones, as normal honey would be just too sweet. That's a lot to keep an eye on. Managing three pans is not easy. After the honey is caramelized for an extra hint of bitterness, I'm adding in balsamic
vinegar to thin it out. This apparently helps
counter the sweetness by adding acidity. After the stock is reduced and the onions are a nice golden brown, we're combining all three of
these pans into one vessel. Even though the main
character doesn't do this, I'm immersion blending
this because I think it'll make a better consistency and enhance the flavors well. After adding in a couple of pinches of kosher salt, I'm now adding in those sake-steeped schisandra
berries from earlier. Now, there's a lot of stuff in this sauce, so it's time for quality control. It's a little too sweet, so I'm
adding a splash of balsamic. This tastes quite strong but delicious, but we'll have to see if this
sauce can tame that bear. On to the main portion of
the main character's dish: a bear menchi katsu. Menchi katsu is a common
dish found in Japan which is made with a
seasoned ground meat mixture breaded in panko and fried. So to start, I'm making
my own ground bear, the same way I'd make my own
ground beef for a burger. I'm starting by cutting up
chunks of short rib and brisket, about two pounds of
each, into small chunks and putting them on a tray and
setting them in the freezer until they're mildly frozen. This is a technique that I use because I don't have a
meat grinder at home, so I like to do this
with a food processor. I now wish I had a meat grinder at home. Good thing we're not at my house, because the Babish team
does have a meat grinder. Kendall has lovingly prepared
the meat grinder for me by freezing its components. If both the meat and the parts are cold, nothing's gonna stick,
everything's gonna come out smooth, and all will be right in the world. And remember: If you're not
having fun when you're cooking, you're just making food. The main character also uses
ground-up schisandra berries in the menchi katsu itself, so we're just gonna chop up a couple of those pretty roughly, transfer our freshly ground
bear into a large bowl, and start mixing. Additions to this menchi
katsu include one egg, those beautiful sauteed
onions from earlier, a splash of bear stock,
thank you, Kendall, four tablespoons of panko breadcrumbs, and a teaspoon of that ground
schisandra from earlier. Give the meat a good old rub. I mean mix. And these are now ready
to be shaped into patties. I like to use a little
bit of oil on my hands, just to make sure that this doesn't stick, and I'm shaping these
into burger-size patties, like, the size you want them
if you're really hungry. After we've done all we can do, these now go to set in the
fridge, covered, of course. While those go chill for a bit, I'm gonna finish the
opponent's bear gravy. First, I'm rendering some bear
fat trimmings from earlier, about three tablespoons or so. Then I'm adding in three
tablespoons of flour, making a bear roux. Once the ba-roux has
reached a bear-like color, I'm gonna pour in 1/2 cup of
that bear stock from earlier, whisking the whole time. Once the stock is incorporated, I'm slowly adding in about a cup of milk, again whisking the whole time. It's kinda like playing
Whack-a-Mole with lumps. If you see any forming, you
beat the bear out of 'em. To season, we're gonna
use about a teaspoon of the Cajun spice blend we made earlier, along with 1/2 teaspoon
of ground juniper berries and kosher salt. Once everybody in there is good and happy, we're gonna let this set aside
until we're ready to serve. I'm now gonna start frying
the opponent's dish. To make the frying batter, I'm combining 1/4 cup of corn starch with two teaspoons of
the Cajun spice blend, along with two eggs and a splash of water to get the consistency I want. Now we're moving to the stove, where I have the oil
heated to 350 degrees. Now, remember, these bear steak
chunks have been marinading in that ginger-garlic
paste for about a day, and after a quick
skinny-dip in the batter, they're gonna take a full
plunge into this hot oil until golden brown and
crispy, about a few minutes. Now, I'm not sure if
this is the actual way to do a chicken-fried
meat, but the opponent in the show seems to know what he's doing, so I will do my best as well. After the chicken-fried bear cutlets drain and rest on the rack,
it's time to plate 'em up. Little bit of lettuce for presentation, two of these cutlets, and a ramekin of that bear gravy from earlier. And there you have it: the chicken-fried bear from "Food Wars!", marinaded heavily in
ginger, garlic, and onion, seasoned with Cajun spice
and juniper berries, served with a bear gravy. Here goes nothing. Hmm. I don't taste bear. I honestly don't taste meat at all. That ginger-garlic-onion
paste really did its job in taming that bear. I can only taste flavors from that paste. It kinda tastes like dumplings. The creaminess of the
gravy offsets the pungency of the garlic and the
onion marinaded bear. But how will the main
character's dish turn out? Now that our minced bear
patties have been chilled, it's time to give them
a nice breading jacket. This is a very traditional setup of flour, eggs, and panko breadcrumbs. Each patty spends a few
seconds in each bath, and after all our patties have
been encrusted, we go again. 350 degree oil, couple minutes until the outside is beautiful,
golden brown, and crispy. After a quick rest and a quick drain, we're plating up again,
and I present to you the main character's
fried bear menchi katsu, served with a caramelized
honey, balsamic vinegar, and schisandra berry sauce. Here's how it looks with the
sauce slowly draped on top. And now for the taste. This one has a lot going on. I feel like I'm getting
punched in the face by a bear. But immediately afterwards,
three pretty girls named Honey, Balsamic, and Schisandra
are caressing my cheeks and giving me a hug, which makes sense, because in the show, the main character actually
does not try to tame the bear. He actually wants to let the bear out. I gotta hand it to the main character. Whether it's plot armor,
pure skill, or good writing, his dishes slap pretty hard, sometimes hard enough to
make your clothes explode. (mellow music)
