$116 vs $16 Shawarma: Pro Chef & Home Cook Swap Ingredients | Epicurious 

Where is it

SoHo NYC - 38 MacDougal Street

And enthusiastic! How she got excited about pouring the pickling liquid "RIGHT over those pickles!" was so fun!

Right?! She's incredibly informative but aggressive and matter of fact but it works especially when paired with Julie who is so lighthearted

I am horrible at cooking meat, but the rest of the recipe is all personal, Shawarma has so many variations it's crazy. in my city (Gaza - Palestine) a Tahini-based sauce is essential, it is just tahini + lemon + water + salt, mix til it's a sauce, and even this has variations like adding garlic - minced green pepper - parsley - cilantro etc..... the two other usual additions are pickled onion with Sumaq, and a normal veggie salad usually made with tomato + cucmber + cabbage + salt + a litle bit of lemon juice. the bread cn be beta, or something that looks more like a burrito but bigger. a home-made mustard sauce can be a side dish to add to your liking, and any spicy sauce to heat it up to your liking is also a standard. and that's just one city's variation of Shawarma, you can find wildly different variations from citiy to city in the same country, country to country in the same region, and regional variations stretching from the Philipines to the east, Greece and Turkey to the north, and Mexico's (Al Pastor) version of shawarma to the west.

@@Frenchfri2391 This is a very weird thing to worry about, she's quite friendly and passionate

There’s always one. She never said it was 100% authentic, just that it was her own shawarma - which given she’s also Arabic and a chef, I’d say would be a terrific shawarma. So don’t pretend yours wld be better or more authentic as you don’t know, do you?

Trueee

@@AshrafMMA ouufff frank as well

Yes yes and... YESSSSS

❤️

Julie is the best!

Just like her personality! :)

she can wear a mask so you can't tell her age, but the kitchen will tell you she's a grandmother.

Bob Ross vibes

she's from the middle east, we have been in the middle of all culinary traditions since the bronze age, so that's normal lol.

@@belalabusultan5911 Her name suggests that she's Indonesian imo, Nurdjaja is quite distinctly Indonesian.

@@Eiensakura still Middle Eastern though even though that’s Southeast Asia there are a majority of Indonesians that are half and even fully Arab we have strong ties to Indonesia as Arabs there’s a stronger connection when looking at religion both regions being predominantly Muslim most Arabs residing in Indonesia are Khaleeji usually Yemeni

@@Eiensakura 1- Indonisia and the Arab world have been in contact with eachother since ... idk, Roman times? Alexander the great times? even before maybe .... 2- While Shwarma's origin is not from the Arab world... it is a stable in Arab cuisine, just like Hummus, Falafel, and Shakshuka. 3- Arabs, India, and South East Asia share a very old trade route for spices, it goes way back, but there were no records of when it began because people did not write of it, but I mean ... there were Phoenician merchants in India before the bronze age, and that should reveal how intertwined our cuisines have been.

@@belalabusultan5911 no one is saying any of that information is wrong. All they said was that she WASNT Middle Eastern or from the Middle East bc she isn’t. She’s Indonesian with an Indonesian father and an Italian mother

If you don't have salt and pepper, you are, in fact, a criminal.

Pepper picks up pretty much everything.

davie

It's the shawarma police! RUN!!!

@@limalicious pepper and black pepper are different

I spend *ATLEAST* 45 minutes while making instant noodles, so I keep my time schedule open lol

@@belalabusultan5911 it’s a curse lol

@@thomasa5619 if you spend more time, it means you add your touch, and should love that about yourself :)

@@belalabusultan5911 I spend 10 days in hotels for work, then get like 4 days at home to lead a complete adult life I don’t have time for “my touch”

@@thomasa5619 I boil some veggies, then add the ramen/noodles to it. that's why it takes me too long. we are polar opposites, I have too much free time and try to fill it, and try to enjoy cooking, while you have no free time, and would like fast meals. did you try salads? there are even meat salads, they take far less time to make because you don't put them on stoove or in oven. also : cup noodles, they don't taste best when you make them the fast way, but they are good enough.

Fr fr

😂🤣😂🤣

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Well from a biological standpoint tastebuds are the same as scent receptors so while weird it wasn't wrong lol

@@ConstantChaos1 ok

I think she snorted the shawarma off camera( just a joke I frickin love Julie)

Lol

Lol was gonna say this. So true!

"I got an olive oil that cost 200$ but I mean I never finished, So I'll use it a bit to make it 5 cents more expensive than it is." Believe me, is like asking why your maras salt never run out in your kitchen in one day. 😁 Things cost a lot but yes they have a lot of those amazing ingredients just lying around Because in the long run, they are not meant to be used a lot, but they have a GREAT change in the flavor. You can't believe the change that 2 extra cents can make in your dish, I mean if I got to use the normal oil vs an Oil I know that will make rich food on my plate, I want everyone to have a better tasting since I know is almost the same thing, however, the flavor will change dramatically. I mean that is why she is a pro, She wants the best even in the most simple setups. Because as a chef you love to eat your plate, You are sure that the one who will try the plate will also love it. That is the line between level 2 and level 3 chefs.

Frank actually use stuff from the box. Thats why i only watch for frank and lorenzo

@@JudyTheAlien Frank has also used ingredients from outside the box before. Nonetheless Frank & Lorenzo are my favs

Sometimes they really go OTT (I'm looking at you, Brownie Chef)...this one didn't bother me so much.

and some ingredients we never heard of came in out of nothing.

Terrible judge then. Red onions are specifically known to be mild enough that you can use them raw.

It was Scott Conant lol he HATES raw red onion

@@fatyma_zahra get over it Scott! It drives me nuts every time this is his biggest complaint

Colopty right?! Red onions are like spring onions-you can cook them, but they are especially good raw :)

@@Colopty Fresh ones are not mild . But they are so tasty

I think for level 4 u mean middle eastern guy in New York who owns a halal food truck.

Grandma is the lv2 home cook

@@fgnnl4204 i know but they say grandmas have better skills

@@velsonmisoxigenos5745 true

@FGNNL 420 its a middle eastern teta (grandma) in that owns a halal food truck

I may know exactly what recipe im supposed to be making but this is still me cooking, like I made pickled green tomatoes today and sure I started by watching 3 min of a 20 min video on pickling but i didnt weigh my salt I measured with my hand and the spices were all over, at one point the brine smelled like corned beef then like pumpkin pie then spicy vinigar, it was a ride

I get the sentiment, but I do think it should be limited. Restricting a pro chef's ingredients should serve to demonstrate techniques that might be unfamiliar to the average home foodie watching. In this case, the pro chef has added so much that they may as well not have taken her ingredient box away. That's my take on it, anyway.

I think the point is people are expecting to see how they can improve their cooking through technique without spending too much extra on ingredients. I don't think anyone cares about, say, salt, pepper, or the vinegar she used to pickle the cukes and onions, or other inexpensive ingredients - I think the problem is when the ingredients they pull out change the price bracket of the dish.

@@Harrier42861 It doesn't help that chefs who specialize particular dishes have a pantry that's specialize. For example most Chinese family will have soy sauce, oyster sauce, dried herbs I the cabinets, not to mention the spice box of Indian families. So to them, it is almost instinctive to add those ingredients that are rare/more pricey to a common westerners.

Not a competition but it is a CHALLENGE. That is the entire concept of the show. The challenge of making a great dish with only ingredients supplied by someone else without your knowledge. THAT is the challenge

It is cheating. You have to use the ingredients given to you. The home chefs NEVER add anything. The pros are ALWAYS adding things

I was Looking for this comment. Yes! 😍😍

More of this!!!

@Black Guns Matter Care to explain?

@Black Guns Matter maybe because she’s at home she did it differently to usual?

He's dead.

@@gechuzhao2178 TRUE!

Don't just _say_ that!

@@gechuzhao2178 RIP

That’s the ONLY reason i clicked on the video.

I know that reference. LoL

Lol her relatives smuggled it in a box of patties lol

lol i believe it actually. We pay a ridiculous amount for everything in the states but go abroad and its like 75% cheaper.

Lol

@@4567donny most of the spices and herbs not common in USA kitchen are planted abroad, imported from various countries. like Indian spices, middle eastern Tahini, Japanese Wagyu etc....

At least she can do math unlike kids these days!

If you mean the pro, whose accent was very strong, it sounded more New Jersey to me

@@christopherwilson88 Or Boston, maybe?

@@1PrayerWarrior4 DEFINITELY not. I'm originally from Boston and have the accent, and she's not even close. That's for sure NYC or NJ, and it sounds more Jersey to me.

@@christopherwilson88 Gotcha, I was just curious. As a Midwesterner without east coast experience, it can be hard to discern the accent. Thanks for the clarification!!

Turns out Ayesha is from Brooklyn.

I'm Algerian and I feel you !!!!

I am an Arab and a chef why are they using tahini in chicken shawarma

Honestly she is saying it with her accent. And Ayesha seems to be a Middle Eastern woman who knows her food

@@Trrrrq650 yes it's so weird it's only used for beef Shawarma

@@adilali8265 Ayesha seems middle eastern but doesn't look like she knows her food because this is far from a middle eastern Shawarma

Same

Yeah but its still different than actual middle eastern shawarma

@@itaishufman8951 i know it is different. i specifically said that it has been adopted and adapted. new york pizza is different than italian pizza. american hamburgers are different than hamburg beef. california sushi rolls are different than japanese rolls. tex-mex is its own cuisine. american-chinese is its own cuisine. european spaghetti would not be possible without pasta from asia. spaghetti sauce would not be possible without tomato from americas. i'd rather live in a world rich with possibilities and interactions between ideas free to evolve as circumstance demand and allow, than live a life bound by immutable rules and pedants. that is no life, that is death by stagnation.

I'm laughing every time I see that notebook

@@Patterner same

@Michael Markowsky why no recipe in it tho

From my knowledge that notebook design is quite popular in America. It was even Ned's declassified school survival guide notebook

@@williamc2071 Because a professional chef should know how to cook something just knowing the ingredients. They are that familiar with food science and cooking techniques

I have known Ayesha for many years. Fabulous restaurant on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn New York and served us like royalty

Nominative determinism

Like Usain Bolt.

@@rubikscubegod1 would've been even better if he were an electrician

@@thomrik fair... But lightening bolt also symbolises that he's fast.

@@rubikscubegod1 yeah i get it man, thats why i said "even better"

Cook me food.

Gee, same last name. Perhaps mother of Chef Ayesha? Other relative?

Same

Tell her I said hi

@@alybean4211 oh no not real aunt, she is just everything I want in an aunt... and we are both jamaican so🤷🏾‍♀️

At this point I think we all want her to be our aunt Julie

Man she’s your auntie too? Small world 😂💜💜

Or at least eat in her kitchen

I knew this comment was around here somewhere.. lol I wish I knew where to find a real shawarma recipe!

That shawarmas look so bad compared with what you can find in Romania

I love in the middle east, and I agree

Deadass 😭 hurts to watch her using the pita like a flatbread

@Black Guns Matter yes exactly. By recipe I mean showing everything that makes real shawarma. From ingredients to cooking method, cause I know they use a vertical spinner... not an oven as shown here

Ya mean 2020, right?

@@kelvisaisawesome right. But 2020 never existed so 2021

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