Uncle Roger HATE Maangchi KOREAN Kimchi Fried Rice - Pro Chef Reacts 

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I like how Maangchi left a comment on the Uncle Roger video. It was very respectful and simply said that this was just how she made kimchi fried rice. Nigel Ng gave it a heart. Very refreshing from how it might've gone down.

Maangchi is called “the hammer” because that was her gamer tag before she started RU-vid. It’s in her bio in her cook book

My Korean mother taught me to use fresh rice for fried rice in a sauce pan. When my friend saw me do that, he immediately called it out as Korean fried rice.

If I recall correctly, "Maangchi" was an online gaming handle she had gotten while younger, and it just turned into a nickname that she carried with her when she moved to Canada and then the US.

This is her 'travel' kimchi rice recipe. She has a standard one which I use all the time- it uses kimchi juice instead of water. I guess she couldn't bring much liquid in her suitcase :)

My take on what happened here is that she packed up all her stuff to go out to this beach house in Montauk (probably for like this working vacation). She packed some kimchi from a much bigger plastic container from her kimchi fridge. She probably got there and realized that her kimchi was really dry because she didn't intentionally pack any of the kimchi brine. She probably normally uses the kimchi brine and thought the recipe might not work like it normally does for her because she normally adds a certain amount of liquid (the brine) that she wasn't adding here, so she subbed in the water to keep the moisture content the same as normal and added the gochujang and soy sauce to replace the heat and salt from the kimchi brine (though I do agree that gochujang is perfectly acceptable in kimchi bokkeumbap). Then she left out the egg because she replaced that protein with the seafood. I'm willing to bet her standard everyday kimchi bokkeumbap she makes at home is way closer to what Uncle Roger was expecting her to make. (As a kid I always watched Julia Child and The Cajun Chef)

Auntie Maangchi was actually born in Yeosu City, which is a port city, so while we think seafood is fancy, they have them like apples on a tree. Yes, I guess she taught him Korean food before he met Esther Choi, who is Korean from her paternal side, even though she was born in New Jersey.

I noticed something Uncle Roger said. He said that 고추장 (gochujang) is soy bean paste and doesn't go well with kimchi, but that would be 된장 (doenjang). Kimchi has gochugaru and gochujang it also has gochugaru so, he was wrong on that. That is why Chef Brian was saying that is ok to put it

Julia Child taught my grandmother, who'd be 110 years old, and my mom, almost 83, everything they know about cooking. And they knew a lot between them.

In my experience, Korean fried rice is usually made with fresh rice or at the end of the meal with leftover rice that's only like an hour old. It's supposed to be sticky so you can make jumeokbap rice balls of you want to eat it that way. The extra moisture isn't as bad because of that, too, although water isn't as good as kimchi juice if you've got it. Also, Uncle Roger mixed up gochujang and doenjang; he apologized for it in a pinned comment. The main thing I learned from Maangchi is "if you like, add some more garlic. And ginger. And sesame oil."

I am pretty sure he confused the gochujang with dwenjang. Cos he says fermented soybean paste, which ofc doesn't go in kimchi fried rice. Gochujang is chilli paste. I'm surprised you didn't catch it either lol

Thank you for being part of my morning, Brian. Really brightens it up alongside my breakfast.

Ehhhh... I dunno. I think I can give that one a pass because kimchi fried rice really doesn't have any established recipe, like, at all. Like, with Chinese fried rice or South Eastern Asian variants, those are already established recipes with a certain consistency that can be ordered from a restaurant, and they'd give you something you expect. Not so with kimchi fried rice. It's even more of an 'home food' than other fried rices of Asia. The style Maangchi is cooking in, is less of a 'fried rice' but more of what you'd get in Korean grill restaurants, where if you ask for it they'll dump rice, kimchi, leftover stuff from the table all into the ginormous pan at the table and dump whole lot of sesame oil, some water to soften it up and cook it on the spot. So it's just a different style that's more domestic I think.

Chinese here but my family usually used fresh rice for fried rice. Easy to just cook in the rice cooker and throw together with leftover ingredients in the fridge for a quick weeknight meal. In my opinion, no need to be super rigid or caught up in "authenticity" of fried rice - it's a super versatile meal! Sort of related, Maangchi did a really good video with Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) discussing authenticity of Korean food on Munchies channel. You should check it out if you're interested.

As someone who is korean, your pronunciation of jjajangmyeon and tang soo yuk was perfect! And yes everyone in my family used fresh rice for fried rice. I think its a korean thing.

Nigel's great, but his problem is he doesn't know what he doesn't know, and he often doesn't know the different ways similar foods are made in different places. There isn't just one way to make kimchi fried rice in Korea. It's okay that there are variations.

I think its worth noting that Uncle Roger is satire of a very specific asian uncle stereotype, where his way is the only right way. the thing ab fried rice is that there are a hundred ways to do it, from lazy to bougie, and it differs from family to family and culture. and it also heavily depends what you have in the fridge. Dont take everything the character Uncle Roger says in face value... after all he said veggies are for p*ssies lmaooo

I was introduced to Kim chi when I was stationed in NC and I love it! That dish she made looked awesome!

I’m Korean. My mother never used Day old rice. She just used rice from the rice cooker. Also she used gochujang.

Chef Brian has a point. Is the use of freshly made rice for fried rice a Korean thing?

The easy way to make rice quickly for fried rice is to use less water when making it. For example if you use two cups jasmine rice and the package says to add three cups water, add two instead. The grains shouldn’t be quite as fluffy as regular rice. Then spread it out on a plate or something for a few minutes (optional) and let it cool and dry a bit first. If your rice is still too sticky washing it a bit more when making it can help. You can get slightly better texture if you use the regular amount of water then spread it on a baking sheet or bin and put a cloth or paper towel over it and refrigerate it overnight (or even leave it out) but it’s only slightly better and takes way more time. When I use day old rice it’s because it’s way tastier than just heating it.

You know what goes well with kimchi? Cheese. I put some kimchi on top of the finished rice in my rice cooker and sprinkle some cheese over it then let it melt. Sooooooo good.

Maangchi’s easy kimchi recipe is amazing. I’m glad he kept her Auntie status.

My best friend's house growing up just basically ALWAYS had the rice cooker going. Always. The kitchen always smelled like rice. There was never any less than like 6 people living there, so it made sense. Every time I stayed there (which was a lot) we always had spam/egg fried rice for breakfast. Sometimes my friend's mom used leftover rice, sometimes she didn't. It wasn't a deal-breaker. After I was about 9 or 10 and my friend's mom trusted us to not burn the house down, we just made it ourselves and used fresh rice most of the time.

I dont know any Koreans that used day old rice for their kimchi fried rice. Even when I lived in Korea, I'm pretty sure everybody (including restaurants) use fresh rice

I actually followed her recipe for Korean Fried Chicken and guess what... IT WAS A FUCKING SELLOUT! Did it for a party of 8, had kegs of beer whilst watching F1 and no one wanted normal chips so I decided to make fried chicken but realized normal fried chicken was too... "Normal" and then went on to find specialty fried chicken recipe and chanced upon her. Continued watching her vid and went to make some and holy well was it great. Total of 3 styles, 3 chicken each and it was done. Whole night, no one was complaining and they all downed the chicken soo quickly that I even had to make extra bibimramyun for them all. It was utterly amazing.

Love Maangchi! TBH, the water in place of kimchi brine doesn't seem like a mistake if only to balance out a bit the stickiness of the gochujang. It's also a different grain rice as mentioned in the vid and stickiness is not an issue I don't think. It does remind me of Japanese fried rice, chahan, but then that is usually wok fried in the chinese style, but it uses short grain rice and is more moist. Growing up with it, it's still my fave kind!

Nigel left a comment that said he was mistaken to call Gochujang as "fermented soybean paste" (though soybean powder is one of its main ingredients). Living in Korea, I know plenty of folks who put it in their 김치 볶음밥 and many who don't. Edit: Also, if you want Korean MSG, the brand to get is 미원. They make several varieties that are nearly 100%. 다시다 brand has less MSG in their offerings, with other ingredients for additional flavors and or modifications meant to pair with specific foods.

I’m not a Korean, but totally do my kimchi fried rice this way.

Love how she makes this delightful dish in a delightful place, Montauk Long Island.

She didn't have brine with that kimchi so I wouldn't give her grief over that water.

Love the reaction, and have to give props for the EVH body & KSE art on the walls, and the Dimebag mini guitar figs on the shelf...also, love to make spicy spam kimchi fried rice lol

Dutch/Indonesian here, Nasi Goreng is always made with day old rice.

Sameee here about watching Julia Child as a kid. My sister and I would turn on PBS (I think that was the channel) when we got home from school and watch her program. Her voice reminded me of listening to Mother Goose (maybe more mother hen) tell old nursery rhymes & fairytales

As a Korean point of view, one of the reason why Korean fried rice is moist is that technically Korean fried rice is closer to Bibimbab than the egg fried rice served in most Chinese restaurants. In my opinion, Korean fried rice is more like fried Bibimbab in oil kind of thing. So, using gochujang in Kimchi fried rice is pretty common. Afterall, Bab in Korean means rice and what happens if you fry Bibimbab? Technically fried rice. The timing of putting the scallions is up to you in Korea. But since chef Baek Jongwon used scallions first to make scallion oil in his recipies, the frying scallions in oil became the common way. Putting water is another method that became common after chef Baek introduced to Koreans in his cooking shows to stop the rice from burning. Since as chef Brian already mentioned, short grain rice tends to be very sticky and burn easily. So chef Baek mentioned to pour little water if you feel like your Korean fried rice is sticking/burning. According to chef Baek, pouring that amount of water won't ruin anything since it would dry off during the cooking process.

I want a t-shirt of Uncle Roger snorting a line with a bag of MSG in his hand.

Uncle Roger looks like he really wanted to take away her Auntie title the moment he saw a metal spoon in the vicinity of a non stick pan.

Wonderful video, Chef Brian!👍🏻 Wow, you also watched Julie Child as a kid! Her cooking show was one of my favorites when I was a child in the 1960’s & 1970’s. It never ceases to amaze me how many generations of chefs were inspired by watching Julie Child’s cooking shows and reading her cookbooks. She is a true icon in modern French/American cookery.👍🏻 It would be really fun if you were to travel to South Korea and do a series of food videos exploring the cuisine. (Maybe take Guga with you? Korean BBQ😋) Short of doing that, maybe make your version of Kimchi Fried Rice in a video. 😋 Keep up the good work and take care of yourself!🤘🏻

we used to get dry scallops in a paint can-like can. I felt like a BALLER opening one of those things up!

This fried rice gonna become porridge if she moists it any further 😅

Hello Brian, Just letting you know that your squad has representatives in the Netherlands as well! Love you

Julia Childs, The Frugal Gourmet's Jeff Smith and Yan Can Cook. Those were my main three from PBS.

Since she's on Long Island, those scallops were probably not that expensive (compared to other places). I checked the prices and she probably paid $9-$11 dollars per pound. While here further down the East Coast, it's $20 per pound of frozen scallops.

Wow, great tip on sautéing in shallow VS deep pots. Never heard that before but makes perfect sense.

Uncle Roger forgets, she's in Montauk. You can buy seafood like that at any corner store, or even right off the dock. And all that competition with zero transport costs and sometimes no middlemen means it's a lot less expensive than buying it a Whole Foods in St. Louis.

Hearing your Julia Child story makes me wish you react from an episode of ANTI-CHEF's series Jamie and Julia as he is going through Julia Child's recipes as a home cook. Would like to see your perspective from a chef's perspective.

I loved that julia child memory.

I will make rice in the morning and put in the fridge for fried rice later that night. Maybe 10 Hr old. I've also used minute rice to do it and while wrong it's still an OK product. I've made cheap California rolls with minute rice😆 it works. Hey at about 1.00 a roll it's not bad. Usually has cucumber, avocado, spring onions, fine carrot. I either use suirmi leg in or smoked salmon on top. I also love, love, love a slice of jalepano on it. I've definitely made a few cheap rolls with minute rice.

LOL...I loved Julia Child too as a kid. Whenever I could I would watch her tv programs. She was a riot at times. I love Maangchi too.

I would chalk the pan swapping up to a lack of forethought in production. Like you said, could've easily been done in one pan if she did the shrimp and scallops first. Same with the lid, she probably added it to keep the rice warm while setting up for the next "scene". She has said in some of her early videos that the name "Maangchi" comes from her character name when she used to play MMORPGs. I think it was World of Warcraft but I don't remember exactly. My favorite way to make kimchi/Korean fried rice is when I have leftover sauce from making tteokbokki.

Enjoyed the video! Especially the little story about growing up! When I was younger I remember watching Julia Child and Anthony Bourdain on TV, along with other shows like Diners Drive Ins and Dives. It's one of the reasons I got into cooking, that and support from my family along with knowing my moms side of the family were either chefs or part of the food industry in some way, which was pretty neat. Been loving the videos! Keep it up! Would love to see frenchie make a return, perhaps reacting to Guga cook a bunch of food for some Sumo Wrestlers :)

Hey chef Brian. I read an article that one of New York Knick player Jalen Brunson’s five favorite place to go to after a game is Beauty & Essex.

Got to say growing up in potato/swede/turnip heavy Finland in the early 90's, I am a bit jealous or your childhood. Both Korean and Chinese food for days? We did get real, dark rye bread, with real butter, so I'm OK. :D

Do my Korean friends ever make a Kimchi omlette? I made a lot of omlettes during lockdown and one day thought to try it and it was amazing.

This is far from a Paella... So much complaining about mistakes in Asian cooking, like water in the rice, but then saying that this is Paella... oof

In our house, we saute the kimchi in sesame oil. I don't like cooking in sesame oil (as opposed to adding later), but this is the one exception. Don't need kimchi brine, I think you get plenty of the kimchi flavors when you saute it in oil, w/o overpowering the rice. The seafood is a bit much, I'd much rather use some pork (belly, sangyupsal), or just a couple of eggs. Gochujang... man I put some in my kimchi-chige and get a lot of flak from my relatives, so it's definitely controversial!

It is a one pot meal. One pot, one pan, one plate.

Just discovered your channel through your collab with Guga. This is the second video I've seen, and they give off MST3K (Mystery Science Theatre 3000) vibes. Keep it up. 👍

Im African American so correct me if I'm wrong but I thought Gochujang was like a hot pepper paste not soybean?

I’m Korean and don’t know any Koreans who own a wok 😅( though they could be out there…maybe Chinese food restaurateurs??) I think because we don’t have that high heat/oil fast cooking in tradition. It is a more slow soup/stew based cuisine, + grilling meat or fish + seasoned or fermented veg. My family’s kimchi rice is basically sesame oil, kimchi and rice (from the rice cooker, so pretty fresh?) it is better in the cast iron pan but that’s something we have from being in the US

Great video again! Love the Frankenstrat body behind you on the wall. Loved Eddie

I'm glad I'm not the only person who made flour/water dough as a kid and baked it! I ate it, too, and it was terrible 😂 Fast forward about 30 years and now I'm a pastry chef, lol

Not Korean but my partner comes from a Japanese family. If I ever tried to make their fried rice recipe with fresh cooked rice I wouldn’t be invited back to the family home

The roasts are strong in this video. 😄 And Maangchi makes incredible seafood stew! 🤤

You come to Korea. I lived in Seoul for 12 years.

When I make kimchi fried rice I use day old rice to make it since its how I make fried rice and its better for the grains to get separated, I too use gochugang to make kimchi fried rice but I used a gochugang compound butter for the fried rice and I learned it from Chef Deuki-Hong on Munchies and I was like hey thats good. I also like adding bacon in it and gochugaru and garnish with scallions, shredded nori, and of course a fried egg with a runny egg yolk which is the best part of kimchi fried rice (kimchi bokk-eumbab) really and its my favorite type of fried rice. Oh and I use homemade kimchi to make the bokk-eumbab and the juice as well and from the beginning of the year I've been making kimchi from scratch and use old sour kimchi for fried rice, kimchi jjigae, and Budae Jjigae.

Maangchii named herself after her City of Heroes Character.

I'm surprised you didn't pick up on Nigel calling gochujang "soy bean paste'.

I always used pre cooked rice since its dry and every grain is seperate from each other. You can use fresh made but u have to wait till they dry out else the rice will be sticky.

Yo Chef great vid! When you gonna drop the Beat Bobby Flay episode?

Using fresh rice for me is always a matter of convenience. I never planned to make fried rice the day before, or to use leftovers. The craving would just come and the brakes didn’t work.

When making Fried Rice a lot of the times I use fresh Rice but Cook it with less water and slightly under and then use a crazy hot Pan. That sears the Rice and it takes on flavor from soy and so on as I Cook it without ever getting gloopy. Seems to work for me.

No woks in Korea. I had to order a wok from Amazon US.

Chef Brian taking us to the gun show 💪

whether in restaurants or homes, it;s made this way. koreans dont "fry" the rice, it's more like warmed up and stirred with other ingredients.

I think Uncle Roger got confused with doenjang? Don't get so angry, Uncle Roger...it's okaaay. Maybe she felt out of place and it's why she had to change pans, she forgot to sear the seafood first, Idk. To be fair, her standard recipe for kimchi fried rice is more legit. This is probably the only one UR could sh*t on Lol All her recipes at home are 10/10.

Considering she is not in her home kitchen where she has all the ingredients needed to make traditional kimchi fried rice, its a compromise. After this video of uncle roger, he stopped uploading for a while because he made more obvious mistakes here compared to his reaction of italian fried rice. Not the first time he messed up.

My Korean wife and her family don’t always use old rice for bokeum-bap. My mother-in-law, who’s from Jeonju (an epicentre of Korean cuisine), said growing up during and after the war meant there was never leftovers. There simply wasn’t enough food. So, fresh rice was usually used and it stuck as their tradition. And Uncle Roger goofed. Gochujang is red pepper paste, not soy bean paste.

ive never tried kimchi but it looks delicious though :D shes made me wanna follow her recipe to try it nom nom! can i ask am i able to put chillis into it by any chance i love spicy meal :D

I didn't know about sour kimchi. That feels very helpful. Uncle Roger's line about "getting more sour w age like Auntie Helen" 💀

In theory, using day-old rice is best, but in my household, there is rarely any rice leftover from the day before; so we have to make fresh rice for Kimchi Fried rice.

Julia child was just mom. Love her.

If you don’t have kimchi juice I guess its kind of ok to use a little water, but I’d add more kimchi to makeup for it. But honestly I never add water.

I hate hot food with kimchi in it. It's a glorious salad, it tastes fresh, crunchy and invigorating. When you heat it up or even cook it, it just becomes mushy, sour saucy veggies. But if I had to eat kimchi fried rice, I think I would prefer it with gochujang and seafood for a deeper flavor profile.

The fresh rice must be a Korean thing cause we used fresh rice too dang xD and we didn't use woks either

I kind of want to see Brian and Frenchie react to the epic rap battle of Julia Child vs Gordon Ramsey. I suspect the back and forth would be amazing.

I'm white but basically grew up in a Thai kitchen. Some people use fresh rice, others swear by only old rice. It does seem to make a difference but can vary by the application

Its was a 1 pot 1 pan meal. Technically only 1 pot was used.

I feel Robin Williams based his Mrs. Doubtfire on The Legend Julia.

Ok!🤔

Dude, I still love the Frankenstrat body on your wall.

Hello Chef Brian! I would like to recommend the Uncle Roger tries different work. It was his content 2 years ago where he tries different occupation. If possible, it would be great if you can share yours like the coffee you take, shoe collection, and the likes. Hope you like Uncle Roger jobs.

Hey, day old rice is correct rice. I am white is crap but I cooked with both and there is no competition!

6:32 uhhh sour.... Define sour. Because as I understand sour, that sounds disgusting. Because sour is like sour candies. Food sour makes me think like sour milk. Aka spoiled. Aka bad. But if something is fermented then its different because its still good for consumption (usually).

Uncle Roger point out he made a mistake

kimchi fried rice needs spam

Believe me to put sea food like this it isn't also a paella...

10:47 technically she did use one pot, then she used one pan lmao

yeah 망치 means hammer!