Dinner Time Live with David Chang

Another Dinner Time Live.

We have two of the funniest people around,

comedians Jo Koy and Gabriel Iglesias aka Fluffy.

And, uh, this menu is gonna be a mash-up of...

uh...

-What are we gonna call it again? Oh. -It's called "menu mash-up."

-Original name. -Who would've thunk?

Um, Jo is Filipino,

and it's like, a mash-up already of Chinese, America, Spanish,

a little bit all over the place.

Fluffy, born in San Diego, grew up throughout California,

and, uh, I'm gonna unnecessarily merge Filipino and Mexican food together,

and do hopefully something that's delicious and fun.

Yeah, find some connections people didn't expect, I think.

Let's have a good service. Let's do this.

All right, welcome to another episode of Dinner Time Live.

I'm your host Dave Chang. We have Chris Ying.

And I'm looking at two of the funniest people I know,

and I've been watching you guys for a long time,

Jo Koy and Gabriel Iglesias aka Fluffy.

And, uh, I'm excited to cook...

-We're calling it a mash-up menu, right? - Yeah.

-Really, it's sort of just a normal menu. -Mm-hmm.

Uh, I'm trying to weave together the Southern California things

and Mexican-American things that you grew up eating.

And the Philippines have a rich culinary history

that's a mix of what? Chinese...

Spanish, American, hundreds of indigenous...

-Yeah, we got everything. -The original fusion.

And, uh, I'm gonna try to make you some things I've never made before,

even if it was just Filipino,

and, uh, thread the needle so it makes sense

'cause it's like, uh, one of those cartoon drawings, portraits of people

where I'm trying to merge the two of you guys together in one meal.

-I love it. -Sounds like our management.

-Through food. -Through food.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we'll see if I'm successful or not. All I hope is that it's super delicious.

And right now...

um...

I have for you...

These are inspired by Mariscos Jalisco. I don't know if you've been to...

Had their tacos.

This is a version of my interpretation of their tacos de camaron.

And, uh... But it's got some Asian elements in there as well.

Uh, and this is a dipping sauce of vinegar and ginger and soy.

They're a little temperature hot, but, also, uh,

-I'm cooking them this way as well... - I don't care how hot it is.

The hotter, the better.

-And ask Gabe. Gabe knows. - Really?

-I'll send it back. Yeah. -If it's not...?

-I don't believe in lukewarm soup. -It has to be on fire.

Like, I don't understand that. That's a drink.

-I'm happy you're here. -Give it to me hot.

I wanna burn my fingertip. I want my tongue to, like, feel heat.

Don't make it feel like you just warmed this shit up.

Or put it in the air fryer.

Everyone looks at me like a crazy person. Earning the right to eat something tasty.

I know the food's good when the cook goes like this. "Ah, fuck."

Give me what he just got. Give me that blister.

I'm being serious too. He knows.

When the soup comes to the table and I don't have to blow on it,

I can't eat this.

- I've seen him send food back. -I just want it hot.

-Make it hot. -I'm sorry I'm interrupting you,

but I just want to make this clear to everyone.

Like, I appreciate the chef making the food.

Right? Maybe it sat under the lamp a little too long.

I'm not offended.

I don't want the chef to be mad at me. You can stick it in the microwave.

I'm serious. I'm not offending the chef.

I just want the shit hot.

Listen, I have no problem if, today,

when I make your food and it's not hot enough,

no offense if you you're like, "Put it in the microwave."

Good. This is hot. This is hot.

I think, Chang, you can show him the true meaning of "hot."

Well, you know, again, I am in the same camp.

I like to eat things...

I like to almost...

-Burning my mouth is okay, right? - Yeah.

'Cause I feel like I'm...

-My mouth is burning right now. -

I'm the kind of guy that blows on my food while it's in my mouth.

And that's when I'm blowing, feels like a heater's coming out of my mouth.

This is a first.

Usually, when I'm making food for guests,

I have to warn them it's hot,

but I have to taste it while it's ripping hot

-because I gotta know if it's good. - I still appreciate the warning.

I already know that someone here is part X-Men.

-Like, seriously... These are hot. - Yeah.

- These are hot. -Yeah, they're amazing.

Jo, can you demonstrate blowing on it while it's in your mouth?

No, you just go like... Well, now this is kind of cooled down.

This is what I do right here, and I'm not even joking.

-Go ahead. - I go like this.

Yeah, that's the move. That's the move!

-That's the move. Exactly. - All right.

I love it, man. That's how you're supposed to eat.

So you were gonna explain

why you're starting this fusion menu with this.

Because when I have...

If you haven't been to Mariscos Jalisco, you should have the real thing.

But when I tasted it the first time,

it reminded me of, like, a Cantonese dim sum, right?

A shrimp farce.

So this has minced shrimp, uh, some potato starch, some cilantro,

a couple other things,

and, you know, I wanted to do something that was, again, a merger of you guys.

And if I just served it like this,

and if I had square or rectangle wrappers,

I could have made it maybe like a lumpia, right?

So this is my first dish for you guys.

-Thank you. -So far, so good. I like the combo.

-You don't have to eat all of these. -Well, I don't wanna offend you.

So let's just see how hot this is.

Don't show off. You see that?

As if all his fingertips are made out of callus.

He just grabbed it, like you're a Cirque du Soleil character.

-"Try this." -It's hot.

- This is my mutant powers. -It is.

- It's hot as hell, though. -Yeah, you can see it.

Look at that. See that?

See the oil bubbling?

And then look at my fucking fingertips. See that?

This ass went like this:

"Try it."

-"Try it. Try it now." -I can't let Jo show me up.

-Um, the second course... - Can I ask you a question?

-Oui, chef. - Okay.

I always wanted to ask this.

Is oil and salt considered to be a spice as well?

I mean, spice as in, is it a flavor for you?

When you're cooking, you're like, "This oil right here."

-"This salt." -Hundred percent.

-Really? -Yes.

Okay, so that ends an argument

with everybody I've had this argument with.

- But you agree? -Oh, I fucking say it all the time.

Oil is a spice.

-Fat is flavor, number one. Oil is a fat. -Yes!

Can you say that again?

-Go ahead. -Fat is flavor.

-And you taste good. -Yeah!

-And you taste... good! -Get some good stuff here.

It really is.

And it's a great vehicle for different things, and oil is fat,

and there's different kinds of oil, right?

And, uh, peanut oil tastes different.

We're cooking with some grapeseed oil today, olive oil.

-You can go on. - Thank you.

Anybody that says fat or oil doesn't have flavor, they're dumb.

Yeah, but can you also confirm salt for me, please?

This will end a debate.

So let me give you the logic on this. Uh...

Most people that are adults understand beers and wines and beverages

taste different around the world because of the locale and terroir.

-Same thing happens with salts, right? - Yeah.

You have different mineral compositions around the world,

so salt will taste different wherever you are.

So to say that salt doesn't have...

Or is, like, the same flavor around the world, they're wrong as well.

We don't...

This guy...

Is this my camera?

-I'm so happy that you guys are like... -Fuck you. I'm right.

-Who are you speaking to? -They know who they are.

Name one person. Name one person.

-If I do, then they get camera time. -

And you got to earn this spot.

Took me 35 years to say "fuck you" live.

No, but it is a debate. I'm pretty sure you've had it.

-No or yes? - Uh...

-Not really? -Not really.

No one's ever asked you if salt was a spice?

I'm the first one to ever say this?

I don't know if it's a spice, but it has different properties and flavors.

-Yeah. -Okay.

You big on Himalayan rock salt?

Himalayan rock salt is nice. It definitely looks pretty.

It does look pretty.

But I mean, you know, for me, I like the flaky...

-I don't like the iodized. - No, no, that's garbage.

I don't like to say garbage, but I don't wanna taste that.

Kosher salt, clearly, there's different kinds of kosher salt.

But, uh, Maldon is something that people use a lot.

There's all kinds of salt. We...

We're gonna ruin everyone's day if we just talked about salt all day.

Can I just draw attention to one of the most Filipino things

I've ever seen happen, Jo just took it upon himself

to make himself a little vinegar dipping sauce.

-Just went for it. -Yeah, vinegar and soy sauce, classic.

Can you explain why vinegar's so important in Filipino culture?

I think vinegar is very important because, uh, one,

it keeps the meats longer when you're broke, you know what I mean?

If you're in a broke country, uh,

you do what's best with what you guys have, right?

So I think vinegar is something that they use

to, like, also keep the meat longer.