When making a spicy fried chicken sandwich at home you need to make a lot of decisions. Picking your chicken filet, the buns, sauces, toppings, condiments, and more—everything has to work in harmony to produce the perfect bite. Andrew Rea (AKA Babish) breaks down every decision he makes when whipping up his ultimate juicy and crispy spicy fried chicken sandwich.Andrew Rea's cookbook, Basics With Babish, publishes on October 24. Preorder here.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 When you're making a spicy fried chicken sandwich at home,
00:03 you need to make a lot of decisions.
00:07 You need to pick your chicken, buns, sauces,
00:09 your toppings, condiments, and so many more.
00:11 Some ingredients can make your chicken
00:13 juicy, crispy, and delicious,
00:14 while others can make it dry, pallid, or soggy.
00:17 My name is Andrew Ray, AKA Babish,
00:19 and this is every decision I make
00:21 when whipping up my ultimate spicy fried chicken sandwich.
00:24 When I'm taking my first bite
00:25 of a spicy fried chicken sandwich,
00:27 I want it to be crispy first and foremost,
00:29 then juicy, then flavorful, in that order.
00:32 If you want the ultimate fried chicken sandwich experience,
00:35 you need to be intentional
00:37 in picking each step of the process,
00:39 starting with arguably the most important step,
00:41 [dramatic music]
00:43 chicken.
00:44 Even though these are all chicken,
00:46 they're gonna yield a different product
00:47 with a different moisture content, fat content,
00:49 texture, flavor, and overall quality.
00:52 There are some objectively right and wrong answers
00:54 on this table.
00:55 Let's start with the wrongest answer,
00:57 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs.
00:59 These would make for great fried chicken,
01:01 but I'm not sure if you've ever tried to eat
01:02 a sandwich with a bone in it.
01:04 It's not gonna go your way.
01:05 Very typical to leave skin on when making fried chicken,
01:08 but in a sandwich situation,
01:11 you might just pull the whole thing out
01:12 and embarrass yourself in front of your entire church.
01:16 Next wrongest option are these guys.
01:18 These are processed.
01:22 They might be made from white meat,
01:23 but it's all chopped up and formed into a patty.
01:25 This is not one piece of breast.
01:27 This tastes exactly like the entirety
01:30 of a high school cafeteria.
01:32 The furniture, the milk.
01:34 So it's kind of nostalgic in that way.
01:35 It's kind of fun, but pretty gross otherwise.
01:38 Now onto chicken breast tenders.
01:40 It's this sort of little channel of meat
01:43 that runs barely connected to the rest of the breast.
01:45 This could be a good solution
01:47 if you stacked three of these together,
01:48 and if you stack some mozzarella sticks in there
01:50 for like extra credit, you get an A in my class.
01:52 I'm not gonna go with that
01:53 because I think it might not be the best option.
01:55 Chicken breast versus chicken thigh.
01:57 Perfectly viable options for a fried chicken sandwich.
02:00 What you're gonna get over here with the chicken thigh
02:02 is you're gonna get a really moist,
02:04 more chicken flavor forward patty.
02:07 This is a great option.
02:08 Next up, the breast.
02:09 This has no fat content, virtually no flavor content.
02:13 If you overcook this by a whisper,
02:14 it's gonna cook up really, really dry.
02:16 That being said, deep frying is an ideal environment
02:19 to cook chicken breast because it's getting cooked quickly
02:22 and at not too crazy a temperature.
02:24 If you just drop this straight in oil, it'd be terrible.
02:26 With the breading, it's got this shell around it
02:29 that's going to keep it from getting stringy and dry,
02:31 and you're gonna end up with a moist, juicy piece of chicken.
02:35 I think this is what I'm gonna go with today.
02:37 Before we turn these into a sandwich,
02:38 we have to address their thickness.
02:39 These are already pretty thin breasts,
02:41 so all we really need to do with them, I think,
02:44 is pound them out.
02:45 That is both to tenderize them,
02:48 to even out their thickness so that they cook evenly,
02:51 and those two things.
02:53 So this is the chicken I'm gonna be using
02:55 for my spicy fried chicken sandwich.
02:58 But before I can bread and cook it, I have to brine it.
03:01 Brining accomplishes three main things.
03:06 Helps the chicken stay moist, it imbues it with flavor,
03:10 and it tenderizes it.
03:11 So I'm gonna make a brine.
03:12 The base of my brine is buttermilk.
03:15 First off, it has a pleasant tang,
03:17 and it has enzymes in it that are gonna break down
03:20 some of the proteins or something in the chicken
03:23 and help make it more tender.
03:24 Pickle brine, how good does that sound?
03:26 Fried chicken with pickle flavor in it.
03:28 Like, that's awesome.
03:29 The only thing you wanna make sure that you got right
03:31 is your salinity.
03:31 You wanna make sure there's a good amount of salt,
03:33 not too much, not too little.
03:34 But I'm still gonna eyeball it, so whatever.
03:37 Then I've got a little dash of hot sauce here.
03:39 Cayenne pepper is borderline flavorless,
03:42 but it's extraordinarily spicy.
03:43 Because this brine is going to go on
03:46 to be the liquid element of our breading,
03:49 I wanna throw an egg in there.
03:50 Let's just add structure.
03:51 So now, chicken goes in here.
03:54 I wouldn't go less than like four hours on this.
03:56 One day I think is ideal, overnight ideal.
03:58 So here's my chicken that's brining for my chicken sandwich.
04:02 Now, an essential element of any fried chicken sandwich is
04:06 the breading.
04:09 We're breading because we obviously want
04:12 our chicken sandwich to be crispy.
04:14 If I ordered a fried chicken sandwich
04:15 and there were no breading on it,
04:16 I would be, to say the least, confused,
04:19 and say the most, offended.
04:20 We have lots of different options.
04:22 Let's roll through 'em.
04:23 We have plain breadcrumbs.
04:25 It's a very, very fine-grained breadcrumb.
04:28 This'll work in a pinch.
04:29 It's, you know, it's bread, and you're frying it.
04:32 That's delicious.
04:33 It's gonna be fine,
04:34 but it's not bringing enough personality to the party,
04:37 and I don't think it's gonna make our chicken crispy enough.
04:39 Next up, we have panko.
04:40 This is a strong contender.
04:42 Panko is a lighter, airier, Japanese-style breadcrumb.
04:46 It's going to create a wonderfully crisp crust,
04:49 but let's keep going.
04:50 We have good old-fashioned flour.
04:52 This is the classic way to go to make fried chicken,
04:55 particularly Nashville hot chicken,
04:57 so this is a tempting option.
04:58 Next up, we have flaming hot Cheetos,
05:01 which we contractually have to do because of the internet,
05:03 but the cameras are horizontal.
05:05 We're not making TikToks here,
05:06 so I'm not gonna make a freaking flaming hot Cheeto
05:11 breaded mozzarella stick.
05:13 Whatever, [beep] fest.
05:16 Then we have seasoned breadcrumbs.
05:18 These are the same as the ones over there yonder,
05:21 but they have usually Italian seasonings in them.
05:24 Not only is it the same texture
05:26 as the plain unseasoned breadcrumbs over here,
05:29 but these spices, they're gonna be directly exposed
05:33 to the heat, which is gonna burn them,
05:34 and they also have a flavor profile
05:36 that I'm not going for in this sandwich.
05:37 Then we got corn flakes, which is a very fun option.
05:39 Hell, they even have a picture of fried chicken
05:41 on the back of the box.
05:42 This is a great way to add bigger flakes of crunch.
05:45 If I'm going to use this,
05:47 I'm gonna crunch it up like that
05:51 so that it's more of an element of the breading
05:53 rather than these big old honkin' flakes stickin' out.
05:56 We have one more option to consider, and that is batter,
05:58 and that's a very tempting option,
06:00 but it's not crunchy.
06:02 It's crispy.
06:03 It's not as crunchy.
06:05 So here's what I'm thinking.
06:06 My favorite spicy fried chicken is Nashville-style.
06:09 I don't think I can use panko
06:10 as much as I really, truly want to.
06:12 I am sure I would incur the wrath
06:14 of the entire state of Tennessee.
06:17 Instead, what I'm gonna do
06:19 is I'm going to do a flour breading,
06:20 and I'm going to crush up some cornflakes in there
06:23 for a little added crunch.
06:24 So let's do that.
06:25 We have this lovely combination of milk and eggs right here
06:29 that the chicken has bean brining in.
06:31 And just to add a little bit of crunch,
06:33 I'm going to supplement my flour
06:37 with some crunched up cornflakes.
06:39 I'm just gonna season it with salt and pepper.
06:41 Layer of flavors, always a good idea.
06:43 The other thing that we're gonna do
06:45 to make sure that the crust of our chicken
06:47 is craggly and filled with nooks and crannies
06:50 of crispy delights,
06:51 stir a bit of our liquid right into the batter.
06:56 This is going to create flakes of breading
06:59 that are going to give us a crispier, more robust crust.
07:02 Now, straight into the flour.
07:03 We're really well coated there, but we're not done.
07:06 We're gonna double bread these suckers.
07:08 So by doubling it up, we're doubling the crisp.
07:10 Look at how textured this is.
07:13 That's gonna fry up super crispy.
07:14 That's what I like to see,
07:15 a sort of wrinkled, craggled surface.
07:18 That is going to translate to an epic crust.
07:21 There we go.
07:22 This is my marinated and breaded chicken.
07:25 Next up, we have to choose
07:27 our buns.
07:30 I want it to be dense and kind of toothsome.
07:32 I really like, you know, kind of a chewy,
07:34 something not too flavorful,
07:35 definitely not crumbly or dry.
07:38 Waffles are an interesting pick,
07:40 but these don't age terribly well.
07:42 After you've made the fresh, hot, crisp waffle,
07:45 it turns into something a little bit more floppy
07:48 and dense and chewy.
07:49 Biscuits, another novel idea.
07:51 A primary characteristic of biscuits is crumbliness.
07:54 These degrade very quickly.
07:55 These were probably relatively tasty fresh out of the oven.
07:58 Now they're kind of ricked.
08:00 Then we have potato hamburger rolls.
08:03 I like potato rolls versus just straight up wheat buns
08:06 because they tend to have like a sort of chewier,
08:09 more toothsome texture, which is what I want in a sandwich.
08:12 These guys are totally acceptable,
08:14 but for the size of the chicken that we're working with,
08:17 I think a little insubstantial.
08:19 Normie hamburger buns.
08:20 These are still pretty chewy, but like not quite.
08:22 They're very insubstantial.
08:24 I feel like if they got too much moisture on them,
08:25 they'd fall apart or they'd compress into nothing.
08:28 Then last but not least, brioche,
08:29 which normally I can't stand behind
08:32 when it comes to burgers especially,
08:34 but also fried chicken sandwiches.
08:35 A little more acceptable with fried chicken.
08:37 With burgers, I'm just not a fan.
08:38 They're too sweet.
08:40 They're too rich.
08:40 However, hear me out.
08:43 This is the right size.
08:44 This is the size I'm going for.
08:45 I got those big chicken breasts.
08:47 They're huge.
08:48 They're gonna contract a little bit when they cook,
08:49 but they're still gonna be a big old thing.
08:50 If I try to put those on these,
08:52 it's gonna look cartoonish.
08:54 I'll be made a fool of.
08:55 And we're making this super duper, duper spicy.
08:58 A fatty, sweet roll actually plays pretty nice with it.
09:03 I think this can stand up to it, especially if we toast it.
09:05 Normally not my top pick at all,
09:07 but on this table, this is the move.
09:10 Next up, we gotta toast our buns.
09:11 This is an essential step in sandwich and burger craft alike.
09:14 It helps protect the bun from moisture.
09:17 It adds flavor.
09:18 It adds texture.
09:19 Why isn't there a toaster on this table?
09:20 I'll tell you why.
09:21 I don't wanna toast both sides of the bread.
09:24 I just want the interior toasted.
09:26 If we toast both sides, that might dry it out.
09:29 These guys into a heated cast iron pan,
09:33 nonstick skillet, whatever you wanna use.
09:35 We got a little smoke going here.
09:37 Oh, wow.
09:37 Okay, that's perfect.
09:38 This thing runs hot.
09:39 Let these sit, cut side up on your countertop,
09:42 or if you really wanna prevent them from getting soggy,
09:44 you can throw them on a rack.
09:45 Here's the buns, all toasted and ready to go.
09:48 So now we've picked out our bun,
09:49 but what's going on that bun?
09:51 Sauce it.
09:54 Our chicken is going to be extremely flavorful.
09:57 Any sauces that we're gonna add
09:59 shouldn't be stealing the spotlight.
10:01 So we need a texture and a flavor
10:03 that are gonna play nice
10:05 with the big ones that we got going on.
10:06 Honey mustard and fried chicken go together
10:09 like honey mustard and fried chicken.
10:10 They're a classic and timeless combination
10:13 that I'm not gonna be exploring in this sandwich.
10:14 I prefer that more in a chicken fingers scenario.
10:17 Ranch, it could totally work,
10:19 but very strong flavors in the opposite direction,
10:22 which can be a good thing,
10:23 but I think this is a bridge too far.
10:24 If it's bottled, it's gonna be a little runny too,
10:26 so you're gonna have a drippy situation going on here.
10:28 So I probably wouldn't go with ranch.
10:31 Ketchup, eh, I don't think so.
10:34 I feel like it just classes down the sandwich
10:36 pretty immediately.
10:37 Frank's Red Hot, way too thin.
10:38 If you put this directly on your sandwich,
10:40 again, you're gonna have a very drippy situation,
10:42 which some people like, I don't.
10:43 I would sprinkle this on after the fact
10:45 if your chicken sandwich was too dry and flavorless.
10:47 Hopefully we won't need that.
10:49 Then onto the question of mayo.
10:52 I love mayo on a fried chicken sandwich.
10:53 It's kind of part and parcel
10:55 with almost every fried chicken sandwich.
10:57 Mayo is adding fat to the situation, creaminess.
11:00 It's just a great sort of accompaniment
11:03 to the crunch and to the spice.
11:05 Hellmann's, totally acceptable.
11:07 [crunching]
11:09 Egg yolks, oil, mustard, and spices.
11:12 That's what it tastes like, solid.
11:14 The same cannot be said for Sir Kensington's.
11:17 Oh, oh, oh, oh my God, that's so [beep] gross.
11:24 There's a fishy element to it.
11:25 There's like a basement must going on.
11:28 This would detract from whatever you put it on.
11:31 I definitely want mayo on my sandwich,
11:33 but I think I'm gonna make my own
11:34 because that's gonna make something
11:36 head and shoulders above anything you can get at the store.
11:39 Mayonnaise made from raw eggs.
11:43 The sort of general rule of thumb that I like to use
11:46 is to hit the egg with the same amount of force
11:48 that it would receive if you were to drop it from about here.
11:51 What is this, about 36 inches, three feet roughly?
11:55 Whop, you lose a little bit, but I got a shell in there.
12:00 Don't listen to me, I don't know what I'm talking about.
12:02 And when you drop it like that,
12:03 you're getting a little splatter.
12:04 If you just hit it with that amount of force,
12:07 you're gonna get a nice clean crack.
12:09 Now we're gonna add half a clove of garlic,
12:11 the juice of half a lemon, probably gonna do that much.
12:15 Some sugar, need a little bit of salt in there,
12:17 and Dijon mustard.
12:19 An essential part of this recipe
12:21 is that you need a blender cup
12:22 that's virtually the same width
12:25 as the head of the immersion blender.
12:26 You want there to be very, very little play
12:28 on the sides of the container.
12:29 That's how you're gonna create this little vortex in there
12:32 that emulsifies together the oil and the egg
12:35 and creates a thick, creamy mayonnaise.
12:38 So first, we're gonna blitz this a little bit,
12:40 just to liquefy the garlic and beat up the eggs.
12:42 Perfect.
12:43 And slowly, carefully pour two cups of oil.
12:47 This is a neutral flavored vegetable, canola.
12:50 If you over-process olive oil, it can become bitter.
12:52 So you don't wanna use olive oil.
12:54 It's also just too flavorful.
12:56 So we're gonna start by processing at the bottom,
12:58 and then we're gonna sort of slowly pulse our way up.
13:00 [blender whirring]
13:03 Now this is homemade mayonnaise.
13:09 It's the only mayonnaise that I would eat
13:14 on its own like that.
13:15 Here's the mayo I'm using for my fried chicken sandwich.
13:18 Next up, toppings.
13:20 Somebody had a gong?
13:26 Does a spicy fried chicken sandwich need toppings?
13:29 Not necessarily.
13:31 We don't want it to add any sort of slipperiness
13:33 or structural instability.
13:35 Anything that we're gonna add
13:37 should make the sandwich greater than the sum of its parts,
13:40 not safeguard against its shortcomings.
13:43 First up, we have lettuce.
13:44 I don't know why we put lettuce on sandwiches.
13:46 It adds a little pop of color, really not much flavor.
13:51 I don't think it's necessary.
13:55 Cabbage, the precursor to slaw.
13:58 Certainly not gonna put just whole slabs of cabbage on there
14:01 when we're out of our minds.
14:02 Shredded and mixed together with a little bit of mayo
14:04 and some spices, this can be a wonderful accompaniment
14:07 to a spicy fried chicken sandwich
14:09 because it's gonna add some tang
14:11 and sort of cool things off.
14:13 And that would be nice,
14:14 but it's kind of over-complicating things.
14:17 I'm not sure I would want it on my perfect sandwich.
14:19 I'm gonna stay away from tomatoes.
14:21 They tend to be pretty slippery,
14:23 and I also feel like they're a crutch.
14:25 I feel like this is something you lean on
14:27 if you're like, "Ah, I'm just putting cold cuts
14:29 "on this bread.
14:30 "I need something on there."
14:31 Avocado, another crutch, I think, on sandwiches.
14:33 This is something that's going to add a bit of moisture,
14:36 some softness, a lot of fat,
14:37 and designate the sandwich California style.
14:40 Virtually every fried chicken sandwich
14:41 is enhanced with pickles.
14:43 If you don't want pickles on your sandwich,
14:46 that is your right,
14:47 but they are a wonderful accompaniment to fried chicken,
14:50 especially spicy fried chicken
14:52 because they're a hit of acid,
14:53 they're a little bit more crunched.
14:54 They just play really nice with all the flavors,
14:56 particularly bread and butter.
14:57 Sweet pickles, these have a lot of sugar in them,
15:00 so they're gonna add a nice sort of layer of sweetness
15:02 to the whole affair.
15:03 So that's why I'm definitely gonna go pickles.
15:06 Jalapeno peppers, wholly unnecessary.
15:08 All the heat that we need is gonna be coming
15:09 from the spice mixture that we're gonna brush
15:11 on the chicken after the fact.
15:13 All in all, it's super classic to put just pickles
15:17 and mayo on a fried chicken sandwich and nothing else,
15:19 and that's pretty much the direction that I'm headed.
15:21 Here's the only topping I'm using
15:22 for my fried chicken sandwich.
15:23 So now it's time to deep fry, but with what?
15:26 [dramatic music]
15:29 Oil.
15:32 So we're deep frying because that is the way
15:33 to get things the crispiest on this planet.
15:36 Direct contact with oil is what makes them crisp.
15:39 This is an opportunity to add a little bit of flavor,
15:42 not too much.
15:43 So first up we have unrefined coconut oil.
15:46 This is a wholly inappropriate option for deep frying.
15:49 First off, because unrefined coconut oil
15:51 has a smoke point around 280 degrees Fahrenheit,
15:54 we're gonna be exceeding that by nearly 100 degrees.
15:57 So you're gonna end up with a big smoking pot
15:59 of acrid oil.
16:00 That's not the direction we wanna go in.
16:02 Next up, peanut oil.
16:03 This is my favorite way to go.
16:05 I feel like foods fry up a little browner,
16:08 a little crispier, and there's no distinct peanut flavor,
16:11 but it does impart just a richer, bitter flavor.
16:15 It's just the best frying oil, unless of course
16:18 you have a deathly peanut allergy.
16:19 Next up we have lard, and especially
16:21 for Nashville hot chicken, this is the fat of choice.
16:24 You can't do much better for just pure,
16:27 unctuous, rich, savory flavor.
16:31 I mean, you're deep frying in pork fat, pure pork fat.
16:34 It's amazing.
16:36 Next up we have schmaltz.
16:37 I wouldn't deep fry this.
16:38 This is chicken fat dripping, so it is completely delicious,
16:43 but I'm guessing if you heated this past
16:45 300 degrees Fahrenheit, it would start smoking,
16:46 'cause there's so much particulate in it.
16:48 I mean, look at it.
16:49 You can't even see through it.
16:50 I believe the smoke point for extra virgin olive oil
16:52 is 410 degrees Fahrenheit, so it's not gonna smoke on us.
16:56 It's got a very strong olive oil flavor,
16:58 and it's gonna make your fried food taste like that too,
17:00 just not ideal for fried chicken, and it's expensive.
17:04 How much was this, 25 bucks?
17:06 And this isn't even enough.
17:07 Then we got pure vegetable oil.
17:09 This is a very fine option.
17:10 It is a little less flavorful than the peanut.
17:13 It doesn't brown quite as well as the peanut,
17:15 but it's an excellent deep frying oil.
17:17 This and canola, any neutral flavored oil like those.
17:20 Today, I'm gonna do something a little wild.
17:23 I'm gonna do a mixture of peanut oil and lard,
17:25 so we can get a lot of that lard flavor
17:28 and still get the great frying properties of peanut oil
17:30 by combining the two.
17:32 So to deep fry chicken, you don't need a deep fryer.
17:34 That's great if you have one,
17:35 but a Dutch oven with a candy thermometer will do just fine.
17:39 I'm gonna start with the lard.
17:40 It's over 3,000 calories in this little tub.
17:42 To that lard, I'm going to add peanut oil,
17:45 so I'm gonna get some of the great characteristics of both.
17:47 The more oil you have,
17:48 the less it's gonna cool off when you add the chicken.
17:51 The target temperature that we're shooting for
17:53 in this pot is 375.
17:55 You wanna grab the chicken by its thinnest point,
17:57 so you lose the least amount of breading.
18:00 You wanna gently drop it in and drop it away from you,
18:03 so if there's any splash, it's not coming at you.
18:05 I'm looking for a deep golden brown crust.
18:09 There we go.
18:11 Oh, already, already looking crispy.
18:14 Oh yeah, buddy.
18:18 That's looking right.
18:20 Here we go, gently in and away.
18:24 Yeah, the spray that just shot off this thing,
18:30 it's like a little sea wall.
18:31 And so what we have here are double-breaded,
18:34 ultra-crispy chicken breasts,
18:36 golden brown, ready for the spice element.
18:38 One decision that I'm firm on
18:40 is I want this to be really spicy,
18:42 and I think there's no better way to do that
18:44 than Nashville hot chicken style.
18:46 The only real difference between fried chicken
18:48 and Nashville hot chicken is after it's been cooked,
18:50 it's brushed with a hot, fat, spice mixture.
18:53 So that's what we're gonna do right now.
18:54 We're starting with light brown sugar, paprika.
18:58 This looks like it's the smoked variety,
18:59 which is gonna be interesting.
19:00 Garlic powder, cayenne pepper.
19:02 This stuff is hot.
19:04 We have this nice spice and sugar mixture, mostly spice.
19:07 Now, the fun part, we're going to ladle
19:09 some of our wonderful lard and oil mixture,
19:12 which is still super-duper hot, right over top.
19:15 (liquid pouring)
19:17 Got that going, let's whisk that together.
19:18 Ooh.
19:20 The hot oil not only toasts the spices,
19:22 I believe if it's hot,
19:24 less of it's going to be absorbed into the crust.
19:27 I think it's gonna help the crust stay crisp, I think.
19:29 Let's make this chicken angry.
19:32 Just brush that hot, fat, spice mixture right over top.
19:36 Look how angry that looks, oh my.
19:39 This is the kind of chicken
19:40 that makes you panic sweat, you know?
19:43 Like, oh, (beep)
19:44 I made a mistake.
19:45 All right, chicken's ready for my chicken sandwich.
19:48 All right, we got all of our pieces,
19:49 now let's put 'em together.
19:51 First, bun, duh.
19:55 Grab our crispy chicken, nice.
19:58 I like that it's overlaid, honestly, I like that.
20:00 I'm gonna hit this guy with the mayo, don't be shy.
20:03 Throw some pickles down on the chicken itself,
20:06 just because that's what I'm gonna do.
20:09 Come here, you crazy diamond.
20:14 My spicy fried chicken sandwich.
20:16 It's like theatrical, it's dramatic.
20:19 I'm gonna get a little of everything,
20:20 but first I have to eat through this nubbin.
20:22 It is flavorful, it is tender, it is spicy.
20:33 It is crispy on the outside.
20:35 The mayo brings a nice sort of like,
20:37 creamy balance to it, pickles are nice.
20:40 The brioche, I take it back, that was great.
20:43 It's rich, it's buttery, it's sweet,
20:45 and it's such a nice counterpart.
20:47 Wow, I'm pro brioche when it comes
20:49 to spicy chicken sandwiches, here I am,
20:51 eating my words, literally.
20:54 Everybody's working together nicely here,
20:55 even the bun, which I was incredulous about at best.
20:59 This is symphonic.
21:00 We definitely have some cooking lessons
21:02 to take away from this, but my biggest one is flexibility.
21:05 You need to be able to work with what you got,
21:06 you need to be able to pivot,
21:07 so that if things don't go quite your way,
21:10 it still turns out awesome.
21:11 These are my decisions, this is how I make
21:13 my spicy fried chicken sandwich.
21:14 How do you make yours?
21:15 That's up to you.
21:16 Come here.
21:20 Oh, this is the most embarrassing thing
21:21 in my professional career.
21:23 No, leave it in.
21:26 Leave it in.