In this edition of Street Eats, Bon Appétit joins chef Lucas Sin at Elvis Suki in Bangkok to try their Michelin-rated street food, from their signature sukiyaki to their famous chargrilled scallops.
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00:00 (metal clanging)
00:02 We're on the outskirts of Chinatown in Bangkok
00:05 here at Elvis Suki, which is a restaurant
00:07 well known for the Thai style sukiyaki.
00:09 But before we get into that, we're gonna take a look
00:11 at some charcoal grilled scallops in the kitchen.
00:13 This is the scallop station.
00:19 Two charcoal grills, raging hot charcoal
00:22 underneath this custom little scallop plate
00:25 and one of the most delectable things about this restaurant.
00:28 Inside the scallop is a little bit of margarine,
00:31 a little bit of sweet marinated pork
00:33 and a secret green cilantro sauce.
00:36 It's a very central Thai Bangkok flavor
00:38 and that flavor today is going to be sweetness.
00:41 These are the standard scallops that Thai restaurants get.
00:44 These nice small-ish scallops are quite dense
00:47 and sweet in and of their own right,
00:49 but the addition of the margarine and the sweetened pork
00:52 makes a really, really special dish.
00:54 When Western chefs are gonna ask you to cook scallops,
00:57 they're looking for a nice brown sear.
00:58 This is not gonna sear, it's really seething
01:00 in its own juices.
01:02 We're keeping it moist with a little bit
01:04 additional margarine and flipping them
01:06 to get both sides nice and even and cooked.
01:08 A little bit of that margarine is dripped
01:10 directly into the charcoal so it flares up,
01:12 perfuming scallops with that smoky charcoal flavor.
01:16 They're nice and cooked when the scallops
01:18 have begun to shrink.
01:20 The pork is fully cooked, but the inside
01:22 is nice and tender and juicy.
01:25 (speaking in foreign language)
01:28 Gorgeous.
01:29 Look at this.
01:32 That's the flame being licked into the scallop.
01:35 Now, the scallop itself, nice and tight,
01:37 they give you the organ as well,
01:40 as well as the skirt for a little bit of chew,
01:42 so there's a little bit of textural contrast.
01:43 And this pork, a little bit similar to
01:46 the beginnings of Thai sausage.
01:48 It has water in it to pump it up
01:50 and also has a lot of sugar, salt, and MSG.
01:53 And this nam chum seafood here is an amazing dipping sauce.
01:56 Garlic, fish sauce, lime juice, chilies,
01:58 and second of all, the sweet plum sauce.
02:01 It's so sweet.
02:06 It's almost like dessert.
02:08 The spiciness really bounces out,
02:10 but the texture of that scallop is quite perfect.
02:12 The minute you open up one of these scallops,
02:14 you smell the sweetness.
02:16 You get a little bit of that earthiness
02:17 from the organs on the side.
02:19 It's an amazing bite.
02:23 It's a good nectar.
02:24 So good.
02:27 So, those are their famous scallops,
02:30 but that's not what this restaurant is named after.
02:32 What they're known for,
02:34 what they've been well awarded for, is sukiyaki.
02:37 We're just gonna go into the kitchen
02:39 while they're making it.
02:40 Let's go check it out.
02:41 This is actually reminiscent of
02:45 an outdoors Chinese style kitchen.
02:47 All the mise en place is ready.
02:49 Chinese celery, scallion, glass noodles,
02:51 napa cabbage, a little bit of marinated beef.
02:54 All of this comes together with a bowl of suki sauce.
02:57 Eggs with Chinese style fermented tofu.
03:00 And the whole thing is basically stir frying
03:02 with a little bit of suki sauce.
03:04 Suki sauce with the egg, a little bit like an egg drop.
03:11 Let those vegetables begin to soften.
03:14 The meat is already water-velveted and poached.
03:17 The egg and the sukiyaki sauce
03:19 are gonna bind the glass noodles into the vegetable.
03:23 Very quick cook, and it comes together
03:25 in a matter of one or two minutes.
03:27 Here's the dish that this restaurant is named after.
03:31 And the most important part of this, suki sauce.
03:34 This is why we know this is a Chinese dish,
03:36 a Thai-Chinese dish, is the fermented bean curd,
03:39 also known as the fu ruk.
03:40 Beautiful red, also sweet, but deep and savory.
03:45 But that savoriness comes from the fermented bean curd,
03:48 fermented tofu.
03:49 The easiest way to describe it is a type of cheese.
03:51 The chilies are bright, fruity spice.
03:54 The sesame for that little bit of nuttiness.
03:56 And a little bit of that oyster sauce.
03:57 All of those tastes hit.
03:59 They're soaked glass noodles made from mung bean,
04:05 mung bean starch.
04:06 A little bit of a crunch from the napa cabbage.
04:09 The beef is nice and slippery as well.
04:10 Classic Cantonese water-velveting technique.
04:13 A little bit of celery for that herbaceousness.
04:15 Some scallions for that onion herbaceousness.
04:18 And very solid watay.
04:21 As flames come off the sides,
04:23 give it a little bit of that char,
04:24 a little bit of that caramelization.
04:26 Proper wok cooking.
04:28 Here's a little hack, actually, for eating this.
04:30 When you're rendering lard for your cooking,
04:33 which I'm sure they use,
04:34 you add a little bit of water to the bottom of your pan
04:37 or your wok or your pot.
04:38 You start cooking your fat
04:39 until all that fat slowly renders.
04:41 What's left is this, kind of like croutons.
04:44 You can add a little bit more chili, chili flakes.
04:47 That's what this needs.
04:51 So, Thai suki,
04:52 suki is obviously short for the Japanese sukiyaki,
04:55 and sukiyaki is a certain type of hot pot,
04:57 usually with a little bit of soy sauce,
04:59 mirin, sugar, beef, tofu, vegetables.
05:02 Nice, sweet, warming dish.
05:04 This sukiyaki has nothing to do with that.
05:06 In fact, it has a lot more in common with Chinese cooking
05:10 than Japanese cooking.
05:11 And sure, sometimes things are not so pure.
05:13 Sometimes that cultural confusion is just a mix-up.
05:17 But if we let go
05:19 and we embrace things for their deliciousness,
05:20 that's a new type of authenticity
05:22 that has come through time.
05:23 By the way, you know what the actual deal is?
05:28 Salted plum soda and the coconut jelly,
05:32 perfect for a hot day like this.
05:34 So good.