Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook (2026) s01e02 Episode Script

1
[traffic bustling]
- I'm Awkwafina…
- Hey!
- …also known as Nora Lum…
- [laughing]
…and you may be surprised to hear…
- There's a rib on fire!
- …I come from Chinese restaurant royalty.
My great-grandpa opened
one of New York City's
first ever Chinese-American
restaurants, Lum's.
And my grandma continued that tradition
with one of her own,
the restaurant I grew up in.
Lum's was kinda my family's
attempt at belonging.
So call me crazy, but I've set myself
the challenge of bringing Lum's back.
I might reopen Lum's.
- You're gonna open a restaurant?
- Yeah.
- [laughing]
- [Awkwafina chuckling] Yeah.
But there's a problem.
I can't cook. Like, at all.
- [clattering]
- Oh, my God!
So, I'm traveling the country…
- That is so cool!
- Awesome!
- [dings]
- [sizzles]
I'm making a sausage!
- [bangs]
- [person 1] Got it!
[person 2] You ever had
Chinese food like this?
I am salivating right now. It's so good.
…to figure out what my version of Lum's
might become.
I am about to open up
a Chinese restaurant in New York City.
What am I doing?
[upbeat music playing]
Locking in the Lum's lobster egg rolls
lit a fire in me,
and to keep those flames a-burnin'…
…I'm leaping straight into
the barbecue section of the Lum's menu
to master my dad's favorite dish,
spareribs,
in the barbecue capital of America.
No one likes road-tripping alone,
so joining me is the biggest ham I know,
Jimmy O. Yang.
Jimmy is… is a really great chef,
and I think that he is appalled by
how little I know about the culinary arts.
[Jimmy] Ever since we met
on, like, Crazy Rich Asians,
we love to just, like,
hit different restaurants, you know.
- [horn honks]
- They do say road trips
make or break a friendship,
but as long as there's some good food,
I'll be pretty happy.
Ha-ha! Dude.
[in Texan accent]
Well, howdy there, stranger.
- [Jimmy] Howdy, partner!
- Howdy, partner!
- [normal] Yay!
- [Jimmy exclaims]
What's up?
- Two Asians in Texas, am I right?
- [chuckles]
Let's do it.
[country music playing]
[Awkwafina] Our barbecue journey spans
the three culinary hot spots
of Texas Hill Country:
San Antonio,
Fredericksburg
and Austin.
I really wanted you to come out here
as my… my best friend…
- [clicks tongue] Aw.
- …because this whole thing is about
just kinda me going back
to my family's roots.
Um… My-My family owned
a Chinese restaurant, and…
You know what's funny?
I've know you for like ten years…
- Uh-huh.
- …I've heard you mention that once.
I barely know about that story.
Yeah, so, this restaurant brought
my entire family over, to America.
- Really?
- And I think, you know…
We're like the same age…
We're getting to a place…
- You know, my grandma's getting old and…
- Mmm.
I-I think that I'm trying, maybe,
to just kinda search for that part.
Okay, now I get it. So, we came to Texas
to find your Chinese roots.
- Yes, ye… exactly. [chuckles]
- I like that.
Where are we going first? I'm starving.
- Oh… [stammers]
- Let's… I've-I've been dying for this.
[Awkwafina] Stop number one is a barbecue
joint you can't and shouldn't miss,
started by best friends Sean and Andrew.
They've taken the Chinese
and Vietnamese food they grew up with
and mixed it together with
good, old-fashioned Texas barbecue.
The result? A whole lot of flavors
no one else in the south saw coming.
[all exclaiming]
- How's it going? Welcome!
- Thanks. Jimmy.
- What's up?
- Welcome to Curry Boys. Yeah.
- Nice to meet you.
- How's it going?
- Welcome. Good.
- [Awkwafina] What's the deal?
What's this about? Great question.
Uh, we do, like,
curry meets Texas barbecue.
You know, growing up, my
mom would cook a lot of Chinese food,
and then we'd have, like,
a bucket of fried chicken,
so it was just always, like, a part of our
lives to have these two disparate worlds
- kinda come together.
- Yeah.
And so, we figured it'd be really cool
to replicate that,
- but with Texas barbecue.
- [Jimmy] That's awesome.
- This guy does some of the best in town.
- Nice.
- [Jimmy] The pitmaster!
- Well, they say, sometimes.
We're here to learn…
- Yeah, we're here to learn.
- …from the masters.
[Awkwafina] Our barbecue 101 starts
with pitmaster Andrew,
introducing us
to the ultimate Texan classic…
[Andrew S.] All right, guys.
Right this way.
…smoked brisket
with a salt and pepper crust.
This is an offset smoker,
basically what everybody in Texas uses.
[Awkwafina] Whoa.
Is it really hot in there?
Right now it is at just over 200 degrees.
Okay, so kinda
the same temperature as outside.
- Yeah, exactly, right? In Texas for sure.
- [laughs]
So, just pick it up there.
Give it one little smack
to kinda get off any extra seasoning
that it might have. [exclaims]
- You're good.
- Whoa!
[Andrew S.] So, you kinda wanna set it
just, like, right here.
Look at that. It's gonna go… I'd say
about, like, nine t-to ten hours in.
- I've got one right here.
- [Awkwafina] Whoa!
[Andrew S.] The way that we know
a brisket's done
is kind of when you push on it
and it is just like very soft and pillowy.
- [Awkwafina] Ah…
- [Andrew S.] That lets you know that
- it's done.
- [Jimmy] Hmm.
Okay, cool. So let's take this brisket
inside and slice it up. Sound good?
- Yeah.
- Do it, yeah.
[Awkwafina] So far, so Texas, right?
But wait till you see what they do next.
Their signature dish
takes classic smoked brisket,
cooked low and slow the Texan way,
and combines it with
their own Thai green curry paste,
coconut milk, fish sauce, chicken stock,
sugar, lemongrass, and garlic,
served on a bed of jasmine rice.
So we have this brisket here.
You want to start kind of on the lean side
and then once you hit this
kind of fatty cap,
you kind of want to start cutting it
perpendicular.
[Awkwafina, Jimmy] Oh.
So essentially the grain
of the meat changes.
- Right, right. Oh.
- Why is that?
If you cut it straight, uh, all the way
through, it'll be a super chewy bite.
- It's kind of like when you cut a steak…
- Yeah.
- [both] Against the grain.
- [Sean W.] Exactly.
So you just kind of want… it should
kind of slice through like butter.
[Awkwafina] That is like butter!
- So you get like little slices like this.
- [Jimmy] Whoo!
And then typically what we'll do is
we have all this extra juice right here
and then we do a little of this.
[Jimmy] Come on. Oh, yeah.
Nice and juicy, you know.
Looks so good.
How come there's a red trim around it?
There's no red seasoning.
[Sean W.] No, that's the…
caused from the smoke.
So that's what they call the smoke ring.
- [Awkwafina] Oh.
- [Jimmy exclaims]
A good, like, you know, Texas brisket
will have that crunchy bark,
this crunchy exterior
that you hear right here.
And then you'll have
this really deep red ring
caused from, like,
that low and slow smoke.
So if you want to get a couple cuts
in here, we can get going.
Yeah. And just about that size?
Yeah. And then just, yeah…
Oh, my God,
it like cuts like butter, dude.
- [Sean W.] Yeah.
- [Awkwafina] Oh, my…
Just eat it. Just eat it, off the board.
Straight in, straight like that.
- [chuckling]
- [Awkwafina] Mmm. It's so good.
[Jimmy] Cut a tiny piece
and throw it, throw it at me.
[Sean W.] Brisket spaghetti.
[Awkwafina] It just looks so good.
All right, so I think
I'm getting to that fat cap area.
Let's see.
[Awkwafina]
Time to flip it and reverse it.
And this way, right?
Just like that,
and this side is like so fatty and juicy.
[Awkwafina] Oh, my God.
I'm gonna show you guys how we plate this.
- Come on.
- Our signature dish here at Curry Boys.
This is what makes
you guys special, right?
Like with all this Asian trimming,
this is so exciting.
I love how you start with, like,
you start with it like normal
and then you put on this,
like, you kind of put it on later.
- Yeah.
- Yep, yep.
So first we got to start
with jasmine rice.
- [Awkwafina] Oh, yeah.
- [Jimmy] Of course.
[Andrew H.] And then I'm going to get
a ladle of Thai green curry right here.
And then a bunch of brisket right here.
I got some fried crispy shallots.
- [Awkwafina] Not the crispy shallots.
- [Jimmy] Come on, man.
- [Andrew H.] Cilantro, coriander.
- Not the cilantro.
[Andrew H.] A little bit of house-made
garlic chili crisp right in the middle,
and then some
house tangy pickles just like that.
- So I'm gonna hand this over here.
- Oh…
[Andrew H.] It's a little bit of rice,
a little bit of curry, brisket.
Hmm, incredible, great chili,
good amount of spice.
- Oh, my God.
- Yeah.
Oh, my God, delicious.
I am salivating right now. This is insane.
And being in San Antonio,
like, not everyone has had
- this type of food before.
- No.
Now for us to be able to provide
that experience for the first time
with something that they kind of do know,
barbecue, is incredible.
And you're introducing it
in a really authentic way.
[Jimmy] It's almost like a Trojan horse.
That's a way to get them to try authentic
Asian cuisine or wherever you're from.
I think for me, I never felt like
super proud to be Asian growing up.
But the older I get,
I think it's badass to be Asian.
I want to share to the world
like how freaking good this can be.
I am sweating profusely, by the way.
This chili is very legit.
I've been trying to be serious.
I'm like, "So you guys with
the Asian representation in San Antonio."
[chuckling]
- I am drenched.
- [Awkwafina] Oh, my God. Jimmy, what…
[chattering, laughing]
I'm starving. This is so good.
What are y'all doing this weekend?
If y'all are down,
we're going to do a little pop-up.
It's a little rodeo, and I think y'all
should come through and like hang out.
Can we help you guys?
Honestly, I think we would love you
being there to help us.
- [Jimmy] Oh, that sounds great. I'm down.
- I'm down. I'm down.
- I'm just gonna take this piece of fat…
- Oh, my God, Jimmy.
- Jimmy, you're a monster.
- [Awkwafina] Jimmy's a beast.
- And I love it.
- It's like candy.
- [Awkwafina] That was so good.
- [Jimmy] I'm so full.
Dude, you were sweating a lot.
I-I think that's how you do it.
You eat a lot, but then you sweat it out.
- It's like hitting a sauna.
- [chuckles]
- Oh.
- Wow, that was good.
In a place like Texas, you don't think
about Asian culture when you come here,
- you know what I mean?
- That's true.
- And they were Southern boys.
- They were.
You don't meet a lot of Southern Asians,
as it were, you know what I mean?
Yeah, I need to take a nap, dude.
I'm done.
- You got the meat sweats.
- Yeah, I got the meat sweats.
[Awkwafina] Looks like I'm gonna have to
find my own way to our next pit stop.
We're heading north through Austin,
which is ranked the number one place
to live in Texas,
thanks to its live music scene,
booming tech, and incredible food culture.
Asian Americans are the fastest
growing population here.
I'm pretty sure we'll fit right in,
but I don't want to take any chances.
Jimmy and I need to look the part
for our rodeo,
so we're visiting
one of the city's institutions.
- Whoa. This is so cool.
- It's so cool.
Allens Boots, founded in 1977.
[Jimmy] There is so much.
Are you trying to look for something,
- like, super traditional?
- These, these.
- Oh, this is sick.
- You like those?
Yeah, I like the embroidered.
What about these? These are
very Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
Your taste in women's boots is…
- Is it bad?
- No, no, it's not bad.
- I'm just gonna let you pick. [mutters]
- It's weird.
You gotta walk as you're ready
for a duel at any time.
[Awkwafina] Who goes there?
You know, for… [laughing]
You look great.
For some reason,
I look like a Chinese uncle
that works at a fish market,
you know, with those rubber booties.
[Awkwafina] Oh, my God.
[Jimmy] Of course she's gonna
look at the raccoons. Oh, no.
- They're playing cards, Jimmy.
- [Jimmy laughs]
They're very cute. Don't touch them.
- Okay, let's get you a hat.
- Let's get you a hat.
- [Awkwafina] Whoa.
- [Jimmy] How's it going, sir?
- I'm Sean.
- Are you the hat master?
- Yes, sir.
- Nice to meet you. I'm Jimmy.
- You're the hat master?
- Yes, ma'am.
Hi, you're very,
very handsome as well. Nice.
What do you think goes good for…
He has a really big head.
[Sean] First thing I'll do
is just get his head measurement.
[Awkwafina] I would love to.
I want to see how big that honker is.
- Seven and three eighths.
- What, do you just look at people's heads
- and guess people's heads?
- What about my head?
Seven, maybe six and seven eighths.
- [Jimmy] Seven…
- [Sean] Seven and one eighth.
- What are your measurements?
- Seven and one eighth.
- You guys have the same head?
- I got to say that…
We have the same head size
as Willie Nelson.
Wow, that's sick.
What kind of hat would he look good in?
Yeah, I think I'm gonna try a black hat.
Dang, these white ones are so cool.
Yeah, a white one. Get a white one.
A white one.
- Is that cool?
- Yo, you look so good, dude.
- Is that right?
- Ten out of ten would smash, dude.
- [Jimmy] Let me see.
- [Sean] White does look good.
- Oh, yeah.
- [Awkwafina] That one's sick.
- Oh, that line.
- [Awkwafina] I like that.
No, it looks good. Oh, you want it bigger?
No, no, no. Does this look like
a real cowboy hat?
- Perfect, yeah.
- [Awkwafina] That's cool.
- Thank you, sir.
- [Sean] Yes, sir.
- Lady.
- Thanks. Bye.
- [Sean] Great to meet y'all.
- [Awkwafina] All right, yeah.
After a quick booty call…
- You look so good, dude.
- [Jimmy] Oh, thanks.
I'm in my cowboy era.
[Awkwafina] It's time to get back on
the road to the heart of Hill Country.
[Awkwafina] It is so beautiful right now.
- [Jimmy] Yeah, where are we?
- [Awkwafina] Did you notice?
[Jimmy] Like, it's so lush.
When you first came to the United States,
like from Hong Kong,
- like, how old were you?
- I was 13.
- Thirteen.
- Eighth grade, yeah.
Was there like a kind
of an adjustment period?
Oh, for sure, you know.
I was the foreign kid,
they called me "Chinaman,"
on the basketball court
they're like, "Hey, Jackie Chan,"
you know, and it gets to your self-esteem
- and it makes you feel othered.
- Yeah.
You've been to China and Korea.
Yeah, you know, that was really weird.
When you go to China or Korea,
it's kind of like I suck at this too.
Like there were Korean girls at
my junior high school who used to bully me
and they used to say like,
"You're not Korean, you're not Korean."
And I was like,
"You're right, my mom's dead,
I have no way to prove to you
that I'm Korean."
You know what I mean?
That must be really hard for you to
grow up in America and still feel othered.
- Yeah.
- That is messed up.
Totally, and-and there is
a feeling that you,
that you know, you're not a good Asian.
I don't know how to describe it.
It's like you really feel like a,
like an alien.
Yeah, and I don't think it's as simple as,
"Oh, I want to be more Chinese,
I wanna be more Korean."
I think it's just…
You want to be more full as a person.
Absolutely.
My Korean mom passed away when I was four,
and I always find myself drawn to the
kinds of places she might have loved.
So this next place feels pretty special.
Eaker's Barbecue in Fredericksburg is run
by husband and wife team, Lance and Boo.
Boo grew up in Seoul
and moved to the States 25 years ago.
Together they've mashed their cultures
into a menu
that's as Korean as it is Texan.
- [Jimmy] Hello.
- [Boo] Hi. Look at this.
- Oh, my God, are you making kimchi?
- [Boo] Yes, sir.
- [Jimmy] That's sick.
- [Awkwafina] No way.
Never expected to walk into a barbecue
place in Texas and see that.
- [Jimmy] Oh, fresh kimchi.
- [Awkwafina] That is sick.
My favorite meal,
like kimchi on just hot white rice.
- Yeah.
- That's all I need.
- We do kimchi fried rice.
- [Awkwafina, Jimmy] Whoa!
What a dream,
barbecue and kimchi fried rice.
Okay, so we got, we got some
Texas barbecue, we got some kimchi.
What else do we have in store today?
We're gonna make some sausage,
some bulgogi sausage.
- Bulgogi sausage?
- Bulgogi sausage?
- Oh, oh.
- That's amazing.
- [Boo] So you have to have a sausage.
- Gotta have a sausage.
But it's a bulgogi sausage.
I never thought of putting the bulgogi in.
Bulgogi,
a stone cold Korean barbecue classic.
Thinly sliced beef grilled and caramelized
in a soy-based, sweet and savory sauce.
To make the sausages,
Boo starts with ground beef,
then adds traditional bulgogi seasonings.
Okay, so this is not bulgogi yet.
- This is so far just beef.
- Not yet. Yes.
This is, uh… We are grinding our beef
from our brisket trimmings.
- Oh, cool.
- Cool.
So we have to mix with our seasoning.
[Awkwafina] Oh, yeah.
[Boo] I have red pepper flakes,
pepper, brown sugar.
- [Awkwafina] It smells so good.
- [Lance] Soy sauce.
It smells so good.
It's a fermented soy sauce powder.
I didn't know soy sauce came in powder.
- Any…
- [Jimmy sneezes] Whoa,
I just inhaled some powder soy sauce.
- Oh my.
- [both laugh]
[Boo] Also, we have a garlic and onion
already grounded in here.
Oh, that green onions looks so fresh.
[Boo] But you have to mix it really well.
- Just get in… Yes.
- I just… just dig on in there?
[Jimmy] And then on you guys' brisket,
do you guys put any interesting
Asian ingredient
- or you do a traditional brisket?
- On our brisket…
- Brisket. No, brisket is all traditional.
- [Jimmy, Awkwafina] Mmm.
So we use a Wagyu brisket.
- [Jimmy] I love that.
- [Awkwafina] Where did you learn to cook?
I learned from my mom, mainly.
- Is she back in Korea?
- No, she's here.
She's here? Where's she at?
- [Lance] Umma!
- [Awkwafina, Jimmy] Mama!
[Jimmy, Awkwafina speak Korean]
Hi, nice to meet you. How are you?
- Oh, those are your sons?
- [Boo] Actually they both work here.
- Really?
- [Jimmy] They do?
[Awkwafina] How do you like the work life?
- I'm too tired for this job.
- [all laughing]
You're never gonna be not tired,
I'll tell you that.
[Jimmy] Oh, my God, smells so good.
Smells like bulgogi.
- Am I doing this right?
- Yes, you're doing really well.
- Yeah.
- [Lance] I kind of just
want to throw it in the grill right now.
All right, we should turn these
into sausages, right?
- Yes!
- Let's go.
- [Awkwafina] Oh. All right.
- Y'all lead the way.
Ooh… [chuckles]
…look at this sausage machine.
- Whoa, hey-o.
- [Lance] All right, so,
- we're gonna dump this glob of meat.
- [Awkwafina] Okay.
[Lance] We're gonna get
this bad boy started.
All right, Nora, can you grab me
that, uh, container there?
- Yes. That's the casings?
- That's casings.
- [Jimmy] Those are casings?
- Whoa.
- Those used to be inside of a hog. Right.
- So they're intestines?
So what it's gonna do
is it's gonna shoot the meat in there.
- Oh, it twists by itself.
- That's so cool.
- Nora, you want to give it to me?
- Okay…
- Come on.
- [Jimmy] Go, go, go.
- All right, just get a hand on it.
- All right.
- Whoa! Oh.
- [Jimmy exclaims]
- Whoa!
- It's so cool.
- I'm making a sausage.
- [exclaims]
- [Jimmy] That's perfect.
- Whoa. How much are these machines?
I think I need to buy one for my house.
- [Lance] They're about $40,000. [laughs]
- Okay, well, forget it.
[Awkwafina] I could do this
literally all day.
- [Jimmy] Looks so delicious.
- [Lance] Even though they're automated,
- there's a little nuance to it.
- Okay.
- [Jimmy] So pack it a little tighter.
- Yeah, it's gonna give you that snap
whenever you go
and you go like… [imitates crunch]
So, after we do that,
we're just gonna come back…
- Cool.
- …take our scissors, snip it.
[Jimmy] Hmm.
- Snip it.
- I want to make sausages all day, dude.
And what we'll do is
we'll take these to the smoker!
- Okay.
- Whoo-hoo!
[Lance] Gonna throw these on the pit.
- We smoke about 2.5, 3 hours…
- That's it?
…and then we'll pull them
and we'll ice bath them.
The ice bath stops the cooking immediately
and it also adds to that snap.
When you serve it, what do you do?
We just warm it up. If you put it
in the smoker and the heat's not well,
- it'll make it kind of chewy…
- Ah.
…so we literally warm it up
in a convection oven.
[Jimmy] Nice.
I didn't know you're half Korean.
Yeah, yeah, my mom's from Daegu.
- Daegu? Oh, really?
- Yeah, yeah.
How important was it for you
to bring aspects of your Korean heritage
into your, you know, life here?
- So I didn't grow up, like, here…
- Mm-hmm.
…so I was…
So Texas barbecue
is kind of a new thing for me too
- because I never had that before.
- Yeah.
And, like, putting my culture in the…
in our menu together,
it presents us.
- Yeah. It's yourselves, yeah.
- So I feel…
Exactly. So whenever
we have a customer coming in,
actually I tell them,
"This is my home and welcome."
- Mm-hmm.
- That's how we eat.
Yeah, I love that.
- Oh! This brings me tremendous joy…
- Oh, look at this guy.
…to bring you guys the bulgogi sausages.
- [Boo] Oh, my goodness.
- That looks so good.
Did you put the little grill marks
in there yourself?
- Uh-huh.
- [Lance] Nora, you want to do it?
- Just pick it up.
- Pick it up and then…
Yeah, oh, we're gonna snap.
- [both] Oh!
- [cheering]
- Nice snap. Can-Can I have one?
- Thanks.
Sure.
- Oh.
- Oh.
Oh, I… I heard it.
- The garlic and the onion…
- I felt it.
The garlic is so good.
Mmm, this is so full of flavor.
- Wow, you can hear the snap like…
- So snappy.
It's so good. I never have smoked bulgogi,
let alone a sausage.
Because it has the garlic, the sweetness.
- [Boo] You ca… You can taste the smok…
- All I need is some rice.
- Here, cheers. Cheers.
- [Jimmy] Cheers.
This is the best kind of sausage party
in my opinion.
[all laughing]
- [Awkwafina] That was so good.
- [Jimmy] I'm so full.
Whenever I meet women
from Seoul or South Korea,
like, they… they do remind me
of, like, my Korean family
and definitely, like, how my mom sounded.
- Mmm.
- And so it's really interesting
to just be reminded of that in a place
like, you know, Fredericksburg, Texas.
- So unexpected.
- Very unexpected.
It is hot, dude. It's hot.
This… This is as hot
as when we shot Crazy Rich Asians.
That was when we met.
That was a solid eight years ago.
- 2017.
- We were like a family.
I never worked with another Asian actor
in America before.
And then the response was insane.
It was amazing.
And to have people love something
that you love so much is really special.
- Uh, a je ne sais quoi, an X Factor.
- Yeah.
All right,
I think we need to get some gas.
Oh, we're very low, Jimmy.
Electric gas.
What is electric gas, Jimmy?
That's it right here.
[bluegrass country music playing]
Do we get the Texas one or the white one?
[Jimmy] Oh, here you go.
It says it's not plugged in right.
[Awkwafina] What's that one?
This is like a game show now.
- Oh, there you go. Try it again.
- [grunts] Hell.
There's literally a hurricane
or a storm coming.
I feel like an armadillo's
gonna land on my face.
We're just charging an electric vehicle.
Why does it have to be so treacherous?
[Awkwafina] Goddamn it!
I never trust this shit.
I can feel it in my knees.
- [Awkwafina] We got it! We got it!
- We did it.
Get back in the car. Get back in the car.
No, no, no, let's go get a drink, dude.
I want a water.
Oh, God. Okay.
I feel like I'm in Twister 3 right now.
- Das Peach Haus.
- It's so cute.
- Hi. Thank you. This is great.
- [worker] Welcome to Das Peach Haus.
We make all kinds of goodies here.
We have peach ice cream.
[Awkwafina] I would love to try some
peach ice cream. That sounds refreshing.
Thank you so much.
- Oh, my God.
- It's so good, right?
It's so real and fresh.
It's not, like, artificial at all.
Mm-hmm. Wow, there is dairy in this, huh?
- [worker] Yes. Yes, there is.
- Oh, girl.
[Jimmy] You're… You're intolerant?
Um, intolerant is a… is even a light…
- Well, then, why are you eating this?
- It's all right.
Dude.
Well, you're gonna be in the car
with me for a couple of hours. [giggles]
Car charged and violent storm survived.
We're off again.
I wish my dad
was riding in the back with us
because he'd love this next spot.
His go-to in any Chinese restaurant
is spareribs.
And where do you get that around here?
You go straight to a place
called Sí Baby-Q.
[Awkwafina] Chef Simone grew up in China,
then worked in high-end kitchens
in Singapore and New York
before launching
her own barbecue concept in Austin.
And today we're here to find out about
the central pillar of Chinese barbecue,
Char siu sauce.
- Wow, hi!
- Hello!
- [exclaims] Friend! How are you?
- Hi, nice to meet you.
- How are you?
- How are you?
How is Texas treating you?
- So well.
- You've been eating a lot of barbecue?
- Yes.
- Yeah, a lot of briskets.
We are going to try some ribs.
- Yeah.
- Char siu ribs.
So we're going to do Texas barbecue,
traditional central Texas
barbecue rib style…
- [Jimmy, Awkwafina] Okay.
- …and then put the glaze
- of our beautiful char siu ribs glaze.
- Wow.
- [Jimmy] Wow.
- [Awkwafina] Nice.
Simone tells me a classic char siu
needs a mix of honey, dark sugar, soy,
and hoisin sauce,
five spice, and red fermented bean paste.
But today she's giving me the chance
to mix things up myself.
The simplicity of Texas barbecue,
salt and pepper and smoke,
and then the complexity
of Chinese, Cantonese char siu glaze.
If we make a good sauce,
you should sell it.
- I will.
- Call it the Awkwafina sauce, all right?
- All right, all right.
- [Simone] All right.
First, roasted sesame paste in here.
- The whole thing?
- The whole thing.
And then you will shake
the oyster sauce inside.
How much should I put?
- Half of it.
- Hit the lady on the boat.
- [Simone] Okay.
- Okay, well, that's aggressive.
Half of the soy sauce.
Now, let's add…
- This is so fun.
- …fermented tofu.
- Just one?
- Yes.
Look at how precise this is. Like science.
If you guys want to try it, so…
[Jimmy] Fermented tofu,
it's very salt… That's it.
[Simone] Yes, that's it.
- Mmm.
- [Simone] Not bad, right?
- It's like berry taste.
- Yeah, it's scary, but it tastes great.
It's sweet on the outside.
- The red sauce is sweet.
- That tastes like char siu.
But it's not… It's a salty char siu.
It's just part of the taste.
And now local honey. Support local.
[Jimmy] Yeah, this local honey
has a great texture.
Oh, girl, this is gonna be good.
- Is that enough? Like…
- We will do five of them.
- Oh, five spoonfuls.
- Yes.
- That was like three.
- And now five spice.
- This is five spice? Ooh.
- Oh, that smells like Chinese food.
So five spoons. Brown sugar.
[Jimmy] Brown sugar, very important.
Not too much, right? 'Cause it's already
kind of sweet with the honey.
- [Simone] And now we can safely…
- [Awkwafina] Thank you.
…put the garlic and ginger inside.
- Go ahead, chef.
- Okay.
- Whisk for you. Taste as we go.
- Whisk.
Sometimes we don't really need a recipe.
It's all what's coming from you, right?
- Absolutely. Can I… Can I be honest?
- [Simone] Yeah.
Can we make it a little sweeter?
- Oh, nice, we like that.
- Yes.
Brown sugar or whatever.
- [Jimmy] This is your recipe.
- All right, here we go.
- Let's go. Peanut butter?
- Peanut butter.
My grandmother would not approve it,
but peanut butter.
- This is your recipe.
- I think I'm a sauce girl.
- I think I'm more of a sauce girl.
- You're a saucier.
I'm a saucier. Gochujang!
Gochugaru.
- [Jimmy] Oh! Nice. Yes.
- Can we please use this?
Yeah.
[Awkwafina]
Gochugaru are Korean chili flakes
that add a smoky, sweet flavor I love.
This sauce is a little bit like, uh,
your old friend Nora Lum over here.
- Uh-huh.
- It's American,
it's Chinese, and it's Korean.
I don't know what I'm talking about.
- [Simone chuckles] Should we go eat some?
- [Awkwafina] Yes!
- Let's do it.
- Okay.
Lagos, let's go get the ribs.
- [Awkwafina] Whoa!
- And the ribs.
[Jimmy] This is the Awkwafina sauce
that we just made.
- [Simone] "Awkwa-char siu".
- Awkwa-char siu.
[Jimmy] Oh, I can write your name on that.
- [Awkwafina] Mmm.
- Mmm.
- Oh, my God. Mm-hmm.
- Oh, my. The peanut was good.
The gochugaru, you get a little bit spicy
but not too much.
It's just a little bit tingling in your…
in your taste.
It's sweeter and, like,
a little more depth than a normal sauce
with just an added dimension.
My family's restaurant
used to have a rib dish,
and this… this is the first time
I've actually been transported back
to that time.
'Cause my dad's favorite is spareribs.
Yeah.
This is so good. There's something
very Asian about it,
but then it's so Texas.
It reminds me of Chinese restaurants,
you know.
It's like everywhere we travel,
we bring our culture with us.
Right, right.
And we can be unapologetic about all that.
People don't like
when you're giving off airs
that you're running away from
some part of your identity.
- [Jimmy] Mm-hmm.
- You know what I mean?
You can accumulate,
but you can't hide from who you are.
The more we give out
the energy of authenticity…
- Absolutely.
- …the more people will love us.
And for the people that don't like us,
who gives a fuck?
- I know, right?
- Fuck those people.
[Awkwafina] Amen. Amen to that girl.
- We got no time for that shit.
- I know. [laughs]
We are going to our first rodeo tomorrow.
- Do you know the Curry Boys?
- Oh, I love the Curry Boys.
- Such great people.
- They are good people.
But I was thinking,
can I take some of my sauce to the rodeo
- for the Curry Boys? [chuckles]
- Are you kidding me?
Of course.
- Cheers, dude.
- Cheers, I love you. Thanks for coming.
- I love you.
- What do you think this has confirmed
about our relationship
other than the fact that, you know,
at some point we should just start dating.
- I guess so, huh?
- Yeah.
That's what… We're gonna get
a lot of fan letters about that.
Dude, we'd be like a power coup…
I think so. I think we'd be kind of sick.
- Yeah, dude.
- This has been a great hang.
- Yeah.
- You know?
I know you know
how meaningful this is for me,
so I think you also came to support me
as a friend.
Yeah, to be part of your journey in this,
it's great.
- Yeah.
- And really just to, uh,
- eat barbecue and drink.
- I know, right.
I think the whole trip has been awesome.
We keep meeting
these really awesome people
- that are like really inspirational.
- I agree.
What I love about each one of them is
they didn't water down their Texan selves,
they didn't water down their Asian selves.
Yeah, they've embraced parts of themselves
that I think that, like,
some people don't.
Yeah. And that people that
grew up around those restaurants
will now have a much better
understanding of the Asian food.
I can see many kind of white hipsters just
mansplaining kimchi to their Tinder dates,
- you know what I mean?
- Which is fine.
"Like, I don't know if you tried kimchi.
It's really good for your, uh,
female parts."
"For your digestive health,
and your pH level."
[laughing]
[knocks on door]
- Howdy, partner. [chuckles] Oh, my God.
- Howdy there, lady.
- How are you?
- What the fuck is that, Jimmy?
Are we ready for the rodeo?
Wha… [chuckles]
As the sun goes down ♪
Hey, you like this?
- Where'd you…
- [both chuckle]
- Where'd you get that?
- I went full dol…
I brought this. I had this, man.
- You brought… You already had that?
- I was ready.
Everything else is from Allens.
- I love that. It looks good.
- Are we wearing the matching boots?
- Yes, we are. Yeah.
- That's right.
[Jimmy] Mmm. Bam.
All right, you ready to go, uh, uh,
to a rodeo with your uncle Jim Bob?
[chuckling]
- Let's go.
- All right, all right.
[Jimmy] I own this shirt.
Can you believe it?
[Awkwafina] Okay.
[upbeat music playing]
What do cowboys eat? Just steaks, right?
Yeah, dude.
[Jimmy] Have you ever heard of a cowboy
eating a vegetable?
[Awkwafina] Like a Broccolini? No.
- So they're all just very constipated.
- [chuckles]
That's something nobody ever talks about:
cowboy's constipation.
- [Awkwafina] When do you have time?
- You don't.
[music continues]
[Awkwafina] Oh, we're here, buddy.
- [Jimmy] The Teyas… Tejas rodeo.
- Tejas.
[Awkwafina chuckling]
Why'd I say it like that?
[Jimmy] I can like smell the barbecue.
This is amazing.
- Oh, there's a… Oh, my God, there's…
- [gasps] The cows.
- Okay.
- [Jimmy groans]
[Awkwafina] Let's get this rodeo
on the road-eo.
- Got the sauce, got the sauce.
- [car beeps]
- [country music playing]
- [rider exclaims]
- [Awkwafina] You look so good, dude.
- [Jimmy] Dude, thanks you too, man.
- [Jimmy] Hello, sir. How's it going?
- [Awkwafina] Hi, howdy.
[Awkwafina] Hi, how are you?
Dude, look at the shops.
Oh, look at that.
Is that a guitar case?
- [Jimmy] Probably a gun case.
- Oh, it is a gun case.
- That is a gun case. Gun case.
- Yeah, I was right.
[Jimmy] Oh!
Oh, those are our boys, Curry Boys.
- [Awkwafina] Curry Boys!
- Hey! What's going on?
We brought you our very own
Awkwafina sauce that we made.
- How's it going, man?
- Good.
- How have y'all been?
- Nice to see ya. How are ya?
- So this is y'all's first rodeo?
- [Jimmy] Yeah.
- [Awkwafina] It's very hot.
- I am dying in this outfit right now.
- I am… The sweat is on my…
- But you look… you look good.
- Thank you. You guys look good.
- We got… Yeah.
- Yes please.
- So, we have these ribs.
- Oh, my God.
- Whoa!
- [Sean W.] What kind of sauce is this?
- [Jimmy] We made it with, uh, Sí Baby-Q.
I put a little bit of
my own twist in there.
- [Sean W.] Oh.
- A little sesame, a little, uh,
- Chinese fermented tofu. Yes.
- [Sean W.] Like a char siu kind of.
- Can I try it?
- You should.
- Wow.
- [Awkwafina] You like it?
- Yeah, that's really good.
- Seriously good. You made that?
- Yeah, we did.
- [Sean W.] That's incredible.
Should we sauce up some of these ribs?
I think we should.
- [Andrew H.] Yeah, let's do it.
- [Sean W.] Here we go. Here we go.
I'm gonna do a little drizzy.
You're actually adding it. It's so cool.
[Sean W.] Maybe you can
help plate a couple.
- Here you go.
- So, yeah, just sauce it up a little bit?
[Sean W.] I think it's gonna be fire.
[Awkwafina] Well, I guess
there's only one thing for it.
Time to spread the word
about my sauce de Awkwafina.
Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the arena.
Awkwafina and Jimmy O. Yang.
- [crowd cheers]
- [Jimmy] Yeah!
I want to say thank you
to everyone in San Antonio.
We love it so much. It's so welcoming.
We have some really delicious spareribs
by the Curry Boys.
- Yeah.
- I-I made the sauce.
You guys wanna come try some ribs?
[Awkwafina] Would you like a rib?
All right. Hell, yeah.
- Can I try? Sorry.
- Oh. Yes, no, you got it. Let's do it.
No, no, no, let's do it.
I'm ready. I'm ready.
It's an Awkwafina…
It's a sauce that I made.
Anyone? Rib?
Would you… You had a rib already?
- Very good.
- It's good, right?
- There you go.
- This is your specialty?
- [Jimmy] No, no, it's her sauce.
- [customer] Is it really?
- [Jimmy] Yeah, yeah.
- I made it.
- You're killing it.
- [customer] Let us know.
- Hot ribs.
- [customer] Oh, yeah!
Oh, you want a sauce.
You want to go on these?
Yeah. What's up, gang?
[Jimmy] Boys want some, uh…
and the girl want some ribs?
[Awkwafina] Would you like a rib?
There you go.
[Jimmy] This is the Awkwafina sauce.
[Awkwafina] How do you guys…
You guys like it?
[Jimmy] Anybody want a rib?
All right. Wow, this… I love this.
Hell yeah.
On a scale from one to ten?
- [child] A nine.
- Whoa!
This is so exciting.
Officer, I got you.
[Sean W.] Tell us what you think, Sheriff.
That's some good stuff.
[cheering]
- Thank you.
- [Sean W.] You're certified.
[Jimmy] A nice Awkwafina rib.
That's a… It's a weird name,
but yeah, no, for sure.
It's a weird… We'll rethink
the branding a little bit. Here you go.
This feels good. I like serving.
I do like serving. I'll tell you that.
[Awkwafina] Oh, man,
serving is deeply fulfilling.
I didn't care how much I was sweating.
I was like I was living.
It is such a gift to feed people,
and I… and I get that part.
I get, like, there's an urgency
and there's such a fulfillment.
I want the public to eat and enjoy.
I want to do that every day.
[Awkwafina]
Today, something clicked for me.
It feels really good to cook for people.
Suddenly, I can see why so many of
my family dedicated their lives to this.
- [Andrew H.] What's up? Sit.
- [Awkwafina] What's up.
Hey, I think that was
pretty successful, you think?
Welcome, rodeo fans, to Bulverde, Texas.
Are you ready?
[cheering]
- This is the best thing I've ever seen.
- Oh, man, I love Texas so much.
- It's so great.
- This is awesome.
- Oh, man, what a fun time.
- Incredible.
- Yeah.
- [Jimmy] It's a very inclusive
- and nice place, I thought.
- Did you really like the sauce?
- It was good…
- Okay.
…'cause it reminded me of home.
I-I loved it.
[Awkwafina] I asked one guy
how to rate it one to four,
and he said 1,000.
[Jimmy] I don't think
he knew how to count, but…
- Okay.
- …now we got some street cred in Texas.
- We wouldn't just rock this in LA.
- Yeah, totally.
Might be fun to do like a pop-up.
What the fuck is that?
You're gonna have to think about
front of house, back of house.
- Is it really morbid that I love this?
- [chuckles]
You're gonna have to think about food.
Welcome to my Chinatown.
How is it Nora's restaurant?
- Very good. I'm impressed.
- [chuckles]
- [fire alarm beeping]
- There's a rib on fire.
- It's called barbecue.
- How do we… How do we get that?
Oh, no.
- You look scared.
- [sighs]
- Uh-huh.
- There is a lot to be done.
- Asian people love saying that, huh?
- [chuckles]