- We're here on Temple Street.

We're here for clay pot rice at Hing Kee,

and chef says he's about to put 20 of them

on the stove at the same time.

So we're gonna go take a look at what's going on.

[people chattering]

[Host speaking in Cantonese]

[Host speaking in Cantonese]

Okay, so welcome to the clay pot kitchen.

This is Fai-ge.

Fai-ge is a chef.

He's been here for like 20 years, basically,

and this restaurant's been opening for 43 years.

They haven't changed the way

they're making the clay pot rice.

This is 20 at the same time.

It's like a xy, it's like a double layered xylophone.

First thing's first, he's turning everything up

to a super high heat.

Water goes in.

The good thing about this clay pot

is that it gets super hot really quickly,

and that he's gonna reduce the flame

to try to get that nice [speaks in Cantonese],

that crispy rice bottom.

The reason why you can only have clay pot rice

like this in Hong Kong

is because what you're tasting

is technique and craftsmanship.

Every decision that the chef makes,

his philosophy and his sense of style,

sums into that pot of rice.

And it's just so technical, dude.

Like they've been here for 40 something years

and every pot is this good.

If you come over here, dude, this is all of the toppings.

One of my favorite things about clay pot rice

is that it's totally customizable.

So whatever you want on top of your rice you can get.

Different color coded orders.

60 something types of rice toppings I think they have here.

Some of them are a little bit new

like later you might spot cured meats, sausages, bacon.

This place Hing Kee, they specialize

in one type of liver sausage that has foie gras,

but really, it's actually a goose liver.

First step is over.

Rice is partially cooked,

and that rice is finished absorbing all of that water.

So he's gonna slow down the momentum of the cook

and each and every topping's gonna go on.

Dude, 20 at the same time is actually freaking ridiculous.

Here's a lowdown, clay pot rice comes down to a question

of philosophy and style.

Every single component of the clay pot rice,

because it's so simple of a dish, can be changed

and different chefs will have different approaches.

The clay pot rice is an ecosystem,

which means that as it's slowly cooking,

the steam's gonna rise up to the top.

It's gonna start cooking the meat

and the flavorful toppings,

and all of that is going to slowly drip downwards

in the form of fat, in the form of flavor,

and in the form of like umami.

He's moving the clay pots to the other side of the burner

where it's a little bit less hot,

so that he can start building that crispy rice bottom.

He thinks of the bottom of the clay pot in quadrants,

so he is gonna move it four times.

So it's very, very even.

You get as much crispy bottom as you can.

You'll see that black buildup on the bottom?

That's actually flavor.

All of that hot air is gonna be filtered

through this semi-porous clay pot.

Experts would say it's first about the flavor of the rice

and capturing it within this pot.

But second of all,

it's also about building myriad of textures.

There's the fluffy fragrant rice over the top.

There's a rice that is almost logged with like oil

and grease and flavor from the toppings

that drip down onto it,

and then there's that crispy thing on the bottom.

Now is the last stage.

The important thing here is that clay pot rice

is not finished cooking after you take it off the heat

because it needs to sit for just about a minute or two.

After the garnish, it's just gonna sit,

so that all of the juices settle to the bottom of the pot

so that the rice is properly flavored.

And as the temperature starts to come down

just a little bit,

all those flavors are gonna end up mingling.

You also need the residual heat on the clay pot itself

to build that final crispy texture on the bottom of the pot.

[Host chuckles]

Win.

[people chattering]

Here it come. [chuckles]

As absurd.

Chef's running back to make sure he gets the other 20 going.

Okay.

[Server speaking in Cantonese]

[Host speaking in Cantonese]

[Server speaking in Cantonese]

[Host speaking in Cantonese]

[Server speaking in Cantonese]

[Host speaking in Cantonese]

[Server speaking in Cantonese]

[Host speaking in Cantonese]

- I ordered the beef patty with a raw egg over the top,

which is a classic.

And the second I ordered was a yellow eel with the white eel

and the foie gras goose liver sausage.

Let's talk about the rice.

My opinion is that Jasmine rice has to be soaked

because you need it to cook quickly,

otherwise the inside of your rice

might become like al dente,

which is not a good thing for Chinese salad rice.

Some people say that a short grain rice,

usually from northern China or Japan,

might be a little bit more fragrant.

Some people believe that the long grain Jasmine rice,

which is what you know as Hong Kong people like,

is a little bit more flavorful.

It might have a little bit better of a texture,

some people do mixes.

Here, they do Thai Jasmine rice.

It might be us.

Once it hits a table, you're not supposed to open it, dude.

You're supposed to let us sit for a minute

because everything is still cooking.

That heat is critical right now.

Any of those like flavor particles are too excited inside

to like calm down a little bit

and seep into each each other.

So we're gonna sit patiently for about a minute

and not open this as badly as you want this thumbnail shot.

[Host chuckles]

Baby.

You see that air gap?

That means the rice has,

it's absorbed all that liquid as it's cooking.

And then as it's cooking,

it's starting to dry and dry and dry.

And because it's separated a little bit like this

then you know it's crispy.

If you put oil into this, it would've deep fried.

Yes, it would be crispy, but it would taste like oil.

This is very special.

Clay pot rice issues is mating call to Hong Kong people

once it starts to get cold.

First gusts that rolls in through the Victoria Harbor,

people start yelling and clamoring for clay pot rice.

That's soy sauce, the soul of the clay pot rice.

We're just gonna mix all of this together.

It's not just soy sauce out of the bottle.

It's seasoned soy sauce.

It's got sugar in it.

He makes it with aromatics served with a bunch of ginger,

garlic, onion, that sort of stuff, secret spice.

The heat of the rice is gonna help steam that egg,

help it finish cooking.

Mm.

It's almost like a call and response thing

where there's a little bit of like that ginger and onion

that's inside of that soy sauce.

It's like calling the flavors of the ginger

and the scallions and stuff inside of the rice itself out

like coaxes everything out.

It's like teases out all those flavors.

Really high quality beef.

One thing we Hong Kong people like about beef

and pork patties in general is we like to move it.

We like to mix a lot. The texture is developed

like standing those like protein chains

and all he's doing is like mixing and mixing

and working and working and working it,

so it's a little bit like the inside of a dumpling.

Little bit like a bouncy meatball.

It's such a technical dish.

I feel like maybe chef is putting it on today.

I know it's good.

It's like not supposed to be this good.

The whole choice of toppings

is that it needs to have enough fat.

Eel is a perfect fish for this.

If you use like tilapia or whatever,

it would not produce this effect.

The fat wouldn't drip down wooden flavor in the rice.

You get that like toastiness of that Jasmine rice,

and then you get a little bit of that grease

that came off of that eel,

that fattiness that just drips down.

All of it's captured inside of this ecosystem

inside of this environment.

That's like goose liver.

It's quite fatty.

I like it more than foie gras to be honest.

I can't wait to get to the bottom.

Ready?

[Host chuckles]

Come on, baby.

Isn't that ridiculous?

This is just such a show off technique.

It's such a flex.

I freaking like textural delight.

The rice has absorbed all this moisture.

He's taking so much patience and so much effort

to coax all that rice water out.

So it's just the flavor of the rice left.

Now, to philosophies.

Some people mix that crispy thing inside,

chef says bad idea.

It should be two courses.

First thing, everything on top of the rice, fluffy texture,

and then go for the crispy stuff

'cause it needs time to develop.

This is what you're supposed to end up with,

just the bottom of the rice.

And you're supposed to just eat this as a final bit.

That's that extra little delight you get to have.

A bunch of people in the comments probably going,

"I've seen better crispy rice."

"Have you heard of Tahdig,

where we cook it with yogurt and oil?"

Pardon my pronunciation.

"Have you seen Paella?

We had a bunch of oil."

No oil.

When I was 16, I started cooking in Hong Kong.

I had the audacity of calling myself the clay pot kid

because in Cantonese it's [speaks in Cantonese].

You know how like rappers have rapper names?

Some chefs have chef names.

The Curious Cook, Momofu, whatever it is, Lucky Peach.

Mine when I was a kid was The Clay Pot Kid

because this is the first dish that I learned how to cook,

and it honestly might be my favorite dish in Hong Kong.

Oh, Gong Beng.

Oyster pancake.

This is not a oyster pancake episode, but it could be.

Chiu Chow style, deep fried properly.

Fresh oysters mix into the batter, pour into the oil.

It starts to fry.

[oil sizzling]

And then she drizzles a little bit more batter over the top

to make this crispy bottom.