(record scratch)

(speaking Korean)

(upbeat music)

- So a really big part of Korean meals

is the act of eating together as a family.

In fact, the Korean word for family

is "Shikgu," which literally means

a group that eats together.

So through this meal I thought I would share

some of that Korean culture with my friends

even though we can't be in the same place right now.

All right, (speaking Korean).

All right, welcome to day one

of cooking with ya boy.

So to start things off,

I thought we would do the appetizers first.

Now, what is the Korean equivalent of an appetizer?

Side dishes, or banchan.

Now, I'm so positive that none of my friends

have had any of these side dishes before,

and I'm hoping to just show them

that there's more out there

than Korean barbecue, or kimchi.

All right, so let's get started.

Right now I'm gonna embody my inner Korean mom.

Every Korean mom spirit out there just give me strength,

and we're gonna do that

with an OG Korean mom apron.

Country cats, baby.

Let's get it.

All right, so the first side dish we're gonna do

is the radish salad.

And because I don't feel like

cutting all the slices of radish,

here's a tip for you.

Go into your Korean mother's kitchen

and look for these. (chuckles)

This is ...

It's a thing, all right?

(chopping) (upbeat music)

Honestly, I'm not too concerned.

I feel like these are just side dishes,

so I don't think it'd be that hard.

(upbeat music)

All right, radish salad is complete.

Look at this masterpiece.

I told y'all.

I told y'all the apron is where it's at.

All right, so one down, three to go,

and it only took me

(chuckles) two hours.

(laughs)

Jesus Christ.

(upbeat music)

All right, so since I am making kimchi

I'm gonna give a call to the person

who makes the best kimchi in the world:

Mama Kang.

(speaking Korean)

(laughs)

- [Mama Kang] No, no, no, no, no.

Sean, listen to me.

(beep)

(speaking Korean)

(laughs)

(laughing)

(speaking Korean)

(laughs)

(beep)

(speaking Korean)

- Bye.

(speaking Korean)

(groans)

I'ma try my best to save it,

but work case scenario I'ma tell 'em

that this how it's supposed to taste. (chuckles)

All right, here it is.

(laughs)

I really don't think they'll notice.

Please don't notice.

All right, recipe number three,

it is stir fried anchovies.

I saved this one towards the end

'cause I thought it was gonna be hard,

but I really feel like this might be

the easiest one so far.

(cheerful music)

(sizzling)

(popping)

Oh (beep).

Just dumped the whole thing in by accident.

Okay.

(cheerful music)

(scraping)

Gonna go in with the sauce now.

(scraping) (sizzling)

Honestly, this is looking pretty good.

I'ma give it a taste real quick.

Yo, that's good.

This is my best one yet so far I think.

Mm!

Fire.

That's right.

Get at me.

All right, I'm on my last one,

the braised black beans.

It's nine o'clock.

Let's just get this over with.

(mellow music)

All right, I think these beans are about done.

Let's give it a check.

Oh, that is beautiful.

All right, here it is.

Gonna hit it with the sesame seeds like this.

Oh, sesame bae.

All right, so end of day one

I am absolutely exhausted.

I really thought this was gonna be an easy day.

I just spent eight hours making four freakin' side dishes.

That's it from me.

I'll see you guys tomorrow.

(upbeat music)

Welcome back.

It is day two.

Today we're gonna be focusing on

the main dish as well as a soup.

Korean people love soup.

Today I got some bulgogi.

So yeah, I'm gonna be making bulgogi

as well as kimchi-jjigae, which is basically kimchi stew.

You already know we can't cook

without our country cats apron.

Oh, I look good.

Okay.

Let's get to cookin'.

(upbeat music)

(whirring)

Oh sh- ...

(laughing)

Oh my God.

Pry got to cut that out.

Okay.

(beep)

(upbeat music)

(rustling)

(upbeat music)

All right, so I think this is good.

We're now gonna move on to the kimchi stew.

And lucky for my friends, I will be sacrificing

the last of my mom's kimchi

in order to feed my friends.

(upbeat music)

All right, we got the kimchi stew cooking right now.

Oh, you see that?

Let me just give this a taste real quick.

(slurping)

(coughs)

(beep)

All right, so the kimchi stew is cooking.

We got our bulgogi out of the fridge.

And now, who better to call than my very own grandma?

Here we go.

I really hope she answers.

Grandma.

- [Joyce] Hi, baby.

- Grandma, let me tell you what I'm doing real quick.

So, basically-

- [Joyce] Wait, I'm frozen.

Wait, let me get on my LTE.

- Okay. - Give me a sec.

Is it better?

- It got significantly worse.

- Really?

(beep), okay.

- That's my grandma who doesn't know

how to use technology,

but it's okay. (Joyce laughing)

I don't know what happened.

(laughs)

She just hung up.

(beep)

How have you been feeling during these weird times?

- I'm taking it day by day

and I'm using this time to

really figure out who I want to be

and what I want.

I tend to forget how much love I'm surrounded by.

- Yeah.

- You are loved and I hope that we all

can get through this together

knowing that the only thing we need is love.

And I love you.

- Thanks, I love you too.

- Give yourself a break.

Just be yourself, you're more than enough.

- Thanks grandma.

- Of course.

Anytime, baby.

- Bye.

(laughs)

All right, end of day two.

I'm not as excited as I was

when I first started,

but tomorrow's the last day

so I just want to finish it up.

All right, calling it a night.

Adios.

(mellow music)

Our final day.

Today we are doing dessert.

The dessert that I picked today is called sikhye,

which is basically rice punch.

Now, this is definitely not the hardest thing

that we've made all week,

but it is definitely the most time intensive.

So, yeah, let's get to it.

(mellow music)

Now this has to sit for a few hours,

so I'm gonna put a little wrap over it,

leave it alone,

and then come back when it's ready.

All right, so while I'm waiting on that

I'm also gonna make some rice because

it wouldn't be rice punch without any.

So I'm gonna go ahead and wash this,

and then I will use my trusty good old rice cooker.

My best friend.

Don't tell Andrew.

(laughs)

(mellow music)

(clicking)

(beeping)

(mellow music)

All right, now we got our mixture

and we got our rice.

We're gonna take our bowl and very carefully

pour the mixture into the rice.

Now I'm gonna take this rice

and put it back in the rice cooker,

let it ferment for about four hours,

and then I'll come back and check it again after that.

All right, so I'm gonna open this up,

and what we're looking for here

is for a few grains of rice to have floated to the top.

If there are none floating,

that's an issue 'cause it's already 10 o'clock

and I don't want to do this anymore.

So please, please, please, please.

(clicking)

Oh snap!

Yo, this is pool!

Oh my goodness, my hard work has finally paid off.

All right, so I transferred the punch to a big pot

and now I'm bringing it up to a boil.

And in the meantime, I might as well just call this guy.

(mellow music)

Yo!

What are you up to?

- I am chillin', man.

I was about to play Xbox.

What are doing?

- Did I tell you what I've been doing this week?

- Sleeping.

- No.

- Okay.

I don't know what you've been doing this week then.

- That's your only guess, sleeping? (laughs)

(beep)

- That's dope, bro.

I appreciate that.