$3 Chinese Takeout Meal | But Cheaper... - Pro Chef Reacts

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🚨I NEED YOUR HELP🚨 Unfortunately this video was demonetized due to a copyright claim. Despite trimming out the clips that recieved claims, I was struck again and again... If you can take the time to like and comment on any of my recent videos would be SUPER HELPFUL 🙏 Thank you

[@darthripper_6573]

dang :/

[@MC-uj5gg]

Did josh strike it? :(

[@danielbarrett3434]

On it, my guy. Your videos bring me joy ❤️

[@Mcgriddles90210]

I appreciate that even though you're a professional chef that owns his own restaurant, that you're not pretentious about food. Even if something isn't necessarily traditional, you're not afraid to say that it still looks and would probably taste delicious

[@ChefBrianTsao]

I hate the elitist, I appreciate fine dining as much as any food snob, but I always hated when people are dicks about it, not cool.

[@hunterjohnson3192]

I've never viewed Chinese food as cheap. I grew up poor so bologna sandwiches are what I see as cheap food now lol. I see it , and Asian food in general, as something special that we don't have here..in its authenticity, so I highly respect it.

[@Superintendent_ChaImers]

Back in high school I did a bit of Co-Op in a chinese restaurant with a couple other people. One of my fellow coop-mates was asked to clean the walk in fridge. He instead took a wok into the fridge and cleaned it in there. To this day I never let him live it down when ever we hang out.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

😂

[@westieclo]

I can't. This is ... wow. I mean if you ever want to mess with the new guy... (Not that I condone any sort of bullying)

[@Superintendent_ChaImers]

@@westieclo Sometimes the best comedy writes it self.

[@ercedwrds]

Maybe your best reaction video. I love the "inside baseball" commentary about how a Chinese takeout place is run. I learned a lot in this video.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Thank you! 🙏

[@someoneelse2262]

Agreed!

[@bobd2659]

Though Orange Tang sounds weird to say as an ingredient, it makes a lot of sense versus using fresh juice and reducing it, cheaper than concentrate AND lasts forever! Mom found/made a recipe yesterday for Raspberry Jam - Raspberry Jello and GREEN TOMATOES! We had a lot left since the plants wouldn't stop flowering. It's almost better than the real mid-range stuff, makes nearly a litre, for the cost of a pack of Jello(basically). Vid idea - things you wouldn't think you'd find in a pro kitchen that you can use at home, like the Tang...

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Haha, that’s a great idea!

[@n8roland]

Want to see if we can get more sandwich reactions. Sure they aren't as complex usually but you own a sandwich shop. Hearing your take on some of the more complex ones would be cool. New menu items for you or something

[@ChefBrianTsao]

I always keep an eye open for sandwich content!

[@justinwebber5313]

Solid suggestion. I know Babish has a few sandwich items he went all out on

[@The_Chef2511]

@@ChefBrianTsao It's an old video but Ethan Chlebowski did a breakdown of how home cooks can replicate professional deli style subs at home. He's also done copycat sandwiches from fast food and casual restaurants.

[@unicoraptorrex3459]

@@ChefBrianTsao not sure if you have already reacted to his videos but Not Another Cooking Show has a bunch of sandwich videos including ones he used to sell from a trailer his family held

[@liesalllies]

Gah, my hometown used to have the BEST Chinese restaurant but eventually the owner and the head chef had a falling out over something and he quit. Restaurant didn't last much longer than that. The food was so insanely good it's been almost 10 years since they closed and I can still taste there kung pao in my mind ... 😭

[@ChefBrianTsao]

I hate it when that happens

[@seijiren5115]

yeah that would felt sucks. I think they use a lot of magic white powder of uncle roger so it the best

[@ayajade6683]

I feel my favorite Chinese food place in my area was amazing went out of business because the owners flew back to China for a funeral then never came back and after a month the cooks couldn't order food. I still miss their spicy crab ragoons

[@zakirahtheniqabi]

I make my own Chinese food now. I've been to places where they literally poured soy sauce on some chicken and said it was general TSOs chicken. I'm at a point in my life where I don't trust anyone to make my food. I can't stand the risk of paying money and being disappointed. So I learned to make it myself. Now I make it more often than my own cuisine.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Nice! Home cooking is always best!

[@renaissanceman8687]

In the U.K. Chinese Take Away is about mid range, bit more expensive than Fish and Chips but a bit cheaper than Indian (Curry etc). Although when the first Chinese Supermarket opened in my City I bought a Wok, a Ken Hom cookbook and do my own. It’s at least as good as Take Away and usually tastes ‘fresher’ and can modify to suit your taste (eg substituted Mange Tout instead of Carrots in a couple of recipes). Insert Uncle Roger joke about Brits adding peas to everything 😂

[@ChefBrianTsao]

😂😂😂

[@TheWyrmSuperior]

I love seeing your comments and experiences! It's really cool to hear all the background about the food in the videos. Keep up the great work, man!

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Thank you! 🙏

[@xbmarx]

I see Chef Brian and Joshua and I click the like button 👍

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🤘thank you!

[@MrTterbo83]

would be great to see a colab video with Chef Brian & Chef Joshua.

[@katdon4508]

I love hearing a pro chef’s perspective on these kinds of videos. I’m learning so much about cooking!! keep it up dude

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Thank you for the kind words and tuning in!

[@petouser]

I think we always have to differ between junk food prices and quality restaurant prices. When you order a fried noodle box, of course you expect low costs, as you expect from McDonalds for instance. But you should also expect something different from a good restaurant, whether good Chinese restaurant or good burger restaurant.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Truth

[@lunarozegaming]

Our local Chinese restaurant has been about $8 to $12 depending on the dish. Cashew Chicken (I'm aware it's not true chinese food, but it was invented in my state by a Chinese immigrant ) is like $9

[@tabbieedwards4195]

What I miss are actual restaurants in my area. We only have the crappy buffets that have the same dishes repeated. I miss those great Cantonese restaurants where you could choose from a huge array of dishes . There is no variety anymore.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Those r the best!!!

[@csilkenat]

One thing that I would mention is that part of the reason he is building the sauce separately, is to make it more accessible. At home, I don't have the setup to have two woks going. Making the sauce ahead of time, and traying everything up is a good starting point, because I can have everything ready to go, run it through, and then wipe down, and be ready to make something that is not from that region tomorrow.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Yup 1000%, just giving my insight as someone who’s worked in professional kitchens, not a knock on Josh.

[@Default78334]

It also makes more sense for the home cook because you're only going to be making one or two dishes at a time and you know exactly what you need before hand. In a restaurant, you might have several orders in a row each for a different fried-chicken-in-sauce dish so it makes more sense to just do it on the fly rather than prepare ten different pre-mixed sauces beforehand.

[@user-ur5dt2gg2d]

our family uses orange tang juice powder for batter coloring for kwek-kwek. its just a boiled egg wrapped in batter then fried, served with different sauces. classic street food where I live.

[@mduvigneaud]

Brian, I agree with you on the "individual portion cost" vs what you'd have to spend total to cook it from scratch. If you already have the ingredients the cost per portion can be really low, but if you gotta buy 'em all... different story. Now, I'm an a-typical home cook: I buy flour in 50 lb bags, rice and sugar in 10 to 25 lb bags, soy sauce and various types of vinegar in 1 gallon jugs, etc. While I might have to buy 1 or 2 specific fresh ingredients to make one of Joshua's recipes, mostly I have it all on hand, but again: I am *not* typical. Most people don't have it all on hand.

[@Harklein]

15:01 That gulp while looking at the food... LMAO... I feel you... I'm hungry now... 😆

[@ChefBrianTsao]

😂

[@someoneelse2262]

love the descirption of the station setup and workflow of a standard Chinese restaurant kitchen. Super informative and interesting. Thanks for that!

[@emiliasmith5561]

The cost breakdown was actually pretty interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for watching!

[@RNS_Aurelius]

What you described as a roux is actually buerre manié. Butter kneaded with flour to then be used to thicken sauces and broths. Roux is made by melting butter and adding flour and heating until the smell of flour is gone. I assume buerre manié is used more in commercial kitchens because it can be prepared ahead of time.

[@timothy4664]

I like Joshua's pho recipe. The only thing I do differently than him is char the onion and ginger using the gas range rather than put it in the oven. I use the oven to toast the spices rather than a pan

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Same!

[@Kringlelicious]

Oh I miss our local Chinese restaurant food! So it's Americanized for sure, but the charred bits due to proper wok technique and how they build up the flavor by moving it and building the sauce constantly! *Cry*. I'd pay twice as much if I could eat there again.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🤤

[@shikitohno8446]

One of the reasons why I enjoy your Channel: you're Open minded and accepting to new Things and other ways. Your Insight of your own experiences is really helping Out in many cases to understand. Keep it up man, and never sell yourself to short 👍

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🙏thank you

[@LowBudgetKiwi]

One thing Joshua says is say cook till golden brown or 165F (Most home cooks ain't gonna temp the meat). Temp is always good advice, but for the home cook or a layman, the simplest instruction for deep frying anything is it will be ready when it floats..

[@stephaniedechamplain735]

I really like your video ! As someone who is trying to learn how to cook better at home, your videos are always a source of inspiration, fun with a side of new stuff to learn :) Keep up the good work !

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Thank you!

[@ryantannar5301]

There used to be a Chinese place near where I grew up that charged 5 bucks for 2 entrees, rice/noodles, a bowl of hot and sour soup, an egg roll, and a fountain drink. They went under in roughly 2016ish. I miss cheap Chinese food. The next best place now is a place that charges like 10 or 11 for your typical 2 item plate, but they give you like 150% of the food you would get another take out place.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Those type of deals were hard to beat!

[@phil7121]

Restaurants gotta do what they gotta do, but I always prefer restaurants raise their prices as needed and keep portions consistent so that the changes are transparent I always patronize places that hook you up with good value even when times are hard

[@jmoney6900]

Normally when making a meal I’ll prep the next while making today’s, for example if making orange chicken, the chicken would be dry brining or soaking in buttermilk or pickle juice overnight. Additionally he rice would also be leftover and most likely I would make prep the sauce.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Nice! That’s the way to do it!

[@SgtBuck01]

The Chinese takeout place next door to me is great. Fried rice, potstickers, and an entree usually costs me about $25 to $30 but for a single guy I can stretch that across three to five days without feeling like I need to go light. And you can't beat just walking 1500 feet to pick it up instead of of driving to pick it up, or paying DoorDash's absolutely insane service charge of 17% for delivery.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

DOORDASH and ap fees r insane

[@360cbullet]

As someone that has been in Boston off and on for 3 years, I can say I don't mind paying a little more for my favorite delivery restaurants. Definitely saves me the "2 hours to drive 10 miles" BS and I know the food is going to be amazing because there's about 5 Asian style (yes I grouped them up, don't shit on me) restaurants that I order from and I'm not about to mess that up.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🤘

[@maldenfoster]

Hey as a chief I know it’s hard spending time with family I’ve recently had to start really looking around for my produce and honestly I was upset about it taking that time away but I’ve been talking my daughter and teaching her about produce… I can’t tell you how invaluable that time has been. It was her spark and as of now she wants to follow my footsteps I couldn’t be more proud seeing her sauté onions or plate a dish… it’s seriously the little things raising kids

[@ChefBrianTsao]

That’s awesome ❤️

[@crestice2514]

Huh... Guess i was first to comment. Anyway nice review, i really learned a lot.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Thanks for watching! 🙏

[@wildwine6400]

Funny you mention the Orange tang powder, a Chinese takeout I go to uses orange cordial/squash

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Whoa

[@ericclevenger7716]

I appreciated your take on the "devaluation" of Chinese food. I have access to a few different restuarants in my area and I always go through the thought process of "what do I want today?" Do I want the high end, but more expensive take out? Do I want the super low cost, but "decent" take out? Or (what I chose most days) a quality meal for a moderate price that is somewhere in between those two? I appreciate the cost associated with the business, the quality of the ingrediants, and decide what I'm paying for. There are many layers of Chinese cuisine and each should be looked at as such. Sometimes I want a $8 sirloin, some nights I want the $40 aged ribeye. But a steak is not "just a steak." So Chinese food should not be "just Chinese food."

[@ChefBrianTsao]

100%

[@CainXVII]

I moved from a big city to a small city and went from being able to access authentic high-end Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese... To wondering why there is so much cauliflower in this (still pretty expensive) Thai. I don't eat out anymore. It's sad.

[@wiltchamberlain9920]

I've been making beef & broccoli all week. Last week was pork and brown sauce. It's been delicious. I'm definitely an Asian food fanatic. ;)

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🤘

[@BadSamurai0115]

2nd comment..... Cool Love your content bruh... I learn a lot... Makes me feel like I know stuff when homecooking like a boss.... Hope to get your sandwich next time I'm in NYC...

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Thanks for watching dude!

[@linuxman7777]

The thing is that Chinese food is everywhere and easy to find, so it can be hard to stand out. Like how I had a friend who worked at a chinese restaurant in a town about 18 miles away from where I lived, and He often told me that I didn't have to go to his place because there were 5 chinese restauraunts on the way. So the competition keeps prices low.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Yep, def

[@gilgameshmcballin]

Food cost is insane. I remember when i started in a position where i was managing that (around 2012 maybe) i could order a gallon of pure vanilla extract for around $40. Now it's often $400, if available at all.

[@JTMMTV]

Your subscriber count should be so much higher Brian. I love the way you keep things real and in perspective. I am a huge fan of Josh and now a huge fan of yours. Keep up the great work!

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🙏thank you

[@thomassun1165]

the second fry is also to get excessive oil out of the food Brian

[@stella19942001]

Chef Weissman generally does a good job with Asian cooking. The only problem I hv with him is his speed of talking is sooooo fast 😂 I also love the comments you made to point out certain differences here and there. Great job 👍

[@liesalllies]

You can set it to .75x speed and turn on captions!

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Thank you! 🙏

[@rovvy221]

Except his recent dim sum ones, radish cake was badly executed.

[@nailbomb420]

I'm pretty sure he's a cook, not a chef. Pedantic of me, I know, but still :|

[@merricfoley6481]

As an Australian, I'm always surprised that Chinese food is so strongly associated with cheap eats. Sydney is packed to the brims with high-quality (and high price) Chinese restaurants...

[@ChefBrianTsao]

There r def high quality places here too, but overwhelming majority are “cheap eats”

[@chubbydino4487]

Did you know, in Indonesia, specially in Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Bali.. Chinese foods (the Authentic Cuisines) are considered the Most Expensive dishes.

[@jarlsigurdstorvann9885]

You silly goose. We cant hear you talk when the video is playing. Give it a pause when you wanna talk about something. We get alot more out of your message then

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Will do!

[@atomicphilosopher6143]

I live in Japan and I go to Chinese restaurants all the time because I love the food. Honestly, I'd probably live in China if their government wasn't goddamn horrifying. Anyway, the normal price for a good meal is like ¥850 (translates to way less in USD but it's basically equal to $8.50) and it's awesome. I feel like the good places keep those prices low because it's basically just the owner working there and he probably lives upstairs. You're getting real authentic stuff, though. Aaaaand now I'm hungry. Think I'll go out tomorrow after work because this boy is an expert at Italian food but I don't have the equipment to make that top tier Chinese food. :P

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🤘

[@shadowtheimpure]

At current exchange rate, ¥850 is $6.10. God, I wish I could go to Japan right now while the yen is absolutely worthless. It would be an awesome and affordable vacation.

[@demodrakkaen0316]

@@shadowtheimpure I mean, tbf the USD is getting pretty flimsy lately too.

[@shadowtheimpure]

@@demodrakkaen0316 What? The dollar is strong right now, especially compared to other global currencies. It's right now trading almost 1-1 with the Euro (usually traded closer to 1-0.7), it's trading 1-0.84 with the British Pound (usually closer to 1-0.5), and 1-140 with the Japanese Yen (usually closer to 1-100).

[@X.3.N.0.N.2]

Well... Global food prices are soaring. Its not that the USD is getting flimsy, It's just that labor costs are soaring, raw materials just cost more to produce. And demand for goods has exceeded the supply giving suppliers significantly more selling power.

[@Khorne_of_the_Hill]

Chinese food may be cheap, but the quality you can get is crazy. my favorite restaurant is a tiny little Chinese restaurant called Magic Wok that only serves cashew chicken and wontons, and you can get a big ass carton of food and 4 wontons for like $10

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Killer deal!

[@ralfsstuff]

As someone who's never had authentic Asian food in general I wouldn't mind paying more for it. Problem is I wouldn't even know where to get some, let alone in a casual setting.

[@nolanholmberg311]

Yeah, for the past few years in my area of North Carolina the average meal takeout is about $15. Honestly the best deal I found is this local mom and pop shop run by this old couple from Szechuan and they have this insane meal deal where you can get a small entrée, a side of white rice and a choice of soup for like $9.85 so I agree Josh kinda tripping on his idea of what Chinese food prices should be lmao

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Damn, $9.85 is a GREAT deal!

[@nolanholmberg311]

@@ChefBrianTsao oh yeah. Almost everything down here is cheaper than in the city lmao. I remember back when I was a kid going there and the same meal was like $6 back in the day…

[@ArronRatliff]

I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought a dozen eggs and it was $5.89. I don't think we'll be doing a lot of baking this Xmas if prices are gonna be that rough. This time last year a dozen eggs was $3.00.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Yup, it’s insane rn

[@catherinejones5807]

Another great video, Chef Brian!👍🏻 Joshua Weissman is one of my favorite KZbin chefs (you are too!😊). I always enjoy your reactions to his videos. Chef Josh has done some sandwich videos which I would love to see you react to. Also, with Thanksgiving on the way, I’d love to see you either react to or prepare some Thanksgiving meal preparation videos (maybe smoking a turkey?) Also, doing a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich (or other leftover dish) video would be fun. As always, I enjoy and appreciate what you do. Keep up the good work!👍🏻

[@leafiiloran]

I second this! Would love to see a Thanksgiving video!

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Was thinking about doing a Thanksgiving video, but gotta be honest, it completely slipped my mind cuz I’m also balancing this while I work full time at the shop. I usually film 2 weeks ahead to give myself a little buffer and before I knew it, Thanksgiving is almost here already!

[@catherinejones5807]

I completely understand, Chef Brian! Got to have that Work/Life Balance. Do what you can do. No pressure. 👍🏻

[@CainXVII]

"You can put whatever you want in there" okay, so he just discovered you can make food at home

[@kweassa6204]

Considering the history of Asian cuisine in the western world -- 1st generation migrants trying to establish a stable business by offering cheap but tasty oriental cuisine -- I can see how after a few generations there'd come a drawback in that people view certain types of Asian food as 'cheap meals.' Like, the "white paper box for Chinese take-out food" is pretty much iconic part of American culture. It's good to hear the younger generations are now trying to elevate it to more sophisticated cuisine. I wish all young chefs a good luck in their endeavors.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🤘

[@ShawnTuckertheShoninzo]

Chef, we actually still have one of those cheap Chinese restaurants here on the south shore community of Chicago, and it taste very high quality

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Nice!

[@painfullight]

Man the inflation section hit hard. The restaurant I'm a supervisor at we had to change how often we changed our fryer oil because of the inflation. We had to start straining the oil from our French fry fryers to use as a top up for our dirtier fish fryers

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Yup, it’s thought right now and gotta do everything and anything to keep costs down

[@mrhiguy9056]

Hi. I really like your videos, great cooking advice. Keep up the great work !

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Thank you so much! 🙏

[@AdaC-ro3ds]

Food prices must be really cheap in the States becasue it would cost me over $3.00 just for the chicken at a grocery store in Canada these days

[@momnoah5]

I love your videos, and even after many years cooking, I still sometimes learn something new. I would love some really good (non-spicy) recipes. Like Sweet & Sour, Lemon or Orange Chicken.

[@patrikg.6320]

Yo I actually did the math on food cost+time+travel for myself, turns out if i add my current hourly wage of 9 dollars per hour to the ingredients cost and the fuel/energy costs I'm actually loosing cash. Granted am an average Joe so a 10 minute recepy takes me 20 minutes but still. I still prefer to cook because hell do i love cooking but people should really understand that many restaurants are barely being profitable!

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Cooking yourself is an invaluable skill! Even though I pointed out Josh is only giving food cost, it’s not a knock, just an observance.

[@danielbarrett3434]

My 3 favorite KZbinrs: uncle Roger, Brian Tsao, and Joshua Weissman

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🙏

[@someoneelse2262]

The bottom line is, you can't use a wok at home A home unit usually peaks out at 15,000 btu, not remotely enough to keep the wok consistently hot and certainly not enough to get wok hei (something Uncle Roger generally glosses over). You're really better off using two iron skillets and then combining the ingredients at the end. As for the water to rice ratio, a little surprised there. With my Zojirushi, white rice is usually 1 to 1.25/1.3 rice to water and brown rice is 1 to 1.5. Anything more than that and it turns to mush. And I generally don't wash my rice.

[@peterv1318]

Now this is exactly what I am saying also. At home wok is useless unless you want to use it as regular pan

[@peabody1976]

16:03 I agree with all your points; I do want to add something about food costs: if several different meals -- aside from "specialty" ingredients -- use the same food items over and over, then you end up making things in normal course, i.e., you'd have these things on hand anyway and then you have an arsenal of recipes where each use of food costs x cents or so. For just the meal he made, yes you may be buying more than just 0.03c of salt or 0.10c of flour or even the veggies. But that's the beauty of the series he does as a whole: you can spend time to plan things out, buy things you may need in supplement, and _then_ make other things with the leftover product.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Yup! Cross utilization is super important!

[@peabody1976]

@@ChefBrianTsao I think that brings me to the point of yours I agree with most: time is often a very important thing, sometimes more than money, so if this also encourages time management and pre-planning, then all the better.

[@oxylepy2]

Yeah, food prices at home being so much cheaper is why I bulk. If I want a sauce like sweet and sour or orange chicken sauce, I just make a gallon of it and have it for months going forward

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Def the way to do it!

[@ColtGColtG]

To me, american Chinese food will always be a cheap guilty pleasure food. However, I would treat genuine Chinese cuisine as seriously as we would italian and indian and such, well worth the money. I have had limited experience with legit Chinese food being from Minnesota and now living in North Carolina but the best I have had was in a town in MD right outside Washington DC. It is called Bob's Shanghai 66 and I had twice cooked pork belly and an order of soup dumplings. Never would have expected from the name of the place it would be that great. Now my parents and I talk about potentially doing road trips to DC not just for the tourist stuff but to go back to that restaurant. its worth it to us to make it part of our vacation plans.

[@stuartmayberry666]

The pricing on these videos has always bothered me a bit for the reasons you mentioned. Still love Josh's videos, but that is one gripe. I used to work at a Thai place and I remember the first time I saw the "build the sauce on the chuan" technique and I thought that was so cool.

[@f.b.jeffers0n]

If you're into metal, you'll definitely more than just enjoy Loss Becomes!

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🙏 thank you

[@Azuzu_Komagome]

Back then there was this Chinese take out I love to go It like 3dishes Or 4 dishes with rice With the Side of a soup. For around 4-5 dollars

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Egh, those were the days

[@chaosvemon]

that soup is the water they clean the wok + msg. its fact.

[@Shaosprojects]

Thanks for your outro. It’s invariably true that failure only makes you stronger, although it is hard to accept that truth at times. I just have to keep reminding myself whenever I feel down.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

I built my whole career on my failures! 😂

[@Shaosprojects]

@@ChefBrianTsao I hope one day I can look back at my career and say the same

[@mouldyfart]

Ditto about the time part and also the cleaning lol. I once fried rice (with sambal belacan) on high heat, no compromises, in my studio apartment and yea the smell is still stuck to the walls.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

😂

[@PhycoKrusk]

There was an incident either earlier this year or last year where a restauranteur was complaining about how much more he was spending on mayonnaise (the cost had gone up hundreds of dollars per week), and the response from the Internet at large was to mock him about how much mayo he could have possibly used and what he was doing with it (mayo sandwiches, etc.); this included several writers at major news outlets. To my knowledge, only one independent news outfit actually called him to ask how he used that much mayo; the answer was, as Mr Tsao almost certainly knows, on sandwiches, in spreads, dressings, sauces, you name it. Anyone who does not work in restaurants honestly has no idea how much mayonnaise is actually required to enjoy the kind of take-out we have available in the United States.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

1000%

[@pl7868]

Where i live in Canada Chinese takeout is expensive these days , a veg. dish , noodle dish , two meat/ish dish's , and egg rolls is about 100 dollars , making your own is time consuming for the prep and cleanup , you are eating exactly whatever it is you bought an cooked though so a premium there, is it worth the I Don't Want To Cook let's order out premium ? Dollar wise if at ten/eleven in the morning you can stop crying long enough about being sick of cooking an dishs to guzzle two beers and plan,prep,cook between beers , it's worth cooking at home , if you are so upset you pulled the stove away from the wall an shut the gas off shoved it back an told the wife Omg the stove isn't working lay on the floor curl up an cry and she hugs you says that's alright i'll pay for takeout you go lay on the couch watch hockey eat the last bag of bbq chips to K , then go for the takeout , um that takes some prep to though 🙂

[@brahmpayton334]

Dude. You restaurant breakdown of what "It would cost to make this food at a restaurant" is valid But If you like making your own food this is the call. Even if it takes money from your pocket. Because we are our own ches. (Bad as we are)

[@someoneelse2262]

Agree that the cost is deceiving. Didn't mention the price of all the equipment, gas and electricity, serving utensils. And the way the ingredients are priced is deceiving as well. And labor. And location. And insurance. Etc.. There is a reason that you have to be crazy (good crazy...sometimes) to own a restaurant.

[@vixenligon1167]

When I see the food videos that he talks about it being so much cheaper to make it, I always think it is not completely accurate. There is one where he made the sandwich completely from scratch. The roast he made would be rather expensive to buy. It wouldn't cost me $3 to make that sandwich when the roast is going to cost me $20 or more. $10 for Chinese food, honestly isn't that expensive in my opinion. Around here I've noticed the prices haven't really gone that much up, they've just served us less. This started several years ago. When we go out to eat because I don't feel like cooking that night. It's worth the expense for us.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

100%

[@20biomed08]

Oh shit, you offer health insurance. Good man. Tobad I'm in Canada if come to your shop.

[@Joe_Murphy-REV_Realty]

You are absolutely right on everything you said!! Love your videos.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

🙏 thank you

[@antriggjackman6274]

In Australia normal Chinese take out is $20 to $25

[@Superintendent_ChaImers]

The orange tang powder as the secret ingredient sorta makes sense. After all, sweet and sour needs to be a bit "Tangy" after all. Mua ha ha ha.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

😂

[@canonshooter2137]

Wait...At the beginning (5:40 or so) when Joshua was measuring water to the rice..did he say 2 cups of water OR 173mL? If so, that is an incorrect conversion. 1 cup = 250mL, so 2 cups is 500mL. 1/2 cup is 125mL. So not sure where that 2cups or 173mL number came from.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Oh good catch

[@jmoney6900]

From my understanding 2/1 is all but for the rice cooker, rice cookers are normally 1/1.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

I personally do 1.25 in rice cooker for Short Grain Rice.

[@kimyoung3160]

I use potatoe flour in my coating or sometimes tempura batter

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Nice! Both work amazing!

[@njcafaro]

OK, hear me out... a Joshua/Chef Brian video & somehow you incorporate Uncle Roger...either joining in or reacting to it... that would be fun to watch😊

[@ChefBrianTsao]

That would be a dream come true!

[@willsutton2235]

Inflation is real there is a Chinese restaurant here in sf, you’d get a heaping portion of rice and a generous helping of product for $5 now it’s $8.75 (still cheap tho)

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Dang, yeah that’s still pretty good!

[@Salutations26]

I once saw someone use orange soda/pop in orange chicken.

[@FlatBroke612]

J.W. may not be a sausage maker, but I’m getting “sausage taker” vibes big time.

[@peterv1318]

Hahaha. He doesn’t realize he is gay yet lol

[@gndo9145]

But try explaining that increase to the public. I work in a grocery store bakery and we had to go up 15% across the board in April and people still bring it up to me daily about how "ridiculous" a dollar a donut is. Or "back in my day" Insert item was a nickel.

[@viktorville8838]

I used to work I hospitality and it is insane from what my friends tell me. Tbh most places cover w liquor mark up

[@ChefBrianTsao]

100%

[@RvLeshrac]

The core problem with Chinese restaurants is that they seem to be on a race to the bottom, in terms of quality. Poor ingredients, poor cooking, poor service. My go-to local places for a long time were a couple of Peter Chang restaurants, and as soon as he was gone they just dropped like a rock in quality, but didn't move on price; as a result I went elsewhere -- to a more expensive shop, even. Growing up, we had a local Cantonese restaurant that had, to this day, the best Hot & Sour I've ever had at any restaurant, be it Chinese or Indian, and possibly the best roast duck. Then the owners unfortunately died, their kids took over, and it rapidly declined until it closed a couple of years later. A secondary problem is that many of them serve the same Americanized Cantonese that you can get at a mall food court for 1/4 the price. I seem to be among a precious few who don't want chicken nuggets in syrup, but real food -- fresh vegetables, clean sauces. Where's all the Cheung Fun? The Wosiu Tofu?

[@Default78334]

There's a reason why so many Japanese restaurants in the US have Chinese owners. They figured that Japanese food was considered fancier and would support higher prices.

[@anonemouse48]

In all things you get what you pay for but especially in food, if it's good food than it's worth the money

[@ChefBrianTsao]

💯

[@stitches1110]

My family used to run a pizza place and that part about the inflation in oil hit hard lol. We would order delivery twice a week, Wednesday and Friday. If we needed anything between then it was Walmart or a restaurant supply store like gfs.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

I have a friend w deli buying all his cooking oil from target or Walmart rn just to scrape by

[@stitches1110]

@@ChefBrianTsao Gotta do what you can to scrape by.

[@arsyfoox]

Labor, water, energy, rent, and you end up with that 7.75% profit. You have to really love food to make it.

[@laurabustos6560]

Inflation talk is on!! I'm watching this as I put away my 20lb flour and 25lb sugar from Costco. It cost waaay too much! And of course I was low on vanilla, out of Choco chips and other essentials...😭

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Yep, def hurts to go food shopping

[@retrocny5625]

Chinese food prices going up with inflation has been a major heart breaker for me. I have a great take-out place within walking distance, and I usually ordered from them at least once a week, sometimes twice. I've had to dial back a bit unfortunately, inflation is really fucking annoying.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

😞

[@user-sm2ql7nq4l]

He stole Adam The Woos' tag line that is "Join me, shall you?" To "Let's try this, shall we" Also Iost respect for this guy when he did a video on how to make BBQ ribs in the oven. BBQ is a noun, not a verb. A style of cooking. I've been offset smoking for 20 years. Adding BBQ sauce doesn't make it BBQ. It's a condiment. So basically it was oven baked ribs with BBQ sauce. And for me, good BBQ doesn't need sauce. Keep up the great work on this channel.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Thank you! I really appreciate that!

[@Dokuro88]

can't blame em', i know plenty of hole in the wall Chinese places with better food than the more "publicized" Chinese restaurants... and the prices are just night and day.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Truth

[@carpediem5232]

At 3 dollar food cost the prices would be reasonable, but the 3 dollar food price the home cook will be quite a bit less for a restaurant that buys in bulk.

[@smellynecklace]

Hey man, i really like your videos! I wanted to mention that the monitor reflection in your glasses is quite distracting to me, maybe to some other people as well. But very interesting video, keep it up!

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Thanks dude! Funny thing is, those lenses were supposed to be anti reflective… my previous lenses were even worse!

[@wykydrone]

Food court Chinese still have those "choose an entrée" deals. They're a little more but definitely under $10 without the drink.

[@ChefBrianTsao]

Man, I remember those deals being $4 plus a drink as a kid.

[@wykydrone]

@@ChefBrianTsao Same and back then we had buffets around the $5 range and takeout from buffet was the same price, before they started weighing the container.

[@johnarnold412]

the chinese fast food here not just increased their price but also changed their recipe. so not only is it pricey but also doesnt taste as good as the old recipe

[@ChefBrianTsao]

It’s hard times for ALL restaurants right now

[@Kringlelicious]

Some dry ingredients have really shot up super high in price. Imported spices have gone way up in general, and some of the top quality importers have had such problems getting high quality spices that they're not selling certain ones that don't meet their standards. :(