Oysters and Lobster with Andrew Taylor & Mike Wiley | Simply Ming | Full Episode

>> MING: This week on Simply Ming: chefs Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley are down from Portland, Maine. They own three amazing restaurants up there: Hugo's, Eventide and Honey Paw. >> So we wanted to just do something decidedly untraditional and totally delicious. >> MING: They will, of course, be cooking tons of seafood, making their signature brown butter lobster roll, which takes a New England classic and turns it on its head, and shucking some delicious Maine oysters. >> You get fast when you're doing thousands a day so... >> MING: I'll follow that up with some beer-battered oysters and a shallot Chinese vinegar aioli. >> This is a great way for people who are a little squeamish about eating oysters, to enjoy them for the first time. >> MING: To start it off, we're not only going to do a Thai basil cucumber saketini, but we're going to do some oyster shooters, too. >> Cheers. >> Cheers. >> MING: Nice to have you. Cheers. That's all coming up next here at home as we cook on Simply Ming. >> MING: Nice to have you guys here. Andrew. >> Good to be here. >> MING: Good to be here, brother. Michael. >> Thank you. >> MING: All right, so you guys brought some beautiful oysters. >> We did, we did. >> MING: So we're going to shuck if you could just show everyone how you shuck oysters. Give us six, please. Mike, you have this kimchi ice, right. Talk to me about that, please. >> So we ferment all of our own kimchi in house. Pretty much what we do is we serve the solids, the kimchi itself, and then we reserve the brine. We freeze it, and it's got just enough sugar, just enough salt, that it flakes really nicely when I scrape it. And we use it as a topping for our oysters. >> MING: Right. I've been to Eventide. It's a freaking unbelievable restaurant. I especially love your outdoor. They have this great outdoor seating. You're kind of France-like, meaning you're on the street, you get to people watch. But, oh, my God, your oysters and your lobster roll, which they're going to make next, is to die for. I'm going to make you guys a quick Thai basil cucumber saketini, all right, to go with this. And we're going to do a couple of shooters, if that's all right. >> Sounds good. >> MING: So a little bit of Thai basil, to start this Thai basil cucumber martini, a bunch of leaves inside. So, Andrew, tell me about these oysters, please. >> These are Winter Point oysters from West Bath, Maine. Maine oysters are known for their sort of salinity, really briny, really delicious. We work with this specific farmer to get us this size, which is a little bit smaller. Great, like, entry oyster for novice oyster eaters. >> MING: So what's the art of when you shuck, what's the, you know, you've done 100,000 plus of those, but to a home person, a home cook, how do they do it? >> We go through 14,000 oysters a week in the summer, so we get to shuck up quite a few. But for the home cook, what you're really trying to do, take your oyster knife, get it right in the hinge. Wiggle a little bit, get it in there, pop that, and then there's an abductor muscle right here. >> MING: Yup. >> Which you're trying to slide that knife across, get that top shell off. Then you come back under the other side of the abductor, and there you go. You've got a nice oyster on the half shell. >> MING: That looks awesome. All right, you guys get that. I'm going to get this cocktail going. So, this is actually a little bit of cucumber sake. This actually has a really fresh cucumber flavor in it. I'm going to make a quick oyster shooter. Mike, if you could grab me the three shot glasses. >> I'd be happy to. >> MING: And we'll put some cucumbers in that. So equal parts cucumber sake and vodka. Just for a nice, light cocktail. Thank you, sir. And for our shooters, we're going to put just a little bit of cucumber, like this. If you could drop three oysters in there, chef, I'd appreciate that. >> Absolutely. >> MING: And we're going to add a little this is a junmai daiginjo sake. Which so this is just for a really clean shooter, just like that. That will be our first kind of shooter. And our second one has our booze. Throw those on the board for me there. All right. These look awesome. Look at all those... look at all the cumber ones you made, or the kimchi. I can't get this open. There we go, awesome. >> Like I said, you get fast when you're doing thousands a day, so... >> MING: All right, very simple cocktail here. >> Beautiful. >> MING: Two ingredients. Throw a little bit of brunoise of cuke in there as well. All right. There we go. >> Those look great. >> MING: Beautiful. Then here, we just garnish with a little bit of cucumber floating in the cocktail as well. Okay. I think we should do a shooter first here, gentlemen. >> Sounds good. >> MING: Let's try this. >> Sounds good. >> MING: Cheers. >> Cheers. >> Cheers. >> MING: Nice to have you. Cheers. >> Mmm. >> Mm-hmm. >> MING: Oh, that oyster is good. >> Oh, yeah absolutely. >> MING: Goes good with sake, though, right? >> It is. >> MING: Let's try the kimchi ice. I love that idea. >> Yeah, kimchi, a lot of traditional recipes have oysters as a starter, so we decided to we don't put oysters in the original kimchi, but decided to put kimchi back on the oysters. >> MING: That's so good. Man, you taste everything about Korea in that bite. >> Yup. >> Oh, yeah. >> MING: Right, the garlic, the spices, the fermentation. Awesome, all right. It's like we're going through power... we're powering through this. >> Seriously. >> MING: All right, guys, Thai basil cucumber saketini. Let's see how we do there. >> Oh, yeah. I want to be on the patio at Eventide right now. >> MING: Except we have to go cook first. We get to see their signature brown butter lobster roll. Come on, guys, let's go cook. All right, Mike, so what's all... that's not just water. >> No, we've got this, this is lightly acidulated with just some vinegar. Lemon juice would work just as well. We've got a little bit of salt in here. And we basically bring the water up to a boil. Throw the lobsters in, throw the lid on. Set a timer for six minutes. After six minutes, you pull the lid off, and you toss them into an ice bath. And once they've cooled down just a little bit, easy enough to handle, then you can start tearing into them. >> MING: Interesting. So six minutes for the lobster's, not fully cooked, obviously, right, because you're going to cook them more in your brown butter. >> Yeah, really, all we're looking to do here is cook the lobster enough that we can easily pull the meat from the shell. Trying to pull apart raw lobster is sort of a fool's errand. It's just it's gelatinous, and it just makes a mess. >> MING: Got it. And can you talk to me about your brown butter? How do you make your beurre noisette, as they say in France? >> So we just... it's as simple as can be. We take butter, we melt it down, and we cook it until you start to see the milk solids and the butter toasting just a little bit. >> MING: Right. >> You'll notice that through the aroma and through the color. Beurre noisette is just French for "hazelnut butter." >> MING: Yup. >> So you'll start to smell a little bit of nuttiness. You'll start to see the milk solids in the butter browning a little bit. And you just be patient and keep your eye on it. You want to be moving slowly. >> MING: Not to interrupt, but this is so cool, using the scissors. >> Yeah, we made we made quite a mess the first year we opened Eventide, shucking lobsters and, you know, people banging away with hammers and towels, and it just gets lobster juice everywhere. Scissors keeps things a lot cleaner, a lot neater, particularly with things like the knuckles and the claws. >> MING: Dude, my day's complete. I learned something today. Although, these these shells seem a little softer. >> Absolutely. >> MING: Is that right? >> Yeah, we're coming in to soft shell lobster season, which is really nice, in sort of the summer months. Lobsters start coming into shore a little closer. They molt, and that means their shells are quite a bit softer. >> MING: Right. Yeah, it does feel softer. >> Absolutely. They're a lot more difficult to handle in the middle of the winter when they're out deep in deep waters, and the shells get pretty tough to manage. But we even do, yeah, with the claws, same thing, just sort of cut away. >> MING: You can even cut the claws. >> Cut away, particularly with the soft shell, absolutely. >> MING: And the other way, if they're not soft shells, guys, you can take off you break off the bottom claw, and you can just knock the lobster out like that. >> Good pair of scissors is really handy, though, I will say. >> MING: So you guys do everything at all your restaurants, including baking their own bread. >> Yup, we make everything in house. >> MING: So talk to me about your great bread here. >> Those steamed buns are-- it's a pretty simple bread dough. We'll share the recipe with you guys. But rather than baking it, we steam it, and it couldn't be simpler than that. We steam them, and then we cool them down, and then when the cook receives an order, we just warm them in a steamer, and that's exactly what we're doing here. >> MING: I love that. >> Yup. A steamer on your stovetop will work just as well as the fancy steam oven that we have at the restaurant. >> Yeah, lobster rolls in Maine are one of those things that old-time Mainers love to argue about. It's kind of like gumbo in New Orleans, or barbecue in the South. >> MING: Right, or fried chicken, yeah. >> Everybody's grandmother has the best recipe. >> MING: Of course. >> The most traditional recipe. We want to do something a little bit different with nods to the past, so we do our Chinese steam buns in the style. >> MING: Yeah, I was just going to say... Yeah, I was going to say, they're mantou. So mantou are these these sweet steam buns, right? They usually have no filling, but you, of course, made them in the shape of a lobster roll. >> Exactly, the shape of the classic, classic, New England lobster roll. >> MING: You'll be seeing this at the Blue Dragon one day soon. (laughing) Do you sell them? >> We would, we would, absolutely. >> We do for takeout, but wholesale, that's a long ways out, I would say. >> MING: Yeah, dude. Is it fun having three restaurants? So they have the three restaurants all in one row, right. So there's their new one, Honey Paw. In the middle is Eventide with outdoor seating. And then Hugo's is their fine dining. But I love that they have one main kitchen in the back that connects all three restaurants. >> It's fantastic. I mean for us as chef/owners we can walk through the kitchen and literally keep an eye on things, taste things. And, you know, it's also the cooks. There's great cross pollination of ideas. People, you know, get in petty arguments... >> MING: No! >> ...take recipes in different directions. >> MING: Petty arguments in Maine! No! C'est pas possible. >> It's great, it's great. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. >> I always like to say that at any moment's notice I can be over any one of my cook's shoulders yelling at them. Or complimenting them. >> Or complimenting them. >> MING: So I like... so you didn't use a knife. You just hand broke everything. >> Hand tear, another one of those sort of Maine... Maine nods. It's sort of like it opens up the meat for, you know, as much of the butter to sort of absorb. >> MING: I agree. So the beurre noisette usually takes you how long? >> Oh, like, ten minutes or so. >> MING: Ten minutes. So that's just whole butter unsalted, I believe, right? >> Unsalted. >> MING: And then this is good to go? >> Yeah, all we do is we wait for it to take a little bit of color. Once you see it coloring up a little bit. >> Kill the heat, because it can creep up on you, and you'll end up with beurre noir, which is what we want to avoid here. But then we hit it with a little bit of lemon juice, a little bit of salt, and that's it. >> MING: So you need me to get on get you some lemon. So is that this one is ready to go? >> This one is ready to go. Yup. >> Drop the lobster meat in, just warm it back through, finish that cooking process. >> MING: And how long does that take? >> Not long at all. Half scrape. >> MING: And you want me to chop some chives so I can act like I helped out a little bit. >> Absolutely. >> That would be great Ming, thank you. >> MING: And how many lobster rolls do you think you guys go through in the summer? >> In the summer? >> In a whole summer? I don't know. We go through about 400 a day in the dead of the... dead of the summer. >> MING: 400 a day. >> We get in about 300 lobsters a day for most of the summer months. It's pretty wild. >> MING: That's a crazy amount of lobster. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's more than we figured we would be biting off, but... >> MING: Yeah, but you know what? That's a great problem to have. >> It is. >> MING: I mean, are you kidding me? >> It's been a common refrain. >> MING: It's good. So how long does this lobster take? >> Probably 30 seconds out. We're just warming it through. >> MING: Wow. Love that. All right, well, then, we can plate it up. You want to grab your bread there, chef Andrew? >> Absolutely. >> MING: There are tongs by your... down low. There we go. Oh, tongs. He doesn't need tongs! He's got a hand. >> Kitchen hands, kitchen hands. >> MING: Fantastic. Sorry to insult you with tongs. Look how soft these are, guys. Right, so, when they're unsteamed, they're dryish, so to speak, but look how pliable and soft. These look beautiful. Yeah, I imagine you have some of those locals who are like, "You're not buttering and searing your bread?" Right, I mean... >> I think we're well established enough now that people walk in Eventide knowing they're not going to get the hot dog bun that's been griddled. But, yeah, every once in a while we'll get people who are a little surprised. But I think in 99 cases out of 100, once somebody tastes it, they're pretty pleased with what they've got in front of themselves. >> We actually specifically wanted to stay out of that conversation of, you know, what's the most traditional or what's the classic lobster roll. So we wanted to do something decidedly untraditional, but then just totally delicious. >> MING: You know when people say your mouth is watering looking at your food? Well, it's actually happening. That's true. >> We've got a little chives on top. And voila. >> MING: Gents, that looks awesome. We get to eat now. Come on, let's go sit down. Yes! >> MING: Gentlemen, let's eat. I'm pouring you a little junmai daiginjo sake. >> This is killer. >> MING: As you guys know, because you guys sell sake, chilled, right? Like, the majority of all sakes in the world, including sakes in Japan, are chilled. First, cheers to you. >> Cheers. >> MING: I know you want to get to your lobster rolls. So do I, but cheers. >> I love these things. >> Cheers. That looks so good. Oh, my God. >> Big bite. Here we go. >> Yeah, we really work hard not to overcook that lobster, keep it nice and tender, so. >> MING: It is so... there's three things here. Perfectly cooked lobster, right, which is hard to do. >> Yup. >> MING: But you made it look so easy, six minutes. The browned butter, this beurre noisette, is so much better than clarified butter. >> Oh, yeah. >> MING: Right? You've got that nuttiness. It's just as rich. But then the genius of your lemon juice, just a little bit. >> Oh, yeah. >> MING: Cuts through. The best. So I lied, four things. And the bread. >> The buns aren't too shabby, are they? >> MING: The buns have this sweetness to them that just makes the lobster taste sweeter. >> Absolutely. It all works. We knew we knew we were on to something with this. >> MING: You know when people ask you, "What do you want "to eat the day, you know, you're on your death bed, and you've got one last bite?" I just got my answer. That's fantastic. >> Awesome. >> MING: Cheers to you. I get two sous chefs. I am going to do a little beer batter fried oyster and hope you enjoy. >> That sounds fantastic. >> MING: If it comes close to this, I'm going to be a happy man. Stick around. >> MING: Gentlemen, those lobster rolls, to die for. Get yourselves to Eventide when you're close to Portland, Maine. It is fantastic. So an IPA for you and you. Cheers, guys. Thanks for being here. And we're going to make an IPA beer battered fried oysters, with some perfectly cut-- if you don't mind-- my onion rings. >> No problem. >> MING: And actually fry up some lemon wedges as well, and we're going to make an aioli using a mignonette. So let's get this started. So what I'm going to do is... You're going to man the stick for me. >> I'll man the stick. >> MING: So, to make an aioli, what we actually did was I made a mignonette. Mignonette are pickled shallots with black pepper, and this is rice vinegar. So I wanted pickled shallots I pickled these for just, what, 20 minutes, just to give some good acid to it, black peppercorn, everything in there. All right. Then we're going to add one of my favorites. This is Chinese vinegar. Has great kind of balsamic five spice taste to it. We're going to add three egg yolks to this, and because I want to really taste the mignonette, we're going to use grapeseed oil instead of olive oil. We'll go like that. And then, sir, I know you know how to do that. We're going to add a pinch of salt and pepper. And then if you could use that stick. I'm such a big fan of using a stick to make aioli. You just start on the bottom. The egg yolks are on the bottom. You let them come together and emulsify, and then you just slowly bring it up. Sir, good luck. >> Absolutely. >> MING: Wait, I'm sorry, one other thing. Just a little of the oyster liqueur. So we shucked all of these oysters, about 26 of them. All the liqueur that comes off of it is this. And this is... this is gold. >> It is. >> MING: It tastes like the sea. See how this aioli just comes together so perfectly? Love that. All right, we'll get that going. You're slicing away. Oh, this is your onion bowl. I took that away from you. >> Is this what you're looking for? >> MING: Yup, yeah even thinner. So, guys, four different things for the beer batter. You have all purpose flour, corn starch, baking powder and baking soda, all right. So all that into a big bowl like that. How did that come out? Oh, yeah. >> Great, perfect. People are so intimidated to make mayonnaises at home. >> MING: Oh, it's so easy. >> It's very easy. >> MING: And when you can add all that flavor. Let's see how we did here, chef. Just try that real quick. I like this is a nice, loose mayonnaise because we're going to use this to dip our oysters in. Just make sure we did okay on the salt and pepper. Oh, love that! All right, nice job there, chef. >> Very good, very good. >> MING: So the liquid that we're going to add to this, a little bit, again, got some more oyster liqueur, and then I want to add this IPA. You guys like IPAs, too? >> Sure do. >> Absolutely. >> MING: Indian pale ale has got such a great kind of a deep somewhat sweet flavor, I guess? >> Yeah, piney, hoppy. >> Yeah, I know, it's fantastic. >> MING: I mean, it's taken this country by storm. >> It has. >> MING: I mean, I can't even tell you, 1,000, 2,000 IPAs now in this country? >> Oh, yeah. You can see in Portland, Maine, too, we've got a really, really great craft brewery thing happening up there. We get a lot of really delicious IPAs up there. >> MING: You know, all these microbreweries, thank God. >> God bless them. >> MING: They've been doing it in Europe for hundreds of years. >> Sure. >> MING: It's really just the last, I don't, 30 years. >> Yup. >> MING: That's it really become a fashion. And the good news for all of us is we get better beer, right? >> God bless the work they do. >> MING: I mean, they really caught up to the wine industry, right? When we started doing wine in California and Oregon, it's like, "Oh, you'll never come close to the French." And guess what? >> Here we are. >> Here we are. >> MING: And I'm sure the Germans will say, "Ah, the Americans are going to try to do beer now," and here we are. All right, so pancake batter consistency. So this is good to go. We have our onions. We have our lemons. >> Lemons. >> MING: I'm actually going to go ahead and put all these in here into the beer batter. Lemon, when they're thin sliced perfectly like that, they fry up awesome, kind of a great little garnish. All right, then we have our oysters. I'm going to throw these in here as well. All right. >> What kind of oysters are those? >> MING: These are actually from Duxbury. >> Duxbury. >> MING: Fantastic, also, a great little size, like... >> They sure are. >> MING: Like the oysters you brought down from Maine. Here is our aioli dipping. You can throw that fantastically, perfectly sliced iceberg lettuce as a bed. >> I sure can. >> MING: And we can start frying. >> Beautiful. >> MING: So we'll come over here. I like hot oil. So, we've got almost, almost 400 degrees here. Three... 390. Let's see what we've got. Yeah, three... 390 is good. So don't waste an oyster to test oil. Waste an onion, right. Oh, that's good. So we can get these oysters in here. These all fry about the same amount of time. Don't drop them in too high, right. You don't want to get them splashed, all right. Like that. Now we can get some rings in here. Drop the rings in separately, so you don't get a clump. All right, beautiful. And then drop some of these lemon wedges here. All right, guys, this is going to take only about two minutes for this to cook up. We have our aioli. We've got perfectly sliced lettuce. Plate this up in two minutes. All right, this batter I love, guys. It cooks up... >> Absolutely. >> MING: So crisp and delicious. >> Great color. >> Yup, no doubt. >> MING: And salt at the ready, thank you, chef. The most important thing when you're frying anything, French fries all the way to oysters, salt them while they're still hot and just a touch of oil, because that's the only way the salt can stick. Awesome. Perfect. I'll take that great plate here. So now, gentlemen, you can sit down. I'm going to serve you up. >> Fantastic. >> MING: Got some oysters here. Put the onions, the lemons. There's definitely no rhyme or reason when you're plating fried food. Just make sure you serve it hot. That's the most important thing. This is... oh, shoot. I should have made you guys some. I'm sorry. (laughing) There. Turn that fan off. All right, guys. >> Oh, that is mighty inviting. >> MING: I'll go get my own beer. It's okay, guys. >> We're a little eager to eat this, the fried oysters here. >> MING: Guys, use your hands, you don't need to >> I love it, I love it. My favorite thing in the world to eat. >> MING: What do you think, you like the batter? >> Oh, yeah. >> It's great. This is a great way for people who are a little squeamish about eating oysters to enjoy them for the first time. You get that really great, crisp batter, and the inside is just creamy and unctuous. It's really, really fantastic. >> Mignonette's really... or the aioli's really nice with the mignonette. It's got a nice... nice acidic kick to it. Absolutely perfect. I want to try one of these lemons, yeah. >> MING: Fried lemon. And just listen to the crunch. (loud crunch) Right? I love this batter. >> Really good. >> MING: AP flour, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder. If you don't do beer, use soda water. You don't have to use beer. Beer does add a nice flavor, though. >> Also, the alcohol actually burns off quicker than water and makes it even crispier. >> MING: Yup. >> It's perfect. >> MING: You guys are the best. Thank you so much. You've got three dinners or lunches to go out the next time you're in Portland, Maine, right? I say I would probably do Asian first, because I love Asian, right, Honey Paw. Gotta get your fresh seafood and a bunch of oysters, and then when you blow it out, go to one of the best fine dining restaurants in all of New England, Hugo's. So, you guys, thank you so much. Continued success. Keep cooking from the sea. Love it. And for all of you out there, thanks for watching. Keep cooking at home. And peace and good eating. Cheers. Cheers, guys. Let's keep eating.