Original subtitles

Okay. Time to step things up.

Over the last three years...

-[dramatic music playing] -Ooh!

[all gasping]

[woman] Oh, my goodness.

[Selena] ...I've made over 80 dishes

with over 40 amazing chefs in my home kitchen.

-Woo! -[woman shrieks]

-What happened? -Roll it. You don't roll it now.

-I'm trying! -[man] Roll it.

[Selena] This culinary crash course hasn't been easy.

-We did it! -There it is.

[Selena] But it has been so rewarding.

Now I think I'm ready to take it to the next level.

Raquelle, hurry up.

So I'm heading out to some of the hottest restaurants

in Los Angeles...

-Mmm. -This is really good.

...to cook with the chefs on their home turf.

[woman] This is how the real chefs do it!

[Selena] And on their terms.

-Because I said so. -[laughs]

[Selena] The goal is to create my own dish.

[woman] Amazing.

[Selena] And I'm aiming high.

Would this be able to make the menu?

Seriously, I want to make something good enough

to actually go on their menu.

No pressure.

♪ Watch her go, mm-mm-mm, Mm-mm-mm, mm-mm ♪

♪ Look at her now Watch her go ♪

♪ Mm-mm-mm, mm-mm-mm, mm-mm ♪

♪ Wow, look at her now ♪

[peppy music playing]

I heard this is like, the best dumplings

-in LA. -I know.

Well, we gotta tell Chef about nana's dumplings.

Yes!

That actually gives me some idea

of what I might wanna make.

Ooh?

-You have a plan today. -Yeah. I might, I might.

-Maybe. -Okay, Chef.

I'm here for that.

Have you ever made dumplings?

-[tuts] -I don't know why I just asked that. [chuckles]

[instrumental music playing]

[Raquelle] So nice.

-Ready? -Yep.

Oh, look how cute!

[Raquelle gasps]

[Selena] This is so cute.

I'm assuming the kitchen's back there.

I'm so excited.

Oh, my God. Hi!

[Shirley] Oh, hi.

-Oh, my God. -[Selena] How are you?

-I'm Shirley. -I'm Selena.

So nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you, too. -Amazing.

Hey, Shirley. I'm Raquelle.

Oh, hi!

[Selena] Today, I'm taking Raquelle

to meet the Dumpling Queen herself,

Chef Shirley Chung,

at her restaurant Ms Chi Cafe in Culver City.

The popularity of Shirley's food comes

from her creativity,

infusing American comfort classics

with the traditional cuisine and techniques

of her Chinese roots.

-[Raquelle] Yum. -[Shirley] Are we ready for lunch?

-[Raquelle] That's delicious. -[Shirley] Awesome.

Welcome.

[Selena] Thank you.

Oh, what do we have?

[Shirley] Okay.

So, since I'm the Dumpling Queen of Los Angeles,

so I have to have you taste my signature dumpling.

This is the Jumbo Cheeseburger Potstickers--

- [Raquelle] Oh, my God! - [Shirley] ...with bacon tomato jam.

Are you kidding me?

-Yeah, grab one. -So-- the excitement.

[Shirley and Selena giggle]

-[Selena] Mmm. -Yeah?

I'm Chinese American, so I have to mix

the ultimate two comfort food

of two cultures together.

This is so good.

Okay, what's next?

[Shirley] Tea-smoked duck.

The reason we use tea is

-because we have a boba tea program. -[Raquelle] Mmm.

So after the tea get brew,

all the tea leaves get left over.

And I always feel like I have to use everything.

- [Selena] Yeah. - [Shirley] So I use the tea leaf

to smoke the duck.

Oh, cool.

-Can I make it for you? -[Selena] Yes.

-[Shirley] Okay, cool. So, lotus bun-- -[Shirley] Thank you.

-Oh, my gosh. -...plum sauce.

So when we smoke the duck,

we stuff fresh plum

into the crevices of duck.

Can I, Raquelle?

I would love to try, yeah.

[Selena] This is so good.

I'm like, in heaven.

-Here you go, Raquelle. Enjoy. -[Raquelle] Thank you.

[Selena giggles]

[exclaims]

-Right? -It's so good.

[Selena laughs]

Wait. And also, you need to save room for dessert.

Oh, my gosh.

[Shirley] Like, dig in. Don't stop.

-Like, we should share. - [Raquelle] Mmm.

-Should we, like, tear this up? -[Selena] Okay.

-Oh, okay. -Oh.

-I just took it for myself! I'm sorry. -[all laughing]

So, no, no, no. Eat! No, no, no.

-Strawberry. -I'll share a bun with you.

Yeah, and then, like, black sesame was

my signature when I first opened. Yeah?

-That is, like, fresh. -You have to eat this right now.

Yum.

-Love language. -[Selena] That's so good.

Comfort food.

This is what I do.

So, I have this whole...

history with dumplings.

Yeah?

But it's chicken and dumplings,

-which is a southern dish-- -[Shirley] Oh?

...that we use biscuits

and we put it in a broth,

and we get the chicken, shred it,

and then you end up putting some milk

-and there's other ingredients-- -Mm-hmm.

that I'm not remembering.

So I want to know

if I can try to create a dish

that is like a soup?

-Cozy-feeling maybe? -Okay.

And it kind of feel like, um--

-Love. -Almost like a southern--

-Yes. -Southern-style dumpling

versus Chinese-style dumpling is very different.

But we have one common.

Dumpling equals love.

-Yeah. -It doesn't matter

what shape they are, right?

But you said "Soup."

A dumpling soup, traditionally in Chinese culture, would be

like a wonton soup.

-Okay. I love wonton soup. -You love wonton.

But I wanted to-- still do the broth.

-So like you said, the creamy broth-- -Yes.

...I mean, I think we should keep that

as our wonton "soup" soup.

Okay, cool.

And then also perhaps we can fold the chicken dumpling

into a real dumpling, into wonton.

Oh, my gosh, I would love that.

So we make the Southern dumpling

into a Chinese dumpling.

-Oh, that would be so fun! -This is perfect!

This is exactly what I do normally too.

Your nana's gonna be so proud.

I know, I'm excited.

Okay, let's go.

All right, let's do it.

[funky instrumental music playing]

So, one thing that I did want to try, if it's okay with you.

-Yeah. -Could we try to smoke something?

Smoke the chicken.

-Ooh, okay. -I think that would be good.

-Sounds great. -[Shirley] Yeah.

Okay, awesome.

-[Selena] What is that? -[Shirley] So, this is

my smoker chamber.

-Oh, wow. -What the heck?

Okay. So you have to fill this.

-[Selena] Okay. -[Shirley] A little bit of wood chip first.

-Just a little bit as my base. -Okay.

-And then this is strawberry jasmine tea. -[Raquelle] Yeah.

And then, like, sprinkle a lot.

Like, you want to cover the whole entire chamber

with loose tea leaf.

[Selena] All right.

-[Shirley] Now we're going to the smoker now. -[Selena] Okay.

-I'll stand back and watch, you guys. -I'm sorry.

-I was following you. -It's okay. You're good.

Okay, make a turn.

-Whoa. -Whoa.

[Selena] Look at that, baby.

Bye.

-That's neat. -[Raquelle] Yeah.

We've never seen that before.

-[Shirley] Okay. I have a 30-minute timer on. -[timer beeps]

All right. We're going to do biscuits next, right?

-[Selena] Okay. -[Raquelle]Great.

Oh, God.

It's been a minute.

[Raquelle chuckles]

-[Shirley] So, two cups of flour. -[Selena] Okay.

[Shirley] Yeah.

Great.

One teaspoon of baking powder.

And then we're going to do

half block of this butter.

You have to grate it.

-Cold, cold butter. -[Raquelle] Grate the butter?

[Shirley] And then one teaspoon of sugar.

Is this sugar right here?

No, that's salt.

[Raquelle] So, a teaspoon of sugar,

-half of salt. -Mm-hmm.

Good.

[Raquelle] Oh, my gosh, it looks like cheese.

And then followed by one cup of buttermilk.

-[Selena] Okay. -[Shirley] Okay. And then just--

like, kind of fold them in all together

-because we don't want dense biscuits. -[Selena] Right.

-Yeah. -Like-- So it's nice and fluffy.

Yes. Love it.

So what if we make these biscuits

-into like, croutons? -Okay.

-To garnish our wonton soup. -Yeah.

-Oh, yum, yum. -Great.

I would love to have a biscuit crouton.

-[Shirley] Right? -That's new.

[Selena] If we're doing croutons,

could we fry the biscuit too?

-Yeah! -[Raquelle] Yeah.

-Why not? -Why not?

-This is our dish! -[Selena] Yay.

-I'm so happy. - [Shirley] Love it.

Okay, so we have biscuit dough already made,

and then chicken is smoking.

So now let's prep the mise en place

-for wonton soup. -[Selena] Okay.

[Shirley] We need to cut onions,

-cut the ginger. -[Selena] Okay.

[Shirley] Cut all these baby carrots.

This is all getting ready for our chicken broth.

-[Raquelle] All right. -[Shirley] Perfect.

[Selena] While we're doing this,

do you mind telling us a little bit about the charity

we'll be donating to?

Um, so, the charity we'll be donating to is called CCAP.

It's a culinary school program

for underprivileged kids.

Amazing.

And so we're also setting up AAPI scholarship for them.

So we'll be training for our next generation of chefs.

-That's awesome. -[Raquelle] That's incredible.

[Selena] Today, we'll be donating $10,000

to Careers Through Culinary Arts Program,

also known as CCAP.

This workforce development nonprofit provides

underserved teens with culinary work

and life skills to build a pathway to success.

[Raquelle] Do the different colors of carrots have

different flavors?

[Shirley] The orange carrots is

-the sweetest. -[Raquelle] Okay.

And then the yellow one is

probably brightest,

where the black night is the most earthy.

I didn't really know that.

Oh.

I forgot-- [chuckles]

I like carrots in something, but carrots raw...

Oh, you don't like them?

-No. -[Shirley] It's funny. I'm the opposite.

I like carrots raw.

I'm like, [exclaims in disgust]

I'm trying to smile.

[Shirley laughs] You're like,

"Oh, wow, I'm--" Earthy.

Earth.

I taste earth.

[all laughing]

[Shirley] Our chicken just finished smoking

-in the smoker. -[Raquelle] Oh!

-[Selena] You want to check? -[Raquelle] Great. Yeah, let's check it.

Watch out.

It's going to be smoky.

-Wow, it smells so good. Oh, wow. -[Raquelle] It's great.

Okay. You want to take them out?

-It's hot. -[Selena] Oh, I'm so scared. Okay.

[exclaims in fear]

-I can't do this. I can't do this. -You got it? You got it?

I'm scared. I'm scared.

-[Shirley] It's hot. -Oh!

-Ooh! -Oh, no.

-Put it out on the table. -[Raquelle laughs]

Put it right here. Put it right here. Put it right here.

-Okay. Cool. -Okay.

[Shirley] Right now,

-we're going to make the chicken broth. -[Selena] Okay.

So two chicken in this giant pot.

-[Selena] Wow. -[Raquelle] Oh, yeah.

Oh, perfect.

All your ginger and scallion go in there.

-Yum. -Mm-hmm.

[Shirley] Awesome.

And then get me four quarts of liquid.

Okay. Dump it in?

Yeah. Dump it in.

So we want the liquid

to perfectly cover the chicken.

Good.

Any chef show you what's a cartouche?

-No. -Okay.

So what I'm making is a paper lid.

-[Selena] Never seen that. -[Shirley] Cut a circle.

Down.

Oh, that's so wild.

And then we still put a lid on it,

but just this really tight, touching the water

-to make everything cook faster. -Okay, great.

-[Shirley] So let's make our broth. -Let's do it.

[Shirley] Let's set a timer for 30 minutes.

In the meantime,

-let's fry some croutons. -Okay.

-See if it works out. -Okay.

[Shirley] Just take little nuggets

and then drop in the fryer.

We're frying biscuits croutons for the very first time.

Hey, thank you for taking my first.

Yeah. No problem.

[Selena] I love this!

[Shirley] Okay. I'm going to weigh it down.

[Selena] Oh.

-Neat. -[Shirley] Voila.

As soon as the biscuit comes out,

-we can make our wontons. -[timer dings]

[Selena] That looks good.

[Shirley] Put it right here. Voila.

[Selena] Perfect.

[Shirley] I'm going to season a little bit.

[Selena] Smells delicious.

-[Shirley] Yay! -[Selena] Yay!

[Shirley] Good job.

Okay. So, ready to fold wontons?

[Raquelle] Woo-hoo!

-Yeah? -Let's do it.

-Very exciting. -Okay, Okay, let's go.

[Shirley] It's wonton time.

[Selena] Oh, dear.

[Shirley] We should go check our chicken broth.

Oh, a little bit light right now.

-It is very light. -[Shirley] Very light.

We should take out one chicken

to make the wonton filling

-and we let the other cook. -Okay.

-So, to infuse more flavors. -Great.

[Shirley] I'm gonna do this, yeah?

'Cause I am too scared.

-Oh, my gosh. -[Shirley] This is like,

extra big chicken too, so.

-Okay. -[Selena] Okay.

-[Shirley] So, our chicken is poached. -[Selena] Okay.

[Shirley] We're going to shred a little bit.

[Selena] Oh, I'm so hungry.

How many are we feeding?

[Shirley] So I have two more girlfriends coming.

[Raquelle] Fun.

When you're working in the kitchen,

does anyone ever do like, a little dance,

-or you sing, or you have any like kitchen tricks? -We...

[Shirley] The more tired I am, I sing.

I'll be like,

♪ So tired, let's go ♪

And I'll be like,

♪ One, two, three, four ♪

♪ Okay, let's go ♪

Also, running man.

Like, I just have to get my,

-like, heart rate up. -[all laughing]

[Raquelle] See, I just got energy doing that.

[Shirley] Okay, let's massage the butter.

May I help you season?

Sure. Thank you.

[Shirley] A little bit of black pepper.

Yum.

-So like that? -[Shirley] Nice.

Okay, so we're going to fold the tea-smoked chicken wonton.

This is wonton wrapper.

They're really thin,

so you probably have to be, like, careful.

Make sure you really separate them.

And then a scoop of filling.

Take the egg wash.

Brush the edge,

-make a triangle. -[Selena] Okay.

-It's really important to push all the air out. -Okay.

[Shirley] Now we're going to flip them,

wet it a little bit,

and bring the two together. Whoop.

-[Selena] Okay. -[Shirley] Wonton.

[Selena] It's so cute!

So, normally, it's teamwork.

-Okay. -Our dumpling team is a mother and daughter.

-Cute. -One person lay out the wrapper.

One person do the filling.

Then you fold. Teamwork.

Raquelle, will you join the dumpling fun?

Dumpling is always a party.

[tapping]

That means you, Raquelle.

Yes, Raquelle.

-Yes, it's a party. -It's a party.

[Raquelle] Mm-hmm.

[tapping]

[phone chimes]

-Meaning you have to help. -[Shirley] You wanna do painter?

-Oh, okay. -Paint?

-Sorry, guys. -Paint?

[Selena] This will be fun.

[Shirley] So are you ready

for, like, a little, teeny little bit of challenge?

[Raquelle] Oh, are you leaving?

[Shirley] I feel like Selena's got this.

-She's comfortable. -[Raquelle] She's got this.

She's a pro.

And I'm going to come back in 10 minutes.

We'll call for you if we have an emergency.

[Selena] Holy moly.

I'm doing such a bad job.

I already forgot.

I don't know if it's right.

And then she does something...

like... that?

Raquelle, what are you doing?

I was just, um, checking my phone.

I'm sorry.

[Selena] Jeez Louise.

Ugh.

[Selena] And it won't stick.

Oh, that's why.

I think she does this.

[Raquelle] The egg thing is your friend.

Oh. What did she do after that?

[Raquelle] Look at the original.

Yeah, I am.

[Raquelle laughs]

-[Selena] You think that's helping? -[Raquelle laughs]

That doesn't look anything like it!

Dang it.

That's not what I wanted.

And then she did, like, a thing.

[Raquelle] It looks like a ravioli.

What the heck am I doing?

[Raquelle] I just really want to make Chef Shirley proud.

[Selena] Yeah, thanks.

Is it good?

-[Raquelle] Hey, you did it! -No, I didn't.

I just made it up.

I'm making up my own shapes.

-Oh! -Oh, God.

Moment of truth.

They're not good, I'm sorry.

Let me see.

They're cute!

They're special.

But also,

this is agnolotti.

-Italian style. -[Selena] Oh.

-[Shirley] This is ravioli. -[Selena laughs]

That's what we were saying.

-It's ravioli. -You know what?

Wonton is a Chinese ravioli.

-There you go. -Oh, I love that.

So you made it right.

[Selena] Maybe you can help me.

[Shirley] Yes. Okay, now,

you want to bring them together like this.

-Not like this. -[Selena] Like this?

[Shirley] Yes.

And then pinch the little two hands together.

Yep. See?

-Oh. -See?

Awesome. Okay. I joined the fun.

Let's speed this up.

[Raquelle] This is gonna be so yummy.

Teamwork makes the dream work.

["Hands to myself" playing]

[Selena] Oh, wow.

[Selena] Hey.

[Shirley] We're done. Voila.

[Selena] They look incredible.

[Raquelle] They really do.

We should go check out our chicken broth. Take two.

♪ Can't keep My hands to myself ♪

[Shirley] This looks better, right?

Smoky.

[Selena] That's so comforting right now.

So delicious.

I'm going to handle the hot broth, yeah?

-Yeah. -I think so, too.

-That's a good idea. -Thank you.

-[Selena] She can cheer you on. -[Raquelle] Yeah.

What's your dance for--

I have no dance.

[indistinct conversation]

My back is hurting.

I fractured my foot.

I'm a lost cause.

[Shirley] Follow me, right?

♪ My line cook got a-- ♪

-...Dance with me. -Here we go.

[Raquelle] Following behind.

-Okay, here we go. -Come on, Raquelle.

We have to, like, represent.

[Selena] You've lost it.

-[all laughing] -You've actually lost it.

-I lost it. -[Shirley laughs]

-Oh, my God. -I'm so happy you're handling

this hot broth.

Yum.

[Shirley] And I'm gonna make it even more yummy.

Can you hand me the evaporated milk, please?

-[Raquelle] Yes, of course. -[Selena] Yum.

How much do you think we should put in there?

[Selena] Well, if it's nana's, probably, like, that much.

Okay. Let's do that.

And let's see if we like it.

Woo!

[Selena] Now it is starting to taste like naans.

[Shirley] Yeah?

-[Selena] It's really good. -[Shirley] Right?

-I think it's great. -[Raquelle] Oh, my God.

-[Selena and Shirley] I like it. -That's awesome.

-I like it. I like it. -Love it.

[Shirley] Okay. Everything.

-Okay. -We've got one pot cooking.

So carrots in there first.

Yup.

And then all the dumplings.

-Yes. -[Selena] Uh...

[Shirley] But everything all go together,

-yeah? -[Selena] Love it.

So this is going to cook for six minutes.

Okay.

And then we get to have them.

[Raquelle] Ooh, yeah.

[Shirley] Okay, let's plate.

-Sort of evenly place them. -[Raquelle] Yum.

[Shirley] And then finish each bowl with three croutons.

[Raquelle] Back in the assembly line.

[Shirley] Can I follow with the cilantro?

-Is that good with you all? -[Selena] Yeah.

-That looks bomb. -[Shirley] That's so good.

-[Selena] I'm very, very happy. -[Shirley] Oh, my God.

[Selena] Fantastic.

-All right, I got to try it. -Shall we? Ready?

-Let's go. -[Raquelle] Let's go.

[Selena] All right. Hi, guys.

[all] Hi!

-[woman] Oh, my gosh. -[Selena] Okay.

-I'm just going to place one bowl down here. - [woman giggles]

[Raquelle] There you go.

-Thank you. -I'm Selena.

-Hi, I'm Kait. -Hi, Kait.

-Elaine. -[Selena] So nice to meet you.

[Raquelle] How do you guys know each other?

[Shirley] My really good industry friends.

-[Selena] Oh, nice. -We talk about girl powers.

-Yes. -[Shirley] So I think

it'd be perfect to taste our food together.

-Great. Okay. -[Shirley chuckles]

So I come from Texas,

and we have this dish that my nana makes

called Chicken and Dumplings.

So I asked Chef if we could create

my own version, but with her style.

And then we attempted that.

So hopefully it tastes good.

[Shirley] It all smells and looks great.

Good. Okay. Well, dig in,

-because I don't know what to expect. -Dig in, everyone.

[Kait] What is this on top?

Oh, that's the biscuit croutons.

Okay.

-[Shirley] Selena made the dough, biscuit dough. -[Elaine] Oh, my gosh.

[Shirley] And then we fried it

-for the very first time. [laughs] -Yeah.

-[Selena] Wow. -Oh, wow.

-[Elaine] Like, I'm just tasting the broth. -[Kait] It's so good.

Like, it's really smoky, just right off the bat.

-[Shirley] It's good, right? -[Elaine] It's really good.

There's so much depth in the, like, dumpling itself.

-Oh my God. So much-- -[Raquelle] Yay!

-This is, I mean, I'm-- -Winner!

This is a winner!

-I think this could be-- -I agree.

-I agree. -Thank you.

We made this come to life.

-And nana. -...like nana.

-And nana. -[Selena] Thanks, Nana.

[Elaine] I would love for someone to bring me this

when I'm sick.

-It just tastes, like, so comforting. -[Shirley] Love.

Yeah.

Ms Chi is all about sort of combining

those comfort food flavors

while also respecting your, like, roots.

And I can tell that

from you based off of your backstory.

And obviously, you have a hand in this as well.

I don't know what you do, really, but...

-Sprinkle cheese and happiness everywhere. -I think that you bring--

The morale is high.

-I can taste the morale in this. -Thank you.

It's the love. I'm here for the love.

[Kait] The love. I can taste the love.

-Thank you for the love. -So when I put it on the menu,

you all coming back for the tasting party again.

-Uh, yeah! -[Elaine] Yeah!

Are you kidding me?

-I'm gonna bring my whole squad. -Yes, please.

-Oh, yes, please. -[Selena] Yeah.

Now, if this is going to go on the menu,

what would you call it?

A tribute to nana, right?

A tribute to nana.

In Mandarin Chinese,

my father's side grandma is Nainai.

-Nainai? -[Shirley] Mm-hmm.

-Oh, that's cute. -That's so cute.

Nainai's dumpling.

Yeah, Nainai's dumpling--

Nainai's dumpling soup.

[Selena] I love that.

I'll have the Nainai.

-Oh, God. -It works.

I'll have the-- I'll have the Nainai

and a Cheeseburger Potsticker.

On that note, I'm going home.