In YouTube’s seemingly never-ending fried rice war, a Los Angeles-born food blogger has stepped in to showcase his elevated recipe that uses smoked duck fat and seasoned fried shallots.
Joshua Weissman, 22, a YouTuber with 3.77 million subscribers, yesterday released a video featuring his “better” version of Uncle Roger’s fried rice. Uncle Roger is a caricature created by London-based Malaysian YouTuber Nigel Ng, 29, who shot to fame when he criticized a BBC presenter’s fried rice. Weissman also dressed up in Uncle Roger’s signature orange polo t-shirt for his Making Uncle Roger’s Fried Rice at Home | But Better video.
“This isn’t really a competition, it’s more so how do we elevate this individual’s [Ng’s] recipe because I think his judgments are actually quite legitimate and helpful for the culinary community,” Weissman said in the clip, which began with him praising Ng’s chopping technique before calling him out for using too much flavor-enhancing MSG.
Weissman, who is well-known for his bread and pastry recipes, adjusted Ng’s fried rice, by cooking rice with smoked duck fat and adding a special fried rice sauce that contained chili paste, soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil. He then garnished the dish with seasoned fried shallots.
Ng left a comment below, saying: “Hallo nephew Joshua, Uncle Roger review coming next week…”
Other recipes Weissman has tweaked as part of his But Better series, include Starbucks drinks McDonald’s chicken nuggets.
Correction: Joshua Weissman was born in LA but is now based in Texas.
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