L.A.'s Food Truck King: Up Close and Personal with Roy Choi

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio - Milk Street Radio

Roy Choi, L.A.'s famed food truck pioneer, shares his journey from Michelin-star kitchens to global fame. He reflects on his roots, creativity, and the soul of street food. The episode blends personal stories with cooking insights from Christopher Kimball and guests.

Key takeaways

• Roy Choi redefined street food with bold, cultural fusion.
• He values simplicity and authenticity in cooking and life.
• His upbringing in L.A. shaped his innovative culinary approach.

Transcript preview

Hey it's Christopher Kimball here. We now have an ad-free version of Milk Street radio. Plus you can help support the show and all the work we do here at Milk Street. Now we're not a big corporate behemoth, we're just a small group of dedicated cooks. So your support is crucial and very much appreciated. Just visit Milk Street Radio in your Apple Podcast App and start your free seven day trial. Again sign up now by heading to our show page in the Apple Podcasts. Thanks for downloading this week's podcast. If you'd like to hear an ad-free version of this episode and every episode, please visit our show page in your Apple Podcast app. Again, you can listen to our show Ad Free and support the work we do here at Milk Street. Go visit the Milk Street radio page in your Apple Podcast app and start your seven-day free trial. And thanks. Christopher Kimball. Our guest today Roy has done it all. He's worked in Michelin-star kitchens, launched world famous food trucks, and hosted TV. But Roy says he sometimes misses simpler times. All I woke up to do, man, was like creased my jeans, creased my t-shirt, polished my rims, and That's it, man. Cruising LA with Roy Choi, that's coming up later in the show. But first, it's time to answer your cooking questions with my co-host Sarah Moulton. Sarah is, of course, the star of Sarah's weeknight meals on public television, also author of Home Cooking 101. Chris, before we take a call, I've questioned for you. How often do you add wine or beer to a recipe? I never cook with beer, and the only time I'd add wine is I would, is I would, sub simmer, take a bottle of wine, reduce it way down, and then I would use that near the end to fortify a sauce, but I would never, in a million years, pour a bottle of line into a pot and cook. We've tested this at Milk Street. The meat ends up drying out, it gets really nasty, and the wine turns into this kind of vinegary, really unappealing liquid. I just don't understand these recipes when you throw a bottle of wine like for cuckovine or something. I'm something. I've never. I've never seen it turn out well. Well what I was really thinking of because you know how I'm so French in my training is when you're making a pan sauce and you know so I tend to use wine a lot. I do that if I want to make a quick sauce like roast chicken a lot so yeah I get a little wine a little butter a little herbs maybe some shallots and yeah that's a good use of a you know and it adds a nice acidity a cup of wine a quarter cup of wine yes but the whole thing about a bottle of wine in brac but the whole thing about the whole thing about the whole thing about the whole thing about a bottle of brac. be missing something because it never works well in my experience. No I reduce it the way you said so too. I mean I make braced short ribs which calls for a bottle of wine but I reduce it down to one cup. The only thing I can say that's good is it's a Sunday afternoon. It's three o'clock. You're not gonna drink till five that's my rule. But if you're cooking with wine the bottles open and you can taste a little wine so it's a way of cheating. It's sort of the way Jacques-pepea cooks. Yes. Yes, so that I'm all. Welcome to Milk Street who's calling. Hi this is Dale from Johnsonville, New York. Hi Dale, how can we help you today? I think this could either qualify as a cooking advice or marriage counseling. Oh my is my favorite type of call. Yes, we love this. My wife and I have an unending, I call it an argument. She calls it a debate about what constitutes the middle rack of the oven. Is it the location of the rack being in the middle middle middle, the location of the item being cooked being closest to the middle. Well wait you have to tell us which side you're on first before you answer. I say it's the item closest to the middle of the oven. For instance we cook a loaf of sourdough bread in a Dutch oven if you put the rack in the middle then the Dutch oven fits too high and gets more brown than I feel it should. Okay well I have an answer but let Sarah go first. Well that's interesting about the Dutch oven because I'll I've usually heard them say to put it in the lower third because it would be too high. I'm using the middle as an example but it could be any if it's a lower third then how low do you go do you go so that the item is in the lower third? No I'd say the rack is in the lower third and then the item goes on top of it so it's you know lower third passing the half. Okay that's what I say. This is gonna delay some. Now we're gonna get very mathematical. By the way is your wife there or is it's it's it's it's it's on the phone too please we had to do this together it's marriage counseling. Yep she's right here. I'm gonna have to agree with you because the point is that the food should be in about the middle of the oven. The only time they would say low or higher would be if you want more heat on the bottom. Like for example cooking a pie and a pie rice glass dish right you want a lot of heat on the bottom. So you're right. It's not the position of the rack so much as it. Where the food is. So generally speaking if you have a choice. You have a choice. You have a choice. You have a choice. You have a choice. You have a slightly lower and it says middle of the oven I would put it on a slightly lower rack. The point of all of it is if you want to brown the bottom you put it lower down if you want to brown the top you put it higher up if you want it to basically cook evenly you put it in the middle. But here's the real question though this is so interesting because of course I never argue with my wife never. But one of you referred to it as an argument I think you did and your wife referred to it as a debate. Right. I thought that was interesting. I thought that was interesting. I'm not going to glo. Do not glo, no. If you glo, you're toast. Yeah, no, no. It's like, it's very easy with my husband. We never argue about cooking because he does the dishes and I do the cooking. It's very simple. So that's one way to solve the problem. And for us, it's mostly the other way around. Guys, this is not a big deal. That's our best advice. Thank you. Thank you. to Monk Street who's calling? This is John Mine in California from Silicon Valley. Oh yeah you're the lemon meringue pie guy right? I am. This was about the topping was that the problem. It is, it is. My problem was the recipe called for three eggs, three yolks for the filling and three whites for the meringue that I found that that wasn't enough egg whites and so I doubled that volume using a dehydrated egg white and additional sugar. And it was deflating on me, but I figured out the problem. It had nothing to do with the dehydrated egg whites. And one of your suggestions was, and what you asked me, did I beat it long enough? And that was my problem. I did not whip it long enough. It needs to be whipped at least four or five minutes, I found. How much sugar did you add to the egg whites? I think I used about six tablespoons. Yeah, okay. What point did you whip them, too? It held a soft? it was a stiff peak what they were a stiff peak they were not foamy right at all I usually do very soft peaks I underbeat them but in that application I think a stiffer peak is necessary to hold it shape is the answer it worked it worked well okay yeah there was still a little shrinkage when I took it out of the oven the bering was probably four or five inches high and it would only shrink maybe an inch inch and a half after a couple of hours and then it would stop shrinking. Well in my house there would be no pie left after two hours but that's okay. Right. Sarah any thoughts? Yeah no the only thing I was gonna say is in terms of beating and how far you beat it I agree with Chris that egg whites I'd take them to soft peaks if I'm folding them into something else but in this case you want it to be very stiff because you want to be all swirrely and gorgeous and that makes complete sense. There was one other thing we mentioned I think I well because I always mentioned this. lemon juice or cream of tartar? Actually a teaspoon of vanilla also. That's fine. I found it made no difference whether it was six egg whites or three egg whites and three eggs worth of dehydrated egg whites. They both worked the same. Last thing, did you have the whipped meringue make sure it touched the pastry crust around the edge before you baked it? Yes, that does help keep it from pulling in. This is amazing sir. Somebody actually listened. And they did something and it worked? Yeah. Oh, jeez, John, this is a winner. Thank you. You're welcome. I baked about 12 morang pies there. My neighbors all love them. So the experiment was a success. Well, yay. Okay, thank you. Yes, take care. You're welcome. Thank you for your advice. Love your show. Bye bye. This is Milk Street Radio. If you need a little bit of inspiration, give us a call. 855. 855-226-226-9843 or just email us at questions at milkstreet radio dot com. Welcome to milkstreet who's calling. This is Phyllis Howard from Attleboro Massachusetts. How can we help you today? Well just first of all so delighted to be able to speak with you all. I listen frequently to the show and frequently get the magazines and the books from the library. I'm quite a fan. But the reason I had an interest in speaking with you all, I'm you always because one of the things that's really frustrating is broccoli. Oftentimes when I get broccoli, it's loaded with sand. We've tried rinsing it, soaking it. It's hard to predict when it's going to be sandy and you really can't even see it when you're purchasing it to determine if it's going to be a sandy bunch or not. I had googled it to see what solutions might be out there and everything from just simply soaking it for 15. minutes or soaking with water and vinegar and yet I still seem to get sand in my broccoli. It doesn't seem to eradicate all of it. Two years ago I never had this problem and I don't know why all of a sudden seems to be happening. Let me ask you a question how do you cook your broccoli? Steam it. Whole. Not whole, I chop it up and put it in a steamer. Chop it up how much? Like a floreret. Florret. Okay. And when you try to rinse it, how to rinse it, how chop it up first and then I rinse each piece and then I put it in a big bowl of water. You know, I rinse it and then when I soak it so it's about five minutes minimum and then as I take it out of the water it was soaking in I rinse it again and put it in the steamer. Okay because that's where I was going. For example when I cook with leaks I always cut them up first and then float them in water and the sand goes to the bottom and the leaks go to the top so I was going to it sounds like you're doing that. Yeah. I haven't encountered this. Let me just say one of the problems with broccoli is that it repels water naturally so it's sort of hard to get it clean. Chris do you have any ideas? Yeah, boil it. I did some research a long time ago that showed that boiling is everyone steams because it's quote unquote healthier blah blah