Ryuji and Kinoko Bakase Make "Slimming Steamed Chicken Tenders and Oyster Mushrooms": Two Kinds of Foil-Wrapped Bakes Steamed in a Frying Pan

At the start, Bakase reports that Shimofuri Hiratake has been on the market as a Food with Function Claims since July. The package states that ergothioneine, a component it contains, helps keep skin moisturized. Ryuji takes this to mean it has been "recognized by the government."

In the previous video, Bakase made a skin-care recipe using whole oyster mushrooms. Ryuji says that if he keeps letting Bakase do all the cooking, people will forget about him, so this time he came up with a recipe himself. He chose foil-baked mushrooms, a dish he has always loved. Ryuji's view is that oyster mushrooms are an ingredient with a distinctive aroma, and foil baking seals that aroma in, so the two are a good match.

Ryuji says people who are conscious about their skin are probably also concerned about calories, and that foil steaming is what he most wants to recommend to them. The reason is that it uses almost no oil.

Before they start cooking, the conversation turns to the chilled Japanese-style somen they made in the previous video. According to Bakase, the somen was a huge hit inside Hokto, with comments like "I've never eaten anything that good," and a chef he knows also praised it.

According to Ryuji, that recipe was supposed to be pasta right up until the day of the shoot. He changed his mind, thinking somen would be better, and the somen turned out to be far tastier. Bakase confesses that while watching from the side and hearing the boiling time was 45 seconds, he worried that if it came out hard and didn't taste good, he'd have to flatter Ryuji and say it was delicious anyway. When he actually ate it, it was very good. Ryuji replies, "Please don't flatter me anymore."

Per foil packet, the ingredients are 3–4 chicken tenders and 1.5–2 packs of Shimofuri Hiratake. Ryuji says one pack of oyster mushrooms will feel like not enough. The seasoning is mainly Aji-Shio Kosho (seasoned salt and pepper); the lemon version uses thinly sliced lemon and a little olive oil, and the cheese version uses shredded pizza cheese. It is finished with aonori and, if desired, salt.

The lemon version is very light, so he prepared the cheese version for people who find that unsatisfying. Cheese contains fat, but Ryuji thinks it is better to have a little fat for the sake of your skin. As evidence, he talks about his grandmother. Even at 80 she had beautiful skin, and looking at her diet, she often ate fried foods and took in quite a lot of oil. Ryuji himself, now 40, has started to find oily food a bit harder to handle, but has come to think it's better to have some. Adding a little olive oil to the lemon version comes from the same idea, and he says fat is "not the enemy."

After thinly slicing the lemon, he moves on to preparing the chicken tenders. He lines them up, covers them with plastic wrap, and pounds them with a bottle. Bakase is delighted, saying he's wanted to see this for a while, and Ryuji pounds away, saying "any bottle will do."

The key is to pound them quite thin, which makes the tenders very tender. It's common to remove the tendon from chicken tenders, but Ryuji usually doesn't. He says pounding stretches out the tendon so you don't notice it when you bite. However, pounding too much makes them fall apart, so do it in moderation.

According to Ryuji, chicken tenders get tough when overcooked, but with this prep they stay tender even when fully cooked. Since they're thin, they cook quickly, and because they're steamed, there's no worry about them being undercooked. The prep is simple, and Ryuji says, "For slimming food, it has to be easy, or you won't keep it up."

Between takes, there's some half-joking talk about how slimming recipes get lots of views so he wants to do recipes that perform well for sponsored content, and about keeping data showing that episodes with Bakase get twice the "likes."

During the cooking, Bakase explains ergothioneine. When eaten, it's carried throughout the body in the blood and is also taken up into cells, so it reaches the skin all over. It's even found in the eye, in the lens. Bakase considers it quite promising compared with various other compounds.

However, what has been recognized this time is only the skin-moisture aspect, and experiments are still ongoing. Bakase expects other effects to emerge in the future. Hearing this, Ryuji remarks that Hokto gives the impression of being more of a research company than a mushroom company. Bakase also jokes that he has eaten so many mushrooms that he has several times as much of this compound as an ordinary person.

Place the oyster mushrooms on the aluminum foil. This time it's oyster mushrooms only, but Ryuji says mixing in other mushrooms like king oyster or white beech mushrooms is also delicious. In the end he uses two packs' worth, which is quite a lot. He says mushrooms have almost no calories, so "you can have as much as you like."

The key seasoning is Aji-Shio Kosho. Besides the aroma of pepper, it adds saltiness and umami, which suits this dish. If you don't have it, regular aji-shio and ordinary pepper are fine. Season the chicken tenders a little heavily, then place them on top of the mushrooms.

There's a reason for this order. When steaming in a frying pan, the heat comes from below, so the mushrooms warm up gradually first, and their steam cooks the chicken tenders so they come out moist, Ryuji explains. The oyster mushrooms also absorb the chicken flavor that drips from the tenders. A pack of chicken tenders usually has about 4 pieces, so buying one pack lets you use it all up.

For the lemon version, place a lemon slice on each tender. It's fine to use more. A light drizzle of olive oil, if you like, improves the aroma, but he says it's plenty delicious without it if you're concerned about fat. Lay a second sheet of foil of the same length on top and fold in the edges to wrap. Because there are so many mushrooms it looks big, but Bakase adds that it will shrink when heated.

Ryuji says he's making two because it's better to eat lots of oyster mushrooms. Bakase adds that you also get dietary fiber. If you live alone, just halve everything. Ryuji says the seasonings are simple, so the recipe is easy to copy. When Bakase asks if it's okay to rotate through different types of mushrooms, Ryuji says that's fine and gets a laugh by adding, "Just make sure they're Hokto mushrooms."

For the cheese version too, place generously salted and peppered chicken tenders on the oyster mushrooms. Then top with pizza cheese. He initially planned about 40g, but wanted a bit more and increased it to around 60–70g. Ryuji says cheese plus salt and pepper alone is really tasty.

You can cook it in a toaster oven for 10–15 minutes, but since some people don't have one, steaming in a frying pan works too. This time he uses a frying pan. Put the packets in, pour in about 100cc of water, and cover with a lid. It's done about 10 minutes after the water boils and the steam builds up. After it boils, turn it to about medium heat. If the water looks like it's running out partway through, add more as needed.

Bakase says it's nice that the frying pan doesn't get dirty. According to Ryuji, a quick rinse is all it needs, and the foil serves as the serving dish. Just put a plate underneath, cut the foil open, and eat. With so many mushrooms, the initial seasoning alone may not be enough, but he says anything, like ponzu, tastes great on it. Talk turns to yuzu kosho being a good match too, and when Ryuji hears that Bakase makes his own yuzu kosho, he jokes, "Make some for us here."

Ryuji names two advantages of steaming. One is that it doesn't use much oil. The other is that by deliberately avoiding the Maillard reaction you get from searing, you can enjoy the ingredients' aromas simply.

While it steams, they talk about mushrooms and the mountains. According to Bakase, porcini seem to be coming up in huge numbers this year. With lots of rain, relatively cool mornings, and few insects, the quality is good too. It varies from year to year, he says.

On the topic of truffles being found in Japan, Bakase says they do grow here. But nobody will tell you where they can be found. Ryuji says an acquaintance he calls "Taisho" sometimes uses Japanese truffles in his videos, but won't say where they came from even when asked. That's because revealing it would lead to over-harvesting, and since many people want to eat Japanese truffles, their value goes way up. Bakase himself doesn't look for them much anymore. When you're digging in the ground, people see you as suspicious and might think you're burying a body, and the two of them laugh about it.

Ryuji says he recently went mountain climbing. He expected it to be tough, but it was surprisingly fun, and when he finished the climb he felt more a sense of accomplishment and release than fatigue. Bakase says the mountains in Nagano are dangerous because of bears. According to Ryuji, there seem to be no bears in Chiba, and the mountains there are only low ones of about 300–400m. Bakase replies that in Nagano, even Nagano City itself is already at 300m elevation. The mountain Ryuji climbed was in Nagano, it turns out.

Once it's steamed, turn off the heat and transfer to plates. Ryuji says opening the foil is the real joy of foil-baked dishes, and that the broth pooled inside is very delicious. In the cheese version, the cheese had melted nicely.

The finishing touch is aonori; he used suji-aonori. Lemon and aonori go very well together, and a light sprinkle improves the aroma. According to Ryuji, aonori goes well with cheese too. Bakase says the aroma of aonori is somehow close to truffle, but Ryuji laughs and replies, "I wouldn't know about that."

Ryuji also adds a little of the coarse salt he's been into lately, "Seto no Honjio." It's coarse with a strong salty punch, and he says he likes enjoying the contrast between bites with salt and bites without. He announces the finished dish as "Super Skin-Beautifying Steamed Chicken Tenders and Oyster Mushrooms." The oyster mushrooms shrink quite a bit when steamed.

Tasting the lemon version, Bakase says the mushroom flavor has transferred to the chicken tenders, and the oyster mushroom comes through strongly. Ryuji agrees the flavor leans quite heavily toward the oyster mushroom. Bakase praises how the lemon and salt work together to keep it light, and says the aonori is doing a good job too. The chicken isn't dry at all, which the two attribute to the pounding. Ryuji says his Buzz Recipes have recently entered "Season 7," moving in the direction of using fewer seasonings.

On the amount of oyster mushrooms, Ryuji says two packs really is better. Bakase agrees it doesn't feel like too much, and says even more would be fine.

Of the cheese version, Bakase says the flavor is so deep it's hard to believe it's seasoned only with salt and pepper, and that the oyster mushrooms are acting as a seasoning. The two agree that just adding cheese makes a big difference, and Ryuji says, "I like this one too." Ryuji sees it as a recipe that can also be used for body-building, and says it isn't heavy at all. They also agree that even though they steamed it casually, the chicken tenders are very tender. Bakase says that when he previously saw Ryuji pound meat with a wine bottle on YouTube, he was scared the bottle would break, and says he'll try it at home next time.

Finally, Ryuji explains what he was aiming for this time. Some dishes layer umami, but this time it was a "return to basics": he wanted to eat the ingredients simply and show off what's good about oyster mushrooms. What he's recently realized is that oyster mushrooms have a very strong flavor and release a lot of dashi-like broth. Thinking about how best to make use of that, he arrived at steaming them in foil so the umami doesn't escape.

The other reason is texture. Ryuji believes texture is very important in slimming food. His explanation is that having something to chew stimulates the satiety center and increases satisfaction, and he says this recipe is very satisfying. Noting that it's still the hot season and many people probably want to lose weight, he wraps up by encouraging viewers to try it as a recipe for building both their body and their skin, letting them get ergothioneine from oyster mushrooms while also keeping their weight in check.

After the shoot, the two taste the aonori and cheese again and get excited about how perfect it is. Bakase says raw, moist aonori smells like truffle.

Bakase says he used to make pasta with seaweed and seafood, but realized Shimofuri Hiratake would definitely be tastier than seafood, tried it, and found it amazing. It's a cream base made with milk, seasoned only with soy sauce. Ryuji agrees that seaweed cream pasta gets better with soy sauce, and says he always adds soy sauce in his own recipe too. Bakase modestly says he's just doing whatever he likes. Ryuji was impressed that he had gotten that far on his own anyway.