Ryuji Makes a "Devil's Cheese Bowl" with Kunseiya Sausages: A Void Bowl Where You Just Fry Them Crispy and Bind Them with Egg and Cheddar

According to Ryuji, Kunseiya is the sausage used almost all the time, and Ryuji has long said it has "the best balance of value and flavor." That connection is how Marudai Foods came to request this collaboration.

The Marudai Foods representative explained that the company is releasing three new flavors to broaden the ways people enjoy Kunseiya. From what can be made out, these include one filled with rich, gooey cheese and one with a smoked black pepper flavor. According to the representative, Ryuji and the team are the first people outside the company to try them; so far they have only been taste-tested internally.

The one Ryuji was most curious about was the black pepper flavor. It has black pepper coated inside, and the smoke is a milder light smoke. After frying and tasting one, Ryuji immediately said, "This is good," praising its peppery kick and noting that because the smokiness isn't too strong, it's easy to cook with. The representative added that the black pepper itself is smoked, which gives it a richer flavor.

Ryuji also previewed that, since past dishes made with regular Kunseiya had sometimes drawn comments that they were "lacking in nutrition," this time there would also be a version made with a bit more attention to nutrition, for two variations in total.

The ingredients are rice, black pepper Kunseiya, 1 egg, and cheddar cheese. If you don't have cheddar, regular sliced cheese is fine. Warm the rice in the microwave beforehand.

Slice the sausages into little rounds. About 4 to 5 sausages per serving is a guideline, but this time Ryuji adds one more, saying, "I want to make it a good deal." If you want to save money, 3 to 4 is fine, and Ryuji says you can use as many as you like. Use only a little oil, or none at all.

The biggest point this time is frying the sausages until crispy. Ryuji says sausage manufacturers basically don't like their products being cut. When doing a promotion for another manufacturer in the past, Ryuji was asked not to cut them because the company valued the snappy texture. But Ryuji thinks that for some dishes, cutting them is better, and Marudai Foods agreed. "I think they probably trust me," Ryuji says. Showing the browned cut surfaces after frying, Ryuji says, "This is what makes it so damn good."

Once everything is browned all over, clear a space in the middle of the pan and crack in the egg. Ryuji moves the egg white around with a spatula as if spreading it out, bringing the crispy sausages together. The heat should be around medium.

At this point Ryuji says that as it stands, it would end up like "college student food" or "the first egg dish you ever made," and then adds, "That's not it. This is where the cheese comes in," laying cheddar on top. If you love cheese, add another slice; one slice is also fine. Cover with a lid to melt the cheese and it's done, with almost all the seasoning coming from the sausages. Ryuji says that after trying various things, this turned out the best. Ryuji jokingly says cheddar is "about 500 times better" than regular cheese, and emphasizes how well the crispy fried sausages go with rice.

Slide it straight from the pan onto the rice and sear it with a torch. You can skip the torching. Finish with a sprinkle of black pepper. Ryuji says you can use either the regular or the black pepper version of the sausages for either the first or second dish.

The second dish uses regular Kunseiya and is, in Ryuji's words, "a recipe for people who want to get some vegetables." Slice the sausages into rounds the same way, add about 50 g of frozen spinach and 6 shakes of garlic powder, and fry. Spinach was chosen because it pairs well with cheese. Ryuji explains that frozen spinach contains a lot of water, so it tastes better if you fry it well to cook off the moisture.

Midway through the test cooking, the staff member with Ryuji said the first dish would probably be a big hit with young people. On the other hand, there was also the comment that at their age, the first dish is a bit heavy, though very tasty as an occasional meal. Ryuji says the spinach version comes with "less guilt."

The rest is the same as the first dish: clear a space in the middle and cook the egg. Whether or not you spread the egg white doesn't matter, since Ryuji just felt like spreading it. It's tasty even before going on the rice, but it's simply better with cheese and looks better too, so it gets covered with cheddar, placed on the rice, torched, and topped with black pepper. According to the ingredient list in the description, this one also gets shredded nori.

Here Ryuji talks about the aim of this sponsored video. Sausages are delicious to begin with, so Ryuji doesn't want to do too much to them, and wanted to show that you can make something delicious with this little effort. Recipes in sausage companies' recipe books are mostly elaborate, so Ryuji said they wanted to do the promotion with a void recipe, and Marudai Foods allowed it. The staff added that the representative left the room smiling and saying, "I'm looking forward to it."

Looking at the finished bowl, Ryuji says, "That's guy food," and goes on to say that this kind of cooking should be embraced. Ryuji's view is that home cooking doesn't have to be proper, and that it can even taste better than proper cooking.

Before eating, mix the soft-cooked yolk all through it. Ryuji calls this "Excellent Time" and says they want everyone to eat this runny yolk. Finally, add 2 shakes of Ajinomoto, drip soy sauce into the hollow, and eat. Ryuji says Ajinomoto and soy sauce go very well together.

After eating the first dish, Ryuji and the staff reacted with "It's way too perfect a match" and "This fried quality is great." The verdict was that frying it quite thoroughly paid off.

For a flavor change, Ryuji recommends yellow mustard since cheddar is used. It ends up tasting like a hamburger, and the staff described it as "tasting like a certain hamburger chain." The staff suggested it might be good with lettuce on top, and Ryuji replied that it would basically be a burger then.

Another flavor change is Lemosco, a Hiroshima condiment made with lemon and green chili that Ryuji has been hooked on lately. To Ryuji's palate it isn't that spicy, and its acidity freshens things up, making it a great flavor change.

For the second dish, partly because it contains nori, there was a comment that the nori's aroma gives it a Japanese-style feel. Both Ryuji and the staff seemed to find this one tastier; Ryuji replied that they were about to say the same thing, and the staff said, "I think I'm on this one's side." Ryuji said this might not be a void meal after all, noting that the garlic powder also comes through and the flavor is fairly complex.

Ryuji pointed out that a feature of Kunseiya is that charring it makes the aroma really great, and that even when cut, the skin doesn't lose its snappy texture. In conclusion, Ryuji summed up that it's better with vegetables, so while the first dish, the Devil's Cheese Bowl, is good too, if you have leftover vegetables you should add them. Fresh spinach instead of frozen is also fine.

Finally, Ryuji said the message is to make good use of processed meats like sausages, save time nicely, and live deliciously. Some people avoid processed meat, but Ryuji says it's perfectly fine as long as you don't eat it every day at every meal, and having a meal like this once in a while is also nourishment for the soul. Ryuji also said this was a reminder that sausages really are delicious.

Ryuji said they consider Kunseiya the tastiest sausage and the easiest one to cook with, and closed by saying that both the black pepper flavor and the regular version are delicious, so viewers should try making the recipes themselves.