Remaking the "Ultimate Garlic Butter Chicken" After Six Years: Why Ryuji Pairs It With Rice Using Only Chicken and Garlic, and How They Keep the Channel Going

According to Ryuji, the only ingredients are chicken thigh and garlic. Some other garlic butter chicken recipes include onion, but this one does not. The reasoning is that the fewer ingredients there are, the easier a dish is to make, and anyone who wants to add vegetables is welcome to.

One and a half cloves of garlic are sliced for garlic chips, and the remaining half clove is just peeled, to be grated later for the sauce. Ryuji repeatedly stresses that using garlic in two ways, both fried and grated, is key to this dish. Ryuji also noted that while it's generally said you should use separate cutting boards for meat and vegetables, it's fine here because both get cooked through.

The chicken is cut into bite-size pieces. In households where children will be eating, it's fine to cut it smaller. Ryuji said both the seasoning and the method are "completely different" from the previous recipe, laughing that after six years your seasoning changes, and they're not the person they were back then.

When a staff member asked whether "garibata" means anything other than garlic butter, Ryuji shared their understanding of where the dish's name comes from. As Ryuji explained it, Cook Do (or what seemed to be that product) released a garlic butter chicken seasoning and ran a huge number of commercials, which led many people to start eating it. According to Ryuji, a dish called "garlic butter chicken" didn't originally exist, and it is a relatively new dish unique to Japan.

The chicken is seasoned beforehand so the sauce clings to it well. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, then massage in about one and a half tablespoons of potato starch to form a thin coating. The key point is to use potato starch rather than flour. Ryuji explains that the thin coating helps the garlic butter sauce added later cling firmly, while also making the chicken tender and giving it more volume.

A staff member remarked that it "feels like one of the early recipes." From there, the conversation shifted to recent trends, with someone noting that videos where dishes are seasoned only with salt tend to get more views. Ryuji speculated that viewers are probably getting tired of strong seasoning.

In this context, Ryuji explained their view on Ajinomoto. Ryuji uses umami seasoning often, but can make dishes without it just fine. Some people mock them by asking, "Can you even cook without Ajinomoto?" but Ryuji says that's a misunderstanding. Ryuji's explanation is this: making something delicious without Ajinomoto is easy in itself, but it costs more in ingredients and effort. All they're saying is that using Ajinomoto is the smarter choice.

Ryuji makes additive-free dishes and also regularly makes dishes with additives, so they don't lean toward either side. Some people say Ryuji has been "poisoned by Ajinomoto," but Ryuji finds dishes without it delicious too, and the staff feel the same. Therefore, Ryuji argued, Ajinomoto is not a seasoning that ruins your sense of taste.

One staff member recalled forgetting to add Ajinomoto when making the "Ultimate Pork Ginger Stir-Fry" a while back. They felt it tasted better with it when eaten with rice, but thought it was fine without it when paired with alcohol. There was also some inside talk: the staff have recently been "training their palates" through test videos where they guess which dish uses which seasoning, and Takao, who supposedly has no interest in cooking, usually gets it right.

Ryuji says you can make the sauce later, but making it in advance saves effort. The ratio is as follows.

• Soy sauce: 1 tablespoon
• Oyster sauce: 1 teaspoon
• Mirin: 1 tablespoon
• Sake: 1 tablespoon (for aroma)
• Grated garlic: half a clove
• Honey: 1 teaspoon
• Ajinomoto: 4 shakes

Ryuji characterizes garlic butter chicken as basically a "butter soy sauce" flavor, and says adding oyster sauce to that brings out umami. Because fried garlic and grated garlic smell different, it's important to season with both.

Ryuji was especially particular about the honey. If you don't have any, 1 teaspoon of sugar is fine, but honey adds richness and aroma. Since this flavor and richness can only come from honey, Ryuji strongly recommended using it.

After adding Ajinomoto to the sauce, Ryuji shared a personal theory about the relationship between Ajinomoto and satiety. The following is Ryuji's explanation.

Ajinomoto is an amino acid, and research has come out showing that amino acids stimulate the satiety center. So adding Ajinomoto makes it easier to feel satisfied with a small amount. If you're eating with rice, that makes it a good fit, since a small amount of the main dish lets you eat a lot of rice. On the other hand, if you're eating just the meat as a snack with drinks, you end up full after only a little. So people who want to eat a lot are better off not adding Ajinomoto.

Ryuji gave the example of athletes' diets, stating that there's no data showing it's good for health, but that people may be able to eat more without Ajinomoto. Conversely, people who don't want to eat too much or take in too many calories are better off adding it. Ryuji also said that because their recipes contain a lot of Ajinomoto, you can feel satisfied with less, which makes it easier to lose weight, and that they always add amino acids to their "diet meals." Ryuji further mentioned that there is recent research on adding amino acids to infant formula to help prevent obesity in babies.

Ryuji's conclusion is that amino acids are just one component of seasoning, so we should use them wisely. This time the dish is meant to be eaten with rice, so Ajinomoto goes in.

Now the cooking begins. Add a small amount of rice bran oil, vegetable oil, or similar to a frying pan (1 and a half teaspoons in the recipe in the video description), add the sliced garlic, and then turn on the heat. The amount of garlic is up to you; Ryuji says they like garlic, so they add a lot.

Heat slowly over low heat to make garlic chips. Ryuji explains that turning the garlic into chips creates a toasty aroma and gives the dish a sense of luxury that the previous garlic butter chicken lacked. This is what sets it apart as part of the "Ultimate" series. Once the garlic is fragrant, remove it for now.

Place the chicken skin-side down in the same pan. Starting with the skin side makes the skin crispy. Ryuji demonstrated that if you first run the meat through the oil before cooking, the whole thing gets crispy and no white spots are left.

Only a little oil is needed, since butter is added later and fat also renders out of the chicken skin. Showing that the skin was getting crispy even with just a little oil, Ryuji said, "This is really delicious." If burnt bits of garlic remain during cooking, you can remove them, though leaving them in is no problem.

When a staff member asked whether it could be made with chicken breast, Ryuji said it could. Coating it in potato starch and cooking it skin-side down are the same, but it's better to cut it a bit smaller, and it's easier not to overcook it. Ryuji also said that three years ago greasy food didn't bother them, but these days making it with breast meat might be a good idea. For a side dish with rice, thigh is the way to go, while breast also works as a snack with drinks.

Once everything is crispy all over, add the sauce and 10 g of butter and simmer, coating the chicken. Black pepper is optional, and you don't need much if it's for kids. Ryuji explained that it's most delicious when the sauce pooled at the bottom of the pan reduces, combines with the potato starch, and coats everything. Finally, scatter the garlic chips over the top and it's done. Ryuji calls the chips "the key."

Eating it with rice, Ryuji and the staff all agreed that it "goes great with rice." Ryuji said, "Why didn't I release this before?" and noted that it's mellow while still having punch. A staff member pointed out that the richness of the honey really comes through, and it isn't too salty. Others noted that since it isn't spicy, kids can eat it too, and that you should prepare extra rice.

The staff offered comments such as "I'd go to a place that served this as a set meal" and "If this were waiting for me after club practice, I'd look forward to coming home." Ryuji said it also works as a snack with drinks, and ultimately summed it up as "a recipe that feels like the early days, but a bit more refined."

The second half moves away from cooking into conversation. The channel has entered its eighth year. Ryuji said that eight years makes them something of a veteran on YouTube, and that while younger YouTubers will surely keep emerging, they want to keep going for a long time. Ryuji includes entertainment elements, but frames the channel as fundamentally "videos of everyday recipes," with various elements added to make it a little more lively.

Ryuji posed a question to viewers: what is the most important thing for continuing on YouTube? Many people would point to being entertaining, having good concepts, or picking up trending topics, but Ryuji's answer is motivation. Solo YouTubers who work alone get bored. That's why you can't keep going unless you do it together, and you might end up quitting. Ryuji revealed that doing it this way for seven years has been hard, and that they had even considered quitting.

Ryuji explains that the videos contain a lot of inside talk with the staff in order to maintain their own motivation. This format is a compromise to avoid cutting back on daily uploads, and Ryuji promised to do the cooking properly. For those who don't want to listen to idle chatter, Ryuji is also working hard on books and short videos, and asked them to watch those instead.

People around Ryuji say it's okay to take a little break, but Ryuji feels their recipes have become part of viewers' dinner tables, so they want to keep going as long as they can. When the channel started, Ryuji was in their early thirties, but now they're 40, and drinking huge amounts of alcohol and keeping their energy up all the time has become tough. Nobody can be high-energy 365 days a year. Besides YouTube, there are magazine interviews and TV recordings, so Ryuji wants to spread their energy out a bit. Ryuji spoke frankly about these circumstances.

Ryuji also expressed gratitude to fans who have been watching since the early days. Ryuji said they understand that some people feel things were better before, but asked for understanding, saying this format is the only way they can keep going.

The staff said they are not naturally talkative people. Ryuji also acknowledged having the staff talk because they can't carry all the conversation alone. One staff member suggested that it might be good to add a segment covering the latest food news, like on a radio show, at the beginning or partway through.

That said, as the conversation went on, it came out that even at drinking parties, the staff all sit silently looking at their phones. Ryuji responded, "That's why I tell everyone to drink." The video ends with the policy of keeping things going through inside talk laid out, but with how to actually liven things up still being worked out.