and today on "Hilah Cooking,"

we're making jalapeno fried chicken nuggets.

I don't know why.

I do know why 'cause it's good, but also, hi again.

So I did a video for the first time in two years last week,

and it got such a wonderful response.

You can ask Chris, I was brought to tears

by y'alls heartfelt comments,

and I really have missed you all too,

and it was so cool to see so many familiar names.

I was gonna say faces, but there's no pictures is there?

Well, yeah, there's pictures,

but it's not anybody's real face.

Let's be honest, unless you're all cartoons.

But anyway, thanks for the warm welcome back,

and I'm excited to do a little series of holiday videos

for you even though this one is not a holiday video,

because Halloween just happened,

and I just need one tiny break

before we hop right into the next holiday.

Am I right?

Oh, I have some champagne here.

(upbeat music)

Just like old times.

(funky music)

Still feel like I'm getting my groove back

in the kitchen and on video.

I've been still cooking in the last two years

since I have stopped making YouTube videos, of course.

So this actually is a recipe

that I came up with probably a year ago.

So even though I wasn't making videos,

I was still posting recipes and pictures on my website.

So I'm gonna start with cutting up some garlic,

and I always use fresh garlic.

If you wanna use the pre-mixed, pre-chopped one

or garlic powder even, I think that would be fine.

Something about the pre-chopped garlic in a jar

has a really weird smell to me,

and I don't know if it's, they probably put some kind

of acid in there to preserve it or something.

I don't know, but I'm,

Jesus Christ, embarrassing myself is what I'm doing.

No, but there's just got a weird smell to me, I don't know.

If it doesn't bother you, then go ahead and use that.

(speaks foreign language)

Okay, I'm gonna shop this up super tiny

and if you all hear some beeping happening, it's not me,

but there's construction happening behind my house,

and it's supposed to be happening

for the next three years or something.

I don't know, and we're not gonna be here

that long I don't think.

But anyway, we love California,

but just not like the particular house,

even though it is got a great kitchen for shooting in.

Can't deny that.

I mean, look at that tile.

People still email me asking about that tile,

and I don't know.

I think it came from IKEA,

but I didn't remodel this kitchen.

My landlady did it before we moved in.

Anyway, I digress, I like to digress.

That's my new motto for this channel is more digressions.

I feel like part of the reason I got really burned out

a couple years ago was because I listened

to a lot of YouTube advice,

which was like, "Get to the point,

"make your videos five minutes or less,

"don't spend a lot of time jibber jabbering."

But I like to jibber jabber,

and that's what makes it fun for me

is jibber jabbering with you all.

So there's gonna be some jibber jabbering.

So I've got some chicken thighs here, boneless, skinless.

This is not like a fried chicken on the bone.

Although I do have a video for that, so I'll link to that.

If you wanna do this seasoning on the bone,

bone-in fried,

there's just not a great way to say that

without thinking about erections.

But anyway, maybe that's just me.

You could totally use the same spice mix and everything

and the same procedure,

and then just follow the cooking instructions

on the other fried chicken video.

But I cut these up pretty tiny.

I'm gonna add my garlic,

and then I'm gonna add some salt because we need salt.

So we've been in L.A., from Texas, 4 1/2 years now.

Yeah, it'll be five years in July.

Somebody asked me recently how has my cooking changed

or how has my palate change even since we moved out here?

And it was a interesting question.

No one had asked me that before, thanks Curby.

It was actually my best friend from high school

who had asked me that,

and also, his mom gave me the FryDaddy

that I'm gonna use later,

so I owe the Con family a large gratitude of thanks.

Anyway, but he asked, how has it changed?

And you know what?

I eat a lot less red meat since being out here,

and I eat a lot more vegetables.

There's not really any vegetables in this.

Jalapenos, do jalapenos count?

Okay, I just added some onion powder

and some chili powder, ancho chili powder,

and I'm gonna add a little bit of cayenne pepper too,

or maybe a lot.

Hey, Chef John, that one goes out to you.

Because the only jalapenos I could find

at my fancy food co-op grocery store

that I've been trying to go to

and support my local food co-op only had the mild jalapenos,

which I'm like, "Ugh, please Lord."

So wash your hands thoroughly

before and after you do this,

just like going to the bathroom.

Okay, yeah, so I'm gonna mix this up in here.

And do this as sorta my little dry rub

except for the garlic, which of course is wet.

We just wanna get that all done up like that,

and a lot of fried chicken recipes

have you marinate it in buttermilk and stuff.

I find that doing a little dry rub like this ends up

with a crispier outside and juicier inside,

which is really ideal.

Okay, who wants chicken fingers.

Wash your damn hands.

Okay, so then you can set this in your fridge

for like 30 minutes, four hours, 10 hours.

I think the longest I've done it was probably like 12 hours.

Let me get my little lid here.

Now it only has a tiny bit of salmonella on it.

Okay, and I'll see you back in two shakes of a lamb's tail,

two shakes of a chicken's butt.

Tada!

It's like a sound bath for your insides.

My voice is amazing.

Okay, so this has been sitting here for a little bit.

I'm gonna add some monster cum. (laughs)

It's a throwback to the last week's video.

Okay, it's sour cream.

You can also use plain yogurt.

So this'll be our moisturizing ingredient.

It's so moisturizing,

and then I'm gonna add a little bit of this jalapeno brine.

I'll just dump it all in.

These are tame.

Look at this, let me just show you, Jeff's Garden.

I mean, no offense to anybody named Jeff,

but I don't really, I don't know,

I mean, I'm sure these are delicious.

I haven't actually tried them yet.

Yeah, they're good.

They're salty and vinegary.

I don't know why Jeff's Garden cracks me up so much

on the inside of my head,

but thumbs up if you also think that Jeff's Garden

is a hilarious name for a brand of pickled jalapenos.

Okay, I'm gonna mix all this wet stuff up.

Oh, but yeah, so like I was saying,

we went back to Texas in September

to visit family and so Chris

could do some work with "Yoga With Adriene,"

and also so I could do a book signing

for my new Texas cookbook,

and that's when it was so apparent to me

how much beef people eat in Texas.

I was shocked, I had forgotten.

We've been doing a lot more vegetarian stuff.

So also, if you're interested in more vegetarian recipes,

definitely let me know.

I know I saw a few comments from people

that were like, "Oh, since you've been."

♪ Since you've been gone ♪

That, since you've been gone, may have been gone,

they've gone vegetarian.

So I kind of have too.

I mean, I feel like we probably do 80% vegetarian now.

Anyway, okay, get to the point Hilah.

So this is some flour.

This is actually a white wholewheat flour.

You could use regular white flour.

I just was almost out of it.

So and then I'm gonna use (groans)

I wasn't even faking it.

This was actually screwed on really tight.

Hey oh, that's what she said.

Okay, I did say that actually.

And we're gonna add some masalina,

which is the same flour, masa flour,

that you use to make tortillas, tamales.

If you can't find it, I feel like it's pretty easy

to find now, although not in small quantities.

Usually, it's a giant five-pound bag or something.

I think you could use a fine, fine cornmeal, not cornstarch.

I don't know, I don't know what to tell you.

You know what, just go follow the instructions

for the other fried chicken video and use that.

I think it was just flour or seasoned flour.

Okay, I'ma add a little bit of salt there.

Oh, hang on, hang on.

I need a thing.

I got the thing that I needed.

It's called a whisk.

I'm gonna combine that together.

I don't know why I'm like, "It's called a whisk.

"Jalapeno fried chicken."

It's like I'm on a cattle drive.

Okay, then we're gonna do one

of those things they call dredging.

Oh, this smells really good.

Jeff's Garden, whatever it is you're doing

with your jalapeno brine, you're doing it right, son.

Just toss a few of these in this seasoned flour-masa mix

until they're gently coated.

I always think about this whenever I'm handling raw chicken

and raw eggs is I took a microbiology class

when I was in college.

It was just Intro to Microbiology.

It was 300 years ago.

But one thing I always think of

is that our teacher told us that salmonella,

like salmonella bacteria, actually has a very low

or a very high infectious dose.

You have to eat a lot of salmonella bacteria to get sick.

So that's what I always remind myself of.

You probably won't get sick, just chill,

don't follow my advice,

just cook your chicken thoroughly please.

Okay, anyway, I'm getting this all coated,

and then I'm putting it on a little rack here,

and this is kind of a key part

to making sure that your breading doesn't fall off

when you throw it in your fryer.

And that's just kinda letting it air dry on a rack like this

for 20 or 30 minutes.

So it's gonna be a little bit of time.

I'm sorry, you all are gonna have to wait with me

while this happens.

I'm kidding, we don't have to, we'll cut, we'll cut.

Okay, so all my little nuggies are coated.

I wanna let them sit here and sorta air dry

for about 20 minutes before we fry them,

but in the meantime, you can start heating up your oil.

You'll want about two inches of oil in a pot.

Make it a deep pot though,