@ForkReporter - | Hour 1

Technique of the Week- Cleaning the Grill
Two Hommes

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Savedra. You'relistening to kf I AM six forty.
They'll four report on demand on theiHeartRadio app, I Am You're Well Fed.
Host Neil Savedra, Thanks for hangingout. We love having this sanctuary.
Every Saturday for three hours, theyjust celebrate food and you hear me
telling you all the time to listento us on the iHeartRadio app. If

(00:21):
you're doing that, especially if you'redoing it right now, you'll look and
you'll see a follow a little buttonit says follow on it. Please hit
that and follow us. It givesus another way to communicate with you and
let you know when there's breaking newsand the like. It's very cool.
I've had it since day one.We don't always remind you of that,
so check it out if you wouldplease. All right, So I got

(00:46):
the shower sweats this morning. Youknow when you get out of the shower
and it's like automatically you feel thatit's warm outside. And I was like,
I haven't felt this for a longtime, Like we're all screwed up
because the weather's been so cold,rainy, snowy, right, but it

(01:07):
hit me yesterday. Normally by thistime, we'd be getting into pool season,
backyard, all of these things.And I had family friends over yesterday
and we were in the backyard andI looked and I went, you know
what, Normally we'd be prepped forgrilling season. I would have had gone

(01:32):
through all the cleaning process, preparedthe grills, all of our outdoor furniture
would be cleaned and ready. Andit wasn't because we haven't been there yet.
I'm ready. I'm ready to grill. So let's start with at the
beginning for technique of the week andget into cleaning that grill. To start

(01:55):
cleaning the grill isn't just to makeit look pretty, nor is it just
to prepare it to cook on.But the process, like any other cleaning
process, is also to sustain theworking inward parts so they don't corrode,

(02:16):
so they don't overheat. And Iknow you might think, well why would
it overheat? When you get carbonstuck on things and it starts to build
up, even that little bit ofadded stuffs starts changing how it heats,

(02:36):
so instead of getting an even heatyou can get, it can start heating
more in this area less in thatarea. So it's more than just an
aesthetic. It's more than just youdon't want you want to keep it clean.
It really is to extend the life. Make sure everything's working fine.
And if you're using gas of anykind, you want to make sure that

(03:00):
nothing's clogged or the gases coming outuneven, or any breaks in the gas
lines or anything like that. Sothe entirety of the process is good all
the way around. It's not justto look shiny and new, although I
will tell you when you do that, there is great pride in a nice

(03:20):
looking, ready to go grill.So you are going to have many different
types of grills. You can havegas, you can have charcoal, you
can have pellet, any of thesethings, but there's going to be basic
similarities in them all. There's goingto be an outside, there's gonna be

(03:42):
inside. There's going to be aplace where the fuel fire comes out,
where it heats up and breaking thosethings down. You only need a couple
of decent products. People get lostin buying specialty products. Stay away from
things that are too chemically you know, take you know, because if they
have a lot of chemicals in it, what ends up happening is that can

(04:03):
transfer to your food and you're thinking, what's that weird taste, Well,
that's the chemicals. So stick tosome basic stuff. On the outside.
I may use a degreaser like onthe countertop and around, but on the
actual grill, try and use thingsthat break down grease in a less chemically

(04:28):
way, and things like dawn dishdetergent is good because as we know,
we've all seen the commercials of poorlittle ducks getting tar and the like removed
from them. That works very verygood as well. And get a stainless
steel polish. It almost looks likea thin coat of oil, a very

(04:54):
light coat of oil on there forthe outside because that and you go in
the the direction of the grain andit just really puts that lovely finish,
takes off the water marks and thosetypes of things. You're gonna need a
good grill brush, long handled grillbrush to scrape things down. You're gonna

(05:15):
need a couple of disposable sponges,you know, the green and yellow ones,
and you're going to need some insome cases, you're going to need
some steel wool when you go throughall this in a bucket for the cleaning
solution and the leg Another thing,household thing that you'll want to use is

(05:35):
cleaning vinegar. Now, cleaning vinegaris just an all purpose vinegar, and
you can get it in you know, gallon bottles, and you can use
that because that works very well withbaking soda. You make a paste and
you can really get into some harderto clean areas. So those are kind

(05:58):
of the basics that you're going toneed to break down, and then you're
gonna have to know your system.The greats themselves are going to have to
come off. I would highly recommendgetting some, you know, almost elbow
length gloves to do this. Getsome cleaning gloves that are very durable,

(06:18):
and go in there and deal withall these things. But you start taking
apart, those can beat Those caneven be soaked by the way. You
can put them into the dish detergentand hot water and let them soak for
a little bit and then scrape themdown underneath as well. You want to

(06:39):
get them underneath. Underneath is wherethey tend to all the juices and fats
roll off the top and then kindof beat up on the bottom and beating
up like that, they get hardand then they get maybecome soot. You
got to break that stuff down,then you're gonna find different parts underneath.
If you have have the ceramic briquettes, which I do online, I like

(07:06):
to do a couple of things withthem. First and foremost, I like
to turn them over and then turnup the heat and blast off as much
of the particles as I can strictlywith heat, and then you can let
them cool off, brush down anyremainders, and you can do it again.
Flip them face down and burn offhigh on high, burn off a

(07:30):
lot of that again, let themcool down, and then you can do
it to both sides and make surethat they're all cleaned off. Then you
want to look at the actual burnersthat are giving off. They have these
little where the flames come out.They have these little guards on them,
and really they call them, theyusually call them like flavors something, you

(07:51):
know whatever. They basically when thefat street dripped down onto them, they
bring that smoke, that flavored smokeback up. That's the theory into the
food and that's why they're always taggedwith flavor. I'll explain how to clean
those when we come back, andmore things to think about when you're cleaning
that grill and getting ready because we'rein grilling season. Make grilling great.

(08:18):
Get well, that sounded odd.You're listening to the Fork Report with Niels
of Adra on demand from KFI.It is the Fork Report. You can
hear us anywhere and everywhere on theiHeart Radio app. And don't forget to
press the follow button if you listenon there, there's a follow button,
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(08:43):
of great you know, the breakingnews and those things that you love from
KFI. So check that out.Otherwise you are not using it to the
fullest. Shame on you. Itis the portion of the program where we
get into technique. The week I'mtalking about cleaning your grill. No matter
what kind of grill it you have, you're gonna have the basics. We're
kind of going through gas grills rightnow. They have the basic parts of

(09:07):
the grill are going to be thegreats themselves. You're gonna want to soak
them. They also have these flavorisersand that's this usually kind of like a
little tent thing that goes on it'smetal and that's where the drips go and
then they spur it up hopefully thesmoke has flavor in it now and it

(09:28):
comes back up. You want tosoak those grates. You want to soak
the flavorizing bars, the flavorizers.And even the strange thing is that even
if you have cast iron grates,I'm gonna say soak them, and you
won't hear me say that about castiron pans. But you're going to dry
them quickly. You don't want themto rust, and you're gonna be reseasoning

(09:52):
them anyways. You want to soakthem in a tub of soapy, warm
water, like I suggested earlier.You can use a degreasing soap like Dawn
Platinum or something like that that isreally about degreasing and using and you know
it's safe and it won't give offa chemical taste. Before any of this

(10:15):
starts, I talked about those ceramicbriquettes that are often in there. They
retain heat and push that heat backup. Those often end up being your
flavorizers in some grills as well,And I said to burn off the stuff
on both sides, and I stillwant you to do that, but I
also want you to bring your grillup to temp the highest temperature before you

(10:41):
start any of this if it's gas, because you really want to burn off
as much as you can first,and then what you're dealing with is the
carbon leftovers and scraping that and takingthat down, and that's going to be
the best process. You just haveto make sure that it cools down.
The best thing if you have workingoff a propane and you have a tank

(11:03):
is after that, when it coolsdown, you want to detach that,
remove the tank, and move onwith the rest the tank itself. Some
of you will have some of youwant minds are built in so it goes
straight to the gas in the house, so it runs off of the same
gas that everything else in the houseruns off. But if you're using a

(11:28):
tank, you're also going to wantto take the time once everything cools down
and before you remove it, tosquirt a little soapy water on it,
on the hoses and everything to makesure there's no leaks. If there are
leaks, it'll start to bubble up. I like to actually brush on.
I've seen people spray soapy water andit not work as well as taking soapy

(11:50):
water and brushing it on with alittle bit of a pint brush. And
if you see bubbles. You havea leak, it might be something you
can just typen up, or youmight need a new house. That's imperative
you. If you're doing just acharcoal your charcoal grill, then go ahead

(12:11):
and dump everything out of it,put it into a metal container, and
start breaking down all of the bitsthat have crud that's gotten on the side.
With just a little putty knife,start scraping that down, and I
know it gets a little dirty.I have a Milwaukee portable wet dry.
I love Milwaukee. I will tellyou another as far as tools go,

(12:35):
I like working with them. Butthere's also another a different class of tool
from a company called works wo rX that I like as well. They
aren't beaters. I mean they're not, you know, super high high end,
but I like them because they're compactand they tend to have a couple
and they all work off the samebatteries and they really like that. But

(12:58):
they have a twenty power share threetwenty PSI what they call hydro shot power
cleaner, and that's what I brusheverything down with first. And it's just
how it just is a kind ofpower pressured water. It's not intense.
I used to clean the car too, but it has a couple of little

(13:18):
brushes on. It has a coupleof those things. I like that to
get the basics off the top oraround the sides first. When I'm doing
that, finalized, really pretty lookat the end. So you can keep
check those out. Wo r Xis they have some really cool combination tools.
Like I said, not total beaters, not low end, but they

(13:41):
aren't like the heavy duty stuff likeMilwaukee. Something to think about though,
breaking down all these things, vacuumingthem out. Once you start removing the
pieces, sometimes even the burners themselveswill come off. You You can start
taking and pulling apart the entirety ofeverything and just brushing it off, start
getting it clean, soaking it alittle bit, and you'll be surprised once

(14:05):
you start putting that all together,the firebox, cleaning that out with the
vacuum, getting all the debris andall the good then you're going to be
ready to go ahead and heat itup again. Put everything back together,
heat it up, and then startbrushing on just a little bit of neutral
oil until it starts smoking. Andthe way I do that is to roll

(14:28):
up a rag, a clean rag, and I tie it with butcher's twine
and I dip it in a neutraloil and then I use my tongues.
I grab it and I start brushingthe grates again as they're hot, and
it starts to burn off, andjust be careful because essentially you're holding kind
of a torch at that point,but it really Then you start seasoning it

(14:52):
again, and then you start wipingdown all of the outside as well,
and is finishing up with stainless steelwipe downs or whatever you want to do
with the grain to make it superpretty, and you'll be ready for the
season, which I'm already now allright, it is the Fork Report.
Go nowhere, we'll be back withmore. You're listening to The Fork Report

(15:13):
with Niels of Adra on demand fromKFI amziz forty. Don't forget if you're
listening to us on that iHeartRadio app, just click the follow button on there.
You probably haven't done that yet.I did it first thing Mini Mini
Mini moons Ago, and that allowsyou to connect with us in a way
that gives you even more detailed stufflike breaking news and very cool. So

(15:35):
jump on that, won't you.But right now we want to introduce you
to two guys doing it right.And I love the fact that they've got
a story behind this. I lovewhen people just stop what they don't want
to do and start doing what theydo want to do. And so we're
going to introduce you to these twogentlemen right now, who are from two
Homies. You can find out moreat two H M M E S dot

(16:00):
com to homies dot com and onInstagram at two h O M M E
S. And uh. First,as I introduce you, you've got Chef
Mondo and Chef A B. Man. Sorry, sorry sir, I'm Mexicans,

(16:23):
but welcome. And then Chef AB Welcome to the program. So
let's let's start at the beginning.How did you guys meet? We met
by close friends. We had closefriends that were neighbors. We all hung
out, chill when it was timeto eat. We were to two people

(16:45):
always concerned about what we were goingto eat at Yeah, so it all
just we always met in the kitchenat that point and it just kept leaving
on. So you both have alsosome other things that tie you together.
You both have a parent from WestAfrica and a parent from La Yes,

(17:06):
so that's something in common. Andthen you became chefs later. You both
trained even though you had interest init earlier on, and so av you
were the earliest. Right seven eightyears old, you were working in the
kitchen. Yes, sir, I'vebeen catering with my uncle and my family
since I was about seven eight yearsold, and it kind of it was

(17:27):
just routine turned into Thanksgiving by liketwelve, I was doing Thanksgiving by myself,
preparing wow, you know, withsupervision, and so it's always been
my passion. I always been there. I love it. I love the
reaction of people trying to food.So adult chefs don't want to do Thanksgiving
alone. No, Yeah, it'sa lot. Many chefs I've talked to

(17:51):
you on the air are like,no, the last thing I want to
do is getting there and deal withthe turkey or in all the fixings.
Four am old to turkey and getit all going. So have the A
B being you know, seven eightstarting out catering to me is like the
front lines of food. That's likemilitary, that's like dealing you all the

(18:12):
problems, the worst circumstances. You'vegot to move the food from one place
to the other, or you haveto cook in an inhospitable area that you're
not used to because that's where thewedding's at or that's where the party's at.
So that's almost like military style precision. And you still use that stuff
to this day. Yes, arereally big on catering. We actually had

(18:34):
to this morning, right before thisinterview, really and we're about to head
out from here and open up forservice for five PM. I love it's
people think it's all glamorous. Itis a straight hustle every single day.
If you're in the line, youhave to. Yeah. Absolutely, and
it's consistency. So Mando, didyou learn Like so you both studied,

(19:02):
but as far as wanting to jumpin and do that full time, what
were you doing before? So?I was in the Navy and thanks for
your service, appreciate you. Idid six years in the Navy, but
I know what to go to culinaryschool, so I used that to go
to culinary school. Um, Idid my external ship at TOIMEC. Then

(19:22):
COVID hit, so March doors closed. We're just kind of figuring it out
and we kind of just gotta wejust jumped into pool, you know,
and you're doing it. Did youlearn a lot hanging out with Chef Ludo
on the line. Yeah, youpick up a lot of stuff quick,
you know what I mean, youhave to absolutely absolutely, So it was
it was a great learning opportunity forshow. It's so funny because people the

(19:48):
glamour that goes with it, andthere is I mean there's technique and style
and art and all those things.But doing that kind of food is,
you know, right up there withcatering. I mean, the hustle is
real, the perfection is real.Being judged catering, you're judged differently as
well because it's for an event,and you can make or break the event

(20:08):
for sure, for sure. Soyou take all of that experience and you
put it into your own place andwhen we come back, we're not only
gonna taste some of the food,but we're gonna talk about your menu because
I was doing what we call mindtasting, you know, where you just
read a menu and the ingredients andyou just get to some places and you're

(20:29):
like, okay, you had meat root beer Braves short Riff. That's
what the menu you're supposed to do. You're supposed to be able to read
it. And then you just getto you're like Okay, yeah, this
is for sure going to be one. Oh yeah, we're gonna talk about
that whipp piam. Oh yeah,we and we brought that for you to
taste too. So you're gonna havea root beer bra shot read with the
whippiam you know what I mean.I'm gonna give you both big hugs and

(20:49):
I'm not gonna let that. Youknow, We've been punched, kiss,
sucked a lot of things. Thatall right, So stick around. We'll
come back with more talking to twohomies and homies is spelled spelled slightly different
than you might think, so whenyou check them out, go to two
Homies two h O Homas h mms dot com. So stick around and

(21:15):
we'll talk to the chef's about thefood and taste it when we come back.
It is the Fork Report. I'mNeil Savedra kf I AM six forty.
You're listening to The Fork Report withNeil Savedra on demand from KFI amzix
forty. Pay everybody to the ForkReport all things food, beverage and beyond.
We celebrate every Saturday for three hours. We celebrate food, the people
that make it, the culture behindit. Learning how to cook at home

(21:37):
tips and tricks, going out toeat, new restaurants, old standards,
everything in between. And I amyour friendly neighborhood fork reporter, hanging out
and loving today. As producer Kalaand I stare at each other about the
food that we're about to talk aboutand dive into, which is going to
be the key to it. We'retalking to the two homies and you can

(22:03):
find out more about them at theirwebsite two h O m ms dot com.
They're at nine zero two North LebreaAvenue in Inglewood Place that's popping more
and more. There is more foodscene coming obviously, the interest with the
sports angle, more and more peoplefinding the need for good eats, and

(22:29):
so I yeah, apparently so solet me let me just uh tell you
about this. We've got Chef Mandoand Chef ab they're here. They brought
us everything, like just the menuitself. As I was going to the
menu and I volleyball in it withthe root beer, braised short ribs,

(22:51):
whipped yams, keeney, the passionfruits of vich You've got shrimp, cucumber,
pickled onions, which is rate thepickled onions up against the You know
that savory shrimp, freshly fried tostadasto put that on the man. Just
the everything that they've got on hereis stuff you're gonna want to jump into.

(23:15):
Garlic noodles, just the plantains thatthey brought. Everything looks amazing.
So this is a smart focused menu. It's not a thousand different things.
So how did you come to theitems on this menu both for your your
brunch and your dinner menu. Ithink it's just having a balance of what

(23:45):
we wanted to showcase and what wethink the people want it, you know
what I mean. The food waspretty straightforward. We know we wanted like
a few cold items, a fewwarm items, a bunch of snacks on
there, and just really three goodons, right, that's it, just
you know, and and just pushthose That passion fruit cevich is amazing,

(24:06):
Okay, Okay, So you startwith a little burst of the sweetness the
passion fruit. Then you get thebite of the and okay, but that's
the third thing. So then youget that your tooth up against the shrimp,
nice bite, crisp bite, andthen you get that little tickle on
the top of the tip of thetongue and it slides back on the side

(24:30):
of the tongue. Yeah, thatis beautiful. It is. That's damn
near a cocktail. You can putrum on that and drink it. So
we always said that that will pairwhale with a shot a shout of tequila.
Oh it's it just is really lovely. And this You've got this beautiful,
bright yellow sauce that it sits inthere, and it's that is the

(24:56):
thing of beauty. So simple looking. You're only seen the shrimp, you're
only seeing that bright yellow. Butwhen you actually get your mouth into it,
those layers of flavors, from thatgood sweet to that bite good food.
We just want to cut good food. That's it. That's what you're
doing it. I've only been intoone. And then next we got the
honey burbery chicken bites. Oh no, he's going first. That rub This

(25:22):
is the okay, So I'm gonnago in the order that that that you
say, Yeah, let's set thestarters first, honey honey burbery chicken bites.
So we got the Ethiopian spice burberya little bit of honey. Wow,
that is excellent, thank you,And I sit your sayoli with that,
as well as some housemade pickles whomake all sauces, everything from scratch,

(25:45):
everything in the house, no whitecotton corners. When you're controlling the
flavors, that heat and that aoli, it's balanced. And then you take
a little bite of the pickle.It's like a perfect between a deal in
a suite maiden house. Oh yes, sir, that pickled onion. You

(26:07):
know what, keep talking? Um, that is good, that is excellent.
The pickle itself you can undercut insteadof you know, something's been sitting
and sitting so you get that greatcrunch on the edges. Boom. That

(26:29):
is the heat is on point.Not heat for heat sake, not like
blow your mind. I'm gonna makeyou run out of hearing, you know.
No spices sparking interest. Yeah,but that is an excellent use of
spice. Um, okay, we'vegot very little time here, so I

(26:49):
want to make sure onto this.What is this? Here's that root beer
brace short raybe you've been eyeing withthe whipped yams. I've been iying knows
me already too. Well. Ohman, get a little bit of am
this everything spot on it. Ican't wait to get through all of it

(27:10):
during the break. But literally walkout of here, go down to the
main street and slap a stranger man, woman, child, doesn't matter.
That is phenomenal For Sherry, Icould eat it all day, every day.

(27:36):
That is insane. The combination ofthose two things together just right.
It's so tender, just comes apart. The seasoning on the braise on the
outside gives it that little candiness,you know, a little bit of take
his time harmonization from the root beer. Yeah, and so it gives you

(27:57):
a little bit of that candy baron the outside and then so tender on
the inside and these whipped yams sensual. Yeah. No, I'm having a
moment by myself. I'm I mightask you guys to leave that. Really,
everything looks awesome. It smells great. It's plated beautifully, even here

(28:19):
on papered plates. You're looking atit in the color balances between those darts
and the orange is coming out ofthe rice. This is spot on.
Stick to your ribs, make youhappy, comfort food. Yes to homies.
Check it out two H O MM E S dot com. Same

(28:41):
on Instagram. Check the stuff out. I'll post some pictures as well.
But man, just doing it right. Thanks so much for coming on.
Best of love to you. Wewill have you back now. I want
to throw a party just to haveyou guys cater Oh this really is excellent,
all right, stick around. Itis the four part Eil Savedra.
This is KFI and KOSTHD to LosAngeles, Orange County. You're listening to

(29:04):
The Fork Report with Nil Savedra ondemand from KFI AM six forty