Alexis Conran stunned viewers on tonight's Secrets of the Fast Food Giants when he was able to serve up a home-made version of a takeaway in less time than it took one to be delivered.
The show explores the history of the most successful fast-food franchises and is hosted by speaker, writer and presenter Alexis Conran. One of the dishes Alexis recreated this week was a chicken katsu curry.
He said: "You can get close to those big brands by messing around at home. You can manufacture food to your own palate."
It was fighting talk from the self-confessed foodie who said: "I think I can cook a katsu curry in the time it takes for a katsu curry to be delivered right here.”
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Using the cooking trick of using one hand for dry ingredients, one hand for wet ingredients, Alexis masterfully showed how to coat and cook chicken katsu in minutes. Using plain flour seasoned with salt, he said: "Once the first piece of chicken goes in the pan, it’s a race against time to get the other pieces of chicken in as quickly as possible."
His salivating audience couldn’t believe they were about to eat freshly cooked katsu, by exclaiming: “Wow! The colour is gorgeous.”
Championing the benefits of home-cooked food, Alexis said: "The nice thing is, that is gonna be crunchy." Things got tense when Alexis realised the delivery driver was less than five minutes away.
The rapid plating-up of his katsu dishes impressed his audience who said: “Even the presentation is A1.” Alexis was up against the clock but narrowly beat the delivery driver.
A jubilant Alexis shouted: “Beat you! I beat you! I beat you! You’re too late!”
It took 33 minutes for the takeaway katsu to arrive.
Who won the katsu curry taste test?
One taster said: “That [Alexis’ katsu] was plated up before that [takeaway katsu] even arrived. I’m impressed.”
"Like you said earlier, when it’s obviously travelling about 20 minutes, it goes a little bit soggier." Comparing his own katsu curry to the takeaway version, Alexis said: "That is moist and crispy, right?"
His audience was full of praise for Alexis' homemade version. One taster said: "Your sauce! The consistency is so amazing. It’s the homemade one for me. You did it, you did it!"
Other food that Alexis challenged himself to recreate at home included McDonald's Big Mac, falafel and spicy fajita marinade.
Viewers took to social media to make their opinions heard.
@Adadappadan wrote: "Big Mac's are crap! Even Alexis is saying that it's the sauce that makes 'em nice! Smh, I like a 'burger' for the flavour/taste of the actual patty/burger itself, not the sauce! #SecretsOfTheFastFoodGiants"
