“We make the best pancakes in New York. We sell over 400 pancakes per day.” Go behind the scenes at Chez Ma Tante with Sous Chef Fernando Natividad and see how he prepares to serve 400 of their renowned pancakes per day during the brunch rush.
Director: Gunsel Pehlivan
Director of Photography: Kevin Dynia
Editor: Jamie Gordon
Featuring: Fernando Natividad
Creative Producer: Parisa Kosari
Line Producer: Jen McGinity
Associate Producer: Oadhan Lynch
Production Manager: Janine Dispensa
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Camera Operator: Jake Roobbins
Assistant Camera: Roberto Herrera
Sound Recordist: Mike Guggino
Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Additional Editor: JC Scruggs
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Filmed on Location at Chez Ma Tante
Director: Gunsel Pehlivan
Director of Photography: Kevin Dynia
Editor: Jamie Gordon
Featuring: Fernando Natividad
Creative Producer: Parisa Kosari
Line Producer: Jen McGinity
Associate Producer: Oadhan Lynch
Production Manager: Janine Dispensa
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Camera Operator: Jake Roobbins
Assistant Camera: Roberto Herrera
Sound Recordist: Mike Guggino
Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Additional Editor: JC Scruggs
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Filmed on Location at Chez Ma Tante
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 The sous chef is my dad.
00:01 He's the people to making sure every single recipe
00:05 is really consistent and the texture is good.
00:08 I love being a chef.
00:09 My heart is in here.
00:11 I was working in construction in Mexico.
00:13 When I get in this country, I saw people cooking.
00:17 And I was like, oh, I want to be like those guys.
00:19 My first job was a pastry.
00:21 Chef Matan is very, very popular for brunch.
00:24 We have the best pumpkin in New York.
00:26 We sell over 400 pumpkins per day.
00:29 Today is Friday.
00:30 We have a big weekend ahead.
00:31 Hi, my name is Fernando.
00:39 I'm a sous chef at Chef Matan.
00:41 Come inside, please.
00:44 This is our dining room.
00:45 We can sit just 100 people in this dining room.
00:48 Chef Matan is American restaurant,
00:50 but it's more European-style cooking.
00:55 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
00:56 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
00:58 And this is my list.
01:03 So tomorrow, I got to be ready for 300 orders.
01:07 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
01:09 So now I got to do a pancake.
01:20 We do extra love.
01:21 Every single pancake in here.
01:23 That's my secret.
01:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:27 [SPLAT]
01:29 So we sell around 400 pancakes for a day, just for one brunch.
01:34 I want to start doing this first.
01:35 So I have sugar.
01:37 Sugar helps to make it crispy, caramelized.
01:41 OK, so I want to do so many lemons in here for flavor.
01:44 And the pancakes are different from the other place,
01:47 because we do lemon zest in there.
01:50 I think that's our secret part.
01:51 We use just exactly the lemon zest, just the yellow one.
01:54 If we use the white part, it's more bitter.
01:57 So that's not good.
01:59 That's not the flavor what I'm looking for.
02:01 I have my eggs in here.
02:03 Half part are normal eggs, and half part are yolks.
02:05 We need some egg whites to bring proof, but not that over.
02:09 So that's why we level with yolks,
02:11 so don't get like over-proof.
02:14 Just like that, with one hand.
02:16 And open it.
02:17 See?
02:17 Easy.
02:18 We use 32 egg yolks.
02:20 The egg whites, we separate it.
02:21 And we use-- if people asking for egg whites, scramble eggs.
02:24 So we don't waste any in here.
02:26 So I have the eggs ready, and now it's
02:28 got to go into the mixer machine.
02:31 I drop the eggs first.
02:32 Now I drop in all this sugar.
02:36 I am from Mexico.
02:38 I get here like 16 years ago.
02:40 My first job was a pastry, and then I moved to the line cook.
02:44 But now I love this job, and I love this place,
02:47 because I do everything.
02:48 I can do pastries.
02:49 I can do pancakes.
02:50 I can cook, and I can prep.
02:52 So OK, guys, you can see now the mix already proof.
02:55 The egg whites, yolks, and the sugar, all this mix
02:58 comes together.
02:59 The color is like it's changed.
03:00 So now I'm adding the milk in here, so slowly.
03:03 So I want to pour like half now.
03:06 So now it's ready to add the flour.
03:10 I got to do like core by cores in here,
03:12 like kind of like mixing slowly.
03:15 But it's got to fit.
03:16 All this flour has got to absorb the liquid.
03:19 So you can see now.
03:20 It's reduced right now.
03:21 This is a little space, because also you've
03:23 got to fit all this milk, too.
03:24 Trust me, it's magic technically.
03:26 The pancakes I make in Mexico, once we
03:29 bite it, like, and the powder already, the mix,
03:31 so my mom has cooked for me.
03:33 I can cook for her now.
03:34 This is one of my favorites dishes in here.
03:37 All my love is in here.
03:38 Now I got to add this clarified butter in here.
03:41 Clarified butter is help to the pancakes
03:43 to make it nice and crispy, because remember,
03:46 we bake like over like 400 pancakes a day.
03:50 So this will help a little bit to get fast cook.
03:54 So you see we have enough space now.
03:57 This mix is ready to go.
03:59 And I want to test one out, and that's it.
04:01 This is for the size of the pancakes.
04:06 It's easy to drop on the plancha.
04:09 Always we test in a couple of piece to make sure it's nice.
04:12 We press it like two times.
04:13 The oil we use is clarified butter.
04:15 So this is help to get nice and crispy.
04:18 It's almost there.
04:19 We know how is moment to the flip it,
04:22 because the bubbles is on top.
04:24 I make sure on the bottom it's nice and brown,
04:26 because we're looking for that crispy part.
04:29 So we flip it.
04:30 So always I flip it to that side,
04:32 because the oil can spill on my arms.
04:35 So you see, guys, now it's nice and brown.
04:38 This is the kind of pancake we need in here.
04:40 It's really, really perfect pancake.
04:42 So in the maple syrup, I got to put it right after I take it
04:45 off the plancha, because this syrup,
04:47 I want it going inside the pancakes.
04:50 When it's hot, it's the best moment
04:52 to absorb all this syrup inside.
04:54 So I want to make sure the flavor is in there.
05:01 Mm, that's delicious.
05:02 Crunchy on top, but when you bite,
05:04 it's like salt in the middle.
05:05 The texture is very well, and it's ready for the customers.
05:10 Very good.
05:11 OK, guys, 10 o'clock.
05:12 So now we're going to do the peanut buttering.
05:14 So I got to grab all the condiments.
05:16 OK, let's go.
05:17 I just got to grab all the peanuts from the oven.
05:23 It's too hot.
05:26 Got to take it out.
05:27 Got to be careful, because, like, so much hot.
05:30 So let's see how it's done.
05:32 We've been running for two days.
05:35 We use salt, water, bean salt in here.
05:38 We cook it with regular water.
05:40 So this has been there, like, for two hours.
05:42 And now it's ready to cook.
05:44 This dish we have since we opened this restaurant.
05:46 This pig head, we slice it.
05:48 So we serve it with sunny side eggs.
05:50 We serve it with parsley, onions, lemon zest, lemon juice,
05:54 and a cup of piparras.
05:55 Pig head, the original is like English and French style dish.
05:59 But in Chinatown, we do, like, our own style.
06:04 But it's really, really simple recipe and delicious dish.
06:07 Sometimes when the people know about this pig head,
06:10 get a little scared.
06:11 But this meat is very delicious, because it's
06:14 fatty, nice and soft, and the flavor is different
06:17 than the rest of the pork.
06:19 Because the brain, because the eggs, the tongue,
06:22 every single part is different flavor.
06:25 But when we mix together, we get just one flavor.
06:28 Most people throw away this part of pork, this pig head.
06:31 We use the whole thing.
06:32 It's one of those favorite dishes in here.
06:34 I don't need these bones.
06:36 Take out the garbage.
06:37 Yeah, see?
06:38 This is the nose.
06:40 Here, a little margarito.
06:41 We use everything.
06:42 We use the brain.
06:44 We use the nose.
06:45 We use tongue.
06:46 We use the eyes.
06:47 You see here?
06:48 That's the eyes.
06:49 We use the eyes, too.
06:50 So this pig head is split, just in half.
06:54 And then I take out all the meat.
06:56 See, this is the tongue.
06:57 I take the part, put it in my bowl.
07:00 You can see it, the oreja.
07:01 It's a little oreja.
07:02 This dish, for me, is kind of, I remember my country,
07:06 because it's like tacos de cabeza.
07:08 These dishes remember that.
07:09 So that's why I'm happy to serve this.
07:11 I want to make sure there's not any bones in there.
07:13 So I'm just going to fill it, part by part.
07:16 There's a little cabeza in here.
07:18 You see?
07:19 I find bone-in-bone.
07:20 So that's why I'm making sure with my hands.
07:23 Now it's ready to get the condiments inside here.
07:25 We use juniper.
07:27 Juniper is so strong.
07:28 So we start it with a little.
07:30 Now I do four spices in here.
07:32 This is the mustard, the most artesian.
07:37 Going to do like one full spoon.
07:40 I use sherry vinegar, too.
07:41 Sherry is like more acid, it's a little strong.
07:44 But for this pig head, like, it's salted.
07:47 This balances.
07:48 I got to mix this.
07:49 This nine-way here is perfect for chop this.
07:55 It's traditional for chop-chop.
07:58 So one way, so I go to the other way.
08:00 I got to put it back on the bowl.
08:07 Thermo, ven acá, por favor.
08:10 Dime qué piensas.
08:11 One more opinion.
08:15 This is the moment to fix it if something is missing.
08:19 So, so Thermo says it needs more than one.
08:22 They're going to do like half a spoon.
08:24 And that's it.
08:25 Now we're putting all this meat in here.
08:30 [upbeat music]
08:32 Now this mole is ready to go to the freezer.
08:40 And it's ready to slice in the next two hours.
08:45 So almost 11, I got a great meeting with my CDC.
08:48 He's Oscar, CDC from Sesmatan.
08:55 So how is everything going?
08:57 It's good, todo bien.
08:57 This is a meeting for making sure what has happened
09:01 last night and what has happened in this morning.
09:04 So we double check the prep list
09:06 and then we make sure what about for the next day delivery.
09:10 [speaking in foreign language]
09:14 [upbeat music]
09:16 [speaking in foreign language]
09:20 [upbeat music]
09:43 [upbeat music]
09:46 Now I'm making falafels.
09:48 It's really simple recipe, nice and crispy.
09:52 We serve it with hummus and green tahini sauce
09:55 with a little cucumber salad.
09:57 So I just got it straining first the chickpeas.
10:00 Chickpeas with soaking water for one over nine.
10:03 The reason is because we need a soft and easy to ground in.
10:08 Then we put all these jalapenos in here.
10:10 Onions, cilantro.
10:14 So this is a flavor too.
10:15 So it helps to get nice and green.
10:19 Parsley.
10:20 So now I gotta drop this on the grounding machine.
10:24 The meat grinder helps to get nice texture and nice size.
10:29 You can see it's like almost kind of dough.
10:32 If we do on the robot, it's like too much mushy
10:35 and sometimes making like puree.
10:37 This is a vegan, just vegetables.
10:39 It's gluten-free, it's a perfect dish.
10:42 It's very, very delicious.
10:43 I love it because jalapenos in here.
10:45 See, nice and green.
10:46 All right, this is all the juices coming.
10:48 This is the flavor.
10:49 This is the best part of this.
10:50 Wanna turn off a little bit this machine.
10:53 Now I gotta add all the spices, the salt.
10:55 That's a chippy flower, cumin, the coriander.
11:02 Mix together.
11:05 I think that's all ready to go.
11:08 I just wanna taste one piece.
11:09 Let's see.
11:10 (upbeat music)
11:13 So we use this scoop.
11:18 We use peanut oil.
11:20 So this is the moment.
11:24 So now we have a perfect pulse.
11:34 So you can see inside, it's really nice and hot and cooked.
11:39 Mm, it's hot.
11:41 And I gotta wait a little bit.
11:42 I burned my tongue, but it's nice.
11:44 Oscar, can you taste this?
11:46 Hablame.
11:47 Need more salt or no?
11:51 It's good?
11:53 Bueno.
11:54 So this is falafel.
11:55 It's already done.
11:56 It's ready to service.
11:57 Now it's the time to do the final sausage.
11:59 Just follow me.
12:00 I gotta do that.
12:01 It's my time.
12:02 It's time to make the sausage.
12:08 This is kind of a final sausage.
12:09 It comes with butter beans, kale,
12:11 and also we do butter.
12:13 This is two kilos meat.
12:15 This is the top of the pork shoulder.
12:17 This piece of meat is perfect for sausage.
12:20 This is the trim from the pork shoulder
12:22 we have from the dinner.
12:24 So now we gotta ground it in the machine.
12:26 I drop in the freezer for one hour.
12:30 We don't need it really, really frozen,
12:32 but we need it hard.
12:33 And this part of the pork shoulder
12:35 is the SA, no fat we're looking for.
12:37 I gotta add it on the mixer machine right here.
12:40 So right here is fennel pollen, chili flake,
12:45 crontona chili, black pepper, and fennel seeds.
12:48 Gotta measure this.
12:49 I never forget this.
12:51 This is maple syrup.
12:52 This is for flavor because the flavor we're looking at,
12:55 we're looking at something spicy and sweet.
12:59 This maple syrup is made to balance
13:01 when this comes together.
13:03 You can see it's like almost one bowl.
13:06 So this is what I'm looking for, a bowl.
13:09 See?
13:10 So now I gotta case it.
13:12 This is the machine that I use for casing.
13:14 So now I gotta put all the meat inside here.
13:17 Right here.
13:20 You can see where is the meat
13:21 because this whole this part, because it's frozen.
13:24 This is intestinal de puerco.
13:26 First of all, the water is help to bring out the salt
13:30 and it's help to get nice and soft
13:33 and easier to put in this stuff right here.
13:36 So we gotta soak in water like 20 minutes before we use it.
13:40 I gotta cut it in here.
13:42 We are ready for casing.
13:43 So I gotta start it with it slowly.
13:46 I just making sure with my hands, it's nice and tight.
13:49 We do this sausage because we have a lot of meat
13:54 of the pork shoulders.
13:55 We don't waste meat.
13:56 So we use all that in here.
13:58 After this, I wanna portion it.
14:00 So you see all this meat is inside.
14:03 So I gotta make sure all the bubbles are in here.
14:08 So I gotta push it with this.
14:10 We seal on the grill and the grill is like really hot.
14:13 It's like over 400 degrees
14:15 and I don't wanna explode it in there.
14:17 So this is the size we're looking for.
14:20 I do like one for in front and one for back
14:22 because if I don't the same way,
14:25 the sausage will never get tight.
14:26 This is my first round.
14:28 Now I'm going to do the next round
14:29 because this is not enough for service.
14:31 I gotta do like over 40 sausages.
14:34 So it's 3 p.m.
14:38 So now it's time to make trout rillette.
14:40 So this is confit trout.
14:48 We confit with olive oil and lemon zest.
14:51 I got a strainer because I use this oil for mayo.
14:54 This is a steelhead trout.
14:56 It's very delicious fish.
14:58 We serve it with crackers.
15:00 The crackers is gluten-free.
15:01 It comes with chives, pickled red onions,
15:04 and also we use raw on top.
15:06 So now I'm making mayo for the trout rillette.
15:09 I use six yolks in this and a little cava vinegar.
15:14 So I use the same oil, confit.
15:17 I run it slowly.
15:18 If I drop like fast, it's broken.
15:22 We don't have any more oil with this flavor.
15:25 If we broke this mayo, we can't do any more for today.
15:28 So we wait until the next day to make mayo.
15:30 Ready to go.
15:34 We use a smoked salmon in this recipe.
15:37 Just 20 grams.
15:38 I'm gonna chop a little bit.
15:40 The reason we use a salmon
15:41 is because we needed a smoked flavor,
15:43 a grounded smoked salmon.
15:45 Now this trout is going in here.
15:47 Making sure every meat is in there.
15:50 Nice and fresh in here.
15:53 For a kilo of the rillette,
15:55 I use like half a cup of mayo.
15:58 This rillette is popular on the menu.
16:00 So we have it on brunch and dinner.
16:02 So that's why I got it with Oscar.
16:05 He's doing PMs.
16:06 We're making sure the flavor
16:07 is exactly what we're looking for.
16:09 Oscar, (speaking in foreign language)
16:11 Just let me know how it tastes
16:13 and can I add more mayo or salt, whatever you need, or acid.
16:16 It's a little more acid I think, right?
16:20 - Yeah, a little more cava vinegar.
16:21 Super nice.
16:22 - I'm gonna add a little cava vinegar in here.
16:24 This is gonna be ready.
16:26 And that's it.
16:26 It's already done.
16:28 Now it's four o'clock.
16:29 I gotta double check the prep list is done
16:31 and I gotta start doing my organs.
16:33 (upbeat music)
16:36 - So check the amount of water and things for the pancakes.
16:41 - Okay, sounds good.
16:43 - Check the amount of the fish.
16:45 - Okay.
16:46 - And that will be it.
16:48 (upbeat music)
16:51 - I gotta go double check the walking.
16:54 What else I need?
16:56 So the walking is done here.
16:58 Hi, Elmo.
16:59 (speaking in foreign language)
17:03 It's really, really small walking.
17:04 So that's why we gotta keep it really nice and organized.
17:09 We're not having enough space.
17:10 So that's why we're ordering every day.
17:13 (upbeat music)
17:15 Okay, my job is done.
17:24 Thank you for following us.
17:25 (speaking in foreign language)
17:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]