How David Chang Turns Popeyes Biscuits Into A Fancy Treat
If you've ever eaten at one of David Chang's restaurants or watched his Netflix show "Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner," you probably know that knows food. More than that, he truly loves and honors it. You can tell in the way he cooks it, in the way he talks about it, and perhaps most importantly, in the way he eats it. There is no pretention in the way that Chang dines — even when he's snacking on caviar.
In a video posted to TikTok, the restaurateur showed fans the snack he likes to whip out for "very special occasions": Popeye's biscuits slathered with a healthy dose of butter and a heaping mound of caviar. If you've not had the pleasure of eating caviar, the raw fish eggs are rich and delightfully salty like seawater. Different varieties can have different flavor profiles ranging from buttery or nutty, to minerally or sweet. While this food is typically served with blini (tiny buckwheat pancakes) and crème fraîche, in Chang's version the butter takes the place of cream, while the biscuit plays the role of the blini. It creates a salty, sweet, creamy, and starchy bite that hits all the notes and satisfies all the texture requirements. In Chang's words, it's a sort of "surf and turf" experience for the taste buds.
@davidchang surf & turf #caviar #momofuku #butter #popeyesbiscuit
It sounds like a good idea
While we can see how people who aren't into caviar might give a casual "hell no" to the idea of popping it on a Popeye's biscuit, there were plenty of folks in the comment section who were down to clown with David Chang's innovative idea. "Never would have though of this combo but I'm here for it," one commenter wrote. Another called it "brilliant" while someone else told Chang, "You win @TikTok". Popeye's even commented on the video calling the combination "exquisite" with a fancy flitter emoji.
If you're dying to give Chang's genius snack invention a try, you'll need to procure the right ingredients. A roll through the Popeye's drive through will supply you with the base. If you insist, you could make your own — just don't forget the buttermilk! It's what makes Popeye's biscuits so delicious. If you have access to fresh local or Amish butter, you're definitely going to want to use that. Otherwise, Kerrygold will work just fine. As for the kind of caviar, Chang swears by the stuff from Idaho, thanks to the statewide use of sustainable fishing practices which ultimately breeds a higher quality product. You can probably find some at the fish counter at your local Whole Foods.