How NYC’s CHOPPED CHEESE has Changed

The chopped cheese as we know it has existed one way for the last 25 years. But in recent years, the chopped cheese has changed. This is a battle of the classic “OG” chopped cheese invented by Frankie Frank of Hadjii’s Deli in Harlem vs the Ocky way invented by Rahim Mohammed of the Red Hook Food Corp in Red Hook Brooklyn. Which would you choose? 

RECIPE:
Chopped Cheese: The “OG” vs The Ocky Way
https://www.notanothercookingshow.tv/post/chopped-cheese-the-classic-vs-the-ocky-way
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Sources:
Righteous Eats

Rahim Mohamed The Ocky Way

you may have heard of New York’s Bodega
staple the chopped cheese but I can’t
assume everyone knows it so for the
uninitiated here’s how it’s done it
starts with a toasted kaiser roll or
long roll cut in half and placed on a
flat top or panini press with a gentle
weight until the rolls are lightly brown
while the bun toasts we can add our
burger patty to The Griddle and if the
Patty is thick I like to give it a
little Smash down so it makes good
contact with the pan and then let it
brown on that first side once browned
flip the Patty and then Brown it on the
other side and while it’s Browning add
on top some onions and season them with
salt after a minute or two start to chop
up the Patty and the onions into a
minc once it’s Chopped season it with
some Bodega Staples some adobo some
sazone and some super secret sazone that
the bodegas like to add and then
continue to chop it up incorporating the
seasoning after the Buns are nicely
toasted get them off The Griddle then
once the seasoning is well chopped up
into the meat place two to three slices
of American cheese on top of the mound
of meat and then once again chop it all
up and when you chop the cheese in the
meat the cheese melts in and almost
binds the mixture together which helps
it stay in the sandwich while it does we
can prepare the sandwich by spreading a
thin layer of mayo on both sides of the
Roll followed by a little bit of ketchup
once the meat is melty and somewhat of a
homogeneous Mass use a spatula to
transfer it to the bottom bun then add a
few thin sliced tomatoes on top along
with some shredded lettuce then close it
up wrap it up tight and cut it to reveal
this beautiful creation the thing that
New York City has identified as a chop
cheese for the last 25 years however the
classic New York City Cho cheese has
changed how you ask let me explain the
classic chop cheese was invented here
haji’s Deli in Harlem now named Blue Sky
deli by this guy Frankie Frank how you
doing I’m Frankie Frank I make the best
CH in this neighborhood how you I’m
working here for almost three decades
the most New York guy you’ve ever seen
hey how you doing the man Frank prank
baby going to take the CH cheese one
party one secret how did you invent the
ches maybe in 1999 I’m trying to make my
sandwich for myself and uh I want to
make a chees burger we don’t have no
more hamburger bone what I did chop it
up and with the customer behind me Frank
what you make itday I said I don’t know
maybe I’m going to put it like a chop
the chop come on like that because this
guy wanted a burger and didn’t have buns
his solution birth the bodega staple
that has been feeding York City
neighborhoods for 25 years and some
compare it to the Philly cheese steak
but it’s actually more of like a chopped
smashed onion burger than it is a cheese
steak however today because of this man
sir help you today Raheem Muhammad from
the Red Hook Food Corp the classic
chopped cheese has changed when you
order a chopped cheese from Raheem you
get it the Aki way hey yo let me get a
spicy chopped cheese on a Jamaican
show Aki stems from the word Aki which
means brother in Arabic and when you get
a chopped cheese the Aki way it’s a
vastly different experience he’ll make
you a chopped cheese on a Jamaican Patty
he’ll make you one on a pancake he’ll
make you one with mozzarella sticks and
hash browns and if you bring in a live
lobster he’ll cook that
too and I understand the mindset to him
everything in the bodega is fair game f
chop cheese and when I ran a food truck
because I’d eat it so often whatever I’d
have in the truck would be fair game for
the sandwich I would make for lunch that
day Aki proves that in New York with
food there are no rules Aki does it his
way he’s truly free to interpret what a
chop cheese is however he sees fit and
New York accepts it now I know what
you’re thinking you’re saying Steve if
you were akie and I came into the store
and ordered it the Aki way how would you
make it for me well let me show you so
first thing we got to do to make my viak
way is to make what I call a little
invention of mine Bodega seasoning so
I’m going to take the base three
ingredients that you saw me use to
season the beef which is what is
commonly used in bodegas and I’m just
going to spice it up a little bit with
some cumin and some coriander and then
just blend it all together so about a
teaspoon of
adobo equal amount of the sazone equal
amount of the secret sazone as Frankie
says equal amount of cumin and equal
amount of coriander and then just a
little black pepper we’ll season with
salt separately and then you just mix
that up that’s nice it’s like a little
bit of that same flavor just just a
little bit more kick that gives it
almost like a taco seasoning flavor
Bodega seasoning is done next up we need
to make Bodega sauce another invention
of mine basically a play on any special
sauce now to make Bodega sauce it starts
again with the same base that a normal
Cho cheese uses which is a combination
of mayo and ketchup I’m going to go in
with 3 tablespoons and then I’m going to
go in with maybe a/4 cup of ketchup
ketchup ketchup I’m saying things weird
a lot lately then we’re going to go in
with some yellow mustard the only time I
would use yellow mustard got a
tablespoon some Wier sheer sauce maybe a
half tablespoon whatever you want and
then vinegar going to do a little cap
full a little bit of hot sauce maybe uh
half tablespoon of that and then some
classic dill relish not sweet relish I
don’t like that stuff going to go with a
big
tablespoon then a little bit of
dehydrated onion maybe like two pinches
a little bit more I don’t know I just
like the dehydrated onion these days
when you put it in something like this
it sort of rehydrates and it kind of
gives you real onion flavor but then
it’s also a concentrated version it’s
nice then we’re going to take a little
bit of our Bodega seasoning put in about
two pinches of that maybe a teaspoon or
two a little salt
pepper you see that tastes good two
things it’s a little thin for me I like
a thicker sauce when it comes to things
like Burger sauces kind of want more of
a red color too so I’m going to do one
thing going to add some pepera for color
it’s kind of a neutral flavor but it
does add nice color and you can kind of
use a good amount so I’ll maybe use a
tablespoon maybe two it’s a little bit
thin that kind of might run off of a
burger I have a little trick I’ve
learned recently I keep a little bit of
xantham gum on hand whenever a sauce of
mine feels a little too loose and I want
it a little bit more clingy I’ll just
throw a few pinches two little pinches
in there going to give it a mix and then
as it rests in the fridge until we’re
ready to use it you’ll actually come to
find it’s thickened if you put this in a
blender that works a lot
faster could use a little Bodega
seasoning to be
honest already a little bit thicker and
it’ll get even thicker as it chills out
in the fridge Bodega sauce is ready can
hang out chill in the refrigerator we’ll
check back before we’re ready to use it
see how it’s tightened up then I’ve got
my cheeses which I’m going to use a
blend of shredded cheddar some just some
mild stuff that’s going to give us a
nice kind of stringy texture to the
cheese and flavor then of course we’re
going to use American cheese which is
the classic cheese to use in a chopped
cheese but we’re using the good stuff
the new school American cheese by my
friend Eric Greenspan started off as a
block trying to make better American
cheese and now they have shredded cheese
as well as cheese and slices so keep an
eye out for them and if you don’t see
him near you go complain to Eric
Greenspan and try and connect him with a
store that could stock his cheese for
you but I’m going to use the shredded
cheese in the bag that he sent me as
well as shredding up my own
cheddar this is about 8 oz of cheese I’m
going to take about half of that and
just blend it with some of this new
school
American and then we have our cheese
blend now we just need to chop
everything first we need about a half of
an onion I’m just going to sort of chop
that into a small dice that’s going to
get worked into the burger patties put
that into a bowl set that
aside next we need some thinly sliced
tomatoes so I’m going to take a tomato
I’m going to slice off the root end and
just sort of cut out the core then I’m
going to get real thin slices and I’m
going to start with my knife at the top
and I’m going to push it forward in one
smooth motion and then pull it back in
one smooth motion that’s going to give
you the best chance to getting one
evenly sliced thinly sliced piece of
tomato takes a little bit of practice
though next up we’ve got Iceberg I need
about a third of the head of iceberg and
you want some good Iceberg you see how
tight this bundle is we’re just going to
lie this flat and cut this as thin as we
can into a beautiful shredded lettuce
which to me is the ideal way lettuce
should be put in sandwiches next up
we’ve got our meat and you want to use
good meat Raheem actually grinds his own
for his chopped cheese and my favorite
Market actually makes their own little
sliders out of short ribb and briskets
so these are some short rib sliders
there were four patties I used one for
the first chopped cheese and it was a
pound of meat divided into four patties
so they’re 1/4 PB Patty then we got to
talk about the bun so I’m going to use
the kaiso just like I used before but
I’m going to make a little garlic bread
out of it so here I have some soften
butter this is a little trick I used to
use when I used to work in like snack
bars and when I wash dishes in
restaurants I take some soften butter
and mix it with a bunch of garlic powder
smear it all over a kaiser roll toast
that up and then I would make like a
bacon egg and cheese or Philly cheese
steak with garlic bread so we’re going
to do the same thing today spread that
all all over the bread it’s important
that it softened so you can take it edge
to
edge that’s ready to toast and then if
this with my Bodega let’s see what kind
of Frozen goodies we have got some
mozzarella sticks and then some nice
steak cut fries this these are actually
fantastic frozen french
fries so we’ve got our rolls our french
fries our M sticks I’m going with some
Doritos in there for some crunch our
bordega sauce is now nice and thick yeah
it’s a wild sandwich but I’m trying to
channel my inner Aki way without getting
too ridiculous like maybe some of his
sandwiches can get so let’s get started
first we need to fry the french fries in
the mozzarella stick so in a small pot
with about an inch or oil or so
preheated on medium high heat until it
reaches
355° once it does drop the french fries
in and once they’re golden brown you can
remove them on a wire rack and season
them with salt maybe four or 5 minutes
then drop in the mozzarella sticks cook
for a few minutes until golden brown and
then set on the wire rack to cool now we
can throw on our toasted garlic bread on
the cooler side of the griddle and then
we’re going to place a weight on top and
allow that to Brown on the hot part of
The Griddle we can throw on our burger
patty and again I like to smash it down
a little bit just cuz it’s on the
thicker side I’m going to give a quick
check on my buns and give them a rotate
so they Brown evenly and brown it on one
side and then flip and then add the
onions season them with a bit of salt by
now our buns are toasted so we can get
them off The Griddle and then we can add
in the Cherry Peppers now we can chop it
up chop it up into a nice fine
[Music]
mince then once we chop it up we can add
the seasoning the bodega seasoning once
we add the seasoning then we chop it up
again to incorporate those seasonings
into the
[Music]
meat and before we add the cheese to the
meat I just want to reheat those
mozzarella sticks so they’re nice and
melty so back into the oil they go for
another minute or so and while that gets
hot again I’m going to add a handful or
two of the American and cheddar cheese
blend on top of that mound of meat and
then once again chop it all up like we
said before as that cheese gets chopped
up and mixed in with the meat it sort of
binds everything together so it holds
nicely in the sandwich now the modsticks
are done we can get them out of the oil
and now the meat is ready let’s scoop it
up and assemble the
sandwich now onto the bun we’re going to
put a dollop of our Bodega sauce on both
sides of the Roll then to that we’re
going to add a nice thin layer of our
french fries on top of the french fries
we’re going to smash up some of our
Doritos or whatever chip you want to put
in there and just sprinkle some on top
to that we’re going to transfer the
chopped cheese meat onto the sandwich to
the meat I like to add just a little bit
of hot sauce or you could add more
Bodega sauce then a few thin slices of
tomato the lettuce and then finally the
beautiful mozzarella sticks
[Music]
wrap it in the
paper cut it up in the reveal as crazy
as this sandwich looks it surprisingly
eats clean all of the flavors and
textures combine into a crazy sandwich
but I’m curious which one would you
order would you order the classic or
would you order it my Aki way see it’s
not too ridiculous if the sandwich
doesn’t fall apart you’re in good shape
the potatoes add a nice textural
component they taste like real potatoes
then you got the Doritos that bring that
Dorito flavor which I happen to love the
mozzarella sticks have crunch flavor and
cheesy pole it’s just a fun way to Free
Yourself to make any crazy thing you
want and a chopped cheese is the perfect
vehicle somehow for that I got to admit
it’s pretty good anyway if you want the
recipe for either the OG or the Yi way
recipe is going to be down in the
description that’s all I have today I’ll
see you next time until then take care
of yourself go feed yourself
he