How White Bread Revamps All Leftovers, According To David Chang

Chef David Chang seems to be everywhere we turn, and that's fine by us. Between his successful Momofuku restaurant group, his Netflix docuseries "Ugly Delicious," and Prime Video's Thursday Night Football features, the chef is pretty much single-handedly responsible for how many recipes we decorate with spicy chili crisp.

As the country prepares to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal with friends and family, Chang has also been busy creating day-after-Thanksgiving meals for his Black Friday Football special on Prime Video. According to an interview with Forbes, the chef actually prefers leftovers, saying during a cooking demonstration at his Majordomo Media studios, "Personally, I think the day after Thanksgiving is better than Thanksgiving."

One of Chang's favorite things to do with leftovers is an egg roll-inspired dish involving classic white bread like Wonder or Pepperidge Farm. Chang cuts off the crusts and uses a rolling pin to flatten each slice to ⅛-inch thick. Using holiday leftovers like stuffing, mashed potatoes, and creamed spinach, Chang adds a few tablespoons of the staple ingredients to the bread and rolls them up like cigars, pinching the ends to keep the filling from oozing. He then fries the crispy Thanksgiving roll-ups in oil until golden brown and serves them with leftover gravy.

Chang advises against using sweet, enriched bread like King Hawaiian rolls when making this recipe because it will burn quickly. He also warns against wet food, like cranberry sauce, since it will splatter when it hits the hot oil. 

Turkey, stuffing, creamed spinach, and mashed potatoes may not be leftover in your refrigerator after November, but there are additional filling ideas for David Chang's crispy roll-ups to use all year long. Try using leftover pot roast and carrots or meatloaf with mashed potatoes in the roll-ups. Add provolone cheese to the pot roast roll-up, warm the jus on the side, and call it a crispy French dip. Or maybe add some CheezWhiz, fried onions, and thinly sliced leftover beef for a Philly cheesesteak roll-up. How about mac 'n cheese? The possibilities are endless. 

As Chang mentioned to Forbes, this technique also works well for sweets. Peanut butter and Nutella would be a decadent filling for breakfast, snack, or dessert roll-ups. Although he advises against putting jelly in there, for the same reason cranberry sauce is out, we think sliced banana may be okay if it isn't too ripe. Add a little bacon, and you've got Elvis' favorite combination. 

For breakfast, roll-ups can be made in so many ways. Sandwich bread can be stuffed with sliced apples and peanut butter, Nutella and sliced strawberries, or cream cheese and blueberries. To make them alla French toast, dip the roll-ups in an egg, milk, and sugar mixture and pan-fry them in butter until golden brown. Serve the French toast roll-ups with warm maple syrup for dipping.

David Chang joined the "Good Morning America" crew to make two more day-after-Thanksgiving meals, combining the traditional leftovers with noodles for a quick meal you can assemble within 15 minutes. Chang used his line of pantry ingredients, Momofuku Soy and Scallion Noodles. However, this dish can be made with your favorite instant ramen noodles or spaghetti.

Both recipes start with sautéing leftover veggies in a hot wok or skillet. This is a great place to use all the leftover broccoli, carrots, peppers, and pea pods that no one ate from the crudité board, and thinly slice them for this dish. If you have nothing fresh, you can throw frozen veggies into the wok directly from the freezer.

Add leftover turkey (cut into chunks) while the ramen cooks. When the noodles are done, add them to the wok with soy sauce, sesame oil, and a little sugar to make a delicious stir-fry. Or drown the noodles in chicken or turkey stock and make a noodle soup perfect for cold temperatures. If you have leftover gravy, mix it into the stock to thicken the soup and add more flavor.