The Most Overpowered Meal Possible

A guy I work with really struggles to gain weight.

You know by now that bulking isn’t mandatory, that’s not what this is about. This isn’t even about gaining weight, it’s just a story that might shock you. No hate to anyone involved 🙄

Being able to shovel down food is a skill, I can do it, as can another guy I work with.

This guy I work with has made great progress, for the most part it’s been intuitive.

You can sense where this is going…

1. Cook a fat cut of beef mince with some taco seasoning

2. Make some loaded nachos with cheese, beef, chicken, sour cream, more cheese

3. Have this 3 times a day

Oh and by the way, we’re talking BIG FAMILY OF FIVE PORTIONS.

You can see the problem with this approach already.

• We don’t need as heavy as a bulk in the first place

• We’re adding a TON of unnecessary fat

• We’re not getting too much in past macronutrients

My quarrel here isn’t going to be with techniques to gain weight, instead we’re going to talk about the five things that matters most in a diet staple.

So here’s what matters most, and what best answers the call

1. Good protein source lean animal based proteins

2. Highly satiating high volume; filling; hearty

3. Lots of balanced micronutrients loads of different coloured veg

4. Absolutely delicious something built on flavour

5. Very adaptable needs to be plug and play

If you’ve had a peak behind the curtain of what I eat, you’ll know what fits this perfectly.

Let’s talk about Chanko Nabe.

Chanko Nabe is comfort at it’s highest. Every day it can be something completely new, there’s no recipe, it teaches you flavour.

I’ve never been big into cooking day in day out, but this works.

Let me break down what makes a Chanko, a Chanko.

1. Broth

2. Proteins

3. Veggies

4. Carb

You’ll realise later why this is how I’ve ordered things.

1. Broth

The broth of a Chanko is the most important thing.

It’s where the flavour lies. Mess up the broth, you mess up the Chanko. Thankfully it’s hard to mess up 🙄

If you’re new, play it safe.

The hardest thing you’re going to have to do here is pick a base.

• Miso Paste

• Chicken Stock Paste

• Vegetable Stock Paste

• Fish Stock Paste

• Hot Pot Soup Base

The awesome thing is that you don’t have to pair chicken with chicken, fish with fish etc.

Pick the one that sounds nicest, and see what it’s like.

You can stop here, skip to the next section, and get a less flavourful Chanko. But the flavour is why we’re making this…

I want Chanko to teach you flavour.

That’s why after you pick a base add it to a big saucepan of water, and then throw in random stuff. Make sure to taste it while the water’s boiling.

One of my favourite flavours so far was added by complete mistake, be adventurous, you can even mix bases together.

Here’s some stuff I’d add, I’ve bolded the ones I use most regularly.

• Garlic

• Ginger

• Rice Wine Vinegar

• Sesame Oil

• Fish Sauce

• Lime

• Gochujang

• Kimchi Siracha

• Mirin

• Soy Sauce

• Peanut Butter

• Honey

• Kimchi

• Turmeric

• Instant Noodle Seasoning

You can literally wake up one day and have a completely different tasting Chanko, that’s part of it’s charm.

2. Proteins

Proteins are easy.

Think about what you’re feeling on that day. Check if the price tag is fine. Listen to your gut.

I’m pretty basic…

For the most part I’ll slow cook some chicken and then cut it up or shred it.

Once in a while I’ll have a fish based Chanko (think prawns, cod, salmon).

I’d try and focus on what a Chanko is at it’s purest form, it’s a way to get the nutrition we NEED, whilst minimising stuff we don’t need.

1. Try and pick lean proteins

2. Pick fattier proteins if you’re getting fish in for Essential Fats

3. Take advantage of the volume the protein adds

4. Think about if it would go well with a soup (I’ve used canned tuna before and it wasn’t fun)

Here are some protein ideas for you

• Chicken Breast (Cut or Shredded)

• Chicken Meatballs

• Leftover Chicken

• Turkey Meatballs

• Turkey Breast (Cut or Shredded)

• Pork Meatballs

• Pork Belly

• Pork Tenderloin

• Prawns

• Mussels

• Cod

• Salmon

• Squid

• Dried Squid insane macros.

• Lobster

• Crab

• Tofu

• Beans

I’m sure you can think of some more on your own…

That’s going to be rounding up the protein section!

3. Veggies

Vegetables are one of the most brainless things you have to worry about in a Chanko.

I’ll make this as simple as possible for you. EAT THE RAINBOW.

For the most part eating the rainbow means you’re getting a very balanced micronutrient profile.

I’ll go over the colour groups and my favourites of each.

• Red Foods Peppers, Kidney beans

• Yellow/Orange Foods Peppers, Corn

• Green Foods Broccoli, Pak Choi

• Purple/Black Foods Cabbage, Onions

• Brown/White Foods Onions, Mushrooms

All you have to do with your Chanko is pick one of each of the five colours.

Throw these in after you’ve started boiling the water, and they’ll be perfectly cooked.

It’s as easy as you can get.

4. Carbs

Look carbs is last because carbs is the least important.

All that matters here is that we have some noodles in your Chanko.

I don’t care what noodles you have, it doesn’t matter to me. Pick one and it’ll work.

Okay, looks like we’ve reached the end of explaining Chanko.

Before I part ways I’ll give a quick recap on how to actually cook this.

1. Start boiling water and make your broth

   1. If you have raw protein, cook it now

2. Add in your veggies

3. When the water has boiled add your noodles for the time it says

4. Serve

It’s the easiest thing in the world.

When you’ve made your first Chanko, reply to this email sharing me a photo.

Your Hypertrophy Hero,
Fletcher

P.S. For the first time in a while I will not be making Chanko today ☹ I’m making some Turkey Burritos instead because I don’t have any precooked chicken. Because of that please do actually send the Chanko images as I’m missing seeing one…