Admittedly, they were set up to fail; people who have never seen Mexican food before (apparently?) were tasked with making tortillas from scratch without the appropriate equipment. Not sure what they were thinking. Merry Christmas!
That's actually something that bothers me in a lot of cooking competitions. It seems like they expect you to know how to make everything from everywhere without any help and that seems awfully unfair to me.
@@crazykay9422 It is and it's going to make the food either look unappetising or just like a lot of work so the vast majority of people in the audience will be discouraged to try it themselves.
It's kinda like all of those ancient pictures of elephants drawn by Europeans who had never seen an elephant. You ended up with something that was a cross between a horse and an eldritch abomination.
@@kzizzles8329 Authentic to ... what? British interpretations of Mexican food? Well then ... not sure where the authenticity comes in. You can get tortilla presses pretty easy and cheap. For many people, a tortilla is an everyday food. They're at least very frequently going to get the right tool for the job, same as if, when you needed one, you'd simply get a spoon or a spatula.
I actually showed the original video to a friend of mine from Mexico... and he got so angry he threatened to summon the Azteca gods to smite these people for the peeled avocado.
4:26 that poor woman is terrified, she heard all them other people say they've never made a taco before and thought to herself "Are we going to burn this tent down on accident?"
Brits almost as a matter of smug pride will always pronounce the the LL in any spanish word. Paella is also another notorious one they do and despite the Spanish CONSTANTLY correcting them they keep doing it. Edit: and before anyone tries to say that they don't have as much contact with Spanish speaking people as say those of us in the US. Spain is a very popular British vacation destination.
My mom's Chicana and a huge fan of the Great British Bake Off, so this episode was painful for her to watch. By around halfway through, her patience was wearing thin and she finally lost it and shouted "fuck you" at the TV when one of the contestants referred to guacamole as glocky-molo!😂
i mean to be fair, do you really think someone like her is a native Spanish speaker? that'd be like me cussing out your mom for mispronouncing kimchi. cmon lol
I died inside seeing what they did with their "Mexican Week". I know tacos are a staple of Mexican cuisine, but come on. There's plenty of desserts and pastries they could've made. Have they not heard of pan dulce? That'd be the easiest one they could've done!
So the funny thing is, after I watched the original react with Uncle Roger and Josh. I had to look some stuff up, because usually these shows don't give the contestants much time to work with the ingredients, usually a couple hours. If you start with the right ingredients then yes, you can make Tacos pretty quick. However, these Tacos were very Tex-Mex style, having the refried beans in the Taco. But if you just examine that one thing from the contest, you couldn't finish in the allotted time with Raw ingredients. The fastest you could prepare refried beans is roughly 2 hours, using a pressure cooker to cook your beans from raw, then removing pressure, a little more water and mashing your select quantity of beans. This recipe was doomed from the start. So I'm imagining most of these tacos that got tasted, all had half-cooked beans in them.
Yeah no kidding, like the contestants weren't amazing by any means, but the show _could've_ tried at least a little, what with its budget and all (which Uncle Roger pointed out). Same thing with the cheese (and the "instructions" lmfao), as though they couldn't be bothered. I've never watched this and have no idea if it's how it usually goes, but just judging from this it kinda seemed like they only set up contestants to make bad food.
Here's the thing, I've never seen a taco place in my part of Texas where they serve fajita or bistec tacos of any kind with refried beans in them or guacamole. The avocado is usually sliced, not smoothed.
@@badwulff This isn't how it usually goes, they only half-ass the non-European theme weeks for *some reason*. And generally... the challenges involve baking. The only other time they had to "cook" was when they had to, I think, grill steaks. The first several seasons of the show are fantastic, don't have any of these gimmicks, have better hosts, a better judge, and are more positive in general.
I feel like we should be more concerned that someone thought tacos were a logical and appropriate challange on a baking and patisserie competition show 🤣.
@@jav9069 if they were as good as tacos i totally would. more weddings need tacos and burgers. as a mexican, you are also a short sighted lame. then again that could still be my bias speaking, as tacos are my favorite food
Here in El Salvador, our corn tortillas are usually thicker, but we do indeed make them from scratch daily. Mills for grinding corn kernels [among other things] are very abundant, and nothing beats a warm tortilla made from scratch right off the comal
You are speaking my language, I'm Mexican and it's the same thing about when our tortillas are made fresh, they are always just a bit thicker and when the comal is at the right temperature the tortilla gets all kinds of good.....now I want one
Yep, thickness here in Mexico varies a lot, so I do not know how thick we are talking but you could maybe find tortillas like that. If not, there are gorditas, which are obviously very thick, and that is why they are called like that. But nothing beats freshly made tortillas.
GBBS is great when they stay in their lane. One thing that’s nice about it is that it is very chill. There’s less scheming and drama than just about any other cooking show. They just bake. Aside from anything else, this reminded me of Nailed It, where they take bad home bakers and ask them to make impossible desserts with equipment they’ve never ever seen. Check out a season where Sue Perkins was on.
It definitely doesn't explain everything the contestants did but the tacos that week were the "technical challenge" which means they didn't tell the contestants what they were making beforehand and the instructions were intentionally vague like "Make refried beans" so that they had to rely on just their own knowledge and ability to figure it out as they cooked.
When you started talking about the Mexican food you've eaten at restaurants that you worked in by the staff made me remember working at the Oak Room in the plaza hotel . So many family meals that blew my mind. My Mexican coworkers taught me so much. Thank you guys
It's actually very common for Mexican people, especially from indigineous communities to grind their own corn in what are called molinos. There are giant molinos in every town in which people can take their corn, chiles, spices etc and grind them down in order to make dough, mole and other things.
Great British Bake Off is great when they are just baking and making great cakes and sweets. And it is just very kind, everyone wants all the others to succeed and usually a ton of friendships start during the show. But when they are making food from different countries it is horrible. You should check out the Japanese challenge 😆
i think the problem is that a lot of people complain that British Bake Off was "getting stale," so they threw in Japanese Week and now Mexican Week to kind of spice it up a little bit but it was kind of obvious that they're not as super aware of Japanese or Mexican food instead of say German or French week
I agree with you, I didn't hear anyone say "feta". I'm not certain why Uncle Roger and Joshua assumed it was feta, unless they were basing it on the appearance. As a Brit, I can confirm that we have awful Mexican food here. One of my worst ever meals was at the Bar Burrito in Paddington station. The first time I had good Mexican food was when I went to the US for a master's degree.
I went to California with my gal and she said "Ooooooh, you've got to try these fish tacos". I finished one and I said "Don't ever do that to me again" ... 🤮😄🤣😄🤣
@@clarehidalgo To be fair in the absence of Mexican cheeses Feta isn't that bad of an option, I'm Mexican living on Europe and for chilaquiles or tostadas Feta fits quite nicely as a replacement of cotija. Just like you can make quesadillas with mozarella di buffala that taste kind of similar to Oaxaca cheese, you do what you can with what you have
@@clarehidalgo I'm mexican and live in the US, feta is a GREAT replacement for cotija..so much that I think it is better then the cotija I can otherwise find in the US. These guys were just being clowns saying it is unacceptable to use in tacos. That being said, no self respecting mexican would use cotija there, queso fresco is much better which is basically a drier pot cheese or farmers cheese. Cotija might be good with other options because the taste is so strong.
Now, one time, I had a delicious burrito in Edinburgh. It was pub fare, and the chef had studied in the States, so it was just good, pretty humble food.
I have seen people make tortillas from scratch. From grinding the corn to slapping them into shape and cooking them on the metal sheet over a fire. Fresh tortillas are so good you just put a sprinkle of salt on them and roll it up. My favorite snack as a kid.
The traditional masa for the tortilla it's made from nixtamal, which is boiling lime(the one used on construction) with the corn about half hour or 40 min, then let it sit 8-12 hours, when its ready grind the alkalized grains.
So, I just saw this episode yesterday, one of the things missing in context is that the "technical" challenge they bakers go in "blind" without any prep/research time. I don't consider myself an "expert" home cook, so if you asked me to make anything, that is outside of my wheel house, I don't think I'd be able to do it, either. The other, really major issue for me, is that this is a BAKING show, and NOTHING in this challenge is really baked.
9:54 cumin, paprika, Mexican oregano if you can get it, chili powder (regular is fine, Ancho is a good suggestion though) salt. I also like to add garlic and onion powder to mine personally.
They say "Spanish paella" too, and then instantly become "Hey, chorizo is spanish no? Yeah I'm putting chorizo in... wait is cilantro spanish or mexican? whatever they are the same, to the paella"
As an Australian with a Scottish mother, I can confirm that proper Mexican food is not at all common in either Britain or Australia. Especially soft corn tortillas (and yes, my mum does pronouce it tortiLas! lol. When I was a kid, there was one "mexican" restaurant in my home town and the tacos were those old el paso hard shell things filled with ground beef, shredded lettuce, and cheddar cheese!
Weirdly enough, watching Uncle Roger poke fun at someone(s) for being bad at making mexican or egg fried rice or whatever makes me want to be a better cook and make sure I know what I'm doing.
I would like to suggest watching Korean Englishman or Jolly. They have some amazing food videos, but if you want more serious content then i'd suggest going to Korean Englishmen. Its mostly getting peoples reactions to authentic Korean cuisine, but they do have some episodes where they explore how to cook it. While you might not always be able to give good cooking advice watching them, some of the reactions they get are extra wholesome. Especially from their Highschooler series. Also, reacting to the Michelin star series on Jolly would also be a good one. Just to see what they managed to wrangle and get during their exploration. Love watching your content, your more entertaining than most chef reaction channels out there! ^^
Small correction: Cotija Cheese is what they use on street corn. That dryer crumbly texture goes perfect on corn. Usually on tacos like this you would use Queso Fresco which is a bit wet and also crumbly but not at all like feta (tastewise). Cotija can be used on tacos but usually on other types- taquitos, flautas, sometimes enchiladas. Personally I only like Cotija on corn. Queso Fresco for my tacos. This was an atrocity though. As you said the food didn't look that bad but the whole process was just cringing!!
You should react to Uncle Roger react to their Japanese Week too. That episode is not just bad, but it also a huge disrespect to Japanese cuisine/culture as well
My parents grew up in a small Mexican village and we still visit there often, the way tortillas are made there is basically everyone grows their own corn and the corn is taken to a miller in their village who nixtamalizes the corn and turns it into masa, people pick up their masa and they then use it to make their tortillas. That’s the traditional way. In times where corn isn’t as available they’ll use masa harina and more recently tortilla vendors from nearby towns will actually go to the villages to sell fresh made tortillas!
Personally never had queso fresco on my tacos, but I'm guessing they image searched a taco and saw the queso fresco and thought it was Feta? Also queso fresco and cotija are different.
Brian manages to do reaction videos in a way nobody else really can, from what I've seen, he makes me really want to watch them, rather than just watching them to see what other people thought about my favorite short videos or whatever, and holy shit he does so much to add to Uncle Roger's already great videos
As a Mexican I always find it funny how foreigners they say "masa", "harina", "sombrero", "salsa"... As if it meant something other than dough, flour, hat and sauce respectively.
Wow. Almost like it's a product and quirk of linguistic and cultural exchange or something. Who could've seen that coming? I'm sure there aren't thousands of examples of that all over the world or anything, cause that'd be a bit odd.
As a Mexican, I initially took offense, but just laughed because its weird. Additionally, we do not really use Cumin in true Mexican food. That's more of a tex-mex thing. you MAY get that in the upper regions of Mexico.
@@kaven23Lol I was about to correct you. Cause Baja, Sonora and Sinaloa we don’t do that. Maybe chihuahua although we I’ve been there I haven’t seen it.
Would it kill them to have just one chef with more specialized experience to provide more useful tips or an expert judging opinion? I’m surprised Paul Hollywood couldn’t give better guidance to the contestants given his experience with Mexican things 😅
To be fair in the technical challenges the directions are always fairly vague. The other two challenges they can practice at home since it is their spin on a dish.
I agree Brian, this was pure delight seeing the two of them reacting together. Some reaction ideas: Firstly, anything from Gordon Ramsay Kitchen Nightmares, but especially the episode of Amy’s Baking Company. Your socks will be knocked off, but it is an hour long just so you know. Have you seen Worst Cooks of America? I’m not sure if it would make for good reaction material, but you might like it. I’ve only seen one episode though. Also, would be fun to see you reacting to chefs reacting to TikTok foods/cooking fails. Guga just came out with one called Worst and Best Foods or something like that. Vincenzo has several ones too. He even has one with someone making punch in the toilet!!!! You have a lot to work with here!
It's been over 9 years but it's still amazing the Amy's Baking Company episode gets brought up semi-regularly due to how bad it is. Gordon Ramsay can get a lot of flack for how harsh his persona can be but it's hard not to feel sympathy for him in that episode. There have been some worst kitchens he's gone into but generally they are willing to work with Gordon. Not that one though.
You didn't get to see the part where one of the hosts just dances around with maracas for a bit, and the other host muses that he always thought Mexico was a fantasy place like Atlantis.
Looking forward to finding another pro chef reacting to your reaction vid of a reaction vid 😂 all love though just kinda funny seeing this reaction inception
Finally! The episode we were waiting for! Yes!!!! I'm impressed you were about to keep the video to under 30mins.....the moment I saw the taco in the opening sequence In knew it would be..... interesting
When I watched this, I thought they were grinding up tortilla chips to make the tortillas (at least that's what it looked like to me). I lived in Mexico 18 years so I've eaten my fair share of tacos. This was a bit of a hard watch, if only because it was a bit of a train wreck happening near a dumpster fire. And I am just glad that Uncles Roger, Joshua and you are keeping your eye on it. Also, the UK needs taco trucks.
My mom is Mexican and obviously I’m half, and neither of us really had an issue with the jokes or them dressing up. Even the food my mom was like “well at least they’re trying” 😂
Yeah. Same here. That's what alot of people don't see about Mexican culture. We do embrace other cultures who try. Hell, we are harder on our own people then people from other cultures. We do say that.. "Well at least they are trying".. And honestly. These are Brits. They have no idea about Mexican culture, they really are just trying. Its when the production team and hosts try to use them as a proxy to belittle another culture.
@@anthonyramirez9003 yeah using another culture to punch down is pretty gross but otherwise like, again, they tried they seemed to have fun and it probably exposed them to cuisine and culture they wouldn’t have considered before
First of all as a Hispanic this hurt my brain, second of all when you say we whip up bomb shit before and during shifts warmed my soul so thanks for soothing my rage
6:42 Masa harina is a type of corn flour that is processed in a special way. The corn first has to go through what is known as nixtamalization, where it is soaked in an alkaline solution (usually limewater) before being hulled and ground. The corn they used probably wasn't nixtamalized which would give an off texture and flavor for the tortillas.
What uncle Roger said at the beginning is so true. When they’re doing English/French/Italian baking it’s phenomenal and the things some of the contestants make are breathtaking. Anytime they leave the continent I just buckle up to watch a dumpster fire.
Masa in Spanish means Dough! Corn tortillas are made using corn flour, so what is masa flour? You can make a masa (dough) using wheat flour or any type of flour!
Honestly though if it were me deciding what food to do for Mexican week, and canceling Mexican week all together was non negotiable, I would have chosen Churros, it’s closer to there wheelhouse of desserts, and while it’s not baked and more Fried, it’s still made with dough and would actually be closer than tacos to a “baked good”
In the UK... our Mexican influence is basically "Old El Paso" brand products... and I'm not sure it's actually Mexican lol This mexican one was pretty cringe but holy crap the Japanese one was all round face palm.
Hey, uncle Roger is a riot.He uses masterfully that exaggerated heavy Chinese accent. His sense of humor is sidesplittingly brilliant. I'm 4th generation Chinese American and NO I AM NOT OFFENDED. Everyone needs to lighten up. Uncle Roger seems to have more knowledge about cooking than some of these "TV Chefs" which goes to prove you can bullshit so many people into buying your cooking "skills" and merchandise.
If you’re in Hong Kong, Singapore or in a heavy Canto diaspora part of Toronto, you’re going to find “uncle Rogers” everywhere. Uncle Roger is hilarious because every Asian knows of someone who acts like a know it all who actually is out of touch.
British person here (who also previously lived on the Mexican border for a few years). 1- we don’t have good access to corn tortillas outside of London. So if you want them, you have to make them from scratch. 2- you can get a tortilla press. I have two. 3- I find resting the masa does help and it was how I was taught in Mexico. I was told it helped the masa fully rehydrate which is necessary to make the steam pocket they get when cooking. 4- flexibility in the tortilla should still be there even if homemade. They needed to put them in a bowl wrapped in a towel to help the residual steam soften them. ETA- fwiw…. British Mexican food is the absolute worst. The biggest tragedy I tried had MINT in the salsa. Boke.
Grew up in San Diego. This episode was hard to get through when I saw it release with Josh and Roger. I got partly through and just couldn't. Been going through some backlogs since I found Brian and Frenchie a few months ago. To chime in, yes there is a bit of a need to specify the type of "Taco". There is now a growing trend of "American" or "Tex-Mex" tacos being classified. The classic beans, ground beef, lettuce, cheese, tomato and sour cream (AKA Taco Bell) is becoming more Internationally known as "American" tacos. I have had a few conversations with friends in other Countries and they sorta confirmed the same thing.
Yes watch the video where Josh takes uncle Roger to, I think it's his old restaurant? Or a restaurant where his friend works. Anyway I agree they are good together, and that video is pretty funny. Also good for you to react to since it's about being a professional chef.
As Mexicans, we don't care the jokes, the jokes are good, the food... That's offensive. But really, using ponchos, sombreros and jokes are good. Real Mexicans aren't offended easy. We joke about death, we literally have a tradition of writing a rhyme about how people we love or like would die and how the Catrina (the skeleton lady you see in Day of the Dead) will come to take them.
I appreciate that you a put link to the original video on the top so it shows up even with the description closed :-) Your reaction videos are some of the only ones I've seen that feel like they respect the original creator and add a new layer of content.
Cooking TV hosts idea of mexican food = just add cumin, paprika, oregano and a bunch of random spices And here am I, marinating steaks with just soy sauce and lime...Tip: fancy, elaborated or experimental flavors go in the salsa
Am I the only idiot who, after having divided the avocado in half, remove the seed and pulp with the help of a spoon? I don't understand how someone doesn't know this... .-. But above all, what the hell do tacos have to do with a program that is supposed to talk about pastries? Doesn't Mexico have sweets you can make them? Or are all Mexican dessert recipes extinct? Unless they make a sweet taco, they didn't even have to mention tacos in the program.
It seems like a great missed opportunity to choose tacos, especially when there are "pastes", a dish that is the result of Cornish pasty and Mexican ingredients in the filling.
7:12 it's rare to really go that far to make from scratch since it's so easy to buy pre made. Plus, I can't think of the name of it, but when making from scratch they use something similar to a stone mortar and pestle, it's shaped like a half pipe sort of, and the "pestle" is held with two hands. Nobody really makes them from scratch like that because it takes like 10 minutes to make one tortilla, you have to lightly hydrate the corn as you're grinding it down.
It's called a metate, but there also exist manual and electric mills for corn, lot's of people and restaurants grind corn fresh to make tortillas. There are also public mills where you can take a bucket of nixtamal and leave with a buclet of dough in a few minutes. Not rare at all.
@@ChefBrianTsao Yep that's one of those episodes that when the news media was bringing up how bad this Mexican episode was I was like "cmon anyone who's seen any of these these cultural challenges on the show shouldn't be surprised that it turns out this way".
Idk what the big fuss is. As a Hispanic, I wear my poncho and sombrero for Taco Tuesday. Y’all don’t? After watching that first segment, nothing wrong. Pale ass Brits in Mexican gear is funny af to see
This video was absolutely hilarious, this duo needs to be a permanent thing! I will say though, as horrific as this episode is, I feel bad for the contestants because they seemed to have no idea what most of it should have been. I get it, as some one outside of the US our “Mexican” food is not authentic and I would have no idea how to make some of it. I had no idea what refried beans even looked like let alone how to make them 🤷🏽♀️. I mean they probably should just stick to baking though 😅
2:46 as a Mexican 🇲🇽 I approve of any of Matt Lucas’s Mexican jokes😂😅. That dude is hilarious. Little Britain was one of my favorite shows. Hi from Los Angeles, California everyone! 👋🏽.
The show is a single elimination baking competition. But all of them are homechef level and because of that when someone falls behind they will work together and help. It’s a gentler competition show
Admittedly, they were set up to fail; people who have never seen Mexican food before (apparently?) were tasked with making tortillas from scratch without the appropriate equipment. Not sure what they were thinking. Merry Christmas!
That's actually something that bothers me in a lot of cooking competitions. It seems like they expect you to know how to make everything from everywhere without any help and that seems awfully unfair to me.
@@crazykay9422 It is and it's going to make the food either look unappetising or just like a lot of work so the vast majority of people in the audience will be discouraged to try it themselves.
It's kinda like all of those ancient pictures of elephants drawn by Europeans who had never seen an elephant. You ended up with something that was a cross between a horse and an eldritch abomination.
The use of a glass pie dish is pretty authentic though, I've never seen anyone use a tortillla press
@@kzizzles8329 Authentic to ... what? British interpretations of Mexican food? Well then ... not sure where the authenticity comes in. You can get tortilla presses pretty easy and cheap. For many people, a tortilla is an everyday food. They're at least very frequently going to get the right tool for the job, same as if, when you needed one, you'd simply get a spoon or a spatula.
I actually showed the original video to a friend of mine from Mexico... and he got so angry he threatened to summon the Azteca gods to smite these people for the peeled avocado.
I don't think even the Aztec God will even take them as a sacrifice.
😂😂😂😂
The crazy thing is the producers gave them those avocados… a ripe avocado should NOT be able to be peeled that way 🤣
@@ajurydiha yeah, one gotta have some standards :)
Smite em
4:26 that poor woman is terrified, she heard all them other people say they've never made a taco before and thought to herself "Are we going to burn this tent down on accident?"
Brits almost as a matter of smug pride will always pronounce the the LL in any spanish word. Paella is also another notorious one they do and despite the Spanish CONSTANTLY correcting them they keep doing it.
Edit: and before anyone tries to say that they don't have as much contact with Spanish speaking people as say those of us in the US. Spain is a very popular British vacation destination.
Well thats only half true.
Spain's also a common retirement destination. It's low key the Florida of Europe in more ways than one.
It's called phonotactics.
british don't do it because it's cringe.
I wanna hear a proper Chav speak in Spanish with their normal inflections. I’ve heard them massacre jalapeños as well.
Don't forget that one time Jamie of Sorted pissed off two cultures at once with a "Paella Burrito."
My mom's Chicana and a huge fan of the Great British Bake Off, so this episode was painful for her to watch. By around halfway through, her patience was wearing thin and she finally lost it and shouted "fuck you" at the TV when one of the contestants referred to guacamole as glocky-molo!😂
😂
A reasonable response
😂😂😂
i mean to be fair, do you really think someone like her is a native Spanish speaker? that'd be like me cussing out your mom for mispronouncing kimchi. cmon lol
I do relate with your mom on this. Btw I'm mexican too.
I died inside seeing what they did with their "Mexican Week". I know tacos are a staple of Mexican cuisine, but come on. There's plenty of desserts and pastries they could've made. Have they not heard of pan dulce? That'd be the easiest one they could've done!
Never herd of it
For realz!
I've never had pan dulce but I have tried flan and also tres leches cake
To be fair to the show, they did make both pan dulce and tres leches in the episode
@@Zypher13X At least that's something.
So the funny thing is, after I watched the original react with Uncle Roger and Josh. I had to look some stuff up, because usually these shows don't give the contestants much time to work with the ingredients, usually a couple hours. If you start with the right ingredients then yes, you can make Tacos pretty quick.
However, these Tacos were very Tex-Mex style, having the refried beans in the Taco. But if you just examine that one thing from the contest, you couldn't finish in the allotted time with Raw ingredients. The fastest you could prepare refried beans is roughly 2 hours, using a pressure cooker to cook your beans from raw, then removing pressure, a little more water and mashing your select quantity of beans.
This recipe was doomed from the start. So I'm imagining most of these tacos that got tasted, all had half-cooked beans in them.
Yeah no kidding, like the contestants weren't amazing by any means, but the show _could've_ tried at least a little, what with its budget and all (which Uncle Roger pointed out). Same thing with the cheese (and the "instructions" lmfao), as though they couldn't be bothered.
I've never watched this and have no idea if it's how it usually goes, but just judging from this it kinda seemed like they only set up contestants to make bad food.
I'm assuming they were given cooked canned beans. There's absolutely no way they could have gotten something edible with dry beans in that timeframe.
Here's the thing, I've never seen a taco place in my part of Texas where they serve fajita or bistec tacos of any kind with refried beans in them or guacamole. The avocado is usually sliced, not smoothed.
@@badwulff This isn't how it usually goes, they only half-ass the non-European theme weeks for *some reason*. And generally... the challenges involve baking. The only other time they had to "cook" was when they had to, I think, grill steaks. The first several seasons of the show are fantastic, don't have any of these gimmicks, have better hosts, a better judge, and are more positive in general.
@@HowManyRobot That does sound like it results in a better show, certainly. Grilling steak vs making tacos from scratch lol
I feel like we should be more concerned that someone thought tacos were a logical and appropriate challange on a baking and patisserie competition show 🤣.
😂
You can bake the protein
i think tacos are appropriate for all situations but then again im biased
@@SunshineTheLover actually no, and this comes from a Mexican, do you serve burgers for events like a wedding or Christmas?
@@jav9069 if they were as good as tacos i totally would. more weddings need tacos and burgers. as a mexican, you are also a short sighted lame. then again that could still be my bias speaking, as tacos are my favorite food
I mean, I died inside watching it, but it was still pretty hilarious how wrong everything was. My ancestors were crying but, it still made me laugh!
😂
Fuck, I was dying inside and I'm pretty sure I've never even seen a Mexican in my life.
Here in El Salvador, our corn tortillas are usually thicker, but we do indeed make them from scratch daily. Mills for grinding corn kernels [among other things] are very abundant, and nothing beats a warm tortilla made from scratch right off the comal
You are speaking my language, I'm Mexican and it's the same thing about when our tortillas are made fresh, they are always just a bit thicker and when the comal is at the right temperature the tortilla gets all kinds of good.....now I want one
Yep, thickness here in Mexico varies a lot, so I do not know how thick we are talking but you could maybe find tortillas like that. If not, there are gorditas, which are obviously very thick, and that is why they are called like that.
But nothing beats freshly made tortillas.
I mean some pan de campo sounds really good right now. I would have preferred to see them make papusas instead of tacos.
@@crazyhorsecavdoc4916 bro, they couldn't handle tacos, pupusas would've driven the contestants to a madness you only see in Lovecraft stories
😻😛😋🤤
That avocado peeling bit is the stuff horror stories are made of. Happy Halloween!
😂
Fr it made me recoil in horror
GBBS is great when they stay in their lane. One thing that’s nice about it is that it is very chill. There’s less scheming and drama than just about any other cooking show. They just bake. Aside from anything else, this reminded me of Nailed It, where they take bad home bakers and ask them to make impossible desserts with equipment they’ve never ever seen. Check out a season where Sue Perkins was on.
You lost me at "GBBS is great"
@@Nyx_2142 You seem like you'd get lost easily.
It definitely doesn't explain everything the contestants did but the tacos that week were the "technical challenge" which means they didn't tell the contestants what they were making beforehand and the instructions were intentionally vague like "Make refried beans" so that they had to rely on just their own knowledge and ability to figure it out as they cooked.
The look on his face when she peels this avocado. Priceless.
When you started talking about the Mexican food you've eaten at restaurants that you worked in by the staff made me remember working at the Oak Room in the plaza hotel . So many family meals that blew my mind. My Mexican coworkers taught me so much. Thank you guys
Some of the next meals of my life!
I've come to prefer NM-style Mexican when I can get my hands on it. Might just be an addiction to Hatch chiles.
It's actually very common for Mexican people, especially from indigineous communities to grind their own corn in what are called molinos. There are giant molinos in every town in which people can take their corn, chiles, spices etc and grind them down in order to make dough, mole and other things.
The entire process was like a trainwreck you cant look away from 😭😭
😂
I could hear my Abuela crying from heaven when they used a knife to peel that avocado. That was actually painful to watch
😂
Great British Bake Off is great when they are just baking and making great cakes and sweets. And it is just very kind, everyone wants all the others to succeed and usually a ton of friendships start during the show. But when they are making food from different countries it is horrible. You should check out the Japanese challenge 😆
i think the problem is that a lot of people complain that British Bake Off was "getting stale," so they threw in Japanese Week and now Mexican Week to kind of spice it up a little bit
but it was kind of obvious that they're not as super aware of Japanese or Mexican food instead of say German or French week
I agree with you, I didn't hear anyone say "feta". I'm not certain why Uncle Roger and Joshua assumed it was feta, unless they were basing it on the appearance.
As a Brit, I can confirm that we have awful Mexican food here. One of my worst ever meals was at the Bar Burrito in Paddington station. The first time I had good Mexican food was when I went to the US for a master's degree.
I've seen so many people confuse Cotija cheese with Feta
I went to California with my gal and she said "Ooooooh, you've got to try these fish tacos". I finished one and I said "Don't ever do that to me again" ... 🤮😄🤣😄🤣
@@clarehidalgo To be fair in the absence of Mexican cheeses Feta isn't that bad of an option, I'm Mexican living on Europe and for chilaquiles or tostadas Feta fits quite nicely as a replacement of cotija. Just like you can make quesadillas with mozarella di buffala that taste kind of similar to Oaxaca cheese, you do what you can with what you have
@@clarehidalgo I'm mexican and live in the US, feta is a GREAT replacement for cotija..so much that I think it is better then the cotija I can otherwise find in the US. These guys were just being clowns saying it is unacceptable to use in tacos. That being said, no self respecting mexican would use cotija there, queso fresco is much better which is basically a drier pot cheese or farmers cheese. Cotija might be good with other options because the taste is so strong.
Now, one time, I had a delicious burrito in Edinburgh. It was pub fare, and the chef had studied in the States, so it was just good, pretty humble food.
I think Joshua also took Uncle Roger to a professional kitchen and made him cook.
That one was alot of fun - Japanese restaurant
I have seen people make tortillas from scratch. From grinding the corn to slapping them into shape and cooking them on the metal sheet over a fire. Fresh tortillas are so good you just put a sprinkle of salt on them and roll it up. My favorite snack as a kid.
Sounds great!
The traditional masa for the tortilla it's made from nixtamal, which is boiling lime(the one used on construction) with the corn about half hour or 40 min, then let it sit 8-12 hours, when its ready grind the alkalized grains.
So, I just saw this episode yesterday, one of the things missing in context is that the "technical" challenge they bakers go in "blind" without any prep/research time. I don't consider myself an "expert" home cook, so if you asked me to make anything, that is outside of my wheel house, I don't think I'd be able to do it, either.
The other, really major issue for me, is that this is a BAKING show, and NOTHING in this challenge is really baked.
14:31 That perfect timing you, Joshua, and Uncle Roger all groaned when she peeled the Avocado like that killed me lol😂
9:54 cumin, paprika, Mexican oregano if you can get it, chili powder (regular is fine, Ancho is a good suggestion though) salt. I also like to add garlic and onion powder to mine personally.
They say "Spanish paella" too, and then instantly become "Hey, chorizo is spanish no? Yeah I'm putting chorizo in... wait is cilantro spanish or mexican? whatever they are the same, to the paella"
I mean culantro (Eryngium foetidum) is the native species to the Americas, cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) is just easier to buy
As an Australian with a Scottish mother, I can confirm that proper Mexican food is not at all common in either Britain or Australia. Especially soft corn tortillas (and yes, my mum does pronouce it tortiLas! lol. When I was a kid, there was one "mexican" restaurant in my home town and the tacos were those old el paso hard shell things filled with ground beef, shredded lettuce, and cheddar cheese!
Weirdly enough, watching Uncle Roger poke fun at someone(s) for being bad at making mexican or egg fried rice or whatever makes me want to be a better cook and make sure I know what I'm doing.
Josh is being a good sport, Nigel isa BRUTAL!
hehe
13:03 Joshua is a real treat for this video! I'm laughing my ass off over here 😂
Was so good!
I would like to suggest watching Korean Englishman or Jolly. They have some amazing food videos, but if you want more serious content then i'd suggest going to Korean Englishmen. Its mostly getting peoples reactions to authentic Korean cuisine, but they do have some episodes where they explore how to cook it. While you might not always be able to give good cooking advice watching them, some of the reactions they get are extra wholesome. Especially from their Highschooler series.
Also, reacting to the Michelin star series on Jolly would also be a good one. Just to see what they managed to wrangle and get during their exploration.
Love watching your content, your more entertaining than most chef reaction channels out there! ^^
Sounds super cool! Will check it out
Small correction:
Cotija Cheese is what they use on street corn. That dryer crumbly texture goes perfect on corn. Usually on tacos like this you would use Queso Fresco which is a bit wet and also crumbly but not at all like feta (tastewise).
Cotija can be used on tacos but usually on other types- taquitos, flautas, sometimes enchiladas. Personally I only like Cotija on corn. Queso Fresco for my tacos.
This was an atrocity though. As you said the food didn't look that bad but the whole process was just cringing!!
What a nice Christmas present. Chef Brian, uncle roger, and Joshua Weismann all in one video
🤘
You should react to Uncle Roger react to their Japanese Week too. That episode is not just bad, but it also a huge disrespect to Japanese cuisine/culture as well
Will def!
My parents grew up in a small Mexican village and we still visit there often, the way tortillas are made there is basically everyone grows their own corn and the corn is taken to a miller in their village who nixtamalizes the corn and turns it into masa, people pick up their masa and they then use it to make their tortillas. That’s the traditional way. In times where corn isn’t as available they’ll use masa harina and more recently tortilla vendors from nearby towns will actually go to the villages to sell fresh made tortillas!
Personally never had queso fresco on my tacos, but I'm guessing they image searched a taco and saw the queso fresco and thought it was Feta? Also queso fresco and cotija are different.
Brian manages to do reaction videos in a way nobody else really can, from what I've seen, he makes me really want to watch them, rather than just watching them to see what other people thought about my favorite short videos or whatever, and holy shit he does so much to add to Uncle Roger's already great videos
“Your looking for the smooth and chunky that’s the best way” 😂 that part always get me
I agree, these two make a great comedy duo, especially for reviewing cooking videos. I also would love to see more from them.
As a Mexican I always find it funny how foreigners they say "masa", "harina", "sombrero", "salsa"... As if it meant something other than dough, flour, hat and sauce respectively.
I know right? The salsa one drives me insane, even in Taiwan they've been contaminated by ir "sasa" sauce they call it....
My favourite is 'masa harina' or 'dough flour' when they mean corn flour
Wow. Almost like it's a product and quirk of linguistic and cultural exchange or something. Who could've seen that coming? I'm sure there aren't thousands of examples of that all over the world or anything, cause that'd be a bit odd.
yeah but "salsa" is just more satisfying to say than "chunky sauce"
@@nesmun got completely missed the point, is still stupid like chai tea, or queso cheese
As a Mexican, I initially took offense, but just laughed because its weird. Additionally, we do not really use Cumin in true Mexican food. That's more of a tex-mex thing. you MAY get that in the upper regions of Mexico.
@@nesmun chihuahua. Which is the upper region of Mexico. Like a tex mex thing. I did specify that in my comment.
@@kaven23Lol I was about to correct you. Cause Baja, Sonora and Sinaloa we don’t do that. Maybe chihuahua although we I’ve been there I haven’t seen it.
The first few seasons of great British bake off are actually really good btw, and very much worth watching.
oh boy this interesting... then Chef Brian needs to react Great Britsh Bake Off Japanese Week weejio, which is shocking
🤦♂️oh no, what did they do for that one?!?!
@@ChefBrianTsao umm steam buns (which is Chinese) and adding some random stuff... you will see it why when you watched that
Literally everything but Japanese
Merry Christmas! Thank you for all the smiles that you have given me!
Happy holidays!
That lady peeling the avocado like an orange must have awakened the wrath of Kukulkan.
😂
Would it kill them to have just one chef with more specialized experience to provide more useful tips or an expert judging opinion? I’m surprised Paul Hollywood couldn’t give better guidance to the contestants given his experience with Mexican things 😅
To be fair in the technical challenges the directions are always fairly vague. The other two challenges they can practice at home since it is their spin on a dish.
I'm always impressed by your food knowledge
Merry Christmas Brian!
Happy holidays!
I agree Brian, this was pure delight seeing the two of them reacting together. Some reaction ideas:
Firstly, anything from Gordon Ramsay Kitchen Nightmares, but especially the episode of Amy’s Baking Company. Your socks will be knocked off, but it is an hour long just so you know.
Have you seen Worst Cooks of America? I’m not sure if it would make for good reaction material, but you might like it. I’ve only seen one episode though.
Also, would be fun to see you reacting to chefs reacting to TikTok foods/cooking fails. Guga just came out with one called Worst and Best Foods or something like that. Vincenzo has several ones too. He even has one with someone making punch in the toilet!!!! You have a lot to work with here!
It's been over 9 years but it's still amazing the Amy's Baking Company episode gets brought up semi-regularly due to how bad it is. Gordon Ramsay can get a lot of flack for how harsh his persona can be but it's hard not to feel sympathy for him in that episode. There have been some worst kitchens he's gone into but generally they are willing to work with Gordon. Not that one though.
Ah yes. The true "Mexican Week" technical dish ingredient.
Not refried beans.
Re-Died Ancestors.
a Norteño friend of mine once said that anything can be a taco if one tries hard enough. I don't think he's seen this video. It might change his mind
😂
I think the opening joke would have been fine but the rest of it just made it stand out more as no one knew enough things to do this theme.
You didn't get to see the part where one of the hosts just dances around with maracas for a bit, and the other host muses that he always thought Mexico was a fantasy place like Atlantis.
The opening joke is intentionally bad. Didn't you see them cringing laughing? It's British humour.
@@jakeoliver9167 I mean I've seen the show quite a lot. I know the humour. Just not a good joke to make, aside from cringe.
Looking forward to finding another pro chef reacting to your reaction vid of a reaction vid 😂 all love though just kinda funny seeing this reaction inception
As a Mexican I am dying inside from the 1st video frame and the "Pico de Gallio"
I figure "picko de gallow" is when people on death row are allowed to choose their method of execution.
For anyone that doesn't know yet, a double L makes a y sound in spanish. Quesadilla, tortilla. As opposed to guacamole and enchilada.
In English it makes a double L sound.
@@dpayO2 Well that's w r o n g
Great video 👍 I agree they definitely have great chemistry and I’d love to see them do a few more like these.
🙏
Finally! The episode we were waiting for! Yes!!!! I'm impressed you were about to keep the video to under 30mins.....the moment I saw the taco in the opening sequence In knew it would be..... interesting
Jokes aside.....like you said....tacos? Why not sweet tamales? Bunuelos? Churros? Pan dulce?
Glad you enjoyed it!🤘
@@ChefBrianTsao I did, it was good
When I watched this, I thought they were grinding up tortilla chips to make the tortillas (at least that's what it looked like to me). I lived in Mexico 18 years so I've eaten my fair share of tacos. This was a bit of a hard watch, if only because it was a bit of a train wreck happening near a dumpster fire. And I am just glad that Uncles Roger, Joshua and you are keeping your eye on it.
Also, the UK needs taco trucks.
I didn’t want violence after the Juan joke, but after seeing their “tacos” at the end, violence was the only answer
My mom is Mexican and obviously I’m half, and neither of us really had an issue with the jokes or them dressing up. Even the food my mom was like “well at least they’re trying” 😂
Yeah. Same here. That's what alot of people don't see about Mexican culture. We do embrace other cultures who try. Hell, we are harder on our own people then people from other cultures. We do say that.. "Well at least they are trying".. And honestly. These are Brits. They have no idea about Mexican culture, they really are just trying. Its when the production team and hosts try to use them as a proxy to belittle another culture.
@@anthonyramirez9003 yeah using another culture to punch down is pretty gross but otherwise like, again, they tried they seemed to have fun and it probably exposed them to cuisine and culture they wouldn’t have considered before
Merry Christmas, Chef Brian - and thank you for making the world a little brighter - and a little tastier!
Happy holidays!
Merry Christmas Brian. thank you for putting out these videos despite your very tight schedule!
Happy holidays!
First of all as a Hispanic this hurt my brain, second of all when you say we whip up bomb shit before and during shifts warmed my soul so thanks for soothing my rage
I like that you also notice the banters of the reactors apart from the cooking made in the GBCO.
🤘
6:42 Masa harina is a type of corn flour that is processed in a special way. The corn first has to go through what is known as nixtamalization, where it is soaked in an alkaline solution (usually limewater) before being hulled and ground. The corn they used probably wasn't nixtamalized which would give an off texture and flavor for the tortillas.
What uncle Roger said at the beginning is so true. When they’re doing English/French/Italian baking it’s phenomenal and the things some of the contestants make are breathtaking. Anytime they leave the continent I just buckle up to watch a dumpster fire.
Masa in Spanish means Dough! Corn tortillas are made using corn flour, so what is masa flour? You can make a masa (dough) using wheat flour or any type of flour!
The cheese is queso fresco. Every latin/South American country has their own style, but it's a common, moist alternative to cotija.
I dont think they even had or know what is queso fresco
Honestly though if it were me deciding what food to do for Mexican week, and canceling Mexican week all together was non negotiable, I would have chosen Churros, it’s closer to there wheelhouse of desserts, and while it’s not baked and more Fried, it’s still made with dough and would actually be closer than tacos to a “baked good”
In the UK... our Mexican influence is basically "Old El Paso" brand products... and I'm not sure it's actually Mexican lol
This mexican one was pretty cringe but holy crap the Japanese one was all round face palm.
Man we need all three of you to do a video .
Roger roasting
You two putting input
All of us laughing 😅
Hey, uncle Roger is a riot.He uses masterfully that exaggerated heavy Chinese accent. His sense of humor is sidesplittingly brilliant. I'm 4th generation Chinese American and NO I AM NOT OFFENDED. Everyone needs to lighten up. Uncle Roger seems to have more knowledge about cooking than some of these "TV Chefs" which goes to prove you can bullshit so many people into buying your cooking "skills" and merchandise.
If you’re in Hong Kong, Singapore or in a heavy Canto diaspora part of Toronto, you’re going to find “uncle Rogers” everywhere.
Uncle Roger is hilarious because every Asian knows of someone who acts like a know it all who actually is out of touch.
In the comics, Professor X was born and grew up in NYC, and then later went to college in England
British person here (who also previously lived on the Mexican border for a few years).
1- we don’t have good access to corn tortillas outside of London. So if you want them, you have to make them from scratch.
2- you can get a tortilla press. I have two.
3- I find resting the masa does help and it was how I was taught in Mexico. I was told it helped the masa fully rehydrate which is necessary to make the steam pocket they get when cooking.
4- flexibility in the tortilla should still be there even if homemade. They needed to put them in a bowl wrapped in a towel to help the residual steam soften them.
ETA- fwiw…. British Mexican food is the absolute worst. The biggest tragedy I tried had MINT in the salsa. Boke.
Grew up in San Diego. This episode was hard to get through when I saw it release with Josh and Roger. I got partly through and just couldn't. Been going through some backlogs since I found Brian and Frenchie a few months ago.
To chime in, yes there is a bit of a need to specify the type of "Taco". There is now a growing trend of "American" or "Tex-Mex" tacos being classified. The classic beans, ground beef, lettuce, cheese, tomato and sour cream (AKA Taco Bell) is becoming more Internationally known as "American" tacos. I have had a few conversations with friends in other Countries and they sorta confirmed the same thing.
Yes watch the video where Josh takes uncle Roger to, I think it's his old restaurant? Or a restaurant where his friend works. Anyway I agree they are good together, and that video is pretty funny. Also good for you to react to since it's about being a professional chef.
As Mexicans, we don't care the jokes, the jokes are good, the food... That's offensive.
But really, using ponchos, sombreros and jokes are good. Real Mexicans aren't offended easy.
We joke about death, we literally have a tradition of writing a rhyme about how people we love or like would die and how the Catrina (the skeleton lady you see in Day of the Dead) will come to take them.
You should check out the video of Josh trying to teach Uncle Roger what it takes to work in a gourmet kitchen
Filmed and coming soonn
I appreciate that you a put link to the original video on the top so it shows up even with the description closed :-) Your reaction videos are some of the only ones I've seen that feel like they respect the original creator and add a new layer of content.
🙏
I promise as someone who is British and loves to cook and can cook fairly well it is not all of us who are this awful
😂
Of course
@@ChefBrianTsao I'm British and he's lying.
Loving your Santa beard sweater lov, loved the ep, you are the best
You're the best!🙏
Ok , as I promised, this will be my drinking Game 😂
🍻
i'll join! my stomach's gonna be full of water after this :D
Cheers 🍺
Cooking TV hosts idea of mexican food = just add cumin, paprika, oregano and a bunch of random spices
And here am I, marinating steaks with just soy sauce and lime...Tip: fancy, elaborated or experimental flavors go in the salsa
Peeling an Avocado for Glockymolo was hilarious and cringe all in one. Definitely going to have to show this video to my Latin American friends.
Can’t wait to hear what their reactions are! 😂
Yea I cringed and laughed at the same time.
Am I the only idiot who, after having divided the avocado in half, remove the seed and pulp with the help of a spoon? I don't understand how someone doesn't know this... .-. But above all, what the hell do tacos have to do with a program that is supposed to talk about pastries? Doesn't Mexico have sweets you can make them? Or are all Mexican dessert recipes extinct? Unless they make a sweet taco, they didn't even have to mention tacos in the program.
I am not fluent in Spanish but I do know how to say Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad everybody🎄
I love that duo, I love when uncle roger teams up to review 😁👍❤️
This duo is quite dynamic.
Merry Christmas, Chef, to you and yours! Thanks for all the great content. One of my favourite new channels.
🙏Happy Holidays
I'm half Korean and grew up in Texas. My fav cuisines are also
1) Korean
2) Mexican
5) Chinese (real Chinese food, not Americanized Chinese)
If you love mexican you should definitely try filipino food they have similar flavor profiles
Merry Christmas dude.... Have a great new year.... Uncle rogers best moments video was sooo fun.. Looking forward to you reacting to that
🤘🙏merry Xmas!
It seems like a great missed opportunity to choose tacos, especially when there are "pastes", a dish that is the result of Cornish pasty and Mexican ingredients in the filling.
7:12 it's rare to really go that far to make from scratch since it's so easy to buy pre made. Plus, I can't think of the name of it, but when making from scratch they use something similar to a stone mortar and pestle, it's shaped like a half pipe sort of, and the "pestle" is held with two hands. Nobody really makes them from scratch like that because it takes like 10 minutes to make one tortilla, you have to lightly hydrate the corn as you're grinding it down.
It's called a metate, but there also exist manual and electric mills for corn, lot's of people and restaurants grind corn fresh to make tortillas. There are also public mills where you can take a bucket of nixtamal and leave with a buclet of dough in a few minutes. Not rare at all.
You should also check out Japanese week on uncle rogers channel
Will do!
@@ChefBrianTsao Yep that's one of those episodes that when the news media was bringing up how bad this Mexican episode was I was like "cmon anyone who's seen any of these these cultural challenges on the show shouldn't be surprised that it turns out this way".
Idk what the big fuss is. As a Hispanic, I wear my poncho and sombrero for Taco Tuesday. Y’all don’t?
After watching that first segment, nothing wrong. Pale ass Brits in Mexican gear is funny af to see
It is hilarious to me. I kind of want them to keep doing it more to laugh at them.
This video was absolutely hilarious, this duo needs to be a permanent thing! I will say though, as horrific as this episode is, I feel bad for the contestants because they seemed to have no idea what most of it should have been. I get it, as some one outside of the US our “Mexican” food is not authentic and I would have no idea how to make some of it. I had no idea what refried beans even looked like let alone how to make them 🤷🏽♀️. I mean they probably should just stick to baking though 😅
Def haha
2:46 as a Mexican 🇲🇽 I approve of any of Matt Lucas’s Mexican jokes😂😅. That dude is hilarious. Little Britain was one of my favorite shows. Hi from Los Angeles, California everyone! 👋🏽.
The show is a single elimination baking competition. But all of them are homechef level and because of that when someone falls behind they will work together and help. It’s a gentler competition show
10:34 "I'm gonna sneeze in a sec." *Immediately puts face into bowl*