Uncle Roger Review GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF Japanese Week - Pro Chef Reacts

So today is texas BBQ theme and we start with doing all vegan dishes. This is how this show feels. Great Video as always Brian

They really should have make mochi. That way the contestants can put whatever they want in it; since you can put so many thing in it

"I lived in UK for a year now, and I still don't like sandwich" Y'all hear that? That's the sound of Chef Brian's heart being broken into a million pieces.

I showed this episode to my fiance who's half japanese, half korean. I felt the anger off the top of her head.

The "you can fill it with anything" is a standard instruction for contestants on the Great British Baking Show. Typically this involves doing a riff on a British raised pie, saying filling it with lamb vindaloo. Which is fine. It's when they venture outside of British baking that things get dire.

In Japan, aside from Nikuman (meat-filled buns, usually pork in it), Anpan (Sweet Red Bean Bun), Dorayaki (Doraemon's favourite sweet-filing bun), Kare Pan (curry buns) & Ichigo Mochi/Daifuku Ichigo, (Strawberries wrapped in thin, snow skin pastry) and strawberry-&-cream buns/sandwiches = usual staples of buns often found there. In this British Bake-off, nothing Japanese is really going on. Only a couple of contestants tried to do their version of Nikuman & Kare pan mixed together into a mess, in the end 😮‍💨😪😵🤢

I'm not even a comedian but these Great British Bake Off episodes make so it easy to crack jokes on British cooks and cooking. I laughed so hard during this video my ribs hurt. How Chef Brian kept from throwing his hands up and walking away i'll never know. Great Video again.

Although I'm a Vietnamese, I feel so bad for all the Japanese out there was watching that episode that show did Japan so dirty. I can feel Japanese people's heart breaking like Jamie Oliver breaking tofu.

I loved this episode of you and uncle Roger. I am Japanese and I was dying. I must say that buns or nikuman is popular in Japan, but it's a Chinese inspired dish. In the convenience store we do have pizza buns. Most used proteins in Japanese cuisine is fish and chicken I would say.... I would've maybe put a teriyaki beef filling or Japanese curry or yakitori. Idk so many options

Steamed buns, or Manju, especially Niku Manju, are very popular in Japan. While they are mostly associated with Chinese cuisine, the Japanese versions are slightly different, and for that reason, hold a place in the world of Japanese cuisine. Winter is Niku Manju time! You can find them at the 7/11s or other convenience stores year round, but winter time is the best, especially after having a few too many drinks. The Japanese even have buns filled with Pizza sauce and cheese, matcha cream, curry. Yea, I dont slight the show for choosing steamed buns for Japanese week, although these are some terrible representations, lol

The burger one would probably be something you could get in Japan honestly.

I hear "Japanese" and "use whatever you want" and I instantly think about Okonomiyaki. Why in the world did they choose Bao?😅

This reminds me of when I made the tragic error of 1) going into Wagamama and 2) ordering Chicken Katsu curry in London many years ago. It broke my Japanese heart. It was chicken tenders on the bottom, molded mass of rice on top, and then what I can only describe at Thai curry on top. With all the amazing baked pastries and cakes in Japan, why they chose the things they did for this episode just blew my mind.

Japanese cheesecake is famous, also curry pan, melon pan, yakisoba pan, anpan, matcha cake, honey toast (big loaf filled with dessert), etc.

I think they imagined what Japanese food is like in a parallel universe where Japan won WWII.

I think the idea was the buns are Japanese and that’s enough to satisfy the “Japanese week” condition (ignoring the fact that they are not originally Japanese). They were free to fill them with whatever country’s cuisine they like.

I can see that you have your own Japanese whiskey hiding in the background. Great episode!

I've actually watched British Bake off, its not bad, as long as they don't do ethnic weeks. Honestly, I don't know too much about Japanese food other than the Ramen and Sushi and stuff. Still as a baking challenge they could've done something like making curry-pan or melon-pan, which I know are Japanese as I've seen them a lot in different Japanese media. Also, the name of the show is BAKE off, they steamed these, ie not a show theme correct challenge. Also, Lentils and Mango chutney don't go together. As a Bengali who has dal on a daily basis, chutney helps to make the dal good but don't mix chutney into dal, you ruin the very subtle flavor of Dal. Honestly, for what it is, I'll give the British this L.

Chef Brian even if you don't add much culinary commenting you have such a great vibe, is almost like watching a video with a buddy

People always associate buns with China, but Japan has its own variety. The fillings are quite different, and I like them more than the Chinese ones. Nikuman are my favorite and they are filled with pork, cabbage, shiitake, and scallion

Why is Chef Ramsay the only British person that doesn't fuck up ALL Asian cooking ? Because he is actually Scottish.

You will love how they do Mexican week. It is a riot. Love your reactions

That katsu curry had me wondering for a moment too. In Japan we have　中華まんwhich translates as Chinese food buns and they include nikumann (pork) pizzamann (pizza sauce and cheese) currymann (curry sauce) annmann (sweet bean paste) And numerous others depending on the region you're in.

I enjoy the Great British Bake Off. It is lovely to see a competition where things are not cut throat. Many times if stuff goes wrong, they'll help the competitor who had great woes. But agree, keep it European and they are bang on the dot. But these two episodes, shake head.... I need to find em and watch the entire episodes and pray it's not all a complete train wreck.

Out of all of these, I'd say that surprisingly, the burger one leans more towards Japan than the others. Japan has had points in fast food history where they put burgers in things. Although Kudos to the guy who went "This is a Chinese dish, so I'm using Lamb."

It doesn't matter how many times I watch this episode, I still get confused by the show's definition of Japanese. How?!?! What?!?!🤯🤯

Since the theme is Japanese cooking and China has the very similar baozi, I feel that is even more of a reason to focus on Japanese ingredients. I think the lamb one, for example, could have been made into an interesting variation of nikuman.

On the one hand, the criticism of lamb meat being uncommon in Japan when the theme is supposed to be specifically Japanese is an excellent criticism. On the other hand, I would absolutely eat a lamb dumpling shaped like a lamb.

Interesting that you said that Mantu was just steamed bread, because in Kazakhstan they make it with different feeling, the one that I was given had potatoes, onion, carrots and some meat, it was the size of a baozi but the dough was very thin, so the total reverse of that curry bun they had there.

This is gonna hurt 😖🤣 Also, I think you may appreciate Profesional Master Chef. It's awesome watching the pros sweat and seeing how they handle the pressure of being scrutinized by Chefs that are at the top of the profession.

I just have to sit back here and ponder what kind of steamed bun I'd make if I was supposed to impress some judges and also make it Japanese. I once had red bean dumplings where the red bean filling was infused with black tea, and it was amazing. I think I'd go for something like that- a tea-scented red bean bun, but because red bean can be a little dry and bland to western tastes, I'd have it in there with some sweet plum jam, and have a plum-blossom pattern on the outside of the bun. Red bean, sweet plum, and tea. I think it'd be really nice. Or else just jam a whole thanksgiving turkey in there with mashed potatoes and gravy, why not, looks like anything goes around here, lol.

I work at a burger joint, and they have this burger it's a 8oz burger with 2 cheeses, gruyer and swiss with caramalized onions, steak sauce on top and chipotle aioli. Basically a customer came in and ordered that burger but just wanted cheddar and lettuce only, like why order the expensive one and not a regular one.

Like one commenter said, the Hamburger bun is the most japanese out off all of them. Heck I would even eat a tuna mayo bun with a few corn in it because that's my favorite.

I came here from the Mexican week one. I cried inside and this was insane. Definitely subscribed now

Japanese do actually eat their fair share of steamed meat buns, etc, (肉饅頭 "niku-manjuu" / 肉饅 "nikuman"), and they're quite commonly sold around Japan, etc, but yeah, they really are fundamentally of Chinese origin, brought to Japan from China, not something that started out there originally. And the "you can fill them with anything" was, I think, more a specification for the contestants on the requirements of the challenge, not actually cooking advice. He was simply saying "we are leaving the choice of what to put in them up to you (but you will still be judged on it, so choose well)". *However,* if anyone in the world is known for sticking weird things into food you wouldn't normally expect to be that way, that arguably _is_ a very Japanese thing to do (just look up "yakisoba dog" if you don't believe me), so there might actually be some validity to that in the case of "Japanese week"... たぶん. I think the guy with the "katsu curry" bun (arguably, just chicken curry) should get some more props, though. It's not technically "katsu", but it is still Japanese, and he actually took their "not really Japanese" challenge, and actually used a _legitimately Japanese filling_ to turn it into something that would arguably be considered Japanese cuisine, if anything (and actually I could believe somebody might sell in Japan as a sort of specialty bun). And to be fair, Japanese people do absolutely love to make food into all kinds of cute mascot shapes (including bears, and pandas, etc) all the time, so while pandas are technically _native_ to China, having food shaped like a cute panda face (or a little chick, etc) is arguably exactly the sort of thing that could be argued to be very Japanese (though making it shaped like a tanuki would have been so so much better). And I dunno, for the "burger bun" I guess you could argue that it's Okinawan-inspired or something, maybe? (Okinawa is actually part of Japan, but is very much culturally "Japanese-American fusion", including eating lots of burgers and such) If they'd gone with more of a "hamburg steak" sort of thing, that would actually arguably have been valid Japanese food, in a way (hamburg steaks (ハンバーグ) are a very commonly served modern Japanese household dinner, after all, and I could actually imagine Japanese people doing something like that as a form of specialty bun). Those are definitely not that, though. Ok, yeah, I'm really trying to give people the best benefit of the doubt here, but I don't think I can come up with any possible acceptable explanation for the Indian one, though. Sorry. The obvious problem for a show like Bake Off is that traditional Japanese food really arguably does not involve anything at all in the way of actual _baking._ There are tons of bakeries, etc, around Japan, but they pretty much all do very French (and other European-styled) baking, nothing actually really culturally Japanese in any way. (The closest thing I could think of that might conceivably qualify is something like grilled mochi, and even that's stretching things a bit (pun sorta intended).) To be honest, I just don't know why they went with Japanese for a show like this to begin with, considering it's one of the very few cultures on the face of the planet that arguably _has almost no baking_ in its own native cuisine. It's like doing "vegan week" on a cooking show that's all about the best way to cook meat.

I think this has to be in my top 3 favorite videos you've made. You were completely on the mark! Thank you again Chef

for Buns in China, there is a whole branch of cooking styles, in fact it's a study of bun culture all on it's own. You got steam buns, fried buns, laughing buns, Four season buns with vegetarian buns, meat buns, sweet buns, spicy buns, even like tough buns like rock or soft buns like cotton, and many more.

Love watching you react to other's cooking videos! Love your work! Just hope I can one day come to your shop to eat your sandwich!

This episode seemed extra painful for you Brian. You took it like a champ though. Bless you. 🙌

It's a good thing that American sandwiches are totally different and (as someone who lives in the UK) are far superior to UK sandwiches so I'd say your still in the clear, great video!

Honestly the "Japanese Week" should've chosen bread instead of steam bun for their theme because Japan has a lot of bread recipes like Curry Bread, Anpan, Melon Pan, Katsu Sando etc

even the Vietnamese Banh Bao (rice bun) tends to have a slice of Chinese sausage in it. Then half of a boiled egg, and a ball of ground pork that has a little vegetable in it. Super delicious btw, with a little black bean sauce and sriracha

👏 👏 👏 Absolutely agree, it frustrates me when someone substitutes or takes out ingredients in an order/recipe then turn around and say it sucks. If you change it, it's not the same thing! It's not the person who made it at your direction or the author who sucks! 😑

i love when Chef Brian and Uncle Roger are completely in-sync on british nonsense lmao! GBB contestants actually do practice the signature challenge bakes at home ahead of time! they 100% could have done some research on the steamed buns and practiced more. They definitely need to bring on guest judges from the respective cultures when they branch out, but the pie and bread episodes from earlier seasons are some of my favorite comfort tv ever

This is like if a Chinese cooking show had contestants on to do a pizza cook off and the contestants came up with shepherds pie paella pizza with German schnitzel paired with bangers and mash.

I will never forget the anxiety i had at my chef exam...3 course menu for 6 people in 3 hours amd everything from scratch...now, 6 years later, i would smash that exam but back then i was sooooo nervous

Oooh, Good point! Can you imagine if they had done a mochi challenge instead? They are used to making desserts anyway, so it would have probably turned out at least okay.

What did you expect from the country that their national dish is just a deep fried fish and french fries XD

Yeah, I remember recommending this during some of your earlier videos where the rant was, "Look, just because it's from an Asian country doesn't make it (specific Asian country) cuisine!" Because, yeah, they just kinda went, "Well... it's from vaguely East of here, so that makes it Japanese, right?"

While lamb is definitely not super common in Japan, one of the more famous local cuisines where I live is Jingisukan (Genghis Khan) which has lamb or mutton. It's mostly famous around the Northern parts of Japan, such as Hokkaido (the whole prefecture), Iwate (Tono) and Sendai (Zao). But lamb is definitely not commonly seen in super markets/ outside of more specialized restaurants.

FWIW, I'll say that the general expectation on GBBO is that the judges will give them a "format" (in this case, steamed buns), and the contestants are expected to get creative for the flavors, and they're not asked to be traditional. They're typically rewarded for pulling off an unusual flavor combo. I think when the host said you can "put anything" in them, he meant that they were allowed to go outside the box for the challenge, and not that steamed buns by default can have anything in them.

Uncle Roger actually knows his food! I have learned alot!

OMG as a lover of all things Asian this seriously rankles me... The amazing Asian countries are NOT interchangable!!! Each culture is rich, vibrant and interesting in each of their own unique ways!!!

As a Brit who has actually taken the time and made the effort to at least learn a bit about Asian food I can only apologise for this bunch of absolute f*ck sticks 🤣 we're not all this ignorant, I swear!

My boyfriend loves Nikuman! When I lived with him in Japan he would often get them from the 7/11 around the corner. Unfortunately, I shouldn't eat gluten so I can't really eat them. But every once in a while I would sneak a bite. If I could have, I would probably have eaten them all the time. They are quite common and popular in Japan, even though maybe not originally Japanese.

I got no clue why they did steamed bun. Have them do a taiyaki. Requires technique, speed, and filling for interesting flavor combinations

Yeah, the bun wasn't the only horror on that week. They also made showstoppers with milk bread. Sculptural bread pieces... out of one of the softest breads out there.

Oh that sandwich of yours looked awesome. I would love to try that. I do understand what you mean about people asking to exclude stuff. That is one of the reasons I never ask for something to be taken off. Even if it is something I don't like, such as tomatoes, the over all dish may just taste wonderful with it. The other reason is that I see it as an insult to change the recipe at a restaurant like that.

I've seen what they do with mexican food also, and my heart stop everytime they do the shell taco, so I feel the same when I see these kind of videos 🤣

I would also say, reacting to the week they did American pies might be fun. It was a similar kind of situation and it broken even my heart and I don’t really like pie

I’m sure he loved the sandwich, remember a while back you reacted to Joshua and uncle Roger making pad thai. At one point in the video Uncle Roger makes a comment about steak being the most boring food, but several months later does a collab with Guga where they both made steak and he loved it!

For all the American hate and stereotypes, the British really make me feel like a man of culture when it comes to food lol

Omg! The Great British Bake Off is AMAZING! The Roku channel has all seasons. Netflix US doesn't have all of the earlier seasons. I'd recommend not starting with S1 as it was a bit rough and ready. Hope you enjoy!

there are very few dishes where you just "put anything in it" and come out with something good and even then those dishes have a set of herbs or spices to keep flavor on the up so anything goes only exists in depression food, depression food wild af freaking jello mixed with pork with a side of chocolate and a capper smoothie

Oh, I just want to say, hearing you speak of Mantou and that you have Chinese and Korean heritage, my favorite Chinese ×Korean fusion to make is Mantou with Kimchi in the morning. Just some steamed bread and kimchi. It's good 👍

"If they're shooting from the hip" That's the thing, they're not. Afaik for a lot of these intricate designed things they get told them at the beginning of the week, right after the last episode, so they can go home and practice and work on them. I know they do that with the showstopper at the end, and I think they do it with the first one too, it's just the one where they have to follow the directions given that they're completely in the dark.

I'm still waiting for the Japanese bun 😆 🤣. Great review as always Brian . Cheers ✌️🍻🇺🇸🇹🇹

Ah, the perfect way to wake up is to watch Chef and Uncle Roger tear up on British "cooking". All the best.

I think it was more about the general technique. They do this stuff all the time. They will have to make a victorian sponge but they decide to flavor it with savory flavors and ice it mashed potatoes. Now the first and last challenge is about creativity but the 2nd is all about making a completely authentic item.

Ok, so Japan doesn't really have a steamed bun. They do eat steamed buns, but it's baozi (In Japan they call it Nikuman/Batuman, but it's the same dish), which is Chinese. No, I may not be Japanese, but if I were to decide what the contestants were to make for Japanese Week, Nikuman would be the last thing I would think of. My top picks would have to be Mochi, Anpan, Dorayaki, and Taiyaki.

the best part of this show is how far off, it's like those movies that are so terrible which makes it great

Man I would work for Chef Brian any day, even if it was just washing dishes. He's an amazing person and an A+ Chef.

Filipinos do a steam bun also. It's called Siopao. Usually it's filled with a pork or chicken mixture.

You should review the whole episode. The bao buns were just the beginning of the train wreck. It went downhill from there as I recall.

Regarding the chicken-looking katsu curry buns, I heard from a Japanese TRvidr that they were supposed to look like the chicken mascots from a Japanese cellphone commercial. So I’m not going to be too mad about the buns’ outward appearance, but everything else was problematic.

As someone who doesn't like certain foods I will always ask for them to be taken off. However I usually have a rule when looking at new foods/new establishments, if the ingredients are mostly things I dislike then I'll just not get that food and pick something with ingredients I actually know I enjoy/ingredients I'm willing to try. I'll ask for tomatoes off but if the food has like 3+ things I know I hate then I'll just pick a different dish. Especially for sandwiches. I mean at that point you can just make a simple sandwich at home rather than go out to eat. Most foods I hate are texture wise so even if they smell/taste good it depends on how the ingredients are prepared. I hate raw celery, tomatoes and onion but preparing them anyway besides raw then I enjoy it alot more. Which is why I usually just make my own sandwiches rather than ordering out sandwiches cause tomatoes and onion are quite popular toppings for them. Peppers are good though I'm not a fan of the taste of jalapeño peppers, another popular topping. It's fine if you like what you like but sometimes it's good to recognize that certain foods don't mesh well with your tastes. I'm generally not a sandwich type of person and that's alright, but there's plenty of sandwiches to try that have different ingredients from those 3 and I'd be willing to eat them rather than ask for 3 ingredients to be taken off at that point lmao.

Yes !!! . Thank you for the new video . Been watching your videos all week . I know your going to get your uncle title as soon as uncle Roger reacts , your fired rice was perfect !! 10/10 .

Japanese love decorating food... they'll put eyes on anything and they have many themed dishes like even Gundam anime. And it looks and tastes amazing... :)

They need to stop doing region-themed weeks if the contestants are just going to do whatever they want. This was so painful to watch 😂

I think I would have done just a normal steamed pork bun I'd have to do a little research to figure out what other flavors to use but they just went wild with these buns.

I would be amazed to watch you react to french Kitchen Nightmare with chef Philippe Etchebest :) It's quite funny especially seeing him being more and more harsh and desperate throughout the seasons ^^

So today is Spanish week, we’ll be making Escargot

Can we see you make Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich? but make it actually melt haha

On behalf of the UK, I apologise for this massacre of Japanese cuisine. (Seriously, what the actual fu-) Fun reaction, though- I especially liked the hats off moment, and the commentary on being picky about what ingredients are in the food you order. If you want something made a specific way, make it yourself- don't go to a restaurant or café or somewhere.

I've watched years of British Baking Show episodes, they can be very entertaining.

I remember the first time I bought a bun from a shopping mall bakery in Japan. I was *really* surprised that it was filled with curry. It was good, but wow, when you're not prepared for it...

I'm not much of a cook but I love Chinese novels, manga and anime and BTS so over that I know the differences between some of the countries' cuisines and it is not hard to google which are Japanes dishes not to mention we have NHK

I watched this episode unprepaired. I just got angrier and angrier. Then I watched Uncle Roger and I felt so much better. When you can laugh at your pain it hurts not less, but you are laughing. I just have to say if you want some thing to taste like Japan use 4 things soy, mirin, saki, and dashi. You can use other things but those are necessary for so many basic recipes.

Every time I think it couldn’t get any worse, they always surprise me

I hate tomatoes in anywhere but if I go to mission sandwich, I won’t ask for no tomatoes to try the sandwich in whole ❤

Your mention of the R&D that goes into planning food reminded me of my favorite DIve bar when I lived in Nashville. the owner/cook/chef put a ton of work into planning a burger of the month. she'd make multiple variations, Check them for the exact flavor she wanted, the appearance and the ability to prep and make them in quantity. all in time for the first day of each month. I was lucky once to get to try two of the variations and offer an opinion.

filled buns takes a lot of skill to execute, bread to filling ratio, some buns have intricate toppings like melon pan which is an art on its own to get right. The bread recipe is not the same from anpan to melon pan to karepan, karepan can even be presented as a deep fried version. Closing the bread with the filling inside requires some dexterity and skill. The filling also requires a certain amount of thickness/water content as to not contaminate the bread dough when you close it. Buns are not a beginner/random entry level venture, it's like the producers and contestants of the show just spun a wheel of random asian things and threw it together as an episode.

Two minutes in, I was nervous. By the midpoint, I was afraid. By the end, I was terrified. 🤯😱 At least there wasn't a bun filled with candy corn and decorated with a clown face.🤡 I think Uncle Roger showed great restraint. He kept his leg on the chair. 🤣 Brian, we love sandwiches around here. Wish I lived near enough to Mission to try yours. ❤😁

I’d want to make the steam buns look like rain frogs those thing are absolutely adorable

I feel you there am also a chef like you and I have the same guests that complain that it tastes bad after removing what they don't want and lady is a pure KAREN!!!

I think the first guy could have added toasted panko. That could have given a crunch to the dish and also added some texture to the chicken appearance. If it didn't stick right out of being steamed maybe brush just a very very very thin layer of something so it would stick? That's all I can think of that might add a crunch.

So glad you finally reacted to this one. I think it's exactly like how I described it I just thought you will poor in some Japanese cuisine knowledge as an expert but still it was a fun episode. Thank you Chef.

I have had the Pizza Bun in Japan, It was weird but okay, as I am not much of a cheese eater. It seems to be pretty popular there

Wonderfully done. We could probably do fun stuff with Gyoza. Also, If I ever make it out to your shop NO SUBSTITUTIONS WILL BE ASKED FOR.

Off topic, but I recommend checking out Anti-Chef’s TRvid channel. They make dishes from Julia Child’s cookbooks just following the language in the book in a literal manner. It’s pretty damn funny imho. I can’t pick a favorite at the moment, but the chicken liver aspic one is up there on the hilarity scale. lol