The Food Truck NZ - S03E11 - Mexican standoff
The Food Truck NZ - S03E11 - Mexican standoff
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00:00Chef Michael van der Elzen is taking to the streets of New Zealand for a tiki tour of
00:06taste buds.
00:07His goal, to transform some of the world's most popular fat-filled dishes into healthy
00:13gourmet truck food.
00:14Man, we're going to have a party.
00:15This time on the food truck, it's a showdown at the hoedown, as Michael takes on Mexican
00:25food and Mexican food lovers.
00:27Quite exciting.
00:28I'm not sure he has any idea what he's gotten himself into.
00:31It's a bit mild, eh?
00:32What were you expecting?
00:33To have my head explode.
00:35It's taco time.
00:38Will Michael be the last man standing after taking on the fastest food in the West?
00:43Find out on the food truck.
00:46For too long, Mexican food in New Zealand has meant cheesy nachos at the pub with more
00:56sour cream than meat.
00:58Meals like this are about as far away from real Mexican as Mexico City is from Auckland.
01:03That's 11,000 kilometres, by the way.
01:07Since last time when I took on Mexican, there's been an explosion of even more Mexican eateries.
01:11All of a sudden, we have Mexican coming out of our ears.
01:15We've got chain stores doing it and even have food trucks doing it.
01:19I have some serious catching up to do.
01:24So today, Michael's feasting on fajitas and kissing quesadillas.
01:28It's a Mexican toasted sandwich.
01:30To get the lowdown on this Mexican revolution, beginning with a burrito.
01:34It's just a big wad of protein and rice.
01:37Size-wise, it's ridiculous.
01:38Look at it.
01:39How can people eat this for lunch?
01:42Mexican was made to be eaten with the hands, like this beef taco salad, which comes in
01:46its own corn chip bowl.
01:48It's great.
01:49Once you finish, you've eaten the dishes.
01:53Blurring the line between the dish and the dishes.
01:56And blurring the line between dessert and dinner is this chocolate-flavoured chicken
02:00mole.
02:01In your mind, you're going, I'm eating chocolate with chicken and chilli, and that's just weird.
02:07Kind of like this.
02:13Less random and more reliable are the classics of Mexican cuisine, like the taco.
02:18It's so light.
02:19It's refreshing.
02:20It's tropical.
02:21It just works so well.
02:24The Mexican of some classics are beginning to look a little tired.
02:26Nachos!
02:27Haven't had nachos for a while.
02:28It's good to see they haven't changed much.
02:31You know, this is kind of typical of what I've had today, you know?
02:35Most of it has been pretty average.
02:37Some of it's been good.
02:38That taco was really tasty.
02:39But, you know, really what I want is some, you know, I want some inspiration.
02:42Something to get me fired up and go, yeah, I want to take on this Mexican again.
02:48Clearly Michael needs a Mexican muse, a mentor of Mexicana.
02:52And he may have found just the woman.
02:54She was virtually weird on tacos and tortillas.
02:57She's a chef, and she's American?
02:59Hey, how are you?
03:00Michael.
03:01Christina.
03:02Good to meet you.
03:03You too.
03:04I'm Spanish originally, but I grew up in the States, and my father grew up in Mexico.
03:08And so I was raised going back and forth to Mexico and the States.
03:11Where she forged a lifelong love affair with Mexican food.
03:14Now she's blending it with Pacific influences in her custom-built food truck, specializing
03:18in something you usually find at the bottom of your sink.
03:21In direct translation of a taco is a plug hole.
03:24The taco is plugging the hole in your stomach, kind of like a sandwich.
03:27Oh, I'm just going to eat a plug hole.
03:29Yes, exactly.
03:30In fact, today we'll be trying three plug holes.
03:32You're going to make a chicken, a pork, and a beef.
03:34Great.
03:35Each taco has its own salad or salsa, and is accompanied by its own sauce.
03:39All Pacific twists on Mexican favorites.
03:42So what we've done is really fuse in some of the local flavors.
03:45Pacific flavors, you're talking about pineapple?
03:47Pineapple.
03:48Coconut?
03:49We use feijoa.
03:50Lovely.
03:51You've created a whole new cuisine.
03:53And we're starting with rooster.
03:54What you're doing here, actually, is chopping up a tomato for something called pico de gallo,
03:58which means the beak of a rooster.
04:01Wow.
04:02But there's no rooster involved.
04:03A simple salsa of tomatoes, red onion, coriander, chili, and lime is whipped up in a jiffy.
04:09Next up, a pumpkin salsa for the chicken.
04:11So we found that the Mexican chilies that I do import with the local pumpkins and coconuts
04:17really work in a beautiful flavor packet.
04:19Kiwis love the cool flavors of the Pacific, but this is Mexican.
04:23So are we packing heat or what?
04:25I noticed since moving to New Zealand that Kiwis don't have a palate for a ton of chilies.
04:30And so we've toned down on the chilies that we use in our core ingredients, and then we
04:33allow people to add it afterwards.
04:35But everything has chilies.
04:37For pork, pineapple provides a sweet Pacific accent.
04:40This is a traditional salad that goes with pork.
04:44So this is actually a true Mexican salsa that we're making?
04:47It is, yes.
04:48Do you add the smoked chilies to this?
04:49No.
04:50No?
04:51No.
04:52Just chilies?
04:53I can't give you all my secrets today, by the way.
04:54Okay.
04:55Is that good?
04:56Mm.
04:57Nice.
04:58As with the salads, the key to each meat sauce is just a few flavorsome ingredients.
05:02So we start with this chili, which is a chipotle.
05:05Lovely.
05:06We're just gonna fry them.
05:07What does that do to the chili?
05:08It releases the oils.
05:09Okay.
05:10So we've got three ingredients.
05:11The salsas are max four ingredients?
05:14Yeah.
05:15It's really about keeping the flavors as simple as possible, the ingredients as fresh as possible,
05:19and allowing the flavors to come through with the meat.
05:21Okay, Mike.
05:22So we finished the sauces, and now we're gonna go ahead and blend them.
05:27The meats are cooked separately, with a bit of the sauce added to each.
05:30Yeah, the real balance here is the authentic, high-quality ingredients, very good-tasting
05:36food, healthy food, quickly.
05:38The finished product is as far away from a plug hole as possible, but will no doubt
05:42plug even the biggest hole.
05:44I will have the chicken, please.
05:46Just one?
05:47Yeah, two.
05:48No, I'll go for three.
05:49All right.
05:50Three meats.
05:51I'll have all three meats.
05:52All right.
05:53Good on ya.
05:54With Christina having divulged her commercially sensitive food truck secrets, Michael can
05:56now reveal the true intentions behind his visit.
05:58Thanks very much.
05:59Please enjoy.
06:01Now, there was actually another reason why I came down here today.
06:03Yeah, true.
06:04Not only to meet you and work in your wonderful truck, but to set up a challenge.
06:08Food truck against food truck, Mexicai against the food truck, and a Mexican challenge.
06:14Any menu?
06:15Yeah, why not?
06:16As long as it's Mexican.
06:17All right.
06:18Sounds good.
06:19That scares the jibblies, you know what I mean?
06:20I hope I haven't made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
06:23I'm not sure he has any idea what he's gotten himself into.
06:27Chef Michael van der Elzen is remaking Mexican and toying with tacos.
06:36It just works so well.
06:39Now he's taking on a rival food truck at its own game.
06:43Mexicai against the food truck, and a Mexican challenge.
06:47Michael is literally going round in circles to prepare for battle, and today he's come
06:51to the Auckland Domain to test fire his ammunition, and with three hot dishes in the truck, he'll
06:56be firing live rounds.
06:58Forget tacos, nachos, and burritos, today I actually want to introduce Kiwis to authentic
07:05Mexican street food.
07:07Mike's done his homework on Mexican street food, and apparently he only needs one vegetable.
07:13All three dishes I'm going to cook, I got to involve my friend, corn.
07:19The boiled corn is cut from the cob to form the base of a salad.
07:23Now it's all about the dressing.
07:25Two limes, to that I'm going to add some blue agave nectar.
07:28White pepper, salt, and a touch of oil creates a vinaigrette.
07:32Mike adds finely chopped shallots, and one ingredient that's a little sheepish.
07:37I've got some crumbly sheep's feta, which is a little bit salty, a little bit dry, quite
07:41intense, works really well with the corn combo.
07:44A touch of cayenne pepper, and that is it.
07:47It's as simple as that.
07:48It's like a little wave of flavour.
07:51It's beautiful.
07:53Mike's next dish is as corny as his last, and this time it's baked.
07:57To go with my baked corn, I'm going to make a smoked chilli emulsion.
08:01By using special wood chips in a pan, Michael can create his own smoker.
08:06All it takes is a bit of tin foil and some patience.
08:09The smoked chillies go straight into the blender, along with two soft boiled eggs, a splash
08:14of vegetable stock, lime, and chilli powder.
08:17Ooh, that's going to be hot.
08:19A little agave nectar will take the edge off the chilli.
08:22Then we give that a blend.
08:26After a bit of oil to thicken, the emulsion is ready to meet its corn cohort, and the
08:31whole thing is gate crashed by a cheeky cheese.
08:34Here I've got some pecorino, very similar to parmesan.
08:38A touch of cumin, and das is das.
08:41Mike's next dish is his version of tamale, a popular beef and dough dish usually served
08:46with corn husk, and better known to many as tamale.
08:50This is quite delicious, and it's so popular over there, I want to try it here.
08:55While the meat is browning, shallots, garlic, cinnamon, star anise, and some ground all
09:00spice are added to the pan.
09:01Then we add some beef stock to that, and I'll put that into the oven at 180 degrees for
09:06about 35 to 40 minutes.
09:08The cooked beef is simply shredded and combined with a salsa of red peppers, yellow tomatoes,
09:14red onions, and beans.
09:16I've got some black beans that I've cooked, and just smashed up like you would mashed
09:20potatoes.
09:21Smells awesome.
09:23The tamale mix is usually combined with a dough enriched with dripping, but that's not
09:28very food truck.
09:29I don't want to make a dough out of lard.
09:31What I've done is I've taken sweet potato, then I've taken some fine polenta, I've cooked
09:35that in some vegetable stock, and presto, I've got something that resembles marred dough.
09:41More of a mash, really, but whatever you call it, the finished product goes into the corn
09:45husk along with the beef and tamale mix.
09:48And then we roll it up like a big fat cigar, and then we just drop it into a little bit
09:52of vegetable stock.
09:54Twenty minutes in the oven is just enough time to heat the tamale through.
09:59It's delicious, but it doesn't scream Mexican to me.
10:02Not sure.
10:03I'll have to see what the people think.
10:05Yes, the people shall have their say, beginning with the corn salad with lime vinaigrette.
10:10Oh, great.
10:11Dig into those.
10:12Let me know what you think.
10:13This is really good.
10:14Yeah, it's really good.
10:15Isn't that lovely?
10:16The zing is just the standout feature.
10:17Yeah.
10:18This could be like a side to Mexican food.
10:19Yes.
10:20You could also throw it inside a taco.
10:21Okay.
10:22Hello, sir.
10:23How are you?
10:24Hola.
10:25Wait a minute.
10:26Did he just say hola?
10:27Either he's asking after a woman called hola, or he just greeted Michael in Spanish, which
10:32could mean he's...
10:33From Mexico.
10:34Si.
10:35Hola, senor.
10:36I don't know whether to be afraid or excited.
10:40You can be both, Mike.
10:41Mm.
10:42Is it good?
10:43I really like it.
10:44Pretty traditional.
10:45I would never expect to see something like this in New Zealand.
10:47Great.
10:48So, how will the baked corn with lime emulsion go down?
10:51I really like the taste of your mayonnaise.
10:54Is it Mexican?
10:55Not at all.
10:57The cumin here, I think that would go a little bit away from the Mexican sort of flavor.
11:02But it's perfect, you know?
11:04Come nightfall, Michael serves up his tamale for supper.
11:08It's pretty good, but it's a bit mild, eh?
11:10Is that what you were expecting?
11:12To have my head explode.
11:14The filling of your tamale, if you put it into a taco, it could really work, you know?
11:20This is fantastic.
11:22This is truly great.
11:25Mike's meals are clearly hitting the spot, just not the spot he was aiming for.
11:30I was rapt that I could actually serve some truly authentic Mexican dishes today.
11:36Yes, people didn't quite recognize them, but the flavors were the most important thing
11:40today, and they loved the flavors.
11:42So, you know, maybe I give them what they actually want, authentic Mexican flavors and
11:48a taco that they recognize.
11:55Sure enough, when Michael reconvenes at the garage the next day, he's got tacos on the
12:00brain.
12:01I had dreams of tacos last night, little tacos floating through my head.
12:05It's taco time.
12:07Mike is about to confront one of the biggest challenges in Mexican cuisine.
12:11I'm going to try and make square bottom taco shells for my tacos.
12:15Taco shells are a bit like kakapos.
12:17They're not really interested in spreading their wings.
12:20I'm just going to try.
12:25I'm sure it'll work.
12:26I'm sure it'll work.
12:27Well, at least you're sure.
12:29Look at that.
12:30I let it go cold, actually on the board.
12:33With his tacos finally forming a shape that demands filling, Michael can now focus on
12:37the contents.
12:38I want to go a little bit out there.
12:40I'm talking about a sauce called a mule.
12:42It's a spiced chocolate sauce.
12:45Chocolate?
12:46Bit early for dessert, isn't it?
12:47This is going to be a vegetarian mule taco, and my bowl is going to come from roasted
12:53kumara and some pumpkin.
12:56Pretty out there.
12:57Pretty out there.
12:58But out where remains unclear.
13:01Mike sautés onions with chili, cumin, nutmeg, ground cloves, cinnamon, some cocoa powder,
13:07sunflower seeds, oregano, and whole peeled tomatoes.
13:11To go with my sweet potato mule, I want to do an avocado yogurt, much like a guacamole,
13:15but you've got the yogurt instead.
13:17Sweet potato mule, that goes in, avocado yogurt on top.
13:20I think this one is going to be really popular, just out of pure interest.
13:25For his next taco, Mike takes the corn salad with lime emulsion from yesterday and adds
13:30poached chicken.
13:31But, I don't want to poach it in just anything, this is Mexican food.
13:37What's better than some tequila?
13:40Mike says he uses the tequila for flavour only, but that's what they all say.
13:46Beautiful.
13:48Once cooked and shredded, the chicken is ready to be served, but with no chili sauce, this
13:53is one for Nana.
13:55It's a mellow taco, it's not one that just jumps out and attacks you with heaps of fire
13:59and heaps of chili.
14:00For his final taco, Mike takes his successful tamale beef and adds a red onion and chipotle
14:05chili relish, and a green chili salsa, made from tomatillo, a kind of Mexican tomato.
14:11I've said it once, but I'll say it again, beautiful.
14:15Now I've just figured out a way of making these shells, times 200.
14:27Michael van der Elzen is about to face his food truck nemesis.
14:31Mexico against the food truck in a Mexican challenge.
14:35His new trio of tacos is about to be released into the wild for the first time.
14:40Pretty out there, pretty out there.
14:42But given a choice, will anyone want them?
14:44To find out, Michael has arrived at Silo Park, the hot seat of Auckland's street food scene
14:50on the Queen City's waterfront.
14:52The weekend market here is home to some of the city's most popular mobile food vendors.
14:57Today I am ready for battle, pity my voice is not.
15:02It's totally gone because I've been up all night yelling at the oven, cooking these crispy
15:06tacos.
15:07But we got there in the end.
15:08Just got to finish a few little bits and I'm ready to take on Mexica.
15:12Oh, here she is.
15:15But Mexica does this for a living, and Mike does this on his own.
15:19So he's called in a few favours.
15:21I've pulled in some friends, and the thing is, I can only fit another two in the truck.
15:25So I've got one chef and one friend coming to help me today.
15:28It's battle taco time.
15:30Yes, Mike's rather colourful summation is another way of saying we've got a Mexican
15:37standoff on our hands.
15:41It's Christina and her cohorts versus Michael and his men, Otto and Tom.
15:47I'm feeling really excited about today.
15:49I definitely think we've got the slight advantage being this is our home turf.
15:53The Mexica truck is part of the furniture here at Silo Park, but that's not bothering
15:58Mike.
15:59His failing voice is.
16:00Starting us off, sweet potato mole, which is the chocolate sauce with avocado yogurt,
16:07sunflower seeds sprinkled on top.
16:09Tequila poached chicken with the corn schitz feta salsa and the lime emulsion.
16:13Finally, braised short rib.
16:15That wonderful short rib with the tomatillo salsa and chipotle onions.
16:19They're doing three for twelve.
16:20I'm doing three for fifteen.
16:22So mine are more expensive, but they're a little bit more substantial.
16:26Let the battle commence.
16:27Hi, how are you?
16:28Hi, Mike.
16:29What do you think about a little challenge?
16:31Most tacos sold, three hours.
16:33Let's do it.
16:34Taco battle, round one.
16:39Mexicai is the first out of the blocks.
16:40Two fish and a bit of tomato.
16:41Do you like that spicy?
16:42Yeah.
16:44While it's a sluggish opening for the new kids on the block.
16:46So to kick things off, Mike comes up with a new strategy.
16:50Feeding the enemy.
16:51And there we go.
16:52Ready to be served.
16:53The Mexicai.
16:54Bye.
16:55Hello, hello.
16:56Here you go.
16:57I love yours.
16:59I hope you like these.
17:00Thank you, Mike.
17:01It all sounds perfectly friendly, but in reality, this could be worse than Coke versus Pepsi.
17:05Maybe even Samsung versus Apple.
17:07I have to be honest, I think the beef's pretty flavourless.
17:10It needs some chilli kick.
17:12Yeah, I would say the same.
17:13I got the tequila chicken one, but it doesn't really taste like tequila.
17:18The crispy shell is interesting.
17:21I'm not sure I'd buy it.
17:23She may not be buying, but over at the food truck, plenty are.
17:26Even if Mike's first customers seem to have gone all soft.
17:29Soft or crispy?
17:30Soft.
17:31Soft.
17:32Soft.
17:34You don't want crispy?
17:35No.
17:36I was up all night making these crispies.
17:38There are no such problems with Mexicai's streamlined menu.
17:42We're pumping right now.
17:43Really, really busy.
17:44All of our faithful customers are down here buying from us.
17:46But this game is all about numbers.
17:48Not that Mike's put much thought into that.
17:51Are we actually keeping count of what we're selling?
17:54Oh dear.
17:57Quality control, good.
17:59Quantity control, bad.
18:00What I've realised is we're not counting how many we're selling, so we have no idea how
18:06many we've sold.
18:07So we'll just have to guess.
18:10There's not quite too many cooks spoiling the broth, but the food truck's team approach
18:14needs fine-tuning.
18:15Who ordered the chicken by itself?
18:16No, no.
18:17I've got three lots coming.
18:18You ordered them all soft?
18:19No.
18:20Who ordered the one chicken on their own?
18:21I think that was you guys, wasn't it?
18:22It was, and I think mine has already gone to someone else.
18:23Oh, I'm sorry.
18:24It's all right.
18:25Your system's breaking down, Otto.
18:26I think a few of the orders were shared around between people there.
18:27It's all right.
18:28It's all right.
18:29It's all right.
18:30It's all right.
18:31It's all right.
18:32It's all right.
18:33It's all right.
18:34It's all right.
18:35It's all right.
18:36It's all right.
18:37I think a few of the orders were shared around between people there.
18:40When we rocked up there, they weren't really organised.
18:41But they're definitely getting with it now.
18:44He's got a numbering system, I think.
18:46Round two!
18:48Over at Mexicai, the girls have got their well-oiled machine humming.
18:52One vegetarian?
18:53Yeah.
18:54Do you want hot sauce on that?
18:56Yeah.
18:57And the speed of delivery is not hurting sales.
19:00We bought from Mexicai because there was no queue.
19:05We serve probably five times faster than they do, so our queues will disappear real fast.
19:09Unlike the food truck, where there are no waiters, but there is waiting, Mike's tacos
19:14may have been slow to arrive, but they've been quick to impress.
19:17Yeah, it's really nice, it's quite spicy, but it's nice fresh flavours.
19:22Probably one of the best tacos I've actually ever had.
19:25There's a spice, there's a sweetness, I love it.
19:28The tamale beef is winning admirers, but Mike's tequila chicken is no tequila sunrise.
19:33I can't taste the tequila, and I chose it because I do like tequila, but I can't taste it.
19:40I don't really know if it's as Mexican as it could be, but it's nice, it's tasty.
19:47But there's no missing the chocolate flavour of the veggie mole taco.
19:52Wow, that is really good. Chocolate is very interesting.
19:56I wouldn't have thought, like, a bit of chocolate would work in a taco, but it actually does, it's yum.
20:01I've had mole before, and I really didn't like it, but this is really, really tasty.
20:05I like that it's mole and guacamole in one, it's really, really good.
20:09As round two draws to a close, Mexicai's lightning service seems to have swallowed up all their customers.
20:16There's actually no queue over at Mexicai. We've got a good little gang of people here.
20:20It's quite exciting. I think we might actually win something.
20:24Come on, Tommy, come on.
20:27So Christina takes advantage of the lull in proceedings to make a personal delivery.
20:32Hello, hello. Oh, thank you very much.
20:34Look what we've got here. We've got fish, chicken and pork.
20:36Oh, lovely. How are you going?
20:38Time will tell.
20:39She's not giving anything away about numbers, but at least Mike now has an opportunity to size up the competition.
20:46That extra inch makes a world of difference.
20:49But does it make a world of difference to the punters?
20:52These are more expensive than Mexicai, but I reckon they're better value for money
20:56because they're bigger and more substantial.
20:59Round three, final round.
21:01Let's do this.
21:03There's a final flurry of food at both trucks, and as the sun sets on this Mexican melee,
21:09nobody knows who will emerge like titan of tacos.
21:16Time's up, the results are in, and the time of reckoning is at hand.
21:21I have calculated.
21:23And?
21:25So I sold 177 tacos.
21:30We sold 204.
21:33We're truck losers. Really? 204?
21:36204 tacos.
21:37I thought I had it then, actually.
21:39Hey, I'm glad I lost to you guys, because your tacos are great.
21:42I really enjoyed that. I thought that was fun.
21:43That was great. Thank you.
21:45Good luck.
21:46I didn't expect to win.
21:47I think the team worked really hard, and again, it is our home turf.
21:51So I'm happy that we won.
21:54Michael loses the competition, and it's been so tough, he's about to lose something else.
22:00I'm a little bit peeved, because I came here to win.
22:03But in the end, I took on pros.
22:05And voice or no voice, I think me and my boys did pretty damn well.
22:12Next time...
22:13The patty has no flavour at all.
22:15Michael takes on the titan of takeaways.
22:18You can actually see the oil flowing.
22:20American fast food gets a tune-up.
22:22I want to use a meat that is 60% less saturated fat.
22:26Is it good?
22:27And there's a food truck first at the rodeo.
22:29This is totally inedible. It's rubbish.
22:32Gut-wrenching.
22:33To be honest, I don't think I would rush back to get another one.
22:36It was a waste of money.
22:37Yeah.
22:38That's next time on The Food Truck.