Brad and Matty Matheson Make Fish Tacos

Hey, guys.

Today on It's Alive we're gonna be making a little...

That don't seem right, Vinny.

Hi.

Hi, Brad.

Hey, guys.

Today on It's Alive,

we're gonna be making a little fish tacos.

We have a nice little guest with us, Matty Matheson.

You guys might know him from Vice.

He's got his book, he's got his show, he's got himself.

Myself.

He's wonderful.

Perfect human. (laughing)

(upbeat music)

So, yeah, we're gonna do a little halibut fish taco.

Halibut's really nice.

Comes from Alaska?

This one does.

I do believe you can get 'em on the East Coast too,

in the Atlantic. Yeah, there's halibuts.

But it's a cold water, deep, bottom feeder.

They get bigger than both of us.

Big boys. That's a big fish.

That's a big boy. That's a big boy.

I've never made tortillas in my life, and I've even...

A lot of people probably know this.

I don't hate on the corn tortilla, I just...

I like a flour tortilla better.

So, this is a really nice opportunity, I think,

for Brad, Chef Brad here, to convert me.

Well, alright.

Well, we'll try anyway.

So, we got a little pork fat.

I'm gonna heat that up in the microwave, and then salt.

That's it. Okay?

That's all we're gonna do, and then just water.

And then water.

Let me zap these two things. Yes.

Alright? Yes, chef.

I'm gonna hit the microwave real quick, Vinny.

Oh! (cat groaning)

Alright, we'll do 25 seconds.

Great.

We're melting the pork fat.

I'm over here with the masa.

We're...

I'm protecting the masa.

The fat won't melt.

You know why?

I think the water's taking all the

energy from the microwave.

I don't know how these things work.

I don't really like 'em.

Chef Mike. Chef Mike?

Chef Mike, I worked in this restaurant...

My first restaurant job

was at this fake fine dining restaurant.

We used to microwave a lot of things in it,

and they would call it Chef Mike.

They were like 'hit it with the Chef Mike,'

like a rack of ribs. Boom.

(bleep) it, the world.

I was just a dishwasher.

I was in high school. Yeah, thank God.

How are you gonna keep up with Chef Mike?

Oh, microwave.

[Matty] Is is bubbling, boobling?

Oh, yeah, oh yeah, we're liquid.

Oh my goodness.

Alright, so real easy.

Pour salt it. Salt.

How much salt is this? All of it.

I measured it for you.

Okay. I'll pour the water in.

And then I stir.

Yeah. Okay.

And it's a real simple dough, so it's just...

It starts off a little shaggy, and then it...

Here you go, yeah, yeah.

I'm gonna hit it with the fat.

Oh, a little drizzle of the fat.

Vinny, you gettin' that, bud?

Oh my goodness, look at that.

You know what people love, Vinny, a little fat drizzle.

Keep working a little, not too wet, shouldn't be sticky.

It should be a nice little ball

with a little bit of mild bounce to it.

Should we knead it?

Do we knead it? Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, right in the hands,

otherwise sometimes it starts to stick a little

because of the fat,

and just get it all nice and incorporated.

Oh, you're a natural.

Look at those hands.

Tortilla's so nice and warm.

It's like holding a warm diaper.

Just kinda like that.

You got kids, Matty?

I got one baby boy and then I got another...

I got a girl on the way.

Oh, congrats.

Yeah, I got a baby, but I got a two-year-old boy.

Wow, mine too. Oh!

Two and four months or some (bleep).

Oh, mine just turned two in May.

It's amazing. It's the best,

and I got another little boy that was born this May.

Dude, congratulations.

Look at us, it's a dad zone.

Dad zone. Nothing like it.

Is that nice?

That's freakin' perfect.

Wow. So, you can go ahead

and pop that right there. (drumming)

And then we're just gonna cover it with a little plastic.

You don't wanna...

You gotta cover it otherwise the oxygen, you know,

oxygen kills everything.

It does.

It's funny how it gives you so much life, literally life,

and it just ruins everything.

You peel an apple...

At the end of the day, everything dies

from oxidation. Everything dies, oxidation,

life giveth and taketh.

So, we're just gonna let that sit for about, you know,

an hour, hour and a half.

You can make this ahead, you can make this a day ahead.

I like to actually let it rest for an hour.

I like to pop it in the fridge.

I find it's a little... Like a pate brisee.

Yeah, exactly. Bone apple teeth.

So, next Vinny...

Let's do the sour cream next, okay?

Get the sour cream going, yes.

Go ahead and plop that right in here.

I'll get you a spoon.

Oh, alright, no, he's a pro.

A little lime juice, okay? Stand back,

make sure it doesn't go in your eyes.

Can I call you Matters? Yeah.

Don't you have nicknames?

No.

Alright, I'll do one of these, Matters.

[Matty] You're using Matters.

And I'll do one and you do one.

Can I do one? It's a family program.

What's this called?

It's a citrus juicer.

Does everyone have this at home?

Definitely.

'Cause this is something that you need at home.

This is something you could get

definitely at a Williams Sonoma for like...

This is probably like $2,000.

Try like 35, man. Okay, it's $35.

We'll mix that up.

Maybe we need a bigger bowl, huh?

No, no, smaller.

Smaller, maybe use a fork. (laughing)

What size we work...

Just get a giant one.

Get the biggest (bleep) bowl you've got.

We're gonna need it.

Do you want me to stir this up?

Yeah, yeah.

So, we're gonna fully incorporate the lime jucie

to the already acidic sour cream.

Exactly, and that'll brighten it up a little,

and it'll also loosen it up a little.

This is a nice sour cream. I'm gonna throw

a little bit of this in there. (gasping)

What's that spice, chef?

So, this is..

You can get it in your supermarket.

It's just that chipotle and adobo sauce, two tablespoons,

and then in here I got some spices.

A little salt, a little onion powder, a little chili powder.

What the hell else is in there?

Garlic powder.

Yeah, dip this in there, give it a little taste.

Is it good? Yeah, let's find out.

What do you think it needs?

Might be a little spicy.

A little zingo bingo?

Zingo bingo, you've tested this recipe for sure

'cause that is perfect.

It's Alive!

Boom!

Alright, so we'll throw that over somewhere.

Here, Vinny, you hold on to that.

For our fish, we're gonna do just a little cornmeal

dredge like I was telling you. I love a cornmeal dredge.

Alright, and then here is just some spices.

Spices, what spices do we have?

Once again, are we replicating the spices there

and we're building the flavors,

the foundation of this whole taco?

Yeah, big time.

You nailed it. Okay.

So, next we add in some cayenne

'cause we don't have the chipotle, a little more heat.

Onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne.

There's that, and then some salt.

Gotta have a little salt. Are we gonna...

I wanna see something here.

Are we gonna mix that and then add that to this bowl,

or are we gonna add this to the small bowl?

No, neither. Neither?

Not at all. Oh, this is to season

just the fish itself, and then just the cornmeal,

because if we were to fry this,

this would make the cornmeal actually turn dark

and not golden. Right.

I'm trying to figure this out.

Maybe I'm a professional, maybe I'm not.

We didn't fill you in at all.

I like where your head was at.

We'll maybe do a little riff on that.

I usually just season the fish with a little salt.

Okay. Dredge it.

Dredge it. Fry it.

Oh, and then that's the finishing.

And that's the little baja banger.

No, okay, then I feel that.

See, there's different... Well, maybe we do both.

Maybe we do both

because you already have salt in here.

So, why don't you do that,

and then I think if we did that on it

and then we put it into the cornmeal.

I'm scared.

Or we don't, we do it your way.

I don't know what's happening.

Vince knew.

Vince knew everything.

(bleep) damn mastermind.

Don't get him going, please, Matt.

Alright. Matters.

Matters.

Bilbo.

And for our next trick here, we're gonna cut up...

We switched sides, is this okay?

Here, switch. How's the continuity?

Switch.

How's the continuity? Here, switch.

We switched continuity.

Sides, is this okay?

Switch.

I'll cut up cabbage, unless you wanna.

What do you want me to do?

Yeah, like a nice, here.

Show me one, chef, and I'll try my best.

Just like a nice, like a thin chiffonade.

Okay, a chiffonade. Yeah.

Oh, boom boom.

Look at him go.

He's a machine.

Oh, stunt double!

I don't know.

That'll do.

Man, oh man, perfect.

We'll throw that right in here, and then were gonna...

We'll fold in a little bit of some cilantro.

So, this is...

He's just doing a rough chop, okay?

Yeah, a rough chop, and a sliding.

With herbs... You don't wanna mince.

You don't wanna mince. You don't wanna bruise.

So, like a basil, basil or basil?

Well, how would you say it?

I say...

I...

Basil?

Basil.

I say basil. Good.

Brad's got... Okay, a little bit of salt.

It's gonna really bring out a little bit of moisture,

and with this acid too, give the cabbage a little crunch.

So, those are good.

Let me pop that...

Do you wanna mince that at all

or are you just gonna leave that, chef?

You know, let's add a little more cilantro.

(laughing)

So, equal parts cilantro to cabbage on this slaw,

and you don't mix, you just put a bunch of salt on top.

Yeah. Don't mix it.

I mixed it a little. Okay, did you?

Yeah. I didn't see.

I wasn't watching. That's okay.

I was unfocused. No, it's fine.

I'm here for you.

No one's got the chef's back anyway.

This is great.

Let's do six of these right now.

Alright, deal.

How many do you want to do?

Well, we only prepped for one.

What time is it?

We only prepped for one. (laughing)

You ever hear of the, you know, I've been dying to do it,

called noodling. Oh, bro.

With the catfish.

Do you know that...

Okay, so when I worked at this French restaurant, 2003,

me and my friends, Michelle and Allison,

used to call ourselves the noodlers, and we...

And I've never gone noodling, but in my heart, in my heart,

I have a close place, I have a close connection to noodling.

I wanna go noodling, so why don't we go Bon Appetit.

I only fly business class though, only business.

Yeah, me too, and Vince. Yeah, boom, and Vincy!

He likes Emirates.

Brought to you by Emirates. (cash register rings)

Let's go fly fishing in (bleep) Montana.

Wait, do you guys wanna see us go fly fishing?

Do you wanna see us go in space?

Dude, if you wanna see the big man, the big boy.

The big boys go noodling. The big boys go graveling.

(laughing)

Alright, I'm gonna pop this in the fridge, Vinny.

We're gonna let that chill.

Alright, chill out.

Alright, let me get rid of this.

How's your arms?

Don't worry about him.

This is what Vince looks like.

(laughing)

Okay, we'll slice these up.

You don't wanna use a mandolin?

I'll get it.

These are $20 a pop, and they have taken more lives...

It took my fingertip.

Oh my goodness, how many times?

How many chefs...

How many chefs have ruined their lives?

We'll shave these down real nice.

Mhm, mhm, mhm.

And then we'll start making tortillas.

(claps) I like this.

You know, people think that TV magic is...

You see Brad?

He is wiping the cilantro off the table.

There's nobody comin' in here and helping him out.

He's alone.

He's alone.

He's alone (echoing).

(sighs) Vince is here.

This is broken.

No, no, it's perfect.

Oh, you never used one? No.

But you're a smart cookie.

So, test kitchen assistant, Gaby Melian, showed me...

You know, I was thinking maybe I would wrap this

with saran wrap, but she was like 'no, no, no.'

Take a little... 'Cause this is naturally...

And it's got its own little natural hinge.

So, you put your little ball there, alright?

Boom, boom, put the blanket on, nice, nice.

So, we've been dabbling around for a little while.

It's probably been about an hour or so.

I like to break them and....

Get this out of here.

[Man] Whoa, bro, rogue lime.

[Brad] It's the only one we got, man.

(whistling)

Alright, so it's rested, it's nice.

We've got our ball. Wow.

[Brad] Okay, nice, nice.

See, not sticking. Malleable.

Leaving that little doop doop doop dimple,

but as you're working, you wanna keep it coming

'cause, you know, the oxygen.

It kills us all. It gets us.

This is 30 grams.

What's the perfect tortilla, is it 30 grams?

Depends on who you ask, I guess.

Okay.

30, right on the nail.

Woo! Wow.

Chef Brad is so great.

I've never done that.

Okay, now I wanna see what's my gram.

That looks nice.

Feel it again. Audible, audible.

[Brad] Listen to your gut.

Did you see that?

I reached over, I second guessed myself, we're gonna see...

[Brad] You added another gram or two there.

I know.

Oh! What is it?

30, boy! Is it?

Yeah.

(squealing) (laughing)

Real life (bleep).

That was awesome.

Vinny, you wanna come over here and get this, bud?

Quit horsing around.

So, look, I like to push it up.

You'd think right in the middle.

But you don't.

But I like to kick it up just a hair.

Okay. Alright,

and we put the blanket on.

Drop that bad boy, and then just push.

Give it a pretty good.

Oh, oh. Not too much?

Not too much. Okay.

(gasping) No, that's...

You know what, that's kinda nice.

That's my first tortilla.

I'm gonna take a photo, I'm so excited.

That looks like it's gonna be dry.

Oh, come on! I don't know, it's too thin.

[Brad] We just started.

Yeah, that's too thin, I feel.

We're gonna cook it anyway because...

Vinny, we wanna see, we gonna test it out?

They're kinda like...

You ready?

Yeah, they're kinda...

Yeah, they're kinda like pancakes.

I don't like 'em, pancakes, too much.

You don't like a pancake? Not really,

but they're kinda like pancakes.

The first one's never really the best.

Okay, so this is the tester?

Yeah, you wanna just palm it and kinda just go.

Something like that where we're maybe a little too thin.

Maybe we should pop it in the fridge for a minute.

I think I just don't need to press that hard.

I think I figured it out.

Yeah, first one. Yeah.

Okay, so we put it up in the middle,

we put the fold. We put the blanket on.

'Cause we want a little...

I think the trick is that you don't even do it that much.

You don't.

Oh, mama. Okay.

See if you can just flop it and peel it with your finger,

and then just go right onto the griddle.

We'll cook that one just for the sake.

Boom, drop her.

Yeah, just let her cook,

and that's our little burner, you know?

We're only gonna get better.

Right.

Is my computer open?

Can you check maybe searching email?

This looks okay.

She ain't the worst, she ain't the best.

We're perfectly mediocre over here

at the old BA Test Kitchen.

No, no, we're gonna get there.

This thing's... No, this is good.

This thing's gonna melt your mountain, man.

This is the first one I've ever made.

We're gonna get good by the...

I think we even make fatter.

[Brad] A little fatter and smaller?

[Matty] Yeah, fatter and smaller almost like Guisados.

Yeah, alright. You know?

Have you been to Guisados? No, I haven't been anywhere.

No?

(upbeat music)

In L.A.?

I've never been to L.A.

Shut up.

I swear to God.

If you'd like to see us do a taco tour.

We should go to L.A.

I'm Brad, and if you'd like to see me and Matty

go to L.A. for a taco tour, BA fans, vote!

I've never been to L.A.

That's crazy.

I've never been south of San Francisco.

Where are you from?

New Jersey.

(laughing)

but you know... Short Hills.

No, Vernon. Vernon.

The pretty part.

Okay. Alright, oh, buddy.

So, this is Chef Brad's.

Look at Brad's.

Brad's is really nice.

Look at mine, horrible, and then you want to steam 'em.

[Brad] Yeah, let 'em hang out under that little towel.

And then the steam is actually what makes it...

Kinda fluff up, make it a little nice.

Oh, mama, oh, mama.

I tried to do... Look at mine.

Can I eat this? Yeah.

This is like a... Yeah, you earned it.

Do whatever you want with that.

I mean, they're not the best by themselves.

They're good though.

They're not bad.

It's the best taco you've ever had.

This is the greatest tortilla I've ever had in my life.

Look at that stack.

Vinny get in here, bud, you're missing the game.

You got that chubber down there hiding.

[Matty] Man, those are good.

Alright, so Vinny, let's go get the fish.

It's fish time, yeah?

It's fish time.

Let's take a walk to the old walk- in with me.

Walk.

Christopher Walken.

New Jersey!

This is my office.

This is it? Yeah.

That's nice, you got some acorns.

Oh, geeze Louise, turning the lights off.

Halibut, matters!

Matters, you already had that on there.

You already thought of that nickname.

Oh, for months.

What a crazy person. (laughing)

Vince, lock the door.

We finally have him!

You know it's sound proof in here.

Sex swing drops.

Yeah, so our buddies up from Juneau Alaskan Seafood.

I told them I was making some fish tacos.

He was like you gotta have the halibut.

I feel like even in Canada

a lot of people just use frozen tilapia.

Tilapia or sea bass, I mean,

I like to use what's in season and stuff,

but I tell you what?

Especially this way of frying it,

it just comes out like this. That's beautiful.

It just comes out like this beautiful ocean bomb.

I was very happy. Very nice.

Maybe we'll half this this way

and then cut... Perfect

'cause you don't want too much.

You don't want too... I hate tacos that are

these big donkey... Busting at the seams?

Yeah, I just like a perfect ratio of shell,

you want the tortilla, the filling.

It takes balance. Yeah, ratios.

Yeah, that's nice. Boom.

Alright, so we're gonna add some of these.

We'll start off with a small batch.

We'll add these boys.

Okay, hold on, hold on.

A little bit of salt.

Slow down, Brad.

Brad was getting a little excited, Brad was...

He was about to start just throwing fish in a dry ass corn..

Yeah, we're gonna. Okay.

And we're gonna throw 'em right in here.

Look at this. A little salt.

That's how you salt.

High and above.

Yeah, I learned that on the internet.

Chef, and if you season...

Down here, you only season one spot.

He called you a spot welder.

He called you a spot welder.

So, they'll go right into the corn like that.

Oh, that's fun.

I like that, it's pretty.

Put that on your cover, and you can be my vision.

Here, we'll go over here.

Alright, we're gonna crank this up a little bit.

I like to get it up to 400, Vince.

Yeah, easy, you know (mumbles)

I'm not doing... Easy, breezy, Covergirl.

Pretty much.

We'll take any sponsors we can get.

I'll take makeup, lipstick.

I've been saying it for a while, I wanna bring...

I know someone's probably doing it,

but comfortable dresses for men.

Yeah, I think they're just called dresses.

I think anyone can wear 'em.

Alright, into the oil.

Well, let me fire one in as a sampler.

Always gotta do a sampler.

You know, it's not a big piece of fish,

so you really want it up 400, 425, something like that.

So, it's gonna cook quick and you want that outside corn

to get a little golden, little golden nuggets.

Everything he's saying is true.

Truth.

[Brad] So you can see that nice goldenness.

[Matty] Do you want your seasoning?

No, we're not there. We're not there yet.

[Brad] I'm gonna drop all the rest of these bad boys in

since we achieved.

You wanna crank the heat right now

'cause you're gonna drop the temperature, right?

Yeah, exactly.

I already did that,

but you're right 'cause we're dropping a cold fish

into hot oil, and it does drop the temperature of the oil.

But these pieces are pretty small.

They're pretty small.

That oil's pretty hot, 400.

(whistles) We're gettin' there.

Don't put your ear in that. Anything.

Nope, and I got a story.

(elevator music)

That's nice. Yeah.

It's beautiful. It's pretty,

and here, we'll go right into this nice little bowl.

Boom, nice and golden.

Turn that down a skosh.

Oh, I did this ahead of time, guys,

but it's just some quick pickled onions.

There are some recipes on bonappetit.com.

Here's our little, our little baja banger seasoning.

Let it rain.

You know, they're like little freakin' fish sticks almost.

Look at them. They're nice.

Lil' nuggs. Lil' nuggs.

I'm excited, I'm so hungo.

Yeah, me too.

I didn't eat anything yet.

Oh, God, I'm breathing it.

Look at that.

Nice on the inside. Wow.

Can I try? Yeah, please do.

Oh my God. You know what?

Temperature could've even been a little hotter

and cooked a little less. Yeah.

That's still really good.

It's not bad, and wait until we jazz it up.

It's a little overcooked.

Do a couple samples always with your fish

before you go throwing...

You know, because it's not cheap, and nor should it be.

Do a sampler one.

Try to get your timing down, your temperature,

because everyone's situation's gonna be a little different,

let's face it, it's cooking, it's life.

A little smear of the cream first, right on there.

Just get a nice little pad.

Oh, look at that, Vinny.

A little bit of our little slaw we got here,

as much as you want, or don't if you want.

And then look, I could do a little bit

of red onion on there like that.

[Matty] A little radish?

[Brad] Yeah, a couple radishes, go crazy if you want,

and then just a little bop, bop, bop, bop,

and we'll give it a little dab of hot sauce.

Wow. Why not?

That one's for you.

[Matty] Is this mine, do I try this one?

[Brad] Yeah, I want you to eat it.

I'm gonna try this one.

Okay, here we go.

Here, I'll get you a napkin.

Wow.

What are we thinking?

It's perfect.

The fresh tortilla, the fattiness is getting it,

it's not too acidic with the pickled onion, the cabbage,

all the lime. Oh, I forgot one thing.

Here, save the last bite.

Oh my God. Watch your eyes.

Nothing's dripping. Nothing came out.

Nothing's coming out, oh!

Oh my God, I wanna make another one.

Can I make another one? Yeah, yeah.

This is so good.

I think I'm just...

I'm so hungry.

You know when you're really hungry

and you don't even know what's kinda really going on

and everything tastes so good?

I'm having that moment now.

Yeah, we told your manager make sure he doesn't eat

breakfast so that he's hungry.

I'm hungry. And then no matter

what we feed him, he'll say it's delicious.

How about the corn tortilla?

The corn tortilla, you know,

I'm always such a hater on corn tortillas.

I just don't think I've had the right ones.

These are amazing.

Actually, I've had a few really good tortillas.

I feel bad because I'm always like...

Just really good, fresh tortillas, you know?

They've gotta be fresh.

And you can put anything on 'em.

Cheers.

(groaning)

Cheersing food is so nice.

Mm, oh, Vinny, we gotta make you one.

Is that all we do now?

Are we done?

Thanks, Brad! Yeah, we made tacos.

It's Alive!

Oh, yeah, my book.

Hey, Brad, check out my book.

So, I wrote a cookbook.

It's about my life. Look at that handsome guy.

Yeah, that's me sitting at a table surrounded by food.

It's an idea.

Do you wanna look at it?

It's filled with recipes.

Oh, I see you stole my tortilla recipe.

Look at that.

(mumbling) (laughing)

Yeah, my kind of book.

The joke is, he's really...

It's just a diary.

You gotta fill it in.

You have to fill it in.

It's an emotional voyage for you, so buy a book.

Buy two.

(laughs) Great.

Well, that was a lot of fun.

Dude, thank you.

That's a good, good guy.

Good cook, great kitchen. Great guy, and we're going..

The view, New York City.

And, I mean, fish tacos,

while we're on this whole fish thing, noodling.

I wanna go noodling.

I wanna go noodling with this guy.

Let's go noodling.

We'll get that on there. Everyone, let's go noodlin'

Yeah, and that's it, bon appetit.

Bon appetit.

I can't believe you've never been to L.A.

That's what everyone says, people make fun of me.

That's a wild thing to...

How old are you? Uh...

So, literally all day everyone's just testing

and cooking stuff for the magazine.

Anything that's in that magazine

is made in this kitchen and shot?

It's made here, not always shot here.

Sometimes they shoot, you know, onsite or something.

Everything, I mean, Chris and these guys behind us,

that's all they do. Crazy.

I mean, that's not all they do, but they...

Every recipe gets cooked several times,

and then a fresh pair of eyes cross tests it

just to catch any last bugs. Right, crazy.

Okay, I'm gonna use this weird cleaver.

Why do you have a cleaver knife?

Is this what you use?

Yeah, that's the go to.

Jesus Christ. That thing's the best.

Wicked sharp edge.

Wicked sharp. I found it.

You found it?

Holds a wicked edge, it's thin.

What was that? It's the best.

Were you fileting?

Were you fileting? Yeah, you can do that,

it's like a bench scraper.

What a great knife.

Yeah, we'll see.

I love radishes.

It's the perfect food.

It is, yeah.

If I was on a desert island, it'd be a radish.

Oh, ice cold? Would be my last meal.

A little salt. No.

God (bleep).

(upbeat music)