Shadowing Practice: I Tested TikTok Recipes that SHOULD NOT EXIST! - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Today I'm testing TikTok recipes that either should not exist or look way too good to be true.
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I don't recommend it.
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2 out of 10.
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Because people keep taking perfectly normal food and pushing them way too far.
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And I need to find out if it's genius or a crime.
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Starting with this three ingredient, gas station slushie.
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Or you mean a slurpee?
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But it looks really easy.
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He just starts off with some ice, some lemon lime soda.
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I'm using poppy here.
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It kind of just eyeballs it until it like reaches half of the ice
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and I never knew how they achieved that delicious blue Raspberry flavor in the slurpee, but now I know because he uses jello flavor his which
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if you think about it kind of makes sense I think
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he just eyeballs a good amount of it into the blender and now he gives it a whirl
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It may have gotten stuck but that actually worked out quite well Well, somebody said so we don't need a ninja slushie.
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I don't know.
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I don't have one, but that'd be interesting to test There is a heat wave going on right now,
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and if this is actually good might be genius It's a little more icy than a slurpee,
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but it's not bad.
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It's a little bit on the Extra sweet side somebody said club soda is better than Sprite
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and makes it less sweet But somebody else said cherry jello
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and coke perfect combo that actually sounds like would be delicious
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But then somebody went and took your perfectly good blue slushie
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and topped it with Sour Patch Kids
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and I have to say sometimes over the top is not a bad thing
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because the sourness from the Sour Patch Kid is Exactly what this drink needed.
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I'm gonna have to say this was a genius recipe 8 out of 10.
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But keep watching because the recipes only become more unhinged from here.
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There's this viral new trend where people are putting salmon sashimi into a McDonald's Filet-O-Fish.
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I have a confession.
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I genuinely gagged when I saw this video, but yet here we are.
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Let's dissect the Filet-O-Fish first.
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Because in the video, her Filet-O-Fish had the perfect skincare bun.
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Mine has a few wrinkles on it, but hers is filled with tartar sauce.
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And looks like I got a glob too.
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But I think the reason why this video went so viral was
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because people were curious and wanted to know if raw fish would go with fried fish.
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I mean, there's so many things in life that you could be more curious about.
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Why this combination?
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Okay, she went in with like thick layers of sashimi here.
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So I'm going to cut mine in half.
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I'm using king salmon.
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Let's slice it into thick pieces with the world's sharpest knife.
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I'm not going to lie.
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My stomach hurts a little bit already.
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Let's layer it on.
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Usually I would dip my salmon sashimi in some soy sauce or ponzu or spicy mayo We just have tartar sauce.
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Somebody said I love both but together Absolutely not.
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I mean who thought of this?
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Why?
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Why?
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I'm sorry, but whoever said
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that this is a good combo is lying to you I feel like the Filet-O-Fish is pretty like greasy
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and just tastes fishy already, but add another layer of Sliminess on top of
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that you don't get to enjoy the full deliciousness of the sashimi
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That you would dip with some soy sauce and have with the warm rice instead you just get fried
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fishy Double fishy gunk.
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I don't recommend it two out of ten, but what are they gonna think of next?
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Caviar with chicken nuggets
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So flan is a beloved dessert across the world
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and my mom makes the best one in my opinion
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But this is the first time I've seen anybody make flan in the microwave Do you know what happens
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when you cook egg in the microwave?
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I don't know, but let's see
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if it works He says there's only three ingredients to this recipe
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and he says it only takes five minutes to prepare first
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He adds some sugar to his mug I think he said it has to be ceramic, but I have thick glass right here
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that hopefully won't crack We'll add a generous amount of sugar
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and then a teaspoon of water to make our caramel He puts it in the microwave
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and gets it to this nice beautiful amber color
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And this is where I'm also nervous because sugar can really burn in the microwave fast Oh my god!
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Oh no!
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Well at least amber was achieved.
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I still have PTSD from the last time I got burnt from hot sugar.
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I still have the scar to show for it.
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So we're not gonna try that again.
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We're gonna do it the right way.
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We're gonna do a stove top, molting sugar with water until it's nice and amber.
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Then I'm gonna pour it into my ceramic cup this time into my ceramic cup this time.
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We got this in about a minute.
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Wasn't that so much easier than the microwave?
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But I gotta work fast.
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Let's swirl it around.
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Look at that gloss.
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And now we can start assembling the flog.
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He starts with one egg.
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Ooh, that's a nice yolk.
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Some sugar, milk, vanilla, and now just mix it up.
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And then he just pours it straight into the caramel cup.
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I learned from my mom that you should strain it to get rid of the bubbles and the stringy egg white parts, but he just pours it right in, so I'm already skeptical.
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And now we pop it into the microwave again for 30 second increments, two to three times until it comes out nice and jiggly.
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We either get scrambled eggs or we get flan.
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After the first 30 seconds, it still looks super watery, so I had to put it back in for another 30.
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And I waited for a third time.
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And this is what it looks like after three intervals of 30 seconds.
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It got a little bit curdly, but then the inside is still super wet.
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I guess that's what he said it should look like.
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So all in all, it took me a minute and 30 seconds to get it to maybe overcook, maybe not, I don't know.
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But now we have to pop it in the fridge for one hour to let it cool down.
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Somebody said, I made it and left it to cool and my mom thought it was something rotten and threw it away.
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It's been an hour and our flan feels cold, but for some reason it still doesn't look like a flan.
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It doesn't look like it's set yet, so I just don't know.
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But it's time to do that satisfying flip reveal.
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Oh, we already have the caramel spilling out.
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But did it flan?
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Ewww!
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Well, I mean I guess part of it flaned.
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I think if I were to cook it any longer, the top would have been scrambled and the bottom might have set okay.
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But for the part that did cook, let's see what we got.
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It does look silky and have that jiggle.
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The top part is silky.
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It is beautiful.
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But the bottom part where the egg kind of overcooked, it's kind of, uh, hmm, scrambly if you know what I mean.
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All in all, an iconic dish like this made by your abuela
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or your benguai or your mom should be made with love, low and slow, with lots of care.
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Not something in the microwave as a shortcut, because this is what you get.
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Don't take it too far.
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3 out of 10.
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This next recipe is like true fruit taken way too far.
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It's a crunchy frozen raspberry mousse dessert pastry.
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It's a mouthful already.
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That looks like a raspberry, but it has different kind of layers inside.
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It's giving frozen yogurt clusters, but make it luxury.
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This also might be one of the harder recipes I've ever tried on this channel, so bear with me.
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But first, we're gonna start by cooking up our raspberries.
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She starts by adding some frozen raspberries into a saucepan, and then she sweetens it up with some sugar and lemon juice.
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Okay, now we're supposed to let it cook down for about five minutes until it becomes nice and jammy.
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Alright, our raspberries are looking good.
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And now she takes her immersion blender and blends it directly in the saucepan, but mine's kind of big and shallow And you already know what's gonna happen with that.
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So I'm gonna pour this into a measuring cup and do it that way
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And now she takes a strainer and passes the puree through it.
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We got to remove the seeds.
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Let me scrape off the bottom.
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This is like liquid gold Okay, but we're not quite done yet because now she mixes some gelatin with water,
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blooms it, and then mixes it into the raspberry puree.
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Somebody said this is the best video I've seen on this recipe.
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I guess somebody else said they tried it without gelatin and it just kind of got everywhere.
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So this stabilizes things.
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But now she pours the raspberry puree into a mold.
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I'm using these little hearts here because I feel like it would be such a sweet surprise.
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No big deal if it gets everywhere.
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Just wipe it off.
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Now all we have to do is freeze it for one to two hours and let it firm up.
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And now we work on the mousse.
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She starts by pouring some white chocolate into a cup and melts it.
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I'm gonna melt mine in the microwave for two 30-second increments.
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Halfway through, I like to give it a quick stir so nothing burns.
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Let me check if our white chocolate is good.
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Oh, yeah.
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Definitely mixable.
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Now she pours in more raspberry puree and some gelatin.
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The tin mixes everything up until it's nice and liquidy.
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And I'm praying my white chocolate does not seize.
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And I think we're good.
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Oh yes.
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Oh, thank goodness.
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I was nervous for a second there because white chocolate burns, seizes, doesn't play well with others.
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It's just temperamental.
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But I'm happy this worked out.
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Okay, now to finish off our mousse, we're gonna whip up some heavy cream.
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It looks like we're almost there.
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I have to get it to pretty stiff peaks, but not quite butter. And we're good.
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Somebody asked, what?
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No powdered sugar in your whipped cream?
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Well, technically you don't need it because there's already white chocolate and that raspberry puree in here.
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So I think it'll be good and sweet enough.
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Now just mix it in until it's still nice and fluffy.
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Okay, our mousse is done.
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And now we're going to fill it into these realistic giant raspberry molds.
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But first, I have to fill my piping bag.
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Our mousse is looking so fluffy.
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I'm honestly so tempted to just take a swipe and see how this tastes, but I'm gonna wait.
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We're gonna pipe it in halfway and then
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give it a couple of taps to smooth everything out cause remember our frozen hearts from earlier?
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Well, it's time for them to go into the mold.
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Oh, look how pretty it is.
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Just stick it right in, kind of tuck it in there.
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Oh, I love how this looks.
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And then she continues filling it all the way, except somebody said, where's the cake filling?
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I've seen some with cake fillings before and that got me so curious because I love cake.
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So we're going to do half with cake and half without.
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I'm just going to tuck my cake nicely inside.
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Okay now I just need to make sure to fill the rest of the way with cream
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and make sure there's no air bubbles.
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Give it a couple more taps to smooth out
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and now back into the freezer it goes except we're going to freeze it overnight and finish the rest later.
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I like pickles as much as the next person but this is a loaded pickle dip that this creator promises.
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You'll get a kiss from your favorite aunt and
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if you don't end up liking this dip he'll give you
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And apparently a lot of people on TikTok really want his cat because it went super viral.
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But what if you don't like cats?
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Anyways, this pickle dip looks completely over the top, so let's try it.
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Okay, so let's start by chopping up all the materials.
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First things first, since it's a pickle dip, I need almost two cups of chopped pickles.
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I'm guessing two cups is probably like two whole pickles.
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I might end up with a love-hate relationship with pickles after this.
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Let's get it nice and minced.
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Then we'll chop up some dill to make it even more pickly.
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Shallots, crumble up some bacon, and shred some cheese.
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Somebody asked, what if I don't even like dill pickles?
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I mean, I'd say this recipe probably isn't for you.
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This is starting to remind me of what a potato salad would be like, except there's no potatoes.
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Somebody in the comments says cheese should not belong in this recipe, and I do feel like there's a lot going on, but we'll see about that.
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We got our last bit here, and now let's load up our pickle dip.
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He starts by adding a lot of creamy things into a bowl.
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We have Greek yogurt, sour cream, and cream cheese.
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Then he tosses in our chopped pickles.
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Ooh, it's juicy.
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The crumbled bacon, some dill, the shallots, and then for seasoning.
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And then I guess he likes it spicy because he's about to drop in some red hot chili peppers.
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That's enough.
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Now I'll drop in our shredded cheese, some more hot sauce, and a packet of ranch dressing.
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So now we have like a loaded potato ranch pickle dip.
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There's a lot going on and I hope this mixes well.
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That is a lot creamier than I thought it would be, but it actually looks pretty good.
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He then dips it with some crackers.
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I've got my Ritz crackers here.
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We'll get a nice big scoop.
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There's a lot going on.
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It's dilly, it's salty.
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The cheese gives it a nice like softer texture, but I don't think the crackers are quite crunchy enough.
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So I'm gonna take your crackers and raise you dill pickle chips.
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Now that's what I call a dip me daddy.
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But your aunt can keep her kiss and you can keep her cat too.
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I'm gonna give this dip a 7 out of 10.
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Apparently this next dish is called ginger smashes milk.
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It's literally just ginger juice mixed with some hot milk and it solidifies into a custard.
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I saw the video and I watched it happen, but I still don't fully believe it.
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So I have to try it for myself.
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Okay, so she starts by cleaning and peeling her ginger.
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I've already cleaned this, so now I'm just gonna peel it with a spoon.
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The skin just scratches right off.
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Now I'm just gonna take my grater and just grate the ginger straight into a bowl.
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Somebody said, can I just use bottled ginger juice?
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To which the creator said, it only works with fresh ginger.
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The enzymes get destroyed the second you heat or process it.
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So if you're thinking about using bottled, don't.
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I don't really see any juice here.
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It's just ginger clumps.
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Is this gonna work?
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I'm supposed to make enough to get one tablespoon's worth of juice, but this is looking pretty dry.
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Need to grate some more.
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Now she takes the ginger meat and then she pushes it through a sieve which extracts more juice.
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We have juice.
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Looks can be deceiving.
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It looked bone dry, but look how much liquid I got out of it.
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Okay, I've got my ginger juice.
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Now let's warm up our milk.
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The creator said this is supposed to be a heartwarming dessert except somebody else said, I made this a month ago.
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Yeah, it was bitter.
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It was not pudding or dessert.
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It was just bitter.
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So I'm thinking we should add a little bit of sugar.
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And then we'll heat it up to 165 degrees.
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All right, it's ready.
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And now we just pour the hot milk directly into the ginger juice, cover it, and let it sit for eight minutes minutes.
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Now if you're like me and still wondering how ginger juice and hot milk can actually solidify, I think we need a call in professor Zong.
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Attention class!
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The way that this works is
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that the enzymes from the ginger reacts with the milk proteins and causes it to solidify on its own.
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It's not black magic, it's science, and now you know.
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And it's done.
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I don't know it still looks the same It's not even watery to me.
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But she says to see if it really works, you have to pass the spoon test.
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Let's see if we made some magic or not.
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It worked!
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Oh my gosh!
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That is crazy!
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It looks somewhere in between like tofu and panna cotta, but she says it's supposed to melt in your mouth.
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So now, let's see how it tastes.
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It looks sort of like yogurt.
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That's jiggly I don't know how to explain it, but is it gonna be bitter?
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Cheers Wait, that is so comforting.
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It's not bitter at all It's a little bit spicy from the ginger
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and the milk honestly reminds me more of like silken tofu or or runny jelly more than anything,
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but it's delicious and I made some magic today.
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Eight out of 10.
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It's the next day and our raspberry mousse should be set by now, but our next step is to make our candy coating.
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She uses a mixture of cocoa butter and other stuff, but we have candy melts.
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And just so it's not so intensely red, I'm gonna add some white in there too.
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Let's melt it.
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All right, our candy melt is nice and loose.
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Our raspberry is firm.
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Let's unmold it.
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I'm gonna do one with cake and one without.
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I'm hoping this isn't gonna be too difficult for me.
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Oh, my air bubbles did not cover the whole thing.
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So there's like little imperfections, but that's okay.
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Now she sticks in a skewer and dips it right into the chocolate.
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I wanna be able to see the raspberry outline.
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So I'm just gonna tap off the excess.
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Cause the best part about these crunchy pastries Is that they look so realistic.
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But my first try is not looking so hot.
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Because our mousse is frozen, it freezes so fast.
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Okay, I have one more to dip.
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So I'm going to put this one right here.
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Okay, let's try my luck with this one.
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Pull it out.
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Oh.
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We're seeing those bumpy little shell that you should from a raspberry.
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Yes.
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But I still can't get it quite smooth.
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Okay, I love cake.
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So I have to try that one first.
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Let me remove it from the stick and just so you guys can see what it looks like inside.
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I'm gonna cut it This looks so good.
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Oh my gosh, it's so professional.
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I can't believe I did that.
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Now.
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Let's see how it tastes
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I just got to the jelly center
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and it almost just like melts in your mouth
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And there's like a nice tang to it the crunch from the shell and then the cake is it that like softness.
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Now I understand why this went so viral, but you know why else it went so viral?
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Because people can do this and break it apart. So satisfying.
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Mmm.
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That was a lot of work to make this, but it's so good.
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10 out of 10.
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This next one might just be one of the most over-the-top things I've ever seen.
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Of course, we've seen butter boards, butter candles, and now someone decided to make chocolate candles.
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It could be a genius idea actually.
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So of course I had to go and buy all the candle making tools to make this.
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She uses a cup so that's fine.
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But first things first, let's melt our chocolate.
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I think she only used milk chocolate, but since I have it from our last video, let's use a combination of milk chocolate and white.
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She starts by pouring her chocolate into a cup with the little wick at the bottom.
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Everybody in the comments was getting so mad that you're gonna be eating wax from the wick, but somebody said, Y'all worried about little wax?
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Meanwhile as kids we had these.
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It doesn't look quite full enough.
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I might do a little bit of a layered situation later.
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But let me go ahead and set the wick through this tool.
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Let it stand on its own while we work on the most interesting part of this recipe.
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The animals.
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She unmolded this chocolate rabbit and it looked so cute.
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And since I already have these little bears, I'm gonna do the same.
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But now how do you get the wick to go through?
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I did a little bit of research and found
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that people use this little tool to poke a hole and thread the wick right through.
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Okay, I've successfully threaded it and now let me go ahead and put it in a cup to stabilize the bears.
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And then we pour.
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I might not have enough chocolate to make two bears.
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Well, since I have this much left, might as well fill the cup up.
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It'll be the prettiest two-tone chocolate candle you've ever seen.
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Our candle feels nice and firm and looks pretty set.
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So let me go ahead and remove the paper.
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It actually looks so cool.
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Oh my gosh.
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This looks like a pudding cup.
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Let me cut the wick.
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What?
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This is actually insane.
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Now let me unmold the bear.
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Careful not to break him.
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This one is a lot harder than the cup.
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No. I think I broke his head off.
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Ugh.
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I finally managed to get him out, but that'll be our little secret.
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Let me place them down here.
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Light these candles up and see if they're good for dipping or just here for the looks.
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And by the way, if you're wondering, I found these organic beeswax wicks that apparently just melts right onto the chocolate.
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So once the wax part touches the chocolate, it burns out.
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It doesn't keep burning!
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I was scared.
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Nooooooooooo Wait a minute.
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All that for nothing?
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I was scammed.
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The chocolate candle looks good though.
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2 out of 10.
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But if you like this video YouTube thinks you'll like this one too.
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See you next time.
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Bye
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “I Tested TikTok Recipes that SHOULD NOT EXIST!”. This video has 371 sentences and 3841 words to shadow. The speech runs for 21:27. The speaker talks at a natural 179 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ginger noun | /ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚ/ | The pungent aromatic rhizome of a tropical Asian herb, Zingiber officinale, used as a spice and as a stimulant and acarminative. |
| pickle noun | /ˈpɪkəl/ | A cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup. |
| pour verb | /poɹ/ | To cause (liquid, or liquid-like substance) to flow in a stream, either out of a container or into it. |
| melt verb | /mɛlt/ | To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat. |
| microwave noun | /ˈmaɪkɹoʊˌweɪv/ | An electromagnetic wave with wavelength between that of infrared light and radio waves. |
| mousse noun | /muːs/ | An airy pudding served chilled, particularly chocolate mousse. |
| candle noun | /ˈkæn.dəl/ | A light source consisting of a wick embedded in a solid, flammable substance such as wax, tallow, or paraffin. |
| freeze verb | /ˈfɹiːz/ | Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature. |
| flan noun | /flɑn/ | A baked tart with a sweet or savoury filling in an open-topped pastry case. |
| wick noun | /ˈwɪk/ | A braid or bundle of fibre or other porous material (now generally twisted or woven cotton) in a candle, kerosene heater, oil lamp, etc., that draws up a… |
| puree noun | /ˈpjʊəɹeɪ/ | A food that has been ground or crushed into a thick liquid or paste. |
| viral adjective | /ˈvaɪɹəl/ | Of or relating to a biological virus. |
| cracker noun | /ˈkɹækə(ɹ)/ | A dry, thin, crispy baked bread (usually salty or savoury, but sometimes sweet, as in the case of graham crackers and animal crackers). |
| dill noun | /dɪl/ | Anethum graveolens (the type species of the genus Anethum), a herb, the seeds of which are moderately warming, pungent, and aromatic, formerly used as a… |
| sashimi noun | /səˈʃiːmi/ | A dish consisting of thin slices or pieces of raw fish or meat. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
| burn out verb | To destroy by fire. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| cool down verb | /kuːl ˈdaʊn/ | To become cooler; to be reduced in temperature. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| finish off verb | To finish completely. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'm not going to lie.
- I mean who thought of this?
- No powdered sugar in your whipped cream?
- Somebody asked, what if I don't even like dill pickles?
- Somebody said, can I just use bottled ginger juice?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if raw fish would go |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is filled · was achieved · have been scrambled |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've seen · I've ever tried · I've already cleaned |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 136 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, gonna, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: sashimi /səˈʃiːmi/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, shallot /ˈʃælət/, confession /kənˈfɛʃən/, shallow /ˈʃæloʊ/
- Long words — get the stress right: solidify /səˈlɪdɪˌfaɪ/, ingredient /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/, technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like ginger, pickle, pour.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.