- A viral TikTok showed a restaurant worker pouring water onto a dish to make it steam and sizzle.
- People reacted in shock and are tagging restaurant chain Chili's to ask if it, too, does this for its popular fajitas.
TikTokers are shocked after a viral video showed a restaurant cook pouring water over a carne asada dish to make it sizzle when it was brought out to the customer.
Masses of viewers are now upset because they assumed these dishes were sizzling because the food was still cooking. Some have started tagging other restaurants, like the fast-casual dining chain Chili's, to inquire whether it is also doing "artificial sizzle."
The original video, posted by the user @sallamibrahim24, has amassed over 2.5 million views since it was posted in late February. In the clip, a restaurant worker can be seen lightly dousing a steaming plate with water, which makes everything crackle and sends very visible streams of smoke swirling in the air.
@sallamibrahim24 #jordan #america #mexico #fyp ♬ original sound - Salamskiii
Many commenters were shocked to learn the secret behind creating this effect. "The fajitas were in fact never sizzling," one top comment with over 10,000 likes said. "So I can order fajitas without the extra razzle dazzle??" someone else added. (Many commenters assumed the dish was fajitas, however, the waiter in the clip can be heard calling it carne asada. Insider has reached out to @sallamibrahim24.)
Some people were so upset they said this video ruined their day.
"Bro just gave out a trade secret," said one viewer.
An even more popular video was made in response to the original clip last week. The user @scottsdayoff racked up over 7 million views by sharing himself reacting to the video with dismay.
"It's artificial sizzle. It's artificial sizzle," he repeated. "They just put water on the hot pan. It's not the food cooking when it comes to your table."
@scottysdaysoff #stitch with @sallamibrahim24 #fyp my lifes a lie. @chilisofficial ♬ original sound - Scotty
The creator of that video then tagged Chili's in the description to ask whether the company was also deploying this tactic.oops
Although Chili's hasn't commented on the video, and did not respond to Insider's request for comment, multiple people who claimed to be former Chili's employees shared their experience.
In a comment, one person said they were trained to put "sizzle sauce on the fajitas" before bringing it to customers. Another person said the water they used was a mixture of "soy sauce and fat" and alleged the pan isn't even hot to begin with — the food is put on a cast iron pan, heated, and then given the sauce.
People who claimed to be employees at other places like TGI Friday's and Denny's chimed in and said they were ordered to do something similar at their chains.
"It's true, at Dennys too they don't have sauce but will splash drops of water to make the skillets steam," one person wrote.
The comments on this second video have been ablaze with people saying their life up to this point has been a lie.
"How you gonna do this to me on a Friday fam," one viewer asked. @scottsdayoff responded, "I couldn't go through this pain alone."