UNFORGETTABLE Meals from Seasons 2 & 3 | Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern | Travel Channel

Join us as we revisit our favorite meals from Seasons 2 and 3 of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. Experience the exotic flavors as Andrew tries delicacies like snake penis in Beijing, Iceland’s infamous rotten shark, and Japan’s unique mayonnaise fondue. Delight in the unexpected with dishes such as chicken-fried squirrel in Appalachia and the adventurous pig brain soup in Bangkok. Which one of these foods would you try?

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UNFORGETTABLE Meals from Seasons 2 & 3 | Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern | Travel Channel

China’s economic upswing has ushered in a new affluence that’s cut loose deeper culinary experimentation and in the heart of a major metro area that’s world famous for its exotic Cuisine the menu at gu leang is unusual even by Beijing standards Joy kue is a Beijing native and as an international business consultant she takes visiting clients to the most intriguing places right away I can tell that guiang is not your everyday eery first of all there’s no public dining area here just a small number of private rooms the Chinese associate privacy with Prestige however the Mystique here has more to do with the food guiang is said to be the world’s first penis restaurant wow interesting you can sort of tell what kind of restaurant it is by the artwork the Chinese believe that the penis holds a especially concentrated nutritional benefits there’s more than 30 different varieties offered here from deer and sheep to ox and seal don’t look too excited Joy no I’m really thrilled you are I am i’ I’ve never look there are lots of restaurants in the world that have one or two penis dishes on the menu but I’ve never been in a restaurant that specializes in only so you know how many times are we going to have this opportunity many of the dishes are thought to have specific benefits snake penis is supposed to be good for the kidneys it’s served whole as part of a fish soup this is snake yeah for sure I got to tell you yeah the snake penis is much uh softer and less fibrous than I thought it would be mine is bigger why not at all not at all it’s much bigger than yours you’re right it’s very true maybe there’s try the other one the other one is little it’s very good for your kidneys and for your skin it has bones not really that’s what I was talking about when I said it’s a little Twiggy there’s very small it’s it’s kind of like the way the ears have bones you know just very gentle in there the penis dishes are cooked to order next we’re trying deer penis sliced and fried nice very the sauce is fantastic mhm the penis is extremely chewy very chewy but it it almost has a very neutral flavor MH like cartilage like tendon I’ll have another bite if you try it cheers mhm it’s good yeah not bad you got to work at it this is very fresh yeah it’s not gy at all mhm not bad some of the items are prepared tableside our server fills this hot pot with tor ttis seahorse and herbs then she adds a variety of penises that will cook in just a few minutes ah enjoy it all right try the yak penis oh that one is so chewy mhm and this is just melts in your mouth Yak is delicate tender and very lean I like the yak penis best of all because it actually tastes tastes like something this tastes um almost beefy I would have thought that it was a a steer or bulls penis M Guang is unconventional by Western standards and I’m not convinced these restaurants will be the next Food phenomenon to circle the world but it’s a Beijing experience that’s not to be missed you know the old saying when in Rome well when in Iceland you do as the Vikings do which means you head towards the sea where icelanders eat a vile and revolting dish known as hakar simply put it’s rotten shark I’m told eating it without gagging separates the men from the boys the largest farm where hak car is produced is located an intentional 3 hours from breuck producers aren’t allowed anywhere near civilization because the smell is so foul people are known to get violently sick just from the stench take a look at the hild de brander Farm talk about picturesk but the beauty takes a backseat to the overriding agitation to your old factory senses I know know in an instant where the putrified shark is kept an old wooden Hut up the road hakarl is made from the greenlandic shark which is one of the few sharks able to live in cold Atlantic Waters here they say the meat is poisonous when fresh because of the shark high level of ureic acid those who attempt to eat the meat too soon have been known to vomit blood Iceland’s ancestors spent years trying to figure out how to treat the meat so that it can be eaten their solution let it rck goodan Hilder brander runs the family hako business so the fish comes out of the water and it comes to you yeah you don’t just keep it here on the no we don’t keep it here uh well we just cut it simar like normal fish and we cut it in 5 or 10 kilos pieces and put it in special wooden boxes for fermentation for 6 to 8 weeks wow and then what happens then we hang the pieces up for for drying can we see it in the boxes no I’m sorry you can’t why not well there has to be a secret I appreciate that can we see it in the drwing room yeah yeah we can pick a look okay all right holy moly this is incredible my God hanging from the rafters are 60 sharks all cut up in pieces like they were ham Shanks each chunk that you see here is three times smaller than its original size the meat naturally shrinks during the fermentation process making it easier for gujan to cut and hang each slab they’ll hang here for at least two to three months before eating the skin looks like it would just rip you open if you touched it it’s so sharp yeah it’s very sharp and in the old days they could they used it like for sandpaper they tried to use everything in back then I have to admit hakara looks edible but there’s something about unrefrigerated meat hanging on hooks unprotected from the elements that make makes me a little wey it smells like something died yeah yeah I’m going to bring you a very good piece I like mine medium rare and not too oily okay that’s no problem it’s very accommodating these icelanders we have a very very good one here oh yeah I was eyeing that piece before wow beautiful piece that is stunny do you need me to grab a piece of fence to put it on no that’s okay yeah you’re all right yeah I just he just going to nail it up or something yeah maybe we’ll just put it up here oh yeah there you go and uh see nice one and smell it oh my gosh it doesn’t it smells like ammonia yeah do you want one sure the smell is a little intimidating yeah yeah oh boy you are you are one ballsy dude okay how is it tastes much better than it smells that smell reminds me of some of the most horrific things I’ve ever breathed in my life but the taste of it is sweet it’s nutty and it’s only faintly fishy I’ll take another piece another one oh yeah yeah yeah yeah no problem it’s very healthy this is very good for your stomach a lot of people eat it like for their for their health psychologically you’re predisposed not to want to eat it it just seems more dangerous now but I I trust you you’re the expert’s expert oh that’s hardcore that’s serious food I don’t want to mess with that that’s not for beginners oh my gosh if rotted shark meat is an Icelandic initiation I think I’ve passed the test I like this kind of stuff yeah yeah ooh so ah fresh sheep’s blood purchased directly from the slaughter house this morning now this is rootsy food at its best nice okay we’re making something called Slaughter get it Slaughter Slaughter the blood is the first thing that needs to be dealt with right away after the animal is killed or you can’t preserve it first we strain and measure a liter of the blood it’s there fine one liter beautiful then add a couple of cups of cold water and a tablespoon or two of sea salt slau house M half of this mhm mix a little now I know what you’re thinking but this is going to be worth the Gory trouble slur dates back to this country’s origin some know it as blood or black pudding in my opinion not enough families are passing on these treasured recipes nice color beautiful the next crucial ingredient carefully measured Rye flour do the kids eat it yeah they love it of course all the kids love it kids love Slaughter yeah who wouldn’t Dada mixes the blood batter with her hands to eliminate lumps all the time adding oats and more Rye flour until it’s the perfect paste then chunks of fresh white pink fat also right from the slaughterhouse so you’re the chef so you get the honors all right how small do you want it that depends on if you’re old school or new school mhm so if you’re modern person you want it very small so you don’t see the cloths or the fat M but like my husband he likes it you know big just the way his mom made it this is Icelandic comfort food I was always told that never mix it with anything else than your hands well you know the hands are the best tools that you have in the kitchen without a doubt they’re the most useful they never wear out you never have to replace them as long as you’re careful with your knife like all slaughter experts she uses the lining of the Sheep’s stomach to hold the mixture together as it Cooks the lining is cut into various Siz pieces and sewn into sock likee pouches you can see they’re not all this same shapes oh yeah very nice yep that’s a that’s a some sort of uh trapezoid sort of odd thing this one is cut into the shape of Bolivia I like that oh check this one out it’s Iceland each stomach is filled up about halfway because the slaughter will swell from the grains and the oats that are in the mix we SE the ends with twine and then boil them for almost an hour all right dada’s recipe has been handed down since the 30s and as a child dada and her family’s neighbors made enough Slaughter in a weekend to last the entire winter Frankenstein food all stitched up nowhere to go but in my stomach see your husband would approved Pro of that because there’s the nice big pieces of fat delightful Cheers Cheers oh this is not so much a blood pudding as it is sort of like a blood cake it tastes spongy like a steamed sweet pudding but with blood and fat and not a lot else going on in there I’m thinking the next time I make this I do a little minced onion a little I like the raisin idea too this is delicious this is delicious you can taste the blood irony deep minerally the texture is funky too it’s chewy it’s much more like a a dense cake than I thought it would be Drive less than an hour outside laaz Bolivia and you’ll see dramatic views of the Andes the longest mountain range on the planet just above the city is another geographical wonder the altiplano or High Plain the climate here is unusually chilly and temperatures dip to near freezing almost every night making it the perfect climate for one of my favorite foods the [Music] potato Bolivia is the birthplace of the potato the naughty root vegetable grows well in the extreme dry and varied Andy’s climate and as a result it holds a revered place in Bolivian Cuisine people here are obsessed with it and believe it or not the version everyone loves to eat isn’t even fresh they call it the chuno a naturally freeze-dried potato that looks like something most of us would throw away but chuno are big business in this country and to find out more I’m going straight to the source my guide Haim Teran is a friend of the Torres family they’re fourth generation potato Farmers out here on the altap Plano it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a three burer stove that’s completely fired by animal dung but I guess yeah very few trees around here you got to use any fuel you can and they’re very common here yeah oh sure emario his wife and 11 kids live self-sufficiently on about 10 acres the entire family works the farm and they all dwell in the same building where they store their potatoes and house their livestock no potato goes to waste some of them are used for seed some are eaten as anyone would eat potatoes or sold in the market but others are kept around around and they make chos with them okay okay now making chos is a strange process as are the results he’s going to make you work now oh that’s good that’s good I’m up for that assuming I don’t break his Bridge yeah they after you the first step in the process is to let the potatoes freeze overnight then they thought when the sun comes out the next day then freeze the next night then thaw the next day then freeze the next night then they’re peeled they’re dried and voila you’ve got chos do you want to work me see sure you been Stomp the potatoes yeah yeah yeah it’s common practice to wash your feet before mashing we’re going to eat these ones after all ask him how much he weighs 47 Kos 47 kilos I weigh twice what he does yeah so I’m going to be a really good stomper all right ooh they’re soft rotten and warm that’s one of the more disgusting things I’ve ever felt in my life by the way yeah yeah he you’re a little overweight you’re you’re stomping them too much you have to try you have to try to peel them off not not Crush them down oh it’s not you’re killing the potatoes he says like oh I didn’t get the point Oh I thought I was supposed to do that oh okay I’ll tread lighter the goal is to gently remove the skin from the potatoes but how come his aren’t squished you’re not doing it with sentiment he’s he’s loving the potatoes that’s why he it takes longer for him look at that this my friend is a perfectly prepared chuno these batches of tots need to freeze and dry for one more night in the cold before they’re ready to eat but emario has some others that we can taste right now their heart is rocks a sign of an edible chuno and if we find other things in this Dirt Pile well that’s okay now do we leave the rabbit behind or do does that go in the soup too it’s like a like a pee oh right I mean cuz I don’t mind yeah because chos are so hard they’re often added to soups or stews that soup smells so good it is good yeah it’s very good do you put some tun in the this soup also contains farm fresh carrots fava beans peas and llama jerky graas the flavor is just incomparable there is a a slightly ripe flavor that comes from the Machado dunos now that could also be the gaminess of the D Lama the sweetness you can taste the carrot in the soup and the peas and the lavas totally I need about 10 more bowls of this this is fantastic much Gracias my friend much gracias this thank you so much for having us into your home that’s the that’s the way we people are here in the country oh my gosh you’re always welcome oh much gracias muchas graas as only the Japanese can do with all of their wacky food creativity I’m sitting in a restaurant that specializes in mayonnaise there’s mayonnaise in every dish there are trendy young Tokyo dwellers who’ve developed a passion for mayonnaise they call themselves mayora meaning the Mayo folk they keep this place in business me I’m just here doing my job right here mayonnaise fondue a boiling vat a cauldron if you will of hot broken oily eggy mayonnaise oh Lord no that’s just wrong perhaps some delicious baked potato with [Music] mayonnaise at least that makes sense flavor-wise I mean fat and potatoes it works this is just fat and fat mayonnaise does work pretty well with some things like this sausage made of groundup chicken cartilage I would like to continue to eat more of that but I don’t want my mayonnaise milkshake to get too warm if anyone wants to try this at home oh my gosh you just throw ice cubes in the blender along with two scoops of vanilla and two scoops of mayonnaise and it tastes like surprise cold sweet mayonnaise wow here’s the thing I’m not really sure that there’s a mayonnaise restaurant that’s coming to the mall near you but if there is run away run away very very quickly this is nbu matsuhisa who began as a sushi chef right here in Tokyo and built an Empire of 19 restaurants worldwide nobu’s restaurants always create a feeling of cool modern Elegance but here he’s got access to Seafood ingredients you just don’t find in many other places including something I’ve never even seen before egg it’s a bitt on the octopus inside mhm the octopus egg is really a translucent sack holding thousands of tiny octopus so small they can barely be seen by the naked eye noou starts by cutting away the outer membrane very carefully if you cut the whole thing apart you’d have a million little floating dots in there exactly the octopus egg simmers in a mix of fish stock and soy sauce once it’s cooked the solidified eggs inside look a little bit like cauliflower but in your mouth it’s got a texture like nothing I’ve ever eaten oh my God the texture there it’s so creamy on the inside then the outside the eggs are grainy it’s beautiful see you still the two different kind outside the and it works really nicely with the broth very very light cuz otherwise you wouldn’t taste the octopus which has a a creamy richness almost like a sweet breads and I’ve had C cucumber before but I’ve never seen anyone harvest the eggs nou combines the ovaries and eggs from 120 seat cucumbers into one precious slice of solid cucumber egg jerky I didn’t even know that existed and it’s almost like there’s almost a fruity quality to it sweet that’s amazing see when when you eat something like this when I taste something like that I’m always amazed at how great the food world is that’s what exciting to me about food not all the ingredients have to be unusual but they do have to be fresh it’s common for Animals here to give up their lives just moments before they’re turned into food and that creates opportunities like this Chaser of freshly drained Turtle blood cut with a little saki or apple juice if you’re so inclined fantastic see it’s the fresh one doesn’t smell the BL no not at all and it’s you know mixed with the juice or the saki it works out really well Cheers Cheers that’s nice I’ll I’ll tell you something I know it sounds crazy but the more that you drink blood the less um unusual it becomes and the more you realize that there’s different flavors reptile blood’s very clean it’s very you know it doesn’t not a lot of hemoglobin and it’s not as minerally as doesn’t smell d right just smells mhm and they very clean too yeah Lake bwa is Japan’s largest Lake and it’s home to the FAA a rare species of carp that’s used to make a prized local delicacy the FAA are transformed into something called funazushi and it can take 3 to 5 years to fully mature it the town of nagahama on the North shore of Lake bwa is the only place in the world where they make it with toshio hanoka as my guide I’m here to see a process that hasn’t changed in oh about 400 years and it all starts at the local Hatchery are these Fish Fresh a little little fish farming humor each fish is cleaned and then gutted through the gills without cutting into the fish that’s because every fish used for funazushi carries an egg sack and you want to keep the eggs inside and intact to add to the flavor of the final product a handful of salt and this fish is ready for the next phase that that happens here at [Music] kiten atsushi kitamura represents the 18th generation of funazushi makers in his family when You2 I’m honored to be here this is so cool this place has been making and selling funazushi since 1619 The Salted funa goes into huge wooden barrels the same ones used for hundreds of years along with the fish go layer after layer of rice mixed with vinegar once the fish and the rice go into a barrel they stay there for any place from 1 to 4 years so when that lid finally comes off well you can imagine the smell ooh then again maybe you can’t imagine It come on sometimes food is so weird you just got yeah I mean that is that has got some stink going smell that it smells rotten but the stink is really created by microbes in that fermented rice that prevent the fish from spoiling 99% of that smell is not dried salted fish it’s fermented rice it’s the vegetable matter that’s decomposing around that fish fish and after as much as 4 years in a barrel this fushi is still not done how long is it dry in the sun on the closed line it’s about 3 hours 3 hours drying in the hot sun then back into the barrel with more rice for at least another year and then it’s ready to be eaten yes it’s ready to eat wow wow that my friend is slow food all that time and labor make this a rare dish the Japanese emperor came and bought funazushi from this family last year today a single prepared fish costs 5,000 yen about $50 that’s one reason fewer Japanese are eating it as well as a stink that could peel paint off the walls well okay you ready yeah okay you sure about this okay turns out toshio like most younger Japanese has never even tried fuzu appreciate well thank you very much I appreciate you taking me here I love problem let’s see 5-year-old fish what do you think it’s pretty nasty do you like it um it’s not so bad it’s better than I thought you’re being nice better than I thought yeah I thought it’s very harsh e that’s very I mean you’re you’re almost you’re miserable right now you can see it on your face um I I I’ll have this uh that’s that’s all right I understand this is probably one of the foulest tasting things I’ve ever eaten and I’ve eaten some really foul tasting stuff um that doesn’t mean it’s not highly refined or Specialized or that their art form or their tradition is any less important I mean this is 5-year-old fish that’s never refrigerator I’ve never tasted anything like this before Brian is doing the cooking today at the Ember restaurant at the Snowshoe Mountain Resort and the most common squirrel dinner is chicken fried squirrel you soak the squirrel overnight in salted water to purge any off flavors and blood from the meat dip it in buttermilk and egg and dredge it in seasoned flour now this is pretty much everything but the head correct and you’re frying in large we’re we’re frying in bacon fat bacon yes growing up we just kept bacon grease on the stove that’s a jar of it on the stove and you use that for everything yeah but this is a kitchen where Mountain tradition mixes with Hot Cuisine what is this roast of squirrel sort of a COC of squirrel of Vin you know oh yeah oh that is red wine heaven and it gets even fancier this is a block of tahan sea salt heated to 600° it’s used for searing squirrel meat on skewers that’s fantastic the oceanic flavor from the salt is absorbed by the meat as it Cooks on the hot slab yeah you know we do it here at the restaurant too and and you just gives a guest the opportunity to play with her food you know yeah people love that absolutely and with that we’re ready to eat Brian’s invited a few friends to share the squirrel Feast the setting shows the inexorable flow of Appalachian culture the enduring Legacy of a hard scrap past finding its place in the more sophisticated settings of Modern Life Would you pass me the uh squirrel o that’s in front of you that’s roasted squirrel brazed in red wine with whole mustard and vegetables so well this is very French and elegant yes it’s super lean it’s really good for you I mean look at that meat there it’s like a cross between you know duck and pork and here’s the chicken fried squirrel the meat tastes like pork shoulder that’s extraordinary crisp on the outside tender on the inside delicious I need another leg oh yeah that’s oldfashioned Appalachia this is more Apple Asian now this is dramatic because I got news for you our ancestors did not do it this way this is genius it’s so good sweet and salty I mean that’s the best combo mhm and Le we forget there’s still the squirrel brains lucky for me I’m an experienced skull cracker here’s a little skull right and you can see there’s almost like a little marker that that little high brow area there if you grab it from around the ocular socket you can just peel those away and then what’s sitting right there is the brain do it do it do it I want to see M crunchy soft and creamy the brains are delicious very creamy more tastes more like Cals liver than anything else the larger animals I mean a swine brain really tastes like pork you know a lamb brain really tastes like lamb right these are very mild and really really nice small Mountain game viddles are an enduring tradition here and so is the pasti of a close-nit community and great music along with the occasional sip of the legendary Mountain treat real home brw moonshine May those that love us love us and those that don’t may you twist their ankle so we’ll know them by their [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] limping when you roll into Shelby North Carolina it looks like hundreds of other towns dotting Appalachia treelined traditional unhurried but this North Carolina town of 20,000 has one thing entirely its own it’s a food they invented and love to celebrate and that’s why I’m here excuse me I’m looking for the Shelby liver mush [Music] Festival every year Shelby celebrates the local delicacy with that indelicate name don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of it once you get to the Cleveland County Line it pretty much disappears but inside the county line it’s everywhere stores restaurants if you do business in Shelby you better be able to serve liver mush I got to say it doesn’t look like much to celebrate this is Shelby’s mayor Ted Alexander is patient with my ignorance of the Finer Things in life it it’s it’s so versatile it’s the world’s one of the world’s most versatile food so you can have it like on a sandwich some people just take it right off the block and eat it without cooking it some people will fry it up real crispy sometimes it’s little thin you can eat it for breakfast you can eat it for lunch you can eat it for dinner any meal you basically you could have liver mush okay but that still doesn’t tell us what it is for that the mayor takes me to auras the only place in town where they still know how to make liver mush by hand instead of mass producing it the owner and liver mush maker extraordinaire is Irwin price the process was to use everything on the hot so you used the head the skin the fat that was left over in the livers to make something that could be edible for us around here right after the meat is cooked Irwin grinds it into a fine but mushy consistency then puts it in another pot with cornmeal and spices and this is what eventually gets baked into a loaf this concoction dates back to the first settlers who came here about 300 years ago but it really came into its own during hard times like the Civil War and the Great Depression during the Depression when everything had to be used and and efficiency wise you know liver mush was a great answer to that so fantastic now that I’m educated I’m ready to give this stuff a try but I’ve got a choice to make sometimes people like mayonnaise some like mustard some like grape jelly uh I kind of like to put mustard and mayonnaise together oh do you really I do wow and it’s really you’re a radical but you’re the mayor so you can do whatever you want Max is one of the local producers who’ve been mushing Pig livers for more than 60 years can we get a pair of sandwiches I’m sure can now what are you Mayo mustard or grape jelly grape jelly you’re grape jelly see see 99% of the people are straight mustard really really own you never eat Leon uh no I have first first opportunity I don’t want to miss out on a technique so I’m going half mustard half grape jelly so I can see what it’s all about mustard or grape jelly first grape jelly must good a it this is fantastic it is good it’s not for everyone it is I mean because if you don’t like liver you got to be discounted but basically you you’re just taking slices of this and handan frying it or deep frying it this is like fried liver worst really I love this fried better it is better it is better cuz you have the textural crunch of the whole thing for anyone out there who’s never sampled liver work first just imagine the taste of puree liver seasoned with onions sweet spice and black pepper all right here we go with jelly awesome strange as it seems this is really the Appalachian equivalent of the European preference of serving Chutney or sweet fruit sauces with their Terin this is the pedmont Pate on it’s it’s that good so yes it’s tasty stuff but to really understand Shelby’s passion for liver mush you have to include the comfort food Factor just ask a guy like Joe Edwards he makes the ice cream on special occasions like today using technology that’s been around almost as long as liver mush has why do people like liver mush so much what’s the deal with liver mush these people around here ra don’t liver mush they had for kid and all their life and uh they’ve got to have Li around par got to have it got to have I think that’s the real secret food we know the best is the food we love the best and you need that kind of enthusiasm to keep micro Regional food traditions alive and well that’s a cause I’m glad to pitch in and support there you go what’s your name and real oh who Andrew I’m Andrew it’s really nice to meet you do you like liver Mar sandwiches you don’t it’s an acquired taste it’s okay we’ll win him over one of these days bright and early in a quiet corner of bangkok’s inner city there’s a liliputian restaurant that’s not even a ho in the wall it’s a covered Alleyway between two buildings with a makeshift kitchen built out front the name says it all thae made meat balls and pork brains look at that beautiful poached loes of fresh pig brain but what people really come here for is the broth and all the other goodies that go into it pork brain soup is a specialty of Haka Cuisine the food of southern China suti solam Mona’s family immigrated from China and she’s been making soup here for more than 50 years oh thank you one bowl is just brains the other is brains with everything fish bowls tofu little bit of pork intestine pig brains usually taste pretty swiy with a strong Barnyard Aroma but in su’s place they’re like sweet Porky pudding the pork brain here is creamy Rich this is breakfast soup what makes the difference is the tenderloving care that goes into every Bowl every single element in the soup is poached and clean separately there’s not an off or gy flavor in it if you shut your eyes you really can’t even tell that you’re eating pork in hers there’s none of that you know poopy piggy smell that you associate with this soup in so many other countries it’s no wonder this humble little place is legendary for Bangkok food lovers thank you so much that was just delicious delicious this kind of meal in a bowl is classically Bangkok in style a little eery creates one rich spicy broth and fills it with a variety of ingredients here in the bustling business district there’s a food joint that’s really just an open air tent where they fill their brothy bowls with one of bangkok’s most beloved signature Foods boat noodles got their name in the 19th century when floating lunch wagons went up and down bangkok’s Canal selling meals in a bowl to workmen along the water notice how low they sit in the bowl so they wouldn’t spill if a little wave came along this is uh noodles little bits of beef liver beef Fishbowl heart some tendon the ingredients in the soup can vary from place to place but there’s one ingredient that’s a must fresh cow’s blood that’s not black pepper spices that’s just little coagulated bits of beef blood man that’s good in a lot of cultures they add blood to soups as a thickener but the reason that I like it in Thailand the best is that the soup itself is that sweet sour soup that’s so loaded with lime juice and citrus that the blood has a perfect foil the ties are such Masters at layering flavor that Licorice and Anis from the Thai Basil the sulfur from the scallions and onions the Deep earthy dank soil Farmland ly goodness of that Bloody broth in spite of the intense Farm flavor this kind of food was born and bread in the big city but some of the most interesting food in hangok was brought by immigrants from Thailand’s Countryside including a dish that starts out with 3 ft of raw bull penis in this little Shack behind bangkok’s lumini Park that penis will be turned into a soup originally from isan the rural farming country in northeastern Thailand the whole penis is blanched skinned and then hacked to Pieces I’m guessing a bunch of guys watching TV right now just crossed their legs once the penis is Thoroughly chopped it’s back into the pot to Stew for a couple of hours then it’s served with plenty of vegetables in a Thai Steamboat to keep it piping hot the bll penis gets all the publicity but it’s really the broth that’s doing the heavy lifting for this dish it’s like beef consume with Chinese sweet spices pretty nice [Music] wow that broth is strong and with a lot of chili Tamarind paste in there it’s spicy and sour but I’ll tell you it’s the sticky chewy almost Jell-O like quality that the bull penis has that really makes this this dish what it is I don’t want to brag but I’ve had a lot of experience with this type of dish over the years and I’ve learned a few things the larger phaces are easier to eat they’re softer they’re not as toothsome the smaller the penis the sort of crunchier and harder it is to cook right the truth is almost no one eats this dish Just For The Taste the food is supposed to improve strength virility and stamina in fact men on the Chinese Olympic team eat a bowl of bpenis soup for breakfast every day better better them than me what would be the best way to describe the texture of bll penis it’s kind of like a carrot made out of petroleum jelly with kind of just enough body to hold [Music] together it’s not the most Pleasant of textures let’s be honest with each other wow exploring food in Bangkok the surprises can’t all be good ones but the amazing fact is that there are so many surprises to discover cabbages and condoms may be the only restaurant in the world dedicated to the promotion of protected sex it’s the brainchild of the cerebral nikai Vera vadya PhD a passionate philanthropist recipient of a million-dollar Grant from The Gates Foundation let’s be honest you also have one of the greatest senses of humors of of anyone that I’ve ever met because you have a giant condom Santa Claus not three F feet away from where we are maai has a sense of humor with a serious purpose the restaurant fully funds a health clinic and programs for schools that teach children practical life skills we’ve had National condom blowing championships and the winner the team two winners went to Singapore the biggest come down with burity you see if you start off with humor people will talk with you Bangkok has an unfortunate reputation as a world sex capital and an alarmingly high incidence of AIDS exists here so the idea is to make condoms so familiar that people here won’t think twice about buying them or using them I’m sure they come in here feeling a bit embarrassed about the condom when they walk out of this restaurant something’s changed for the record the food here at cabbages and condoms is very good this is their signature dish a spicy salad of fresh herbs shrimp and Shanghai noodles rolled to look like well you know oh now I get why you call a condom salad because it looks a bit yes yes yes that’s the rice flat rice noodle rolled into tubes the salad’s a spicy blend of fresh herbs shrimp and Shanghai noodles the noodles are made to look like rolled up condoms and if you’re dining with Mai there may be a few real condoms too I usually have pretty strict rules about non-edible garnish on my plate but in your case I’m going to make a very serious exception so this is the only place in the world where it’s business as usual to hear a guest saying wait here there’s a condom in my salad don’t get these too confused cuz the last thing that you want to do is eat one of these and you also don’t want to use one of these and think that you’re having protected sex right our host is daska along with his wife his mother a 15-year-old son four-year-old daughter and a nephew who’s just visiting they live in a gar a tent that hasn’t changed its function or design since the time of genas Khan hello this evening he’s also got a couple of visitors who’ve ridden over from neighboring gears Mongolian Nomads are famous for Hospitality any visitor who turns up will be invited in for a meal and for the night if necessary and every guest will be offered a bowl of mongolia’s national beverage that’s a fermented Mar’s milk fermented Mar’s milk that’s right making Ed May’s milk arag is a big part of nomadic life they milk the May several times each day then the milk ferments in a big bag of HSE hiide just take a little sip huh yeah try not to be too afraid pretty good stuff oh yeah but look at the smile on his face he’s wondering if I can interesting [Music] wow sour it is M and the nice thing is there’s still a little couple May’s hairs floating on the top which means yeah that gives you flavor this tastes like a mixture of sour cream with lemon juice uhhuh but very thin yeah it’s not bad here’s the thing that I would assume for most people this is very very strange territory do the do you get a lot of visitors when I say visitors I mean foreign visit yes yes that that’s it you’re the first I am the first I’m the first fantastic just like an American Hostess might offer a guest milk and cookies there’s a snack to go with [Music] aragg a dried CD dried CD yeah thank you this is different from the dried curds I saw in the city market softer and much fresher all the snacks I’ll be served for the first visit are created out of one simple Source heated milk cow’s milk this time when the milk separates they take the curds and set them out on the roof to dry in the Sun and air that’s how you make a roll M sweet and sour this is like dried sweetened cottage cheese this is very good out of that same boiling milk the family makes cheese by pressing the curds and urum a clotted cream they make by skimming off the foam and letting it solidify you scoop up the AR with pieces of that freshly made cheese wow I I like it that’s amazing I mean that’s thick sweet cream that holds I mean I don’t even know how to describe that that’s like Ambrosia what’s this that’s another uh product made out of milk they call it ay so this is milk transformed into what looks like brown Pebbles and feels like it too it’s very rare that I I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a food that completely puzzled me completely how do they make this turns out these are milk curds fried up in their own fat this is crazy you [Laughter] I can’t even begin to tell you what this is like but it’s very very hard and it hurts your teeth to chew it and it tastes sort of like scorched milk it’s just amazing Mongol Warriors used to carry this on campaigns and still today Mongolian Shepherds bring it along for their day’s work like everything on this table it’s custom made for this way of life I spend my life traveling around the world and I walk into your door and within 30 seconds I have 1 2 3 4 five types of food I’ve never seen before that’s really great in honor of having a firsttime ever foreign guest daska my host is planning a very special lunch it’s called bow it involves a goat a blow torch and a lot of innards the two City guys are given the job of collecting the goat I have happen to be very good with goats daska sent word around to the neighbors so we’ve got plenty of assistance for the job ahead once the goat is quickly dispatched the men cut away the head remove the organs pull out the bones the goat carcus is now an empty bag that will soon be converted into an oven meanwhile the the women are at work getting the organs ready to cook all the organs are rubbed down and wrapped with the animal fat using the intestines is twine the fat helps keep the meat and organs moist outside there’s now a fire of dried animal dung and the men are heating stones without a tree in sight the only way to really cook this Beast is to heat up a bunch of rocks in a cow and goat poop fire stuff the carcass with the hot rocks they just keep alternating rocks meat rocks meat rocks meat every time one of those hot rocks comes in contact with the Flesh and the fat the smell is just fantastic sometimes the oldfashioned methods work best out on the step but when modern technology can be [Music] useful they use it amazing certainly one of the more interesting ways that I’ve ever seen to uh get the fur off an animal and I’ve seen [Music] Lots is amazing the smell right now in this gear is so intoxicating roasted goaty potatoey fantasticness guys just remember don’t eat the Rocks no we will give you the Rocks yes exactly for honored guests but we’ll eat just about everything else inside this carcass even the fluids that seeped out of the cooking meat organs and fat what is this that’s the soup the soup this soup tastes like the outside of a burnt Lamb Chop that’s amazing was not want not my host save every drop of this juice at last we’re ready to eat wow chewy and fatty but really good I’m going for the meat but most of the other guys are waiting for this the skin with its thick layer of you guessed it more fat but if you’re imagining this tasting like the fat off a typical American steak or pot roast it’s not even close the fat has so much flavor so earthy and so grassy tasting so clean tasting but that’s because up here these animals are drinking the cleanest water ex eating the cleanest grass I’m searching through this treasure chest for one thing in particular the liver I saw being wrapped in fat and tied with intestine look at that you can see that piece of intestine wound around the liver the fat is all gone well that’s the whole point is that it’s based at it and it’s cuz liver can be dry if it’s cooked for a long time so this is genius the way she wrapped the fat around it that’s pretty darn good goat liver is metallic tasting to say the least you know it’s very tiny it’s got a very thin sharp flavor very good the intestines are a little gamey too that’s got to you sort of know what you’re eating right when you eat those this is a special day for me and for my hosts because of the careful time time consuming preparation that goes into it a nomadic family may go a year or two at a time without making Bow Dog Carlos Valdez is an artist in Disguise he’s the chef and owner here and the Staples on the menu are steaks and burgers that are delicious but safely mainstream but Carlos’s true passion is for The Adventurous stuff he creates by combining local seafood with the beef of his native province of Sonora from brains to balls including eyeballs yes folks folks these are roasted oysters stuffed with spinach topped with clams and chopped up Bull’s eyeballs it’s food like this that made me ask my friend Iram to bring me here that is really good the topping also includes lime juice garlic parmesan cheese and chili sauce sounds like a crazy combination but it’s genius wow the acid from the hot sauce cuts through that creamy Rich cheesy look at those clams the salty Seafood the clams are very lean especially once they’re cooked the fatty beefy perfect let me show you what goes into preparing food like this bury the head with hot coals beneath hot ash above and let bake for about 6 hours when it comes out all those headyy ingredients are ready the eyeballs cheek pallet from the top of the mouth tongue from the bottom the brains Carlos removed have been boiled the Bowl’s blood has been cooked and it’s all ready for the next step those ingredients get chopped up stuffed into hot peppers and Grill and then you just serve them up on a bed of avocado [Music] puree who taught you to cook my mother your mother she must have been a great lady I got to I got to try the brain look at that creamy deliciousness good we go those the brains are creamy very delicate and they work so beautifully with all of those sauces and the you really taste the Citrus and the avocado puree that’s fantastic and anyone who thinks the roof of a cow’s mouth doesn’t sound appetizing should try it this way so tender so beefy you oh my God that’s that’s wonderful okay that’s wonderful this isn’t just good food it’s Baja and a nutshell or pepper skin it’s a mix of cultures and ingredients from land and across the sea turning beef’s head into food is classic Mainland Mexican Cuisine and some of the ways Carlos uses spices fruits and vegetables are adapted from Asia and the Mediterranean [Music] Carlos has saved the best for last pan seared baby squid but it’s what’s stuffed inside them that makes this extra special oh my it’s baby Sid uhhuh from San Jose Iceland stuffed withas wos wos Tes clo big big size that’s right squid stuffed with B balls pade bull balls Carlos and his kitchen staff slice up up the balls and drop them into the food processor with some spices and just a little dash of the brains as a flavor enhancer a lot of thought went into this I just want to tell you I really appreciate it this is wonderful gracias Andrew it’s great what see that’s some nice squid the flavor is very sweet that’s some nice earthy ball flavor in there too yeah sweaty and gym likee like an old pair of shorts after a 2hour volleyball match the whole point of surf and turf is to match the Briny bright flavors of seafood with the thick unctuous richness of beef well beef flavor doesn’t get any thicker than this when you taste balls it tastes like an animal’s crotch it tastes like the place on the animal that it’s from know I think that’s good this is one of the most memorable meals I’ll find anywhere in Baja and I haven’t even tried the specialty of the house but what the heck the night is young everybody says you make the best steak in town if I if I eat the rest of all this you’ll Grill me a steak def this is steak okay you’re a good man okay this is lacia the look of the building is a mix of styles from all of Mexico and so is the food food La differ is what Baja is all about a mixing bowl of Mexican cultures it’s the work of Francisco usel an architect who built other people’s restaurants for years and finally built his own we love Mexico my family love Mexico we are in all the towns of Mexico and my wife and I go to the mercados and eat in the mercados and when we see something that we love it bring it here of course laia’s real claim to fame is in the kitchen in some cases they create modern food with ingredients from Mexico’s prehispanic past like bone marrow and bugs like grasshoppers in ant larvae Chef rodo luno saut grasshoppers with avocado and saut the Ant larvae in butter with onions even when you wrap it in blue corn tortillas with spicy green sauce the ant larvae flavor comes sailing through [Music] that’s wonderful there’s a funky musty sort of it’s desirable it’s good you know sort of like mushrooms there’s a mil Dey quality to it that I just think is fantastic the tiny ant larvae are traditionally harvested from the roots of the tequila and mcow plants throughout Mexico many people come too because we are the only restaurant 600 miles in the round we C so fresh too it’s the same story with the Grasshoppers I’ve probably eaten as many grass Hoppers as most Americans have eaten potato chips people all over the world eat them today for the same reason the Aztecs did a cheap and plentiful source of protein but I’ve never had grasshoppers in such elegant surroundings served with avocado on handmade blue corn soapes the soap is very soft and nutty and the Teeny Little Critters are very crispy and Lemony the salsa is perfect the avocado finish is it that’s very very nice Aztec scoop their bone marrow from deer and wild boar Chef Rolo uses beef bones he sautes the bone marrow with onions and mushrooms in the marrow’s own fat oh my gosh look at that big beautiful gobs of fat marrow has a texture like chunky petroleum jelly and its flavor is deep and nutty wow you like it well I’m kind of a bone marrow guy I just love that fatty beefy flavor that you only get from bone marrow the real backbone of prehispanic Mexican food was what it remains today corn and of all the many many ways to prepare and eat corn none was more prized than this that black stuff is stinky slimy black tumors of infected corn mold this is wheat L Coe the name literally means Raven poop in the corn fields of America and Europe they call it corn smut and consider it a disease that destroys the crop but for the Aztecs the disease became a delicacy so even today in Mexico this fungus is more expensive than the corn it destroys here at La defrancia the thick gooey stuff goes inside a delicate Agave crepe with spiced lamb and chili pablano sauce I love corn fungus y [Music] there’s absolutely no words that can describe the sort of wonderful Oddball old cedar closet up in the attic kind of smell and taste that wheat Le Coe has it it’s just remarkable and I love black food it’s great it’s like squidding you know or lacia really is different from your garden variety Mexican restaurant deliciously different you’re a lucky guy I’m surprised you don’t weigh 700 lb yeah sal sal thank you for coming