Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted (2019) s01e01 Episode Script

19
Guys, the views are amazing but where's the delicacy?
D'you see that spiny plant?
The cactus on the edge of the cliff?
Yeah, right off that cliff.
It grows in really dangerous places.
- This is crazy. - Why aren't you coming, Haresh?
I'm afraid of heights man.
You're afraid of heights.
- Be careful. - Bloody hell.
Yes we can.
Lean back. Don't lean forward.
I'm Gordon Ramsay and I'm on an epic adventure.
Taxi.
Traveling to the ends of the earth.
Ditching the chef whites and getting hands on.
The things I do for food.
Slow it down. Slow it down.
Where do we start?
We're gonna start up there.
Are you trying to kill me?
In search of culinary inspiration.
Let's go.
Look at that beauty. Absolutely delicious.
It's like a crispy cockroach.
I've learned more in the last week than I have
in the last ten years.
This is definitely unchartered territory for me.
It doesn't get any better than that, does it?
This is Peru's Sacred Valley.
At towering heights of up to 3 miles above sea level.
It's a unique Andean ecosystem whose staggering biodiversity
once fed the mighty Incan empire
and now it's gonna feed a British chef with a motorbike.
To unlock this valley's secrets,
I'm meeting up with one of South America's finest chefs
on the side of a mountain obviously.
Virgilio.
Hey how you doing?
- Finally. - How are you?
Michelin starred Virgilio Martinez is famous for his modern
twist on traditional high‐altitude cuisine.
He's cooking up a storm in the food world
and is basically a younger, better looking
Peruvian version of me. Damn him.
Good to see you man.
Good to see you.
I'm so happy to be here.
- Yeah? - Seriously.
I am here to learn, discover,
where do we start and where are we gonna go?
We're gonna start up there.
Stop it.
Over there we get the best view of the Sacred Valley.
- Right. - Yeah.
I mean you wanna feel this extreme altitude,
it's totally another world.
I'm out of breath already.
Let's go. Vamos.
Of course, the best view of the Sacred Valley
would have to be a 1300 foot climb up a sheer rock face.
For a challenge like this, you need balance,
courage and above all comprehensive insurance.
6 foot 2, 210 pound chefs
should not be scaling 400 meter cliffs.
I mean normally chefs bond over dinner,
I can't believe we're bonding on a cliff edge on a mountain.
Breath is very short.
We're now close to 10,000 feet above sea level.
Here there's 30% less oxygen in the air.
Virgilio, how come you're not out of breath?
You're running up here like a guinea pig chasing dinner.
Experts recommend taking six days to acclimatize to the altitude,
I've had almost six minutes.
Man.
There's a loose rock here by the way.
Are you trying to kill me?
My trousers have turned brown.
I get the view. The view is incredible.
Amazing.
Yes?
I'm out of breath but I get it.
Shall we eat?
Oh Lord.
- No. - No.
No. Never. So it's like a jerky?
Beef jerky yeah.
It's like a beef jerky of course.
- Yeah. - We dry this for 34 hours.
Wow that's delicious.
Does the altitude make a massive difference on taste?
Taste is deep.
- Right. - Intense, concentrate,
the conditions are very extreme,
so these ingredients has to be protected by themselves,
so they are then full of proteins and they are
concentrated by flavor and taste.
One of the main things is that food is protected by altitudes.
It's pure I suppose.
It's very pure.
We don't have to say we have organic things,
I mean that word doesn't have a meaning here.
Really good.
I mean it puts jerky on a completely different level.
So now you have time to study the Sacred Valley.
Right.
Yeah. Cook together.
Cook together.
A cook off at the end of the week.
Yeah. End of the week.
I'm gonna kick your ass.
That was quite the climb
and we've now established two things,
Peruvians look better than Brits in plastic climbing helmets.
And I've just got five days
to uncover the secrets of the Sacred Valley,
to devise a feast that
shows that handsome devil Virgilio who's boss.
So lungs screaming I'm heading 5000 feet further up
for a lesson in the ancient art of Andean cooking.
Wow, come on.
Look at this. Oh my Lord.
This is incredible.
Now this is to start, one of the highest parts of the Sacred Valley
and I'm here to meet some farmers
that are still farming from this land
but using techniques dating back to the Incas.
Because my Spanish is as good as my rock climbing,
the family I'm meeting has asked a friend to translate.
Celine.
How are you darling?
I'm good how you doing?
Yeah good to see you. Oh my Lord. Come on seriously.
I know, I know.
Amazing. Are the family here?
Yeah they're here. Mario, Maxima!
Buenas Tardes.
Mario, nice to see you. Please.
- Elanchio. - Elanchio.
And this is Marina.
Oh hello. This is?
Sebastian.
And this is? Hello.
Congratulations, having the most gorgeous back garden
anywhere in the world.
Sebastian.
The family has invited me to dinner,
a classic Andean dish made from local ingredients
and it looks like I'm playing sous chef.
De chuno okay, great, thank you.
Lawa de Chuno is a soup with an amazing special recipe.
So these arethey're dried potatoes.
Right.
It's amazing how hard they are.
They're solid, they're like pebbles.
So clean it.
Now we're gonna make chuno flour.
Oh sorry Sebastian, I don't know why I keep on getting you like that.
This is the largest pestle
and mortar I've seen in my entire life,
so literally
You gotta do it stronger and faster.
How do you stop the potatoes from falling out?
Sorry.
This reminds me of a Fred Flintstone outside kitchen.
How come nobody else is out of breath?
My back.
That's hard, really.
The next ingredient in our soup
is a herb that thrives at 14000 feet.
With this recipe I can definitely cancel my gym membership.
So he does this every day?
Uh yeah.
He's as fit as a butcher's dog.
Wait Mario two secs.
Yeah, it's amazing how easy it is to get out of breath.
- Let's go. - Let's go.
Thank you.
That's the kunuka.
It's down there. That's the kunuka.
Oh man.
Mario wants you to go get it.
- Go get it? - Yeah.
These rocks are slippy.
It is literally breathtaking.
Slippy.
There's nothing to grab onto.
Newsflash.
In the Andes, high altitude herb gardens
are a little different to those back home.
At least I've still got my dignity.
Mario honestly.
I'm glad you're having a fun time up there.
Boom, look at this.
So it looks a little bit like thyme.
Very floral. Very fragrant.
It's lovely.
How much do we need?
Yeah, that's good he says.
That's it.
That smells amazing and it's free.
With a fistful of herbs and a leg full of bruises,
it's off to the family kitchen to get cooking.
Beautiful. Boy oh boy.
That's extraordinary.
Look at this place and that there,
that's obviously the stove.
What's that.
Guinea pigs.
Look at them.
In the Andes, guinea pigs are known by a different name.
Dinner.
Look at that.
It actually looks delicious, I mean seriously.
The fact is the live ones are running down there,
the bald ones are hanging off the wall
and guess who's next in line.
That furry over there at 9:00.
While the guinea pig roasts, a sentence I thought I'd never say,
prep continues for the ancient Andean soup.
Lawa de Chuno.
We have the herb, this smells amazing.
- So it's a leg of lamb right? - Yep.
- And is this your lamb. - Si.
So in many ways,
the whole family is self‐sufficient from the land.
That is incredible.
I love snooping round kitchens,
what's all that up there, the top of the the big white stuff.
Cow manure.
Cow manure. For the stove.
For the stove.
And that 'cause it burns good fuel.
Yeah.
I just love the fact that none of you waste anything.
Potatoes in.
All of it yeah.
What is that?
Oh you're turning the gas up.
Gotcha my love. Ready.
Cheese.
I'd never have thought about finishing a lamb and potato soup
with cheese.
Amazing
and look at that baby,
beautiful.
We should open a restaurant together.
Mama, this deserves champagne.
Napkins. Let's go babies.
Before we eat,
Mario's going to make an offering to the mountain gods.
My apologies. My apologies.
I'm dying to taste this.
Okay.
Okay. Guinea pig.
It's just hard eating this now
when we've just been sat there with them.
I don't know about the head.
I'll go for the loin.
The loin, the loin, the loin.
Pretty good. It's like a suckling pig.
- Si. - Excellent.
The soup.
Ooh it's good.
It's like a traditional British old fashioned stew
but this thing's got more depth.
Because it's a high altitude sort of cooking
every ounce of flavor, you taste individually.
Really delicious. Mucho gracias.
- Mucho gracias. - Thank you. Gracias.
That was extraordinary
because that is a proper insight,
something as basic as the huts could produce a dish like that.
That's highlighting high altitude cooking at its best.
Already I'm starting to think, you know, how I would use that.
You, little
What an amazing family and what an amazing dish.
No don't pull hair, don't pull hair.
I need that.
Oh no, come on.
Maybe it's the incredible hospitality
shown by my new Andean family
or the fresh guinea pig coursing through my veins,
but I'm even more determined to win the battle with Virgilio.
Man, are you out of breath?
- No. - I am.
So I've enlisted the help of Haresh.
A restaurant supplier with culinary contacts all over the valley.
He's told me about a local delicacy
that tastes like shrimp crossed with calamari.
You're telling me that this delicacy is sought after
and is only found at this height.
Yeah and there's the man that knows how to find them.
Mamerdo.
Hola.
Good to see you.
I am keen to see this delicacy.
We've gotta go this way he says.
- Let's go. - Vamos.
- The cactus? - Si.
That's the delicacy there,
on the edge of the cliff.
Captain, let's go.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
- Oh man. - Good luck.
Yes.
Is that a rock there?
All this for a worm?
Seriously? Oh man.
Mamerdo, you are crazy.
Okay lasso..
Over 30 years of working as a chef
has all been leading to this moment,
catching a Peruvian cactus worm with a lasso.
Una, dos, tres.
Haresh, I'm gonna kill you.
You gotta get up here first.
Oh man.
'Scuse. That is not funny.
Be careful.
This is super dangerous.
Si, si, si, si.
Good job. High five.
Look at that.
Seriously?
It's gonna be delicious.
I'm proud of you.
They're like giant caterpillars.
How did he first learn about these?
Excellent.
And how old were you when you first started
dangling off the side of a cliff with your dad looking for worms?
Six or seven. Amazing.
I'm just gonna get them a little bit dry.
Just so it doesn't crackle.
Okay go.
Are you okay there?
Oh bravo.
Thank you.
Stop it.
It's like a crispy uhhhlike a crispy
cockroach.
The taste was crispy to begin with, fine, however the inside.
No. No bueno.
But this is how they survived so remotely.
Protein growing literally in a cactus.
So an amazing secret and a big eye opener.
I'm blown away by the ingenious ways
Andean people get their ingredients,
it's the first time I've ever taken a lasso to go food shopping.
But with just three days left, one thing is certain,
I won't beat Chef Virgilio serving a plate of worms.
So, it's time to ditch the motorbike
and get my head in the clouds.
Are absolutely gigantic.
Coming in to land.
You beauty.
This is the Cajabamba jungle.
Said to be home to the best fruit in the world.
Look at these trees.
Amazing.
And I'm heading to a family farm
packed with the biggest mango trees I've ever seen.
Finally.
- How are you? - I'm okay thank you.
Good to see you.
Oh my Lord, um, so happy to be here.
Virgilio said that you had the best exotic fruit.
Yes we do indeed.
What's so special about the fruit here?
- A lot more sugary. - Yes indeed.
So more in depth flavor.
More flavor. Yes because of the altitude.
Amazing. Amazing. Okay. How do we get them?
You can go on my shoulders.
the mangoes are 100 feet up.
Only the youngest, fittest, locals pick them.
Until now.
Wow. Am I getting a harness?
Yes you are.
Okay good. Good. Thank God for that.
Don't let me drop. Okay.
- Promise. - If I drop, the food world is
You ready? David you good?
Let's go.
Okay, oh my Lord.
Go to your left.
We're going to the rope now or not?
Gotcha. So he's going round the outside.
Yes and you need to follow him.
Let's go daddy.
Okay, David here I come.
I've never made love to a tree.
You can do it.
Try to push yourself up with your left elbow.
I'm stuck. Fricking hell.
I need you to get the mangoes from here
because there's no way
those branches are gonna take my weight, please?
Let's go Tarzan.
I haven't climbed a tree for decades and um,
I mean decades.
You know I was worried
I'd snap those branches then we'd all come down
so the last thing I wanna do is go into this incredible jungle
and damage an amazing tree that's been there for centuries.
Oh boy. Look at that.
That is delicious.
It's so juicy.
The difference in the flavor is extraordinary
because it's highly concentrated
so it just bursts with flavor.
An amazing discovery.
It's been a real eye‐opener
to see how much the strong sun and low humidity
enhance the fruit's sweetness.
That amazing mango will definitely
be on my cook off feast menu
and if Virgilio asks,
trust me I've picked it myself okay?
Now this country's famous for its incredible fish
and this lake produces them.
Come on look at this place,
honestly if you thought Scotland was beautiful,
this beats it hands down.
At 11,000 feet
Lake Huaypo is one of the highest in the world
and it's the breeding ground for Peruvian silverside,
a sacred valley staple.
I'm down to meet an amazing fisherman, Domingo,
who is a dab hand at fishing and like all good Scotsman,
trust me, I grew up with a rod and reel
so hey capitan how are you?
Good to see you. We good?
I'm so happy to be here.
Now the fish locally are small, big.
Big fish.
Excellent and we're gonna use a fly.
What is that?
That's it?
No. Oh my Lord.
And where have you parked the boat?
This is the boat?
Si, botes.
Really? What the
what's the boat made of?
What? Inner tubes.
- si. - And bottles and bits of float.
Incredibly Andean fishing boats are often made of trash.
Okay. Oh my Lordie.
For the locals these ingenious low cost crafts are
light weight and maneuverable.
But for me not so much.
Holy mackerel.
Domingo, I think this thing's gonna burst any minute.
Oh my Lord. Gracias.
If we sink, how deep is it in there?
Domingo. Fish. Jump.
Domingo's teaching me his highly technical style of line fishing.
So let's take some bait.
Be good. Show me.
What the
Bollocks.
Trust me. You think this looks easy.
It's way harder than it looks I'm telling you.
Well, I've been fishing for a thousand hours.
We never give up. Come on fishes.
Okay. Got the fish.
Trust me,
I'll take it after all that hard work, honestly.
Okay I'll take the scales off.
To prepare our pint sized Peruvian silverside,
Domingo has a paste.
What's in here?
What is that? Chili?
Delicious. Smells good.
Thank you.
Beautiful. Look at that.
Tiny fish for two grown men.
So we're gonna eat this slowly.
On this lunch, the good news is we're not gonna get fat.
Delicious.
And your boating technique is incredible.
Excellent.
That was amazing.
The fish was almost like a cross between a catfish and a trout,
very sweet, very flaky, and it was really, really good.
He had the chili paste marinating the fish in,
that paste with that chili and those herbs,
you know, it's got me thinking big time.
Peru is famous for its pastes.
But I have an idea for a high altitude twist
that might just help me kick Virgilio's arse.
And with 24 hours till the cook off,
I wanna get my hands on a food.
Andeans were the first people on earth to cultivate.
Now this farmer produces the most amazing potatoes,
in fact, he's actually known as the mad potato scientist.
Also, he's known for producing the most amazing beer,
so I can't wait to meet this guy
and Haresh is gonna introduce me to him.
Absolutely and there he actually is.
Manuel. Manuel.
Good to see you Manuel.
The mad potato scientist.
Everybody's going on about these amazing potatoes,
what's so special about them?
Stop it.
Blue? Have you been drinking?
No.
Let's cook it and see if it's blue.
With his mad science skills,
Manuel cross pollinates high altitude potato strains
once used by the Incas.
And for lunch his proud parents have prepared some of the results.
Oh boy. Man. That is amazing.
Look at that.
Oh my God, it's like a beetroot.
It does not look like a potato.
You are a crazy scientist.
Oh boy.
You can just see that starch coming out there.
So how do you cook them?
They're baked in an oven. Roasted.
- Baked in the oven. - I'm dying to taste these.
Even the skin's delicious.
Yeah, the whole thing it's almost meaty.
Man.
Apparently these stunning pigments protect the potatoes
from the intense ultraviolet light here at altitude,
what a gift for the mountain gods.
That's incredible.
How the hell d'you peel something like that,
I mean literally.
And no wonder he's still single at the age of 30
he's got no fricking chance.
Who's gonna peel that?
Business complete it's time for some booze.
Beer made out of corn.
Gracias.
This is unique to the Andean highlands.
Tastes like a strawberry champagne.
You could give the French a kick up the arse.
And the sweetness from those wild strawberries is delicious.
Si.
Mucho gracias. Mama papa gracias.
Thank you bravo.
This is very dangerous for me.
High altitudes, alcohol and something that's incredibly moreish.
This is the kind of discovery that sends me straight back to my kitchen
because I've just tasted the most amazing potatoes.
I mean extraordinary.
The different colors, the different flavor,
the diversity's mind blowing.
And then the Chicha, I mean that will wipe the smile off
any Frenchman's, uh, vineyard.
Let me tell you, sod their pink champagne from now on in.
Toast.
Thank you.
Salud. Excellent. Thank you.
It's the day of the cook off,
so me and my hangover are hitting Urubamba.
The Sacred Valley's largest town on a last minute mission
to find culinary inspiration and maybe some aspirin.
Oh my Lord.
Now that is what I call a market.
Look at the colors and you know damn well that
everything's been hand grown, hand‐picked and literally
hours ago plucked straight from the Sacred Valley.
Right, time to dive in.
Seis, por favor. Six. Seis. Gracias.
Uh this one. What is this?
- To eat no? - No.
Good luck. I won't be needing that.
But just in case.
Yes. Gracias.
Potatoes. Extraordinary.
Salt.
Si. From the local salt mines.
Look at the way that glistens.
It's almost like little rough cut diamonds.
Beautiful.
I'm hoping these diamonds are a chef's best friend.
Oh my Lord. Amazing.
Six avocado please.
Couple of bulbs of garlic.
And I've just spotted a big fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
You want me to bite it?
At 7:00 in the morning?
Si. That's hot.
You eat this for breakfast?
Man.
My mouth is on fire.
Madam, madam.
- Thank you, thank you. - Thank you, thank you.
Oh my Lord.
Armed with a chili from my Peruvian Spice Girl,
I'm ready to face my culinary foe.
So I'm heading to Mil, a Sacred Valley restaurant
11 and a half thousand feet up for my cook off
with the Prince of Peruvian cuisine Virgilio Martinez.
Virgilio. Man look at this place.
Hey, how are you?
You good, good to see you.
How's it going?
Uh, first of all, that is a spot for a restaurant honestly.
You're a lucky boy.
So, uh, what a week.
I have been everywhere.
I understand the Sacred Valley like it's the back of my hand.
You crazy man.
- Are you sure. Really? - I'm hoping so.
You did your homework.
I did do my homework so I'm dying to get into the kitchen
because I wanna show you what I've understood
and got up to speed with.
Oy, no kitchen, we're gonna cook outdoors.
You see the fire, and this is your stove,
you know, this is our technology.
- Seriously? - Yeah.
- Oh stop it. - Yeah.
Bloody hell.
I'm gonna show you your kitchen.
Fricking hell.
I've never cooked on a stove like that.
Yeah, you know, we call it huatia,
- Huatia. - yeah okay.
This technique how far does this go back?
This is very traditional. This is very Inca.
And it's stuck together with mud.
Yep.
Cooking with a mud oven is not what I had planned.
I'm the outsider,
so I've gotta put my game face on and get dirty.
This is my pestle and mortar.
Your station, your pestle mortar.
This is my, my stove.
I've invited the farmers I met this week to the feast,
so I need to show them their lessons haven't gone to waste.
That's it man. Let's make is simple.
Now, I'm gonna kick your ass.
I first tasted this meat five days ago,
and no, it's not a giant guinea pig.
- Look at this thing. - Yeah.
The alpaca's bigger than him.
Gracias.
- Right. - Choose your cut.
I'm gonna go for the saddle.
Oh, the easy one, huh?
No it's not easy, no. 'Cause there's no fat on there.
I'll, I'll pick the neck.
I'm gonna use some of the tongue.
The easy part, oh, the braised tongue. There you go.
What about the heart.
I love heart.
Which one are you gonna go for?
It's gonna be difficult, you know these guys,
the farmers they
I was cooking before you were born. Okay?
They but these farmers, they eat,
I mean they are very used to eating heart.
So it's gonna be tough for you.
Okay, so saddle, heart for me.
You're gonna go for the most delicious part.
I'll take the neck, let's go.
I'm excited, nervous at the same time.
This cook is serious,
and I've gotta draw on everything that I've learnt all week,
understood, searched for, dug for, fished for,
climbed for and been out of breath for.
The Sacred Valley,
it's like this oasis, at high altitude.
Now it's time to put it on the plate.
So there's no fat on this loin,
so I just want to make sure
these already have alpaca fat rendered down,
almost like we'd do traditional goose fat.
The alpaca hearts hit the stove.
But it's me that's feeling the heat.
What you doing there with that paste?
I'm doing my marinade.
Marinade.
Lot of green herbs. A little bit of huacatay.
The level of expectations are huge.
You may be a greyhound up the mountainside,
but trust me I do have an advantage in the kitchen,
which you're gonna taste.
Virgilio might sense victory with his neck marinade,
but I'm about to unleash my secret weapon.
Right, I'm gonna start my paste,
using those amazing mangoes and some chili.
How d'you feel?
Yeah. D'you have any oxygen masks?
From my lungs to the alpaca hearts to Virgilio's tongue,
it's all happening.
Right, these tongues are beautiful.
This is like a little gastric,
which is done with the natural sugar.
And the alpaca's like a mature, sort of almost like
a mature lamb with a little hint of sweetness.
So I'm gonna glaze that as they cook.
Virgilio's now cooking his final alpaca dish.
What's wrong with you?
Here come our farmers.
The pressure's on.
Corn.
Cover that in embers.
My corn on the cob's on fire.
If they survive the stove,
I'll be serving the corn
with Manuel's incredible multicolored spuds.
How is your heart?
Pounding right now, oh those hearts, yeah,
they're a lot more relaxed than my heart right now.
Okay Virgilio, heart's done.
Yeah.
They're happy with the yoke pink right?
Yeah. Yeah.
Brilliant.
Beautiful.
And now it's time to plate up.
I mean let me know when you're ready, yeah?
I'll be one minute.
Come on.
I'm hoping next time he cooks them my way.
He's gonna get married.
How are you?
Just gimme 30 seconds.
Finally my feast is finished.
I've added my mango paste to the loins plus Manuel's spuds,
and I'm hoping the heart are cooked to perfection.
This looks beautiful.
Really beautiful.
But the competition is fierce.
Quinoa and tongue salad, alpaca brain omelets and a neck stew.
Okay, you good.
Yeah. Let's go.
- Hola. - Hola.
I'm the pink man from Great Britain.
Mm smell.
Beautiful braised heart.
Now, who's gonna say grace?
Bravo.
Tough gig, a stove I've never cooked on before,
a pile of bricks, with a furnace inside.
I just wanna pay respect to what I've learnt,
you know, you've got the best ingredients,
look from this valley.
So it's sacred for a reason.
These farmers are the hardest customers than anyone on the planet.
Why?
Salt of the earth.
There's nothing to do now except wait for the verdict.
This is not about winning, it's about pleasing.
And it's also about not losing face with the locals
in front of one of Peru's culinary legends.
D'you think they're enjoying it?
I've no idea man, they speak in Quechua.
That was Quechua.
Quechua serious.
So here we go. Fingers crossed.
We're good? Happy faces?
Si.
Si, si. Okay.
Ah look see.
Okay, so that one won the popular vote,
the potatoes with the cheese sauce.
- Your potatoes. - Amazing.
But they don't actually like everything.
That dish she first pointed to.
The heart.
The heart she says it's undercooked
that's why they haven't eaten so much of that.
Right.
Okay. Good. Thank you guys.
Uh okay. How was the loin of the alpaca?
Si, they loved it.
They said it was the best dish.
Sorry just, just say that again please?
- And the potato. - Potatoes and the loin.
And they liked that, I think that's the brain dish right?
Okay.
It sounds like it's sort of 50/50.
Okay.
Mucho gracias for an amazing week in the Sacred Valley
and thank you for making me feel so welcome.
Cheers. Cheers.
- Bravo, Bravo. - Bravo. Salud. Salud.
Amazing. Amazing.
Have fun, yeah.
What an amazing week and a dream come true.
Why?
Because here in the Sacred Valley,
I've uncovered a truly mind blowing culinary culture
using the secrets of the Incas.
Amazing Andean ingenuity
and stunning altitude enriched ingredients,
the food here kicks the arse of any fancy restaurant.
Breathtaking.
I don't know all but I've definitely got a taste
and now more importantly, I'm on to my next adventure.
Take care. Gracias.