Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted (2019) s02e07 Episode Script

1
Right up there, I think.
There's hundreds of them.
Shall we go get them?
Yeah. This will be fun.
Yeah, absolutely.
He makes it look so easy
on those Ski-Doos.
But in virgin snow, you know,
it's incredibly difficult,
because the slower you go,
the more you're gonna fall off.
Oh, that's hard.
You've gotta get speed to get momentum
to sit on top of that snow.
It looks easy, but it's bloody tough.
You get to the top of the ridge
on that mountain,
and the wind just kicks in.
I'm in Norway on the beautiful west coast.
Home to fjords, freezing temperatures,
and bloody big Vikings.
Now, I've always been
so fascinated by the seafood
that this amazing country produces.
Which is why I'm here in December.
Chefs tell me that this is
when Norway's seafood
and other delicacies are at their peak.
So I'm gonna have to channel
my inner Viking
to survive these freezing temperatures.
I'd better get started,
because on an average day
they only have around
five hours of daylight.
Time to move my butt.
To kick off my adventure,
I'm traveling to a small island
just outside Bergen,
on Norway's southwestern coast
to meet chef Christopher Haatuft
at his favorite foraging spot.
This is beautiful.
Welcome.
- Good to see you, bud.
- Likewise, man.
Oh, man.
That is a Viking shake and a half.
- Bloody hell's bells.
- Welcome to Norway.
Christopher Haatuft
is a gold-toothed, punk-loving chef
at the cutting edge of
western Norway's food scene.
At his restaurant, Lysverket,
he focuses on fresh local seafood
and giving a modern twist
to traditional Nordic cuisine.
Congrats on the success here.
- Thank you.
- Incredible.
The backbone of your food is what?
So, obviously,
being in this location,
anything below the sea here
is what I base my food on.
- Right.
- So, a lot of shellfish.
Most of our food culture
is smoked, salted, dried,
fermented, Viking food.
Now, we have hand-dived scallops
from the west coast of Scotland,
we have them from Ireland.
But they say the Norwegian ones
are the best. Is that true?
I believe so.
Like we have this mix of-of "warm water"
coming up from the south,
and the cold water coming from the north.
And when it mixes,
it's a very special environment
for shellfish.
So I truly believe
this is the best seafood
you'll find in the world.
Are you very competitive?
You have to be
in this business, right?
I'll put you to the test.
We're gonna go meet
some good friends of mine.
Right.
We'll go out
and find some beautiful ingredients,
all Norwegian,
like old Viking-type ingredients.
Right.
And then
because it's getting close to Christmas,
we'll invite all these people back
and we'll cook a Christmas dinner.
It's the most important meal
of the year for Norwegians.
And we'll see who of them
they like the best.
So, no turkey, that's gone?
- There is no turkey.
- No--
You might be the turkey
if you lose, though.
I love how competitive
Christopher is.
I'm not one to shy away from a challenge,
but this is gonna be tricky,
because for the Norwegians,
it's the most important meal of the year.
And I've got a week
to get up to speed with the delicacies
and what I need to get my head around.
That is Canute,
he's gonna take you underwater,
and you're gonna have to go
and get your own shellfish.
Isn't it too cold now to dive?
He'll turn you into a Viking.
A proper Viking, fingers crossed.
Uh, can't wait to see you
at the end of the week.
- Yeah, man.
- Thanks, bud. Any tips?
Don't be a.
It's super cold, right?
It's dark, right?
Here, this is my country.
He is a guest in Norway.
And I know this food,
I grew up with this food,
and he's experiencing it
for the first time.
Take what you learn
of all this local old cuisine
- Right.
- and elevate it.
And I'll see you
at the end of the week.
For sure. All right, man.
- Take care, bud. Thank you.
- Take care.
Oh, jeez, Canute.
Canute and his sister Marianne
having been diving for shellfish
for over 15 years.
I've got 15 minutes to acclimatize
and pray all my important bits survive.
Thank you very much.
You look great.
It's not many people
that go into this very cold water.
You know what chefs are like.
Chefs are crazy.
What's the temperature gonna be?
When we jump in,
you will maybe feel a little in your face.
But in one minute or two,
you don't think about it anymore.
Do you want me
to hold the arm for you?
That's the issue with a dry suit,
is getting into the thing.
Oh, my god.
Without the dry suit, I could freeze
to death in this cold water.
- Okay.
- Thank you.
It's locked.
- Let's go.
- Yep.
You good? Excellent, thank you.
So we're looking for scallops first?
Scallops and also urchins
and mahogany clams.
- Right.
- When we come down,
uh, we will catch
what we see that's eatable.
Gotcha.
While I'm still recovering
from a serious case of brain freeze,
a beautiful halibut swims by.
But where I see beautiful,
Canute sees dinner.
I get stabbed
while bagging some sea urchins,
but fortunately my hands are so numb,
I can't even feel it.
After 30 minutes of diving,
my bollocks are now like the size of peas.
But finally I spot
the prize bounty, king scallops.
In order to protect
this pristine ecosystem,
these tasty mollusks
are only allowed to be harvested by hand.
With enough scallops for the feast,
it's time to return to the boat
and let feelings
return to all my vital parts.
Oh, my goodness me.
Really good, huh?
Now you will taste real scallops.
If you don't like them,
we'll put you back again.
That was incredible.
Wow.
I can't feel my fingers.
So what did you find?
Everything, you know.
Visibility was beautiful.
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
- It's like a postcard down there.
- Yeah.
It's amazing, that brain freeze,
those first five minutes,
all of a sudden you start, uh,
you feel a little bit dizzy.
- Yeah.
- And it gets to you after a while,
especially 'cause I'm not used to diving
in these temperatures, but
We don't notice, we are
No, you're used to it.
real Viking blood.
You have it as well, I can see.
Wow!
Trust me, I am not empty-handed.
That's great.
Look at the size of those clams.
- Yeah, they're really
- They're huge.
And they can get nearly one kilo.
- Nearly the oldest creature in this Earth.
- Serious?
507 years they measured one,
and it was still alive.
- Scallops.
- And we have to taste one, huh?
Christmas has come early.
Look at that.
No wonder Christopher sent me here,
I mean, beautiful.
- Wow.
- As fresh as it gets.
Look at that,
and it's still beating.
- Okay, you wanna taste?
- Yes, please.
- Your own scallop?
- It's still moving.
Mm. I want to move to Norway.
And work for me?
- He did a good job, huh?
- Yeah, he did.
You'd have me diving every day.
And he doesn't say
that without reason.
I'm amazed how sweet they are.
- Mm-hmm.
- That's a big shock for me.
Yeah, they're really sweet.
Really,
it's because they're so fresh.
One of the best ever scallops
I've tasted.
I thought that was an oyster.
- That's a rock.
- Yeah.
That can go back in.
- Now you're a real Viking, huh?
- Thank you.
You've been 20 meter
picking your own scallops,
sea urchins, mahogany clams.
That was a perfect Santa stocking.
I mean, I'm amazed.
That's good.
Yeah, and you filled a Santa bag as well.
It's got me thinking
ahead of the feast,
and I'd love to invite
both of you to come and enjoy
what I think could be an amazing feast.
- Oh, thank you.
- Thank you.
Oh, looking forward for that.
Really looking forward.
I've got some incredible shellfish
from that amazing dive.
But I really want some meat
to go on that Christmas feast.
And Christopher said that the best place
for any meat in Norway
is in a tiny mountain town called Roros.
Roros is located 250 miles
northeast of Bergen.
Christopher told me
you can get there by car,
but getting around is another matter.
Frederic, who has been
dog sledding over 12 years,
hands me the reins
to my own team of sled dogs,
Don't let go.
- Controlling this sled is tough.
- Yeah, come in.
But if I want to secure
the very best ingredients for my feast,
I'm up for the challenge.
Slow, slow, slow, slow.
Oh, my Lord.
I saw your foot
sort of feathering the brake a little bit.
Yeah. You have,
when you're standing here,
- you need a lot of balance.
- Yes.
Because you have
to move with the sled.
Yes.
And you can
actually work on that.
- Gotcha.
- Yeah.
So move left and move right.
- Yeah, that's correct.
- Okay.
So you don't stand there
like a stone.
No. I'm amazed how strong
those dogs are. They're huskies, right?
- Alaskan huskies.
- Alaskan huskies.
Uh Amazing. Shall we go again?
- Absolutely.
- Please.
All right, yeah?
Nice way of travel.
Oh, my god.
Thank you so much.
- Thanks, Fred.
- No worries.
Oh, my Lord. Beautiful.
My Norwegian Uber has dropped me off
at my next destination.
I'm meeting the indigenous people
of this region called the Sami.
They pride themselves
on their ancient rights to herd reindeer,
and I hope to exercise
my ancient right to eat one.
Now, you must be Magna?
- How are you, sir?
- Hi.
Magna, who's been
tending his Sami herd for 30 years,
is taking me out on his morning rounds.
Now, Christopher said you're gonna help me
with some meat for the Christmas feast.
First, we need to go
up to the mountains
and see the herd.
Time to turn in my sled,
because apparently the dogs
will scare the reindeer.
But for some reason,
A snowmobile with 120 horsepower does not.
To herd the reindeers on this,
how many are in the herd?
Oh, it's a quite a few.
Quite a few? 50, 100?
What's your fortune?
I don't like
talking about money.
No.
I think Magna
is trying to tell me that it's rude
to ask a Sami
about the size of their herd.
So, moving on.
Who do they belong to?
It's a Sami reindeer herd,
and the Samis are
the indigenous people of Norway.
Sami families herd
the reindeer as a community.
But each animal is individually owned.
In this area
we are about 19 families.
- Wow.
- And we take turns watching them.
Gotcha.
So this week
it's my turn to watch them.
How are we gonna spot them?
I have two tools,
binoculars and a dog.
- And a dog. And me.
- And you.
How are the conditions?
Today it's quite windy
and rough terrain.
So, uh, you have a job to do today.
- Okay, great.
- Hmm.
Lovely hat, by the way. Very warm.
- Warm.
- Very warm.
Shall we?
He makes it look so easy
on those Ski-Doos,
but in virgin snow like that,
off-piste, you know,
it's incredibly difficulty
because the slower you go,
you know, the more you're gonna fall off.
You've gotta get speed to get momentum
to sit on top of that snow.
As I try to get to grips
with my new set of wheels,
Magna spots the herd.
Right up there, I think.
Oh, yes.
There's hundreds of them.
They stay in the herd
to protect themselves
from predators, mostly the wolverine
and also the golden eagles.
The golden eagles
attack them as well?
Yeah. The golden eagles
with their long, uh, nails,
go and puncture the lungs.
Wow. I've never
heard of that before.
- Shall we go get them?
- Yeah.
It's getting colder now.
- Is it cold?
- Oh, my god.
- It's not cold for you?
- No.
Oh, my Lord.
This is warm weather actually.
Magna might think it's warm,
but the top of the mountain ridge
is still half an hour away,
and my face is already numb.
The wind just kicks in
30, 40-mile-an-hour gusts,
minus 15, minus 20 wind chill.
The brutal wind
and a lack of feeling in my hands
makes this a treacherous ride.
Fortunately, I'm an expert driver.
I'm deep in the mountainous region
of northeast Norway,
on my way to herd reindeer
on a 550-pound snowmobile
that is going to tip over,
right about now.
You can't see how steep that is.
With nothing hurt but my dignity,
I hop back on,
hoping Magna hasn't noticed.
So how do we get them?
I need to help Magna
move the reindeer back onto public land,
because they can't roam on farmland.
And you're just gonna have
to trust me, this is farmland.
It's easy to see
how the reindeers get so confused.
We go there and round them up
from the right-hand side,
and push them over here.
When we got down to the herd,
we had to sort of divide and conquer.
I took the left-hand side,
Magna took the right-hand side,
and we met in the middle.
I've herded cattle before,
but nothing like that, ever.
It was just one of those moments
in your life that was just magical.
Mission successful, we've moved
the herd back on course.
There were thousands of reindeer up there,
I mean, pretty extraordinary.
And it's like these little ants
running across this incredible glacier.
Um Yeah, mind-blowing.
Now, it's time to meet
the real head of the family
and learn how she's
keeping alive the traditions
of the Sami people through her cooking.
- Hi, Ava.
- Hi.
This is my wife, Ava. Gordon.
- Hello.
- Nice to meet you.
That looks beautiful, is this dinner?
Yeah, now it's reindeer meat.
Wow, can I help you?
Yeah, a little bit.
Yeah, I go to change.
So I think we should
make blood pancake.
The blood pancake, yes.
Is that a celebration
for Christmas, blood?
No. We always have the blood pancake
when we are doing the butchering,
because then we have the fresh blood
and it's very nutritional.
And you eat it on Halloween?
Because there's lots of blood
on Halloween.
So, is this the mixture here?
Yeah, this is the mixture.
So we are gonna make this pancake
at the fire here.
- Shall we?
- Yeah, we'll try.
So, you start off
with a touch of butter in there or not?
No.
Did you grow up
eating these kind of pancakes?
Yeah, I grew with
lots of food with blood.
But this was my favorite all the time.
- So one whole ladle in.
- Yeah.
Thin, yes, there you go, good.
I love pancakes.
But you haven't tasted
this one before?
- No.
- No.
I grew up with pancakes,
and it was something
we used to have all the time
- Mm-hmm.
- as a little kid.
But for dinner or for dessert?
- No, for dessert.
- Dessert, yes.
We have tradition for using
everything in the reindeer,
also the tongue, the heart,
and the everything.
May, may I see?
My shoes.
This is the feet from the reindeer.
So even the shin
and the feet of the reindeer.
They're amazing. They're beautiful.
So, uh, are they, are they warm?
Yes, warm.
- So you waste nothing?
- No, no, no.
No waste. Even the shoe.
Could you make them my size, size 15?
Uh, expensive.
We need two reindeer, I think.
Ready, shall I toss?
- Okay. Yes.
- Close your eyes.
- Ah, no.
- One, two, three.
- Yay! You did it.
- Got it.
Yeah, that's nice.
Wow. Just drizzle
a little bit of this over?
- Yep.
- Just a little bit?
Yeah, a little bit all over.
I like it sweet.
- Love that.
- That's good.
Just roll it?
Yeah, roll it, and then taste it.
Okay.
Looks good. I taste myself.
- I actually like the flavor.
- Hmm.
The texture's
quite thick and dense.
You can't taste the blood,
but maybe you can.
No. No.
Moving on from the savory blood pancake,
we need to make the main course
for Ava's family meal,
reindeer stew.
Here we have this meat boiled.
It's a tongue up here,
and this one is really good.
We have some vegetables,
you can have them in.
- If you--
- Put them in there as well?
Yeah, some potatoes and some carrots.
So this for me
looks like my mum's stew now.
She used to do something
very similar with lamb,
- but this is reindeer.
- Lamb? Oh, yeah, maybe.
- Yeah.
- This with lamb.
In the Sami family,
the women are very important.
So it's the women
that is taking the culture further on.
Taking care all of it,
not the reindeer outside,
but the rest of it.
The women is the key for the family.
That's amazing.
So you'd never see men cooking?
No. No, not so much.
So if I came
to the Sami tradition,
you don't want me as a cook?
Today it's different, of course.
Then the stew is ready,
and my family has arrived so we can eat.
- Mm-hmm.
- Wonderful.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, too.
That was cold out there today.
Magna said it wasn't that cold.
Oh, Lordy.
How did it go?
It went really well, thank you.
- It did?
- Beautiful.
I thought there was
gonna be 20, 30 reindeer,
but there was hundreds.
Have you seen reindeers before?
Yes, but plastic ones.
Oh, okay.
Not-not real ones like that.
So I have a big cook
at the end of the week, a Christmas feast.
And you've definitely given me
information there.
Obviously reindeer needs to be
the main course, right?
- Hmm.
- Mm-hmm.
Any particular cut,
would it be the loin or
- The steak is very popular.
- Right.
What Norwegians eat
for Christmas is reindeer meat.
It's delicious.
I thought it was gonna be
a little bit more gamy,
but it's not like venison or deer.
It's not strong, is it?
No, it's not strong,
it's very tender.
This has been inspirational.
Thank you. Merry Christmas.
While I would love to stay
and enjoy more of Ava's reindeer stew,
it's 3:00 p.m., and that means
it's getting dark in Roros.
I've still got lots to learn,
so I'm off to try
a traditional Christmas dish
that I hear tastes much better
than it smells.
Now trust me, I wanna get
the best of Christopher.
And I'm up here to meet two guys
who make this amazing delicacy,
that can only be found here.
First of all, I'm excited to see and taste
this incredible delicacy.
And it's rockfish?
- Rakfisk.
- Rakfisk.
- Rakfisk.
- Fisk.
Fisk, rakfisk.
- Rakfisk.
- Rakfisk.
Rockfish, no. Rakfisk.
- Rakfisk.
- Okay.
After what seems like hours
of saying the same thing back and forth,
Arnsteen and his nephew Magnus
show me how they make the crown jewel
of their family business,
fermented fish.
What a smell. Very strong.
Is that normal, that strong?
Yeah.
Trout and what is that one there?
- This is Arctic char.
- Arctic char.
And how long do you cure it for?
It's in for three months.
Bloody hell.
So you pack it with salt?
- Yeah.
- And then
Sugar as well.
Sugar. So it cures it?
Yeah, exactly.
And how old is this method?
It dates back to the Viking age.
Now it's more popular than ever.
Shall we?
First you put salt in the belly.
- Gotcha.
- Like this.
And you just put 'em in the bucket.
And then it's heads, tails, heads, tails,
all the way through.
- Opposite?
- Yeah.
- And you build.
- Exactly.
Sounds pretty straightforward,
or so I thought.
- But the rakfisk master is not impressed.
- Ooh, ooh, ooh.
- Too much?
- Too much.
- Too much?
- Less.
Less salt. How's that one, uncle?
- Ah, good.
- Good?
Thank God for that.
I've never seen this method
before like this.
It's only here in Roros,
and Valdres.
So it literally is
indigenous to this area.
It is. We're very proud.
It's very popular,
especially around Christmas.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Little more.
A little more.
You have to use your wrist.
Nei, nei, nei, nei, nei.
So
- And that's it?
- Perfect.
Man, your uncle's amazing.
Do you ever upset him?
- Yeah, a lot of times.
- Yeah.
It's better, good.
Good, better, he's happy now.
He's been a little tough on me.
He has been through it
with me for ten years as well.
He's a proper Viking.
I'm dying to taste it.
Oh, there it is there.
After three months.
Wow. That's it there?
Yep, it's strong.
It's a cross between
a sort of cured salmon
but with a Vacherin cheese.
It was so strong, very acidic.
Yeah.
- This is not very strong.
- That's not very strong?
No. Let's try a stronger one.
No, stop it.
- Let's try Yeah.
- Really? Stronger than that?
Let's try our special
Christmas batch.
Bloody hell.
I'm worried that "special"
in this case is not a good thing.
So, what's special about this batch?
We have had it
in the barrel for a longer amount of time.
Now oh, my God.
The smell of that. Bloody hell.
Phew.
It doesn't look very appetizing.
The smell gets stronger
the further down the bucket you go.
Bloody hell. Seriously.
Oh, my God.
This is sticky as
Don't around.
You don't eat this, do you?
- Oh, my God.
- Mmm.
- You like that smell?
- Yes.
Oh, no.
no.
Look at the juice.
The color of the juice.
That's the right texture.
Can you
Can you cut that, please?
Is this a joke?
Oh, my Lord.
Oh, my God. It's like putty.
Why's this so
a special, rare delicacy when it stinks?
You do not think
about the smell, it's the flavor.
Oh.
No, no, no.
That's the right texture.
I'm up in the north of Norway,
sampling a homemade batch
of fermented fish.
It's revered at Christmas time,
and has to be smelt
to be truly appreciated.
Is uncle drunk
when he's eating this?
- Oh, no, no, no.
- No?
- After.
- Look how sticky it is.
Mmm.
I'm not ready
to become a Viking, bloody hell.
- No, no, no, no, no, no.
- You didn't like it?
- No, no.
- No?
- No, the first one, nice.
- Yeah?
Sort of salty, sweet,
creamy, strong, but this thing
My fingers.
Do you kiss your wife after that?
'Cause your lips
will stick together for hours.
It's so sticky.
The fish gets even better
if you leave it one more year.
No. No, no, no, no, no. No.
So can I take some of the first one,
but not the second one?
- Is that okay?
- It's okay.
Yeah?
That'll be unique.
Christopher can't get this
down in Bergen, can he?
- No chance.
- No.
So finally I've got one up on him.
While that last bite will haunt
my nightmares as long as I live,
it's totally worth it.
That first batch was really special,
and I'm walking away
with a delicacy for my dinner
that Christopher won't have.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
My hand's stuck
together now, it's stuck.
Ah!
Wow.
That's the highest
I've ever been in my life.
I've had many adventures
up in the mountains,
but I've got just one day left
until the big Christmas feast.
So I'm heading to Voss
where Christopher tells me
that there is a dish
that dates back to the Vikings.
Now he said you'll love it,
but he didn't tell me what it was.
So that's slightly worrying.
He said wait till you get there
and you'll find out.
Since I can speak about as much Norwegian
as this flock of sheep,
Trude has offered to translate.
Her friend Gierre is a local producer
of this mysterious dish.
What is he doing?
- Hello.
- Hello, hello.
Meet Gierre, he's a sheep farmer.
Sheep farmer or sheep murderer?
Are you kidding? This is the delicacy?
This is the delicacy.
Stop it.
It looked like a giant marshmallow
from back there.
This is smalahove.
This is a sheep's head.
How far does this date back?
Ninth century, the Vikings.
Wow.
- You wanna try?
- Try.
Gierre will show you
how to do this now.
Put it in the fire.
- And twist.
- Yeah.
This is crazy.
But this is traditionally
at Christmas, right?
Yeah.
All we need now
is a graham cracker.
It's a million miles away
from turkey, by the way.
When you were a little girl,
Christmas day, you'd eat this?
Yeah. We did.
Yeah, so now Gierre is actually
satisfied with this one.
Then we can start splitting it in two.
- Right.
- Okay?
So sorry.
So now you are
going to split your head.
I'm not gonna complain,
I have hurt my wrist.
I fell of the Ski-Doo yesterday,
so I'm just a little bit
- Yeah.
- Nei, nei, nei.
No, this is not good enough.
I take it there's
no vegetarians in Voss?
'Cause they're gonna
kill me.
Gierre is satisfied with this job.
Bloody hell.
Now we can go down to the farm,
and, uh, Gierre can show you
how to do it with new machines.
Bloody hell.
What is this?
- This is a smalahove machine.
- Yeah.
Now they tell me
there's a machine that could've saved me
from doing it the old fashioned way.
Seriously, it looks like
something out of a horror movie.
How many heads on there altogether?
It's 15.
15?
Bloody hell.
I've never seen anything
like this in my entire life.
Do you wanna
taste some smalahove?
I'd love to, yes, please.
Oh, my goodness me.
That looks incredible.
Now it's starting
to look even more special.
- Half a head each.
- Yeah.
Without sounding stupid,
but where the do you start?
I'm told the smalahove has to be eaten
in a particular order,
starting with the fattiest parts first,
because they taste better
when they're hot.
You start on the jaw.
Oh, the jaw,
oh, my Lord, look at that.
It's so tender. It's delicious.
Very sticky, unctuous, and, um,
really, uh, really flavorsome.
The potatoes and the turnips are important
because it makes it less rich.
Hmm.
What a delicacy.
So, jowl, ear, third, tongue?
And then we taste the eye.
Oh.
Oh, I just dropped mine
on the floor, damn.
I'll bypass the eyeball, what a shame.
What comes after the eye?
Tongue, tongue.
Tongue.
Wow. The tongue's delicious.
Yeah?
You can't be squeamish
about anything.
The head tastes delicious.
If I had to teach my daughters
how to cook sheep head,
they'd turn vegetarian within 24 hours.
Extraordinary experience.
That throws back to the Viking days,
and so that's how they lived.
Really nice
that you came visit him.
Thank you so much.
I don't think sheep's head gonna fit
on my Christmas feast menu.
And I'm out of time,
so I've gotta get back to Bergen,
because, uh, I'm telling you,
Christopher, he's competitive,
and I wanna put that guy in his place.
With just three hours
until the cook,
I'm off to meet a man
who I'm told looks like an actual Viking.
In the States, he'd be a hipster.
But unlike most hipsters, he has a job,
and that job
is making the best booze in town.
In Scotland, it's all about the Scotch.
In Scandinavia,
it's all about the aquavit.
Now, I've heard this place
creates the best version.
Guess what.
It's nine o'clock in the morning,
and it's pitch black.
Time for a drink.
Stig, good morning.
This place looks amazing.
Thank you, thank you.
What's so special
about your aquavit?
They say you produce
the best version of it.
Norwegian alcohol,
it's caraway-based.
My take, I try to do traditional aquavit
as we have done always,
but I also play with
more floral notes to it.
I use a lot of wild berries
and things like that.
So it's kind of different.
And those florals, the botanicals,
it goes back to the early Viking days?
Yeah, absolutely.
And you do look like
the most amazing Viking.
The appearance and the hair
and the beard, fit for winter.
Now where do you make
all that magic happen?
- Behind here.
- I'd love to see that.
- You want to come and see it?
- Please, thank you.
- Young man, good morning.
- Good morning.
You don't look
old enough to drink.
So it's in here, is it?
So this is the little laboratory.
Looks like a chef's larder there
with all those infusions and flavors.
These berries, you forage these?
Yeah.
And my signature is rose root.
Wow.
It creates an enormous
floral like rose water.
So first, the floral.
Woof.
I can't drink this early in the morning.
Oh, my Lord.
Here's to your next haircut.
This is rich and it's creamy.
But there's no bitterness,
and the sharpness has gone.
It's a lot more sweeter than I expected.
It's more botanical-driven
than alcohol-driven from my point of view.
What's the alcohol
content in there?
- 40.
- Four-zero?
Four-zero, so it's not much.
You can jump on your sleigh
down to the town, I've gotta drive.
It's almost a little bit licorice as well,
so it's a lot more pleasant
than I expected.
For my feast, I'd love to include,
you know, an aquavit.
I'd love to take some. Could I?
Absolutely. Just make one.
What you mean, like my own blend?
Then I probably can make
some money out of it.
Um, so the basics.
Starting off with what?
Caraway's the main ingredient.
- All that?
- Yeah.
And what is that? That is the
That's anise seeds. A nice flavor.
The licorice flavor
in the aquavit is from the anise.
Love that.
This is, uh, grains of paradise.
So this is kinda the glue
to all the other botanicals.
Uh, lingonberries, you can add
quite a lot of them.
Wow. Great.
Lemon would be nice,
because if we're gonna use fish
- Yeah.
- I like the idea of making
almost like a beurre blanc of aquavit.
But not much of this,
it's bitter, just like this.
Gotcha.
Like that.
Wow. Okay, great.
Yeah, I think we're there now.
Uh, beautiful. So, next?
Pour it into the still.
Excellent.
Aquavit is usually barrel aged.
But because I'm short on time,
Stig says it's fine to take a shortcut.
- All in there, Stig?
- All in.
That smells already incredible.
This will, uh We will
distill this for two and a half hours.
And those florals
will come through?
I know it's short period of time,
but will they work?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
I'd love to see you
- later for lunch.
- Yeah.
But would you bring that with you?
- Yeah, yeah, no problem.
- Yeah?
So I can get it involved
in terms of maybe a little toast,
and then hopefully cook
maybe some of the fish,
or one of the appetizers with it,
is that okay?
I think that would be perfect.
Amazing, thank you so much.
Take care, see you then.
Yeah, the pressure's on.
Christopher's raised the bar,
and so going up into the mountains,
into the fjords and diving,
um, now with the aquavit,
I'm starting to sort of feel
a lot more confident
that I've got the basics.
If I can elevate those,
then fingers crossed.
With that fiery spirit
coursing through my veins,
I'm ready to meet my match
and show Christopher
my take on a local Christmas meal.
Christopher.
- Gordon.
- Good to see you, bud.
- How's it been?
- Oh, man, crazy.
- You survived?
- Uh, yes.
Let's get one thing straight,
there's no sheep's head.
You don't like it?
You were supposed to immerse
yourself in my culture.
I tasted it, it was bloody good.
- Mm-hmm.
- Salty as hell.
So the sheep's head's off the menu.
We're cooking for all the people
I've met this week.
Since Christopher seems to be
as competitive as I am,
I want to up the stakes of the cook
and see if he's ready
to put his money where his mouth is.
Now, if our guests enjoy your food
more than they enjoy my food today,
then you win,
and you get to eat at my restaurants
the rest of your life.
If they prefer one of my dishes
over yours,
I get your gold tooth.
All right, good. Deal.
- Does it come out?
- Yeah, I'm not afraid.
I'm not afraid.
Hold on a minute,
it's not solid gold?
- This is solid.
- Okay, good.
It's my pension.
Oh.
- Let's go.
- All right.
I am ready
to kick the Viking's ass.
I'm in the Bergen backwaters
going head-to-head against a Nordic master
to prepare a Christmas meal
for a group of tough local judges.
Right, what are you doing first?
I'm gonna slice some scallop
and do a raw scallop dish
with a bunch of these nice pickles
that I saved from last summer.
Right.
I'm making a hearty reindeer stew,
inspired by the Sami family
I met in Roros.
In this cold weather,
it's much more satisfying than a steak.
I'm gonna get this reindeer on,
get it seared,
and get that stew working.
So, reindeer, super popular, yes?
I would say
it's my favorite meat
of all the animals we have in Norway.
It's gamy, but super clean.
But the attraction there
is the fact that it's healthy
as well, right?
Oh, that's not
a big thing for me.
No?
I'm still young, I'm still fit.
I'll wait until I'm your age
to worry about that stuff.
I'm not as old
as you think, trust me.
I'm not as old as those horse clams.
Christopher is not gonna give up
his treasured tooth without a fight.
He's hoping to win over our guests
with a classic take on a festive favorite
called pinnekjott,
made from lamb ribs that are salted,
smoked and dried.
This is the most
traditional Christmas dish
of western Norway.
The guests are gonna expect
for a Christmas meal.
So that's my little ace up my sleeve.
This is traditional Viking feast food.
You have that rakfisk up in Roros, right?
- Yes.
- How amazing was that?
Are you serious?
I mean,
that stuff is so good, man.
I had this one that had
been marinated for three months.
The stickiness of this thing.
Trying to make
a Viking out of you.
A Viking out of me?
Not everybody
has what it takes, though, you know.
Some people are soft,
some people are Vikings.
What's your favorite thing you've tasted
while you've been here?
The scallops.
It was just breathtaking.
But those scallops don't make it
as far as the UK.
Trust me, you guys are
holding on to all that stuff.
All right, my first dish
is done, how are you looking?
Oh, stop it.
I can
slow it down if you want.
So I'm getting langoustines
ready for the grill.
While the stew is cooking,
I'm moving on to prepare
my second dish, seafood soup.
I'm gonna now start my take
on that sort of chowder.
So start off with some
smoked bacon, shallots, leeks,
caramelize that down
and then hit it with cream.
Are you making a soup?
A soup, yeah.
For a Christmas dinner?
Yeah. Is that
I don't know, chef.
Listen, you're this famous Michelin chef,
- and you're cooking for my guests, right?
- What? What's that?
There's expectations
that need to be met.
Thank you.
So finish with a caviar.
There you go.
I feel like you've just
given me half your gold tooth.
I'm dicing some
rutabaga for my lamb ribs.
That's the most traditional garnish
to go with the lamb ribs.
Rutabaga,
you stole that from Scotland,
because that's what we use
for Burns Night to celebrate haggis.
All right, is there
space for me on that grill?
Absolutely.
A Scottish Viking against
a Norwegian Viking.
It's not really
a fair match, is it?
- It looks like our guests are arriving.
- Yep.
Gordon, you don't look ready.
I'm gonna start fasting
so I can get my money's worth
at your restaurants.
I've just phoned my dentist,
so we can fit that tooth in tomorrow.
Where's your scallops at?
Rome wasn't built in a day.
You know the secret behind scallops,
don't them cook too early, right?
You have
zero stuff done, chef.
- Don't touch--
- Whoa!
You gotta sabotage me?
Ooh, the competition just got fierce here.
You concentrate on your one little dish.
One little dish?
I'll make sure
that these guys are fed.
Alright, I've gotta
grill these langoustines right now.
Look at that. Mmm, mmm, mmm.
How's that sauce of yours?
What you got in it?
A little bit of
aquavit in there, so
Oh, let me taste that.
Maybe a touch more
for the Vikings, huh?
Mmm. Wow.
That is really good, man.
I love how they firm up when you cook 'em.
They can only do that
if they're super fresh.
- Yeah.
- So this is my butter sauce,
mine is more exotic-looking than yours.
And it's not split.
Uh I'm ready.
Chris, are you okay?
Would you like some help?
Absolutely not.
Don't be a stubborn Viking.
Actually nervous now.
Oh, my Lord.
While Christopher was distracted
with his brown butter sauce,
I was wrapping things up my end.
Just open up and talk to me,
what do you need doing?
I need to feed
these guys, right?
You have a soup and a stew,
and it's Christmas.
And hand-roasted scallops.
Come on, man. You're killing me.
This wasn't the format,
you're supposed to be behind.
Jeez.
You seen this?
Ahh, look at that.
Brown, pink food.
I saw this on one of
your British cooking shows
in the '80s sometime.
In the '80s, I wasn't even
born in the '80s, behave yourself.
Tell me that doesn't look appetizing,
come on, look.
They go in there, take a ladle of that,
and they're like, oh, my goodness me.
Yeah, the caviar
is what makes it, though.
No, don't. So if I win,
you're gonna say it's my caviar.
All right. Wait, wait, wait.
To even the odds, okay?
You're putting caviar?
I'm gonna put
caviar on this dish.
All right.
I mean, after all, it is my caviar.
How's your stew looking?
Still looking like a stew?
My reindeer stew is ready to eat.
All right, let's go, then.
Don't drop that.
Please don't drop it.
- Let's go, captain.
- All right.
- Let's go, captain.
- All right.
It's time to serve up our feast
to all the people I've met this week.
I'm sure I'll slay Christopher
with my reindeer stew.
If I'm successful,
my dear wife will be unwrapping
a gently used gold tooth for Christmas.
Hello.
Hello, hello, hello.
Nice to see you all.
This is the traditional
Norwegian Christmas dinner
on this side of Norway.
Steamed lamb ribs.
Alongside his lamb,
Christopher's serving raw scallops,
steamed mussels in shellfish butter,
and grilled whole langoustines.
You've got a seafood chowder
finished with the most amazing caviar.
Then there's the reindeer stew
cooked with the reindeer blood.
And then the scallops
that have been hand-dived,
served with, in my mind the best aquavit
in the world, beurre blanc.
Enjoy.
Thank you.
What I'm afraid of
is that something like the pinnekjott,
they know so well.
- Yes.
- So they might eat it and go,
yeah, it tastes like pinnekjott.
Right.
While you bring in
your unique view on it,
- like the reindeer.
- Yeah.
Might blow their mind.
And there goes my gold tooth.
I think
the tooth is coming to England.
Happy faces.
Oh, man.
Gordon,
it's the moment of truth here.
I said if I lose today,
this man's eating in
my restaurant as my guest,
for the rest of his life.
If I win today,
that beautiful gold tooth there,
that's coming home to me, that's mine.
We will start
with the reindeer stew.
I really liked it.
Uh, the meat was,
it was very tender and very tasty.
Did it taste traditional?
- Yes.
- Yeah, it did.
Gave you a Christmas feeling?
Yes, actually.
The pinnekjott?
It has been left
in the water a bit too long,
because I would like it
to have a bit more salt.
It was not salty enough?
I don't think so.
And I don't think it was smoked.
Seafood chowder in the terrine?
I really liked it.
Scallops were amazing
in the chowder, right?
I used the skirts,
we call them the skirts.
Ah, yeah.
- For the stock.
- Mm-hmm.
And that got the depth of flavor,
and then somebody gave me
a big dollop of caviar.
Which he's now starting to regret.
Whatever you need
to say to win, man.
The langoustines, delicious.
- Really?
- Yeah, one of my favorites.
- Really?
- Yeah.
What about the mussels?
- They were really good.
- Yeah.
- The sauce, perfect combination.
- Thank you.
Um, scallops
with the aquavit beurre blanc,
how were they?
- Perfect.
- Hmm. Amazing.
All right, all right.
Good for you, man,
good for you, good for you.
Across the six dishes,
we cooked three each.
Mm-hmm.
I think it's 3-2 to me?
Wait, wait, wait.
Remember I'm a cook. I'm not very smart.
So do I get to keep my tooth or not?
You have to take it.
For me this was
about understanding
not just, you know,
how talented this man is,
but at the beginning of the week
he sent me off on a trail,
and for me the ingredients
are second to none, so, um
It was really fun
for me to watch you cook
with our ingredients.
I'll definitely steal
some of this in my restaurant,
and claim it as my own.
You have so many restaurants,
you can't even keep track,
so you won't even notice.
To finish up, honestly,
I blended this first thing
this morning with Stig.
- You did?
- And, um
Stig, is it safe?
- Merry Christmas.
- Merry Christmas.
- Cheers.
- Skol.
Skol. Right. Thank you.
Don't be a.
Ah,.
Super mellow, super mellow.
It's actually pretty good.
- Chef.
- All right, man.
All right, good to see you, bud.
Yeah. Nice to meet you.
- Continued success.
- You, too.
Don't forget to send
that tooth in the post.
All right, God bless,
thank you so much. Take care.
- Thank you, bye.
- Bye, guys.
But I won, right?
That was so much fun.
On the short time that he had here,
he really got to the core
of what Norwegian food is.
I've learned so much this week.
It's been incredible.
I've seen authentic
Viking cooking methods,
discovered some truly unique tastes,
and frozen parts of my body
I didn't know existed.
It was all worth it
to experience an amazing land
filled with even more amazing people.
It's pretty incredible.
But from a chef's point of view,
truly inspiring.
Onto my next adventure.