- Hey, we're Sorted Food.
- [Ben] And we've been sent to the southern states
of the U.S. because we've heard they have some
of the best food and hospitality in the world.
- [Jamie] Why?
We're on a road trip to find out.
- [Ben] We've explored Charleston,
We've covered Savannah, and now we are faced with 1000 miles
of Kentucky Highway and just 72 hours
leading up to an ultimate Kentucky cook-off,
creating a dish celebrating the very best
we experienced in the States.
And I thought it would be entertaining
if the guys competed for bonus cooking time across the trip.
- [Mike] Obviously Jamie stood no chance.
- [Jamie] (scoffs) That's what he thinks.
(banjo music)
- [Mike] As soon as we've landed in Louisville
we were rearing to take up some of your suggestions,
starting with the restaurant typifying Kentucky's
impressive farmland and livestock.
(banjo playing)
- We're Game restaurant.
We're located in the Clifton area of Louisville.
We specialise in exotic meats that are,
as much as we can, sourced from local farms
and local suppliers.
We slice, we grind, we season in house.
We truly love what we're doing.
- The first challenge, and the boys are gonna' be competing
to win an extra 10 minutes on their battle time.
We have meatballs of exotic meat.
You get a point for each one you get correct.
Most points, wins.
- It smells more gamey than it tastes.
- Oh, it does actually, yeah.
It's delicious.
- Question is, what is the meat?
You can write down the name or you can draw it.
(laughing)
Reveal your answers in 3, 2, 1.
Bison, you've bo- - Bison.
- Ah oh, lad.
You've both gone with bison.
- How have we done that?
- Your first meatball is homage to the bison
that used to run the plains of America.
- Oh my goodness, that is so lucky.
- [Ben] A point each.
(upbeat music)
- A lot more moist, a lot more tender.
It's a bit more offal-y
- Reindeer here.
- Oh.
- Ooh, more broad.
Your second mystery meatball is,
elk.
- [Jamie] Oh. I mean, that's quite-
- [Ben] Largest of the deer family.
Not a reindeer
- What?
No way!
- So I guess Mike gets the point.
(Mike laughs)
- How is that?
- But only by being broad - Shut up!
Exactly.
- Ball number three.
- That's the strongest of all the flavours.
Oh, but it does tale off into something really nice.
What is that?
- Mr. Meatball number three?
Antelope and gazelle. - Gazelle
You're on the wrong side of the world.
It's kangaroo.
- [Mike] Ahhh
- Just like more tender,
still with the same house seasoning.
And they say it's got a sweet, gamey flavour.
- [Ben] Last ball.
(suspenseful music)
- That probably has subtlest of all the flavours
from the board.
- Reveal your final animal in 3, 2, 1.
I mean, you've both gone obscure.
- Meep Meep.
- This final one was slightly more porky,
but still with that richness and nuttiness
that you would get from, wild boar.
- [Mike and Jamie ] Boar?
- [Ben] Boar.
- [Mike] That's what I was thinking with the previous one.
- Mike you take the tenuous win, you take the 10 minutes.
- [Jamie] I see how this is gonna go.
- The tenuous 10.
- Ah.
- And while you're finishing off the meat balls
I'm gonna have this week's special,
which is the yak burger.
Again, farmed in East Kentucky, Tibetan yak.
It's quite beefy,
but I think what makes it so lovely is the kind
of Nepalese spices, which is absolute yummy.
The independent food scene
in Louisville is really strong.
Due in part to the abundance of surrounding farmland.
But was the local produce that much better
than we'd had elsewhere?
Well, we headed to Barn eight
a farm and restaurant to find out.
- Well, this is quite nice, isn't it?
- [Ben] Nice drive. Half hour outta the city.
- [Jamie] Wow, gorgeous.
(upbeat drum music)
- What is this?
- [Jamie] Whoa.
- Quite literally the old stable.
- This is such a good looking table of food.
- [Ben] The carrot have got a massaman curry oil
and candied walnuts on them.
The bread and butter is sensational.
The grilled vegetables, the the cured cucumber,
the burrata with a few fruit,
just a few fruits just thrown on a plate.
But it's so good.
- I think the most exciting thing
about reading the menu, is that you know it
came from that field over there and it's been
picked probably hours ago.
- [Ben] This is so good.
(sneaky music)
- [Jamie] What's that?
- [Mike] That is a peach.
- Oh!
- Have you tried the peach?
- Yeah.
And with the blackberry and burrata.
- And when you said, yeah, your eyes rolled
in the back of your head.
- It was not fun to watch.
(laughing)
- When you can do simple this well
you don't need to do anything else.
- [Jamie] People would eat so many more vegetables
if they tasted like that.
- Synonymous with Kentucky
we were told there was one place we had to visit.
The Louisville Slugger, or baseball bat, to us Brits
Museum and Factory.
Family run since 1884.
The museum was a chance for us to immerse ourselves
in the rich sporting culture and also work up an appetite.
- So, we are standing inside of
Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory
and this is where you can see an American icon made
from start to finish.
(upbeat music) (laughing)
(laughing)
Inside of our factory, we make a little bit less than
2 million bats every year.
- No fresher bat than that.
- Any wood bat you see, whether it be
in a sporting goods store
or on the field during major league play
was made right here in Louisville, Kentucky, in our factory.
Because this is not just for baseball fans
this is just for anyone looking for a memorable experience.
- [Mike] I was already 10 minutes up on Jamie,
but before it was time for us to leave the museum,
there was one last chance for him
to claw back some precious time.
10 balls each, 10 minutes to be won.
- Next challenge we've just had a tour
of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory.
Where so many of the bats are made,
but now the boys are gonna put them into practice.
I'm keeping tally.
Let's do it.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- This clashes with my outfit.
- I'm concerned far more about hitting a ball.
(upbeat instrumental music continues)
(bat hits ball)
- [Jamie] Oh.
(upbeat instrumental music continues)
- [Jamie] Stop hitting it.
- [Ben] You hit everyone so far.
- Oh.
- [Mike] Oh No!
- [Museum Employee] You broke it.
- So far he's hit everyone.
And on his fifth, he broke the bat.
(beep)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Mike] Nah.
- [Ben] Excellent!
Wow!
[Ben] He's missed two, but he's cracked every other one.
Which is amazing.
- That wasn't supposed to happen.
(happy instrumental music)
- No!
- Yeah! One.
(laughing)
- [Jamie] Yes!
(happy instrumental music continues)
- I'm not gonna lie boys, those were coming thick and fast.
- They were quick.
- I was struggling to keep up with the scores.
And the normal who gets the extra 10 points is,
Mike.
(background applause)
You have got some catching up to do, my friend.
- I cannot afford to not.
- I've got 20 minutes. I'm already on 25 minutes.
35 minutes.
(Ben laughs)
- [Jamie] No!
- Our next stop was to Frankfurt, the Kentucky State Capitol
to learn about a famous Kentucky delicacy and its creator.
- Rebecca Ruth Candies was started in 1919.
The two ladies,
my grandmother and her friend started the business.
They did not even have the right to vote at that time.
In 1936, there was a function up at the governor's mansion
and one of the dignitaries at the event,
Eleanor Hume Offit
made the statement that the two best taste
in Kentucky were Kentucky Bourbon
and Miss Boo's Candy, Rebecca Ruth Candy.
And so she took that comment
and thought about it and said,
"Well I'm going to make the single best taste
in the world and I'm gonna combine candy with bourbon."
- [Ben] Rebecca Ruth bourbon balls are made with
100 proof Kentucky bourbon.
Covered in dark chocolate and topped with a single pecan.
That's good.
Dark chocolate and cherry.
Oh, I want them all.
- So I'm the third generation.
And this is my daughter, Sarah,
and she's the fourth generation.
And she's now the general manager of Rebecca Ruth Candies.
- Oh!
- Oh yeah!
- [Jamie] We also found some really interesting
bourbon based ingredients, which we thought
we'd pick up for our battle.
- It's just a really, really cool piece
of Kentucky history that we are here to be a part of.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Jamie] Well then obviously we were going there next
- [Mike] With the risk of being floored by sugar and bourbon.
It was time to move on
a lot more to learn.
A load more ground to cover.
And Wallace Station was waiting.
where we met owner Ouita Michel,
a six times James Beard Foundation Award nominee.
- Soup Beans and cornbread is one
of the most iconic Kentucky dishes.
It's made with country Ham hock.
And to me, that's Kentucky in a bowl.
- Oh no! I like that.
- [Ouita laughs] You like it?
- Yeah!
That's-
- That's wholesome. That just feels hearty.
That feels like that is setting you up for the day.
- [Ouita] And then the catfish is all from Kentucky,
so it's all from Barren Lake Kentucky.
- [Jamie] Yep.
- [Ouita] Um, so that's kind of our Kentucky version
of fish and chips, I guess you might say.
- [Ben] Yeah, pretty much. (Ouita laughs)
- Delicious.
- It's great. - [Ouita] Yeah
- [Ouita] and then I think
the country ham and pimento cheese.
So, it's...
country ham is a salt cured ham.
It's the country style version of prosciutto.
So, it's like a grilled cheese sandwich,
but with country ham on the middle.
So this sandwich was on, has been on the Food Network
and this restaurant's been on the Food Network a few times,
for best thing I ever ate.
Diners, drive-Ins and Dives.
- Now Jamie Spafford is about to eat the sandwich.
(Ouita laughs)
I need to see you. I need to watch your reaction to it.
- No pressure.
(laughing)
- On me I mean, not on the sandwich, on me.
The ham is superb.
And then the grated cheese with the cheese sauce.
- Well so pimento cheese is grated white cheddar
with mayonnaise and a little bit of cream cheese
and then a little hot sauce, a little.
And so it makes a spread.
It's like a cheese spread. - Mmm hmm. Yeah.
- And then when you press it all together.
- [Ben] It oozes.
- It oozes. Yeah.
I want to create restaurants that express place.
That's really what I'm trying to do.
If-if someone's coming to one of my restaurants
I want 'em to know they're in Kentucky.
- That is exceptional.
- Country fried ham is
a-a thing.
- Yeah.
- [Mike] Like amazing!
- Interesting. (Ouita laughs)
- Food for thought boys, food for thought.
- Get out of my ideas. - No.
- Get out of my idea.
- No, you get out my ideas.
- No. You get out my ideas.
- There's too much roof on Mustang Sally.
(laughing)
Our next leg of the journey pointed us
into the heart of Bluegrass Country, Lexington.
(banjo music)
Our next stop was OBC kitchen
renowned for great food and over 800 bourbons.
- Cheers.
And we even got the chance to chat with an expert.
- When you're tasting bourbon, what are you looking for?
- I'm looking for age more than anything.
- A lot of the flavour comes from the wood,
and in fact it has to be aged
in American white oak and American white oak
the chemical compounds in them gives you a lot of vanilla,
which is why it's a law that says you have to
age within those wood.
- While Ben and Jamie were sipping bourbon
and kicking back.
Ed and I have come to downtown Lexington to get some shots
and a feel of the city.
(snap, snap)
Cheers.
We work really hard.
- [Jamie] Roasted Brussels sprouts,
chilli ginger and bourbon honey.
- Bourbon honey gives it a sweetness,
a nod to the local area.
But then ginger and chilli from, you know,
other global influences.
- Really, really hard.
We were working really hard, Agave & Rye.
Epic tacos suggested by you guys on Twitter.
We've been recommended the sugar daddy of the plain Jane.
So their taco style or tacos as they called it here.
Um, it's a crispy corn and a soft flour wedged together
with cheese, like a quesadilla.
(banjo music)
That's unbelievable.
(banjo music continues)
- We've been told so many times
that Kentucky is a cuisine of corn.
Catfish is coated in it.
Cornbread, obviously whiskey is made from corn.
So, we got the elotoes Mexican style.
It is the char of the corn
with the spice and then the cheese
and like the mayo they spill over it.
That doesn't just get all around your face,
but all around your tongue and it is so good.
- Candy, bacon,
and a peanut butter dip.
- It is salty, it is sweet, it is meaty, it is fatty.
- You really shouldn't eat like this all the time,
but when you do, you should really go for it.
- And we have
(banjo music continues)
- [Jamie] By embracing the local culture in cuisine,
we were really starting to build an understanding
of what Kentucky has to offer,
but with over 800 miles still to cover,
it was time to gather our thoughts and look ahead
to the next leg of our epic journey.
(background speaker)
- Now we always think that food
is one of the best ways to get to the heart
of the city's culture and the people in the community.
Live music fits into that category.
(background speaker continues)
We've stumbled upon Southland Jamboree.
Is a free Bluegrass concert, full of locals.
Which is just really nice.
- 49 and a ham of meat.
(applause)
♪ It's been a really long day ♪
- This is great!
♪ It's time for ♪
- It reminds me of being at the allotment.
- The commutative people, who love stuff
and I'm the youngest here. (laughing)
♪ There's so much to do ♪
♪ but we saw it through. ♪
♪ It's been one heck of a day. ♪
- Why can't you improve the efficiency
of wind farms by playing them bluegrass music,
because they're big, heavy metal fans.
(laughing)
(guitar music)
- [Mike] We barely scratched the surface
on our Epic Kentucky Road trip
and there was a lot still to learn
before we attempt our ultimate Kentucky cook-off.
(guitar music continues)
How much would this bottle be worth now?
- Probably about $10,000 right now.
(laughs)