(upbeat music)
- Hello and welcome to the channel.
- You've seen the title.
Let's eat some delicious food and take these off.
- And obviously we're gonna make a competition of this.
- Absolutely.
(upbeat music)
- Okay, the first one is in front of you
and you can remove the blindfolds in
three, two, one.
- Ooh.
- Ooh it's-
- Starting with a drink.
- It's frothy.
- It is frothy.
It looks and smells like hot chocolate.
It's hot chocolate.
- What is in that?
- Marshmallows.
- Marshmallows or curd?
- Melty marshmallows.
- It's not marshmallows.
- [Mike] I think that's cheese.
- That's cheese, that's curds.
- [Ben] So this is a simple game.
We're gonna ask them to have a taste,
enjoy the experience and then talk about it.
Then I'll tell them what it is.
And then they have to guess where in the world it's from.
It's like a fresh cheese, like a-
- Sorry, it's just weird.
- What's weird about it?
Is it texture?
Is it a flavour?
- It it's more like I'm so used to,
I don't like the skin on my hot chocolate.
- All the great things about hot chocolate
which are just delicious,
and then all the best things about a pizza.
(Ben and Barry laugh)
- [Ben] And you can have it at
the start of the day.
- It tastes amazing.
- Served a lot as breakfast in this particular country
but also can be enjoyed throughout the day.
So it could also be sort of towards the end of the day
almost like just past afternoon tea as the sun comes down.
- [Barry] I like the chocolate, I like the cheese.
Together, I'm confused.
- I think they work. I like it.
- As a cheese goes, though,
it's quite a salty cheese.
- Yeah, salted chocolate.
That's why I think it works.
If you get some of the like proper little,
it's delicious.
I really like it.
- So it is Chocolate Santafereno,
or chocolate completo.
I need you to try and tell me which country is it from?
Scribble down your answers,
and then we'll ask you to reveal them.
And there is a point if you get it bang on
I'll give you a half point
if you get like close.
(upbeat cheerful music)
- The answer is Columbia.
- Oh.
- No!
- Is that because of the chocolate?
- Yeah.
- Columbia, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah this is quite a classic drink
from the kind of Andean region.
So it's quite cold and to gather around
a hot chocolate with the salty cheese,
fresh cheese, queso,
we've used a combination of like a goats
cheese and mozzarella to get that stringiness.
There's lots of recipes online that suggests
mozzarella does that job,
but it does need to be quite a salty cheese as well.
This is such an important part of tradition
that they even have a saying for it that has evolved
that chocolate sin queso es como amor sin besos.
Or something along those lines,
which basically means chocolate without cheese,
is like love without a kiss.
- Oh.
- And it is now so iconic that actually
if you speak to Colombians, they think we're pretty crazy
for not putting cheese in our chocolate.
It's just such an iconic thing.
- I thought it was a phrase of like,
it goes together like chocolate and cheese.
- Chalk and cheese.
- And that means the opposite.
Okay, Mike gets a point.
Let's move on to round two.
(light electric guitar music)
- Number two.
Lift your blindfolds.
- Ooh.
- Okay.
- Ooh, what is that?
- [Mike] So we have a meaty broth with a lot-
- More skin-
- [Mike] Of fat on the top.
- Barry we're not very good at identifying meat
in these videos.
But it's a a meaty stew with-
- Ooh, hello.
- With some gelatinous, very gelatinous meat in it.
- So those who eat, it have quite sophisticated skills.
And there are certain methods you wouldn't even use cutlery.
You would spoon the meat onto a plate
and then use the bread to portion up.
But if you'd like to use a bowl, that's fine.
- Oh my goodness.
What is that?
- It's like so-
- Is that tripe?
- That's like butter.
- I'm scared of that one.
- This tastes like salt beef,
texture of butter.
Don't even bother chewing it.
- Oh my gosh.
- It's like a skip.
- Where did it go?
- It just dissolves.
This is breakfast.
Tripe's delicious.
- Oh, it's quite nice isn't it?
- That is so acidic and smells a bit sweet.
- That is powerful.
- He kind of mix it in really.
It's kind of a little garnish to mix in.
- I'm gonna mix it in my mouth.
(Barry laughs)
(Crew laughing)
- Whoa!
(Crew laughing)
- That is insane, whoa!
(Crew laughing)
- That is a 100% vinegar and garlic.
- I mean yes, it is about 50% garlic and 50% vinegar.
(upbeat rock music)
- That is purely a texture familiarity thing.
And once you get your head round it,
just focus on what it tastes like.
It tastes fantastic.
It is so meaty.
- And if you'd like to help wash it down,
a little bit of vodka.
(clinks glasses)
- So you've got a combination of tripe,
you were right, tongue and calves foot.
- Ah!
- Ooh, lovely.
- Washed down with vodka, what country is it from?
- Oh my goodness.
- I need you answers please.
Reveal your answers in three, two, one.
- Ooh.
- Both answers are incorrect.
The answer is Armenia.
- Wow okay.
- The dish you are eating is Khash or Khaash.
So traditionally this was a dish made of what was available
and it was definitely the cheaper cuts.
And it was the cuts that basically weren't being utilised
by higher realms of society.
So it was therefore, had to be treated,
soaked overnight or all day,
and then cooked overnight many, many, many hours
in the simplest of broth, a little bit of garlic
and a little bit of onion.
Otherwise the calves foot in this case
we've got Lamb's tongue, but it might also have
been cow tripe which is essentially the stomach.
And it becomes really soft, full of flavour.
And then the meat and the flesh is eaten with the soft bread
almost as a spoon and then dried bread is crumbled
into the broth so it becomes almost porridge-like.
Like we would put oats into a broth to dry out,
like overnight oats.
And the vodka is often done to toast at the end of the meal.
First of all, toast the day, then toast the cook
and then toast to the rest of the guests.
And it's because the cook has been up all night tending
to that broth, checking the pot, doesn't boil dry
and it needs sort of constant attention.
So it literally causes people sleepless
nights to get this breakfast on the table.
- As flavours go, that's exceptional.
And like, I would have that again and again and again.
- We've started strongly.
- I haven't finished my hoof,
but I'll come back to it later.
(sound of marker on paper)
(rock music)
- Okay, number three.
Where in the world are we off to?
Take off your blindfolds.
(rock music)
- Okay.
- Excellent.
- Why excellent?
Why is that more excellent than the last two?
- Because it's kind of familiar
in our stupid little minds, soup dumplings?
- Yeah.
Oh no, I popped it.
(Crew laughing)
- That's not gonna work.
Oh wow, okay. There's just one big-
- That'll explain it.
- One big lambie ball isn't it?
- Is it lambie?
- I don't know Barry, It fell out of my sack.
(Ben laughs)
- I think that's beef.
- Spices are onion, garlic, salt, pepper
and a little bit of caraway.
What do you think about the skin?
- It's almost suetey.
- Yeah, that is such a good description.
- See if you could write down a country.
Reveal in three, two, one.
- Nepal, that's the first thing that came to mind.
- I was going like, it feels like something
that you'd have upper mountain,
like really, really really fatty,
fills you up, also mountain goat, you know?
- You are both thinking the same kind of logic.
And I think you probably what you have
in your mind is Momos, which is a Tibetan thing.
That's also very popular in Nepal.
It's not what these are, but they're very similar.
Momo would be very much spiced as well.
These are Buuz, B-U-U-Z, from Mongolia.
- Oh.
- Mongolia?
- Not a million miles away.
And the landscape and the region
and the kind of approach and logic you had,
I think is spot on very fatty,
very heavy.
- Take that.
- The pastry or the dumpling skin
in the wrapper is much thicker.
And you do want the heavy fatty mutton,
and unlike a soup dumping, which a little ball
with a lot of soup,
this is a lot of ball with a bit of juice
that comes out of it.
- The influence of the dumplings,
like the suets we had they reminded me of,
but their suets are so delicate and like,
even the dough itself as well is stringy.
- These are like hearty, aren't they?
- Yeah.
- Like they are a breakfast.
If you can get your head round eating
a mutton soup dumpling.
- It's like a soup dumpling meets a Cornish pasty.
- Yeah.
- It's kind of that-
- This will set you up for a day
in the mountains, for sure.
- Yeah, and I think it is that cross between dim sum
which is very elegant as a nice brunch
somewhere like Hong Kong. Soup dumplings exactly,
or even if you go further north into sort of Russia
and Poland, you have things like pierogi,
which is a very heavy, very dense kind of dumpling.
There is a hot water dumpling.
So you add the hot water into the flower to cook it
out and then you shape it and steam it.
What do we think?
- I think they're alright.
- Oh yeah, delicious.
I'd like a slightly more refined version.
You could only-
- Would you, you Barry Taylor stay in
East London would like a more refined version.
- Look at that.
- This is supposed to set you up for a day in the mountains.
- I live in Hamshire.
- Exactly, so you don't get to say what you'd prefer.
- What I like actually with these is they're easier
for normals to get the head round.
'Cause you don't need the dexterity of the finesse
and the fine pleating and folding so much.
Every kind of different family, nomadic family
has their own way of sealing them in,
so that there are lots of different ways
of doing it.
They are much heartier and because of that,
they're actually easier to work with
than the very fine rappers that you would
find associated with soup dumpings.
- So the juice that came out of it,
is actually just the natural fats from the ball?
- Yeah.
- That's wow.
- Okay, and is it cooked slowly in order to-
- Steamed, so it's cooked gently.
- Okay.
- And obviously it is a bigger ball
so they take a bit longer than a small soup dumpling,
but it's just steamed.
So it is a very gentle cooking method.
Mike, you've only got one point.
Barry yet to score.
Last round.
- We haven't done very well, have we?
(upbeat music)
- Last one.
- Come on.
- Number four, off you go.
What is it?
Where does it come from?
- Ooh, it's a spicy banana.
- It does look like a spicy banana.
(upbeat music)
- Oh, wow.
- That's well nice.
- Is that-
- There's more tripe!
- There's more tripe in this one.
Have you just been chucking tripe in stuff
'cause you've got some left over.
- Once you've gone to the effort
of preparing tripe you might as well use it
across a few things, but a little bit of tripe in there.
- Like it's got the fruitiness of the banana,
a zing a little bit of spice in there,
and then a fattiness.
- The banana and there's another fruity thing in here.
There's another fruity element
that makes it taste incredible.
- [Ben] The world's most consumed fruit.
- It has a creaminess to it as well.
And it's that oily heat.
- It gets it everywhere.
- Yeah, you can tell.
Can imagine what that tastes like,
and it's got a really lovely sort of warmth
that goes throughout that.
- This is wonderful, what's it called?
- I believe it's pronounced Katogo,
but I am also going to say the bananas
you have cooked in there are very unripe green bananas,
because we couldn't get a hold of what
it should have been.
- Plantain?
- No
- I'll tell you what though,
like a banana in a meaty stew works.
And I'd never had considered that.
- In here you've got some oxtail,
a stew made with beef bones
and then you're right, you pretty much got all
the rest which is tomato and carrot,
and onion and some spice in the form of chilli
and garlic and the usual suspects.
- That's amazing
- Scribble down your answers.
And then we'll ask you to reveal them.
Flip your boards around in three, two, one.
- We need to diversify our friendship.
- No!
No!
- So Katoga is from Africa.
You're on the right continent, but there
were over 50 countries to choose from.
You were on the wrong side.
East Africa, it's Uganda.
- Oh wow.
- Wow okay.
- I mean it was absolutely delicious, isn't it?
- Yeah, I was thinking, you know,
I've been to Kenya and they had like some meals
there with banana in it,
but nothing, nothing like that.
That's my favourite today.
I could see myself doing something similar at home.
- It is a challenge to cook offal,
because it's not as simple as a pork medallion,
or a chicken breast or a steak or lamb leg steak,
which we just know that we can grill or quick fry,
does need a bit more preparation,
generally a longer cooking time.
This dish could be with any number
of offal from heart and lung from trotters,
right the way through to sweet breads and tripe.
Particularly sweet breads and trip are served to kids
and they elderly 'cause once they are cooked,
they're really easy to digest and hugely nutritious.
- And it gets to chew as well.
- In this instance, we have put very under ripe
green bananas in,
it should be matooke which is a green banana
from Uganda which is not the same as plantain.
It is of the banana family, but it is a very specific,
often slightly shorter and squatter and firmer.
Cooked when they're nice and firm so they don't break
down into the stew.
- Does it have a similar flavour profile
- As a very green banana and they arrived
so green this morning we cut into them
and they almost have-
- With a bread knife.
- Like a chalky, almost powdery, almost citrusy note
to them because they haven't yet sweetened.
So they've still got the acidity
of picking it young.
- And turned into that?
- They taste really sweet.
- Yeah, well we've cooked them so they sweeten up.
- Wow.
- So is there a risk that if you use
the standard ripened banana,
with something like this, it'll be too sweet then?
- Too sweet.
It would probably dissolve too much.
But then at the same time,
really difficult to get a hold
of matooke in this country.
So not a particularly high scoring video.
One point to Mike who takes the win,
but what do we think four very different countries
and four very different dishes?
- I absolutely loved it.
And I love stuff like this, trying new things
and you know celebrating other parts of the world.
It was awesome.
- I love it because if I did get to travel,
and I saw that on the menu,
any of these in the menu,
I probably I wouldn't order it
because I'd be too scared of it.
Whereas now I would have that every morning.
Stuff that it's delicious.
- Which means it's over to you guys,
comment down below and let us know,
did any of those wow you today?
- And as always, if you enjoy this video,
please give it a like so we know to make more.
- Also let us know of any dishes that you've had
that we need to try.
I'm not sure you can beat that.
- Game on.
Oh, Ben's taken the tip off your banana.
(beep)
- Where in the world are we off to?
Take off your blindfolds.
- Where in the world are we off to?
- Okay.
- It's like a Microsoft 95 screen saver.
(Barry laughs)