- Hi, my name's Eli and I'm here to learn
my grandma's recipe for arroz con gandules.
Gandules, gandu--
it's really sad.
Abuela's Puerto Rican rice.
If there was one pivotal thing,
as a young Puerto Rican growing up,
it is the arroz con gandules, the rice, the essence.
First off, I'm not a cook at all.
I am terrible.
She is probably the best cook I've ever met in my life.
That rice is like crack, son.
I was always such a grandma's boy.
I was always attached to her hip.
She was really like my second mom.
At this point about 20 years ago,
she was diagnosed with MS,
and it got bad to the point where
she was not really able to do much.
I live in Los Angeles and she lives in Chicago
and unlike my other family members
who can come visit me, or I can meet them somewhere,
she's pretty much stationary.
It makes me a little emotional.
I grew up in a Puerto Rican household,
but I'm fourth generation.
I don't know Spanish, I can't dance salsa,
and I can't roll my R's, arroz.
Through this experience, I wanna feel more connected
with my roots, more connected with my culture,
and also connect with my grandmother
who means so much to me.
What I'm gonna do is to learn how to make the rice,
go on a shopping spree, and cultivate my ending
with making it for the Pero Like team.
The pressure is on.
Come on with me to this journey while I embarrass myself.
- Hey, grandma.
- Hey, hey, no, I'm just calling you because
I just wanted to let you know that I am
finally ready to learn how to make your Puerto Rican rice.
- No, I'm gonna cook for at least
six to eight people.
- Okay.
Cut how many onions?
(intense music)
- Then I'm lit? (air horn sounds)
- Oh, grandma, love you.
- Holy shit, that's a lot of ingredients.
- Oh, I thought I hung up, I'm sorry.
I knew if I was gonna go on this journey,
I was going to need authentic help.
And who's more authentic than Ivan, who's from Puerto Rico?
- Hi, I'm Ivan, and I'm from Puerto Rico.
- What part of Puerto Rico are you from?
- I am from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
(rolls R) Rico. - Puerto Rico.
(rolls R)
- I think you're jump starting--
- I'm making my grandma's recipe of arroz con gandules.
- Arroz. - Arroz.
- We all know I can't do that.
- Arroz con gandules.
- Do you feel like you're better than me, Ivan?
- I could say so.
I grew up going to my grandma's house
and I used to help her peel the gandules.
- That's legit as hell.
- Yep, super legit. - Okay, all right.
You are more Puerto Rican than me.
- But it really depends, everyone has kind of
their own style, but
I feel like the basics are all the same.
- Tell me what it's like living in Puerto Rico
as a wee boy.
- Something that's very distinct
that I kind of miss is waking up
to the sound of chickens.
- The sound of chickens? (chicken clucks)
- Yeah, they were just roaming around your neighborhood.
- Are they clean chickens?
- Yeah they're clean chickens. (chicken clucks)
- Can you just go pet them or something?
- Yeah, I wouldn't pet them. (chicken clucks)
- Are they mean?
- All right, we have to go to aisle 20.
It says, "Latin American food."
Comidas Latina, that's where we're gonna find it.
- [Eli] Do you feel like you're home, Ivan?
- This feels like home.
- They got the gandules. - Look at that.
They got gandules, baby.
This is what we need, baby.
Yep.
- [Eli] Extra long?
- [Ivan] Yeah.
- [Eli] Okay.
I just thought rice was rice.
Need to make sure this is the right rice.
- Grandma.
- So it's not extra long grain?
- [Eli] You're trying to sabotage me.
- It's okay, you know, I don't do this often.
- Which oil?
- I don't know, maybe you should call your grandma again.
- Canola?
- She's giving you all the details
so that you don't call her again.
- Grandma, I got another question.
- Yeah, so there's two pound bags of rice.
How many pounds should I get of rice?
Maybe I'll just get four pounds and see what's up.
- Okay, all right, all right, love you, Grandma,
thank you, all right, bye-bye.
I think I'm bothering her at this point.
I want you to be a part of the taste test.
- Oh.
- Will you be a part of the taste test?
- I will.
- He gets to be a part of the taste test.
- I will for sure.
- Now the pressure's on.
I'm in the process of waiting
for the pork chops to defrost.
And I fell asleep, so now today is the day
I need to serve the rice and nothing is made.
I'm kind of freaking out, I have,
I don't know why I looked at my wrist.
I have only a couple hours to present this rice
to the Pero Like team,
and I need to go now.
Ingredients, I gotta get the ingredients.
Holy shit.
Right now, it's 6:30 AM,
so that means I have to be at work by 9,
which I think is enough time, so we'll see.
I don't know if it's too much or too little
but I got pork for days.
I've been listening to Hector Lavoe
and I feel like he's my Obi Wan right now,
as I'm cooking this.
Literally doing one thing here
and then I have to go all the way over here
for my vegetables and I'm going back and forth
and I'm freaking out.
I feel like I'm in an episode of Chopped,
disappointed Abuela edition.
Thyme, thyme is definitely of the essence,
but it smells fucking fantastic.
It actually is starting to look like Puerto Rican rice.
I did that, I made it.
Even if it tastes like poop, I still,
it looks, visually, it's there.
Struggle right now, it looks great.
It's ready to go, it's ready to go,
but the issue is is that I keep putting water
and it's not absorbing, so it's still crunchy, it's still,
it's very disheartening and I need to leave now.
So I have my first taste testers
who happen to be Puerto Rican.
And also, it's Ivan, he's from the island
and he thinks he's better than me, so
that really, kind of nervous right now,
so I'm hoping for the best.
- So, I had arroz con gandules for breakfast,
lunch, dinner, Monday to Friday and Sundays.
- What?!
- I'm from Miami, so definitely in Miami, there's,
I've tried many Puerto Rican restaurants.
- I've never had Puerto Rican rice before.
- Me neither, that I know of. - Yeah, should be interesting.
I'm excited.
- Mm. - Mm.
- Oh wow. - It smells legit.
- It looks delicious.
- This looks so good. - This looks so good, Eli.
- I will say, I will say--
- It looks like arroz con gandules.
- It looks like arroz con gandule
and it smells like arroz con gandule.
- Three, two, one.
- Esta un poco simple.
- [Claudia] I haven't had lunch yet.
- Eli, this is great.
- Okay.
- It's not bad, it's not bad.
It's really close, all you need is a little bit
of salt and that's it.
- Your first time, listen.
You can get it, okay Eli?
And not like that.
- Arroz con gandules taste is there.
The rice is a little bit mushy.
- Yeah, it's amogollao? - Amogollao.
- A little amogollao.
- I would throw a bunch of salt on it
'cause I'm a salty girl, but.
- She puts salt on everything, she puts salt on ice cream.
- Do we have any salt right now?
I'll sprinkle a little bit.
- He's just standing there.
- I'm proud of you, Eli.
You're a real Puerto Rican.
- A real Puerto Rican.
- Eli, I commend you
for even making this and attempting it
and sharing it with Latinos. - With us.
- With us that are like, we be knowing.
- If you feed this to a bunch of people
that have never had arroz con gandules,
they would say it's good.
- This is really good.
- I am shocked by how everyone's reactions were so positive.
It really meant a lot to me.
It was kind of like I found this kind of emotional
response to it all.
You make this food to bring joy to someone else.
That's what my grandma's done my entire life.
She consistently made this food
to do exactly that, to see my reactions,
to see me smile, to see me happy and fed.
And to have that experience with my friends,
I now understand where she was coming from all those years.
It meant a lot to me.
I think it added a new level of thinking
when it comes to eating food and preparing food.
It just shows how amazing my grandma is
and how amazing her cooking is
'cause even a D level version of her rice, people love.
- Hey, so I made the rice.
Everyone loved it, surprisingly.
- So it's a little bland, it's a little bland,
but the color's there.
- I'm glad we're able to have this now.
I just wanted to say I really love you
and I really appreciate you
and I'm proud to have you as my grandma.
I just wanted to say that.
- I love you too.
- I'm full fledged, yes.
(triumphant Latin music)