(tranquil music) - Welcome to my world. (upbeat music) Two escargots, pate brisee. Two green salads. - Okay, lani sauce here. - Lamb chops, steak-frites. Shouldn't you be doing something? Two smoked filets and a pepper steak. Come on, make the dessert. Chocolate tart please. As a cook, taste and
smells are my memories, and now I'm in search of new ones. So, I'm leaving New York City and hope to have a few
epiphanies around the world, and I'm willing to go to
some lengths to do that. I am looking for extremes
of emotion and experience. I'll try anything, I'll risk everything. I have nothing to lose. (light acoustic music) Our experience of Portugal was very much a step back in time, open fires, huts, fireplaces, and of course the food is very much like it was 100, 200 years ago, and they're proud of it. It's mind-boggling, you feel
like you're in another century. Here I am, finally, in Portugal. What's different about
Portugal than every place else? - Basically, in Portugal
we eat a lot of fish and then we eat a lot of pork, and one of the great
things is that any animal with just about everything, we don't let anything go to waste. - Nose to tail.
- From the nose to tail, all the innards, everything. - You're scaring me. I'm going to Portugal to figure out Jose, my boss from Les Halles,
the restaurant where I work. Jose is a maniacal foodie, loves food, loves cooking, loves talking about
food, loves buying food, and his love for his country's cuisine has only gotten stronger since he left Portugal years ago. Jose's quirky obsession
with Portuguese food is something that's always intrigued me. Knowing Jose, I suspect I'm
gonna be eating a lot here. - Prepare the stomach for lunch. (laughs) - The town of Oporto, it's an old town, it's a pretty town. How old is this city? - Maybe from the 12th
century, as as we know it. - Right.
- Has been part of Portugal so, it's a very, very old city. - We quickly discover possibly the most important
traditional staple of Portuguese cuisine, which is salt cod or bacalao as they call it here. Okay, this is the backbone of
Portuguese cuisine, isn't it? - Exactly.
- This is what it's all about. Why is that? - I guess there used to be a
lot the bacalao North Atlantic and the Portuguese boats, at the time nobody cares about
the Portuguese fishermen, would go to the North
Atlantic, up to the Greenland, to fish or bacalao. - Right. - And they figured out
a way to preserve it, both on the boats and
then when it gets inland, because at the time there's no freezers. - [Anthony] No refrigeration. Back in the days when
Portugal ruled the world, way before Swanson
Hungry-Man frozen dinners, they needed a sustainable food for all those long conquering boat trips. They discovered that if
they splayed out a cod and stuck it in salt, it
would last a couple of years. That's a long time at sea. But what started out as survival food soon made its way onto
their tables back home, it hasn't left since. - People started falling
in love with bacalao and it becomes the basic, if there's a national
dish, it'll be bacalao. - Now I understand why you don't like that stuff that comes with no bones in it in the little plastic bag. Well, like any food-crazy country, restaurants are known for specific dishes or specific things that they do well, and apparently Portugal
has a lot of these joints. - Sure they left some things for us to eat while waiting for the fish to get cooked. You will see what-- - [Anthony] Oh, man, I'm ready. The first place Jose takes us is a workaday lunch joint called Redondo. Redondo is famous for merluza, particularly head of merluza.
- If you don't know Redondo, if you're not a friend of Redondo, if you don't come here often, you cannot have the head. The head is reserved for the
really special customers. - Fortunately, we're very special people. (Jose laughing) It should be pointed out, you don't make reservations for the night. You basically make them for life. This is your cousin's table? - Yeah, this is my
cousin's table right here, he owns this table. - Okay. I know there's some elements
of Portuguese cuisine that I already really, really like. And in fact, I've stolen
a lot of those recipes and used them as my own over the years. So I'm here because I like the
idea of just using every part to really understand how
every part is valued. You know, you respect the ingredients, that's sort of the antithesis
of what we do in the States. When you think sardine in the States, this is not the same animal at all, not salty, oily, stinky
like we're used to. These are really good, really
fresh and in this case, dredged in flour and eaten whole. - [Jose] You start by the head. - This is everything I like in food. Absolutely nothing goes to waste if you've got the whole
thing, the whole fish. It's simple, it's straightforward,
there's about, what? Two, three ingredients involved and it's good because it's good. You don't have to carve
it into a silly shape and you can eat the head. (laughing) - I think these days I see more and more people want simple ingredients,
very good, very fresh. Oh, here it is, here is the-- - Wow, here we go. Next, merluza. Merluza is like a giant capelin,
very simple, very rustic. The Portuguese understand
that the closer to the bone, the sweeter the meat. - They cut it further down the neck so we have that little meat to it. - I got all the good stuff here, the cheek, the tongue, little
boiled potato, curry, onion. - You want the eyeball too? - Yeah. I love--
- Would you love some? - Yeah, I'd love some. It's really light, really subtle flavor, ethereal, one might say. Basically, if you like filet, the fish, you will like eyeball, you got to get past your preconceptions about chewing on eyeballs. Now, for the tongue. The tripes a la mode. I love making it. I think
it I make it pretty well but it smells like a wet sheep dog to me. Jose just loves tripe. He not only loves tripe, he
likes tripe cooked in beans, preferably with some
hooves and some knuckles and some blood sausage and some skin and some ears and some tails. That's something I probably
would not have ordered had I come to this restaurant alone. - This is the best type of tripe, it's called the tripe brisee. See the beans, and there
is the liquor we call (speaks in foreign language) vodka. That's the the calf's
feet tip, it's the best. - Okay. - This dish, the reason
it's called Oporto style, some time in history,
Napoleon sent his troops and he did invade Portugal, and he ransacked everything
so people will surrender, but they left with the
innards of the animals that was the tripe,
the stomach of the cows and maybe some other things and the people from
Oporto came up with a dish that was the tripes to survive, and of course then it became
a traditional big dish. - Okay, where's that little feet piece? Oh, here it is. See, I would be a full-blown tripe fan if I'd been eating it
like this all the time. - Let's go. - That was fantastic. Thank you very much. It was wonderful, an
eye-opening experience. It should be pointed out,
I've been off the plane, what? Two hours now, I've had
no sleep and jet lag. This man is enthusiastic to a fever pitch. Some Pro Spring pants might
have been a good investment before this trip, because I get the idea
I'm gonna be eating a lot, and I'm gonna be eating frequently. (light acoustic music) The city of Oporto, it's a port city. It's in northern Portugal at
the mouth of the Douro River. It's a city that grew
up around the making of, exporting of Port wine. The grapes may come from the Douro Valley but this is Porto town. - Now you are on the Quebrantoes, it's probably the most
typical part of Oporto. You see all the Port wine signs, most of the familiar brands
Calem, Sandeman Delaforce. - Right, I recognize some of these names. - So, this is where it all
happens in terms of Port wine. This is the center of the
of the business of Port so-- - The wine came from upriver. - Yes, from upriver.
- On these boats. - On these boats, they were fortified with brandy and then it sailed down to England. - During one of their many
scuffles with the French, the shifty British turned
to Portugal for their wine, but found they could only
keep it from going bad during shipment by adding brandy. And bingo, they invented Port wine. The result was that you
look around the river and you see a number of
decidedly un-Portuguese names. See, if you'd poured a few
hundred couple of years ago, you poured a few 100,000
gallons of Port into the river from a little Port party and then started killing
a few 1000 Englishmen, maybe you wouldn't have had this problem. - Maybe. (laughs) Well, let's go in there, it's
really, really very nice. So in the old days these
two had taverns and stores and some of them still
have some taverns here. - [Anthony] The Portuguese
is sort of defiantly happy about not having changed much at all. They seem to have decided early on, what's good, and stuck with it. - Here, you have a very
old-style grocery store. Maybe on this side, maybe it'll be open. Yeah, it's open, so this is what a grocery
store used to look like 900 years ago, so there's
nothing changing here. This tin of the olives, the
tremocos, the (mumbles), all these ingredients
and it's same the style that people used to go
and buy their supplies. - We're gonna eat some octopus now. Jose has been telling me all
about this place for some time. People come from all over
Portugal to eat octopus here. What's the name of the restaurant? - It's called Aleixo, and as you know, is very well-known for it's
octopus rice and octopus filets. - Joining us for octopus is Jerry Luper, a winemaker from California, who settled in Portugal
about seven years ago, here to grow grapes and to make new wine. - Sit down, everybody. Food on the table and the wine. - That's good. - This is another form of octopus. This is octopus salad,
an octopus is boiled then mixed with a little vinaigrette. - Little bacalao balls,
like meatballs, only cow. I knew I'd be eating a lot of bacalao because I just know Jose's
obsessed with this stuff. He gets very upset if what he
sees is substandard bacalao comes into the restaurant. He'd come in, look at it and say, "Send it back, I hate it,
I can't live with it." Would it be fair to say that this is one of Porto's most beloved restaurants? - Yes, yes. - Preferred by locals. - And by foreigners and by, yes. If you really want to bring
someone to savor the local food and really enjoy what is good
and typical about Oporto, that's the place to be. - This is it.
- Yeah. - Jerry, you're gonna tell us what we're drinking here with this. - Quinta Nossa Reserva Branco, white wine partially fermented in a barrel and then blended with wine
fermented in stainless steel for freshness and butteriness of the wood, and goes very well with this kind of food. - I don't know (beep) about wine. I should not be counted on
to recommend a good vintage. Fortunately, Jerry Luper
knows everything about wine. That'll come in handy tomorrow. - Look how she cuts the
potatoes without even looking. - [Anthony] These guys are great. - This is the special octopus. Like 90% of the people, they
come here for this, only. (laughing) - Okay, Jose, tell me what we got here. - [Jose] This is octopus rice. They make it with the smaller
piece of the tentacles. - [Anthony] Right in with the rice. - Yeah. And here you have octopus filets. It's very difficult to
find somewhere else. - All right. - [Jose] First of all,
they use fresh octopus that is fished locally, and second, that's what this
restaurant is famous for and they've been doing this
for 40, 50 years at least, so it's very very hard to the
something as well as they do. - This is an operation,
they've figured out what it is they wanted to do.
- Exactly. - Figured out what they do well and they've been doing it
relentlessly for years. - Exactly, so you want a piece of risotto? - Of course. Didn't I just see one hanging
up on a wall somewhere? - Yeah, right there. - [Anthony] Yes, looking good. Tell us about this cheese. - Sheep's milk cheese, south of Lisbon. Setubal.
- Setubal. - Hey, guys, so this
is just how I like it. Meaning, this (mumbles) breaks, this stuff is seeking its own level. I'm frequently asked
why vegans are the enemy of everything that is good and decent and must be hunted down and destroyed so their genes don't pass
on to future generations. It's because if you can't enjoy even a nice stinky runny
ripe cheese like this, you may as well kill yourself now. Now I have to ask you, does every Portuguese meal end with pork? - There is no wine on the table. (laughs) - It's a disaster, there's
no meal, there's no meal. - I like Portugal, I like the food, but I'm very aware of the fact that this is not like cooking. And of course, at the end of the day I'm stuffed like an overjammed kielbasa. (speaking in foreign language) I am out of my league here. (light acoustic music) The next morning I wake up
on an idyllic mountaintop in the Douro Valley wine country in a spectacular hilltop guesthouse courtesy of my friend Jerry Luper. I'm really looking forward to soaking up the amazing
view of the vineyards below, but the weather has different plans. As you can see the weather's not so great. It was actually wonderful but the staff has informed
us with very worried looks that, "You the Americans, you
should leave very very soon "as the road no good." We'll hit the road before it washes out or we'll be living up here for
the next six months I'm told. That doesn't look good. What the hell is this? This isn't like my travel agent told me. This is like "Escape from Witch Mountain" in the R-rated version. At some point, we're gonna
meet that evil Jerry guy who sent us up to this
mountaintop in the first place. His wine better be good. Jerry, thanks for getting
us off the mountaintop. There it looked touch and go for any chilling anecdotes
of herbalist tourists marooned up here. - As a matter of fact,
a couple of weeks ago down on the main highway, a
huge chunk of a hill fell down and submerged two cars
that were passing by so we do need to get down the hill. Just a little background on the Douro, there are 40,000 hectares, that's nearly 6,000 acres of grapes and there are 33,000 owners
of vineyard in that area. - [Anthony] Wow. - Down here you have the Douro River upstream all the way to Spain and the vineyards continue
for another 20, 30 miles up the river. - [Anthony] This is
wine country going back hundreds and hundreds of years. - Oh, yeah. And there's evidence that the
Romans were here for gold, named the river, Douro, of gold. The Romans mined gold here and
then when the gold ran out, they stayed and made wine. That was one of the Roman ways of keeping things settled down, and they'd keep the local people happy. - Keep them liquored up. Works with my kitchen. I didn't know wine country
was so steep. (laughs) I think you're gently rolling hills. - Here it's very steep. Routinely you'll find
slopes of 45 degrees. 45 degrees, if you look
at the angle like that, that's pretty darn steep. Okay, this vineyard is called Cartola and the vines are about 70, 80 years old and they produce the
wine we're going to drink with desert.
- Wonderful. - [Jerry] After lunch. - As we can see, the water and erosion has caused a break in the wall here. We've got rock blocking the drainage. - It's a constant battle
to keep this in conditions and takes a lot of work a lot of labor. - From about where we're standing to the tree line over there, how many cases of wine are
we, best-case scenario? - Okay, we're talking about maybe, say 35 cases per acre times five, 165 cases of wine from two hectares. That's not very much. - Still, think about that next time you tuck into a really good wine. - Well, I think we came to
the end of the road here. - Jerry's yammering on about
vines and soil and rain. Meanwhile, I'm hoping that
the road doesn't wash out and that I don't go tumbling to my death in a tangle of Land Rover
parts and grapevines. This is a thin strip
of road we're on here. Safe at the bottom of the mountain, we arrived at the quinta, the main farmhouse on the vineyard. - Okay, wine is on, dry white Port. Let's see what you think of this one. And a lot of people use
it to make a cocktail in the summertime with some
tonic, ice and peel of orange. - You know there's a
classic rock and roll song called "White Port & Lemon Juice." ♪ I said W P boom boom L J ♪ (laughs) It's from my time. Okay, the kitchen is ready. It's nice to have these olives and wine but it's time to get into the real thing. - [Anthony] Jerry's got something special in mind for lunch, bacalao. There seems to be many
many ways to make it. It's a constant theme. - [Jerry] It's called bacalao
(speaks in foreign language) - So it's almost like a bread casserole but (mumbles) consistency
and a nice crunchy top. - And you know, as they say in France, there's a cheese for every day, in Portugal there's a
bacalao recipe for every day. - Yeah, we're noticing it's cod cod cod. - [Jerry] And the wine we're
serving is a 1997 Chardonnay and hope it goes okay with the bacalao. - [Anthony] Next, a roast loin
of pork stuffed with prunes, roasted, unsurprisingly, in Port wine. The French call this boulangere potatoes, meaning you cook the
potatoes with the roast. So you get all that fatty greasy goodness. It's beautiful. - [Jerry] Here's the secret. The mole here in the juice is-- - Okay, I'm gonna have
to have that plate back. (laughing) - And today you peel the potatoes. (speaking in foreign language) There's this thing, peeled or not peeled. - I know, it's the eternal
struggle, isn't it? A cook never waits anyway. (laughing) - Double starch. Potato, rice. It's a thing at the Culinary
Institute of America, where certain precepts
are drilled into you that you must do this this way. I guess I found out that at least 75 to 90% of those precepts are absolutely false. (laughs) - Okay, this is a Tinta Roriz and it has a good amount of tannin which really goes great with a big dish. (wine bottle popping) Now, something very special. A 40-year-old tawny port, 40 years old. This wine started its life with this color and then with time it changes
to a lovely almond orange. - Wow! Well there must be blood and bone involved because you're looking
to move beyond the grape into the spiritual sense, you know, I'm getting lifeforce here. (laughing) I'm getting drunk. - [Jerry] And remember
those vines I showed you. - We passed this neighborhood
as I recall, yes. - [Jerry] Those grapes
went into this wine. - I consider myself a
professional drinker, but if this keeps up, I'm not gonna make it out of Portugal. (light acoustic music) (dramatic music) You know, like much of
my time in Portugal, I have no idea where the hell I'm going. Jose says, "We're going
someplace very good to eat baby goat." We arrived at Quinta da
Llama, it means mud farm. I don't know why. Jose, we took some
sinister-looking dark backroads to get here. I could never find my way out. Where are we exactly? - It's an old olive oil press. As you can see, it is all made in stone. They used to put here the olives and this wheel would come
around and smash the olives. So this is not working anymore and they decided transform this into a countryside restaurant. - [Anthony] They're
famous here for kid goat, roasted the traditional Portuguese way. - So they come here in the kitchen, and this to the original kitchen, as you can see, the old
(mumbles) fire is there. Actually, our goat is in here. - Really?
- It's cooking here. Do you see this seal here? - Yeah. - You used to show this with cow manure. - I'll live with this. - This is the way people
smoked the sausage, staying up over here, over
some kind of open fire and they are getting smoked. - [Anthony] This is seriously old school. Jose has a very extended family. Every 10 minutes somebody
else enters into the room and it's, "This is my
cousin, this is my brother, "this is my cousin." (laughing) - Actually this is one of my cousins. He is a very important person to meet because he actually is
the CEO of the company that fishes for bacalao. - [Anthony] We know how important that is. - So maybe some of the bacalao
that you've eaten so far might have been fished by his boats. - Hello. - [Anthony] After four
hours of slow cooking, my little baby goat is
ready to hit the table. - [Jose] Here it is. - [ Anthony] Oh, yeah. - The rice is underneath so the drippings will come over the rice, that's
what makes it very tasteful. - The juice gets in there.
- Yeah. - [Anthony] And gives that rice flavor. - [Jose] So now we can
start eating. (laughs) - Let's eat. Like so many places in
Portugal, it's the old way. We're talking real flame,
real smoke, real flavor. - [Jose] Every single Portuguese meal, you have to start with cod fish. - I'm gathering that. Another festive casserole of bacalao! There doesn't seem to be much dilution. - Yes.
- Of the original concept. Before there was restaurant
food, there was own cooking, which was all about friends and family. Hey, give me a little greens there. And good-luck old stuff with a long tradition attached to it. Ah, incredible. I don't fully understand
Portuguese cuisine, but I understand why Jose
is Jose a little more now. The context for Jose's particular form of enthusiasm and madness. Generally, when he's
passionate about a food item, it's because it comes from his childhood, and that's true of all of us. I think any dish that evokes memory, that you grew up with, has
a powerful hold on you. And Jose is Jose because
he's never forgotten that. (upbeat music)
