Anthony Bourdain A Cook's Tour Season 2 Episode 12: My Friend Linh

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(gentle music) Welcome to my world. Two escargot pate freeze. Two green salads. Okay brandy sauce here. Lamb chops, steak frite. Shouldn't you be doing something? Two soul filet and a pepper steak. Come on, make the dessert. Chocolate tarte please. As a cook, tastes and smells are my memories. 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'm looking for extremes of emotion and experience. I'll try anything, I'll risk everything. I have nothing to lose. Hanoi, Vietnam. A beautiful landscape but a lot of history. Holding strongly on a tradition while acknowledging the inevitable changes of time. It's had and dealt out more than its fair share of pain and turmoil. But as always, it maintains a character all its own. Vietnam is one of my favorite places on earth. The atmosphere, the people, the food. I came back to visit Linh, who was my translator last time around. We became good friends. Linh has invited me to his family's home to celebrate Tet, the Lunar New Year, the most important time of the year in Vietnam. I couldn't have come at a better time. So I just got into Hanoi last evening. Went right to the hotel, crashed, woke up, arrived right in the middle of Tet, you know, the Lunar New Year. I came here to see the pagoda and everybody burning joss sticks, making offerings. And then I saw this place and thought, oh this is just the kind of place I like. How about some snail soup for breakfast? Gotta have some of this. So I know there's snails involved. I know it looks really, really good. You have your big snails, ya got your little snails. In the middle there, you've got some crab meat. The usual sprouts, some pickled chilis and a little garlic. And of course, what is it all about at the end of the day? And then find again and again and again a really terrific stock. Oh yes. And look at the colors here. I mean, they just pop right out. It's a grade A in Hanoi and look at this color. This is great. You know I would say that the food is particularly good cause it's a day of celebration but the food is always good here. (upbeat music) I have to tell you, I am so excited to be back here. You know, you meet the girl of your dreams in high school and she just smells right. You know, it's true love forever. That same kind of immediate sense of recognition when I arrived in this country. I've been dreaming about coming to Hanoi for a long time. It's so cool that Linh's invited me to his house for Tet. Damn it is good to be alive in Vietnam. Throughout Tet, the Vietnamese visit pagodas to make offerings and pray for their families and ancestors. And Linh is no exception. This is a place for all the people to rearrange. Has a separate private for bringing into the temple. Offerings include young rice cakes, fruit, and incense. All the offerings are placed at the altar. When the incense is burned out, you're free to take back your offerings. They've been blessed and are supposed to provide happiness for the new year. Offerings complete, Linh and I meet for food. This is why we get along so well, common ground. We both appreciate good food. Oh yeah. I mean look at this place. Food everywhere. Just went for rice. Sticky rice, very sticky. And it's not about parking yourself at the table for the day, but grabbing a bite and then trying what the next guy's got to offer. It's everywhere. The Tet holiday is when indulging in food hits a fever pitch in Vietnam. Everyone's been fasting and now they're back to their favorite dishes with a vengeance. I'll tell ya, if you're a foodie and you come to this country well just, you just go absolutely insane. Yeah I used to have these as a kid and the same thing happened to them. They ended up floating at the top. This is traditional medicine, right? Maybe tomorrow. Yeah. (chuckLinhg) What are those? Here's something different, corn pancakes. Not too difficult, right? Throw in a pile of corn, a little flour, cook in oil till crisp and on the rack to dry. It's like everything, delicious. You'll notice an essential difference here between here and similar operations in America. When you walk past these food stalls every proprietor is absolutely beaming with pride at you. They got a big smile on their face like come on in, try this, it's the best. It's not that yeah, what do you want? You know, you want the fries or the onion rings? You don't get that here. And you know it's good. You can tell from the expression of the proprietor that they're selling something really, really tasty and they know it. Take for example quail eggs. I have a thing for quail eggs. Just peel them. It's not the embryo. A little bit of salt, ready to eat. This is delicious. Just keep it rolling, keep it coming please. So I know Linh's family has a big Tet feast planned. I saw something else in the market that I couldn't resist. Shrimp cakes. I think just one, one. This is a pretty straightforward operation. You got shrimp, ya batter them, cook them in oil, a quick snip and you're ready to go. Now, for those of you who scoff at the decor I dare you, dare you to find a more scenic view. These are freshwater shrimp? [Linh] Yes freshwater. [Anthony] Crispy, airy, shrimpy, and delicious. How about beer? Yeah. Those are bottled ones. Not the bottled one. Right. (Chuckles) Not warm. (laughing) Good to see you again. - Okay. - Cheers. Cheers. How do you say it in Vietnamese, cheers? I really love this guy and I can't wait to meet his family. As the celebration of Tet continues the streets are abuzz with activity. Everyone's dressed up for the holiday on their way to visit family, bearing food, offerings, gifts. The Vietnamese look upon guests during Tet as very auspicious. I'm glad I brought my suit. I don't want to look like a slacker in front of the family. This is my grandfather's, my father's in law's house. [Anthony] Okay. Meeting the family. I haven't been this nervous since I met my own in-laws. [Man] Hello. [Anthony] Oh thank you. [Linh] And my father. Well nothing soothes the old nerves like a little Hanoi vodka. All roads lead to intoxication on this show. Is there something about me, some quality that urges people to make me very drunk? We have some rice, rice. Oh good. You know this. We call it the fresh bile. They extract from the bear. Bear bile okay. Not politically correct, dilemma time, really. But I'm a good guest or I try to be. Very excited at this prospect. Just in case I have any reservations. Linh reads the list of benefits that the drink will provide for me. Digestive system, it's a very bad, weak. That's a frequent problem on this show. - Cheers. - Cheers. The best best. Okay, yeah. And unsurprisingly, actions unfold with a familiar logic. [Man] Happy New Year. - Happy New Year. - Happy New Year. [Anthony] Okay, maybe I don't have the Vietnamese Calender quite figured out yet but by my calendar, we celebrated about 40 years already. [Man] Salud. Oh here we go, the reinforcements. So while we're busy laying the foundation for a night of festivity, Linh's sisters, wife, and mother in law are in the kitchen preparing the meal. Alright, I know it doesn't seem fair but seriously, would you want a bunch of guys gargling with bear bile cooking your Tet meal? As in most Vietnamese kitchens, there's a keen reliance on simple ingredients. But the key is how different flavors and colors and textures work together. And of course, presentation is important. This square cake is banh chung, made of glutenous rice, fatty pork, bean paste, wrapped in dong leaves, then tied off with bamboo twine. It steams for over 12 hours and it's a must have during Tet at Hanoi. This is the chicken cake, we call this bahn chung. And this very traditional, with the meat and pork. Meat and pork. It looks good doesn't it? Yeah meat and pork, I prefer. Yeah me too. Tradition extends through most of these dishes. It's an astonishing spread. And again, every table seems to naturally end up having this incredible contrast. As Luna sensibly pointed out, get those beauty shots now cause we're about to do some serious damage to this. (chuckling) I think you try something, some of this first. First. Then you try this. This is the color of the rice during the Tet holiday in Vietnam. The rice is colored by the orange fruit it's cooked with. Though each dish may work fine on its own, most are meant to be used in combinations where different tastes and textures complement each other. Like the spring roll, with the ubiquitous dipping sauce, lochnaw. Good. This is the young bamboo shoot cooked with the pork. I just put a piece of bamboo shoot down because it started to jump up. Make sure I get a little green onion with it and broth. It's not about a single thing. Sweet goes with sour, opposing colors, opposing flavors, and I like that. Good. Principles in action and clearly you absolutely have to have this with this. [Man] Yes, sure. Sour pickled onions with savory banh chung. Actually it resonates with the classic garnish for French pate. You're getting the same kind of savory, sweet and sour thing going on. And I like that. This is an innate sense of what's good. There's a definite sense of past culinary influence. Stir fried frog legs. A galantine, a galantine of pork. It's pate-like. We were in the heart of the pig fried together with the onion and carrot. [Anthony] It's good. Like holidays in the states this food, this meal, reflects personal associations and long traditions. This is the young rice cake. I went to the pagoda, I left it on the altar as a sacrifice, now I can enjoy it. Not only is it cake but I'm now having the happiness and whatever I wish for the whole year. I wish that for you also. Yeah for you too. Even in English it is impossible for me to describe how grateful and honored I am to be here. There's a link, a bond between life, family and food in this country. And I cherish the moments I have here. The celebration of Tet has come to an end in Hanoi. After which the first visitors and the first meal are regarded with great importance. So, I better make a good impression on somebody cause I need some food. Luckily, Linh has arranged for a visit to the home of Madame Tuyet one of the most renowned cooks in Vietnam. Well, the best right? I mean, she's won how many gold medals? A couple of gold medals? Yeah she's not only good but also the best. That's promising. Madame Tuyet lives in Hanoi's Old Quarter in a typically tall, narrow, three story building. She works out of her open-to-the-street top floor kitchen making her own highly personal version of takeout. Through a little passageway, up some back stairs, minimal signage, but that's okay. Madam Tuyet knows that people who really love food will find her. How do you do? I meet Madame Tuyet's family. Her sister and two daughters help out in the kitchen. A family operation, so quality control is not a problem. (upbeat music) This is gonna be a good meal. I can tell already. There's a vibe, there's a sense I'm gonna eat well. And here it is, this is what we came for. Her famous chicken which is splayed out on a pan, slow roasted and glazed periodically with a brown sugar and wild honey mix. [Anthony] Customers have been known to line up down the street for this stuff. Yeah this is one of those smells real good in this room situations. But there's also something else. Snakehead fish. Excellent. Yeah there are several ties that the snakehead fish all through the country, from a lot of the south. Right. The sea is pretty furthest up, up of the north, it should be caught from the nature not a raised one. Right right, farm, same rules apply in the states. The wild is always better than the farm raised. The fish is sliced, then rolled around a stuffing made of pork and mushrooms. When you take a piece of filet of fish and you put something, a filling in the center and roll it like this you would call it a pochette. This would be a pochette de passan, Actually, something like that. The rolled fish is dunked in a cornstarch batter and popped in a hot oil. Head and spine follow. Now snakehead fish are a problem in the US because they can actually crawl on land and kill larger animals. So it hasn't quite made the leap from nuisance to being on the dinner plate yet. Since all good cooks know that too much of a good thing is just enough, there's plenty more, including a big plate of screamingly fresh spring rolls. I see we're getting another coat on the chicken. The paper will prevent the skin from being burned by the heat. [Anthony] Thank you. Oh man. Now I understand why her honey chicken is so famous. Now, I want to make sure I'm eating the food according to local customs. He has his good reason for that. Five fingers? (laughing) Yeah so I can just get right into this? Good, tell her I'm very relieved. The snakehead fish rolls are incredible. Pork and fish go together so fantastically. Oh, magnificent. I just explained to her that pork bring Tony to her and she will go to Tony for food. The bridge. The bridge. He's a food. It's a full mind, body experience this. Oh yeah here comes the good stuff. There are a few things in this world I like more than a good cup of coffee. And I happen to think that the best coffee in the world is made in Vietnam. So it shouldn't be a surprise that Madame Tuyet has her own personal blend. This is the best of the best. You're climbing the Everest of coffee. This is the mountaintop. This is it. Oh man is that good. My friend Linh. Once again he's done me right. Now before I leave Vietnam, Linh suggests a snack. So we head to one of the main restaurant areas in Hanoi. As I understand it, it's sort of the Vietnamese version of a food court. Meaning, outside of the Tet holiday it's one long strip of food food food and operators and hawkers all the way down. And what kind of restaurant are we looking for? We go to the restaurant where we can enjoy the chicken that is cooked in the Chinese herb. Chicken and Chinese herb, sounds good. Thai Hung Lau is just one of the many small restaurants that line this road. This is it. Nothing fancy, but it has a specialty and sticks to it. This is the oldest shop of this kind of chicken in this street. So it's a chicken boiled in Chinese herb broth here? [Linh] Yeah it is. Now this is fast food. Chicken in a bowl, topped with a healthy broth. Two steps, and it's at your table. Good good good. Oh cool. Oh yeah I like fried bread. What better to sup up all that soup but some fried baguette? Nice, bon appetit. Oh that's delicious. Bird's nest soup. It has the same sort of aromatic flavor. Good for sleeping. Oh for sleeping? Well, it has been a long trip. I suppose I could use a nap. But Linh knows as well as I do, there's no sleep for the hungry. So Linh that was yet another outstanding meal. You know all the good places in this town. I hope I made you enjoy. And what is it with Hanoi? I mean, it's everywhere. It's just food food food, good food everywhere. The people in Hanoi are the best person for eating. Yeah? You were born here. You have to say that though. But I'm beginning, I'm coming to agree with you I gotta say. It's a little frustrating. I mean, I'm only here about a week, I want to eat everywhere but I can't do it. Just this street, it'll take me one month just to eat on this street. Yeah. That's driving me crazy here. I mean, everywhere you look there's cool looking stuff. So what have I missed? Everything right? We did not miss anything. (Chuckles) Good, right answer. As the streets fill up again in Hanoi. Linh takes particular delight bringing me to an out of the way discovery of his. He must investigate, he likes to say, when talking about finding the good stuff. Where you bringing me now Linh? It is Monk Alley in downtown Hanoi, an eel shop. Yeah, eels? Yeah. Alright I like eel. So, that's the name of this place right? The eel shop? No messing about there. We know what we're gonna be eating. But it's not like you don't have choices. Eel with banana leaf, eel and mushroom, a big bowl of eel soup and stir fried chili eel. Let's have what you eat when you're here. You're the regular. Okay the best to me is the eel that is cooked in the bamboo. You want a particular dish you go to a place that specializes in that dish. You don't go to some place with a gigantic menu with 22 different types of things. I mean, they call it the eel shop. And it does a lot of business. It's a pretty good bet that they do eel pretty well. They have very nice kind of salad. Yeah I like a salad now and again. This is Vietnam so I expect a few differences. So that's banana flower. And these little green guys, they look good. In Vietnam we call it hung, hung vegetable. The salad also has pickles, sprouts, and a spicy dipping sauce. Oh that's really good. It is really crunchy and delicious. Tastes good for me. He likes this kind of salad. Good. Enough rabbit food. Bring on the eel. Take your raw eel, a little sugar, and a nice wad of garlic. Slide it into the bamboo and cap a Vietnamese herb. Place over hot coals, sit back and let those babies roast. The bamboo not only flavors the eel, but also functions as a serving dish. Oh damn that looks really good. Oh yeah that's some good eel. That's tasty. I see why you come here. I could get hooked on this. [Linh] It's quite sweet. It's good cause it's caramelized. You get that nice charcoaly, caramelization flavor. The best part of the eel is usually his body. Not the head or the tail. Got a whole bunch of them in here. Delicious. Yeah I got a real thing for this stuff. Oh yeah that's some good eel. Yeah, this is spectacular. I appreciate this Linh, you take me to all the best places. You really do this is really great. It's a neighborhood joint with a neighborhood around it. You're not eating in isolation. You're eating in a context of a community. That feels, I don't know, that feels really good to me. I like that. You've seen it. Can you smell it? Can you taste it? Can you see why I love it here? (soft music)
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Channel: GoTraveler
Views: 132,108
Rating: 4.9158249 out of 5
Keywords: travel, culture, bourdain, a cook's tour, bourdian cnn, gotraveler, anthony bourdain, master chef, cooking show, anthony bourdain japan, anthony bourdain a cook's tour, anthony bourdain food travel, portugal, south west france, butcher in portgual, how is prosciutto made, celebrity chef, travel off the beaten path, cnn anthony bourdain, a cook's tour season 1 episode 1, travel show full episodes, Bourdain Day, Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, A Cook's Tour Netflix, hanoi
Id: BNixRE42ZrI
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 23min 44sec (1424 seconds)
Published: Wed Oct 21 2020
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