EXOTIC SEAFOOD in Southeast Asia!!! You Can't Find This Anywhere!!

my producers showed me this creature i thought wow that looks really interesting now that i'm here oof i'm terrified to even taste this around the world there's nothing too unusual about eating a standard fish super fresh super yummy what's this some underwater ocean species are so bizarre so shocking it's amazing anyone thought to stick them in their mouth oh look at this one's lips these are the most kissable fish i've ever seen [Music] today we're taking on seafood you won't find at your local red lobster this is not a species native to vietnam bear specimens only reserved for the most curious got these weird eye holes like what are we eating here and most brave seafood lovers there we go so is this ocean meat a delicious well-kept secret are there any special you know health benefits to eating this or is there a reason this food hasn't gone mainstream you guys have heard of a trust fall this is a trust bites let's find out now when you're on island at sunrise while the ocean waters are still calm you know there's one place getting busy [Music] welcome to the island's biggest port wholesalers from smaller fish markets buyers distributors everyone is waiting to get their first look at today's catch and when you're surrounded by this much ocean you'll rarely be disappointed this morning we've come to antary fish market here you can see hundreds of fishing boats and throughout the morning fishermen are coming in at different times dropping off what they've caught during the last day or the last few days ah right behind me you see this is a fish species looks good this morning i'm on the search for something i haven't seen before i don't know if i'm going to have any luck but let's find out is located on rich fishing routes or fishing waters i guess in 2020 seafood distribution here increased to 750 000 tons now that is a lot of fish sticks what a great find already my man here is weighing all this gar gar is one of my favorite fish because of the name it's like the sound of pirate mix gar cool would you look at that bizarre looking mouth it's got just like super thin razory teeth and a very narrow amount some of these will be eaten fresh but a lot of these are going to be dried out the seafood industry brings profit and job opportunities to the local people you'll find a variety of fish shellfish sea urchins shrimpies mantis shrimps crabs and they're especially known for their anchovies the main ingredient in vietnam's most famous condiment fish sauce right here this boat is just pulled into the port and it's full of anchovies right now they're offloading it over to here they pour it into these containers they throw some ice on it they put it in the truck somewhere on this island there's huge big pots full of fermenting fish so these fish probably won't be consumed for another year because it takes a long time to get salted and fermented if you don't want to wait a year for these guys to turn into a sauce well just lay them in the sun let them dry and soon they'll be ready to eat so all this fish is going to be dried out fried and then used to top certain dishes very tasty within hours the seafood goes from boats to trucks to smaller local markets [Music] [Applause] not too far from the port we stumbled upon this place a very unique tiny hole in hole-in-the-wall cellar of many types of seafood look back there guys it's a vietnamese puffer fish they claim it's not poisonous and that is how you die by thinking it's not poisonous i'm not so sure about that so we're not gonna eat that but take a look at this giant stingray 10 kilograms that's over 22 pounds no that's exactly 22 pounds stingrays are often found in coastal tropical and subtropical marine waters throughout the world there are 220 different species there's no doubt the stingray as part of nature is beautiful but as part of dinner well they're confusing it's got spikes on its back it's very bony in the center it's got a big whippy tail weird eye holes like what are we eating here so hopefully at the next location we can really finally see how to break down a stingray and what are the most prized parts three two one go we are in the kitchen right now with chef pin hello chef oh oh here we are let's do one of these boom we're at phong wang restaurant serving more than 80 different dishes using all kinds of local seafood including stingrays look at that it's freaking huge we were quoted as it being about 10 kilograms it turns out it's 16 that means it's over 35 pounds have you ever seen a stingray this big that's something i've heard a lot in my life have you ever seen one this big uh bigger actually oh all right well i was excited you ruined it here's how a stingray body breaks down on top protruding eyes and spiracles or the openings through which they take in water to breathe first we gotta give it a foot below deck the gills nostrils mouth and what's that other important part i wonder if we eat that okay the breaking down process has begun and he makes his first incision like a doctor at the mayo clinic working with precision using the right tools for the job oh i felt that in my chest under that smooth skin is a treasure chest oh that's huge at least for the locals that is a freaking massive liver on this thing if i'm honest i did try liver in vung tau it was probably the top three worst things i've ever eaten it's like all the worst flavors combined fishy bile it's like acid i love these flavors but it turns out to be the most valued part of this creature so maybe i'll give it another shot let's see the other organs are discarded all this is going to smell bad powerfully of ammonia we don't want it oh there's a lot of splattering at this point stingrays are cartilaginous fish that are actually closely related to sharks yeah this is how people have relationships now in the usa with coven 19. their skeleton is made out of cartilage rather than bone so when we look inside all the hard to eat parts are just right here in the center as we get out towards the wings it's all the meat the wing has this thick piece of cartilage that goes all the way through the very center of it kind of like a pig ear but on either side of that cartilage it's just soft juicy delicious white meat so this is just half the stingray we have a bunch of these different fillets some body parts with more bones and then a lot of wing with a ton of meat on it sir i can't wait to try it out grossest handshake ever the chef serves up stingray two ways first steamed stingray with lemongrass and turmeric the most bony part of the stingray actually can be eaten because it's all cartilage this is completely interwoven with a strange alien-like skeletal structure there's bits of meat and bone everywhere the body gets marinated with msg pepper fish sauce oyster sauce turmeric galangal lemongrass onion cooking oil fermented rice and cashew nut oil that gets to steam for 25 minutes i think the chef felt compelled to give me such a large amount since we went to the market and bought a 35 pound stingray he'd feel stingy if he just gave me this little like piece on the side a dipping sauce made of fish sauce chilis shallots peppercorns and my favorite steamed stingray liver i need like a bottle of listerine next to me or a jack daniels or a revolver just to end it all here's what's great about the liver it's just a ghoul smelling it is like looking down before bungee jumping don't do it just go one two three [Music] so again i don't blame the chef i blame the stingray you little bastard to me it's very unpleasant it's so soft fatty and oily it coats your mouth with this earthy biley type of flavor but let's give it a mix we will come back to that in a bit here something i'm much more excited for stingray wing let's try it out that's really good it's quite juicy it's very soft a little bit bland so give it a little bit of a dip i guess you guys have heard of a trust fall this is a truss bite i'm gonna fall back and the chef's arms are gonna catch me let's go for it [Music] you know what that's pretty good the liver directly is very intense but that added a little bit of depth this dish needed i gotta say that's pretty dece short for decent some bites are juicy but some are much more oily fatty and pretty intense overall steamed stingray big success next grilled stingray on banana leaves the cooking technique it matters it's going to change the quality of the protein and the texture especially the stingray steak is marinated in a blend of sugar chili sauce cashew nut oil pepper turmeric shallots lemongrass and chili this one looks pretty good i think i just take this whole thing it's wrapped in banana leaves and a layer of aluminum foil that hits the grill for 25 minutes nice clean vibrant on the inside i think i could just grab the cartilage and pull this whole thing out oh look at that we're left with this huge amount of meat cheers overall the meat is actually a little bit mushy almost like you had some kind of insanely soft pulled pork in the past i've had stingray hot pot i really like what boiling it does to the meat because it keeps some bouncy texture this is good too the chef did a great job of removing any type of fish it is a very clean taste all the flavors are there very nice from here we're going to really level up this is a rare creature that is not often eaten we're going to try it out next after this commercial break add we're at bien high restaurant open for the last 21 years offering all kinds of seafood i won this aquarium in my house this is a delicious looking octopus from the typical what is that to extremely rare deep sea creatures what we're actually here for is this ray oh you swam right into my trap come here buddy all right there he is this is not a species native to vietnam this is the spotted ribbon tail ray found in the tropical indian and western pacific oceans it's not difficult to see how the blue spotted ribbon tail ray got its name and once you pull it out of the depths of the aquarium you can see these really brilliant bright blue dots on its back the ribbon tail stingray has a similar body shape to the last stingray we tried but with one standout difference the feeling of its wings are much more like thin and flexible so evidently this is what we're about to eat i feel a little bad because it's just a beautiful creature but um you know i'm also hungry so did you name this one was it named luke or anything the method of breaking it down processing very straightforward roughly cutting along the bones removing the gills and keeping everything else this smaller species doesn't have a layer of hard cartilage running through the wings that help it keep its shape the result graceful fluttering wings that happen to contain less meat today she's also going to be using the organs inside for a hot pot is there any big advantage to eating this she says no absolutely no advantage first up frying this could be good maybe like fish and chips the meat part is given a massage with lemongrass and turmeric and finally deep fried for 10 minutes okay this is nothing like fish and chips but maybe it'll be even better right here this is our final meal of the day this is the wing of the ray the skin has kind of curdled up and you can no longer see the spots smells super heavy and oily that's almost like some fried chicken very heavy very oily but no real fishy taste to it the skin itself has become quite gooey sticky so all the pieces are roughly the same the big difference between this one and the other species is there's no cartilage in the middle that's why when you see this creature and it's alive the wings are especially ripply this is an interesting way to learn about new species i'm not sure if this is exactly how marine biologists do it but one way to do it learn with your mouth science remember those organs we held onto those get plated up along with other more bony parts of the ray add in salt thorny cilantro fresh chilies then surf with a steaming flavorful broth i'm gonna go tail section the liver yes the headpiece with an eyeball attached it's like terminator two when he goes into the liquid steel with a thumbs up i'll be back no thumbs up though give it a little bit of a mix throw on the lid and now we wait i'm going to start with the piece that i'm most worried about the liver if you look at it it's not like the other stingray where it just becomes a mush and falls apart this almost resembles like a blood cube [Music] it's okay it's tolerable it's actually it feels like a pork blood cake if you've ever had a big snail at the end it's got kind of like a digestive system there it tastes just like that here's a winged tip a very boring it's kind of just gooey and gelatinous it's just kind of like boiled fish skin at this point oh okay here's hot i found the eggs it's freaky because they look like unlaid chicken eggs they're kind of bulbous and yellow oh really soft a hint of fishiness that's my favorite piece so far i've got a piece of the tail here it's super meaty some skin still on there and i kind of healed it off the bone let's try that out oh that's very soft that's the texture that's most like an actual fish that's really good though whenever trying a new food especially a new seafood or a new creature you never really know what to expect many times i've been super surprised today is just not one of those times it's interesting because we had two types of rays today the ray we just had just meaty big fat fillets on there this guy it's smaller the textures are weird it's really gooey soft so a lot of textures i wasn't expecting in some intense flavors too plus it sucks that it's endangered i mean i thought we're eating an endangered animal i thought it would taste good just kidding merch alert this is for all you head to tail adventurous eaters always down for trying something new no waste more taste only available to the end of march i'm told that since it was a full moon last night that means there's fewer fish this morning also that means maybe a werewolf ate some of the fish too that's also possible these anchovies are going to be used for a special local fish sauce that the folks will love in full look it's a fish sauce if you don't like it you can yourself and it's going to peel right off of that what word did i use oh god come on bring off that oh and it can peel right off of that cartilage good good words you can make a pulled fish sandwich if you just had like a pound of mayonnaise and a ciabatta button go yourself now we have a good blooper again can't forget about carrot flour you try to eat it this is gonna break my retainer for sure can't do it i can't break my retainer on an island is there an orthodontist on this island i don't think there is so this is remarkable this is all uh kidneys hard intestines and stuff can i take that home with me oh hey no okay no he said no i want to put it in my hotel fridge at the marriott i have to open it up and discover that what is this guy into uh come on jake no grossest handshake ever boom all right guys thank you so much for watching that is it for this one we will see you next time a piece should i jump in would that be crazy i'm gonna do it i'll do it i'm gonna do it you ready i'm gonna do it i'm gonna do it i'm gonna do it i'm gonna do it i'm gonna do it i'm gonna do it i'm gonna do it and then cut and that's where we cut it

Channel: Best Ever Food Review Show

Views: 592,077

Rating: 4.9105 out of 5

Keywords: Best ever food review show, befrs team, sonny side, Stingray, seafood series, asian food, Vietnamese food, unique cooking, sea creature, unique food, bizarre sea creature, Saigon, weird creature, south east asian cuisine, challenge chef with seafood, crazy ray, Ray, Ribbon tail ray, Blue spotted ray, what to eat in a stingray, how to cook ray, fried stingray, grill stingray, stingray hotpot, BLUESPOTTED RIBBONTAIL RAY, stingray liver

Id: An7C24_5AAM

Length: 16min 46sec (1006 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 28 2021