Mountain FOOD PARADISE!! 🐸 Backyard Foraging + 2 Village Lunches! | Sakhon Nakhon, Thailand

hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day it's mark wiens i'm in udantani which is a major city in the isan northeastern region of thailand and today is going to be an amazing day because i have this special opportunity to hang out with chef noom and he's one of the most talented one of the most passionate and dedicated chefs that i know and he's one of the top chefs in thailand there's going to be two parts to this video first this morning right away this morning we are taking a day trip to sakanakon to a local village community and to a mountain chef nuum is known for his foraging he's known for his use of wild herbs and unique ingredients in his cooking and so we're going to visit a village and go foraging at a place where he sources ingredients and then we'll also probably have lunch at the village in the community how's the food chef fantastic then in part two of this video which is going to be later this evening we'll drive straight back to udonthani the city and we're going to eat the full journey menu at chef noom's restaurant samoy and sons where he serves innovative thai sun food that you won't find anywhere else this is gonna be an unbelievable day everything coming up in this video foreign you chef yeah very nice to meet you eventually happy to be in udon but today actually the first thing we're going to do is so we're going to do on a little bit of a trip yes uh we're going to um the small village called chengdu okay yeah it's in sakonicon we're on our way [Music] we're on our way to the uh mountain ahead of us okay oh welcome to sakana khan that was about a two and a half hour drive something that immediately stands out to me is the redness of the soil it's so red it's so fertile oh hi dog look he's nice he's wagging his tail right micah oh please so we're gonna have lunch here yes we're gonna have lunch here so we're gonna have uh um i think this is like one day called like a little packet of bamboo shoots yeah but like the insignia con um we they put some herbs that like um that make a totally different from the others awesome yeah but first let's go to the foraging first [Music] okay herbal boiled drink it smells like ginger oh but it doesn't really taste like ginger oh that's amazing a little bit bitter a little bit barky you can tell that's just medicine oh yeah maybe there's some wild ginger or something galangal in there it's great i love it already loving this place this family they're so laid back and on second thought they said we should eat before we go foraging so that we have energy to walk around so i think they want us to eat we're gonna eat first and then eat again when we get back but first maybe go take a look in their backyard so hoofak is well known for the natural resources is it's they have like many many types of the medicinal herbs in this area yeah yeah okay huge area and like um and then in each places they have like the unique plants that some it's good to make like uh medicine some it's good to just like um the ingredient to cook oh yeah so poop egg it's one of the one of the place that um well known for like uh the the medicine the herb medicine herbs mica you see the buffalos and as we were uh driving chef was telling me about uh one of his former sous chefs at the restaurant and so this is the sous chef and he's come back to his home village this is his home village in hometown and so he's just showing us some of the ingredients that he's growing in his plan is to make this a food forest where he takes some of the wild herbs and wild ingredients from the mountain and then regrows them here at this property at the base of the mountain here one man can one mankind basically the smell and the flavor similar to mankind to that bug so the ins yeah that insect oh yeah yeah smell like insects it smells like insect yeah really good peppery slightly peppery insect [Music] such an incredibly healthy natural holistic farm uh all of the crops and the food forest and then he also raises some uh there's chickens and then there's wild boar and i can hear some geese up ahead 16 baby this is all even the white one is a wild boar too tight so the white one is half ready yeah this is only like the game the rice field crab okay they eat it with them with the soup not mine oh okay but um it's called it's um smelling flavor almost like a insect again a little bit chalky a little bit sour but that's amazing [Laughter] so basically this one it has like a papel flavor quite a lot okay and then uh oh okay and they tend to use some kaiban and then simmer and choose the the meat tender lots of pakprel which is vietnamese coriander vietnamese coriander you can see chili's in there you can see some herbs and um roots probably boil down in there it looks amazing that dark color and that aroma so we're sitting down first for a quick lunch oh it looks amazing i love this place me too beautiful especially like when you just came back from bangkok oh man you need this yes just the quiet the peacefulness yeah the relaxed pace of life here it is perfect i'm just gonna try that broth first you can see just that chicken oil from the skin you can see chili's in there it's so aromatic it smells so good [Music] oh wow yeah oh yeah the cow in there you can immediately taste the cocoa too which is the toasted roasted sticky rice powder herbal it's smoky and the richness of that chicken the natural taste of it it's so good [Music] and one of the things that's also essential is the herbs oftentimes foraged wild herbs in the backyard herbs uh that accompanies every meal [Music] a little bit of fermented fish sauce oh man that chili sauce just blew me away i wasn't expecting to be so so flavorful you really taste the smoky roasted maybe like blackened chilies in there and that is real deal grilled chicken too the naturalness of it the free range running the texture oh man outstanding what a dish what a stew and that grilled chicken with that gel with that chili dip is just unbelievable [Music] [Music] um [Music] the richness of the chicken and that herbal blend is just outstanding and you feel just the i mean you can just taste the naturalness the locality of that dish flower i love it because it's a little bit bitter yeah and it's really crispy airy juicy kind of watery the entire meal is absolutely stunning sensational food home cooked local but that jail that totally dip is just blowing my taste buds the like balance of flavor wow it's so unbelievably tasty [Music] as we're finishing up that first lunch first lunch lunch number one auntie is over here making the the evening these are all sorts of herbs and stuff i've never even heard of or seen of um but this is for the bamboo shoot the bamboo shoot packet so she's boiling up the bamboo shoots now which she chopped up and now she's pounding up an herb oh bayanang leaves with rice [Music] his family but i don't know somewhere in the do this one or not you know because it's like we just like yeah right you literally put into the curry paste oh okay normally it's just use the like liquid of it right the water of this so then like you wrap it in banana leaving your steam when it's cooked when you eat it you eat too okay this is also one of the herbs that's going to go into the mok uh and chef new wanted me to taste this herb looks kind of like a parsley wow that is so much flavor it is it tastes like celery but like way stronger like like five times stronger celery with a hint of a bitterness we're not going to be able to see the entire process of the mai the bamboo shoot packet because we're going out now but just a quick update she's going to pound the bamboo shoots and what she was chopping is the badak which is the fermented fish so not just the liquid but the actual pieces of the fish when she chops up that's gonna all add to that bamboo shoot what a complex just that's gonna be insane flavor i cannot wait until we're back to taste it to save a little bit of time we're taking the motorbike to the base of the mountain and the dogs coming too just jumped on [Music] chip noise [Applause] for your restaurant sometimes you would source some ingredients from a village like this yes where the community might be foraging for food for themselves and you might ask them to get some extra ingredients to then get to your restaurant to be able to serve it at your restaurant yes and so that's a way that uh he supports the community with his restaurant and also like the direct connection with the with the village with the community so this is something that like you have you had to go out and fight um fight by yourself and then start to build up the relationship with them this kind of activity it's beyond like going to fresh market you know so i'm already just loving the peacefulness the clean air oh and the beauty of this area is [Applause] a little bit sweet kind of neutral tasting almost right not like a very strong taste good though subtle now we're getting off onto a side trill under some bamboo thicket wow their ability to spot ingredients what's edible and what is not edible what's medicinal what's poison it takes a year a lifetime of experience and knowledge and that's real life practical knowledge oh and we've come to a huge stone in the middle of nowhere [Music] me [Music] it's kind of like a it's a nut and you open it up almost the size of an almond i think sometimes they're called isan almonds uh but makabok i love it oh it's kind of starchy milky it really does taste like an almond oh that's wonderful well this area well known with within scientists that like um most of the time they come here and take some example and go to the labs very indigenous plants that's um hasn't crossed much the species yet okay wow oh really we're on the moon on the other side it would be like this too but smoother okay a little another little berry from this shrub in the rock oh yeah that's sour with a sweetness finish this is just otherworldly moonscape geology here beautiful and it's kind of actually almost deserty the dryness like the the shrub literally growing from a patch of soil in the rock smells a lot like sage my dog [Laughter] oh [Music] aromatic ingredient but just picture this when you eat at some way and sons this is where an ingredient comes from or a similar location yes on the side of this volcanic-looking moonscape rock in sakanakon foraged wild and picked up like this and then brought to the restaurant where it's going to be prepared into an insanely just outstanding magnifying the glory of this ingredient you could just see chef noom is just fully in the zone at this moment with this ingredient just smelling it uh thinking about it just the the thoughts that are going into his mind about this ingredient and this the ways it could be used [Music] [Music] wild cotton flower it's edible no no and it's just amazing how herbs and plants grow out of the rock this is such a cool hike and even more cool that we're foraging and snacking on things along the way but their knowledge is just immense for this region we've hiked all the way up this giant rock slab stone and now meeting the forest on the other side impressively cool landscape so it's another a wow sour leaves so this one uh during rainy season when you cook the wow mushroom they always put this into the the soup of broth but like sometimes when you eat them raw i don't know it might contains like oxalate or something but you should get itchy under your toad okay so it's better to eat it cooked yeah but like taste a little bit you want to try a little bit just a little bit it's sour oh really sour and it's crunchy and crunchy it's more like chamomile yeah it's like yeah exactly oh like citrusy almost wow really good [Applause] i think we've made it to one of the ridges where it gets more forested again although there's still giant rocks [Music] but i'm not so sure this is when uh it's a small small small pipe you do pickle okay this one is um helps you for your um cleansing your intestine a little bit of the seeds from the inside of that oh yeah like potato almost starchy neutral taste but a lovely kind of starchy texture to it buy it on this one it's like very astringent sour oh okay yeah oh yeah astringent sour mmm nice i like them without giving that oh yeah it smells woody mmm all that flavor is amazing so when it's mature it's much on the sheets more chewy okay like shredded shredded meat almost right hideout you can almost taste like the the wood yeah actually you can't taste the wood that it's been decomposing on yeah because it's like um it's just straight from the dead grows on the tree right the the wood they would get like fall down already you do straight up yeah taste the woodiness of it okay we're moving on squish it with water and then it can and minutes later become like jelly what dish is this used in you can use eater for the dessert make it act like a cornfield jelly and it's all so we can like it kind of like jello yeah it thickens yeah that's a vine [Music] we made it back down to the village down from the mountain heading back to the house and that surprise should be waiting for us the moknamai the bamboo shoot packet don't bite it so we made it back to the house and the grill is full of catfish there's a skewer of frogs and a skewer of uh crabs those are the patty crabs i believe rice patty crabs uh oh man and the grill is one of the most important aspects of isaan food culture and oftentimes a low smoky grill like that oh and with those frogs that came up to smokey grove he's making bon kop which is one of my favorite things in isan it's a chili dip made with roasted frogs bones and all pounded up with chilies with herbs it is a life-changing frog dish oh man i couldn't have dreamed for a better menu for lunch coming back from the foraging expedition all the protein that we have today yes it's from the farm all the frogs the catfish the crabs everything is from here yeah everything is local hello oh man this is gonna be an insane lunch lunch number two and i am carrying the bonkop which is the pounded frog chili dip and we're going out setting up to eat in the that little bungalow within the lake oh it's gonna be an unbelievable meal um i've been waiting for this like so long all the dishes are prepared the aroma of that uh milk wrapped with in a leaf and steamed yeah [Music] and that like one blend of harmony of herb and bamboo it's just absolutely insane flavors coming together in a packet if you don't you want to use some props you can use [Music] smokiness of the frog the crunchy texture of the bones that are pounded up in there the skin everything is in there and then you've got just yeah there's uh patak in there fermented fish there's garlic chilies then you taste it with the skin of this type of eggplant [Music] it's bitter and juicy that's the food chef [Applause] it's like so smoky and so flavorful it almost tastes like a sausage the good thing is it's like they use like wood they don't use not even charcoal right yeah so it doesn't have that black so you got like the smoked flavor smoke from the fire that makes a huge difference yeah this one is some green papaya salad made with papaya that's half ripe so you can see that orange color so it has a bit of natural sweetness to it [Music] wow just so well-rounded so salty um so much flavor so much fresh crispness to it oh these are the patty crabs that you showed us and what you do is you pick off the head you add some salt to it and then you dip your sticky rice in there to get that head butter oil [Music] wow they're sweet and nutty so nutty tasty [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] okay one of the things that stood out is you could just tell that everything was local uh from all of the proteins the frog the catfish um to the bamboo shoots to the herbs to just everything was from the backyard from the mountain from the surrounding area big thank you to nunoy and his family and the uncles for taking us around for taking us foraging and especially to chef noom for showing one of the villages one of the communities that's so dear to his heart and then the connection that he has with the village with the community with the ingredients that he then uses at his restaurant to serve and so from here uh we've got about a two hour drive we're going straight back to odan honey and we're going straight back to samoy and sons uh to chef noom's restaurant where we're gonna have dinner tonight and so i am extremely excited i am thrilled for dinner coming up in a couple hours

Channel: Mark Wiens

Views: 1,157,792

Keywords: Thai food, Thailand, Thailand food, Udon Thani, Chef Num, ซาหมวย & ซันส์, Samuay & Sons, Samuay and sons, best restauratns Udon Thani, best food Udon Thani, Chef Num Udon, best food in Udon, Mark Wiens, Thai cuisine, best Thai food, best food in Thailand, food videos, foraging, Thailand foraging, wild food

Id: 8pR79UWnNXI

Length: 36min 17sec (2177 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021