- [Sonny] Our cooking tools. - Hopefully we don't
turn into the chickens. We're both kind of red in the face. - Yeah. - [Mark] Alright then. - [Sonny] The moment of truth. - What is amazing to me how
perfectly golden that skin is. We're moving on now to
the green papaya salad. - [Sonny] Look at all these chilis. It's almost unbearable pain, man. (coughs) - Wipe my tears. (laughs) Good morning! Hope you're having an amazing day. - This is Mark Wiens, I'm Sonny from the Best
Ever Food Review Show. I'm sorry, this is your
show, you should take that. - (laughs) But it is
going to be an awesome day hanging out with Sonny today. So, one of the most popular
things to eat in Thailand is called som tam, which
is green papaya salad with grilled chicken. - [Sonny] Mmmm. - But we are going to eat
not your ordinary versions - Of either.
- Of either. So, we are on our way first
to go eat grilled chicken, and this is going to be,
it's a very unique, actually, it's very old, right, Ying? - Mmmhmm. - It's like a very, very
old style that's almost impossible to find now. I've never had it before. It's about an hour drive
outside, on the outskirts of Bangkok, towards Nakhon Phanom. Or is it in Nakhon Phanom? - In Nakhon Phanom. - Its in Nakhon Phanom, okay? So it's going to be about an hour drive. (engines revs) (upbeat music) (car door clicks) - Ooh, oh! Immediately, step out of the car, you can hear the chicken,
the roosters crowing. (speaks foreign language) Oh, we gotta go. (upbeat music) (speaks foreign language) We got here in perfect time, and he just finished a batch but that means he's
gonna start a new batch. And uncle is very friendly. He's just arranging while
we're getting kind of - Ashed on
- Bathed in ash. But he's preparing. What is it? It's almost like a tub. A tub of a grill or smoker, where he's going to grill the chicken. This is the main batch. He's got another batch going over here. (speaks foreign language) Kind of like actually not even grilled, it's baked chicken in rice grass. Smoked in rice grass. - But just the fact that outside is ashy but the inside is still, I mean it looks really clean, right? - [Mark] Yeah it is. - So it's just gonna kind
of steam up in there? - Smoke and steam. He takes the raw chicken, I think which they've already
marinated in some spices and some juices, and then he takes a couple
skewers, pokes them through, and that's gonna kind of hold it together so that it holds up as he puts it upright onto a little pole
sticking out of the ground. (upbeat music) - [Mark] Okay so he says it
takes about an hour to cook. - One hour?
- [Mark] One hour to smoke. - That sounds about right. (upbeat music) - All the chickens in
their vertical positions, and then he's lidded
all of them with those oil, old oil drums. And now he's just stuffing into, stuffing into this entire, like trough, the dry rice grass, which they're then gonna just like ignite, and that's just gonna go
up in a cloud of smoke, but release all of that
flavor into your chicken. He disappeared for a while. (speaks foreign language) - Had to order more,
they said they sold out. - [Mark] What?
- Yeah. By the way Sonny, we had to
pre-order these chickens. - Oh, you guys did pre-order? - They're completely sold out. - Oh man, I was so worried. - You cannot just show up
here and get a chicken. They're all sold out, right, Ying? They're all sold out
before they start selling. - [Ying] Yeah. - [Sonny] Let's find, like a, is there a restaurant somewhere? - [Mark] It's only take-away It's only take-away actually. - We're on the side of the road, and there's like three
big burning troughs, and that's all that's here. And there selling out. What's crazy is he's going to
set this on fire in a second, but there's more grass
right there and right there, like it's all directly
around and under this roof, and next to this tarp. Like, I don't know how
he keeps it contained right in here, 'cause there's flammable
stuff everywhere around here. And it looks like this
tarp has been through some tough days though, this is already. Wait, that's it, just a match? - [Mark] Just a lighter. - [Sonny] Oh, whoa! - Wow that is hot, and
it's coming fast (laughs). It's moving down fast. You can see how that fire,
that fire just spread. Hopefully we don't turn into the chickens. But we are kind of bathing
in the smoke with them. - [Sonny] We're roasting
a bit, just a little bit. - (laughs) We're both
kind of red in the face. - (laughs) Yeah, totally. Once the flame goes
by, the remainder here, you can put your hand right next to it. It's not hot at all. - The chicken is completely, wow that's a lot of smoke. - Power through, dude, it's for the views. (laughs) - This is like, whoa. - Oh that took a while. - (laughs) But yeah, 'cause the chickens were completely raw. It's not like this is the
finishing process, you know? Like, this has to cook the
chicken all the way through. - Right. Yeah that takes a lot of
heat and a lot of time. - Okay, let's move. - Yeah let's move. - So he'll clear the old batch, then he'll add more grass
and then burn that again, probably a couple of times
because it takes about an hour to smoke, and I guess that's enough heat. That provides enough heat and smoke and cook the entire chickens. He'll show us that whole process. The first batch of rice grass
has completely burned through, so he's gonna re-add, re-stock it, re-fill it with rice grass. I didn't know if I should
say hay for dried rice grass, I didn't know if it was
a specific type of grass. Sonny just looked it up, thanks to Google we now know that-- - Grass that has been mown
or dried for use as fodder. - [Mark] And that's the definition of hay. So we can call dried rice grass hay. - [Sonny] Absolutely. - [Mark] Uncle has handed
over the lighter to us. - The cooking utensils, right here. - This is the like a lot of,
what is it, responsibility. - Yeah. - We have a lot of
responsibility in our hands. - So right from the corner. - [Sonny] Yeah, it just takes a little bit and then it, yeah that's it. (dramatic music) - As we wait for that
chicken to finish roasting, or smoking we're just going to come over, they actually sell the
chickens in the front at the, sort of the main road. (bag crinkles) - Is that good? - Yeah. - It's satisfying the urges for now. - Crunchy and a little bit like, has like a little sweet glaze to it. - Mmm. I agree with that. - That's good. We have opened that gong. - [Ying] Pong! - Typically, what they would do, is they would bring the chickens from, because they don't have the
chickens at the same place where they distribute the chickens because it's so smoky. - Yeah, people would get smoked out that they would get black lung. There would be law suits. It would be a big issue. - So, what they typically do is bring the chickens here. This is where they chop them up. They put them into the styrofoam boxes. They give you your sauces, they chop up your chicken, and then this is where you pick it up. But since we are planning
to eat the chicken directly from the bed, directly from the trough, Ying was extraordinarily smart. She got the empty box
with the banana leaf, with the sauces, and khao neow, sticky rice, which is also a necessary component. Now we're going to back to the grill and we're going to go eat. - [Ying] Okay, time to go. - Okay it's ready, we gotta go. - Let's go. - Let's move, we got to go now. (laughs) (speaks foreign language) - [Sonny] You got on the motorbike. You got the lucky one, we gotta run. (upbeat music) - He's gonna lift the lids. (dramatic music) Kind of delicately so that
not too much ash spreads, but that's just incredible. I love the contrast because it's so black, and then just that golden chicken. It looks like it's back in a nest. - So he cinches the wings, picks it up, super easy. - And hangs it on the shed. (dramatic music) After he lifts it out of the nest, he hangs it up here, kind of on the shed, and you can just see how golden, how beautiful that skin is. But then he wipes it with
a little sponge to get that kind of extra ash off. They smell unbelievable. You can really smell the
aroma of lemon grass. And my arm is just
getting dripped all over with chicken juice. I'm gonna lick my arm. Oh, wow. Dude that's-- - Good, hold on, let me lick your arm. - [Mark] Dude, you got to try my arm. - No, I'm not touchin' it. (laughs) Are you shooting?
- [Mark] Yep. - Oh hey guys. Are they stuffed? - [Mark] If they are
stuffed, it's only like lemon grass and herbs, I believe. - I looked in the hole. In the cavity here, - [Mark] I believe that
is lemon grass inside. - Look at the yoga,
the contortionist moves that's going on here. They put the legs back
into the body cavity. I've never seen that before. Is that a common thing here? - [Mark] Yeah, in Thai,
they do that quite often. Just to keep, to hold
the chicken together. - What? - [Mark] So that they don't flop around, and then the drumstick would fall off. - So are their feet, the
whole feet gonna be in there? - [Mark] Yeah the feet
are stuffed in the cavity. - When do we eat though? - Right now.
- Soon. Okay good.
- We're eating him. (laughs) This is ours. Unhook this guy. Yes, dude. And this is right out of the smoker. Set this into our tray. Head up or head down, okay. Look at that! (upbeat music) I'm just amazed at the skin and how beautifully golden,
crunchy, perfect it looks. Should be just double drumstick it? - [Sonny] Yeah. - [Mark] Let's just pull from either side. - [Sonny] Woo! - [Mark] Yeah, it's hot. Let's just pull the
drumstick on either side. Lift out the foot. - [Sonny] Oh, There it is, a whole foot! - [Mark] Oh wow. That just completely, like, that just falls off. - [Sonny] And here we go. Super easy. - [Mark] It just like pulls out. - [Sonny] Oh man. - [Mark] Even the foot, it's just-- - [Sonny] The foot just comes right off. - [Mark] Look at that. - [Sonny] The moment of truth? - [Mark] Let's do it. - [Sonny] Alright, here we go. (upbeat music) (laughs) - Oh, wow! - That's ridiculous. And it's unbelievably tender. It's salty on the outside,
did he put something on it? - Yeah, yeah, so it was
all marinated in probably soy sauce and coriander root. - [Sonny] Yeah it's just so soft. - [Mark] That texture is
unbelievably juicy and soft. (upbeat music) (moans) It's so soft that's like
a two-biter drumstick. - All these fatty parts
are just kind of melted. - Yeah, you're right about that. - Yeah.
- It really is unbelievable. - That's over the top. (laughs) - Yeah, I mean, there's a reason he's sold out every day, right? - Mhm.
- This is exactly it. - Like the bone is just completely clean. Okay next up let's try this sauce. - [Sonny] You can see
like a puddle of juices as you put your finger in there. - [Mark] Oh, look at how
juicy even the, oh wow. Okay, that's hot, but that's
so juicy, even the breast. This is the real test, you know, because the thigh and
drumstick is always juicy. - [Sonny] Yeah, always a bit more fatty. - [Mark] But the breast
can be very dry and grab a chunk, it feels-- - [Sonny] Oh, yes. - [Mark] Incredibly juicy. You can probably squeeze it like a towel and juices would come out. (moans) - [Sonny] Yeah, that looks nice. - Oh, wow. And this is the classic
chicken-dipping sauce here. (upbeat music) (moans) Oh, wow. - The breast is juicy. - [Sonny] A little bit more
firm, but still super juicy. - [Mark] Mmmhmm.
- [Sonny] For breast meat. - [Mark] The sauce is kind of tangy, a little bit spicy, kind
of sweet at the same time. - [Sonny] I'm just going to have this. Look at this, all this skin. It's like a little bit crispy right here, but the rest is just really soft. I think it just gets kind of
sweltering inside that box. - It gets juiced. Wait, camera back up. - [Ying] (laughs) Okay. (upbeat music) (moans) - [Sonny] Oh, fatty, juicy skin. - In a few moments, this
chicken will just be bone. - [Sonny] (laughs) I could
eat like two of these. - [Mark] Mmmhmm (laughs) - [Sonny] Which is this sauce? - More looks like the Thai seafood sauce, which is garlic, chilis, lime juice. (upbeat music) Really good, too. Like less of a, more of
a refreshing chili sauce as opposed to the other sauce, which is more of a smoky, I think more of a dry chili taste to it. Dude, the skin bites are unbelievable. One of the signs of a successful
chicken-eating experience is looking at your fingers, and mine are glistening to the max. (upbeat music) The chicken is some of the
juiciest you will ever have. This is the type of chicken
that once you start eating it, you will not stop eating until
all there is left is bone. - Until it's just that.
- A carcass. And we're not stopping (upbeat music) - The wings. - The wings are incredible. And of course khao neow, sticky rice, which I almost forgot about
because the chicken is so good. But you got to have khao neow, and you can kind of ball it up, dip it in the sauce as well. (upbeat music) (laughs) - So good. And that completes our
chicken and sticky rice. - Thanks man, this was a lot of fun. - For sure. And the chicken is so unbelievably good. We're going to move on now to eat som tum, which is the green papaya salad. It would be very common to
accompany green papaya salad with the grilled chicken, but we're going to move
on to a different place to eat green papaya salad. - Let's do it. - Let's go. (upbeat music) - Should we bring the camera though? - Oh! In fact, we got to bring the camera and the entire basket, because we've got Ying ordered a couple more chickens here to bring home, to take away. So I think we're going
home with the basket. Okay, anyway we're moving on now to the green papaya salad. - Location two. (upbeat music) What do I do with this? - But I think we'll give
them back the basket. (laughs) (speaks foreign language) (upbeat music) (engine revving) That was a little bit of
a drive, but we made it. We are here next to eat
Thai green papaya salad. - [Sonny] So you said this
one is extreme-ish, in a way. - So it looks extreme,
but it's actually not like a food challenge, you know? It's just a normal dish,
a normal preparation. But it is, pretty hardcore. It's good, very, very good. The restaurant is called Som Tam Jay Gai. They also, not only do they
have green papaya salad, but they also have a type of good chicken. (speaks foreign language) It's a type of chicken
from a certain region, place in Thailand. These are some of my favorite
types of grilled chickens in Thailand, because of their texture, because of their flavor, because of the way their
unique grilling of them. We came here right at the peak of lunch. The restaurant is packed. (speaks foreign language) - On my t-shirt, it says
(speaks foreign language), which means not spicy, not eating. But she just mentioned to me (speaks foreign language) which means not spicy, not selling. Is what she told me. So Ying said if it's not
spicy, she's not selling it. So we're in the right spot. - Yeah, okay. Look, this man can tolerate spice, I can pretend like I can tolerate spice. I'm gonna do my best. I still like you nonetheless. (speaks foreign language) - Okay, 30 chilis in the plate. (laughs) - Cool. 30? (crunching) (speaks foreign language) - Here's the slogan:
(speaks foreign language) That means, sap is like, oh
here goes in the fish sauce. (speaks foreign language) Sap means delicious but
it's more than delicious. It's like a well-rounded,
like mouth-pleasure feeling. (speaks foreign language) (upbeat music) (utensils clanging) (speaks a foreign language) Sonny is delivering our plate now. - Table one! (upbeat music) - [Mark] Nice. - You know the most
beautiful things in nature are always, no hold on, the most dangerous things in nature are always the most beautiful, and vivid, and vibrant and bright. It's beautiful, and dangerous! - A small mountain of fermented
fish sauce and chilis. So many ingredients in here. There's at least 20
ingredients probably in here. Oh, we got another one too. - There's a whole 'nother tray! - You ordered that one too.
- Oh! - [Mark] Dude! That one is with the shells and chilis. Oh man. I totally didn't even know
you was ordering this. Awesome! Oh, another ingredient in here
is (speaks foreign language), which are those little seeds, those little seeds, which are white poponak seeds. - [Sonny] There's so
much going on in here. - [Mark] Alright, cheers. - Cheers. (moans) - Oh, wow. That is an explosion of like fermented crunch and heat in your mouth - Ooh, that is hot. - Oh yeah. - So, before I can't talk anymore, the one thing I do like, is it fermented fish paste? - The dressing? - [Sonny] Yeah. - [Mark] Fermented fish sauce. - [Sonny] Fermented fish sauce
can be a lot for some people, even for me, but actually, spice is the one thing that can neutralize that flavor. - [Mark] That's Vietnamese
sausage actually. - [Sonny] Oh! - You know the-- (speaks foreign language) Yeah, it's the Thai version
of Vietnamese sausage. (upbeat music) I just love it. And to me, to me it's
like this is the dish that it touches on taste buds you
didn't even think you had. It just, it's more, almost
than your mouth can handle, and that's what's so awesome about it. - I agree with that, but
not more than I can handle. I'm doing just fine over here. I do love the flavor. I'm not gonna lie. It is a unique pleasure and pain happening at the same time here. Here's even more sausage. I've got some chilis in this one. - Woo! (moans) - These pork rinds soak up all
these juices so beautifully. (moans) - She kinda chuckled at Sonny. - She's laughing at me. Hello. She knows exactly what's going on here. Man, I'm sweating. I'm crying. I'm choking. But it tastes great. Don't get me wrong. It's really good. Look at all these chilis. How do you do this? It's almost unbearable pain, man. (laughs) Why do you ask? Do I look not fine? (laughing) I swear to God, it's delicious, but this is one of the most painful meals I've ever tried to eat. - Yes! - I've only had like five bites so far. This is hilarious man! I used to be like, I can hang. If I ate with Mark Weins, I can hang. Mmm. It's not going to be that bad. But, you're the spice lord. Respect. You got this. Like, there's no competition. - I am - You're sweating though. - I'm sweating and crying. - That is something.
- Oh yeah. Wow, I'm feeling it now. - He's drinking the water. The man has a limit. What is this? - That is fire. That is a nam. That is fermented sausage. - Oh! I am a broken man, Mark Weins. - Dude this is intense. - You wanna, are you gonna
have some sausage too? - Yes I am.
- Or something else? - Okay, let's do it. (upbeat music) The wife has given me some tissues. That means it's time to wipe my tears. (laughs) Well dude. Should we try some grilled chicken? - Sure. (speaks foreign language) Sonny just jumped out of his
chair to go buy ice cream - This guy, he's got ice
cream, this guy's a genius. (speaks foreign language) Syrup on there. I don't care. I just need something cold. (moans) Dog, that was brutal. Fun, fun, but wow. That is some intense heat. The ice cream is a lifesaver. (laughs) He's a genius! - Sonny's over there eating ice cream. (laughs) - And you're having more chilis. That was like four chilis! Oh, dude. - Woo! And I got a whole piece of lime. Lime peel on that bite. - Are you going to get the lime peel? - Mmmhmm. This is just, just blows my taste buds how many flavors you can
experience all in one mouthful. And it's just unbelievable. - You're right, you can mix so many different kinds of ice cream in one little cup. Is that what you're talking about? - [Mark] Let's try the
grilled chicken for now. Alright, so completely different
type of grilled chicken. - [Sonny] What is that? - [Mark] That's like the
whole wing, thigh combo. I guess I'll grab this drum. Juicy and oily all the way through. - [Sonny] Yeah it's not tough at all. I've been hiding my tissues under here. (laughs) - [Mark] Exposed!
- That's my technique. Okay, thank you. - [Mark] Another one of their
specialties here is hoy na, which is this type of shell, and grab yourself a skewer. I'll grab this guy. You poke in your skewer, and like pry out the shell. Oh, so much juice. Oh this is a (speaks foreign language) No, it's not a (speaks foreign language) Oh look at that, it just keeps on coming. (speaks foreign language) - [Sonny] Alright guys,
what you got to do is just kind of coax it out. You got to be nice to it. Otherwise, it'll break in half. - [Mark] Gentle. - [Sonny] I'll give it
a little shaky shake. Oh it's really in there. It's quite firm. - [Mark] Be careful of the splash. (upbeat music) (moans) - Really delicious, and softer than so many snails I've had. - [Mark] A little bit of an earthy taste, but then that's kind of
balanced by the fishy marinade. - Oh, so that's, if you get the whole one, it looks like that. And from my understanding, this is part of the
digestive track right here. - And look at those little,
little balls right there. Do you see that? (speaks foreign language) Those are the eggs? - We'll just give it a little pinch. Hey! Now it's gone. The balls are gone. You always know it's fresh
when it's a little bit gritty. A little bit of sand in there. (upbeat music) - An amazing meal. An amazing day. Any big chilis, any
whole chilis in my teeth? (laughs) I don't even know, what would you call it? This was a both day of
tradition, not food challenge, but extreme? What would you say today, what was the summing
word to hold it together? - Push to the edge of normal. - Push to the edge of normal. - Like, this is still
how people are eating, but it can kind of feel extreme
if you're not used to it. For me it's been a blast getting to hang out with you, two different days in Bangkok. Seeing Thai food through your perspective, and just seeing, you know,
we both do shows about food, but we both have a really
different approach, so seeing the way you approach
it and your love for food, and your passion, a ton of fun. - Thank you. - Thank you!
- Thank you, and I want to say a
huge thank you to Sonny. And like he was saying, we got two days to hang out. So we also filmed a video for his channel, so definitely, the link will
be in the description box. Go check out his video on his channel. - We eat blood noodles and he shows me how to
eat a giant water bug. (laughs) - That was a lot of fun. Best Ever Food Review Show. And yeah, links will all
be in the description box, so go check out, go subscribe to Sonny, and go check out the video,
the other video on his channel that we did together 'cause that was a lot of fun. But today was amazing as well. Thank you Sonny.
- Amazing. I'm gonna get another ice cream. (laughs) Cheers, man.
- Oh, he's still there. - [Sonny] Yeah, thank goodness. - Alright. Cool, what a day.
