Anthony Bourdain A Cooks Tour Season 1 Episode 14: So Much Vodka So Little Time

welcome to my world, let's fight with breeze, a green salad, make dessert, chocolate cake, please, as a cook, the flavors and smells are my memories now I'm looking for new ones, so I'm leaving New York City and I hope to have some. Epiphanies around the world and I am willing to do everything I can to achieve them. I look for extreme emotions and experiences. I'll try anything. I'll risk it all. I have nothing to lose. Saint Petersburg, Russia, this Western European style city. It served as the capital of Russia for two centuries before the communist revolution.

No, what is done in Russia? Why am I in Russia? Anyway, explain something. The first good cook I met Alexa was named after her. He was the first guy I met who really liked food and he really inspired me to get serious about food, so now that the Soviet Union is gone and Russia has opened up, I feel like I owe it all to Lex to undergo a A personal question. I want to find out what inspired him. I want to dive deep into the Russian psyche. I want to find out what motivates these Russians. The best way to do this is to start with food.

What am I doing? Because I am here? crazy about all the crazy things I have done in this world while being on the Neva River in st. St. Petersburg in Russia in the middle of winter has to be in the top ten. This doesn't seem like the place to start a search for culinary inspiration, but I'm far from the craziest man on the ice today because this frozen wasteland is the domain of the hardiest sportsmen, ice fishermen, even the most Russia's shady canals are filled with slow-flowing fish-filled canals, so there's a long tradition of taking dinner straight from the backyard, ice fishing, which explains why some stuffed plastics tend to stay warm, others just drink . a lot of

vodka

but everyone does the same thing sitting and fishing through small holes in the ice this is not exactly the firmest foothold in the world.

I should point out because of the hair clip, if you look close enough you can see the frozen corpse of the last TV Food Network guy who came here kind of flying out the bottom. I meet my Russian translator and guide Samir, who has arranged a meeting with two old salts Vladimir and his friend Igor, how does he manage to cross the ice? I would like the ice to be

much

thicker and for him to have

little

time

to waste before his worms freeze to death. Vladimir bait is a hook. You can supposedly catch anything here, from perch to pike, if you're lucky.

He is a 30 pound sturgeon with my name. swimming around the deck full of eggs this is interesting this is part of how cold it is Erica has to keep skimming the water because it crystallizes and fills with ice you can see how it freezes just when your eyes oh yes, there is something true about a fish very smart, yes, it will be like that before I know it. Vladimir pulls out the catch on him, it's not what he expected. NARR says they are welcome here, since in all real situations in Tri mins, physical and mental resistance, alcohol is involved, I think that's it. really the point I don't really know if it's actually the fish I think it's to get away from your family go where no one bothers you and drink five at eleven in the morning thanks to these gentlemen thanks from the The fish didn't seem to bite today.

Samir and I decided it was

time

to move on. Not all Russians fish for a cheap breakfast, as Amir thinks he knows the perfect place for us, so where we go, next on our plan is kolobok. which is a pretty fast furoshiki food place, should be fine, so who will go to this place. or even late after work, let's look at piroshki, small Russian dumplings made with a thick puff pastry dough, first the dough is prepared from scratch, then filled with any number of savory fillings, from meat to vegetables, from cheese to sweet fruits, and then they are fried or baked depending on their ingredients in the blink of an eye they come out hot, either like something really expensive, which I don't see, this is a completely unknown object, you have never seen anything like it, okay, they don't have them yet baseball here runners here, baseball to follow, you have all the necessary ingredients, I mean, you have good beer, you have hot dogs, what else?

Gideon, no, that's my calling in life after I got kicked out of the kitchen and I'm blacklisted from television forever. I'm coming here, Miss Hart, a

little

league team. I start training the next generation with Russian baseball players, so after a full day in Russia I found my footing, it's time to get back to the root of my mission and pay some respects. exposure to Russian food and my young life was in Provincetown. I was working with my good friend and mentor Alexey Getman, originally from Russia, who introduced me to a dish called cool of yak, so I asked him to hook me up with something.

Great, he did it, but he won't be able to make it, so I'm going somewhere I don't really know. I'll meet someone I don't know either and she'll make me some Cola Bianca. Now my instructions were below. The FC prospect takes the first door on the right of a very recognizable landmark and there it is, it looks like it's the door under the golden arches all along. I have a feeling of restlessness, freshness of youth, it is an extremely elaborate fish cake that was made. for the tsar it requires hours and hours of work to prepare it is Frankenstein's food monster hi I'm Tony it's a simple sprint lugia is a friend of a friend of a friend of zamir because coulibiac is so elaborate that he is the only person Zamir could find in all a st.

Petersburg, who is available to do it with him and she offered to do it just for the pleasure of creating it. She first spends at least an hour making the puff pastry from scratch and then spends a couple more hours gathering an exhaustive list of ingredients for the filling. each of which requires its own initial preparation, the most important of which is fish, which is the main ingredient. Finally, in another hour, she rolls out the dough and layers all the ingredients, fish roe, eggs, rice and onion, chopped potatoes, scallions and spices, oh great, finally sealing. puts it in the oven for a couple more hours this took a little longer than I expected and it's a little big I don't think I'll be able to finish it and I see drink oh yeah, big surprise here after five hours I'm finally served the freshness disgusting has anyone ever heard of water in this country unfortunately I no longer have an appetite not only do I have no appetite I'm without company well I'm alone I don't have to take care of my table manners Libya is gone but when I come back to say goodbye he will expect a big dent in the freshness of the yok after all her work and I don't want to disappoint her but something is wrong, this is not as flaky and delicate as I think I remember.

It's going to be a long night, maybe a little

vodka

to wash it down. I'm starting to get an idea why Zamir couldn't attend. Those of us, they were so alone after a difficult night, alone, fighting jet lag and a plate of khulafa that the Russians could keep down, frankly. I feel a little bad and in Russia that is saying something. Zamir has promised me a special day that, according to him, will restore my body and my power. It begins with a trip to the banya, a traditional Russian bathhouse. There's a bit more of a banya than sweating in a towel, okay, so it's a bad mass near zero degrees, it's very cold, we're on a frozen lake and we're about to get healthy Russian style, as I understand I'll sit in a sauna and get nice and warm, then I'll have some nice Russian snacks, some vodka and beer to make it a bite of beer, a little more heat and then, if I understand this correctly, I'll run out over this railing here and jump on it, okay, and that's going to make me really healthy, yeah, you're going to be the baby, the healthiest man I've ever met, okay, I think this might be TV first, it's a real thing. , okay, make sure it's correct.

Oh, last will and testament before. Yes, I guess a significant contraction here Russian Banya is not your local YMCA into something more akin to a spa experience that gets to the body a very specific set of bathing rituals Baniyas have been around for centuries and are an important part of life weekly of the Russians. This goes to the gymnast for an American, they say there is a level of cleanliness and health that can only be achieved by visiting a body. The first part of the banya ritual is to warm up in the sauna and then go to the steam room.

There will be hot snacks here. Essentially ingredient here. It's going to take a hell of a lot of this to get me to the end of the pool. Alright. I'm ready. Well, good luck to us after about 30 minutes of roasting at 200 degrees Fahrenheit in the Banya steam room. Samir and I'm getting a little hungry Oh, how hot, well, that looks good, that's the Romeo. It turns out that in Russia drinks and food can be part of the sauna experience, just Malecha, now he really gives us a kind of lower saw, that's good, some smoked meat. you can't be bread, something smoked, what kind of fish happens, fish, that's the rush, why I'm not sure if you have any debt analogue, they call from the inside out and it's ready to go.

I'll just have to really enjoy it. You know, take this little beat, try this so you'll probably know when your soul comes out, right? And if you make up for the shortage with the fit brother, the banya just keeps getting better and better. Olga comes for what I am. said it is a relaxing and purifying massage I would like to use it as birch branches of a special message special message russian yes special message okay something like we have ways to make you talk some aside have wet tree branches and water and beat you up, actually It wasn't that bad at first, so it's okay, thanks, I don't want to get paid like $700 an hour to do that, which rich people in New York have no problem doing so far. well it's time for the moment of truth, no tip that this bond is complete without a dip in the lake so far, alright, how

much

Johnson Rosen?

Oh, your pores shrink so tight, I think I have about 30 seconds, my feet are sticking to the pavement. I'm starting to feel it in my feet. I'll let you know what I feel. I like this lifestyle. I'm telling you I could do this. I could have one of these in my backyard if I lived here. Do this a few times a week. Yes like? People have been doing this for a long time now, jumping into the freezing water for our unreasonable Zamir, and I end up hanging around for a few hours just relaxing, but when the smoked fish runs out and the sun hits the horizon, some nearby remind me that we have reservations to stay with Zamir. .

You know, you've been dunking me in ice water here, we've been hitting us with steaks, you've been feeding me working class food, you know what I want, really fancy, high-end food. I want to eat like the tsar ate. You're right Kara, I want good caviar, come on Bruce Kieran ruski restaurant is a top-notch specialty restaurant that unfortunately most Russians couldn't afford, but I want to experience the full range of what st. Petersburg has to offer what better way to start than earning a few glasses of homemade horseradish vodka, followed by cucumber juice. This vodka and horseradish packs a big punch, so I'm hoping the cucumber juice takes the edge off.

Fire is really interested in saitama pickle brine, not a pickle, but you know there are fresher green pickles you've probably seen at the deli. Also, you drink this neat without vodka beforehand. You think I'm not a good thing together. They are spectacular, it's like sweating in a sauna and then jumping into a nice cold lake. Each of them alone probably isn't a great idea, but together they feel great. Now I know why they drink so much vodka in Russia. something to do while you wait seems to be all the time something tells me this time it will be worth it after a couple of shots of homemade vodka from risky restaurants Sameer and I are ready to eat some fiber ok let's get the bar salads.

I have to tell you that I deeply distrust salad bars and hate the whole concept, okay, no iceberg lettuce or synthetic bacon bits here, just cabbage and mint, turnips in olive oil, marinated beans and parsley, wild mushrooms and potatoes, pickled beets and herring salad. My mother will be very proud when she sees this. She still calls me and says, "You know you need vegetables." Do you ever eat salad? And now you hear meat, cheese and then bombs, not to mention the pure pork fat that the Russians call Sala. I can not believe it. I'm even honest that it's good, we already filmed the sauna scene, let's put it that way after this meal, um, I don't like Paul Prudhomme.

I'm going to visit my kitchen, a little scooter in the kitchen that the chef is fixing. I am sterling, a relative of the sturgeon, this is what I was hoping to catch on ice yesterday morning, after sprinkling it with lemon juice and your special spices, boiling it, giving it a generous base ink and turning it into a work of art. spectacular I'm looking for a moment, save it with whatThey look like Manor pickled plums, oh yes, it's completely pitted, that's brilliant, as wonderful as this meal was. I really only look for one thing, caviar and a lot of it, you know, I think caviar is one of those things that is better to gorge on, you know, eat it with your hands, if you eat too much, you should be fully aware that this is not something you do every day.

Caviar or fish roe is usually served with a variety of side dishes such as blini, small pancakes raised in the East. Well, first of all, this has to be the sexiest look ever. Big fluffy blini, onion, egg white, yes.egg yolk I don't think so. I'm a purist, I mean, really, what do I like? I like caviar. I like the glitter, all this other chalk because I couldn't do it, so while I'm shoveling the caviar. the waitress informs Zamir that there is a small problem, a slight carelessness on our part finds a picture of what is happening in New York, the wife comes up to you and says: you know, we don't think you've had enough to drink, that It's what I love.

Samir country, you move from fast food frozen lakes to the best restaurants in the area. I'm starting to understand where Alexa's passion for food came from, from simple foods always prepared in interesting ways, prepared with care, that taste delicious and that's enough to keep me coming back. journey