Anthony Bourdain A Cooks Tour Season 1 Episode 6 | Eating on the Edge of Nowhere (4K)

(soft music) Welcome to my world. (upbeat and exciting music) Two snails, Pâté Brisée. Two green salads. Okay, lamb chops (mumbles) [Anthony' Shouldn't you be doing something? Two steaks (murmurs) and a pepper steak. Come on, make dessert. Chocolate cake, please! As a cook, tastes and smells are my memories, and now I'm looking for new ones. So I'm leaving New York City and hoping to have some epiphanies around the world, and I'm willing to do whatever I can to achieve that. I look for extremes of emotion and experience. I'll try anything, I'll risk everything, I have nothing to lose.

When traveling through Cambodia, one can experience a wide range of tastes, smells and textures. From mysterious seaweed-like jelly to fried bugs and baby birds, some things completely unidentifiable. Today, I begin a two-day trip to an outpost on the western

edge

of the country, near Thailand, to get a taste of border town cuisine and life. I already decided early on that, as part of my whole obsession with Apocalypse Now, I want to go upriver, just like they did in the movie, to the scariest place on Earth. And I have reliable information that the scariest place on Earth, at least in Cambodia, is the Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin, which until recently was inaccessible to any Westerner.

Well, we're on the S.S. Minnow, on the first leg of our trip to Pailin, via Battambang. Pailin is the place that a genie recommended I go to and his description of the place at the time was: "Oh, you'll love this place, it's populated by" black market diamond traders, lumber merchants, "Khmer Rouge", and described To me it's like a kind of frontier town in Mad Max Three. Sounds pretty good to me. And here's the kicker: this former model city of the Khmer Rouge is today the center of vice and gambling. And gambling means casino, and casino means buffet, right?

So I think we're reasonably confident that we'll be able to get Beef Wellington there and Escargot Bourguignonne. All casinos have that, right? Basically, this place was described as the last place in the world any sensible

tour

ist would want to go, so naturally we're going there. So we cross the Tonle Sap Lake in search of the river that will take us to the heart of darkness. My trip is not the Miami Vice cigarette boat I had imagined, but I have come prepared. I bought some imported western food at my hotel. Alright, I had chosen this little gem of a recipe from Martha Stewart's latest TV special, Cambodia River Trip Picnics?

You probably saw it. First, dress up a lounge chair with a red and white checkered scarf. Borrow it from one of your Khmer Rouge friends. Then some hard Italian salami, some honey baked ham, slightly warmed camembert and fresh baguettes. All this accompanied by a crisp Bordeaux Blanc. (bright, fun music) It's actually a good thing. We are moving upriver at a good pace, catching glimpses of everyday life on the river. It's all very relaxing, so I take a short nap. And that's when things change. We make an unscheduled stop and pick up three guys dressed in olive green.

Three mysterious travelers. Oh, no, no, no, no, says our boss. You don't want to go down this road. You want to take a shortcut. The word shortcut always fills me with dread. Especially when it comes to sinister guys dressed in military uniform. Is he a policeman? Is he a disgruntled former Khmer Rouge? Is he crazy? Will he get up, take out a meat ax and start gutting me? I'm thinking about Liberation. (sings "Dueling Banjos") The deeper and further upstream we go, the deeper we go into the Stone Age. People live in sticks and huts. We didn't get many happy waves, waves and smiles.

I do not like this. I don't know where I'm going and I think if the propeller fails, if we stay on the ground, I won't see my local American Express representative. I'm getting scared. (moans and screams loudly) I thought I wanted Apocalpyse Now. How romantic. I can go upstream to find Kurt. That was the Love Boat compared to this one. I don't remember the

episode

of Gilligan's Island where Gilligan is kidnapped and murdered. You? Life at its best and most vivid is often a mix of fear and excitement. When I arrived in Battambang, I was excited and scared at the same time. 6 and a half hours on a nameless river.

Finally we reached the shore. This food (bleep) I'm heading to had better be Michelin star quality. Well, we finally reached Battambang, which is about halfway through our trip. I'm very happy to see dry ground right now. Well, we're on the legendary road to Pailin, which is intermittently a moonscape and swimming pool-sized vats of some sort of moist chocolate brownie. I'm told that cars can disappear in these potholes and never come out again. What was that sign? The most mined area of ​​the country is the Battambang and Pailin area, but mines are a problem throughout Cambodia. In short, do not deviate from well-marked paths under any circumstances.

It's a little intimidating. The frequency of warnings about landmines, including particularly gruesome paintings of the consequences of stepping on a landmine. This is not Vince Lombardi's rest stop. Follow the main road. Seems like a good idea, right? Halfway to Pailin, I guess there's their version of the truck stop, a group of locals sitting around watching Thai kickboxing, which is apparently very popular in this area, and seems like a hospitable enough little place to curl up. on some lunch. I'm

eating

a hearty bowl of samlar, a traditional Cambodian one-dish meal. Some minced pork, fresh lemongrass, chicken broth and some homemade rice noodles.

Garnish with a little green onion and that's it, lunch is served. Pork and noodle bowl. A splash of hot sauce and a squeeze of lime and you're done. This is good. It's the last bowl of noodle soup, perhaps the last look at a television for a while. Then nothing until we reach Pailin. Alright, next one? Next stop, Caesar's Palace, Pailin style. We've also seen a lot of cattle here, so I thought we could have a nice steak by the pool. I think this should be pretty interesting and I'm looking forward to that analysis. This bounces around a lot here.

Maybe a Caesar salad, I don't know. Maybe a Nicoise salad, what do you think? Dress on the side. (traditional Asian string music) It has been a two-day journey that began on an unnamed river that gave way to a hellish road. We just covered 75 miles in 4 and a half hours. We are 24 kilometers from the Thai border and we have finally reached the literal and proverbial end of the road, Pailin. I can't wait to sink my teeth into some of it. Beef Wellington at the casino buffet. Well well. Listen, Las Vegas seemed a little dangerous too, you know?

Early. It used to be a one-hotel town, like the Flamingo, that was it. (Car horns blaring) It's a border town, and like most border towns, it's a little hilly and a little hilly. You know the story. It looks like that cowboy movie. Know? A new boy in town walks into the room, the doors open and everyone in the room turns and gives him a hostile look. That's the feeling I get in Pailin. Alright. The action in this one-horse town will likely return to the hotel, the Hang Meas, the only hotel in town. Welcome. Okay, it's not exactly Caesar's Palace.

There are the sinister footprints on the wall. I admit it's a little creepy and I see some kind of fluid there. I find the mosaics a little disturbing too, you know? Like this one and the Battambang place, they seem to be designed to be hosed down quickly and easily. I guess this works if you stand here by the toilet and hose yourself and the entire bathroom down. I guess this is soap. At first I thought it was a condom, but it's a little soft, so I'm hoping it's soap. And the casino is not exactly on the roof.

Apparently it's about 30 clicks outside of town, and they told me we can't shoot there because we might get shot at ourselves. But hey, you still have the excellent outdoor restaurant. Alright, let's rock. There has to be something going on there. (rhythmic drum music) Here we are. Lost in Margaritaville. Apparently our dreams of a

tour

ist destination, a dirt track, go-karts, vibrant casinos, Siegfried and Roy, have been dashed, so it looks like, it looks like I'll be

eating

Thai food and watching, God help me, police. and 1/2 with Burt Reynolds, on the subway here, during my lunch. Ray Sharkey is in it too.

It's as if both the good guy and the bad guy in this movie have monstrously bad hairpieces. I mean, I know, I'm ashamed of being an addict in my past, but I don't have that under my belt. Okay, so it's not the Cambodian Las Vegas I was promised, but since we're on the Thai border, the food should be pretty interesting. Although the two countries use similar ingredients, Thai cuisine is much more intense in flavor. Turmeric and cumin seem to catch your attention. I'm going to have spicy Thai chicken, curry, ground peanuts, a little salt and sugar, and scallions.

Everything sautéed together. I'm also going to have a very traditional Thai soup, Tom Yum. Chopped fresh lemongrass and ginger, simmered in chicken broth. I hope the Gulf of Thailand shrimp boils quickly. Coconut milk is added. The soup is finished with chili oil and fish sauce. While both Cambodian and Thai cuisine have a really nice balance of sweet, sour, salty and bitter, it's Thai food that provides the spiciness. The chili really lifts it up. Alright. This isn't too bad, but it's not the casino buffet I was expecting. First thing tomorrow morning, we'll get into our SUV and speed out of here.

Enjoy. Cambodia, with its rich and tragic history, is both bewildering and rewarding. The Khmer people exude charm and determination, and the cuisine, with its subtle use of spices and herbs, is truly memorable. But the next time they tell me about some border town food that I have to go to, I think I'll stay home and order it. The next stop, Japan, to change pace and taste. (plane engines rumble) Japan seems light years away from the western tip of Cambodia. And I'm going to have to get back into things little by little. A decompression period, so to speak.

I'm just not ready for an elaborate Japanese dining experience. But my guide and translator, Shinji, assures me that he has just what he needs, something familiar but different at the same time. Soba. Soba, as I understand it, is an everyday food. It's pretty casual, but once again he takes it very seriously. There is good soba. There is mediocre soba. There is bad soba. And there's really good soba. This is really good soba. Soba is different from Western-style pasta. It is richer in flavor, less porous and does not depend on sauces for flavor. If you look at the seriousness with which this product is made, the delicacy with which it is handled, the technique and skill of the chef who prepares it, it is quite an impressive spectacle.

What has happened there until now? Do you like buckwheat flour? Buckwheat flour. Water? Water. You must develop strong wrists. People who are experts at working dough seem to handle it very casually, you know, very, dollar, dollar, dollar, makes it look easy. It's not. If I were doing this with the dough, it would break and stick to the pan, I would be crying. Right now it looks like pie dough. I mean, that's thin. And really delicate at this point. I mean, look. You can see like the picture at the end. Look how thin that is. Reverse winding.

Working with filo dough at this point. And then slices. When he takes his knife and begins to cut it into absolutely perfect, identical ribbons, as if they were hand-cut linguine. But it is finer than linguine. Hand cut angel hair, capellini. I've seen some master pasta makers, you know, guys who make garganelli, they make fettuccine, of course, the flat pasta, and I'm absolutely blown away by how good they were and how fast, but, I mean, look at that. I mean, it's a fine, uniform filament, every strand is the same. I would love to, you know, all expenses paid, get this guy on a plane to New York, take him to an Italian restaurant and just, do this in front of some pasta

cooks

, I can probably do it. that while sleeping. (laughs) Incredible.

They go in the box. (mumbles) That's impressive. The freshly prepared soba is then gently placed in boiling water for just 30 seconds. Then shock is applied in cold water for one minute. It is carefully separated and plated. One of the favorite ways to serve it is, as in this case, cold. At that moment he gets up... Just a quick dip. It is poured into a hot duck broth, in this case, with pieces of duck meat, a little spring onion and freshly grated wasabi. It's fabulous. A very subtle dish but at the same time very substantial and warm.

Hmm! Oh that's good. Is that appropriate? Dip then sip? Yes. Sipping is good, okay. Hmm! Well, a good pitch. He also obtained agreat consistency. This is really a pleasure, it's really good. That's very good. Nothing like it. Soba, just the comfort food I was looking for. (upbeat pop music) When you think of Japan, you think of formality, you know, proper etiquette. But in reality, just beneath the surface there is a great naturalness and tranquility. You can just sneak down these alleys, follow your nose, and find great food. The aroma of yakitori fills the air. Yakitori refers to simple, grilled and skewered dishes, like a kind of snack, like a skewer.

The distinctive flavor comes from a marinade made from sugar, soy sauce, and mirin, a sweet rice wine. Here there are entire neighborhoods filled with yakitori joint after yakitori joint. The whole neighborhood smells like yakitori. You know when you're getting close. Generally places that serve yakitori are quite casual, very popular and cater mainly to business people who have just got off work and want to have a few beers or some sake. (the women laugh) We're at, this has been, this is a yakitori place, you know, a light snack accompanied by generous amounts of alcohol, a place to stop after work and have a good time.

This is the kind of place I would spend way too much time if I lived in Tokyo. This is the kind of place where I would get off work, come here and hang out way later than I should. And he came home drunk. I'm very lucky in this place. I sit down and almost immediately, a large table of Japanese businessmen sit down, start drinking, pull my table over and start buying rounds. Food tastes better in a comfortable environment. This is perfect. They begin to order, it seems, everything on the menu. I feel at home, immediately. 24 hours ago, in Pailin, I was greeted with steely stares and coldness.

Now I'm hugged. I'm just another salaryman having a good time. This is like chicken elbow cartilage, and it doesn't sound good, it's terrifying to the Western mind. I was told in advance that this is something I should eat, so I'm not afraid, but it has that, the chewiness and consistency of squid, actually. And really tasty. Crunchy. This is like a meatball but made of chicken. Ground chicken, I understand it is the house specialty. (the women laugh in the background) Mm. This is, you know, kind of like great Italian food. You know, same thing. Everyone is sitting, talking, drinking and eating.

Controlled chaos. Serving sake is another little thing I had to learn. If someone serves you sake, you return it to them. This can lead to breaking social barriers, a good conversation... I'll try it! And serious drunkenness. It is a very unusual experience. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before in Tokyo. It is enormously rewarding and a lot of fun. So, as I walk away from the yakitori place, I am reminded that, just like in Cambodia, simple food and casual dining experiences are often the most satisfying. And surprisingly memorable.