You're listening to Heritage Radio Network. Hi,
everyone. Welcome to Pot Luck Food Talks. I'm
here with my colleague, Phil Walther. Hey, what's
up? And we don't have a topic today. We're going
to just talk about whatever. Have you had any
recent... nice meals that you would highlight
the last few weeks what do you mean we don't
have a topic we just don't have a topic or no
topic at all i mean like the topic is i do random
questions and we bring it on from there somehow
okay okay cool all right um have i had any recent
nice recent meals i i went to a pretty nice taco
place yesterday um it's the first half decent
taco place that i tried in in berlin or like
outside of mexico it's called tacos el rey and
they make their own masa and they do this super
small menu it's it's not like the tacos are a
little bit larger than what you would get in
mexico but it makes sense for the the concept
they had like a taco de bistec which they make
out of like ribeye and so it's like seared and
like lightly pink with like shoestring fries
on top which was pretty nice. They have chorizo
verde, they've got birria with consomme, they've
got choriqueso, rajas con hongos, that sort of
stuff. So the tortillas were pretty nice and
everything was really tasty. And they had really,
really delicious frozen margaritas. Some of the
best frozen margaritas I've ever tried. So that
was pretty nice. Where is this? Which neighborhood?
It's in Grefestraße in Kreuzberg. Okay. I think
I went to this place. I think I did. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Yeah, nice. Yeah, it was really nice. Yeah,
and it's so rare that you find a place that's
not in Latin America or like the States that
does like good Mexican food. And I mean, you
know, tacos, Mexican food is like, it's such
a small part of Mexican food, right? But obviously
it's... The first thing that people think of,
like a lot of people think of sushi or ramen
when they think of Japanese food. The way that
they did it was really good because they concentrated
on like nice, freshly made tortillas, simple,
authentic toppings, but they didn't feel like,
like it was super simple, but like minimalist
simple. And like you didn't need anything else.
The salsas were like pretty good. They had a
very nice salsa matcha. The other salsas, they
were a little bit too gringo, you know, like
not quite spicy enough. And like after you've
like after you've been to Mexico City or like
anywhere in Mexico, I feel like the salsas there,
they're just amazing because of this little trick
that they use where they season it with chicken
stock powder as if they were seasoning it with
salt. I'm pretty sure I've talked about this
before. And then afterwards, when you eat like
a normal salsa without like the mind altering
chemicals that make it tasty, then you're kind
of like, ah, it's like lacking something. Which
is the fucking MSG, the crack cocaine of the
cooking world. I love MSG, I have to be honest
with you. Yeah, I think I'm actually going to
incorporate it into cooking in the kitchen a
little bit more. I also had good tacos recently.
I went to this place called R, like the letter.
It has been open for quite a while, but it was
my first visit. And they don't do tacos anymore.
They did at the beginning, but it was a birthday
party, so they did tacos for the birthday thing.
For sure the best tortilla I've tried ever in
general. It was like a super, super good tortilla.
Especially the tortilla. The filling was very
good, but not something that blew my mind, like
the tortillas themselves. Yeah, this guy, he's
a Mexican chef, and he took over this place around,
I would say maximum two years. It's not Mexican.
It's like, imagine a place like Arenales or Gerald's,
but by a Mexican chef. So like this, this style
of San Sebastian bistro, you know what I mean?
So they will serve a chuleta, but for, well,
for example, with the chuleta, they serve it
with tortillas. So you take your little slice
of, you see like very Basque, but with the, this
little. That's pretty cool. Mexican accent. You
know? Yeah. I would love to eat a chuleta in
a tortilla with a little bit of salsa on top.
I'd go there all the time. Yeah, exactly. Nice.
So many people are fuming right now, Basque people
and Mexican people alike. And today I went to
Pasaya. I took this three -hour hike onto the
port. I knew there was like this bar that is
in the Michelin Guide and has been for like,
I don't know, six years or something, but I didn't
know about it. I never visited it and I was hungry.
So I went there and I had like five different
pinchos. I tried a little bit of everything.
And especially all the seafood is really outstanding.
I had like just a prawn skewer. It was just perfectly
grilled, you know, and the fish soup. I would
go back only for the fish soup. It was incredible.
The name of the place is Quiña, and it's this
style of Basque fisherman's soup that, you know,
it's dark brown, it's thick, it's made with many
different fishes, it's ultra strong. Just yesterday,
I saw an article in El Pais, you know, the Spanish
newspaper, about El Pais Gastronomica, the gastronomic
issue they have. And it was about a restaurant
here in the Basque Country. They also did this
fisherman soup. And suddenly... He started having
an influx, a crazy influx of Japanese food tourists.
They would come with a guide and show the picture
of the soup and say, I want to try the soup.
And it became a cult thing among Japanese up
to the point that the guy now is making jars
of the soup and exporting them. That's so cool.
Yeah, and he's doing it in a collaboration with
the Fisherman Guild. Here from, I think it's
the one from Pasaya or Ondarribia, I'm not sure.
Yeah, and I thought, like, that's pretty cool.
That also brings me to something I also had recently.
I went to Boston. By the way, the guys from Heritage
Radio Network recommended a place near the docks.
It's called Sayloft. And they said the clam chowder
was pretty good. So I went there just to try
the clam chowder. Besides that, it was like super
nice fries, everything fried, fried with fries
and more fried things. And the lobster roll would
come with, did we talk about this on the fat
episode? It would come with melted butter just
to put it on top of the... That sounds super
delicious. But yeah, that clam chowder, they
also jar it and sell it nationwide in the States.
So I was like, okay, this is like an interesting
business, you know, like making a soup legendary
and then starting to sell it worldwide in cans
or jars. Yeah, I honestly, I really love that.
It's like, it's when food and especially simple
food transcends. countries and cultures and something
like a soup in the right setting can have something
so much of an impact on you that it's just perfect
you know I think like a lot of people that you
talk to that have these like very very strong
memories of certain things that they ate is often
super simple things in the right setting in a
certain moment that they carry with them their
entire life you know and like for me a nicely
made fish soup that's something that you don't
find a lot these days you know like it used to
be and it's also something that i very very rarely
would order like if i'm here in berlin for example
and i see a fish soup on a menu i'm like yeah
i'm not gonna order that you know i'll order
something else but if you know you're in the
best country at the coast or whatever el cano
dude like the the fish soup from el cano is a
must uh roasted fish uh soup you know it's like
a dark brown soup it's incredible yeah and i
love that you know because it's like it's it's
the simplest sort of like humblest thing done
really really well and that's always that's always
going to be super magical for me like going to
piermont and eating you know just extremely almost
reality bending delicate and satisfying ravioli
you know And you're like, oh my god, why is this
so good? I don't get it. I love these moments
where you're kind of like, why the fuck is this
so tasty? Yeah, I had exactly that in Lucca.
This is in Tuscany in Italy. Like a super old
city from the... the Etruscans, you know, these
were not Romans, these were Etrusc. I don't know
how you say it in English. Anyways, there was
this place where they would sell, I had a local
friend and she brought me there and it was like,
here, pick whatever, everything is good here.
And I had like a tuna sandwich, it looked pretty
good. And it was just like normal bread and just
like a mayo tuna kind of thing. And dude, it
was incredible. It was just biting it and saying,
why is this so good? What's the secret ingredient?
Why this? yeah it's the things i think also the
the whole setting and environment and moment
and company and where you are and when also plays
a role for sure yeah for sure absolutely but
then there's this like almost like this god particle
this like je ne sais quoi kind of element that
to me remains a bit of a mystery Like, you know,
I've had that. We've talked a lot on the show
about tortilla española, you know, like that
is something where I'm kind of like, what the
fuck? Why is this so tasty? You know, and it's,
and it's just potatoes, eggs, and sometimes onions.
And that's it. You had the one in the cheesecake
bakery. You had that tortilla? Oh, I think we
did. Yeah. That's the sabaleta tortilla. That's
one of the best in the city. That's a killer
one. It was very, very good. Yeah. And, you know,
I had that moment also. I'm not sure whether
I spoke about it before in La Tascita in Madrid.
Yeah. La Tascita de Frente. Especially, oh, the
whole meal was good, but especially the albondiga,
the meatball, with like very traditional, like
a sort of onion -based sauce, like you often
find it, and with crispy potatoes on top. Super
classic, really. And I couldn't really believe
it. I saw a photo the other day on Instagram
of it. from back when i ate um and i was like
i remember sitting there and being like it's
a meatball in an onion sauce with some crispy
fried potatoes there's no there's no weird conceptual
shit going on but yet i'm sitting there with
my i don't know how many years of experience
and i don't really know how they came to make
this yeah yeah or the mushrooms are tambourine
you know these are just normal mushrooms cooked
in white wine with garlic and parsley and that's
it yeah like when somebody when somebody told
me about that the first time i was like honestly
that sounds awful like that sounds terrible it's
like and you see it and it's like my cooked mushrooms
like with no color right and i'm not the biggest
mushroom fan like i'm always Certain things I'm
like, oh yeah, fuck yeah, I love that. And certain
other things like champignons, I'm kind of like,
sometimes yeah, sometimes I'm like, man, I could
do without. Like champignons on a pizza, for
example, for me, I'm kind of like, nah, man,
I don't ever need that. But these mushrooms,
like poached, no color, on a stick with a soggy
piece of bread underneath. That's a very common
thing, like that, having like mushrooms. Just
on top of it with a skewer. This is something
you will find all over Spain. Like tapas bars
and bars and tascas and pincho bars. And it's
one of these things. Everybody has their own
style of doing it. Either like that or chopped
and also in a garlic parsley kind of sauce. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. But see, that I get, the garlic parsley
sauce. But you get these pale mushrooms. In a
pale mushroom broth. It's like super simple.
With a soggy, untoasted piece of bread underneath.
It's like the palest, whitest shit ever, you
know? And the first time that I got taken there,
I was like, yeah, we have to get the mushrooms.
I'm like, hey, okay. You know, you do you. And
then I tried it and I was like, what the fuck?
I want to order five more. It's so delicious.
Dude, also something I wanted to talk about with
you is... We were recently at Echeverry, as you
know. Xander and I, we recorded an Echeverry
episode. I don't know if this will be published
before or after that one. In any case, the gambas.
The gambas were one of the best things I've ever
had. The prawns. The carabineros or what? Yeah,
correct. The red prawns. Yeah. And I was with
my friend Jose, and he was like, don't you do
this and he started like like they can not even
like and he ate everything everything he just
left like the outer shell of the head and legs
the you know the shell everything everything
you know like i yeah what a bizarre what a bizarre
moment to be in No, exactly. I wanted to also
take apart it. I mean, I sucked all the legs
and everything. But I think I could have done
it also. But I don't know. I didn't feel like
doing it. There was the other guy that was with
us, Stefan. He also did the same. He also...
I don't know if I learned it. I'm not sure. In
any case. What are your thoughts about this?
About that in particular? I don't know. It sounds
pretty rough. It sounds pretty hectic, honestly.
I mean, there's levels to it, right? I mean,
at Echabari, as far as I know, they grill them
pretty gently, right? So it's not like brown,
crispy. etc like i'm a big fan of eating prawns
whole like the the shell gets super crispy when
it's grilled um and i love sucking out the head
juices absolutely love that that's something
we all did yeah yeah yeah but to eat but to eat
the whole shell i've not quite reached that level
of prawn savagery yet yeah i i recently introduced
my mom to it like i i went to visit her and we
went to a fish market in tenerife And they do
really filthy seafood, like covered in garlic
oil and like usually grilled. It's very, very
tasty. It's very heavy, like scallops in the
shell with like garlic and parsley, you know,
just like a fuck ton of garlic. And they had
a special one. They had carabineros. And they
weren't like the big ones. Obviously, they weren't
the premium ones like you will have had at Echibari.
They were like kind of smaller, but they still
looked very nice. And I was like, okay, cool,
let's get them. And my mom had never had them.
And so I like showed her, she was kind of like,
oh, they're very pricey. I don't know. Like we
could just get something else. And I showed her,
I peel it, eat it and like suck the juice out
of the head. And she was very suspicious. She
was very unsure. She was like, what is that?
And I was like, no, just, just give it a try.
And she did it. Then at first she was like, oh,
I'm not sure I like that. And I'm like, it's
okay. You know, like you tried it and she gave
it a second try. She was like, if you think about
it, it's kind of like very intense fish soup.
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, exactly. And then she
continued it. She looked at it and she was like,
I think we should order some more. And then she
just started completely crushing into it. I think
I just perfection. I did like an upgrade on my
technique of doing this. Like when I cut the
head, I leave a little piece of the meat as well.
Yes, I always do that. That's really good. It's
like a little cork. Correct, exactly. And it
works much better. You don't get all dirty. I
think I saw somebody doing that ages ago, like
10 years ago. And since then, I've always done
that. It's been working really well. I mean,
one of the other like standout things that I
ate like very, very recently, which I haven't
talked about actually in a Japan episode, but
obviously in Japan, there were a lot of standout
moments. But for example, before we went to this
like very high end sushi place, I asked my mom
like, hey, is there something that you really
are not going to eat? Like, because if there
is. it's better to say at the beginning because
they're just going to send out we don't really
know what they're going to bring whether it's
going to be crab brains or this or that or shirako
the sperm of the fish like i didn't tell her
any of that but yeah and she was like i i don't
really like sea urchin that much and i was like
okay i get you but um we're gonna eat sea urchin
100 for sure there's gonna be sea urchin and
i think you should try it and um it reminded
me also because i'm also not the biggest fan
of sea urchin like i really i'm crazy about that
shit yeah yeah but the thing is that like sea
urchin isn't sea urchin right and so in in general
if somebody is like hey i've got a sea urchin
like you want to crack it open and slurp it out
i'm kind of like i'm good you know but there
you know it was the simplest dish a little cup
of warm sushi rice with a healthy portion of
sea urchin just straight from the box and ikura
the salmon roe the marinated salmon roe just
that's it and it was so good it was so fucking
tasty it was one of the best items of the meal
and it really reminded me it's been years since
i've had sea urchin that good it really reminded
me what is this big sea urchin craze you know
hokkaido hokkaido sea urchins like you just can't
beat it i feel like Yeah, and Hokkaido scallops
also. Incredible. Yeah, very good. They're very,
very good. There was another thing at that dinner,
which was really, really exceptional. It was
the very first dish. It was bonito that was cut
with certain condiments and a sauce that they
described as, they introduced as the sake brewer
sauce because it is meant to make you want to
drink more sake. As she explained to me what
the sauce was, it became more and more interesting
to me. So they take all the guts from the bonito
and ferment it for a really long time with salt.
And then that's the sauce. It's basically like
a bonito entrail fish sauce kind of garum situation.
But it was really creamy because I think they
blend it also. And it was really mellow and sweet.
like umami rich and um and that was the kind
of thing where she kind of explained to me i
was like oh that's so interesting and my mom
was like oh what what sauce is this and i'm like
it's a it's a it's a sauce made from the tuna
like salted tuna yeah tuna it's okay dude from
my last trip to japan i brought some um shelf
stable koji like dried koji and i don't know
what to do with it i was thinking about doing
a garum or some sort of fermented fish sauce
or something more crazy like squid or i don't
know but yeah i have a fishmonger just downstairs
you know like i and a very good one i should
think about that yeah maybe anchovies like an
anchovy garum that could be good it's so good
it's so tasty um Like a really nice thing that
I've had in the recent years was also meat garum,
which was super versatile, super tasty, like
from all like the offcuts from the meat. And
especially to use that to marinate meat before
you cook it, as in like it worked especially
well with lean meat, like venison, venison loins.
Just a little bit of meat garum, let them in
there. And it was like a light barley soy sauce,
you know. Let them in there for like a couple
of hours. tap it off with a paper and then grill
it and it's just like oh man that sounds incredible
and people probably people probably don't know
what it is right no no because it's so subtle
it just kind of like blends into the meat you
know and it's really really smart but then you
eat it it's made with meat it's super powered
yeah yeah it's like it's like bam and you eat
it you're like man where did you get this meat
from you're kind of like well there's a little
bit more to it and I really like these sort of
like underhand, sleight of hand tricks in cooking,
you know? That's very elegant. I like that. I
never heard about doing that, like marinating
meat in meat garum. Pretty cool. You could patent
that. Ah, no, we're publishing this episode.
God damn it. Also stole the idea, but it's okay.
What about the bouillabaisse, man? Have you had
like a proper good bouillabaisse with the...
37 fishes, rockfishes that it should have to
be legally a bouillabaisse. I've definitely had
very, very good bouillabaisse. Bouillabaisse
is the sort of thing, again, if I see it on the
menu, I'm probably not going to order it because
it's this really bastardized name of a fish soup.
Ah, yeah, absolutely. Unless you're in Marseille,
which I have been. But that's on my bucket list,
for sure, before I die. Go to Marseille and get
like a fucking expensive bouillabaisse because
I've heard they're super expensive if you get
a really good one. Yeah, they're super. I heard
the same thing. It's like 160 euros for like
one person to like pre -order kind of situation.
And people are queuing. People are queuing to
get the fucking soup, you know. And the locals
are like, you know, just like laughing to themselves,
counting the money. But yeah, this is the sort
of thing I think. Cooking something like that,
like a bouillabaisse or also like a burrit, I
think it's a sensitive thing. It takes real skill
and it's something that you don't see very often.
And that's why when you get across one that's
really good, I'm like really appreciative. And
I think this is a really nice thing to do at
home also, like cooking a nice bouillabaisse,
taking your time, you know, going to the fish
market, choosing a fish and really taking your
time to get it right. It's one of those perfect
meals, you know. You have that, you have a little
bit of rui, you have some toasted bread or whatever,
a salad next to it, and it's fucking... That's
it, yeah. You don't need anything else. It's
been a long time since I had a good one. Have
you tried suquet de peixe, which is kind of like
the Catalan kind of bouillabaisse? I have not.
Not as elevated and complex, but it's like a
fisherman's soup as well. Completely different
from the ones we have here. I think that would
be a really cool concept for, I don't know, a
cookbook or a documentary or whatever. Fisherman's
soups from around the world. I like that. I mean,
only in Europe. what you see in the let's say
in the uk or in portugal or in italy or in greece
are completely completely different things you
know that's a really cool idea actually but then
like you could make it worldwide because like
you know we were talking about clam chowder earlier
or you know like i saw the other day this video
of a japanese fisherman making himself a lunch
of like the stuff that he was catching and it
was super nice uh just really rustic and simple
but just super tasty and part of it was a soup
this like very deeply nourishing food with local
ingredients i mean that's amazing i love that
sort of stuff um have you tried moqueca what's
that it's a brazilian fish soup also like a strong
fish soup with like with palm oil and coconut
and coriander and lime and fish and prawns yeah
That sounds fucking great. You drink it and you
start dancing samba suddenly. I feel like that's
the sort of thing, like if you drink a cup of
that a day, you will never die and you'll never
get sick. You won't age. You'll be dancing all
day like Brazilian music, you know? Yes. Oh man,
now I really feel like a soup. Yeah, my kick
is like a super nice one. Yeah, like That's also
something I never had like this dart soups here
But I think I'll, because it's a thing. It's
really a thing. You know, like you go to different
like stores, like this gourmet shops where you
get like high quality ingredients or markets
or whatever. And there are always jarred fish
soups and from different houses with different
names. So it is a thing. And it's always this
dark brown soup. So, and a day like today, which
is like super rainy around here. This is, you
know, like the. that thing that can happen to
you like a warm bowl of fish soup absolutely
i think soup is really underrated anyway um soup
is like soup is the perfect meal you know anything
broth related is it's just absolutely fantastic
yeah i've really i really want to talk about
fish soup now um after my recent trip to japan
i feel like i've kind of lost um side of what
real dashi tastes like and it like really i told
i mentioned this visit to this one ramen place
where everything smelled like dashi and inoichi
uh i think it was called in kyoto very highly
recommended it's it's again it's such a it's
such a skillful thing to like get soups right
because anybody can make a soup soup is the most
simple thing ever but to get it really really
right and to have this really deep broth is um
it's not easy i used to make this thing it's
like one of the my favorite soups and like soup
bases that i ever made something that i called
quail dashi i called it dashi because it was
like very lightly infused but used to debone
quails and have a lot of quail bones and then
super simple right you put them in a pot you
cover them just with enough water you add a small
slice of ginger some spring onions the green
and the white some peppercorns a little bit of
garlic and then you just bring that up one time
get rid of all the impurities and then just infuse
it like a tea for an hour or so an hour two hours
and then you strain it and you season it with
a little bit of light soy and it's like the clearest
fucking most perfect it's almost like a chicken
soup on steroids right because it's just like
so intensified it has this really full umami
flavor of all the gaminess from the quails which
is not too overpowering to be really gaminess
you know but um i'm sure you can imagine what
i mean dude today i saw this and i thought like
we have to go to baga that's really like a so
i saw this dish okay So this is the swimming
bladder of the codfish, which is like, it's the
organ that makes the fish swim, go up or low.
And I know you know exactly what it is, but to
describe it, it's like a, I would describe it
like, I don't know, like a leather thick kind
of thing, very sticky. And you have like this
fish slimy thing with a pistachio praline, quail
and beef. That's the dish. Oh my God, that sounds
amazing. That sounds so good. This guy, whatever
he does, it's always so mind -blowing just to
read the concept and see, like, how the fuck
did you come up with that, you know? Where is
this? This is Paga, Pedrito Sanchez. This is
in Jaén. Yeah, we've talked about him before,
you know? It's the guy with the lettuce dessert,
right? Exactly. The favorite chef of your favorite
chef. My favorite chef. No, the favorite chef
of your favorite chef. But who's my favorite
chef? I don't know, but Pedrita Sanchez is his
favorite chef. Ah, okay, okay. I thought you
were going to make a Tim Rauer joke. That's it
for this week's episode of Potluck Food Talks.
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