WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.417 --> 00:00:09.453 Lima is the cultural hub and culinary capital of a country that has exploded in the last decade with scores of world-class chefs, cooks and restaurants. 2 00:00:10.096 --> 00:00:14.556 It has long been considered to be one of the best food scenes in all of South America. 3 00:00:15.828 --> 00:00:19.201 One of our friends here is chef-restaurateur Coque Ossio. 4 00:00:19.570 --> 00:00:22.190 He's one of the best, most successful chefs in the country. 5 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:27.056 His family are [is] something of a beloved culinary dynasty in Peru, 6 00:00:27.288 --> 00:00:32.814 and Pucusana, a small fishing village about an hour south of Lima, is where they spend their weekends. 7 00:00:45.402 --> 00:00:51.211 Coque's mom, Marisa Guiulfo, is like Peru's Julia Child and James Beard rolled into one -- 8 00:00:51.365 --> 00:00:55.801 a caterer, cookbook author, beloved icon of Peruvian gastronomy. 9 00:00:56.481 --> 00:01:03.114 Every weekend, Marisa opens the house to an ever-changing mob of friends, visitors, drop-ins and family. 10 00:01:03.244 --> 00:01:05.372 They do not skimp on the food. 11 00:01:05.526 --> 00:01:12.548 Delicious, delicious things pour out of the kitchen -- a torrent, a deluge of traditional Peruvian favorites. 12 00:01:12.747 --> 00:01:18.542 Causa de cangrejo is like a tureen of crab meat, eggs, avocado and mashed yellow potatoes. 13 00:01:18.771 --> 00:01:24.188 Oh, and stuffed rocoto peppers filled with ground beef and raisins, served with paria cheese. 14 00:01:24.327 --> 00:01:25.490 And that's just the beginning. 15 00:01:25.857 --> 00:01:29.918 There's so much more food there's no way we could show it all, much less describe it. 16 00:01:30.244 --> 00:01:37.167 It's incredible, overwhelming, invariably fresh and delicious and thrillingly different than what I'm used to. 17 00:01:37.259 --> 00:01:39.807 Those fish are amazing. They're so fresh. 18 00:01:40.004 --> 00:01:41.551 I want to be her next-door neighbor. 19 00:01:44.090 --> 00:01:47.292 I take Eric's suggestion. We head over to see chef Javier Wong, 20 00:01:49.669 --> 00:01:57.608 the uniquely nonconformist seafood specialist, famous for his incredible and uncompromising ceviches and his flaming wok. 21 00:01:59.503 --> 00:02:03.108 If Peru has a national dish, it's probably ceviche. 22 00:02:03.438 --> 00:02:07.962 The freshest fish only needs the right cut, a little citrus and no heat. 23 00:02:14.638 --> 00:02:19.175 The whole place is served whatever menu he's doing that day, same for everybody. 24 00:02:19.249 --> 00:02:24.051 And today, the flounder he got from the market is particularly nice, so that's what we're getting -- 25 00:02:24.318 --> 00:02:28.299 generally thicker pieces to stand up to the spices and acids. 26 00:02:29.433 --> 00:02:31.677 First up, an octopus and flounder ceviche. 27 00:02:33.750 --> 00:02:36.234 I don't know what to tell you, man. It's damn good. 28 00:02:37.186 --> 00:02:44.256 Chinese and Japanese immigrants came to Peru in great numbers in the 19th and 20th centuries as contract laborers and farmers, 29 00:02:44.634 --> 00:02:50.622 and their influence is felt here, particularly in the food, to a greater degree than anywhere else on the continent. 30 00:02:50.776 --> 00:02:58.481 It's that influence and the ingredients of Amazonia and Andes that really distinguishes the food here as something special. 31 00:02:59.262 --> 00:03:10.494 It would be wrong to not point out that Peru, along with Brazil, is at the forefront of a movement celebrating the incredible and unique larder of ingredients from the Andes and the Amazon. 32 00:03:10.803 --> 00:03:13.792 Flavors you find no place else on earth. 33 00:03:13.855 --> 00:03:18.132 Pedro Schiaffino is at the cutting edge of exactly that territory. 34 00:03:18.482 --> 00:03:23.684 His restaurant, Amaz, explores the rivers, the ocean, the landscape of Peru, 35 00:03:24.649 --> 00:03:30.368 highlighting a range of products that are stunning in their diversity and, to us anyway, their newness. 36 00:03:31.174 --> 00:03:37.454 This one is, you've got two breadfruit, tuna, and the cashew sauce. That is with a plantain vinegar. 37 00:03:38.829 --> 00:03:39.822 That's the cashew fruit. 38 00:03:40.290 --> 00:03:44.467 And so the nut is a fruit, and in Brazil and here we use the peduncle as a fruit. 39 00:03:46.123 --> 00:03:48.879 We make these scallops with wild almond. 40 00:03:49.405 --> 00:03:54.167 And this one is freshwater shrimp dashi, made of taro roots and a freshwater shrimp. 41 00:03:55.361 --> 00:03:59.861 Whole different flavor spectrum, right? All new. It's almost like you need a new section of your tongue. 42 00:04:00.231 --> 00:04:08.341 Our friend Coque brought us to this place, to Dona Pochita, a street stall named for the lady who runs the joint. 43 00:04:12.556 --> 00:04:14.464 They specialize in one thing. 44 00:04:14.631 --> 00:04:16.159 Beef heart. Anticuchos. 45 00:04:16.393 --> 00:04:19.301 Anticuchos is Quechuan for skewered meat. 46 00:04:19.834 --> 00:04:27.063 This stuff, they say, goes back all the way to the Incas and was as immediately popular with the Spanish conquistadors as it is today, 47 00:04:27.555 --> 00:04:29.597 which is to say, I must have some. 48 00:04:30.056 --> 00:04:33.430 Traditionally you mix some beef hearts and other animal parts. 49 00:04:33.587 --> 00:04:37.231 Chicken hearts. There is [are] gizzards, and there's tripe. 50 00:04:37.295 --> 00:04:43.120 Marinated in garlic, cumin and onion, maybe a little vinegar. Grill that up and pile it high. 51 00:04:43.201 --> 00:04:48.321 That is seriously tasty. The beef heart or the chicken heart, the texture is so nice. 52 00:04:50.952 --> 00:04:54.243 Alright. I'm maxed out. Really delicious.