“That smells amazing, and it’s free!” – Gordon Ramsay
“I’m Gordon Ramsay, and I’m on an epic adventure,” the famous British chef and reality TV star tells us at the outset of Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted.
And then, in his signature style, which we’ll call charmingly abrasive-meets-articulate blowhard, he says of Peru’s “Sacred Valley”: “At towering heights of up to three miles above sea level, it’s a unique Andean ecosystem whose staggering biodiversity once fed the mighty Incan empire, and now it’s gonna feed a British chef with a motorbike.”
Ramsay meets up with a local chef named Virgilio Martinez, who specializes in “high altitude cuisine.” Our guy Gordon quips that Virgilio is a younger, better looking, Peruvian version of himself.
The two start out on a very intense looking 1,300 foot climb up a cliff wall so that they can take in a view of Peru’s Sacred Valley. Luckily there are rungs in place that can be used as a ladder, but the altitude is also a factor in making the climb quite difficult.
At the top, Virgilio hands Ramsay a “treat” of dried alpaca, which actually looks kind of good. Virgilio explains that “organic” doesn’t have any meaning in this part of the world as all the food is organic.
The view and terrain in this part of Peru does indeed look stunning.
Up next, Ramsay rides a motorcycle to an even higher up place in the Sacred Valley to meet with an Incan family, with a woman named Celine acting as a translator. As Ramsay meets the parents and children, it’s nice to see a version of Ramsay outside of his typically brash-meets-tough love persona on reality shows like Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, and Hotel Hell.
Ramsay learns about local cooking techniques, and it’s fun and interesting to see how out of breath he gets quickly from the altitude as the family looks on, laughing.
They then take Ramsey to forage for an herb called kunuka. This sequence also made me realize that it’s fun to (finally) see Ramsay in circumstances that he’s not comfortable and at home in, which I realized is an intentional angle of Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted.
“That smells amazing,” Ramsay observes of the kunuka he’s gathered. “And it’s free!”
Also on tap for dinner: guinea pigs. “It actually looks delicious,” Ramsay observes, holding a roasted one that’s on a spit.
Ramsay also notes how the family is almost completely self-sufficient in living off the land, and how almost nothing is wasted. The British chef also delights in how the family completes a lamb and potato soup with cheese.
Further, Ramsay takes particular note of how good food tastes that comes from this altitude.
Later, Gordon meets up with Haresh, a local restaurant supplier, who will hook the British chef up with a local delicacy – a worm that tastes like “shrimp crossed with calamari.” For this, they seek out a local guide named Mamerdo, who points out these worms live inside of cactus-like plants that can only be found “in the most dangerous places,” such as on the sides of steep hills.
A funny sequence follows where Ramsay tries mightily to lasso the plant with the idea of pulling it back toward him on the steep hillside. Eventually, he’s successful, and we see the large giant caterpillar-like worms that they were after.
Mamerdo then fries the worms in a pan with oil over a fire right on the hillside.
“This has a lot of protein,” Mamerdo notes. “Delicioso,” he adds.
“It’s like a crispy… cockroach,” Ramsay says, and they both laugh.
Next up: a visit with locals who show Ramsay mangos that grow in trees that grow to 100 or more feet. Again, it’s fascinating to learn here that food that comes from high altitudes has a “deeper” and more intense flavor due to the altitude.
Also, in the “again” department: we get “fish out of water” moments with Ramsay here as he struggles to shimmy up a super tall tree in pursuit of mangos. The mangos, once picked and sliced open, look absolutely amazing, as does the Peruvian landscapes throughout the episode.
Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted keeps things moving swiftly, with the next stop Lake Huaypo, which “at 11,000 feet” is “one of the highest lakes in the world.” It’s also “the breeding group for Peruvian silverside, a Sacred Valley staple.”
Here Ramsay meets up with a fisherman named Domingo, and it’s striking how much taller the Brit is compared to the diminutive Peruvian. The two strike out on the lake on tiny makeshift fishing boats made out of inner tubes. Domingo tries to teach Ramsay a fishing technique that involves swinging a fishing lure around before tossing it in the water.
Ramsay notes that this technique is “a lot harder than it looks,” and I completely believe him.
After only catching one tiny fish – which Ramsay frames as tasting as a cross of a catfish and a trout – the two prepare and eat it with potatoes on the shore of the lake. Ramsay enjoyed the flavor, especially as aided by a chili paste.
We’re then whisked away with Ramsay and Haresh to meet the “mad potato scientist,” known for producing potatoes that are blue in color once sliced open.
Other adventures include Ramsay tasting an Andean beer that he observes tastes like strawberry champagne.
Finally, Ramsay meets up with Virgilio Martinez once again to have a “cook off,” with Ramsay leveraging all of his learnings from his time in Peru’s Sacred Valley.
“The Sacred Valley is like an oasis at high value,” Ramsay says, “and now I’ve got to put it on the plate.”
Virgilio whips up a “neck marinade” of alpaca meat, while both chefs build massive spits for their protein and also add in the purple potatoes and other local delights from that part of Peru such as mango paste and “tongue salad.”
Locals who speak Quechua sample dishes from both chefs, and it’s fun to see them be quite honest about which dishes they enjoyed more than others. The two chefs amiably agree that the result of the cookoff is a “50/50” tie.