--- See the new season of Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted 8pm Thursdays from 24 March on SBS Food Channel 33. Episodes will be available at SBS On Demand for 7 days after they air. ---
Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted is fun. Not only is it a chance to learn about varied cuisines and regional traditions, but it also has to be said, there’s something rather enjoyable about seeing the locals attempt to push Gordon Ramsey outside his comfort zone.
In Tasmania, it’s a gig shovelling sheep poop. In South Africa, it’s the threatening presence of hippos, and a leap out of a plane into the sea. In Norway, it's attempting to drive a team of sled dogs, and a fall off a skidoo in snowy conditions.
Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted takes the chef to different locations around the world, where he forages, dives, leaps, shops, bargains and banters in pursuit of great food.
In each episode, there’s a feast at the end that puts Ramsay on a timetable to gather good ingredients and learn about the local food traditions so that he can cook the right sort of meal. His adventures along the way see quite a few of the locals put him under pressure, and while it’s highly likely the chef known for frequent swearing, high expectations and blunt judgements knows exactly how much the locals and those watching the show will enjoy seeing him put in uncomfortable positions, it’s all done with such good cheer that it makes for great viewing. And even Ramsay couldn’t have anticipated some of the hiccups along the way.
Plating up for a final feast in South Africa. Source: Studio Ramsay / All3Media
What is never in doubt is that his adventures will include great food, from a fiery mussel curry served up on a remote South African beach to a macaroon-like Indonesian coconut cake.
Here’s a taste of the unusual adventures in store with the start of season 2 of his travels.
Winning back his watch with a Tassie feast
You could also call this episode ‘The time Gordon Ramsay shovelled sheep poop’, but that’s just one of many adventures as the chef visits Tasmania. He starts with a catch-up with Analiese Gregory (recently on SBS Food in A Girl's Guide To Hunting, Fishing And Wild Cooking, which is now ) and a welcome to country from local First Nations teacher Craig Everett and his sons. Gregory manages to convince Ramsay to give her his diving watch in return for a bag full of sea urchins, with a promise he can have it back if the meal he cooks at the end of the week is good enough.
Gathering ingredients for the feast sees Ramsay diving for crayfish; meeting Tassie adventurer Sarah Glover to learn about wallaby and forage for native ingredients including samphire (you’ll love the down to earth conversation that occurs when Ramsay says he’s trying to get “clean stuff, that’s not all in the weeds” - “It is a weed, mate,” says Glover) and native cherries; flyfishing for trout; and meeting a local whisky maker who’s using sheep dung in his smoker at the award-winning . That’s where Ramsay gets one of his more unusual jobs in the series, as he’s put to work with a shovel gathering a wheelbarrow full of eco-friendly fuel.
In the end, Ramsay and Gregory cook a picnic feast for the folk who’ve helped him learn about Tasmanian produce – and he finds out whether she’ll give his watch back.
Cooking in the Tasmanian bush with Sarah Glover. Source: Studio Ramsay / All3Media
Gordon Ramsay gets put to work gathering an unusual distillery fuel in Tasmania. Source: Studio Ramsay / All3Media
Unhappy hippos and Zulu traditions
Next up, Ramsay travels to KwaZulu-Natal, a province on the eastern edge of South Africa that is home to the Zulu tribe. The local helping him get his bearings this time is Zola Nene, a chef, TV host and cookbook author with Zulu heritage, and his challenge is to prepare a meal for an important Zulu chief. Well, that will be his challenge at the end. For a big chunk of the episode, it’s the hippos, starting with a sign by the water warning ‘BEWARE HIPPOS’. Ramsay isn’t sure if the sign’s a joke – but even if it is, hippos can actually be dangerous, and while it’s unlikely Ramsay is in much danger, especially with local wildlife expert Lonely reassuring him “It’s fine, I’ll tell you when to run away”, he does spend a lot of time keeping an eye and an ear out for the hefty beasts. Fishing with Lonely, braai lessons from Zola Nene and some Durbin pitmasters, learning about a spicy marinade/condiment called pele pele, a lesson in handshake etiquette, and a trip to a remote beach (involving a jump from a plane into the sea) to explore the Indian influence on the local cuisine via a fiery mussel curry see Ramsay gather up ideas and ingredients for the final meal.
He cooks beef steaks with pele pele and fish with an onion tomato and chilli mix called ushatini while Nene makes some sides to serve, including pap, chakalaka (a spicy bean dish – find her recipe ) and a steamed bread called ujeqe (recipe\). Then they wait, to see what the chief’s verdict is.
Zola Nene makes bread for the final feast. Source: Studio Ramsay / All3Media
If you’d like to find out more about Zola Nene, her has a great range of recipes. We’ve been eyeing off the , cheese and caramelised onion sausage rolls, pineapple beer and milk tart roll.
Mud and Cajun culture
While it’s likely Ramsay was well aware of many of the challenges that would be set in his path, some things just happen – like getting a four-wheeler stuck in some serious mud. This time, Ramsay is in South Louisiana, exploring Cajun cuisine. He meets up with ex-Marine turned award-winning chef Eric Cook who introduces him to local ideas including hog head cheese and wild boar andouille gumbo; has more encounters with deadly wildlife, including a shark in the water while fishing; gets an education in crawfish; and goes on a muddy foraging expedition. In the end, he and Eric cook up a special meal for volunteer first responders who rescue storm victims.
Things get sticky in the south. Source: Studio Ramsay / All3Media
Royal food and a rendang challenge
Ramsay’s global leapfrogging takes him next to Indonesia. On the experience menu, this time is a visit to a royal palace in West Sumatra, where a celebration of the regional cuisine is underway. Joining local chef and author William Wongo, he sits down to take part in a feast and sample a huge array of dishes, including a local specialty, beef rendang. Things are far messier later on when he takes part in cattle team races through a flooded field (hard to explain, but basically, it’s wet and muddy and – no surprises, a bit dangerous). His challenge this time is to master the beef rendang, but along with discovering some of the area’s best beef producers, there are street food snacks, including a favourite local sweet called bika – a small macaroon-like cake made with rice flour, shredded coconut and sugar; an encounter with the pungent fruit, durian; fishing (with an unexpected dip in the sea); venturing into dark caves in search of giant river prawns; and a crash course in using a cobek and ulekan (a Sumatran mortar and pestle).
A cooking lesson in Indonesia. Source: Studio Ramsay / All3Media
South America and spider snacks
If you’re noticing a theme of deadly animals, you’re right. But this time it’s a little different. It’s not just a question of whether the local wildlife might present a threat. This time, the deadly fauna is on the menu, when Ramsay travels to Guyana. Sitting on the northern edge of South America, Guyana has a melting pot of food traditions. In the capital, Georgetown, which has a fusion of Caribbean, Indian and European cultures, he meets up with chef Delven Adams, for a market tour and a dive into cassava, a root vegetable that forms the basis for a lot of the country’s cuisine, and , a dish that, as Adams explains, is the “pride and joy” of Guyanese food. Next, it's off to the jungle village of Rewa to spend a week immersing himself in Amerindian culture and their hunting and fishing traditions (and guess what? Those fish? They include piranha.) Local guide Rovin Alvin is the one showing Ramsay how it’s done, and when the pair are waiting for their fish to cook over a riverside fire, Alvin suggests a snack. A very fresh snack: a huge tarantula, caught with just a pair of sticks and then cooked over the fire (Ramsay says it tastes like a mix of chicken and crab).
Alvin’s sister Clarice shows Ramsay how to prepare cassareep, a sweet black syrup made (carefully) from cassava. Cassava contains cyanide, so it can be poisonous if not properly prepared. Cassareep is which is used for many sauces in Guyanese cooking, and is a key ingredient for the pepperpot Ramsay be making in his final feast. But before then, there’s time for a quick game of football. “I travel around the world looking to connect with different cultures through food, but moments like this show there are other ways to do that,” Ramsay says. “You don’t need to be on the same language to have a great game of soccer, you don’t need to understand how to communicate when you’re eating food and breaking bread across the table.”
Dishes ready for the final feast in Guyana. Source: Studio Ramsay / All3Media
Mouth on fire
Ramsay is in Kerala in India, and on the hunt to learn about spices. Things start in Kannur, where local cook and food historian Shri Bala has a surprise for him. Bala hands him an innocuous-looking thermos, but it’s not coffee inside. “It's clear. It smells really of nothing really,” says Ramsay before trying a sample. There are a few seconds where nothing happens, and then an expression of shock and pain appears on Ramsay’s face. What he’s drunk is a liquid made with a native bird’s eye chilli, the kandhari, and it’s got quite the punch. “My mouth is on fire,” Ramsay says. Luckily, there’s a freshly opened coconut on hand, so he can cool things down. It’s a joking introduction to an area that’s known for its spices. Over the next five days, he learns from the locals about their take on south Indian food. There’s also some hold-on-tight driving (which induces some classic Ramsay swearing), and a visit to a coffee plantation where a family shares a favourite curry and shows him how their coffee liqueur is made, before a final feast made by Ramsay and Bala for a group of women who are all good cooks. Ramsay says he’s never been so nervous about a final-day cook up. Will his take on the local food style be good enough?
A quiet moment before things get spicy in India. Source: Studio Ramsay / All3Media
It's snow good
After the hot spices of India, it’s onto the chill of Norway. This final episode sees Ramsay on the country’s west coast, which is known for its top-notch seafood. And he’s there in December, in the heart of winter, because he’s been told that’s when Norway’s seafood and other delicacies are at their best. “I'm gonna have to channel my inner Viking to survive these freezing temperatures,” he says.
There are plenty of chilly experiences to follow – riding (and falling off) a skid-doo, trying to steer a dog sled, and diving for scallops and sea urchins in some seriously cold water. But it’s worth it all, with some foraging with cutting edge-chef Christopher Haatuft, a visit to some of the Sami people to learn about their reindeer herding traditions and eat local foods including blood pancake; a lesson in the making of fermented fish and aquavit; and at the end of it all, a Christmas feast to cook up.
“I've seen authentic Viking cooking methods. Discovered some truly unique tastes, and frozen parts of my body I didn't know existed! It was all worth it to experience an amazing land filled with even more amazing people,” Ramsay says of his Norwegian visit. It’s a good summary of all of his travels in Uncharted: local characters and good food, spiced up with a bit of daredevil adventuring.
Trying his hand at dog sledding in the Norwegian winter. Source: Studio Ramsay / All3Media
Scenic kitchen: cooking in Norway. Source: Studio Ramsay / All3Media
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