All language subtitles for S01E04 - Culinary Enlightenment

[exciting music]

[Emeril] Bold.

Tangy.
Spicy.

Korean cooking is all about
kicking it up a notch.

But as much as I love the food,

I haven't actually set foot
in Korea.

So I asked Korean-born
Danny Bowien,

a young chef I really admire,

to show me around.

His punk rock take
on classic Asian flavors

breaks the rules
in all the right ways.

Together, we're on a quest
to meet a chef

considered to be
one of the best in the world.

Her name is Jeong Kwan.

She's a Buddhist nun

who is taking her relationship
with food

to a spiritual level.

[upbeat Korean music]

* *

Seoul, the fast-paced capitol
of South Korea,

located on the Han River.

* *

Seoul is famous for
its bustling markets.

This one offers every type of
meat and seafood imaginable.

I'm in the Mapo Market
right now.

And I look around and I see

all the different
fruits and vegetables

and all these exotic spices.

I smell this sort of
fermentation going on.

There are a lot of things
being pickled.

Korea is the land of kimchi.

In fact,
it's their national dish,

made by fermenting vegetables
like cabbage and cucumbers.

Kimchi is made from
just about anything,

and there must be hundreds of
different kinds in this market.

You know, the thing
about Korean cuisine is,

just when you think
it's about barbeque,

lots of it,

there's seafood.

There's seafood galore.

Crab, lobster, eels.

Oh, look at how beautiful
this is.

This is the same thing
that we have in Louisiana,

in New Orleans,
these dried shrimps.

It blows my mind.

I'm here to meet up with
culinary rebel Danny Bowien.

- Dude.
- Oh, man!

Oh, my God.
How are you, man?

I am so good.
How are you?

Danny and I first met in 2013

when he won
his James Beard award

for Rising Star Chef.

He blew everybody away
with his creativity.

Beef tartare is laced with
salmon roe and chilies.

Clams in black bean sauce are
infused with fatty Spanish ham.

Born in Korea,

but adopted as a baby
by an American family,

he's spent the last ten years
traveling back and forth

to Seoul
reconnecting with his roots.

Every time I'm here, I'm with
my mother-in-law, my wife,

and they order all this stuff.

I feel like I'm pretty pro now.

I can order
whatever fish we want,

and then they'll prepare it
for us upstairs.

[Emeril] Danny opened
his first restaurant,

Mission Chinese Food,

without any training
in Chinese cuisine.

Instead, he used
his fine dining background

to mix and match cultures
and make something totally new.

As one reviewer put it,

"Bowien did to Chinese food

what Led Zeppelin
has done to the blues."

That's high praise in my book.

Now this thing,
this is all the shellfish.

[Danny] Right. All kinds of
different scallops, clams,

live octopus back there.

- And then there's...
- So this,

- that's called mungae.
- Mungae.

[Danny]
So, it's like a sea anemone.

It kinda tastes
like sea urchin or uni,

but it kinda makes
your mouth tingle a little.

- Okay.
- It's pretty--

- It's really interesting.
- All right.

[Danny] All these fish here,

if we tell them, like, we want
soup or we want sashimi,

they'll steer us in the right
direction of what you want.

[Emeril] I think
we should have a fluke.

Definitely.
Do some sashimi.

So we'll have
a little sashimi of that

and maybe they'll make a soup?

They'll make a soup
with the bones,

and then if we want
to get some crab,

they'll steam those off for us.

[Emeril] There's a lot
to choose from,

but I'm gonna keep it light
with the fluke,

which has a sweet,
subtle flavor.

Yeah, we'll take that one.
Yeah, we'll take it.

[Emeril] We think of sashimi
as Japanese...

Well, there's our fish.

But Korea has a long
tradition of eating raw fish.

Instead of soy, Korean-style
sashimi is often served

with a spicy red chili sauce.

Look at how amazing.
Precision.

- That is the art right there.
- He is pretty good at this.

- Yes.
- He could work at a sushi bar.

[Emeril] Yeah, for sure.

So you think you want to open
a restaurant here?

- Well, there's no place here.
- Right.

The other night, my friends were
like, "Meet us at this bar."

And I looked around
and I was like...

I had to take a double-take
because someone opened up

a restaurant
that looks just like

the first Mission Chinese
in New York.

You're kidding?
Here in Korea?

In Korea.

And I talked to the owner
the other day, and I was like,

"Hey where'd you get
this idea from?"

And they were like, you know,
we saw what you did,

and instead of being like most
chefs, which would be like no...

I embraced it, I'm like,
"Well, let's, like,

do it together, man."

So I'm gonna go cook for them.

[Emeril] Well, let me know what
I can do.

Yeah, we'll work
the wok station.

Yeah, I worked in
a Chinese restaurant.

- No way.
- When I was really young.

- No way.
- I had to get a job
on the weekends

dressed in, like, a lion costume

handing out, like, brochures,
like on a street...

- No way.
- In order for them
to give me a job.

But they let you in.
That's insane.

And they let me in.

[speaking Korean]

So then we just
take this upstairs.

- It's time.
- It's time to eat.

- We gotta eat.
- We gotta go eat now.

So here we are.

So the shashimi's
all ready to go.

We'll take that
to the table with us.

But then we have the bones.

[stirring music]

Thank you so much.

- [speaking Korean]
- Okay.

* *

I like to take the sashimi
in a wrap.

He put a little bit of
kimchi in here.

- Cabbage kimchi, right.
- Cabbage kimchi, right?

A little kimchi.
A lot of kimchi.

[laughs]
There you go, there you go.

That is so delicious.

- So good, right?
- I love it.

[speaking Korean]

[Danny] So this is the soup.

It's a spicy broth
out of the bones from the fluke.

It's sort of like
the Korean bouillabaisse.

When you taste this, man,
it's...

[Emeril] I can't wait.

* *

Oh, my God.

This is incredible.

- Yeah, it's so clean.
- But there is a little kick.

There's a little heat.
What's crazy is it's just
bones and a fish head in here.

The amount of flavor that
she got out of this is insane.

So you come to Korea often?

Yeah, I was born here,
but I was adopted

when I was three months old.

I went straight
to Oklahoma City.

- Oklahoma.
- My parents are both American.

So I knew nothing
about Korean food.

- Right.
- But it's evolved from that.

I'm learning now because I kinda
realized that being here

reinvigorated me.

- I love this.
- Yeah.

I'm gonna tell you what
everyone else has told you.

So I grew up eating Hamburger
Helper and like, you know...

my family was just
a very working-class,

middle-class family,
but, you know,

the one thing
that we all could watch--

I would always want
to watch your show.

And so you are literally the
reason that I cook, you know?

- Wow. That's cool.
- We got a kick out of it.

I love it, brother.

I gotta tell you.

We're having this amazing
experience right now.

- Yeah.
- Later we're gonna do barbeque,

and then we're going
on the train.

- To go visit...
- Jeong Kwan.

This is, like, an amazing
journey for us.

- It's vegan temple food.
- Buddhist.

Right, right,
I cannot get over

- how excited I am to meet her.
- Me too.

And she's been doing it
for years.

Oh.

- Do you know Shep Gordon?
- I know of Shep Gordon,

- but I don't know
him personally.
- He's here.

- No way.
- Yes.

Shep Gordon is known as

the father of
modern celebrity chef.

He's launched the TV careers of

Wolfgang Puck, Paul Prudhomme,
and myself.

He's here in Korea.

For two reasons.

One, I wanted him to meet you.

- No way, that's amazing.
- Yes.

- That's insane.
- And two,

we should take him
to the temple with us.

- I'm excited to meet him.
- We should do that.

- That's so amazing.
- Well, that's what we'll do.

So, you think you're gonna have
enough room for dinner soon?

- You better believe it.
- We gotta walk this off

and digest it.

You better believe it,
my friend.

[upbeat Korean music]

* *

[water gurgling]

[sizzling]

So we're gonna go to
a barbeque restaurant,

and I think that one of
the biggest misconceptions,

you know, that I even had.

When I think of Korean barbeque,
I think of beef.

I think of short ribs.

But when I came to Korea
the first time,

I was pretty blown away because
Koreans eat a lot of pork

because beef is very expensive.

- Right.
- You know, pork in kimchi

just tastes super,
super awesome.

[Emeril] It's one of
those combinations.

[stirring music]

* *

- This is it?
- Yeah, so this spot...

we gotta check it out.

It's like everyone comes here
and eats at this place,

which is literally
just this open air...

you know, you're sitting
on upside-down tin cans

and then your table's made out
of, like, an oil can.

I can smell the pork fat
and I can smell the charcoal.

Awesome, awesome.

* *

[Danny] This place has
been here, like, 60 years.

[Emeril] 60 years?

[Danny] They've been doing
the same thing for 60 years.

- The pork is
completely unseasoned.
- Unseasoned?

Unseasoned.
And I enjoy it like that

because you just taste
the quality of the pork.

* *

- Yo.
- Yo!

- Shep Gordon.
- I know, I'm so...

I'm so excited
to meet you, man.

- Hi, how you doing, man?
- How are you?

- It's good to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.

- Such a pleasure.
- Ooh!

[Emeril] Yep,
that's Shep Gordon, my brother.

I wouldn't be who I am today
without him.

He started as a music manager,
working with huge names

like Alice Cooper,
Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin.

Shep had a vision.

He was gonna turn chefs
into rock stars.

So you came out here
to join Emeril

- on this temple trip?
- Yep.

Shep has had an amazing
journey spiritually.

- Right.
- He's cooked
for the Dalai Lama.

- [Danny] That's crazy.
- [Emeril] I know, right?

[Shep] Have you ever had
Buddhist temple food?

- It's all vegan, right?
- It's all vegan.

I am so excited about
going there tomorrow.

Very excited.

This is getting nice
right here.

This is what you want.

* *

- Oh, my God.
- Oh, yeah.

- It's sliced so thin.
- Oh, yeah, yeah.

- And the flavor...
- It's like butter.

- It really is.
- It's like butter, right?

It's, like, sweet, kinda.

We probably won't have this
at the temple.

- No, no.
- Aw...

So, you know Shep's story.

1984...ish,
Shep and I were friends.

- Right.
- But then he called me

and he said,
"You know, I have a plan.

"I have a mission.

"Letting people know, hey,

you need to respect chefs."

I said, you know,
Michael Jackson,

if there weren't radio stations
and record players,

he'd be a wandering minstrel.

So, what we need to do is build
highways to your audience.

[Emeril]
That highway was television.

And by 1994, Shep had helped me
land my very first show,

The Essence of Emeril.

This is when the bell went off,
okay?

- The bell went off.
- Yeah, yeah, okay.

We're walking down
the street,

and the taxi cab driver's
got the window down

and going, "Yo, Emeril!"

And Shep looks at me
and he goes,

"Holy shit,
we may win the war here."

- Yeah.
- You know, what you're

experiencing right now
is part of it.

- Ugh.
- I know, it's crazy, right?

- I mean, it's...
- But you know how lucky you are

to be able to experience that?

I mean, I think it's definitely,
you guys paved the road.

You're lucky to have each other,
'cause as a young chef now

in the restaurant
industry today,

it's not common that
someone comes around

and just tries
to help you out.

People are just trying
to get something out of you,
you know what I mean?

- So it's like...
- A lot of trial
and error, right?

A lot of stuff going on
in your world right now.
I can just imagine.

I mean, yeah.
You know, our restaurant,

we moved from San Francisco
from a little pop-up

to New York,
open a restaurant, it's...

I went to your restaurant
in New York the first week.

- That's insane.
- It was great.

Like everybody wanted
to be there.

You know, we got named the best
restaurant in New York in 2012

- by Pete Wells.
- Right.

And then just as quickly as it
happened it got taken away.

It was shut down by the
health department in New York.

We couldn't afford
to fix the building,

and I didn't have anyone there
being like,

"Hey, don't worry.
It's gonna be okay.

Here, let me...maybe
you should do this or that."

I mean, we're in
a great place now, but...

I think the best advice is...

take a deep breath
and listen to your stomach

- instead of your head.
- Right, yeah.

- Right.
- Your gut, you always know.

- Yeah.
- Cheers.

- Cheers, guys.
- Cheers.

Here's to tomorrow.

- To tomorrow, man.
- To tomorrow.

- To the temple.
- I'll drink to that.

[laughs]
Nice to meet you.

It's so amazing.

[exciting music]

* *

Let's go to the temple.

[horn blares]

[Emeril]
Today we're leaving Seoul

and heading 170 miles South

in search of an experience
so different

it can only be described
as complete culture shock.

[horn blares]

[serene music]

This Buddhist temple has been
around since 632 A.D.

* *

Jeong Kwan uses
ancient techniques

and simple, fresh ingredients
from her garden

to turn out extraordinary
vegan cuisine

for up to 60 monks and nuns.

* *

Considering how secluded
her kitchen is,

it's incredible that she's
managed to gain the attention

of master chefs
from around the world.

* *

[speaking Korean]

Happy to be here.
Thank you.

* *

[speaking Korean]

* *

[Emeril]
Chefs like to talk about
honoring their ingredients,

but Jeong Kwan truly
takes this concept to heart.

She treats every living thing
with the deepest respect.

[laughter]

- Oh, is that beautiful.
- This is gonna be nuts.

[speaking Korean]

It's so good.
So meaty, right?

[Emeril]
Mm-hmm, very meaty. Wow.

[speaking Korean]

[laughter]

What are these sauces?

[speaking Korean]

[Danny] So this is
the homemade soy sauce?

[speaking Korean]

[Emeril] Handcrafted condiments
and sauces

that have been fermenting
for years.

These are her
secret ingredients.

[speaking Korean]

- Emeril.
- [speaking Korean]

All right, let's go.

[lively Korean music]

[Emeril] Looks like
I'm in charge of the tofu,

Shep's been assigned
the persimmon salad,

and Danny's on stew patrol.

[Danny] All right, Emeril.
you got this.

[Emeril] So we're cutting
the tofu in four.

[sizzling]

[speaking Korean]

* *

I would think we're close.

- Okay.
- Okay.

[laughter]

* *

[speaking Korean]

[funk music]

[Danny] We've seen
the chili paste before,

and it's, like, really red.

Is this aged for a long time?

[speaking Korean]

So as it ages, I'm sure
it gets more and more...

- Mm-hmm, yeah.
- Modern.

[Emeril] Korean food
has a long tradition

of fermentation and pickling.

[Shep] Taste.

[Emeril] It's a way to ensure

the spring and summer harvests

last throughout the year.

It's amazing.

[both speaking Korean]

[laughter]

[speaking Korean]

Do you need me
to cut some stuff up?

[speaking Korean]

Let's do it.
Let me do it this way.

I feel at peace right now,
for sure.

* *

So now we're gonna
put the mushrooms inside.

[speaking Korean]

Smells unbelievable, right?

Oh, man. Whoo.

[calming Korean music]

- Kimchi.
- Kimchi, we'll go get it.

Oh, kimchi, okay.

* *

[laughs]

* *

- [speaking Korean]
- Oh, wow.

Okay.

[speaking Korean]

- Oh, wow.
- Ah.

What are these leaves
on top?

[speaking Korean]

Oh, that's what I thought.
That's amazing.

[speaking Korean]

* *

- [speaking Korean]
- Wow.

- So this is mu?
- Mu.

- Mu, and...[speaking Korean]
- [speaking Korean]

* *

[speaking Korean]

Okay.

* *

Mmm. Mm.

[Danny]
This is so good.

[lively music]

Jeong Kwan tells us
for her meals, balance is key.

Hot dishes are served
with cold dishes.

Sweet dishes go with salty,
embracing the yin and the yang.

There's a saying you say.
[speaking Korean]

[speaking Korean]

My Korean is horrible.

[speaking Korean]

[Emeril] Is there any particular
order we should begin?

[speaking Korean]

[stirring music]

- This is really good.
- [speaking Korean]

We don't spend the time

appreciating the miracle
of the food.

We sort of get in and cook it.

[Danny] That's true.
That's so true.

[Shep] And it was so beautiful
today to do that first,

'cause it reminded me of
how important it is

to give recognition
to the miracle.

[poignant music]

When I was in the temple
and you said...

think about where the food
comes from, you know,

and meditate on that, I did.

But then I had a moment
where I realized

this is where I'm from too.

It was really difficult for me
not to, like...get choked up,

because it's so important
because...

it's crazy that I'm from here.
It's...

I'm so grateful that I was able
to be a part of this today.

[speaking Korean]

- Oh. [speaking Korean]
- Mm. Mm.

I...it's...whoo.
[chuckles]

* *

I have to tell you, it's been
just an extraordinary experience

meeting you
and just being in your kitchen.

And seeing imagination

in combination

and love.

[speaking Korean]

* *

[birds chirping]

[dance music]

[Emeril] Meeting Jeong Kwan
has definitely expanded

my definition of
what makes a great meal.

Ingredients, passion,
creativity

were always the benchmarks
I looked for,

but I might have to add
spirituality to the list.

Shep's heading
back to the States,

but we're back in Seoul,
not to learn,

but to share
a little of our knowledge

with a local restaurateur.

- After you, sir.
- Thank you.

- Are you ready?
- I'm more than ready.

[Emeril] Danny found out that
local restaurant Barmingo

is copying his award-winning
New York Mission Chinese.

But instead of getting upset,

Danny wants them
to get it right.

So he's going to teach them
how to cook

one of his recipes.

This is gonna be great.

- This is Francesco.
- Hey, Francesco.

- Hello, sir.
- How are you?

Very good, sir.
This is my dream come true.

So how did you get inspired
with Danny's food?

I saw him on TV show and then
I researched him a lot.

- What's your chef's name?
- Hoon.

Hoon, I'm Danny.
This is Emeril.

And then you gotta meet my chef,
Emeril.

Angela came from New York
to help--yeah, hug it out.

- Feel like I know you.
- Good to see you.

So, you know what you should...

you should make barbeque shrimp
for this guy.

- Okay.
- You show 'em your dish,

and then we'll show them
my dish.

- It's gonna be amazing.
- And the chef,

- maybe he just...
- Come in.

- Come in, expedite.
- We'll all, like...right.

Okay. Let's cook.

[exciting music]

Now, I wasn't really planning
on cooking here.

I mean, this is all about Danny
sharing his recipes.

So we're gonna make
his dish first.

So what we got here
is we got some chicken wings.

We were trying to come up with
this recipe, and we we're like,

how can we get
the crispiest thing ever

without having to use starch?

What we do is we fry them
for just a minute or two

just to kinda seal them,
and then we freeze it.

And whenever you freeze it,
the skins expands...

just like if you put a soda pop
in the freezer and it explodes.

- Yep, it expands.
- Same thing here.

These are Chongqing
Chicken Wings.

We're gonna throw 'em in
at a really high heat

and get that skin
nice and nice and rendered.

This isn't gonna take long
at all.

We've had this dish on our menu

since the beginning
of Mission Chinese.

One of the first dishes
we ever made.

Angela, how many orders of wings
do we sell a night?

A night?
Probably like 100.

[Emeril]
Wow. I love it.

Then we're gonna do
one more thing.

These chilies are really hot.

This is gonna really release
all the oils in the chilies.

- Holy smokes.
- Super, super, super tasty.

[Danny]
And then this oil's gonna go
right on top of these wings,

because it's gonna also
flavor the wings.

- Oh, my God.
- [tapping]

- Very nice technique.
- All right.

Throw the wok back on.

Pop the heat, here, we're gonna
really hammer it

with this pepper and chilies.

- That much?
- [laughs]

[Emeril] I thought
I was heavy on the spice,

but Danny's taking it
to a whole other level.

[Danny] We do this.

* *

To kind of, like,
lay it on top.

[Emeril] Holy smokes.

- Just a little bit more.
- What?

I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.

Just a little bit more spice.

[Emeril] Okay, you know how
I have a spice, right?

Yeah, well, I know about it,
of course.

I've seen you throwing your
spice on stuff for years now.

[Emeril] Okay,
so I got one for you.

- Ready?
- Oh, man, oh, man.

[speaking Korean]

[laughter]

- Try it.
- I'll just do it like this.

- Bam!
- No! [speaks Korean]

[laughter]

[Danny] This is gonna be hot.

[tense music]

- Wow.
- It's hot.

It's numbing.
It's everything.

The Szechuan pepper kinda gives
it this tingly spicy thing.

Ten seconds.
And coming up.

- That's delicious, though.
- What's crazy is,

it's so spicy, but you want
to go back and eat more.

You know, spicy food gives you
that endorphin rush...

- Wow.
- That makes you want to...

Whoo!

[laughter]

* *

It makes you want to go back.

You want to go back
for more and more and more.

[Emeril]
And more and more.

And now,
it's my turn to share.

I'm gonna cook
my signature dish:

barbeque shrimp.

So this is the barbeque shrimp.

Barbeque shrimp.

We have all the shrimp shells
and the heads.

- Yeah.
- So we'll begin.

* *

[Danny] People probably come
there just for this, right?

They come a lot
for this dish here.

This is much different
than the barbeque shrimp

I've seen in Louisiana.

What inspired you
to make it so different?

Because it's way different.

So I took the New Orleans
barbeque shrimp

and just sort of
pulled it apart.

And then built it back
to make this extraction,

which you'll see.

We add homemade
Worcestershire sauce.

- Wow.
- That's a key component here.

And now it's time
to rock and roll.

[dramatic music]

Okay, we're gonna start
the shrimp.

[Danny] You think people
would really lose their mind

- if you took this off the menu?
- No question about it.

- You getting it all out there?
- Yep.

- Squeezing it?
- Squeezing it.

* *

The color is amazing.

[Emeril] All that fat
from the heads.

[Danny] Oh, man, chef.

[Emeril] The shrimp are
perfectly cooked.

[Danny] Oh, man.

* *

- Now look at the sauce.
- Oh, my lord.

- Oh, my God.
- Okay, now it's like

bayou water.

And then we're gonna just...

a little garnish like this.

[Danny] Oh, my God.

My little home to you for Korea.

Oh, thank you, chef.
Cheers, cheers.

Cheers.

* *

- And?
- It's amazing, though.

Okay?

[Danny] It's so beautiful.

Send it upstairs.

Yeah.

[upbeat music]

Try that.

You got barbeque shrimp? Good?

Is it spicy?

[speaking Korean]

[cheers and applause]

* *

[Emeril] Jeong Kwan believes
the path to Nirvana

is through the food we prepare.

[cheers and applause]

I don't know about Nirvana,

but I know there's
a spiritual thing about food.

It's the magnet that
brings people to the table,

and through food,
we connect to our roots,

and ultimately, to each other.

* *