Father, seriously? C'mon.
I mean I apologize for swearing.
GORDON Apologize for screaming at all those cooks,
but this is not fair.
Well, I mean you can apologize to me but it's not
my name you're using in vain.
True. I'm 53. Right.
So I should have at least least a ten second head start.
Ten seconds?
Or give me a five second head start.
Give me something for the old man.
Five seconds, all right.
Five seconds. Who is that person there?
Oh shit, shit.
What are you doin'?
GORDON I'm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in
the heart of the Great Lakes.
The UP as it's known, is home to nearly nine million
acres of lush forest and 1,700 miles of rugged coastline.
I'm starting my journey in Keweenaw,
in the northern most point close to the Canadian border.
GORDON It's remote, it's wild
and it's the definition of uncharted.
That was incredible.
What a ride.
Honestly, I feel like a teenager.
I'm here to meet local talented chef James Rigato
somewhere inside this beautiful forest.
Now James is a true Michiganar.
GORDON For some reason he's asked me to meet
him in an abandoned copper mine, deep in the forest.
Now, where is he? James!
Yo!
I mean, seriously?
Yeah. Finally!
I know, where you been? Man!
GORDON Chef James Rigato is one of the
Rust Belt's rising food stars.
This Michigan native cut his teeth in some of Detroit's
finest restaurants.
Before opening Mable Gray where his rustic style
showcases the finest local ingredients
the Great Lakes has to offer.
Good to see you, my man.
Hey, good to see you.
Oh my god, what a trek that was.
Did you crash? No.
JAMES That's good.
Nearly. First time in UP, I mean stunning.
It is.
And you know it's a really beautiful time of year to be
here obviously.
I've been comin' up here for 15 years and I'm still a troll.
GORDON Got you.
You know, I'm not a Yooper.
What is a Yooper?
A Yooper is somebody that lives in the Upper Peninsula,
anything below the Mackinac Bridge is a troll.
So 15 years in, you're still a troll?
Well, I've been comin' up here for 15 years.
I still live down state, I'm a troll.
I mean that's a little bit derogative, troll.
Absolutely, but I, you know, we embrace it.
So the secret of becoming a Yooper in a week,
we've got no chance.
I don't wanna say you have no chance,
but you know it's definitely tough.
Sure.
The Yoopers, like mining,
the ingredients that they have up here you've gotta work for it.
The best meals eaten up here are probably over a
campfire like this.
GORDON James explains that he's brought me to the old
copper mines because the comfort food that miners ate
still inspire Yooper cuisine today.
All right, so if we're gonna do this right.
Yes.
We're gonna need a pasty because that's the Yooper you know
a flagship food item up here.
You have pasties here?
JAMES Oh yeah, of course we have pasties.
Cause we have pasties back in the UK, in Cornwall.
You brought 'em over. Stop it.
So that's, that's you know what the miners would eat.
They would take 'em down into the mines and obviously you know
it's like a, it's like a hot pocket.
We're gonna just slap it on the shovel here.
That's what they do.
JAMES You have the rutabaga, the potato,
the beef and just put it right on the fire.
That is insane. Wow.
Look at that. Woo.
JAMES Oh boy, look out.
Thank you. Of course.
Look at that. Man, cheers.
Wow.
James, it's exactly like a Cornish pasty.
Yeah? You approve?
Honestly and they're bloody delicious.
I mean great comfort food, right?
I mean if you walk around sayin' that I think
it's gonna take you less than a week to become a Yooper.
Speaking of this week, what I need you to do,
I need you to go around, I want you to discover things
about this area and we're gonna have a final cook-off
and really take the ingredients from the land and
turn it into a great meal.
Gotcha. So it'll be troll against troll.
Yes.
Hopefully one of us may come out of it as
a slight Yooper at the end.
There you go.
If that's the start of what's to come I can't wait to
see it at the end of the week, bud.
Well good, cheers. Good luck. Get out there.
Thanks, bud.
GORDON Jams Rigato he is the real deal, a prominent chef.
There's a double-edged sword this week.
Goin' up against one of Michigan's finest chefs,
but then trying to prove ourselves as a Yooper
at the same time.
I got my work cut out.
I'm off to meet a local hunter who's gonna show me
how to hunt for a tiny bird called a woodcock.
And joining us are her four-legged furry friends.
Look at this forest, how beautiful is this?
Good morning.
Morning.
GORDON I'm meeting Heather Shaw,
a local conservationist and hunter.
What a gorgeous place. Well welcome.
GORDON She, and her boyfriend Eric Travinski
assure me there's a local delicacy in these woods that
will help give me some Yooper cred and boost my chances
at the final cook.
We're gonna be hunting for woodcock today.
I've never been on a shoot for woodcock.
What is the secret?
They may kind of act like George Jetson.
GORDON Right.
They're gonna fly straight up and hover for a
second and then they're gonna take off in cover there.
Wow. And we've got the furry friends with us?
We do. Yes, we do.
We've got Chip and Aspen with us.
Amazing. Hey, hello.
ERIC These are the dogs.
Good morning. They are beautiful.
What type of dogs are they?
Aspen is a Brittany and Chip is a Llewellin setter.
Wow.
HEATHER So we'll start with Chip and let him burn
a little energy off with us.
GORDON Wow look at him.
He looks like he's ready to go.
HEATHER He is.
GORDON With Chip leading the way,
I'm hoping this hunt will help me start shedding
my troll status.
But with the woods this thick it's harder to navigate
than it looks.
Whoa.
Man, it's dense in here.
It is. You gotta watch your step.
And what else are we likely to come across,
do you reckon?
Oh there's bears.
Yeah there's bear, wolf, mountain lion in the UP.
We've got a little bit of everything.
GORDON If I come up against a bear,
they may not be the only things that shit in the woods.
Maybe I'll embrace being a troll and forget
the Yooper stuff.
How old were you when you first started hunting?
I was actually an adult-onset hunter,
so I'm a wildlife biologist by trade.
Right. Oh wow.
So in wildlife biology we definitely rely on
hunting as a tool for conservation and management.
Yes.
Oh, there goes one!
GORDON Where?
HEATHER He just flushed a bird right in front of us here.
GORDON Damn.
ERIC Oh, another one!
There goes another one. Did you see it over here?
Damn. Man, they're quick.
Where was that?
They are.
So this one was right where Chip's at right now.
See how he's movin' around really excited.
He's getting pretty bird-y there.
GORDON Chip's excitement for tracking game
birds sends him b-lining towards a hiding woodcock.
Oh, he might be on one here.
Oh. So the idea is he stops in front of it.
Yeah.
He flushed a grouse.
Easy. Did he?
GORDON Unfortunately, his excitement is
scaring the birds away before we're in position.
He's moving fast as well.
HEATHER He is.
This is insane.
HEATHER Like I said, he's still that
young energetic young pup.
GORDON Yeah.
Let's hope he's doing the same to those
mountain lions.
ERIC There's a woodcock right there!
Oh damn.
They took flight before we could even get the guns up.
Yeah, before, that's how it goes sometimes.
So we'll switch dogs out to our old pro, Aspen.
Hey bud.
All right, Chip, time to take a breather.
GORDON These woodcocks are lightning quick.
So we need a plan B.
It's time to bring out the calm and cool veteran,
Aspen to give us a better chance at a successful shot.
Round two, we got this.
ERIC Here.
Gordon, she's on point up here, so.
Heather, you and Gordon stay right in this opening,
I'm gonna go in and try to flush this bird out.
Okay. Woo.
ERIC All right, get ready, guys.
Okay.
Let's see what she picks up here.
She's right forward there.
HEATHER Okay Gordon, so go ahead and walk in.
ERIC Aspen will, okay.
Gordon, come over this way.
Hey, whoa!
Oh shit.
Damn.
She didn't wait quite long enough for us to get there.
Got ya.
GORDON Unfortunately, it's a near miss by me.
Lucky for us Aspen doesn't skip a beat.
ERIC Aspen, what you got?
Whoa. Whoa.
That bird's gonna be right in front of us, Gordon.
GORDON Gotcha.
ERIC You guys get.
GORDON I go to the left?
So get into this opening here.
That'll give you a good shot opportunity.
Get a little bit more open. Whoa.
So get into that opening and just go ahead and
walk straight through it.
ERIC Where did it go?
HEATHER Where is it? Oh.
ERIC Whoa.
HEATHER Its still here.
HEATHER There it goes!
ERIC Gordon!
HEATHER Nice!
ERIC Dead bird!
HEATHER All right.
ERIC Dead bird, Aspen!
Yes.
ERIC Come here. Come here.
Aspen, dead bird. Dead bird.
HEATHER Good shooting boys.
Nice. Nice, nice, nice.
Thank god for the dogs. Aspen, she nailed it.
You've gotta be quick.
Super quick, beautiful.
Well let's get a bird in your bag here.
Please.
Thank you.
HEATHER All right, good shootin' guys.
That was amazing, seriously.
Now one bird as you know is not gonna
complete the final cook.
Would you mind pickin' up some more?
HEATHER Absolutely.
I've got a lot to do this week.
We'll see what we can do.
We'll be here all day.
That was a great start. Great job.
I'm startin' to understand now what James was on about.
Yoopers understand the land.
You know, this bird is not too rich, you know,
it's very lean, hardly any fat on there, so do I use berries?
GORDON Is it cherries, it is apple?
I don't know yet.
The good news is I've got a bird.
GORDON With only three days to go until the big cook,
I've still got plenty of work to do until I'm feeling
like a true Yooper.
So I'm off in search of a true local delicacy,
the chaga mushroom.
This is not a mushroom that you can easily spot
on the floor of the wood.
GORDON These things are somewhat unique,
so this is gonna be an adventure and a half.
bloody hells bells.
These mushrooms better be good.
GORDON I'm here to meet Brian Benzy a backwoods
forager who has promised to help me find this illusive fungus.
Gordon Ramsay!
How are you, captain?
GORDON Lookin' at the tepee and that beard.
Welcome to the Upper Peninsula.
GORDON I'm hoping these mushrooms are not
the magic kind.
Pleasure to meet you. It's an honor.
Good to see you. My goodness me what a spot.
BRIAN It's a beautiful spot.
I'm dying to pick these mushrooms.
I'm a mushroom fan.
We're gonna head this way and we're gonna find some chaga.
Chaga.
That's what we're after.
They grow on a tree, some people say they're really illusive,
but I know there's chaga on this land.
Well, I'm in your hands, captain.
So I wanna give you this right here.
Hold on a minute.
We're, we're mushroom picking.
Yeah, I know we're mushroom picking.
Not with an ax.
There's bears, there's mountain lions,
there's wolves.
Stop it. Mountain lions?
Mountain lions. Pretty deadly.
Are they?
So you don't wanna go in the woods without
some type of a weapon.
And what are you gonna use?
What am I gonna use?
I'm not gonna use anything, you're gonna do all the work.
Okay. Shall we?
We're headin' this way, right here.
And, and mountain lions, seriously?
Oh mountain lions.
There's been one spotted right up here.
GORDON I'm deep in the forests of the Upper Peninsula, Michigan,
trying not to get killed by bears or
mountain lions, or as my guide Brian describes it,
mushroom foraging.
Now what's so special about the chaga mushroom?
It's definitely a super food.
Yep.
It's full of antioxidants and all kinds of goodies.
Right. Got you.
BRIAN But right here we got some stuff.
These are reishi mushrooms.
GORDON Can you eat them?
If you know what they are, you're fine,
but if you don't know what they are don't eat 'em.
GORDON So we'll leave them.
BRIAN We'll leave those.
And what's up there?
They look like a shelf mushroom.
And anything that grows on a birch tree is medicinal.
Yeah. Gotcha. Okay.
GORDON While I won't be using it for medicinal purposes,
I'm hoping a chaga mushroom will add unique
flavor to my menu at the final cook.
BRIAN See that tree right there?
GORDON Yes.
That's a yellow birch. Right.
Chaga grows on a tree like that.
That high up?
Oh sometimes they'll be 60 feet in the air.
GORDON Really?
BRIAN Oh yeah.
GORDON And what color are they?
BRIAN They're black.
GORDON Black.
You gotta keep your eyes out, they'll be high, low.
Shit. There you go.
GORDON I had no idea they were gonna be that high up.
Well, what we gotta do is look for somethin' that we
can climb, cause you can get that one.
GORDON That's 12 to 15 feet.
12 feet maybe?
Look at the size of that thing.
That is a super food right there.
How am I gonna get the bloody thing down?
Well, let's see here. See that leaner there?
Yeah.
Well, maybe we can go chop that off.
This one here?
No, little further in there, the next one in there.
This thing here? That thing right there.
Just chop the base of it off.
Almost got it, beautiful.
How much do you weigh Gordon?
220.
Okay, well let's test the branches and
we'll see how good they are.
Oh you mean this is a step ladder?
This is gonna be a step ladder.
I'll hold it and you can manage up there.
Gotcha, gotcha.
Okay, let's put her up there.
Okay, now you don't wanna put all your weight on the branch.
So you gotta kinda pull your upper body and then you've
gotta put your foot there.
Okay, gotcha. You sure that's gonna take my weight?
That's definitely gonna take your weight.
You said mushroom picking, foraging,
I've never foraged with an ax.
Well, here we go, here's your first time for everything.
Okay. Oh shit.
What did I say? For god's sake. Okay.
Okay, okay.
Let's try that again.
Go ahead. Toe right there.
There you go. Put your hands up.
You're almost there, Gordon.
GORDON Oh, bollocks.
Come on, you got it.
Man!
Okay, let's just get up to these first two here.
Right, here we go again.
Third time lucky.
You got me?
I gotcha.
Get your right foot right there.
BRIAN Close to the tree, close as you can get it to the tree.
There you go. Beautiful.
You're good, you're good.
Ready? Stand out the way.
BRIAN There you go, right there.
C'mon swing like you're, swing a little harder.
Oh there you go, almost.
It's comin'. Pry it. Pry it, pry it.
BRIAN There you go, beautiful. Awesome.
That's it.
Beautiful, that's it right there.
It looks like charcoal.
Looks like a bear shit, but.
Looks like someone shit on the tree. Shit.
Yeah. Here's what you're lookin' for, this amber color in here.
It doesn't look that edible.
Well, we'll have a cup of tea right now and you can
see what it tastes like.
Gotcha.
BRIAN I got some chaga tea.
I'm dying to taste this, you know that.
What's that for?
Well, we gotta have a little wedge of orange.
It's like a little cocktail.
Well, it's a woods cocktail.
It just helps the flavor.
GORDON Oh my god, look at the color of that.
Oh, it's nice.
There you go. You got it?
I got it, thank you.
A little teaspoon of honey. Yes. Beautiful.
Oh-la. Wow.
It's got that bark flavor, you can, you can taste that
bark straight away, yeah.
BRIAN Right. It's kinda earthy.
The orange is nice, that makes it a little bit more
zesty and the honey just sweetens the whole thing up, wow.
Oh yeah, it's not too shabby at all like this.
I'm gonna take that for the final cook at the end
of the week.
Shall we go look for some more?
Sure. But can you climb this time?
I'll climb this time.
GORDON It's gonna need some work that chaga mushroom.
Doesn't taste of much, but when you start getting into
that sort of deep floral muddy,
earthy flavor it's actually quite delicious.
I feel now I'm a little bit further up the ladder
to becoming a Yooper.
GORDON With two days left until the cook,
it's time to get out of the forest.
Now, I'm told there's another world that lies
beneath the surface of Lake Superior and I'm gonna meet
a super talented diver who tells me there are plenty of lake
fish beneath these waters, including one called a burbot.
Now apparently it's as ugly as it sounds,
but supposedly it tastes amazing.
Fingers crossed we'll find out.
Dusty!
Hey, Gordon, you made it.
How are you, sir? Man, what a spot.
Good to see you, man.
Good to see you. Likewise.
GORDON Diver Dusty Cliffman,
knows the depths of Michigan's lakes like the
back of his hand.
Now I come from a country that we know turbot,
but I've never heard of a burbot.
Burbot is a bottom dweller that's
not generally targeted.
Right.
So it's somethin' that most people don't know about.
And tasty?
Poor man's lobster is what they say.
I'll take that any day.
Ready to go dive?
I'm ready to get some fish, yeah.
Let's go.
GORDON Out here, Superior the world's largest freshwater lake,
feels more like an ocean.
This lake swallows ships.
Once you get out in the open water there's nowhere to hide
when the weather turns.
Right.
And some of these huge freighters,
1,000 feet long, they get into trouble.
That's how dangerous these lakes can be.
Yeah. Wow. How rough does it get?
You can have waves 20 feet high.
Stop it.
Yeah. So it's beautiful now but it can get ugly real quick.
Yeah.
This is the spot?
Now, this is the spot.
This is actually a shipwreck, called the Bermuda.
What, right under the boat?
DUSTY Right under the boat.
That's incredible.
In the Great Lakes alone there's an estimated
6,000 shipwrecks.
6,000?
6,000 between the five Great Lakes.
Wow. How big is the wreck?
It's a 150 feet long.
GORDON Wow.
It sank in 1870, so it's a really big wreck,
really intact, but it's not that deep.
Right, fish potentially down there, burbot?
Burbot, some other species that we can't spear.
Most likely will be bass and sunfish.
Right. Okay.
Before we shoot anything we'll just signal.
Signal to go, all clear, is what?
Pew, pew!
Gotcha. Let's go.
Let's do it. Amazing.
So we're gonna come down on the stern of the shipwreck.
Yeah.
We got flashlights so we're just gonna be lookin'
in the crevices and then we'll make our way to the bow.
Gotcha. Gotcha.
So hopefully we'll find a burbot hidin'.
Gotcha, thanks for that, thanks, bud.
GORDON 20 feet below the surface the 150 year old
rusted wreck sits on the lake floor,
remarkably preserved by the cold freshwater of the lake.
And of course the ship's hull is teeming with bass and
sunfish which I'm not allowed to spear.
I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for burbot.
As I navigate the wreck I see a fish flash out of
the corner of my eye.
Hopefully, It's the burbot I need for my final cook.
GORDON I'm in the Upper Peninsula,
deep below the surface of Lake Superior in search of a local
fish called burbot that I'm told are hiding in the nooks
and crannies of this shipwreck.
Out of the corner of my eye I spot what could be a burbot,
but it turns out it's a bass.
I need a rod and reel to catch them legally
but all I'm holding right now is a spear gun.
Down in a crevice of a ship I spot another fish.
Unfortunately, it's just more bloody bass.
With our air running low, it looks like we've struck out,
the burbot will live to die another day.
Woo, that was beautiful.
It was.
Oh my god!
So pristine down there.
Sorry we didn't catch anything.
That's why it's called fishing.
So could you sort me something out for the end of
the week?
I think I can have somethin' for you, no worries.
Yeah? Thanks, bud. Amazing.
We didn't get any burbot, but one step further
to becoming a Yooper.
You know, diving on these wrecks,
understanding what's going on underneath this pristine lake
I'm starting to feel like a local.
Now I've been told if you're up in the UP it's an absolute
must to visit a unique monastery that's run by a
group of monks that have a very, very sweet tooth.
Looks like I'm gonna have to get on the old Sunday best,
behave myself and clearly mind by Ps and Qs.
Oh boy.
I'm
Good morning, Father.
Morning.
GORDON Father Ephraim and his fellow monks produce a
legendary jam made from thimbleberry which could be
the secret ingredient I need for the final cook
in two days' time.
Now your jam's legendary.
Apparently.
Can I start off with two small jars?
I think we should get some work done first.
Work done? Yeah.
We're kinda shorthanded, we've only got about six monks.
Right, okay.
We've got some, some work to do to get this fence in
before winter hits.
So if you help me with the fence, we'll eat some jam.
Does that work for you?
Serious? Yeah. Yeah, I'm serious.
Okay, yeah, let's go.
Of course I'm serious, all right.
Now we need some poles.
Why are we protecting them so much.
Who's comin' for these berries?
The deer and particularly the bear.
GORDON Those bloody bears again.
At least he hasn't mentioned mountain lions, yet.
But with a fence to put up I'm learning there's no such thing
as a free lunch in the UP.
This feels like I'm back in Scotland with tossing the caber.
You know, I thought about caber tossing,
but I thought post hole digging would be more useful.
Are you saying these aren't that heavy?
I don't think so.
GORDON Just down here.
Huh? Yeah, put it right there.
Maybe my log's heavier than yours.
Could be. Just here.
You might consider this part of the Yooper experience.
Right.
EPHRAIM It's a little sandy.
GORDON Okay, father.
Man, you mean business, man, huh?
Now this recipe doesn't sound like a sort of bog-standard jam.
EPHRAIM A lot of jam is just a matter of figuring out the
pectin and the acid ratio.
Yeah and why has it got such a demand?
Thimbleberry, for whatever reason,
is sort of the trademark of the Upper Peninsula I think.
Yes. Are there many bears here?
EPHRAIM Quite a lot.
More bears in the UP than people, I'm told.
Serious?
I hear wolves up here sometimes but they don't eat thimbleberry.
That's kind of them.
You deep enough?
Oh you beat me.
GORDON We good?
EPHRAIM You're out of breath but you got a deeper hole than I do.
Shit! Should be good.
Oh, excuse me. All right.
Keep the lord out of it and I don't mind the swearing so much.
There you go.
EPHRAIM All right.
Yeah, happy?
That should work. Yeah.
Now you need some cement.
Okay, great.
Right. Man, this jam better taste good.
So. It is. It is.
I love that confidence.
Now put your posts in here.
Gotcha.
EPHRAIM Got it?
Yeah. Hell.
Are monks allowed female companions in the winter?
EPHRAIM No.
Would you, if you could?
The spiritual life is difficult enough as it is.
Right, so less distraction.
Less distraction because essentially my job is
to pray for the world, it's not somethin' I wanna mess up.
Yes, no, but you're quite a cool man,
so I don't know if there's a secret Tinder account that a
monk can swipe on.
No. No.
Not that I know of anyways.
GORDON Okay, just, just asking.
Okay, so is there a monk in charge of the kitchen?
Kind of.
GORDON Right.
I mean Father Basil cooks.
Stop it.
His name is Father Basil?
Yeah.
After the herb?
He says he goes well with tomatoes.
Don't hump it, just pat the soil down.
GORDON Okay, gotcha.
Sorry, I'm excited, I've never built a fence before. Happy?
I think so. Jam time?
We got, we got 23 more posts.
Stop it.
I've gotta pick my own berries.
EPHRAIM All right, all right, all right.
I'll tell you what, we've got these two wheelbarrows
loaded up with soil, you know what I think.
Go on.
I think we should have a wheelbarrow race.
You want me to race with a wheelbarrow?
Wouldn't that be fun? From where to where?
Let's go from right over there and we'll go to the
end of the intersection down here.
Right. Father, seriously, come on.
I mean I apologize for swearing,
I'll apologize for screaming at all those cooks,
but this is not fair.
Well, I mean you can apologize to me but it's not
my name you're using in vain.
True. I'm 53. Right.
So I should have at least a ten second head start.
Ten seconds?
Oh give me a five second head start.
Give me something for the old man.
Five seconds, all right.
Five seconds. Who is that person there?
All right.
Oh shit. What are you doin'?
What is that down there?
Who is that person there?
All right.
Oh shit, shit, shit!
What are you doin'?
Damn! Put on some speed.
GORDON I'm in the Upper Peninsula where alongside the
incredibly fit Father Ephraim I'm doing the Lord's work,
wheelbarrow racing.
Shit!
Father! Slow down!
For sake!
Congratulations, Father, please may I have some jam.
Yeah, let's have some jam.
My god!
GORDON After building a fence and racing a wheelbarrow
just to get a taste of it,
this jam better be something special.
And how long does the thimbleberry season last for?
Thimbleberry season is about six weeks if you're lucky.
They say it's a tarter raspberry.
How would you describe it?
It's earthier. Earthier.
Here, why don't you try a taste?
GORDON Thank you.
Wow. Oh delicious.
GORDON Look how dark and rich that is.
Father, it's beautiful, the colors are amazing.
And the seeds are somewhat softer than a raspberry.
EPHRAIM Yeah.
They disintegrate, they don't linger.
Mm. Do you know what, that's good?
I mean I think we found the new raspberry, I think.
This is fit for Buckingham Palace.
I can see the Queen having this on her scones.
Thimbleberry jam.
Mm-hm.
And it's definitely given me another source of
inspiration for the final cook at the end of the week.
Amazing, thank you, sir.
You're welcome.
Right now I feel like a pig in shit.
Sorry, a pig in, a pig in mud.
I can't help myself.
GORDON Father Ephraim, he's a beast, let me tell you.
Fit as a butcher's dog.
The jam, beautiful.
It's exciting stuff, a chef's dream big time.
GORDON With one day until Chef James and I battle for
the honor of being deemed Yoopers,
I'm off to meet a man who's famous for three words you
don't normally hear together, smoked fish sausages.
Now it sounds a bit mad, doesn't it,
smoked fish sausage, but if you're a Yooper it's a tradition.
GORDON Hopefully, it's a secret that I can take with me to the
final cook.
What the hell does this baby plug into?
Captain Ron!
Oh how you doin', bud?
How are you, sir? Oh my goodness me.
Yeah, you wanna come see what the Yoopers do?
GORDON Captain Ron has made fish sausages
since he was a boy.
This week is about becoming a Yooper.
Yeah.
And they said you've got the best smoked fish sausage
anywhere in the UP.
Yeah, oh yeah. Yep, I'd put it up against anybody's.
Now I could smell that smoked sausage from down the road.
Oh yeah, we get a lot of people smelling that up there.
So this could be a key ingredient for my final cook.
Yep, yeah. Here we go, bud.
Okay. Let's go.
They're little babies.
Oh my lord. Stop it.
That's a trout?
That's a lake trout.
Captain Ron, that's huge.
RON Oh yeah.
You sure that's trout? I believe so. Right there.
That's incredible.
Have you ever filleted a fish?
100,000 times. Oh 100?
Absolutely.
Oh, okay. There's your good knife right there.
I got you a good sharp on, watch out.
Yes. Very carefully in.
You gotta take the rib bones off there.
Yeah, right there, see.
Shit man.
Yeah, I don't want that going through the grinder because we don't want to eat it.
GORDON No.
RON You got a big bone there, you see it?
GORDON Man, you're missing nothing, are you? There's no flies on you today.
I've been doin' it all my life, bud.
Gotcha.
Me and my one eye can see better than you.
That one eye is a powerful eye, man, I'm telling you.
Yeah. Very powerful.
GORDON Fish filleted.
Not bad for a troll.
GORDON It's time to start seeing how the sausage
is made.
Okay, now we just gotta grind her.
And then we got that.
All right.
Come on, get in there you little prick.
I swear a little bit at it all the time.
Did you hear what he said?
GORDON Turns out, I'm not the only potty mouth chef
in this neck of the woods.
I'm a clean nut too.
GORDON We can't work on a dirty surface.
no.
All right. Now we can mix.
I got secret ingredients that I can't even tell you.
I could tell you, but I'd have to drown ya.
GORDON If I'm gonna become a Yooper I need to know the secret.
Give me a few secret ingredients. Whisper.
I got some salt in there.
Salt. That's not a secret.
Smell that right now.
All spice.
Oh no.
That's ******** stuff.
Ginger? Nope.
Curry powder? No.
Nutmeg?
Yeah. There you go.
So you gotta give it a little oil.
And mix it up with the hand?
Well, no. I'll get some, you want daubers right?
I'll mix it with my hand.
You might have been pickin' your *, I don't know.
We can't mix like that.
My hands are clean.
Captain Ron, look at those hands.
Okay.
Let 'em have it.
Absolutely.
GORDON Nutmeg and secret spice is added,
it's time to start the casing process.
Gotcha.
RON Yeah, that's probably good, eh?
And this is where the magic starts.
Yeah, crank that baby.
Ready?
Oh, you're goin' backwards. I'm good.
Holy Christ now you just went backwards? What the hell?
It's coming out, it's coming, it's coming, it's coming.
Yeah, it's comin'. It's comin'. See.
RON Yeah, see all nicely.
GORDON That's nice.
See that's far enough, then you tie that, yeah,
there you go.
And then tie that nice.
RON Yeah.
GORDON Casing complete, it's time to put them into the
wood smoker which is filled with more of Captain Ron's
secret ingredients.
Now what flavor is this?
That's just Captain Ron's flavor.
GORDON I'm too afraid to ask what
Captain Ron's flavoring is.
GORDON So how long will they smoke in there for?
That one will be like six hours,
but I got some for you in there, right now.
You got some ready?
I got some ready for ya.
Inside here? Inside there.
I know what that's about, bud.
Yeah, you always get smoke.
You wanna be a Yooper? You gotta get in there, buddy.
GORDON Having been immersed in Captain Ron's flavor,
whatever that is, it's time to taste the fruits of our labor.
I love how juicy they are.
Look at how nice that is.
Oh yeah.
That'll put hair on your nuts.
It will.
Mm, that's some good shit.
Yeah, that's lovely.
See, and it won't break apart when you cut it either.
May I take those three?
Yes you can.
That was incredible. Yeah.
They said it was the best.
Having tasted it now for me I think it's gonna be a little
secret weapon for the final cook.
Yeah. There you go.
Sir, take care. Take care.
Thanks, Captain!
GORDON What a sausage.
The spice is perfect, but after that smoke the flavor
and the moisture inside so it's given me ideas now.
I don't think James will have that at his final cook.
GORDON What a journey.
An amazing week.
Honestly, I feel like I've just gone through a baptism of
fire in the Upper Peninsula and these Yoopers do have a
true love and lots of pride for simple and unique
ingredients that surround them on a daily basis.
I just hope that I've learned enough to impress them.
James.
Hey, what's up Chuck?
Good to see you, my man.
JAMES Good to see you.
Oh my goodness me. Are you good?
I'm very good. What an amazing week.
Oh yeah, I bet.
You said get out there,
start understanding what this Yooper means,
the importance of that.
Yeah. Right. Man, they're hard.
Yeah, that grit.
One of us has gotta leave this waterside
as a Yooper.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Don't blow it for me today, please.
GORDON With our battle underway,
hopefully James and I will both leave this
shoreline as Yoopers.
But only one of us can be victorious in mastering
the local cuisine.
It will be a race to the finish.
GORDON I'm on the coast of Lake Superior where Chef James
Rigato and I are attempting to become Yoopers.
But first, we face off in a battle to master
their local cuisine.
So troll versus troll. Woodcock?
Yeah, the woodcock.
I got some smoked whitefish.
Do you have any monk jam?
Of course I do. That's the best.
Come on. Have you met those monks?
Yeah, they're great guys.
GORDON Oh my god.
Father Ephraim's, he's somethin' else.
But have you seen how fit they are?
Good thing he's a monk cause he terrifies me.
So I'm gonna make a bit of a sort of casserole
with those woodcock.
JAMES Yeah.
And then I'm gonna use some of that beautiful
local maple syrup.
JAMES Yeah.
GORDON And I'm gonna make a succotash and start grilling that corn.
I'm gonna get a little fancy and do a little Waldorf
salad so I, I hope it doesn't make me even more of an outsider.
Is that what you're gonna do? Waldorf?
Stop it. Really?
Yeah, yeah, I swear.
Look you're getting all fancy on me, yeah.
I know, exactly.
To the point that they kick me out.
GORDON What you doin' with those woodcock?
JAMES The woodcock I'm gonna do a little bit of simple salt and pepper.
GORDON Yep. Yep.
Roasted in the pan and then with the trout here I
take wild rice and I make a flower out of it.
Uh-huh.
JAMES And then just dust that, pan fry it.
Right.
GORDON Dusty wasn't able to catch any burbot,
but he provided us with some beautiful lake trout instead.
JAMES To me you can't come up here
and not, not be inspired to cook.
I think, I barely cook inside too, it's almost always over a fire.
I'm gonna roast these vegetables off for puree and
sit that underneath that lake trout.
GORDON With my woodcock casserole started,
it's time to bring some of Brian's chaga mushrooms
to the party.
It's amazing how dark that chaga mushroom and look I
just put it with my vegetables now.
GORDON It's like a dark, rich, ruby color, right?
JAMES Yeah. That's beautiful.
I made a little cornbread, all Michigan ingredients.
Gotcha.
JAMES I'm just gonna let it hang out and get a little warm
by the side.
Love that.
Cause this grill's ripping.
I'm gonna treat those woodcock almost like a sort of pigeon.
Yeah, I think it needs to be just kinda pink on the
bone and barely cooked through.
Yes, I'm gonna quickly sear them and then literally throw
them in the casserole at the very end.
JAMES It's not like duck though,
so if it's too rare it's gonna be a little gummy.
Yeah.
JAMES If it's under or over, you're dead.
Gotcha.
So you broke 'em down? I'm goin' whole.
Oh really? Yeah.
GORDON I'm literally 30 seconds each side.
Look at the size of these things.
So these are one bite aren't they.
JAMES Yeah, right.
Quick taste, little fillet.
Oh my god.
That's nice. Wow. Bloody hell.
If that doesn't get my Yooper badge I'll come up here and
open a donut shack.
GORDON With a variety of new ingredients to test out,
I'm starting to fall behind.
GORDON Are you starting to plate up?
No. What you doing then?
Man.
I'm gonna plate up so I can come over
and sabotage you.
I need to catch up.
This man's moving fast my man, I'm telling you.
I can slow down.
No, no, no, no, it's not for the old man.
That bread looks fantastic.
You can't go wrong, a little thimbleberry jam on the cornbread.
Now I'm gonna finish a couple of the thimbleberries
inside this casserole here.
That's nice. Yeah.
Do you know what the big shock for me was?
JAMES What's that?
They weren't as tart as a raspberry.
No, they're jammier.
Obviously, it's a jam, but it's like more of a cooked fruit.
GORDON It's exactly that.
With guests arriving soon,
I need to snap into high gear.
Now, c'mon, think, think, think.
Whitefish.
So with the sausage, you suggest what? Grilling that first?
Yeah, you might wanna warm it up a little bit.
Yep.
So charcoals on top of the cast iron to finish the
top of the cornbread.
JAMES Yeah, I just wanna melt that butter.
GORDON I love that.
Get it nice and, you know, get a nice glaze.
Now Jerry, what you got left to do, my man?
JAMES I'm gonna plate and garnish.
I'm pretty much ready to go.
I'm still on my first dish.
JAMES Let's go, man! Let's go.
me, can we have a quick taste James, please.
Grilled succotash.
So I'm gonna serve that with the lake.
Money. I love it.
Money!
What, what does money mean?
That's a troll thing. It means you're killing it.
Oh. Okay, right.
I'd eat that all day.
If we become Yoopers today why don't you and I open
a restaurant up here?
That's a great idea. C'mon, seriously.
I love it, I love it.
What should we call it?
You'll get us our first Michelin Star in the state.
The Troll, Troll Café.
Troll Café!
No-one will come, Troll Café.
Pasties and monk jam.
There you go.
GORDON Are you ready?
Did you slow down for me?
Oh no.
You've cooked everything?
Maybe.
Okay, one of the most exciting parts now.
I'm gonna cook that lake trout.
Oh that's looking good.
My god. That looks great.
How firm is that? Beautiful.
That's beautiful. Isn't it?
Beautiful.
GORDON What do you reckon of trout?
Leave it pink?
JAMES You know, I think they're gonna probably prefer
a little more cooked through, but not well done.
Gotcha.
Smells pretty good all the way down here.
Good afternoon, nice to see you all.
GORDON The guests have arrived and seeing their
familiar faces, I'm feeling the pressure.
Last one. Woodcock. Here we go, baby.
With our table of Yoopers seated,
it's gonna be a mad dash to the finish line.
Looks fancy.
Yours looks really fancy.
JAMES Oh I dunno.
I'm tryin' to go for the, the rustic,
classic Yooper at home.
Stop it, that's what I'm doing.
Oh yeah.
Okay, woodcock dressed.
Fit for the Queen. Boom.
Right my man, please do not keep our Yoopers waiting.
You're not putting flowers.
These are local flowers.
You're putting flowers?
They're local.
Hey, we're gonna get banned from the UP.
No way.
You're puttin' a daisy chain on your woodcock.
Come on, man.
Man, bang goes the Yoopers this week.
GORDON With a table of hungry Yoopers ready to dig in,
I'm hoping James and I have done enough to impress them.
Let's go.
GORDON I'm on the coast of Lake Superior where Chef James Rigato
and I are racing to feed a table of hungry Yoopers
in the hopes shedding our troll status.
Here we go. You good?
Yes.
Man, that smells good. Hello down there!
GORDON However, only one of us will be crowned the winner
of mastering the Yooper cuisine.
Man, what a feast, look at that.
Wow, look at that. Oh right.
What a feast.
Beautiful.
First of all for me it's been an amazing week.
Let me give you a little insight to what we've got.
GORDON Start off with the beautiful white fish.
I grilled the sausage.
RON Yeah.
GORDON And then made almost like a sort of
crème fraîche, fragrant bruschette on top of there.
Next to that we got the lake trout.
GORDON Succotash that's been roasted on the grill and then the
woodcock, the illusive bird, I caramelized them with that
incredible chaga mushroom, finished with some
thimbleberries as well.
I had the smoked white fish.
JAMES Kinda doin' a Waldorf salad and then we have some wild
char roe, that's from Lake Michigan.
Down state caviar, just trying to impress you guys a little
bit, let you know that trolls are cool too.
JAMES And then we have lake trout and I, I take wild rice,
make a flower out of it and kind of pan fry it
in that flour.
JAMES A little sauerkraut, apple butter and then
fresh apple shave on top.
We got some cornbread that's all Michigan,
so the honeycomb, the butter, the buttermilk that's in it,
the thimbleberry jam.
And then the woodcock as well, besides chef makin' fun of me
for putting flowers on my dish,
they're a little bit of caramelized ham with some
lovely stock and then a little bit of pickled mustard
seeds and onion.
GORDON Mm, I love that.
Brian you look 20 years younger with no beard.
Yeah, well I figured I'm comin' to town,
I gotta shave for you, Gordon.
You look immaculate.
You know it's Uncharted , not The Bachelor .
You know that, right, just in case you thought you
auditioned for the wrong show.
Amazing. Please enjoy.
HEATHER Thank you so much.
BRIAN Ooh, this looks fabulous here.
That's lake trout.
A tough table, huh?
Foraged in the four seasons up here.
GORDON But Captain Ron's munching away, isn't he?
JAMES He's still eating, yeah.
Which is a good sign, right?
It is a good sign, they seem happy.
I really like James's white fish.
RON Yeah.
It was, I think that was phenomenal.
Gordon's was a little bit too tart for me.
This reminds me of salmon. It's so good.
I'm kinda likin' James's myself.
They're serious.
JAMES Yeah.
Aren't they? It's quiet now.
What do you think they're thinking now?
I mean they're smiling, I see smiles.
The woodcock is the best of everything of the
whole meal I'm thinking.
Oh that woodcock, I mean man that's good.
I think I like the woodcock with the beets just a
little bit better from Gordon.
James's woodcock is a bit overcooked.
Tasted more like wild a little bit, too much wild.
DUSTY The cornbread, I just had a taste of it
and it's fantastic.
Oh It's awesome, yeah it's really good.
Man, looks like they're done. Shall we?
Yeah. Let's go.
Well.
Well from up there it looked like you guys were happy.
Yeah. Very.
Everything was excellent.
Superb, superb food.
Great. How was the white fish?
RON To me it was good.
It was somethin' like my spread that I make
and I did like it.
And then my trout...
...see I don't like sauce on my trout.
I liked his trout better.
Right, no sauce on the trout.
I ain't no sauce man.
It wasn't a sauce it was a puree.
In Yooper talk it was a sauce, okay.
Oh sorry, gotcha, okay.
Nobody, nobody would say puree.
No, okay. Yeah, true.
You warned me about that didn't you?
I'll tell you what, the best of the best was this right here.
Hey!
Which is the, which is the woodcock with the beets.
It was extraordinaire.
Great.
It's hard to say ooh this one's a little bit better
or that one's a little bit better,
but we did a little bit of a vote here, so.
Uh-oh, okay. I gotcha. Okay. Come on.
So by a very, very slim margin...
Gordon's the winner.
Oh see, I told you. That's good.
BRIAN Very, very slim.
You won it with that right there.
We all went with this right here it was like,
the woodcock's superb.
If you had everything to go this is out of this world right here.
Cooking alongside this super-talented chef.
Yeah.
The big question is are we a step closer to becoming Yoopers?
Yeah, you're gettin' there.
No more trolls.
You're definitely, you're definitely honorary Yoopers for sure.
BRIAN Excellent job.
RON You did it.
I knew it was gonna be good in the UP,
but I didn't realize it was gonna be this good underwater
and on ground.
So thank you for making me fall in love with the UP.
Chef.
Hey. Continued success.
Thank you, appreciate it.
GORDON Take care all of you.
God bless and show some love for those trolls.
Yeah, all right.
GORDON What an amazing journey it's been crossing the
stunning Upper Peninsula.
Whether it's diving in those beautiful waters,
hunting those tiny woodcock with my furry friends
or even grafting with those incredible monks.
And I may not have become a Yooper,
but I sure as hell damn got close.
Now I'm goin' back down the road,
joining the trolls and on to my next adventure.