Epic Seafood in Peru - EXTREME COOKING SKILLS in Chorrillos Fishing Village in Lima!

Hey everyone, hope you're having an amazing day. It's Mark Wiens, I'm in Lima, Peru, and today we are going to Chorrios. We're in Chorrios, which is a district of Lima known for its fishing community. And so today we're going on a seafood Peruvian tour. We're gonna walk around Chorrios. We're starting at the fish market. We're gonna see the boats. We're gonna hopefully meet some of the fishermen and go on a boat ride, and then afterwards, we'll be going to a local family home in Chorrios, learning about the history, and they will prepare a Peruvian seafood meal for us. Are they pelicans? Chorrios is kind of on a little peninsula. It's not really a peninsula, but a little outcropping of land. Oh, you have a view of the bay, of the water, of Lima on the cliff. They get fed well around here. This guy's huge. Hey, guy. We're beginning at the artisanal Mercado Pescado, the fish market. This is where they have a fish market. They are selling seafood. This is the fresh catch of the day from the boats, but this is also where fishermen depart, where fishermen leave. The boats are docked here. Alfredo was explaining to us that this is an association, so the fishermen gather together and have created this market to benefit the entire community of Chorrios. Which one is the best for ceviche? Is it the sole? For ceviche, actually, you can try anything as long as it's very fresh. Okay. But many people prefer the sole. The sole? Yeah. The market is fantastic. Just kind of low-key, relaxed, fresh seafood. You can feel that it's community-driven. So, you can see there the name Jose Silverio Olalla. That is the name of this association, and it's also the name of one of the most important heroes here in Peru. It's considered a hero because he fought for Peru during the independence war of Peru. He used to take letters from this pier to the main port of El Callao. It's like 15, 17 kilometers. It's really cool. Can you give us one? Yes. Thank you. Just came around offering leche de tigre, which is the, it's like the dressing, the milk of the tiger, but the dressing of the ceviche, which is a combination. It can be a combination of things. It can be especially lime juice, especially garlic, sometimes other spices, but also mixing with the fish, with the juices, the seafood juices. Oh, man. Oh, that's pretty. Maybe it's not the absolute best ceviche you'll have, but that's delicious. And I just, I really do wanna drink it. Oh, that's so good. It's really like onion-y, garlic-y. Wow. That's delicious. The juice is good. Oh, yeah, there's like cabbage. This really is all about the leche de tigre, though. That's like, that's your beverage of choice. From here, we're gonna walk out towards the pier, and Alfredo has arranged for us to take a boat. I love this area already because of the views, and you see the fishing boats, but then across the water and above the cliff, you can see the skyline of Lima. I think that's especially like Barranco and Miraflores just rising off the water, off the cliff. We are gonna take a quick little boat ride to see the ocean, see the views. It's wonderful, and the weather today, it was kinda cloudy in the morning, but now it's clearing up. The sun is shining. It's a great day. It's good to get out into the ocean just for a little bit of a different perspective, but something I wanna share is that Peru is rich in food, but rich in seafood, especially because of the cold water currents off the coast of Peru, and so that's what makes the water so rich, so fertile, so abundant with seafood. Massive pelican birds. They fly pretty gracefully. Boat ride was great. We're now walking back to the pier, and then we're gonna walk into the village, into the community of Chorrios. This is the old part of Chorrios, the community of Chorrios, and this is where we're gonna walk into the community. We're gonna see, visit one of the main men who makes boats, makes the boats, all of the boats, and also go to the family who's gonna cook us lunch today. His family is the same family we're gonna visit. Oh, okay. They're relatives. This family's been living here in Chorrios for many generations. This is the adobe. Ah, still made from adobe. Yeah. Stepping down another side street here. Already you can see the frame of a boat, the skeleton of a boat here. We must be getting close to where he is making the boats. Families, many of the people in this area revolve around the sea, and revolve around fishing. It's a fishing community. The man, the person who's building. Se puede presentar usted, por favor, con el señor. Su nombre. Yeah, mi nombre, Wilfredo. His name is Wilfredo. Wilfredo, okay. My name, my name. Mucho gusto, mucho gusto. Cool. And he's the main guy who makes the boats for all of Chorrios. He makes the boats for all of Chorrios. He's the only one, there's no competition for him. Cool. We can get inside. Okay, it's everything still made by hand. It's an art, it's a skill, it's very cool to be able to see this. And this is right, still right within Lima. These are all fishing boats rather than transport boats, and it takes at least one month per boat. He said one of these boats can handle two tons of fish. They heat it with fire, and then the steam rises, there's water, they put the wood inside of a pipe so that it heats, it cooks, and then they bend it on this like sawhorse. Very fascinating to see them at work, to learn about the ship building, boat building, and how it's been in his family, his father, his grandfather were all carpenters, were all making boats. Okay, cool. Gracias. We're moving more into the community, up a flight of stairs to the family, Crayola family, who is gonna cook for us, who we're gonna visit. Up the stairs, down an alley. In Peru, we have this Crayol family, Crayol culture, that is a fusion of Spanish traditions, indigenous traditions, Afro-Peruvian traditions, and all of them blended in something that we call Crayol. And so they have interesting activities like what we are going to see right now with a fight, with a fighting cocks. So if you say like a Peruvian Crayol, it's really a combination of, right now it's a combination of the people from that have influenced Peru. And most of them live in the coast. Okay. In the coast of Peru. Okay, cool. Okay. Hola, como estas? Hola. Bienvenido. Gracias. Micah, look at the rooster. They raise a lot of fighting roosters here. It's been part of the culture, and so he's just gonna show us some of the roosters, the beautiful roosters that they raise here. When the Spanish arrived here, they brought the roosters. And there are different breeds, you know, from Spain, from Asia, also from North America. And here in Peru, there are lots of breeds from everywhere in the world. You can see the muscles here. Because he's exercising all the time. He's running. Because this is like a gym. And he said out of 400 roosters that he had, this one is the only really friendly rooster. But you can feel the muscles. You can see that beak, the head, the feathers. It's really a beautiful, gorgeous, gorgeous rooster. It's just like a maze that just winds its way up. Oh, and we made it to the next road up here. Wow. The view of Lima from above here. Grandmother of this family is an excellent cook. Okay. But she's already too old. But her sons are really excellent, and they had the idea to open this very small restaurant on the top of the house. That's awesome. So this is their restaurant too? Yeah, it's all part of the house. This is actually where we're gonna eat. This is an amazing location. It's like kind of like a lean-to shelter over the chicken pens, overlooking the Chorillos, overlooking Lima. They taste like powdered milk on the inside. Amazing. Is that pisco? A ver. Getting ready to make the ceviche, especially with the scallops, with the, is it called lenguado? Lenguado, which is the Peruvian sole, Peruvian sole fish, which is the one-eyed flounder. It's a type of flounder, I believe. And then also some of the squid and shrimp. These are the ingredients that we're going to use to cook, right? Of course. And look, this is a cream of yellow chili pepper. This doesn't have a pungent taste. I've already removed the chili pepper, I've already removed the pungent taste so that it has aroma, that flavor. It's like sweet. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you very much. Thank you, thank you. If it's too spicy for you, then we'll add the mixed ceviche. I'll squeeze some lemons. Look, look, lemons. Excellent lemon. Brought from Chulucana, from the north of Peru. First, he took the mix of seafood, the squid, the octopus, the shrimp, and the fish, he put it all into a mixing bowl. Then he added some of the rocoto, which is a type of chili, pureed. Then some of the aji, pureed chili. He squeezed in like about like five limes into one portion. That smells. It smells unbelievable. Wow. Oh, wow. Two more. You gotta try that, man. Oh, the ajo. Wow. You can see the liquid turn to like milkiness from that fish. So now we're going to proceed with our ceviche de pescado. We're going to add some salt, secret of Peru, some garlic, good garlic, very good. Garlic in there is standing out. Rocoto. That's very proper to here, because they don't put ajo in there. Only rocoto. Coriander, or culantro, as we call it. One of the main ingredients that he adds, which is different from other versions of ceviche that I've had, is ajo, like paste, garlic paste, and you immediately taste that when you take your first bite and even the aroma, there's so much garlic in it. Okay, Marco. Oh, wow. Blown away. This is the man. He is the ceviche man. Your name. Timor. Mm. Gorgeous ceviches, and some of the more vibrant, some of the more garlicky, some of the more like colorful ceviches that I've seen. Okay, I'm going to dig into this, the shrimp, the squid, the fish that's in here, and that dressing, though, the onions, like just this one, that dressing is just unbelievable. You can smell the lime juice, that leche de tigre. It looks like orange juice because of that yellow chili. Mm. Oh, wow. Juice. That juice. One thing I forgot you gotta do is, let's do a spoon and put some concha. Oh, yeah, okay. You need to have some of the concha part. Good idea. Try that scallop with some of the corn. Ooh. Oh, he made the tiradito. Okay, so another dish that I've been waiting to try is called tiradito. Kind of like ceviche, but different at the same time, and it does have Japanese influence, so the fish is sliced Japanese sashimi style. The main difference is that it's the aji amarillo paste, just that yellow chili paste, and you can see it's like pure yellow. Then, he said there's some lime juice in there, and that's mostly it with some cilantro, and then the fish is just like soaking in that marinade, in that puree of aji amarillo. Oh, thank you. A chunk on top? Okay, that's okay. I got it. Look at the color of that. Wow. Stunning. Is there milk in that? There is a little bit of milk. Maybe a little milk, okay. A little bit of aceite of oil to make the paste, to make it nice and creamy. There's not as much lemon as in a ceviche. You're right. So much more. Not quite as salty. Almost has like a cheesy taste to it. Wow. This is really good. And the garlic. Yes, you can feel the garlic. And that's specifically Luis Casa, his signature garlic, because you don't find that much garlic in other places as much. Wow. That's stunning. That's stunning, exactly. Wow. That's stunning, huh? And then, next place we have ceviche, this is the Peruvian sole ceviche, but again, it's red, like the color of watermelon, because of all the rocoto chili in there that he used, the paste, and then tons of garlic paste in there as well. Let's try this one. Yes, I do. This time, I want you to take the choclo and bite it like this. Okay, after, like you take a bite of ceviche and then eat some of the choclo, okay. Cool. With the onions, with the cilantro on top. And also, this one, he did just sort of slice the fish as well, rather than cube it. Yeah, I like it sliced like this. If you slice, you kind of maximize the flavor that can get into it, right? He's got the choclo ready. Garlic, that just shines in there. Nice and fresh. And then chase it with the corn. Oh, I like the silkiness of that corn. Milky. Mm-hmm. It reduces a little bit of the lime and the power of the rocoto. And when you taste everything a little bit all together, I think you'd die and went to heaven, seriously. Mm. Yes, that is right. Let me add a few chilies here. And then you're gonna want to taste every bite with that leche de tigre. You can just re-juice in your mouth. The re-juicing of ceviche is taken to another level. That is, that's all. Oh, yes. Nice, nice move. Don't ever forget the ketchup. How's the food, Alfredo? Oh, it's awesome. I really love it. I love Luis, really excellent chef. Of course, the food is insanely tasty, but when combined with this environment, oh, man, that's a place you don't want to miss. The way he cuts it is amazing. Combinacion. Mm. I like that one. That chef, my guy. Chef. Mm. That's the fun part. Mm. And with the sweet potato. Mm. Yeah, I would say. Okay. Para hacerle la demostracion de un sudado de lenguado, si? Vamos a echarle ajo. Ají amarillo. Okay, ají mirasol y pasta de ají amarillo. Okay? What is the difference? La diferencia, eh. Oh, the dry and the ají mirasol es seco, o sea, es, eh. Claro, el ají mirasol es seco y el ají amarillo es fresco. Damos una salsa base. Salsa, nosotros le llamamos salsa madre acá. Si, esto tiene tomates. Tiene otra especie de ají también, que es ají mirasol. Tiene tomate, cebolla. Poquito de sal. Volteamos el pescado siempre, si? Echarle para que salga bien. Okay. Vamos a meter un poco de caldo de pescado. No. Fondo de pescado, si? Esta yuca viene de la selva del Perú. Es una raíz, pero contiene mucho almidón. He first took some onions, simmered them in some oil. Then he took two different pastes, the ají amarillo, the dry of that chili paste, and then the fresh of that chili paste. Pureed. Put that into the sauce. Then some of the, like a tomato paste with some garlic. Then he added in the fish bones, which he seasoned with salt and pepper. And then finally he added in the, some of the caldo de pescado, which is the fish stock. And then finally some pieces of yuca, which is cassava. Que rico. Marco, super rico. Gracias. Taste test. Que rico. You feel that, the texture of the yuca? Yeah, slightly gummy. Yeah, it makes it creamy. Very, very slightly. And like the fish bones. Muy rico. Muchas gracias. He just doesn't stop adding in ingredients. Yes. Ají amarillo. Mucho importante. Most of the dishes that he made right now would not be possible without the ají amarillo. What a dish. Okay, it is time for this main dish. And this is his passion, his love for the cooking, and his like expertise. My favorite move is his lime move, where he puts it into a squeezer and just like smashes it mid-air. Oh, look at that. I'll give you a whole piece of fish. I just cannot believe Peruvian juices, Peruvian food juices, they're like just unbelievable. I'll definitely be re-juicing throughout this plate. The onions, the, wow. What's outstanding about this is just its pureness. Its freshness. And just like, it's just good. So good. What's funny is this dish, I love it, but I always forget about it. There's so many choices in Peru, but here it's been so long I haven't had this, and it's so easy to make in your house too. This is a great way to use all the fish to it, not throw away any of those bones. Want some rice? Yeah, sure, thank you. Like right inside the center there. A little bit of rice to sop it up. Cool, that's good. Thank you. And then also come and eat it with rice, which is perfect. It's the jaw of a donkey. Donkey's jaw. The teeth that make the sound. There's no meat inside anymore, like muscle, so they are like this. That could be the coolest instrument ever. That is amazing. Goodbye. So we're just jumping into the van just for a little bit, just to drive up the hill, I believe, to go to one final location. Oh wow, the breeze. You can see, and we're on like, there's ocean on one side, there's city on the other side. The breeze up here, the statue of Jesus Christ, and the coolness, but just like the barren, barren land. Beautiful at the same time. And so right here at the top of the hill, overlooking the ocean, overlooking Lima, this is the perfect place to end this video today. It's been a fantastic day, and a learning experience, and a totally different, off the beaten path, yet normal life experience in Lima, and I wanna say a huge thank you to Alfredo for being our guide, for bringing us here. This video is not sponsored. I paid for this tour, but it was through Alternative Peru, and they have some very cool off the beaten path tours. I would highly recommend them. I'll have their link in the description box. It was just, overall, just such a fun day. I will have a playlist that you can click in the link in the description box below, including all the Peruvian food videos, since we've had some incredible food in Peru. So if you haven't already watched all those videos, go check them out below, and I wanna say a big thank you for watching this video. Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below. I'd love to hear from you. If you're not already subscribed, click the subscribe button, and also the little bell icon so that you get notified of the next video that I publish. Thanks again for watching. It just got really, really windy, and I will see you on the next video. Beautiful, beautiful.