South America's Most Dangerous Seafood!! What Even Is That??

In this video, I'll be risking my life taking on the most dangerous food, a food that could potentially kill me, here in Santiago. I'm talking about seafood street food. Let me explain. We all love seafood. The danger occurs when the seafood is taken off of ice and held at room temperatures for long periods of time. This often can happen with seafood that is served on the street. Last time when I was in Peru, not so far from Chile, I had some sidewalk ceviche and then food poisoning. I lost five pounds. So did I learn my lesson from Peru to stop eating seafood on the sidewalks? Absolutely not. Today, I'm at it again. We've come here, Mercado Central. Inside, they've got a fish market and they have tons of restaurants serving seafood. My body is a test subject and it is here for your entertainment. Let's go inside and see what happens. Surely, everything will be fine, right? Boom, we've come to the part where the fish are before they cook them. This is where all the people from these restaurants, they come here, they get their fresh fish, they take it back to the restaurant, they cook it up. Our goal right now is to look for the most unique, interesting seafood that stands out. Let's go for it. Chile is renowned for its diverse seafood, but let's dive into something truly unique. All right, I've been invited over here with this gentleman. This is Rono, he's a fish seller. Come here and take a look at that. This marine invertebrate resembles red squishy organs inside a rock. Here, they call it piore, prized for its salty, slightly bitter taste. It's also known as the poor man's viagra. So I am told that these are actually the gonads of certain type of shellfish. Basically, rock balls. Oh, he's gonna do it. Oh, okay. Well, he seems to like it. I guess that's good enough. Okay, thanks. Bye. It tastes a little bit like mussels, but very raw. Whenever guys do this after eating food, yeah, it means stamina in the bedroom. We have found another interesting, actually a quite bizarre food here. It's called pico roco. What's wild about it is it looks like a series of rocks or coral, and then inside there's like a claw sticking out. Okay, what the f**k is that? If you google pico roco, you'll discover macabre videos of these living rocks, with what looks like alien life forms that have burrowed inside them. By the end of this video, I'm gonna learn how people eat these and find out if they're worth the risk. Oh, and it just peed on me. This is very disturbing. I want to eat it now. Hopefully, we can find this being served in one of the restaurants. I'm hoping that this could be the last thing we eat today, and maybe it's the last thing I'll ever eat pico roco. All right, guys, we've come into our first kitchen right now. This lady, she is a maestro in the kitchen, and she knows exactly what she's doing. I've ordered food, but first, a drink. I've caught her in the middle of the process of making this special drink. As she's making it, she's calling it viagra. You know, that might be Spanish for viagra. You know what that does? Let's see how it's made. A lot of pieces of the ocean cut into a glass. I saw some shrimp going in there already. This is the rock balls we had already just a moment ago. This is the puree juice. Right here, we have some mussels going in next. Oh my god, look at the glasses. They're just big, murky, and brown. It looks like brackish water. Oh, she's not done. There's more ingredients. This is garlic and olive oil. Surely, that doesn't... Okay, it does. Yep, that just goes right into the drink. This is the most insane drink I've ever seen in my life. If I'm being honest and speaking from the heart, it looks a little bit disgusting. But I'm gonna try it. Why not? So I'm gonna order this. I'm gonna get one more food. Let's try them both out. All right, folks. This is my first meal of the day, actually. And this is gonna be my first drink of the day. I have never seen anything so wild. I almost rather I didn't see this get made in the kitchen. I'm not expecting anything good. I'm just doing it. Oh my god, it's so much liquid. And it's pretty briny liquid. It's like putting lip balm on every time I take a sip. I'm gonna get in there with this. All right, time to take a bite. The Viagra won't work unless you have it all. It's weird. No happy ending here. This is brilliant marketing. This is how you get guys to eat anything. You know what that grandma told me? She said, careful not to tip over the table after you drink this. That's hilarious. So that, it's fantastic. And I'm gonna save it for later because I don't want to tip over the table or have any other mishaps. Have you ever had this sober? I've never been sober. Okay. Let's talk about this food. This is called chupe. We tried a version of this in our last video. That was chupe with cow stomach. Now it's filled with every one of Ariel's friends under the sea. The chupe. It all starts with cream. These are shellfish gonads. These seem like they go in everything. Mix the gonads with the cream. Minced mussels head into the bowl. Right here, we have some raw clams. And that also joins our other ingredients. Next, we have some camarones. Boom. That comes over here. Light up the stove. Butter joins the clay pot. Then some olive oil with garlic and a little bit of salt. This is gonna be very rich. So far, this is looking a lot better than the Viagra. I have to say, it's looking more appetizing. Next up, she has the Chilean bread that she's mixing with milk. Now that combination of bread and milk is heading inside of our pot. She's mixing it, rotating it, making sure everything cooks all the way through. She's gonna layer the cheese on top. Oh my gosh. A thick fortress. An impenetrable layer of delicious cheese. Oh, I guess she did penetrate it. Never mind. Oh, she decorates the top with a few camarones. Some more of those gonads on top. Some mussels as the centerpiece. This is why it's important to go into the kitchen. Because if you just saw the top of this and just saw a slick of cheese, you'd be like, what's the big deal? It has everything inside, including that bread with the milk. You have to see it being made to fully comprehend what this dish is. There's a thick layer of cheese on top. That's my favorite part. Now, hot seafood is kind of my thing. I prefer to eat my seafood, not drink it. Okay. The gouda, it's very thick. I mean, it's super cheesy. It's a strange combination of cheese and seafood. I like it. There are some bouncy bits, some briny bits as you're eating it. It's a bit confusing trying to figure out what you're actually chewing on. Because they have some of those gonads in there, some mussels, some shrimp, a little bit of everything in there. So this is our first course right here. This is one heck of a way to start the day. There is a lot more seafood here though. Also, the goal by the end of today is to try the pico locos, the little ham coming out of the rock. The smell of it's still on my hand and it smells like manure. Chile is known for its dynamic seafood scene. They have the Chilean sea bass. I'm very excited to see what a Chilean sea bass looks like. Oh, I've asked over here. Come take a look at this. I had no idea. I thought they would look more like a largemouth bass in Minnesota. That's big. Locally, this is called corvina. Now, you'll notice one thing when you come to this market. All the fish are dead. It's a big departure from Asia. They love the seafood to be alive, swimming, still staring at them. This is certainly not alive at all. Right here, crabs. Oh my God, I've never seen a crab so full of eggs in my life. I'm not sure what the practices are around sustainable crabbing, but it seems like if one of them has a million eggs, they should probably throw it back in the water. At least throw the eggs back in the water. Hey, kids, we're taking your mother, but do your best. And we have come to our second location right here. Take a look. Pailas Blanca. That is a restaurant opening. And that's more raw fish over there. I love it. It's like right next to each other. So here, let's take a look at what they've got. They have another Viagra-type drink. I'm good. But they also have shellfish cooked with Parmesan cheese on top. And then they have my South American arch nemesis, el ceviche. Last time, Ferru got the best of me, but I was on a sidewalk. Now, I'm at least 10 steps from the sidewalk. I should be fine. Oh, you missed. You got to get it all the way to the front, man. Oh, yeah. We don't want your hair. Yeah, we don't want any of that hair getting in the food. Guys, we finally found our way to the kitchen. Right now, I'm here with Steven. So right now, we're making ceviche, and it starts with the base of very fragrant sauce. Let's get into it. Right here is the blender. Inside, it's going to get a little bit of lemon juice. And all our vegetables and seasonings are going inside, including green pepper, onion, chili, garlic, and ginger. Now, some cilantro. Oh, what? From here, some fish went inside. And then ice. Is this a smoothie? Now, he's putting in some cream. I don't know if I'm getting ceviche or a raw fish smoothie. This is very confusing. So we got a little bit of salt, a little bit of seasoning joining the pot. Then some pepper. Turn that on. Covering it with his hands. Very nice. Right here, he's poured out some white fish. The fish is, in fact, raw. He takes that sauce. He pours that on top. He's going to grab some purple onion. Hit it with a little bit of cilantro. Cut some green pepper. Toss that on top. Wow, it's starting to look really pretty now. That is Steven, and right there is his ceviche. All right, guys. We are making our second dish in the kitchen. This is called machas. It's a type of shellfish. This is crema being poured for our next dish. Right here, we have some white wine. Ooh, in a box. My favorite. Next, we have some butter going inside. And right here, the cheese. Creamy mixture goes inside first. Then he puts a generous portion of mozzarella cheese onto each one. From here, that goes on top of the stove. He's going to fire that up. And in no time, these guys are going to start melting. He puts a lid on top so it'll melt faster. And we are going to see that at the table. Goodbye. Boom. Okay, we have our second course right here. This is my seafood redemption tour with the ceviche. I'm not going to start with that. Let's talk about this. And these are machas a la mozzarella. I'm going to pick one of these up. They've cooled down a bit, but the shell is still quite warm. And you can see that little muscle inside has cooked down. Cheers. Oh, that's really good. The clam is surprisingly meaty. It's small. It's shrunk up a bit, but it has a nice firm texture to it. Oh, man. It tastes a little bit like ham. This is my favorite combination of seafood and cheese ever. It's absolutely delicious. I love it. Then we have this. Now, first of all, he made this kind of a paste in a blender. And in that base sauce, there was fish. So there's already raw fish in that sauce. This is certainly raw. You can see because it's like translucent. My only issue, it's a very tiny issue, is that this was sitting in a pan with no ice or anything. It was just sitting there. Scents. What time? I don't know. Would I eat this ordinarily if I wasn't making this video right now? No, no, I wouldn't. But you got to live. Life is for the living. So let's die. I don't know what my point is. Let's eat some raw ceviche. Worst case scenario, I lose a little weight and I look hot like Josh Hartnett. Cheers. Delicious. Sour, aromatic. Even there's some interesting flavor profile notes coming from the celery that's been blended up in there. And the coriander is super fresh. Big, soft, fleshy chunks. Very flavorful. Nice, crispy bits of onion in there to break up the texture. It is absolutely delicious. Last time, it was also delicious. And so I ate the whole thing. I love it. For me, this is a 10 out of 10 meal if I don't die. Tomorrow, I'm going to let you know if I made it. My favorite thing about this place is if you look up here, this sign, it says El Delfin Dorado. The Golden Dolphin. But where is the dolphin? That's what I want to know. ¿Dónde Delfin? The dolphin means. Ah, no dolphin. I have eaten dolphin. It was in the Faroe Islands. It was legal. I had it with a friend. That's why it's okay. No dolphin here. Good. Another food that I've not seen before. At least this species. It's a species of abalone. Come and take a look. They're pretty funky looking. You can see they've already ripped it off of the shell. But this is beautiful, thick, dense meat. Also, these are called locos, which also means crazy. All right, folks, we've come to our third location right here. It's called Pailas Marisol. First of all, they have some nice looking fried fish. That's probably my favorite way to have fish is to have it fried. So I'm going to be trying that plus one other dish that's a little bit strange. This is kind of like a sea urchin soup. We're going to go in the kitchen and see how they fry this fish. This is the owner right here. Hola. Can I come in? Here is the door. We are headed into the kitchen. Hola. Hello, everybody. Oh, tight squeeze. I believe the process has begun already with some eggs going into a stainless steel bowl. That gets a dollop of salt and pepper and garlic paste. Oh, man. She uses her fingers as a whisk. So right here we have our conger eel. She rubs it down with some garlic paste, hits it with some salt and pepper. Oh, wow. Now all of that gets dumped into the egg wash. And then from the egg wash, it's going right here into the flour. She makes sure everything is nicely coated all the way. One by one, these are going to drop into the fryer. That is where it's going to become nice and crispy. The papas have come out of the fryer. Hit the plate with some french fries. So right now she's checking on that fish. She's taking it out right now, draining the oil. That looks crispy as heck. The fish is finished. We're going to get one more dish. We will see that one at the table. It's a little bit chaotic in here. We better leave. This is a sea urchin soup, essentially. It feels cold. It looks cold. It looks like there's some onion and cilantro on top. Now, it's not always my favorite food, but let's try it out. If you didn't know, this is the gonads of the sea urchin. We've eaten it many times on this show before. I like it to varying degrees depending on where I am. Wow, it's not even overpowering. I thought it'd be like too creamy and too fatty and too intense. It's a nice balanced flavor. It's pretty dang good. I love gonads. Meanwhile, contrasting this dish, we just have straight up fried fish. Look at that. That's just like a big old fish steak. It's cooled down slightly so I can actually touch it. It's really everything you want in a piece of fried fish. And to accompany it right here, they have the most delicious garlic mayonnaise. Let's toss it back. It's delicious. Perfectly seasoned. Nice little crispy on the outside. And then when you mix it with the mayonnaise, it just ties everything together. It's garlicky. It's creamy. This is a nice piece of fish. This is our second to the last meal. From here, I'm going to venture back into the market because I want to buy some of those crazy pico rocos. What? Pico rocos. Oh, hello again. Oh, oh, oh, mi amigo. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Never shake hands with a fish guy. Never. Pico roco. It's only 2,000 per kilogram, which seems like a great deal. That's only a dollar a pound until you realize it's like a bowling ball every time you pick it up. Look at this. Oh god, I shouldn't be touching it. Sorry, I feel bad. I keep gagging. And then the locals are like, hey. And I'm like, yeah, no, it's great. Pico roco, also known as the Chilean barnacle, is a type of sea barnacle found along the rocky shores of Chile. It resembles a large shell with a thick, dark exterior and can grow up to several inches in size. In the ocean, it attaches itself firmly to rocks, where it filters seawater to feed on plankton and other organic particles. What we're going to do from here, though, is buy a bunch of these. We're going to head to a kitchen, and they're going to show us how this actually becomes food instead of a big, smelly rock. Let's go find out. All right, we have come to our final restaurant behind me right now, El Galeon. They have a rotating refrigerator full of king crabs. Yes, those Chilean king crabs look amazing. Am I going to order one? No, I'd rather eat rocks that smell like poop. Our barnacles are being taken out of the plastic bag, and the first thing they're going to do is get a nice washing. I really like to imagine that he's interrogating these, and each time he puts water in their hole, they're like, oh, where is she? I don't know what I'm doing. I don't have any water. Feeding is complete, and one by one, these are going to be dropped into this hot, boiling pot of water. And hit that with a little bit of Parmesan cheese. Just kidding, that's pepper. And a little bit of salt. Right here, we've got some white wine. He puts in some garlic cloves and some bay leaves, and then a little bit of cumin. In 20 minutes, we're going to come back to this, and then continue to the next step. Boiling is complete. It's time to take it away. Now he's going to crack open these stones, and then he extracts it. Oh my god, that's what's in there? That right there is what was hiding within this big cup of coral. From here, he throws it on top of another flame, and he cranks it up. All right, that's bubbling hot. Let's take it to the table. Here, clearly, they really know what they're doing. From boiling it, to taking it apart, to cooking it in this fashion. Now, my only issue is that I don't actually know how to eat it. Okay, I'm going to try picking up a piece. So there's two parts. There's this fleshy back part, but then there's weird, I don't know, somewhere between a mouth and a claw. This fleshy bit, I believe, is what we're going to be eating. It feels soft, tender, like very fragile. Let's go for it. Interesting. How do I describe this? Waterlogged. And I think that's because they cooked it twice. In doing so, I think a lot of the natural juices flow out of it. It's slightly sweet. It's got a little bit of that crabby flavor. Overall, the texture, interesting, unique. The flavor, it's not popping. But they brought this. This is what they're calling salsa verde. This is onion with cilantro, probably some olive oil, maybe some lime. I'm going to hit this together with the seafood, and that looks fantastic. Cheers. Oh, that one was a little bit gritty. I think we got to boil it longer next time. This is a wildly unique seafood. Overall, it's a pleasant surprise. I'm certainly not repulsed. It's not difficult to eat. It's nothing challenging. It's even somewhat pleasing. I've never seen anything like it. And honestly, I hope I never do again. Boom. Guys, today I risked my life eating seafood street food here in Santiago just for your entertainment. Today was much more fascinating than expected. When I came to this market, I didn't know what to expect. I thought it might be some of the typical fish that you always see, the same old boring stuff. But no, it was mind-blowing and mouth-blowing. Probably my favorite food today was the shellfish with the mozzarella cheese on top. That was really delicious. The final food, picoroco. Not for me. I'm glad I tried it. You know, it's fun. It's interesting. But you should try it for yourself when you come here, because it is a wild experience. Before this video ends, I want to say a huge thank you to Locify for making it possible. Locify offers customized private walking tours led by over 5,000 passionate locals. Passionate locals like this guy, Diego. Those tours are happening in over 300 cities around the world if you're looking to have an authentic approach to your tours. Kind of like a friend showing you around a city for the first time, skipping all the touristy places. Then I suggest you book a tour with Locify. Check their link downstairs in the description down below. Otherwise, guys, that is it for this one. Thank you so much for watching. I will see you next time. Peace. All right. Clock is ticking. Let's see what happens with my stomach. Oh, it's like a ticking time bomb. This could be bad. Ciao. Did I survive? Well, haters, I'm still here. If you love Indian food, then you're going to love our new channel, Best Ever Food India. Subscribe now for weekly videos showcasing the most unique street food from around the country.