MING: This week on Simply Ming, we're on the road, this time cruising down the Rhine with a stop in Rüdesheim, Germany, home of amazing vineyards.

This show is all about wine, brandy, and a fantastic fish called char.

But first, we'll be riding up this amazing gondola with spectacular views, then explore the vineyards of this beautiful town on the Rhine.

We'll then be cooking up local char with chef Fritz Pichler.

He'll be making potato fritters to accompany the char.

Let me guess, caviar on the sour cream?

Yeah.

MING: I love it.

And I'll be making crispy-skin char with a brandy foie gras sauce.

It's all coming up right now, here on Simply Ming.

♪ ♪ MING: I'm here in Rüdesheim, Germany to meet 15th-generation wine maker Adolf Storzel.

They've been making wine since 1647.

Right here are some of the riesling grapes that they grow here.

Oh, my God.

Perfect time of year to be here.

It's like nectar of the gods, it's so good.

Rüdesheim am Rhein is actually part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, so this land is protected, and it goes on for miles and miles and miles.

And I know his vineyard makes more than riesling.

There's Müller-Thurgau, and he even has pinot noir.

Let's go taste some wines and meet Adolf and see what he's got.

MING: Adolf, Ming Tsai.

Hi, Ming, how are you?

MING: Really nice to meet you.

Your vineyards are beautiful.

Thank you.

MING: Right, unbelievable.

And I want to try your wine.

May I?

Talk to me about them.

Okay, we-- I prepared for you five different types of wines.

MING: So what is this grape, the first one?

This is a 2016 called Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz, a very simple name after a couple of wines.

MING: And the grape is what?

Riesling.

A good 80% is riesling.

MING: Ooh.

Prost.

Prost.

(sniffing) It's a fine nose.

MING: No, so no wood.

Stainless steel only.

No, stainless steel, yeah.

And it's a bit crispy, a fine balance between the acidity and the sweetness.

You don't taste only the sweetness.

You don't taste only that it's medium dry-- it's like harmony, we call it harmony.

MING: Harmony and balance.

It's delicious.

Love it, all right, let's try another one.

So, obviously, your name's on the label-- Adolf.

Yes.

MING: You're Adolf, so-- 15 generations, how many Adolfs in those generations?

Only two or three.

MING: Wow.

Because my grandfather's name was Adolf, my father's name was Heinrich, and my son's name is Benedict.

MING: But the company's name is Adolf, never changes.

The company, yeah, the company should be that.

This is now something different.

It's lighter, less acidity, and it's a light taste.

We call it like a summer wine.

If you compare it with the first wine... MING: It's just a touch sweeter, barely.

Like two or three bricks, barely.

I would say, in the German language you call it medium, or mild.

I would say the best English description is "smooth."

It's not-- MING: But "off-dry."

We use "off-dry" too, right?

Delicious.

Okay, keep going.

You finished the glass.

MING: Yeah, well, that's-- Now we've got something-- MING: I'm just being courteous to you, Adolf.

Yes, your house.

So, this is now, some people call it a rosé, but this is a white harvest.

MING: A white harvest?

Yeah, like a blush in the States, but in Germany, a white harvest means-- into this grape, it's a pinot noir grape, maybe it's a little bit sweeter like... MING: It's a touch sweeter, yeah.

It's much more fruity.

MING: Much more fruit-forward.

Yeah, and you taste the Burgundy grape in there.

MING: I mean, again, these last two, especially for spicier foods-- Mexican, Chinese, Thai.

Yep, yep.

MING: It's fantastic.

It's a perfect start to have a dinner.

MING: I agree.

Okay, I look forward to this, let's try this red.

Now, this red is a bit different.

MING: Okay.

Because at first, Germany is not famous for red wines.

MING: Here, I'm going to cleanse my palate with-- do you bake these here?

Are these locally baked?

No, we make little things, but I'm a wine grower, I don't eat the pretzels.

(laughter) MING: Oh, you eat them every now and then, no?

No.

I tell you, I'm fed up.

Now, this is the pinot noir, a German-style.

German-style means, look to the color, it's ruby red.

MING: So light.

This means you can see-- you hold the glass in front of your hand.

You can see the hand behind the glass.

If you're drinking an American red, a Merlot, or Spanish red, it's black, dark.

MING: You can't see anything.

Dark.

The bouquet is different, less nose.

The alcohol content can be the same like French or Spanish wine, but our red wines taste lighter, elegant, slim.

This makes it more dangerous, because this little red one here, we do have 14% by volume.

It's dry, but dry in an elegant way.

MING: Cheers.

Cheers.

MING: Delicious pinot.

Right, and much different than French pinots, right?

It's so much lighter.

The wines you taste today, they are typical for this district.

MING: Mmm, mmm, mmm.

I got one little surprise for you-- yeah, you should have a... MING: I've had this delicious-- what do you have?

A local brandy, which is famous all over the world.

MING: Bring it on.

We have to change the glasses.

MING: Okay, what do you have-- oh, nice glassware.

You have to take this, please.

MING: Thank you.

I tell you why the glasses are different, in a second.

MING: Okay, very interesting.

So what is this brandy called?

This is Asbach Uralt.

MING: And, you make it?

Or you... everyone enjoys...?

No, this is made from a local family here, and they do this in 125 years.

MING: 125 years, and what's so special about this brandy?

This brandy is created-- and you do it in this way.

MING: Okay.

Hold the glass like this.

MING: Okay.

Shake the glass.

MING: Okay.

Wait.

Twenty-one, 22, 23-some seconds.

MING: Okay.

Take the top... (sniffs deeply) ...smell the brandy.

MING: Whoa.

And then you drink some out of the brandy.

Cheers.

MING: Cheers.

MING: Oh, that's good.

It's made out of wine.

MING: I mean, you could make foie gras terrine out of this.

I could-- I'm going to make a foie gras sauce out of this.

Danke schoen.

Thank you very much.

Dangerous.

MING: Yes, dangerous.

To danger!

We're going to go cook now.

I'm going to use this brandy, but Chef Fritz and I are going to do some stuff, actually, on the boat.

Check it out.

MING: I'm here with chef Fritz Pichler.

Hi, Ming.

MING: Chef, so great to be with you, cooking.

I like-- you're doing a little champagne cocktail?

Yeah, that's always before I start cooking, I drink a glass of champagne.

MING: Let's do it.

I love it.

Today, one of my favorite drinks.

MING: So is that, what, cassis?

Yes, you're right.

MING: So, kir royale, beautiful.

So what-what is the dish you're cooking?

I'd like to know.

I want to cook a very traditional German dish.

MING: Okay.

Especially of this area we are cruising now.

We call it reibekuchen.

MING: "Reibenkuku"?

Reibekuchen.

MING: And that means?

That's shredded potatoes.

MING: Okay.

It's like a potato fritter.

MING: Nice.

And the traditional side dishes, when you combine it, is applesauce.

MING: Applesauce?

Sweet applesauce, yeah, or sour cream.

But I would combine it with a nice marinated river char.

MING: River char, awesome.

I'm excited.

All right, we got it...

I think it's okay.

MING: Perfect.

To you.

Cheers to you.

We got to work.

Ah, oh, that's good, Fritz.

All right, what can I do for you?

What can I prep?

Okay first we start with the potato fritters.

I have to shred the potatoes.

MING: Okay.

Then I mix it with flour, eggs.

MING: Right, yep.

Season with salt, pepper.

MING: Okay.

And white onions.

MING: So, I mince that?

Yeah, please.

MING: Okay, all right.

Doubly fine.

MING: Super-fine?

Okay, got it.

So, I assume, in your homeland, you eat a lot of potatoes?

Yeah.

(Fritz laughs) MING: It's like my rice, right?

I eat a lot of rice, you eat a lot of potatoes.

A meal without potatoes is more or less nothing.

MING: It would be... (laughter) So, super-fine, right?

Yeah, please.

MING: Okay.

Half of one or a whole one?

Half of one is enough.

MING: Okay.

We're going to try three pieces for one portion.

MING: Excellent.

All right, so all these onions?

Yeah, please.

MING: Okay.

I like it, I like-- that's a lot of onions, that's good.

All right?

Super.

You always say super.

MING: Super?

Yeah, that means perfect.

MING: Super!

Then we add a little flour.

MING: So that's just to get the moisture out of the potatoes?

Yeah, only a little.

MING: All right.

More than enough.

MING: Okay.

Okay, then the eggs.

MING: One or two?

Ah, we start with one.

MING: Okay.

See what that looks like.

Now give me the second one, please.

MING: Second one, okay.

There we go.

Pepper, too?

Pepper please.

Normally, you can... MING: That's good.

So, do you actually-- do you just-- you keep adding flour until it looks right?

Or do you let it sit some?

As you see, one egg would be enough.

MING: Right.

So it's no problem, we add a little bit more flour.

MING: Here we go.

And some more potatoes.

MING: Check.

Still more, maybe?

Yeah, some more.

Watch your fingers, please.

MING: Yeah, we don't want red.

Okay.

MING: All right, that's good?

Oh, yeah, it's fine now.

MING: Okay, perfect.

So now we let them rest a little bit.

MING: So how long is that going to rest now, Fritz?

Oh, a couple minutes, five, six minutes?

MING: All right.

We start with the river char.

MING: We have your beautiful char here.

Okay, so how are you going to do it?

So the bones are removed already.

MING: Okay.

So now, remove the skin.

MING: So we could use salmon, if we don't have char, right?

Of course you can use salmon.

MING: Right.

Or any fish, for that matter.

But char is a local fish, you know, and of course I want to use local stuff.

MING: Yup.

You use local products.

MING: Here, I'll take that.

So now we cut off the thin part.

MING: Which you use fo r tartare or something, right?

Of course you can use for tartare, for salad, steam it, whatever.

Now you cut nice pieces.

Not too thin, yeah?

MING: Right.

Like this.

MING: So, on the bias, right?

Give it some flatness, got it.

Okay.

MING: Beautiful.

I mean, some of the best fish dishes ever are the ones not cooked, right?

(laughs) Really, it's... MING: It's true.

Okay.

MING: All right, then what?

Okay, now I marinate them.

MING: Okay.

Take that.

I just put it on the plate.

MING: Right.

Some extra-virgin olive oil.

Just a little.

And some Asbach Uralt brandy.

MING: Ah, some of the brandy.

Local stuff from Rüdesheim.

MING: I like that.

A few drops.

MING: Wow.

That looks good.

Salt.

MING: Right.

Interesting, so you're building it below the char.

Yeah.

MING: And pepper, okay.

Like it, like it.

So, and a little bit lemon juice.

MING: Yep.

Just juice, okay.

More than enough.

So I put it, the lemon juice now, because when I put the juice on top of the fish, it's getting a little... MING: You cook it too much.

You cook it too much and it's getting white, so then I take a brush.

Mix them up a little bit.

MING: All right.

Okay, fish on top.

MING: That's beautiful.

Looks awesome.

Some lemon zest.

MING: So, zest on top?

Okay.

This is looking good!

So these you want to marinate how long?

Yeah, that's just a couple of minutes, I like it-- MING: What, five minutes?

Eight minutes?

Yeah, yeah.

So, when I eat it... when I cook it for myself-- MING: Right.

Yeah, one minute, it's more than enough.

MING: Okay.

I like it raw.

Okay.

Turn this on for you.

A little veggie oil, okay.

And how long do these potato cakes take, usually?

Well, around three, four minutes, each side.

MING: Okay.

Nice golden brown and crispy.

We'll wait until the oil is hot.

Not too big, one spoon.

MING: Nice, I like it.

It's as good as scallion pancakes.

Some more here.

MING: All right.

(mouths words inaudibly) And one more.

MING: All right.

You hungry?

MING: I'm hungry.

I'm a chef.

So these take, probably what, five... five minutes a side?

Yeah, maximum, maximum.

MING: Maximum.

All right, so four minutes a side.

All right, so when we come back we're going to have beautiful pancakes and we're going to finish plating up this local char dish.

Yeah.

MING: Stick around.

Okay.

MING: Those look good, Fritz!

Whoo!

Golden brown and crispy on both sides.

MING: GB and D. Yeah.

MING: Golden brown and delicious.

Trying to teach all these Europeans GB and D. Pull them out.

MING: Fantastic.

A little salt on top.

MING: Of course.

Just like good French fries, right?

Awesome.

All right, what else on this beautiful dish?

Now, a little sour cream.

MING: Okay.

What do we do?

So just crème fraîche or sour cream?

Can you do this for me?

MING: Sure.

Crème fraîche, of course.

MING: Crème fraîche.

Whole thing?

A touch of olive oil.

MING: All of it?

I love olive oil.

MING: Okay, all right.

A little salt.

A little pepper.

MING: Okay.

And our magic... MING: Ooh, a little of the brandy, okay.

I like it.

Uralt brandy.

And now you can add some dill or whatever, but I want to put it on top.

MING: Okay.

The same like I when I put-- MING: Here, I'll chop it up for you.

You finish plating, chef.

So you want what, sliced or minced?

Make it minced very fine, please.

MING: Very fine, okay.

Yeah.

MING: Are you turning the fish?

Marinate a little bit on the top side.

So shiny.

MING: I love that.

Yeah, they are looking really good.

Some of the lemon on top.

MING: All right, chef, a li ttle bit of a fine mince here.

Very, very simple, easy dish.

But, believe me-- perfect.

No, I'll do it later on the plate.

MING: Okay.

Okay, now we can start plating.

MING: Let's do it.

What do you need?

The plate.

MING: Oh, this isn't the plate?

No, no, no, no, no.

MING: I thought that was the plate.

I thought you were just going to plate it on this.

No, because I don't want to have to...

The fritters in the oil, you know.

MING: Okay, here we go.

Okay, just place the fritters.

MING: Okay.

On the plate.

Salmon on top.

MING: Okay, I'll help you.

Anywhere?

Each two pieces, however.

MING: Beautiful.

Liking what I see so far.

Okay, now some spots... ...of the sour cream.

MING: Let me guess-- caviar on the sour cream?

Yeah.

MING: I love it.

We have enough?

MING (laughing): I think we have enough.

I think we may have enough.

Oh, God, and where is this caviar from?

That's Russian caviar, Malossol Sevruga.

MING: Sevruga, my favorite.

Okay, that should be enough.

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

That's good.

Fresh dill.

Onions on top.

MING: All over?

Yeah.

Fresh dill, I don't like it fine.

MING: God, these look so good.

This looks so good.

Ah, Fritz!

Cool, huh?

MING: That is fantastic.

Give me a second.

And at the end...

Lemon juice.

MING: This on top.

Olive oil.

MING: You don't want this dish to end, do you?

(laughing) Good?

Yeah.

MING: That looks, awesome.

All right, but before we get to sit down in your beautiful dining room, you have to be my sous chef.

I'm going to take this same local char and cook it up.

Okay.

MING: All right, stick around.

It's a pleasure for me.

MING: That looks beautiful.

Cool, enjoy.

♪ ♪ MING: I can't wait to try your dish, chef.

It looks so good.

So, I'm going to take that same local char, sear it, cook it through, make a foie gras sauce with that great brandy we found, right?

Yeah.

MING: And some cauliflower rice.

So if you could just slice the garlic and slice some shallots, we'll get that going.

And then grate the cauliflower, please.

Okay.

MING: Here I have just ca ramelized shallots in butter.

I'm going to add some brandy and give it a good little flambé.

(sizzling) Right, that'll burn off the brandy, right.

Yeah.

MING: You want to burn the brandy out because there's alcohol, bu t you want to leave the flavor of the brandy behind, right?

So then, this, we'll mix that in, let the brandy... And I don't want to reduce it all, because you want to save some of the flavor, right?

So that's about as much brandy as I want to leave.

Then I add some nice, dark chicken stock to this, and heat this through.

All right, so that's going to be the base of my sauce.

Okay.

MING: I'm just going to put a li ttle bit of fresh thyme in it.

So, have you ever monté au foie?

Sorry?

MING: I'm going to transfer this to there, and make the foie gras sauce, instead of monté au beurre, I'm going to monté au foie.

One of my favorites.

MING: All right, so all we have to do is bring this back to a simmer.

Now go to the blender.

Perfect.

Okay.

MING: Fritz, throw it in here, let me give you just a touch of butter.

Okay.

So now we have some garlic and shallots.

And then if you could please grate the-- Grate the cauliflower?

MING: And I'm going to come in here, Fritz, we're going to turn this on and make the foie gras sauce.

I'm going to take this nice lobe of foie-- this is foie, by the way, for those who may not know.

And this looks like A, right?

It's more-- it's clean already?

MING: Yeah, it's pretty clean.

So we're just going to take pieces of this foie...

This is goose, no?

Yeah, sure, sure, no, it's goose.

MING: All right, so this is just delicious and rich.

Going to have a few pieces like this.

I'm breaking it up because I'm going to add it to the hot liquid.

So now we're going to-- I'm going to turn it on.

Watch out for a little splatter, Fritz, just a little bit.

All right, so we have that.

That's cooking.

MING: Now we're going to get this nice and high.

I want to turn this high now to really puree it.

(blender whirring faster) And then I add foie gras.

Like this.

And that.

This enough?

MING: Yeah, that's perfect, Fritz.

All right, so keep adding foie, so we're monté au foie here.

Fritz, give me a little salt and pepper in this, please.

Okay.

MING: On top.

There we go, perfect.

Awesome.

Pepper.

MING: A little pepper.

Oh, yeah.

This is going to be good.

Now we can go high on this.

(blender whirring faster) All right, we're done.

Let's see what this looks like.

Let's give it a try, Fritz, see what you think.

Voila.

Oh, I love that.

(laughing): I think that's so good.

What do you think?

I can't even make it better.

(laughter) MING: I love it, okay.

So now, Fritz, in here we're going to get our fish cooking.

Okay.

MING: And a pan, right here, just wipe this off.

Grab my fish, right here, for me, chef.

Okay.

MING: All right, chef, go ahead and give me the cauliflower rice in there.

This is just garlic, shallots, and butter.

Yep, throw that all in.

You ever do cauliflower rice before?

No, never.

MING: Easy, right?

Very easy.

MING: And then, chef, do me a favor, zest one lemon in there for me.

Okay.

MING: And then give me the juice of that same lemon.

Okay.

MING: What I'm going to do, is I'm going to season-- a little salt, a little pepper.

Get it on this side too.

I love the skin of this fish.

I'm going to make it nice and crispy.

I never remove it.

MING: Yeah.

Well, except when you eat it raw.

Yeah, true.

MING: So, a little butter in a pan.

Perfect, chef.

All right.

Skin side down.

Okay.

And skin side down.

All right, so this is only going to take three more minutes, right, this cauliflower rice is so quick.

And this Arctic char is going to basically cook on the skin side almost the whole way and just kiss the other side.

So, four minutes, we're going to plate this dish up with our foie gras brandy sauce.

Baby!

MING: All right, it's been three minutes-- oh, yeah!

That's what I'm talking about, chef.

All right, we can plate this up.

I'm just going to put a line of the cauliflower rice down the middle like this.

All right.

Then, chef, I'm going to ask you to carefully pour the foie gras sauce around this island of cauliflower rice.

I have this great char.

Here we go.

Yeah, like a velouté.

Parfait.

Okay, switch, here I'll give you this one here.

Thank you.

MING: Switch it up.

I'm just going to lay this right on top, like that.

Very minimalist.

Cool.

MING: That's it.

Not even chives or chervil.

Let's go to the table.

It's time to eat.

Au table.

I'm looking forward.

MING: Cheers to you, chef.

Cheers.

MING: A little local riesling.

I can't wait to eat this.

Yeah!

All right, here we go.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Go, try the hot, see what you think.

I'm trying yours first.

Oh, my God.

The crispiness of the cake is awesome.

Potato and any fish is fantastic.

But just the simplicity, with the crème fraîche and the caviar, and the deliciousness of the char.

You taste the fish.

Yeah.

MING: Which is the point, right?

And in the background, the brandy comes through.

What do you think?

How's that?

I told you already, great.

I really like this combination.

The foie with fish?

This one's a simple, easy dish, very tasteful.

MING: And the rice.

If you're not eating carbs, you can eat all the cauliflower rice you want, right?

Oh, my God.

Yeah, you-- oh, you haven't tried it yet?

No.

MING: Freaking delicious.

You're awesome, chef, thank you so much for everything you've done.

You've trained a lot of good people, we've had some amazing meals.

So to you, cheers.

Thank you very much, Ming.

MING: Danke schoen.

And to you all, danke schoen, merci bien, and thank you for watching.

And, as always, peace and good eating.