**Discovering the Flavors and Fun of Charleston**

This is great. Ebbers is gonna ask us what we've learned. The seafood here is good. Like really, really, really good. Being on water and having a surplus of fish around and combining that with soul food, it's very geographically fitting. Yeah. Makes sense. There's some good swordfish here. There's a restaurant called Fleets Landing over there, that's really nice. It's made and prepared well. With passion. With passion, yeah. Following loads of suggestions, including Captain Jackson, we came to Fleet Landing, and ordered two of the low country specials. Gumbo, absolutely rammed full of fish, but also with the okra and the rice. And then probably the best dish was the mahi-mahi. It had like a bean and sweet corn succotash, but most importantly the Red Carolina rice. And that is an absolute staple of the Gullah community.

**Exploring the Flavors of Charleston**

Meanwhile, Jamie and I headed to Glass Onion for a Southern staple with a twist. How's it taken this long before I've eaten something resembling fried chicken. Although it's not. It's fried quail. Fried quail, green bean salad, and grits, with cold green beans, with what tastes like almost like a Caesary. Cheers. Cheers. That is fantastic. That is so tender. Before we came to Charleston, I'd had grits before, but I don't think I'd necessarily understood or appreciated them. So it turns out the Glass Onion have a cookbook, and it has everything on their menu in there, all the secrets. And by purchasing the book that has all of the secrets, it might help Ebbers forget that we spent the morning jetskiing instead of researching.

**Discovering Charleston's Hidden Gems**

Another suggestion a few of you have made is Cru Cafe, and it's quite literally an old house. So, classic Charleston vibes, with a cute little courtyard outside or inside. It's all been done up nicely. You can see right through into the open kitchen, but it doesn't matter what's on the menu, everywhere seems to serve green fried tomato, and all with their own twist. This twist, pork belly, feta, and smoked tomato caramel. It has that tartness and texture of just-cooked cooking apple. So it's also sometimes used in mock apple pie, but here you have that tart sweetness with salty cheese, smokey pork, and that smokey tomato caramel.

**Getting Moving to the Charleston**

Okay, well, hello you guys. Welcome to Diva Dance Parties Charleston. I am Baker, or you can call me Shake and Bake. And today, I don't know if you guys are aware, but we are going to learn the Charleston dance. Have a fun little routine to the Charleston. And of course, we had to turn it into a challenge. Baker was judging us to crown a winner. Here's to Charleston! Cork pops, Mike cheering.

**The Charleston Dance-Off**

(chuckles) All right. We got this. So, one, two, three, four, heel, five, six, seven, eight. Then we're gonna lift both of our feet up, and so your weight is on your toes. One, two, three, four. I'm having a great time. Have you seen Ebbers? Ooh. Twinkle toes over here. (lively music) Where would you say you're pitching us at the moment? Y'all are intermediate, intermediate beginners. No, y'all are killing it. Lively music. One, and two, and three. Hold four.

**The Winner of the Charleston Dance-Off**

So, Baker's now watching the final performance back, and she's gonna rate us third, second, and first. (chuckles) Third place goes to... I love bronze. Ebb and Flow. Ebb and Flow. (Baker laughs) Second place goes to One Two Spas. Oh! Ben applauding. And the winner is Magic Mike, with the magic moves. Mr. Charleston. All applauding. That is no achievement. (both chuckling) Thank you so much. Baker! (all applauding) Thank you. Shake and Bake. Shake and Bake, baby. Shake and Bake. Baby.

**Putting it all Together**

That's more cardio than I've done in a while, which means I'm well and truly slayed. Next time it starts to get real. And with the bar set high from the delicious food we've experienced in Charleston, it was time to put everything we'd learned into practice. We have to get this right.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hello, we are Sorted Food.We are a bunch of Brits who love our food,and today we find ourselvesa long way from homewith a huge challenge ahead of us.(intense music)- Hey y'all, I'm Amethyst Ganaway,and I'm a chef, a food writer,and a Charleston native.And in 48 hours I'll bejudging the Sorted guy'sSouthern style cooking.I love this city, so don't mess it up.(upbeat music)- Welcome to Charleston,a city on the eastcoast of South Carolina.Steeped in history,and from what we'd heard,a world class food scene.But we don't just travelto beautiful citiescasually sampling the local food, do we?No, we love a challenge,and considering we knew nothingabout Charleston's rootsand Southern style cooking,with very limited time,we did what we alwaysdo, ask you for help.(upbeat music)- So we needed to learn aboutGullah Geechee origins.- Gullah culture andGullah food specifically,come directly from the Gullah peoplewho are the directdescendants of the enslavedWest Africans that werebrought forcibly hereto Charleston, actuallyright here downtownwhere we are and very close by.And the people were ableto retain their culturalconnections to West Africa,not only through their food,but through their music,through their language, through their art.But one of the most popular waysthat people know about Gullah culture nowis through our food.- The Gullah community wherethe blacks who live in the areadescended from slave.The residential sectionin this part of townback then in early 1700,was once known as your French Quarters.From around 1800 to around 1943was once knownas the Red Light Zone,bad part of town.Well, it depends who we talking to.(crowd laughing)- The tour was amazing.We were shown all parts of Charleston,the incredible houses, and beganreally to appreciate the impactthe Gullah Geechee people had on the cityand the food scene.- Gullah food was food that was free.In other words, the food in the ocean,the food was on the land.God provided all the food.- From Alfonso'sadvice and suggestionsfrom our online community,we are able to draw up alist of foods to exploreto try and help ussucceed in the task ahead.- I would argue andsay that Gullah cuisineis probably the root of what you would seeas soul food or as a Southern food, right,on a broader scale.The food scene in Charlestonis probably one of the oldest food scenesin the United States.So much of the food that isknown as American cuisinehas its roots here in SouthCarolina and in the South,and particularly inGullah Geechee food ways.- The biggest recommendationwas, once you've done the tour,you have to eat the foodof the Gullah community.- So you have white rice,sauteed with onion and bellpeppers, with shrimp, claw crab,with the seasoning that wemake in house, okra soup.This is collard greenscooked with smoked turkey,and red rice with beef sausage,a tomato base cooked in rice.You cook it with love andthat's why it tastes so good.So, if you're angry it'snot gonna taste good.(everyone laughing)- That's where Ebbers always goes wrong.- The stove do the cooking,but you gotta cook withyour heart and your soul.You gotta be happy about it.That's the only way it'sgonna turn out right.- Cheers.- Cheers.- Okay, nice.- Yeah, that's great.- Yeah, for me, I thinkthat's a comfort blanket.That's such a comforting meal.- Can we want to try some okra stew?- Oh, we're going okra.- Yeah.(upbeat music)- So, okra, tomatoes.- It's a tomato base,but it's got somethingelse to that, hasn't it?- What?- It has got a nice spice.Alfonso said this was all the free food.- What can you grow in the ground,what can you catch from the sea,what's already there that you can use,because you don't haveany other resources.Collard greens.- (cough) Brace yourself.(cough) They do not reallytaste like vegetables.(upbeat music)- Charleston red rice.So it's a bit like jambalaya,but with more tomato paste.- Yes.- So it tastes more sweet.- It's cold.- This is so good.This is the history of the cityon one table.- Yeah.- And when it comes to our challenge,I think the important thing isthat we don't try to make it.- We can't- Because we can't make it.- Yeah.- One of the ingredients on our listwas Jimmy Red Corn.So we headed across townto High Wire Distilleryto see if we could learn about it.- There's been a recent kind of emergenceof culinarians who focusagain on farm to table,being very sustainable,and more importantly,probably heirloom ingredients.So you start to see thingslike Carolina Gold Rice,or Bennet Seed, or you know,certain varieties of corn,like Jimmy Red Corn,that were usedin the 17, 1800s,and we're seeing that revitalization.(upbeat music)- Jimmy Red Corn.This is why we're here.It was time to meet Ann,to learn more aboutHigh Wire Distillery's,Jimmy Red Revival Project.- So this is our Jimmy Red Corn.It was grown on the nextisland over James Islandin South Carolina fordecades, hence Jimmy Red.It was a famous Moonshiner's corn.Prized for its moonshine properties.Again, a lot of oil, a lot of flavour.We are very lucky here in Charlestonand the low country to have a numberof historians and scholars,and grain scientists whoare all working towardsresearching grains thatwere once in favour,that somehow fell out of favourdue to market conditions,or just not being able to make itto market in a profitable way.- Ann explainedshe wanted to focus on sustainabilityand forming a community,supporting the growthof local ingredients, althoughthere was a slight catch.- So this is the one you want,but there's literallynot enough corn availablefor you to make one batch.So, you're gonna have to grow it yourself.- So they grew some,and we are very happy that they did.(upbeat music)With all this delicious bourbonwithin touching distance,it was time to sample it for ourselves,with snacking cheese, of course.- Cheers.- Cheers.- Cheers boys.(upbeat music)- Oh.(Jamie laughs)That is fantastic.Ebbers, what do we have here?- The owner of the distilleryused to be a baker.So this is kind of theirsignature cornbreadmade with the Jimmy Redcorn, plus some crackersmade with the spent grainafter they've made the whiskey.Plus some ham from a guy down the roadwho smokes his own ham,and is the same guywho smokes the corn they use in their,that one.- The smoked whiskey.- The smoked almost Moscow style whiskey.And on the topic of grains,we've got some sorghum butter.I guess we would call itanother ancient grain,but you know, it's stillgrown in West Africa.- Cheers.- Cheers.- Cheers.(upbeat music)- And that's that thing,with corn bread always,is that cross between bread,and almost cakeyness and spongy likeness.And yet this feels likeit's been made whole grain,because you've got thatkind of nuttiness too.- To me that is amazing.(upbeat music)- Well damn.- Boys, I'm having a great time.- This is amazing.- What I'm learning here isJimmy Red Corn provides texture,not just in what's distilled,but also in the cornbread.- We're gonna make a lot of mistakesand you're gonna be theflagship of those mistakes,Ebbers, because you're thechef, you're head chef.(upbeat music)- Next on the list. She-crab Soup.So we've come to 82 Queento speak with Trista.(upbeat music)- She-crab soup, it's justa staple here in Charleston.It originated here inCharleston in the 1900s.So it's a citywide signature dish,just because everybody inCharleston has it on their menu.If you look at a lot of the menus,everybody has their ownvariation, but ours is the bestin Charleston,and we have all the awards-- All the awards to prove it.- Yes.- Cheers.(soft music)- That is smooth.- Oh.- That's like eating crab velouté.(Mike laughing)Oh my goodness, that taste of cream.- And little pops.- Thick and creamy.- Yeah, from the roe.Little pops from the roe.- And I think the finishingtouch of the sherryin the the '82 to mark the year,and address, and name of the restaurant.- Ah, stunning.- I was really confusedby the name, she-crab soup,until it was explainedand then it's reallyobvious, full of crab roe.And therefore, you only get the roefrom the female crabs, the she crabs.- Pimento cheese, Charleston staple,fried green tomatoes, Charleston staple,grits, Charleston staple,and tomato and bacon jam, a Jamie staple.This is everything.(upbeat music)- Tomato jam.- Yep.- And the fried green tomatoes.- Yep.- That combination.The sweetness of that is wieldy.- You've kind of got that tang of tomato,rather than like a sweet ripe tomato.- But I think you needit, because it's breaded,and it's oily, and it's fatty.- Well, what I'm learningis, this dish is lovedand hasn't changed in 40years since they've been open,because it doesn't need to change.- Right.(utensils clanking)- You need to eat this,otherwise it's gonna govery quickly. (laughing)- Yummy. Yum, yum.- Dig in.(upbeat music)(lively music)- Big day today.- Lots to eat.- Lots to learn.- So it's important we stay focused.- Charleston is onthe stunning Atlantic coast,so, of course, we had to get out there.- Woo!(Jamie laughing)- Ah! Ah! Ah!(Jamie cheers)- Woo hoo!- You do knowwhere we're going, right?- Yeah, we're going there.(upbeat music)Look at my massive forehead.(upbeat music)Good job, we sent Ebbers tolearn about some seafood.- Yeah.(soft music)- Whilst, I told theboys I was out to explorethe seafood scene in Charleston,what I actually meant was,I've never and always wanted toset sail and spot sea life offshore.And because we are not actuallyin charge of our vessel.Cheers. Cheeky mimosa.- It soon became apparentthat Ben had spoken too soon.(lively music)- Now we'll pick up some speed.(lively music)Two lone jet skis.Reckon that's the boysover there by the boys.(upbeat music)- Whilst Ben wasout, wildlife spotting,Jamie and I grabbed somefood from a local suggestion.So this is Shim Creek.- There's loads of restaurants oneither side of the waterwayand each one you walk pastjust has a different smell.It's like barbecue, fish.Oh, there's some boats.Jet skis, barbecue, fish.- Beer.- Yes- We really like it.(both laughing)- Cheers Mate.- Cheers.So we are at SaltwaterCowboys, a recommendation.We've got the 50 yearold recipe for crab dip,big deal, boiled peanuts,never had them before,massive recommendation, Southernstaple, have to try those,and everywhere you go it'sshrimp, shrimp, shrimp, shrimp.So we're trying thefreshest juiciest shrimp.We're hoping.(upbeat music)- Cheers.- Cheers.(upbeat music)That is fantastic.Hi, I'm Mike, I eat seafood now.(Jamie laughs)(upbeat music)- Oh, hello.- Oh, wow.- Coats, unlike any peanut I've ever had.(upbeat music)- They are excellent.I could eat these all afternoon.- Soft and juicy peanuts.- Yeah, they're soft.They've got a bitebut they're really saltyand they taste like...- What is that?- Legumey.- Yeah, it does taste legumey.- YeahLegumey is the best way I can describe it.- It tastes more like the bean.- It tastes like a bean.Look how productive we can bewhen we've got jet skis and no Ebbers.- Boop!- Southern shrimp is just perfect.- You just cannot beat it.It's so juicy and plump.It has that family cocktail sauce.- Like a roasted tomato and Tabasco sauce.That is amazing.This is great.Ebbers is gonna ask us what we've learned.- Yes.- The seafood here is good.Like really, really, really good.- Is that gonna be a revelation?(upbeat music)- Being on water and havinga surplus of fish aroundand combining that with soul food,it's very geographically-- Yeah.- Makes sense.There's some good swordfish here.There's a restaurant calledFleets Landing over there,that's really nice.It's made and prepared well.- With passion.- With passion, yeah.- Following loads of suggestions,including Captain Jackson,we came to Fleet Landing,and ordered two of thelow country specials.Gumbo, absolutely rammed full of fish,but also with the okra and the rice.And then probably the bestdish was the mahi-mahi.It had like a bean andsweet corn succotash,but most importantlythe Red Carolina rice.And that is an absolute stapleof the Gullah community.(upbeat music)- Meanwhile, Jamie andI headed to Glass Onionfor a Southern staple with a twist.- How's it taken this longbefore I've eaten somethingresembling fried chicken.- Although it's not.It's fried quail.- Fried quail, greenbean salad, and grits,with cold green beans,with what tastes like alemony garlic dressing.- Yeah, like almost like a Caesary.- Cheers.- Cheers.(upbeat music)That is fantastic.That is so tender.- Before we came to Charleston,I'd had grits before,but I don't think I'dnecessarily understood-- Appreciated.- Or appreciated it.- So it turns out the GlassOnion have a cookbook,and it has everything on themenu in there, all the secrets.- And by purchasing the bookthat has all of the secrets,it might help Ebbers forgetthat we spent the morning jetskiing instead of researching.(upbeat music)- Another suggestion a fewof you have made, Cru Cafe,and it's quite literally an old house.So, classic Charleston vibes,with a cute littlecourtyard outside or inside.It's all been done up nicely.You can see right throughinto the open kitchen,but it doesn't matter what's on the menu,everywhere seems toserve green fried tomato,and all with their own twist.This twist, pork belly, feta,and smoked tomato caramel.It has that tartness and textureof just-cooked cooking apple.So it's also sometimesused in mock apple pie,but here you have that tartsweetness with salty cheese,smokey pork, and thatsmokey tomato caramel.- Little did we knowthe day wasn't quite over.We had one more surprise in store.(suspenseful music)- Okay, well, hello you guys.Welcome to Diva Dance Parties Charleston.I am Baker, or you cancall me Shake and Bake.And today, I don't knowif you guys are aware,but we are going to learnthe Charleston dance.Have a fun little routineto the Charleston.- And of course,we had to turn it into a challenge.Baker was judging us to crown a winner.- Here's to Charleston!(cork pops)(Mike cheering)- (chuckles) All right.We got this.So, one, two, three, four,heel, five, six, seven, eight.Then we're gonna lift both of our feet up,and so your weight is on your toes.One, two, three, four.- I'm having a great time.Have you seen Ebbers?- Ooh. Twinkle toes over here.(lively music)- Where would you say you'repitching us at the moment?- Y'all are intermediate,intermediate beginners.(all laughing)No, y'all are killing it.(lively music)One, and two, and three.Hold four.(bright music)- So, Baker's now watchingthe final performance back,and she's gonna rate us third,second, and first. (chuckles)- Third placegoes to-- I love bronze.(Baker finger snaps)- Ebb and Flow.- Ebb and Flow.(Baker laughs)- Second place goes to,One Two Spas.- Oh!(Ben applauding)- And the winner is MagicMike, with the magic moves.- Mr. Charleston.(all applauding)- That is no achievement.(both chuckling)- Thank you so much. (claps)- Thank you.- Baker!(all applauding)- Thank you guys.- Shake and Bake.- Shake and Bake, baby.Shake and Bake.- That's more cardio thanI've done in a while,which means I'm well and truly slayed.(upbeat music)- Nexttime it starts to get real.And with the bar set highfrom the delicious food we'veexperienced in Charleston,it was time to put everythingwe'd learned into practise.- Wehave to get this right.\n"