- Hi, my name's Eli and I'm here to learn
00:00
my grandma's recipe
for arroz con gandules.
00:01
Abuela's Puerto Rican rice.
00:07
If there was one pivotal thing,
00:11
as a young Puerto Rican growing up,
00:13
it is the arroz con gandules,
the rice, the essence.
00:15
First off, I'm not a cook at all.
00:18
She is probably the best cook
I've ever met in my life.
00:20
That rice is like crack, son.
00:22
I was always such a grandma's boy.
00:25
I was always attached to her hip.
00:26
She was really like my second mom.
00:29
At this point about 20 years ago,
00:30
she was diagnosed with MS,
00:32
and it got bad to the point where
00:34
she was not really able to do much.
00:36
I live in Los Angeles
and she lives in Chicago
00:39
and unlike my other family members
00:41
who can come visit me, or
I can meet them somewhere,
00:43
she's pretty much stationary.
00:45
It makes me a little emotional.
00:47
I grew up in a Puerto Rican household,
00:48
but I'm fourth generation.
00:50
I don't know Spanish, I can't dance salsa,
00:52
and I can't roll my R's, arroz.
00:54
Through this experience, I
wanna feel more connected
00:57
with my roots, more
connected with my culture,
00:59
and also connect with my grandmother
01:02
who means so much to me.
01:04
What I'm gonna do is to
learn how to make the rice,
01:06
go on a shopping spree,
and cultivate my ending
01:08
with making it for the Pero Like team.
01:11
The pressure is on.
01:14
Come on with me to this journey
while I embarrass myself.
01:16
- Hey, hey, no, I'm
just calling you because
01:24
I just wanted to let you know that I am
01:27
finally ready to learn how to
make your Puerto Rican rice.
01:30
- No, I'm gonna cook for at least
01:35
six to eight people.
01:38
Cut how many onions?
01:52
- Then I'm lit?
(air horn sounds)
01:59
- Oh, grandma, love you.
02:04
- Holy shit, that's a lot of ingredients.
02:09
- Oh, I thought I hung up, I'm sorry.
02:12
I knew if I was gonna go on this journey,
02:13
I was going to need authentic help.
02:15
And who's more authentic than
Ivan, who's from Puerto Rico?
02:17
- Hi, I'm Ivan, and I'm from Puerto Rico.
02:19
- What part of Puerto Rico are you from?
02:23
- I am from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
02:25
(rolls R) Rico.
- Puerto Rico.
02:27
- I think you're jump starting--
02:29
- I'm making my grandma's
recipe of arroz con gandules.
02:33
- We all know I can't do that.
02:39
- Arroz con gandules.
02:40
- Do you feel like you're
better than me, Ivan?
02:41
I grew up going to my grandma's house
02:46
and I used to help her peel the gandules.
02:48
- That's legit as hell.
02:51
- Yep, super legit.
- Okay, all right.
02:52
You are more Puerto Rican than me.
02:54
- But it really depends,
everyone has kind of
02:55
their own style, but
02:56
I feel like the basics are all the same.
02:58
- Tell me what it's like
living in Puerto Rico
03:00
- Something that's very distinct
03:04
that I kind of miss is waking up
03:05
to the sound of chickens.
03:07
- The sound of chickens?
(chicken clucks)
03:09
- Yeah, they were just roaming
around your neighborhood.
03:11
- Are they clean chickens?
03:13
- Yeah they're clean chickens.
(chicken clucks)
03:15
- Can you just go pet them or something?
03:16
- Yeah, I wouldn't pet them.
(chicken clucks)
03:18
- All right, we have to go to aisle 20.
03:21
It says, "Latin American food."
03:23
Comidas Latina, that's
where we're gonna find it.
03:24
- [Eli] Do you feel
like you're home, Ivan?
03:26
- This feels like home.
03:28
- They got the gandules.
- Look at that.
03:29
They got gandules, baby.
03:31
This is what we need, baby.
03:32
- [Eli] Extra long?
03:36
I just thought rice was rice.
03:41
Need to make sure this is the right rice.
03:43
- So it's not extra long grain?
03:47
- [Eli] You're trying to sabotage me.
03:53
- It's okay, you know,
I don't do this often.
03:55
- I don't know, maybe you
should call your grandma again.
03:59
- She's giving you all the details
04:08
so that you don't call her again.
04:09
- Grandma, I got another question.
04:10
- Yeah, so there's two pound bags of rice.
04:15
How many pounds should I get of rice?
04:17
Maybe I'll just get four
pounds and see what's up.
04:19
- Okay, all right, all
right, love you, Grandma,
04:23
thank you, all right, bye-bye.
04:25
I think I'm bothering her at this point.
04:28
I want you to be a part of the taste test.
04:29
- Will you be a part of the taste test?
04:32
- He gets to be a part of the taste test.
04:34
- Now the pressure's on.
04:36
I'm in the process of waiting
04:39
for the pork chops to defrost.
04:40
And I fell asleep, so now today is the day
04:44
I need to serve the rice
and nothing is made.
04:48
I'm kind of freaking out, I have,
04:51
I don't know why I looked at my wrist.
04:54
I have only a couple
hours to present this rice
04:55
to the Pero Like team,
04:58
and I need to go now.
04:59
Ingredients, I gotta get the ingredients.
05:00
Right now, it's 6:30 AM,
05:05
so that means I have to be at work by 9,
05:07
which I think is enough
time, so we'll see.
05:10
I don't know if it's
too much or too little
05:14
but I got pork for days.
05:16
I've been listening to Hector Lavoe
05:17
and I feel like he's my Obi Wan right now,
05:18
as I'm cooking this.
05:21
Literally doing one thing here
05:25
and then I have to go
all the way over here
05:27
for my vegetables and
I'm going back and forth
05:29
and I'm freaking out.
05:31
I feel like I'm in an episode of Chopped,
05:32
disappointed Abuela edition.
05:34
Thyme, thyme is definitely of the essence,
05:36
but it smells fucking fantastic.
05:40
It actually is starting to
look like Puerto Rican rice.
05:46
I did that, I made it.
05:49
Even if it tastes like poop, I still,
05:51
it looks, visually, it's there.
05:53
Struggle right now, it looks great.
05:57
It's ready to go, it's ready to go,
06:00
but the issue is is that
I keep putting water
06:02
and it's not absorbing, so
it's still crunchy, it's still,
06:05
it's very disheartening
and I need to leave now.
06:09
So I have my first taste testers
06:15
who happen to be Puerto Rican.
06:17
And also, it's Ivan, he's from the island
06:20
and he thinks he's better than me, so
06:22
that really, kind of nervous right now,
06:23
so I'm hoping for the best.
06:25
- So, I had arroz con
gandules for breakfast,
06:27
lunch, dinner, Monday
to Friday and Sundays.
06:29
- I'm from Miami, so
definitely in Miami, there's,
06:33
I've tried many Puerto Rican restaurants.
06:35
- I've never had Puerto Rican rice before.
06:37
- Me neither, that I know of.
- Yeah, should be interesting.
06:39
- Oh wow.
- It smells legit.
06:44
- It looks delicious.
06:46
- This looks so good.
- This looks so good, Eli.
06:48
- I will say, I will say--
06:51
- It looks like arroz con gandules.
06:53
- It looks like arroz con gandule
06:55
and it smells like arroz con gandule.
06:56
- Esta un poco simple.
07:03
- [Claudia] I haven't had lunch yet.
07:05
- Eli, this is great.
07:09
- It's not bad, it's not bad.
07:12
It's really close, all
you need is a little bit
07:14
of salt and that's it.
07:16
- Your first time, listen.
07:17
You can get it, okay Eli?
07:18
- Arroz con gandules taste is there.
07:22
The rice is a little bit mushy.
07:23
- Yeah, it's amogollao?
- Amogollao.
07:27
- A little amogollao.
07:29
- I would throw a bunch of salt on it
07:31
'cause I'm a salty girl, but.
07:33
- She puts salt on everything,
she puts salt on ice cream.
07:34
- Do we have any salt right now?
07:36
I'll sprinkle a little bit.
07:37
- He's just standing there.
07:42
- I'm proud of you, Eli.
07:44
You're a real Puerto Rican.
07:45
- A real Puerto Rican.
07:50
- Eli, I commend you
07:53
for even making this and attempting it
07:54
and sharing it with Latinos.
- With us.
07:57
- With us that are like, we be knowing.
08:00
- If you feed this to a bunch of people
08:02
that have never had arroz con gandules,
08:04
they would say it's good.
08:06
- This is really good.
08:09
- I am shocked by how everyone's
reactions were so positive.
08:10
It really meant a lot to me.
08:16
It was kind of like I found
this kind of emotional
08:17
response to it all.
08:19
You make this food to
bring joy to someone else.
08:21
That's what my grandma's
done my entire life.
08:24
She consistently made this food
08:26
to do exactly that, to see my reactions,
08:28
to see me smile, to see me happy and fed.
08:30
And to have that
experience with my friends,
08:33
I now understand where she was
coming from all those years.
08:36
It meant a lot to me.
08:39
I think it added a new level of thinking
08:40
when it comes to eating
food and preparing food.
08:43
It just shows how amazing my grandma is
08:45
and how amazing her cooking is
08:48
'cause even a D level version
of her rice, people love.
08:49
- Hey, so I made the rice.
08:54
Everyone loved it, surprisingly.
08:57
- So it's a little bland,
it's a little bland,
09:02
but the color's there.
09:04
- I'm glad we're able to have this now.
09:10
I just wanted to say I really love you
09:13
and I really appreciate you
09:15
and I'm proud to have you as my grandma.
09:16
I just wanted to say that.
09:19
- I'm full fledged, yes.
09:33
(triumphant Latin music)
09:37
