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Look at the meat to blubber ratio. Mhm. That seals the deal. This is Greenland, where the most important food in the country doesn't start in a kitchen. It starts in the wild. Today we're going out with a local Inuit hunter on a seal hunt. The way Greenland has fed itself and survived for thousands of years in a land where almost nothing grows. If he's successful, we'll eat it the local way, barbecued on a rock right here in the fjord. Yeah, doesn't get more authentic. Then we're bringing everything back to town and handing it all to a Greenlandic chef to cook a dish you've probably never heard of, the national dish of Greenland.
Good morning, René. Good morning. Oh man, somehow I feel underprepared, underdressed. We're like ready for a day at the beach and he's going seal hunting. It's a little bit of a cloudy, cold day in Nuuk, Greenland, and before we jump onto a boat, which I think is going to be an open-air boat, so it is going to uh intense. But it's really important to know a little bit about the culture of Greenland and how Greenlandic Inuits have survived for thousands of years. First of all, Greenland basically has no farmland, and so things cannot grow, and so people have survived partly and mostly because of wild animals,
hunting, and especially marine animals, since we are on the fjords and we are surrounded by the ocean. Uh we're going to learn a lot more as we go, and if you watch this video, if you continue watching this video, I want you to be as respectful to the indigenous people, the Inuit community of Greenland. I'll tell you this firsthand. I've been in Greenland for a couple of days already and there's no other culture that respects nature, the land as much as the people of Greenland. And I'm very excited to learn more and to share with you about one of the most essential, most important food sources for Greenlandic Inuit.
The seal has been the primary food source all the way back since the first the first Inuit people migrated to Greenland 4,500 years ago. Especially has been the very most important throughout the survival of our culture. Hi. Good morning. Hello. This is the crew here. Yep. All right. So our plan is to put you guys in your suits. We're going in a small open boat all day, so it'll be more cold than it was yesterday. Okay. And then we're sailing down south um trying to reach an area where you usually go seal hunting. Today's about patience and skill. Like the seal hunt is a difficult one. Requires some patience and maybe a couple of tries. But the
outcome is to catch some seals, huh? Right? Yes. So how much room do we have for how many seals? Like if we catch like five or six seals, would that do? I think we just have to catch one. That's the goal. Right. And then we'll take it from there. Okay. Yeah. Let's get the first one. Woo! Okay, that is a cold breeze. And we are off. Yeah, so as we were driving past they spotted a seal, so now we're just having a look around to see if it pops up like the head will pop up in the water. When we hunt the seals, if we have a
good shot, we'll take it. Uh-huh. Usually what we always do is like you kind of tie it down. So as soon as it's up, it's trying to get the air it needs to dive again. So the faster you are at shooting at the seal, the less air it gets. Ah, okay. And it has to stay up longer next time. And if you shoot at it fast enough again, it doesn't get much air. So you try and do this maybe a couple of times, depending on Of course, if you hit it, then you're just good. If you don't, it will dive. And then next time it has to stay up a bit longer. Mhm. Then you have more time to really hit it. So it got quite a lot of air. Now we just have to wait again to see where it pops up next.
Ah, so we're just like tracking it right now. Yeah. So we lost that one, but we'll move on. Yeah, we are in very good, very experienced hands here, though. Seals Yeah. are usually more difficult to hunt because you don't know which one you're chasing. Okay. Very large. Ah. Too big? Too big. We've just kind of got to be patient and wait here. Wait for the waters to settle, keep scouting. But you're starting to see like the calm glassy surface even though it's cloudy today.
It's just stunning. The harmony of the nature in Greenland. And as we wait a little bit of a coffee break. Oh, yeah. That hits the spot. Oh, that's great. Oh, man. So good. So, inside these packs we have some Greenlandic snacks. Nice. Dried red fish, dried cod, dried whale. Hunter snacks. Yep. While we waiting for the waters to calm just have some coffee and some snacks and enjoy it. Yeah. Thank you. Woah. That was like oily. Like dry and then bite down and like the oils come out of it. Mhm. It's like super dry and cottony almost like Yeah, like dense cotton candy but then when you bite it like transforms back to fish in your
mouth. And oiliness. Mhm. So good. Yeah, what would be the ideal size for hunting and eating that you're looking for? The small ones. The size in about um 50. 50 kilos? But they get really big like up to 100 or 150 kilos? The biggest seals they weigh 200 plus. 200 plus? I have seen a 200 kilo You can't find seals that weigh 400 kilos but they are like a different species of seal.
Oh, Okay. huge. Too big, too difficult to handle. Yeah. Have to be all five of us trying to Yeah, put it in the boat. We were pursuing a couple of seals, but they were too big, so we've moved on. But yeah, this is the life in Greenland. You can get things from supermarkets, but they're not always guaranteed, and especially during winter, products are not coming in. And so, hunting is a part of life here, and it's not commercial, but it's sustenance. It's survival. Another one. Didn't that feed, huh? Oh, we're still tracking it, tracing it. Oh, yeah. It's getting tired. chance. Okay. tired.
A couple of shots, we're getting really close. Huh? This might be it. Oh, yes, it is. Woah. Got it. Yeah. Yes. Wow. Good job, guys. All right, that's a good size. It's going to taste super well, and we're going to make Yeah. traditional way of cooking the seal. We'll put it up on the back of the boat Uh-huh. and cut it open Okay. so it can bleed. Ah. Yeah, and it'll bleed out, and then meanwhile, we'll find a nice place to go on shore.
Uh, and then we'll start cutting it open and prepare it. We'll head straight to the nearest shore rock to prepare it. Traditional way. We make the hole first. Okay. here first. Oh, so that's the skin and the white is the blubber? Look at that layer of blubber. Insulation. Have you been hunting seals all your life? Actually, yes. I caught my first seal when I was um 9 years old. 9 years old?
Yeah. 10 years ago. 5 years ago. Traditionally, the skin was extremely important for all sorts of things and for even for making kayaks, uh which were traditionally used for hunting as well. But then you open it up and just the amount of blubber and fat, that's what the like insulation of a of a seal. And it's really just fascinating to see the traditional process. Oh. Yeah, I think it's the Yeah, gallbladder.
Yeah. And that's the liver. It's a washing. The tradition is to take a bite of the blubber and the liver raw straight from the seal. [snorts] Mhm. Hey! Yes, the slurp. Ah, what are you going to do? Mhm. Go, Christian. All of a sudden coriander sounds like a good option. You doing it? Mhm. I think it was easy to I could have chewed it down, I think. Awesome. Ah, gone. Nice. Good job. Mhm. Thank you. And you just kind of suck it in.
Mhm. Wow. Oh, that is as fresh as you can possibly get. The liver is sweet and almost nutty. And then the blubber has like a chewy nest that kind of dissolves and kind of liquefies in your mouth. Wow. That is an experience. Right out of the seal. And from here we'll move over to behind the rock building a Greenlandic traditional style cooking rock with fire. So, you build a fire, then you find some flat rocks, build a little grill, and then we can grill the seal meat over the hot rock barbecue Greenlandic style, the traditional way using only everything natural.
Yeah, it's the best way with some of that blubber to like grease the rocks as well. Wow, this is such a unique such a cultural educational experience. Man, all that seal is on the hot rocks. It is flaming. It's hissing. It's crackling because that fat is just melting on those hot rocks. Oh, that smells amazing. Cooking in its own fat melted blubber. That is going to be so good. So tasty. The meat that's ready off the grill. This is combination of blubber and meat. Right off the fire. Oh. Oh, wow. Oh, that is so tasty. Oh, I think the best piece is with a combination. You get a little bit of blubber.
A little bit of meat. Oh, yeah. It gets like fatty and juicy. Charred on that fire. Mm. Now, that's tasty. And also, not only is it like meat and protein and nutrition, but it's also full of essential vitamins, the seal. I think vitamin D, vitamin B12. And the local Inuit diet, um there's not a lot of plants that can be eaten. And so, your vitamin sources need to be coming from a lot of animal protein sources and also a lot of mammals from the sea and seal is one of those animals that provided nutrients for thousands of years and still does. Next piece of seal. Right off the fire. Oh. Mm. Oh. Oh, that is cooked like it's the tenderness.
Mhm. Juicy, moist, and fatty, and so rich. Absorbed with that fire and that flame. Oh, that is so tasty. Oh, man, the grilled one is amazing. This is a real Greenland food experience. Yeah. It doesn't get more authentic than this. Oh, this is So, we head out in the morning. yeah. We go on the hunt Mhm. in our open boat. We catch the seal. We find a place to prepare it. Make a fire. Just on a rock in the middle of Yeah. new ocean.
Not many people get to try it, but that's the way our ancestors they used to do things as well. Oh, mamak means delicious, right? Mamak. Mamak, man. Oh. So, fat blubber meat combo. That's the best pairing right there, the best bite. insanely tasty. Locally, you say mamak? Mamak. You got If you really mean it. You got Oh. That is so hot. Flaming off that rock. That natural like salinity, salty flavor, the fishiness because seals eat fish. I can't believe how tender it is, too. And the importance behind this meal, a very rare
experience that it's a privilege to have and an education, a glimpse into the Greenlandic Inuit culture, and then the respect for the land and for the animals that live on it. And by the way, this view is just this location. We're just on this rock outcropping in the fjords. The water is so calm. Massive glacial mountains in the distance. They're stunning. Okay, I'll suited back up, ready to go, but leaving nothing behind. The entire animal has gone to use. And yeah, respected the way they've always done here. Here we go. Back to Nuuk. I think it's about a 45-minute boat ride. Yeah. Thank you to the whole team, Raw Arctic.
Thank you very much. Christian, René. Thank you all. Yeah, that was a an incredible experience. It really was. What a day. Yeah, what a day. Thank you, Isak. Thank you so much, Isak. Thank you so much. It was really amazing you. It's important to emphasize one more time that none of the seal is going to waste. All of it is being taken home. Going to be some happy families eating seal, but all of it is going to be consumed. Also, we're bringing some seal back to Chef Aqqalu, who's actually going to prepare us one of Greenland's national dish, another dish using some of the seal from this trip.
Let's do it. Uh we're we're back at Hotel Hans Egede, yeah. with Chef Aqqalu and going to get started on the preparation for the dishes. We also have some reindeer and some halibut to cook as well. And some traditional Greenlandic dishes. Yeah. Like I mean, he's just going to make two suaasats. Okay. The fish version as well as the meat version. Okay, fantastic. It's simple. It's what? Five ingredients? Tomatoes, rice, onions, salt, pepper, of course, and the main proteins. Yeah, that's the rib section.
We're going to cut individually Okay. through the seams of the ribs. So, this I'm also going to add to the soup. Oh, okay. It's a lot of flavor. Oh, it'll melt into the broth. Yeah, seal fat. And just put them in the boiling water and we should be almost all done with the suaser. Okay, awesome. All the ribs, all the chunks of meat, cubes of seal. Goes directly into the pot. It's just going to have a good time boiling, becoming nice and tender. So, while we wait for this Yeah. we're just going to work with the fish.
Yeah, sure. Okay. Woof. Huge chunks of halibut. These are like the cute ones, the small ones. If you go up north, they get way bigger. Yeah. These are small halibut. So, right now our pot is nice and hot. It's ready for few ingredients before the fish. And the difference is here the other dish we put our meats in first and on the other one we put our ingredients in first. So, you put the potatoes, rice and onions in here before you put the fish in. Okay. A lot of onions. Yeah, great. Oh, and rice goes in, too.
Now, we just wait for it to finish where the potatoes and rice are nice and tender. Okay. Yeah. So, now I'll season it. So, the after I will put the uh fish in and it's ready to serve. Okay. And the aroma salt? Yes. Aromat? Aromat. Aromat? This is going to cook like really quickly. Yeah, okay. And then it will be done. Then we will be done and ready to serve. All right, awesome. So the fish version of the suaasat is just about ready cuz once you put that fish in it just takes a like a few minutes to cook. We'll start with that as the seal is still boiling. But the seal is going to get
like the same pretty much the same ingredients. Just skim off that blood and the potatoes and the rice go in and the onions and then just boil it down until it's cooked. Exactly. And it's good? Yeah. Okay. And you so you don't need to boil the seal for that long actually. No, it's you just need to boil it and leave it. So it just becomes nice and tender. And it's good. Ready to serve. Cool. There's also the That's curry powder, chef Igo? That is curry powder, yeah. So that would be also coming to eat with the soup?
Yeah, I can really use it. Put curry in it. You can put some bay leaves in it. You can put extra spice in it. Okay. Nice. It's nice and easy to like just manipulate and work with. Very cool. Yeah, however you like it. We're sitting down for the meal now. The fish version first, the halibut version with the seal is still cooking. But yeah, this is really like simple but hearty, warming, comforting. It's something that's like dear to the Greenlandic hearts and diet and it's like just something like you can already tell it's going to be so warming for this weather and it's
something that everybody enjoys I think. And you can make it with so many different proteins. Fish and yeah, again the seal is on its way and also the reindeer is on its way. Just want to taste that broth first. Nice. Really it's just onions, potatoes, rice and then the fish, and then some seasoning, salt and pepper. Mhm. Let's see. I don't mate. Oh, that's wonderful. Oh, so soothing and comforting and warming. But, there is another seasoning you could add, which is also very interesting, and it's like straight up just curry powder, which you can add to
your to your soup. Oh, fish is fresh and meaty. Mhm. Going to add a little curry in there. Curry powder, yeah, straight up curry powder. Oh, man, that smells good. Curry powder, turmeric. Completely turns orange from that turmeric. Green lentil potatoes. Yeah. Oh, wow, yeah. With that curry powder, that gives it a boost. And yeah, Chef I'm going to say that it is quite common to serve it with curry powder.
It was a nice seasoning touch, that blend. Oh, that really brightens it up. Mhm. The halibut is like so firm, it's almost like chicken. So, right now, this seal is done. Yeah. The potatoes are done, as well as the rice. Okay. We're going to give it a little bit of seasoning, and it should be ready to serve. Sounds good. Round number two. It's kind of thickened as well from that rice and seal blood. So, what we're going to do, I'm going to serve it. I'm going to take some of the meat out, you see the ribs. We're going to serve that on the side for you guys,
where you have your own plate. Okay. Cutlery to the meat like that. And then you have the soup on the side. Exactly. Okay. Seal is ready. These are the ribs with the blubber. Oh, that smells delicious. It's going to be really good. Yeah. It smells fresh. It is fresh. It is exactly fresh. Yeah. Oh, man. You can see like the dark meat with the chunks of blubber all together in one. Look at the meat to blubber ratio. It's like 50/50.
Blubber to meat. Oh, you're talking about meat here. 50/50. 50/50 blubber to meat. Thank you. Seal chocolate. Thank you, Chef Aqqalu. Good morning. This is special. A comfort food, uh, a national dish, national food of Greenland. All those seal ribs from that fresh seal, the blubber. And then you can cut off that blubber, and then you can kind of mixing bites of the blubber plus bites of the meat. But while we are at it, before we do that, I think it's an absolute must to just take a whole bite of the rib. I'm going to try to get a little blubber. Little blubber and meat in one bite.
Seal rib. Mhm. Oh, wow. Oh, that is tender. Oh. That seals the deal. Oh, it melts in your mouth. It's like a beverage almost. It turns to liquid. It's so liquidy. And then the meat itself is so rich. Mhm. When it's boiled like that, it's so tender. It is. Yeah. It gets to just have a good time in the pot. It just becomes tender by time. Almost like livery, too. Yeah.
Actually, it takes on kind of a livery texture which is smooth and Mhm. Oh, that is delicious. And it's such a red like so dark. Not too gamey, not too fishy, not too irony, but just a good balance of flavor. Oh, my first ever seal rib. And then you can cut it into pieces as well as eat it with mustard. The meat, combine it with pieces of the blubber. Get a little mustard and eat that all together. That Dijon mustard actually compliments it extremely well. What a combo.
Just again, that combination of the creamy livery seal that's so tender, plus that fat that liquefies and gives it so much fatty flavor. And then you eat the soup on the side which has a really like dark, almost like chocolatey color to it with onions, potatoes, all that seal fat has been melted blubber giving it that flavor, that aroma. Oh, has this like natural sweetness from the meat. The richness of that seal fat melted down into that broth. The rice is tender, the onions give it a little sweetness as well. Oh, it's so good. So fresh, so meaty, so natural.
Mhm. And the other thing again is it's so warming. Like it's it's a dish that's made to combat the reality of nature, the harsh living conditions, the extreme cold. Um it's like nourishment, it's vitamins, it's nutrition, and it's comforting. And now moving on to that reindeer that we bought at the market earlier today, searing it in a hot pan, and just keeping it natural. That smells incredible. That's such beautiful meat. You will have a nice piece of meat of the reindeer on the bones. Oh, yeah. Okay, awesome. It's going to be a protein experience.
Yes, a protein experience. Why? Our good ancestors here in Greenland couldn't grow a lot of like vegetables or potatoes and like that back then, so today you're going to get some meat and some sauce and a little bit of extra potatoes to see if you get full. And here we go. Next course is the Greenlandic hunter's tray. Wow, that is impressive. I think we have all you can eat reindeer. Awesome, thank you, chef. That's going in the game. It's huge. This is a Greenlandic hunter's platter. And oh man, it is beautiful. It's like half a reindeer on a chopping block. Served with potatoes, served with gravy. It's What a
presentation. It kind of represents Greenlandic food as well because everything is natural the way it is. There's not a lot of seasoning. There's no nothing to cover up the natural flavor. But just like all meats and proteins in Greenland, nothing is farmed or raised. Everything is wild. Everything's organic and natural. And it all comes down to the final course of this game meal that we've had. It's going to be all you can eat reindeer. This has to be probably the coolest way ever to eat reindeer. Just taking it right back to nature. Everything is about nature in Greenland.
Mhm. Oh, the tenderloin. Fresh, lean. So good. Yeah, reindeer is such a quality meat. And we just happen to be here at the time when it's reindeer season, so It's like you go to the market, everyone's gone off to hunt reindeer. Like it's a tradition that almost like literally like families go out hunting for reindeer. So we're here at the reindeer season. Mhm. Such a good meat. And the way it's cooked is just preserving the natural flavor. Nothing's covered up. But now it's time to dig into the gravy.
Oh, yeah, chef said that's brown butter with cream. Oh, that is rich. Wow. Oh, that gravy is incredibly rich. Yeah, it does go really good with the game. Mhm. That is some tasty reindeer. Oh, now for the potatoes. All the layers with crispy bits. Mhm. Potatoes are amazing. Mhm. Oh, so good. What a perfect combination. Finishing with that meat mountain, but that was an incredible meal. Experiencing the national food, the national dish of Greenland. All the way from the start to the finish. And I think what really stands out to me is
just how much respect and how living in harmony with nature is part of the life of the Greenlandic people. And thank you for watching. Remember to check out the video the next video we're eating a lot of traditional and delicious Greenlandic food that you're not going to miss. Go check out the next video. See you there.
