Pro Chefs Show Us the Oldest Food in Their Kitchens

[Carla] Test kitchen talks, oldest food, take one.

Should I bring that other half of the sandwich up to Dad?

No.

No, I'm gonna eat it.

Go, I'm rolling.

You already ate the other half!

I know.

Rolling.

[upbeat music]

Hi guys, Gabi here in my kitchen.

I'm here to tell you about the oldest thing in my kitchen.

What is the oldest thing in my kitchen?

I'm not 100% sure what it is.

I have some extremely old things in my fridge.

Oldest food?

Wait, what are the rules?

[laughing]

I forgot.

Holy crap.

[laughing]

I feel like this is such a funny time,

because everybody is like,

really getting acquainted with their pantry,

and their refrigerator, and their freezer.

I will hold on to condiments like crazy.

I just don't throw things out, really.

I pretty much use the criteria of like,

does it look okay, does it smell okay?

And if both of those things are

the case then it's fine to eat.

It's like, stuff people gifted to me.

And yet, I haven't opened them.

I one time had a batch of celery sauerkraut

that I had made, and I kept it through two different moves.

It was still good.

I have a very, handsome collection of tinned fish.

I don't think that has anything

to do with what we're talkin' about.

But that they last for like,

for very, for very long time, so that's cool.

Should I go get it?

In my refrigerator?

Pretend that I'm going?

[Man] Walk us through what you got.

This is tamarind paste.

It expired in July, 2013.

Oh, here, this is an old thing.

For some reason, we have a bottle of Malta.

I did find one thing that had expired over a year ago.

Bread crumbs from Trader Joe's.

Sell by May 28, 2019.

If this is what I think it is,

then it is lardo that my friend

Christine brought back from Italy.

Like, smuggled in her suitcase,

and then left on my desk at work.

So this is a jar of Mother-in-law's Kimchi Napa.

Sell by five 31 20.

We've got like, over 31 days here.

Listen to that.

You hearin' it?

See it rising up?

That's crazy.

Next thing.

It's crema pistachi.

It's like Nutella, if Nutella was made out of pistachios.

Maybe I bought it when I was in Italy.

Maybe someone bought it in Italy and brought it back for me.

I frankly don't know because,

whatever happened, happened in 2012.

So these are Amarena cherries.

It actually has no expiration date whatsoever.

I only used it for drinks,

and I haven't had a drink with this in a while.

Probably like, two years ago.

So, I first got this starter,

I think it must've been 2000, I wanna say 15, maybe.

Sourdough starter is a mixture of flour and water,

and it is the life force of sourdough

or naturally leavened bread.

And I love it, and I've had it forever.

This is yogurt starter from,

what year is this yogurt starter from Dad?

This is from, I think I created this in 2007.

So, every time that you make yogurt,

you use the previous batch to make the next batch of yogurt.

Once you warm milk or heat milk,

you're killing off all the bacteria in the milk,,

and the idea is to infuse that milk

with this fresh bacteria, so that it can multiply.

It's just yogurt.

It's just yogurt.

I think the items that like,

I get scared to use are things where I'm like,

where am I gonna get it again?

Here, I have this thing.

So, this, I think we've had in the kitchen for three years.

They're called chuno.

It's these freeze dried potatoes that are naturally

freeze dried in the Andes or something like that.

We haven't used it because we're like,

what if it's amazing and we want more,

and we don't know where to get it?

Do you wanna talk about fruitcake really quick?

This is also, what year is this from, Dad?

This is only about 10 years old.

Only 10 years old.

Yeah, this is from Collin Street Bakery,

it's a very famous bakery.

It's in a small, little town.

It's Corsicana, as seen in the Netflix show, Cheer.

Okay, I didn't know that part.

Now it's famous for two things.

This is good, that we've brought this all out.

You know I feel like we're doing

some kind of spiritual cleansing.

I'm gonna eat all this food,

and move on to the next stage of my life.

How about this one?

This is a tiny bit of nut mix that's gone rancid.

It's part of some like, fruit basket my parents got us

on our anniversary, like four years ago.

So, we just have rancid nuts that

we've carried from apartment to apartment,

'cause I feel bad throwing it away.

I'm not gonna throw it away today,

and I'm not gonna eat them either.

The thing that I chose for my oldest item is,

this still half full tub of gochujang.

A Korean fermented chili pepper paste.

One says July 13th, 2017.

But then it always says January 12th, 2019.

But, because this is a pre-fermented

product that's stored in the fridge,

it's kind of just one of those products

that's like good for life.

The starter that is in my refrigerator,

it's sometimes called the mother.

This is starter where I'm never using the whole thing.

I'm constantly sustaining it.

So, I feed it with white flour.

Just all purpose.

And then, when I'm making bread,

I'll take some of it out of the fridge,

and I make something called a levain from the starter.

So, it's like a younger, more lively starter that

I'm making from this master starter.

[Man] Have you named the mother,

and do you name its children?

I, no, it's just called Claire starter.

It's a part of me.

So this right here,

this has been in there for a while.

Probably absolutely fine.

It's garlic and miso packed together and fermented.

That liquid is probably so delicious.

But yeah, this is probably two, plus years.

Okay, so that's one.

Oh, I wonder what everybody else's things are?

What else do we have?

Oh, here.

This pistachio paste, it's a gift and it's expensive,

so I wanna make sure I use it right you know?

I don't wanna just have it on toast.

If only I could find those leaves.

So this is so old that it doesn't have an expiration date.

A cool jar though.

All right, cream of artichoke in oil, delicious.

Would make a delicious dip.

Why didn't I ever use it?

2010.

Cosmo, what year were you born?

2009.

So you're older by a year than this.

I think that there's a big tendency for people

who are creating their own starter to

think that they've messed it up,

and that it's not right, and that they should start over,

and I would just say keep going.

Even if it smells like, really sour, that's normal.

Just keep going, and have faith in the process.

Yeah, this is, this is old.

This is a, this is a, this is a shame.

This is a dried seaweed.

I've had this for a freaking decade.

I don't even.

[laughs loudly]

Okay, so this biriyana has been in

the freezer for maybe three years.

It was from the last time my mom visited.

Every time she visits, she makes us lamb biriyani,

and I always save some to like, eat on a rainy day.

But I never have the day where I'm like yeah,

I'm gonna crack into the biriyani.

But guys, this is it.

This is the oldest thing that I found.

It is, tomato jam.

It's also Italian.

It was guaranteed to last until July of 2004.

[laughing]

That's a while.

I think I feel guilty about throwing things away.

I'm never ever gonna use this, ever.

So, this is a challenge.

I dunno, is this a challenge?

Why not eat it, you know?

We should eat it at some point?

Do you wanna eat it today?

No, I don't wanna eat it today.

No, okay.

Do we have to eat it today?

Mm, smells good.

I mean, I'm down to try it.

Oh dude, I don't know, man.

I'm kinda scared to eat this.

[pounds packaging]

I'm not eating the starter, it doesn't taste good.

Don't make me eat the starter.

[Dan] Can you feed it?

Does it need to be fed?

Dan wants me to feed the starter but,

she doesn't need to be fed, so.

I'm standing my ground.

I'm not gonna do it.

She gets fed on Thursdays.

Do I eat it now?

[Man] Go for it.

Oh, mm, mm.

Sugary, mm.

It's just miso and raw garlic that

I bruised and crushed slightly,

and then you pack it in miso, and you let it ferment.

This actually looks amazing.

This would be great in a vinaigrette.

Okay, look at this.

Okay Dad, this is your piece.

Thank you.

All right.

It's actually very good.

I must, I must tell Collin Street Bakery.

Yeah, I mean, pretty good.

It's very good.

Okay well, there you go.

It's so good, huh.

Wow, wow, just wow.

It smells like um, kid's candy.

What was the, the one that pops in your,

Pop Rocks.

Ooh, I wish you can smell it.

Smells delicious.

I'm gonna taste the molasses.

The other things are good, I don't wanna open them.

[laughing]

I think the cap's gonna break.

You wanna try?

Yeah sure.

You know what?

I'm gonna eat the bread crumbs.

Because I feel like,

they probably just taste like nothingness.

Okay, I will taste some of this.

It's not ideal, but I will do it.

It's like this balance between a slight funk,

definitely a lot of spice, like this is definitely spicy,

and sweet, it is surprisingly sweet.

Let's try the crema de carxofa.

Hmm, the carxofa's not gonna kill me.

It's just predominately very garlicky and oily now.

I'm gonna try this.

[crunches loudly]

[laughing]

It's so sour.

[laughing]

The producers are not forcing me to do this.

I am doing this at my own will.

[upbeat music]

Well, it looks really beautiful.

The fat is just super, super milky.

[upbeat music]

Really just melts in your mouth.

It's salty but not like, crazy salty.

The pork flavor, the pork fat flavor itself is just like,

[blows kisses]

I'm struggling here 'cause there is

a little bit of like a freezer burn kind of after taste.

The kimchi continues to ferment,

and continues to build up acidity in there.

It's just very,

bam.

Every place I've ever lived, my mom has come and

made biriyani that I've kept in the freezer and never eaten,

and ended up throwing out when I've moved.

This is the container I eat.

It is perfectly fine.

I'm really surprised.

It's still good.

It's like pulverized, just pulverized bread.

There we go, 10 year old fruitcake and,

16, 17 year old yogurt starter.

Our fridge in a nutshell.

I think what I learned is that

I have a hard time throwing out gifts,

even when they're not things that

I care for and they're edible.

If you're not willing to try it,

you've gotta throw it out.

You're never gonna use it so, just get rid of it.

If you're truly not using something,

find a way to use it up.

Use it in a recipe.

Give it away.

I'm glad we did this.

This was eye opening.

I think I'm gonna stop holding on

to food for nostalgic reasons.

Not eating it is as bad as throwing it out.

Thank you so much for watching,

and I see you next time from my kitchen.

Gabi's kitchen, bye.

[Man] Great, let's cut.

Ooh, I did not like that.

[Man] Are you okay?

I did not like that cheesecake, that fruitcake.