Jamie's American Road Trip Jamie’s American Road Trip – Episode guide

Date Published:

27/08/2009

Find out what's coming up on each leg of Jamie's American Road Trip

Los Angeles is synonymous with glitz, glamour and the American Dream. But Jamie is living a very different version of the LA life-style. Just a few miles east of the Hollywood sign lives America’s largest concentration of Mexican immigrants – appropriate, as California used to be part of Mexico.

East LA is notorious for gangs, drugs and violence, but alongside these problems Jamie discovers a community proud of its food, committed to family and striving to make the American Dream a reality too.

Jamie’s first stop is to try Mexican delicacies at a fiesta-style birthday party hosted by great-great-grandmother Maria and find out some of the history of the Mexican influx to LA.

But next day Jamie discovers a different kind of family: the brotherhood of gangsters that have wreaked havoc across the city for decades. Jamie meets Rigo, who’s hosting a special meal to commemorate his uncle Emmanuel, gunned down four years ago, yet another victim of the gangland murders that plague Los Angeles.

Once a member of the notorious Bloods gang, Rigo has turned over a new leaf and is now a chef at the Four Seasons cooking for Hollywood superstars.

Inspired, Jamie visits Homeboy Industries, a charity similar to his own Fifteen restaurants. The boys cook in the bakery and the girls work in the Homegirl Café where Jamie discovers the fresh, unique flavours at the heart of Mexican cooking that he’s never experienced before.

Finally Jamie meets ex-gangster and addict Fabian and agrees to cook a meal for his baby daughter Maya’s baptism. It’ll be his version of a Mexican feast to remember. But with so much more to learn about local life and food, can Jamie pull off the baptism meal?

Jamie wants to see if the cowboys that he loved as a kid still exist in the USA. Travelling first to Cody, Wyoming – the home of Rodeo – Jamie’s in for one of his toughest rides yet.

Taking in the traditions of the pioneer settlers, camp-fire cooking, simple recipes and hard graft are the order of the day. First stop is Cassie’s Bar to meet the young men taking part in the Rodeo. One of America’s most popular sports, rodeo is also one of the most dangerous.

After trying a pitchfork fondue (hunks of steak cooked on a pitchfork over a camp-fire), Jamie comes face-to-face with the dangers of riding a bucking bronco on rodeo night.

After seeing what they go through, Jamie knows the boys are going to need some real cowboy food and he’s laid on a post-show feast of slow-cooked beef and home-baked beans using traditional Dutch ovens.

Keen to sample real cowboy life for himself, Jamie travels upstate to work as a ranch-hand and camp cook at a local working ranch, taking in branding, castrating and roping of cattle. It’s muddy, dirty work and Jamie’s still got to cook for everyone at camp after a hard day in the saddle.

Rancher Hip Tillett teaches Jamie some local specialities, including ‘Rocky Mountain Oysters’ using the calves’ testicles they removed earlier.

And riding the arduous five hours up into the mountains to round up stray cattle, and sleeping under the stars, Jamie’s got to use all his resources to earn his spurs as a cowboy.