Watch The Cook and the Chef online: Episode 16 Dried Food + Eels

This week's show kicks off with Simon visiting a Vietnamese supermarket, and he's like a kid in a candy store! Maggie has asked Simon to pick up some bonito and dried shiitake mushrooms, but he's also looking for inspiration for his own dish. Owner Chang Khou helps Simon to navigate the slightly bewildering range of weird and wonderful dried goods on offer and encourages him to buy some salted jellyfish and strips of wood fungus. Simon can't help himself, though, and also leaves with a shiny golden dog, "leftover stock from Year of the Dog." Back in the kitchen, Simon's lurid talisman seems to inspire the Cook and the Chef to try their hands at exotic dishes. Simon prepares a dish which is "all about texture", and he’s not kidding! It's a jellyfish salad which includes dried wood fungus and one of Simon's trademark "two minute pickles". Maggie's a big fan of Japanese cuisine so she tackles a Japanese classic, Chowan Mushi, a form of delicate steamed custard. Of course, Maggie can't resist putting her own spin on the dish, so she adds verjuice and fresh blue swimmer crab. On her travels in Victoria Maggie finally had the chance to check out the source of a wonderful product that she loves using, smoked eel. At Ben's eel farm she discovers that while she likes to eat them, she certainly doesn't like to look at them! Ben shows Maggie the gentle art of holding a slippery eel and shows off his custom-built smokehouse, but despie Maggie's curiosity he doesn't divulge too many secrets about the smoking process! Wanting to respect the flavour of the eel, Maggie decides not to cook it but rather to incorporate it into a bruschetta; she uses beetroot jelly and avocado to slightly offset the smokiness of the eel. Simon decides to try a dish he’s never done before, and throws together a delicious Rice Hotpot. Recipes: - Chowan Mushi with Blue Swimmer Crab - Bruschetta of smoked eel, Beetroot Jelly and Avocado - Jelly Fish Salad - Pickled Vegetables - Smoked Eel Rice Hotpot

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