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The concept of combining different cuisines is much better received today. Well, burritos, death threats, you know the story. So today we're asking two chefs to mix things up a bit We gave them a fusion concept and told them to go all out. And in the kitchen today is Captain "Reliability" Ben Ebbrell and General "Madness" Kush. Are you ready, bosses? Yes. We have 45 minutes. Let's see what you're capable of. Act or lose. Perfectly. OK. We have ideas. Burned out. Do you like sandwiches? I think this is the best question I've ever been asked. I love sandwiches.
Good. Me too. And I also love Stucco. travel. Oh, travel. Plaster. I really like the plaster. I love to tinker. So I'm going to try to do something unique, a world first, on this channel. Fusion roll with banh mi and sushi. This is exactly what we were looking for. So, banh mi is the best sandwich in the world, one hundred percent, try to deny it sushi rolls. Great in the summer. So why not deep fry a sushi roll with a banh mi filling with flavors Oh, with flavors from all over the world. I 'll be honest, I wasn't expecting this kind of presentation of the dish, because I saw the board, and this part of it looks like the start of the party, Ebbers.
Yes, this is just a wonderful assortment of meat delicacies. Yes, we have a fantastic board with meat delicacies. We have bresaola from Italy, mortadella from Italy, chorizo from Spain. pastrami from America. We have smoked salmon from Scotland. We have pate from France. We have dill from Scandinavia. We have cream cheese from America. We have Taleggio cheese from Italy, Thai green and red curry paste, kimchi, fish sauce, Vietnamese rice paper, pickled Mexican jalapenos, maple syrup, silken tofu, kataifi dough, and some Indian spices. So Australia is pretty much the only place we haven't touched.
I wrapped up some pickles and pate. Sausage with pate and pickles. The base of my sushi roll, I'm thinking of something like a huge maki, nicely decorated, you know, it has to be firm, so can it be put in the freezer? A huge maki? Never heard of it. Like a big piece with a lot of filling. The ones that can be cut and they look almost like a mosaic. That's right, we're making a deep-fried sushi roll inspired by meat delicacies. Ebbers, you started with celery. Well, when we're given a challenge like this, I thought: let's take a step back and think about what this means to me? Why do I love fusion food?
Alliteration. And I thought: what if we add more "F"s? I will combine every country whose name begins with the letter "F" into one dish. Fortunately, there are only three of them. I'm cooking a fusion feast: Finnish, French, and Fijian. Fijian, French and Finnish. And what kind of dish is this? He doesn't know. No, but it starts out as a southern French stew, mirepoix-very French: celery, carrots, leeks, onions, bay leaves, a little garlic. I'm thinking of adding tomatoes, but instead of olive oil or butter, I'll cook in coconut oil, as a tribute to Fiji. I'm making a solution. Like.like a brick, hard cement.
Yes, exactly. Imagine, my layers of bricks are sliced meat Why did you mention plaster, you idiot? My solution.you got me off track, now it's all about building. So, excuse me, what's inside? Dill, cream cheese, taleggio, and mustard- all the things you'll find in sandwiches. I like that you had to drop all those analogies: just tell me what's inside. Inside. So it has to be thick because it's going to bind all my layers together so that when it sets, it's going to hold together, because we want to deep fry all of this Obviously, obviously, we're going to deep fry all of this Maybe I got the words "
fusion" and "culinary crime" a little mixed up. But that's the thing, I think some people consider fusion food a crime, because there are people who are very reverent about their country's cuisine, and rightly so- often quite rightly so. This is history, this is authenticity, this is respect. But there are times when playing with that respect and authenticity and mixing it with something else can lead to something fantastic. So, I'm going to put my first batch of cold cuts, smoked salmon, in now, and wrap my cylinder of pate and gherkin in it, using the solution. I've never done this before. So we learn together. I have a plastering tool.
Fish stew. What are you going to do? The reason is that it is a classic of Provence, but it is also very popular in Fiji. Fish, coconut broths, stews, deliciousness, and I'll figure out how to bring Finland here. This is something I made before, but it's frozen. This is like a fitting. Think for yourself. This strengthens the foundation of my house. Okay, okay. I'll unwrap this and wrap it in smoked salmon, hopefully that will add some strength and it will defrost by the time we sit down to eat.
Put it here. A little more solution. Wrap it up. So, I have mirepoix with bay leaves simmered in coconut oil. Two fusions so far. And now I'm cooking cassava, because it's a very popular root in Fiji, and it will be the basis of my dish. Poisonous until you cook it. But then it's starchy, a bit like potatoes, just not as floury. Therefore, it is usually a little drier. I also add orange and garlic here Provençal, from the south of France. Now I'm putting out some supermarket pastrami. I use a scraper to pull the plastic wrap apart each time, and it naturally creates this shape. I'll put it on a sushi mat and let it rest. And the next layer. What's next? How is that? I think
we'll have the chorizo. Which is correct, manioc or cassava? I think it depends on whether you're from Finland or Fiji. Do they have different cassava? Manioc? Casanova? This is already in French. Oh my God. The main thing is that it will be cooked. It can be fried or baked. In this case, I simply boil it in salted water until it is tender but not completely cooked. I don't want it to start falling apart. So, a gentle boil, until "al dente". You're not making a fuss out of him. I don't do fu-fu. But now I'm adding to my classic Provençal base Wait, wait, it looks like lemongrass.
Aha. You are back. No, I didn't go back. What is this now? Oh, it's hard, but a little softer, ginger. Ah, I understand. It was incredible. Wait, don't get carried away by this. He ordered my ingredients and didn't put them on the shopping list. And he left some of them at customs. The ingredients I wanted to use are now at Heathrow because they didn't arrive on time. I call it sabotage in a culinary battle. So, so far, pretty classic Provencal flavors, except with coconut oil. So it's kind of a nod towards Fiji. And we'll also add
lemongrass, chili, and ginger to this base, because they'll also add those wonderful Fijian flavors. And I'm not against it at all, because it turns out that connecting France and Fiji is very easy, because they are neighbors. pairing ingredients you thought would never work together, I gave the same task to the Instagram community. Want to hear some of their ideas? This is a great idea. Yes, I want to. Stuffed jalapenos and a small portion of strawberry or raspberry jam for breakfast.
It's basically like chili jam. If you think about chili jam, you're making this jam right in your mouth. Cheese and chili jam when you chew them together. Yes, I understand how this could work Aged cheddar cheese on a Twix bar. No. What? Oh no, that's not a very good combination. It's just nostalgia. This happened once. They didn't find it disgusting, so they continued to eat it that way. What I support 100% is lasagna with salad dressing. Oh my God. Sandwich with corn mayonnaise, chicken tikka and cheddar.
No. No? Did you ask them what combinations worked, or just what they could think of? Did you ask them during the day? This sounds like a 3am delusion. I'm going to add a little bit of Finland. One thing that I think goes well with the south of France and Provençal flavors is anise. So adding fennel here along with the orange, garlic, and all the vegetables would be great. But I didn't add fennel, because instead I'll add a lot of dill and aquavit from Finland. Finnish strong drink, it must contain 37.5% or more, and most importantly, caraway and dill.
Lemon zest and other ingredients are often added. This is amazing. Yes. This is due to the aging in oak, but otherwise, especially in Finland, all Scandinavians have it in one way or another. The Finnish version is usually very fresh, with pronounced cumin and dill, a perfect substitute for anise or fennel, which I don't add to my Provençal sauce. This mixture works. To finish the sauce, I added a can of coconut milk, again to get that warming, deep Fijian hue instead of the copious amounts of fish stock that would have been an alternative. What will it taste like? Remember when we did eight island countries and gave up?
Well, not yet. We're just. we're still working on it, right? so that people watch these videos, right? Yes, yes, yes. The letter F was Fiji And we learned a lot about this region, and a lot of it always has to do with the climate. And, of course, the proximity to Southeast Asia, as well as the location east of Australia and north of New Zealand, where a lot of this flavor fusion happens, is an influence. And so I think you're cementing the taste there. These were French priests and nuns who went to Fiji and began building the first Catholic schools and churches there. So there is already a lot of French influence in Fiji. I didn't know that I literally did it because they literally appreciated it. But now it turns out that it might work. You
look tired. Yeah, well, I know if it gets too hot, everything will fall apart, so. What do we have? Wow, okay, cool. So, this is all my deli meat around my core, and now I'm going to roll it in rice, kimchi, and nori, and then roll it in.You know the "everything for a bagel" seasoning? Just in it. So I'll do something like more of the "everything for a bagel" seasoning. In fact, the seasoning is " everything for a bagel." This is the kataifi dough that I crushed. It is used in baklava. Yes. This is a Turkish pastry, a homeland. We have black sesame seeds, which are often used in Sri Lanka. We have coriander seeds, which are used in India. We have ajwan or carom seeds,
which are used in Pakistan. We have black mustard seeds, which in Bangladesh are often added to their fish curry. So, it all turns into a seasoned " everything" crumb instead of just using panko. Well, I would say it's not just a "everything" seasoning now. This is a seasoning for everything and everywhere Yes, all at once. Yes, yes, yes. This will add real flavor and wonderful bright notes and texture to the outside of the roll. And this will go into the egg mixture with the Thai red curry. Oho.
How confident are you that this will work? This will work. How sure are you that it will be delicious? This will have flavor. Many. This will have a lot of flavor. This will taste like everything This will be the taste of many products. It's going to be one of those things where you're like, "Oh my god, there's so much going on in my mouth. " I don't know where we are or what we're eating. And then you'll go back for another bite because you missed that feeling of oral ecstasy.
Oral ecstasy. Whereas I get the impression, Ever, that you are quite confident that you will succeed. Uh, do we have to cook one dish? I'm just trying to figure out how to add more Finland here. The ship "Captain Trust" is sinking. Somewhere over the North Sea. What I have for fish stew is some lovely red snapper and some shrimp. So, we still combine these two wonderful places, but not the cold seas of Finland. I need to find more Finnish elements. Do you want us to Google Finnish things?
No. No? I already did it. A. One of them is dill. It seems to me that Ever had a concept that was unfinished but safe to start with, and he gradually adds risk, not knowing where it would lead. It's like choosing a ridiculous idea and then seeing if you can implement it. However, this wonderful Fijian and Southern French style fish stew could really use some fresh herbs. It could be coriander. It could be basil. I'll choose dill because it's very Finnish. I also have dill. There's Finland in my dish too. These are my improvised kimbap -Korean rice rolls. Yes. Traditionally, pickled vegetables, lots of sesame seeds. We'll just have regular kimchi. Now I'm going to wrap the filling in
this rice, and then I'm going to wrap it in Vietnamese rice paper, because this is banh mi. In addition, it has excellent elasticity and will provide structure before frying. Oh my God, he just did it. How did you do it? Oh, Ever, do you make.do you make dill oil? Yes. I heated the oil, poured it over the dill, and beat everything with salt, just like a door. Now I quickly cool it to preserve the color. And you can do this with any greens, right? With any green grass, really. With any. You can either blanch and cool the greens and then whisk, or simply heat the oil-the result is similar. Or mix cold and use a vacuum chamber to extract the flavor and color.
Oh, okay. I will do that. That's exactly what Phil did in this video. Please. Oh, wow. Oh, Kursh, he'll have to make a decision. Yes, the tips. It looks like a collar that is put on a sick dog. I'll probably just trim the ends. So, let 's check out cassava. Just the blunt side of a knife. No need to cut with a blade. Only the back of the knife. Does it go through without much resistance? And you can always try. I am satisfied with the result. If you have to, and you die-then he's not ready.
He will be in this sauce. Chef, you have 15 minutes left. Yes. I will allow half of this time for the sauce to continue simmering. Then I blend it until smooth, removing the bay leaf. In this broth, I will simmer the shrimp and cook the cassava, which is already ready but needs to absorb all this wonderful flavor. So, the fish is lovely and fresh, but it's been sitting in the fridge for a while without a lid, so it's starting to dry out. And now we cook it skin side down over medium heat, adding more coconut oil and seasonings on top. That's why I love working with different chefs who have such different styles of approaching similar tasks, because while Ben is telling me how to tenderize fish, Kush is coating this monstrosity in "
all sorts of" seasonings and wondering if it will fit in the fryer. It won't fit in the bathtub. You'll just have to throw it in. Once this is blended and we get all the sweetness out of the carrots and celery, after they're browned, I'll season it.right at the end, adding a lot of acid as well. So, lime or lemon- depending on whether you're from France or Fiji. While it's standing and the oil is heating, I'll make my sauce. It will be silken tofu, maple syrup, one of my favorites Canada, Canada-for that wonderful woody aroma that the trees give off, hot sauce from the US, jalapeños from Mexico, and a little mustard. That's it. It was only a
matter of time before the double blending began. Cooks love brown sauce. Now it's going deep-fried. So, it should stay there for a minute or two. That's all. It's literally just to dry it out. Just to give the dough a crunch. Um, heat the rice, but leave the center still cool because I want to cut it. For the second battle this summer, I'll use some chard from the garden, because as you can see, it's already gone into bloom, so these are the last supplies. But I will also add these greens to the sauce. In places like Fiji, taro leaves would work, but spinach or something similar would work too. We have this, so I'll use it.
Emil, what was in your confiscated box? You never said what was there. Uh, cloudberry. A. From Finland. But I have a replacement- sea buckthorn. The sauce is ready. I'll add a lot of lemon and orange juice to it. Have you already made up for the absence of Finland? We have dill. We have aquavit. I still have rye bread and sea buckthorn. So I'll make something like sea buckthorn caviar for rye toast to sprinkle on stew. All the side dishes will be ready, and the aquavit will go into the very base of the stew. Do you think all three countries will be equal? A third of each? Yes. Of course.
By flavor profile or by weight and volume? Because if you look at weight and volume, stew and fish are mostly France and Fiji. But the Finnish ingredients add that nuance that hints at. the northern edge. Like a bright light. Yes, the northern lights. That's right. Just seasoned this with Maldon salt from Essex, England. Rice paper. Some call them rice pancakes. Meat. Yes? Dough. This is Wellington. The question is, is he satisfied? He doesn't show it to anyone. Is he happy with the cut? Oh, the pate has just thawed. And the marinade is not frozen. Time to serve.
10 minutes left, bosses. Yes. Fry the fish until three-quarters done, then turn it over and remove from the heat almost immediately. Squeeze a little lemon and add capers with brine. We will make mayonnaise. It couldn't be more French. The name and the basic sauce itself are very French. With French mustard. But at the end, I will add sea buckthorn powder. So you get that fruity flavor. A little garlic and some olives. Wow. This will replace the lemon in this incredible mayonnaise because it has such acidity and fruity notes. A Now, a little raw garlic-and the dish will take on a completely different color. I had an idea. I cooked some shrimp.
I cooked some in our sauce, and threw some into the pan with the fish. Now I'll chop it up, mix it with the mayonnaise, capers, and olives, and spread it on toast. Oh, shrimp toast. 5 minutes, boss. God, how quickly time flies. I have no idea what it would taste like, and I'm not even sure Kush knows. This will be enjoyed by everyone at once. Last minute. Toast is rye bread fried in coconut oil with cumin. And finally, we will complement the dish with our dill oil.
Wow. I have a feeling. Yes. This looks much more elegant than it sounds while cooking. You would see it when it looked like a hedgehog trunk. I don't want to break the rules, but I'd like to try Ben's dish first because it's hot and no one knows what it's going to taste like. So, let me briefly remind you what we have here. Well, actually, it's a French- Fijian-style cassava stew. Southern French shrimp caviar and many Finnish motifs: dill aquavit and sea buckthorn in caviar. Well Eppers, it's to everyone's taste. What?
Coconut. Continuing the theme: damn, this is incredibly delicious. Oh, what is this? Ah, sea buckthorn in rice. Mm. Very good. It's like a lemon on steroids. A kind of fruity citrus flavor. Eppers, I think this is one of the most delicious dishes you've made lately. The fish, of course, is wonderful. Sourness and freshness coming from sea buckthorn, as well as dill oil Dill really takes this to the next level. And mani-mani-manioc. Mm. It has such a correct texture. Yes. Is n't that right? Almost like little cubes of perfectly cut gnocchi. Yes. Almost like dumplings. And rye bread. Rye bread is not my favorite bread in the world, but I needed a final note, so. But when you fry
it in coconut oil with cumin, yum. It's funny how Finnish dill and sea buckthorn complement the entire dish, even though there's very little of them. Very cold part. They add freshness. Mhm. Now it's your turn, friend. I think it's important how we eat it. Yes, but how do you eat it? With a knife and fork or with your hands? With your hands. This is an "all at once" role. It's inspired by banh mi, This is a Vietnamese sandwich with meat products and pate. Here is the rice from Korean kimbap.
Nori sheets from Japanese sushi. And all of this is deep-fried in one batter. I have such a feeling. To your health! The texture is just incredible because I could taste some pickled vegetables. Mhm. It's a completely different texture compared to the crispy crust, rice, and meat. It's a play of textures before you even start to appreciate the taste. I feel every I feel everything that was put there And then there's the aftertaste of roasted spices on the surface. It all comes together so beautifully.
The starchiness of sushi rice perfectly absorbs all those wonderful meat juices. And cream cheese carries this flavor throughout the entire dish. I think the cream cheese with dill and mustard balances everything out, and then there's the Toasted Coriander Seeds. Coriander seeds and iowa seeds are you satisfied with the result? Oh, yes. Yes, completely. This is great. I won't pick a winner because I love them both for different reasons. It's like choosing a favorite child.
Let them do it. You haven't tasted it yet, but you probably understand what it's like. Write in the comments what you would eat first. We will choose, and you vote below. We'll hold a poll, you decide the winner, but it's just incredible. Here is the second appetizer, the main course. No, that's all. Maybe you usually make a fusion dessert? Oh, we need a dessert battle. AT.
