Paper Palate

If you’re a fan of Bravo TV’s Top Chef competition, then you know that the contestants are faced with all sorts of challenges … everything from creating something magnificent from vending machine offerings to making a four-course meal with a larger budget than you and I would normally use for the week’s groceries.

Since winning season 3 of Top Chef, Hung Huynh has been very busy. Although he left his post as Sous Chef at Savoy restaurant after winning the competition, he definitely has not left the world of cooking. You will soon see him as a Guest Judge on Season 4 of Top Chef in Chicago. In the meantime, Food and Wine magazine decided to throw Hung a different challenge, to see if he was up to the task. They asked him to create a fab meal on a modest budget.

“The results were dazzling. Hung went immediately to New York City’s Chinatown (”If you don’t want to spend money, always head straight for Chinatown,” he advises) and bought fresh pompano, a bag of rice, some fatty bacon and even a $10 clay pot. He coated the fish with a lime-spiked marinade and seared it until it was golden and flaky, then served it with soy sauce rice, baked in that clay pot and studded with mushrooms and bacon. Hung also showed off a trick for cooking the rice: drizzling oil inside the pot halfway through cooking, which makes the edges wonderfully crispy.”

You can read the whole recap right here, which includes the recipe he created.

Bon Appetit!

Photo from Food and Wine.