Host: Neil’s restaurant is Rockpool, world famous among foodies. It’s in a part of Sydney known as the Rocks. It’s the oldest and today one of the funkiest and hippest neighborhoods in the city.
The bugs get the simple treatment, cut up, deep fried, a few spices, and they're ready to go. The flathead goes into a blazing hot mix of chilly peppers, twice cooked allowing the chilly oils to soak into the fish. Neil calls it fish in fire water. And the mighty mud crab becomes the heart and soul of an omelet.
Now, I'm just going to take a wild guess here and say that this is the fire water.
Neil: This could be.
Host: Now this is the flathead and you just done it with—
Neil: It’s a beautiful fish.
Host: Just a couple of chilies.
Neil: About three or four chilies and a couple of peppercorns.
Host: Alright.
Neil: I use a very interesting technique called Velveting, so we mix corn water with wine, that’s what the Chinese do, and then it’s poached in broth, taken out, and then we create the fire water by oil and several—so it gives it a really silky texture.
Host: So here is the thing, when someone looks at a big pile of food like that and things that would be overwhelming and numbing—
Neil: No, it’s not.
Host: It’s not at all. You taste everything in balance. I've been waiting to dig in to these bugs.
Neil: That’s it, just pull it out like a corn that’s split it in half, really sweet.
Host: And they’re so much fun to pile up on your plate, too.
Neil: If anyone gets out of hand, stab them in the eye with it, family arguments.
Host: Oh, those are spectacular.
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