KEVIN: So today, we're making our rainbow trout, which is inspired by cá kho, which is normally a braised caramelized catfish inside of a clay pot.

But because we're here at Moon Rabbit, we do things a little bit differently.

SETH: So, this is your modern take on a traditional Vietnamese dish?

KEVIN: Absolutely.

Traditional flavors, new visual presentation.

The main flavor of this dish is based on our fish sauce caramel.

SETH: Ooh, all right.

I love caramel.

I see a lot of sugar over there.

Is that what you're getting started on?

KEVIN: Absolutely.

You always start off with some sugar, and whenever I'm making a caramel, I try not to touch the sugar too much.

So, I'm just kind of letting it do its thing in the middle and I'm just making sure it doesn't burn on the side.

So, we're looking at the pot, you kind of see it really forming on the bottom.

So, you always have to keep an eye on this.

This is one of those things that goes from like it's perfectly beautiful and amber, and if I like turn around for one second, it'll be scorched and burnt and your day's ruined.

SETH: And you being from Louisiana, not being able to take your eyes away, that's almost a little bit like gumbo, right?

KEVIN: It's exactly like making a roux.

So traditionally, whenever you get cá kho, it comes out and the caramel sauce is, like, super-hot and bubbling in this, like, clay cauldron with some beautiful pieces of braised catfish.

But for us, this is more of an accent towards, like, the final dish.

You see this caramel color coming in?

We're going to talk about some of the aromatics.

We have four things in here: Saigon cinnamon, some dried, uh, bird's eye chilies, star anise, and black peppercorn.

So, we're going to add in the aromatics.

We're going to let these kind of almost like fry in the sugar a little bit.

If you look at these chilies, you see they're starting to like puff up.

SETH: Talk about aromatic.

KEVIN: Yeah.

So now, we're going to add our fresh coconut water, cracked from a young coconut.

SETH: And we've got some action in the pan now.

KEVIN: So, then our fish sauce.

You would think this dish would be overly sweet, so we're trying to balance everything out with some fish sauce to give it a lot of salty umami notes.

So now, we're going to set it to the side and let it cool and rest to absorb more flavor from all the aromatics.

And we're going to focus on cooking our fish.

We're working with rainbow trout.

We brine it so it retains this, like, nice moisture and then we'll, like, air dry it, so we make sure we have a really crispy skin.

SETH: And so, getting all that moisture out, you're really concentrating the actual flavor of the fish, right?

KEVIN: Absolutely.

And now, we're just seasoning the fish.

And I'm going to start with a little bit of oil and we're going to cook this fish skin-side down the whole way because this skin will protect the meat of the fish to keep it from overcooking.

So, whenever you're cooking fish, the skin will want to like tighten up and curl on you.

And if you want like an even browning, I'm holding it down until the pressure relaxes on the skin.

SETH: You are a braver man than I am, chef.

I would not be sticking my hands in that pan right now.

KEVIN: Cooking isn't for the weak.

Now, this skin's getting crispy, and now let's see if we can get a good view beneath the camera.

You can see it's browning pretty nicely.

SETH: Oh, yeah.

KEVIN: I'll cut the heat to really low or off.

We've made this umami butter with mushrooms and aromatics, and we're going to use it to baste the fish.

And essentially, this fish is frying/cooking in butter and nothing really sounds more delicious than that.

SETH: And nothing smells more delicious.

KEVIN: And now I'm just going to baste the fish.

And as you see this butter's like cooking the fish through the top.

One last baste, and now the trout's done.

Let's take it out of the pan and let's listen to how crispy the skin is.

(scraping) SETH: Oh, yeah.

We're talking some pretty crispy skin right there.

KEVIN: So, to plate it, we're going to gently set the rainbow trout down.

We'll encapsulate the fish with a caramelized fish sauce.

We do two beautiful drop quenelles of the lotus seed puree.

Then we're going to toss some green chickpeas in this like Vietnamese chimichurri, and we'll take a little spoon of that and put over the top and to the side of the fish.

And then a garnish of a braised lotus root with a little bit of some herbal garnishes as well.

We'll finish with a circle of ramp oil, and then our rainbow trout will be ready to eat.

SETH: All right, chefs, the color and presentation on everything on this table is just exquisite.

I cannot wait to try this rainbow trout.

KEVIN: Yeah, let's do it.

And I hope you're really picking up all the different flavor profiles we're talking about.

Umami, sweet, salty, acid, savory, all in one.

SETH: That is just sublime.

The sweet caramel note hits you right off the bat, but then you start to get a ton of extra flavors in that bite with fish sauce.

There's some herbaceousness in there.

And that trout, that crispy skin sounded great in the kitchen and it delivers in that bite.

KEVIN: Thank you.

SUSAN: Make sure you get a little bit of that lotus seed puree.

It's like a nice earthy flavor.

SETH: Oh, wow.

But that ramp oil, nice little pungent flavor on the outside.

All right, and we got a little actual lotus root here as well.

KEVIN: The lotus root's a great contrast in texture.

I like this soft, delicate fish, creamy lotus seed puree, and a nice crunch from the root.

SETH: Oh, yeah.

Almost like a water chestnut.

And of course, I know the pastry program is a huge part of this restaurant and there's something really, really pretty in front of me here.

What is this, chef?

SUSAN: This is our white chocolate durian mousse.

We puree the durian and then we whip it up in a mousse, and it's served with brown butter, white chocolate streusel and passion fruit granita.

SETH: And durian's gotten quite the reputation over the years for its strong aroma, shall we say?

SUSAN: Yes, absolutely.

Called the King of Fruit in Vietnam.

It's got a very pungent aroma.

This dessert mellows out that pungency, almost undetectable.

SETH: Oh, yeah.

It's so light, and airy, and refreshing, but also some of those herbal note's kind of play nicely with what's happening here with the rainbow trout.

SUSAN: Yes.

We really do place an emphasis on using fresh herbs.

For instance, dill is incorporated into this dessert, but we really wanted to make the dessert program flow seamlessly from savory into desserts, and that was a great segue to tie it all together.