Wednesday, 25 February

Wednesday, 25 February 6:30pm

This Week on The Cook and The Chef, Maggie Beer and Simon Bryant, with Australia’s ‘Father of Fusion’ – Cheong Liew, celebrate the cross-cultural cuisine of Australia.

Simon’s first contact with cross-cultural cuisine was the Balti curry. Originating in Northern Pakistan the Balti curry made its way to England with Pakistani migrants who, from the 1950s to the 1970s, set up little cafes called Balti Houses. The Balti quickly became the curry you had after a night out and today, the British claim it as their own and often serve it with chips. In the kitchen Simon makes a delicious corn Balti while Maggie grills kangaroo and serves it with tongue.

Born in Malaysia, Cheong Liew is Chinese. He has cooked in many styles and draws on many influences to create often eclectic dishes with amazing textures and flavours. Today he is recognised as one of Australia’s true ‘master chefs’. Maggie successfully attempts one of Cheong’s more challenging dishes, salt-water duck. Simon worked with Cheong for a couple of years and he explains how Cheong taught him to cook pork. Simon’s white pork with garlic sauce is a great example and again the method of blanching and cooking the pork belly is all about retaining moisture and the result ‘melts-in-the-mouth’.

The Cook And The Chef will be repeated on ABC2 – Thursday, February 26 at 5:05pm