A chef has gone viral on TikTok after revealing how to make a ‘Michelin-level’ fish dish for under £8 ($10 USD).
Content creator, Danny Kim, 27, from Maryland, US, challenged chef, Kevin Lee, a former Michelin chef, to create a gourmet meal out of a $10 bill.
At a Korean market, Kevin purchases ingredients including a lemon ($0.49), chives ($0.69), a large cucumber ($2.49), perilla leaves ($0.79) and rainbow trout ($4.99) – coming to a total of $9.45.
Incredibly, he manages to transform the basic ingredients, plus a few kitchen staples into a delicious trout tartare – sharing the process in a TikTok which has gone viral with 3.8 million views and 451,000 likes.
Kevin starts by filleting the fish and using salt, sugar and lemon to brine it in.
He then uses the leaves and blends them with sesame oil, before moving on to a cucumber sauce.
He chops the cucumber and lemon to make a cucumber vinaigrette.
In a frying pan, he adds black pepper, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cucumber juice, sugar and white wine vinegar, adding a sprig of thyme and combining the mixture with the vinaigrette.
Separately, he creates a mixture of egg yolks, soy sauce and liquid koji.
Kevin then chops the chives and moves on to the “star of the show” – the fish.
He chops it up and adds some cucumbers, chives, olive oil and lemon juice.
He assembles the tartar in a bowl and tops it with the cucumber vinaigrette, the egg yolk mixture, and a cheeky bonus ingredient of smoked trout roe.
He also coats some crispy nori paper with sesame oil and chops it for a garnish.
Kevin says: “There you have it, I turned $10 into a trout tartar with cucumber vinaigrette and some other accoutrements on there.”
Kevin and Danny sample the dish and seem thrilled with the results.
TikTok users were equally impressed.
One person said: “Woww the best dish for 10 bucks.”
“A 5 dollar TROUT???” another user said.
Someone else commented: “Dude try giving a try at MasterChef you will win for sure.”
But not everyone was so taken by the dish.
One user joked: “I’d rather have Big Mac.”
“Nah I will just eat two full fish,” another critic commented.
Someone else insisted: “The egg roe is cheating.”
