Dry-Aging Venomous Lionfish: A Culinary Experiment

[00:00:01]this is a lion fish it is venomous the government wants it out of the water because it is invasive we're going to learn about this fish and since it is an invasive species we can't even put it back I want to know what it tastes like dry AED because in order to beat them you got to eat [Music] them those spikes right there is what is venomous okay all right we're going to be real real careful everybody otherwise something like uh what happened with Rob will happen to you see that I just got poked look see it bleeding burning [Music] gosh the only thing I can explain is maybe if like you like got spit by a venomous snake at least I know it's local so this isn't going to like rot my hand off and go to my brain I think this is the worst I've ever been stung I've been stung by like three at one time but this is the worst pain and here you're able to take a closer look of this fish like you just saw previously if you're not careful this is what is going to get you now I have to admit this fish is beautiful however it is venomous not poisoness if you take a closer look you can even see the spines full of Venom it is a fish that is extremely invasive here in Florida and the government has requested us to help get it out so today I'm doing my part because as you can clearly see I cleaned this fish like there was no tomorrow not only the inside here but also the gills it will allow me to dry age this fish completely without any smell and hopefully making it taste better than he already does I also wanted the fish to stay open so instead of hanging it from the mouth I went ahead and tied up the tail once it was fully secured I wanted to leave the cavity completely open that way everything will dry age nicely but most importantly it will dry age upside down just like this the next thing to do is to hang it on the dry Ager close up the door and light a dry age for a long time Rob how bad is the lion fish Invasion here I remember back in 2006 the very first time I ever saw one I was filming a show I saw two on one rock now from a th000 ft to back in the back Waters lion fish are everywhere not only here but like Fiji the Bahamas the but everywhere I've been they're there is it a good eating fish very very good eating fish they say you are what you eat well lion fish eat a lot of crab shrimp little fish around the reef they're very good to eat they're very white even with if you cook them with the bones in the bones will like disintegrate out and by this time the fish was fully dry-aged now take a look at this it is one of the most beautiful dry-aging experiments I've ever done in my life since it's completely dry it's almost like a sculpture at this exact point I was rethinking if I should continue because I just wanted to hang it on the wall the best part is that there is no smell however don't let this fool you friends this thing still extremely venomous the biggest difference between venomous and poisonous is this if he bites or pokes you it's venomous if you ingest it or it is absorbed by your skin it is poisonous and if I'm not careful filling this fish my hands will go bye-bye just like robs so it is extremely important to be as careful as possible so let me show you the right way to fillet fish the first thing you want to do is to remove all of these spines mainly the bigger spikes are the one that are venomous but I'm not taking any chances since I'm already doing the work you might as well take everything out yes even the head once that was done now you just treat it like a regular fish there's no more danger so I went ahead and fillet the whole thing remove the skin and in the end I was left with this two small pieces of the world's first lion fished dry aged now right at this time in order to have a true comparison I went ahead and fill at a fresh one as well doing the same exact process keeping things as safe as possible because in order to know if the dry age one really tastes better we must have a comparison with a fresh one and as I was filling the whole fish just in case things went South I decided to go ahead and make an awesome side dish this one is going to be tasty and to make it it's quite simple I started by adding a little bit of oil into the pan then I threw in some white onions and kimchi mixed it a little bit and cooked it up then I throw some freshly cooked rice into a bowl followed by that mix I just made mix that up real good and there we have our spicy rice mix now I went ahead and grabbed a mode I added some rice on the bottom one slice of mozzarella cheese followed by another generous amount of rice on top pressed it real good finished it up by shaping a nice triangle and there we have it my only advice to you is that if you're making this at home make sure to make a bunch because it's going to be real delicious to finish it up I add some soy sauce in all of them I made sure to cover the whole thing as then into the oven he goes in the air fryer setting so that it can get nice and crispy in the end you are left with this crispy kimchi rice and it is going to be perfect to go along with our dry age lion fish talking about that the only thing left to do is to go ahead and cook it up so I went ahead and got some semolina flour with some egg wash first into the eggwash followed by the simina and immediately into a 350° oil you got to remember that the fish is super small so it takes no time at all to cook them once they're fully cooked you want to go ahead and add a little bit of salt for some decoration and plating I just try to make it as pretty as possible because in the end you know what this is the world's first dry-aged lion fish I have a feeling these are going to taste fantastic but in the end of the day the only way to find out is to give it a try so now I say it is enough talking and it is time to eat so let's do it all right everybody and here we got our beautiful Feast it's very little though it's small but beautiful that fish before you cooked it it looked so pretty it was like a sculpture it's the only time I've dry-aged something and instead of cooking it I wanted to hang it on the wall everybody let's give it a try especially so we can have a true comparison grab yours and then Leo go ahead you can grab with a hand it's fine it's like uh nuggets you know I hope this is really good because they're so tiny man now this is our control let me know how you tast especially you okay we're going to let you know cheers everybody cheers no that's good it is phenomenal just good this is by far one of the greatest eating fish everybody after Hogfish this is probably my number one everybody it's like almost like a shrimp yes like a lobster or something like a lobster like a shrimp they eat little things gross station at the bottom you know this is my first time lion fish I'm surprised by The Taste it's a little bit salty but it has an also mild fish taste to it which is really nice the breading is nice too it's perfectly light not too greasy or anything like that so this is delicious I just wish there was some thicker pieces man got to catch bigger on yeah I know it's not a big fish but it's it is good it is very tasty now because the flavor is very mild I have a feeling that the dry age one is going to have a lot more flavor but before we try it I want to give a side dish a try you ready this looks like some Madness Dorito triang what is this damn bro you calling my only giri Dorito only giri yes bro oh look like a Dorito yeah it actually does look like a Dorito but here's what I want you to do I don't want you to try it just like that I want you to spit it in half and tell me what you see inside check out the inside oh yes we got a nice amount of cheese inside everybody in Japan they stuff it with a lot of things but I've never seen one with cheese maybe they do SM it's really good this a googa giri googa giri let's give it a try cheers everybody Cheers Cheers oh my God that is phenomenal wow what is on the exterior of that did you soak it in something yes kimchi and onions it has a very rich and different type of rice flavor that I've never tried before that cheese just oozes straight out it's fantastic what I like is that the outside is like a little crunchy and then when you get to the inside it's all like soft rice you know you got a little bit of crispiness in that rice everybody this is a winner winner chicken dinner I highly recommend but now for the official taste test now this one here here we're going to have to do some splitting actually here you go angel I didn't use my Fork so it's nice and clean thank has a little purple you want some no all right Leo here we go for you now this one is the dry-aged one and I'm very very curious I remember when you did the dry-aged salmon you could smell that thing mile away but this one is very different this one is very different because I made a mistake on the dry aging the salmon everybody I didn't remove the gills let's give it a try cheers everybody cheers M oh wow that's so different it's like the texture changed a little bit y the texture is softer but the flavor is like more like boom much more intensified it's in your face this time that's not bad at all that is phenomenal you can really taste the fish way more now on this version I don't know what the dry aging did to it but it just made that fish flavor so bold so in your face and it's like wow that's good the texture is like a little bit more flaky yes it's not as hard or as together it's very very soft the only thing is the flavor is stronger the texture is a little bit different but other than that it's still a really good fish I like this one a lot more it's good I like this one more too it looked like a work of art and it tastes like one to this thing is freaking good and on top of that the Florida government wants it out and we're going to help it we're going to make sure if it tastes this good I think I mean well it's it's a little bit of a dangerous fish be careful everybody but I think we all should help it out shout out to my brother Robie guys if you have not seen his channel make sure you go subscribe give him some love he is the man a great friend an Incredible family man and even a more incredible Florida Sportsman rob you know I love you brother you're the man but these are the results guys I hope you enjoyed this video if you did hit that thumbs up if you're not a subscriber be sure to subscribe remember everything I use is always in the description down below thank you so much for watching we'll see you guys on the next one take care everybody bye-bye