Food/Cooking
May 18, 2013
Ever tried toasting hamburger buns on a grill? It takes uncanny timing to achieve an even medium brown across the buns. Typically, they remain white for what seems like far too long. Then it's as if time accelerates, and they blow past toasted to burnt in the time it takes to flip the burgers.
The same phenomenon is at work when you toast a marshmallow over a campfire: wait and turn, wait and turn... then brown, black and -- poof! -- it's aflame. The problem is perhaps most acute when cooking shiny-skinned fish on a grill or under a broiler. Once the skin turns from silver to brown, the heat pours into the fillet, and the window of opportunity for perfect doneness slams shut with amazing speed.
Anytime you cook light-colored food with high heat, inattention is a recipe for disaster. But the physics here is pretty simple, and once you understand it you can use several methods to improve your odds of making that perfectly toasted bun, golden half-melted marshmallow, or juicy grilled fillet.
At high temperatures -- about 400 F (200 C) and up -- a substantial part of the heat that reaches the food arrives in the form of infrared light waves rather than via hot air or steam.
The higher the temperature, the bigger the part that radiant heat plays in cooking. But this form of heat interacts with color in a profound way.
The bottom of a hamburger bun looks white because it reflects most of the visible light that hits it, and the same is true for infrared heat rays. There is a reason that white cars are popular in Phoenix -- they stay cooler in the sunshine, which is full of infrared radiation.
A silvery, mirror-like fish skin is even more reflective than a white car. About 90 percent of the radiant heat striking it simply bounces away. Because only around 10 percent of the energy sinks in and warms the fish, cooking initially creeps along slowly but steadily.
That changes rapidly, however, as soon as the food gets hot enough to brown. It's like changing from a white shirt to a black shirt on a sunny summer day. As the food darkens, that 10 percent of energy absorbed rises by leaps and bounds, and the temperature at the surface of the food soars.
So browning accelerates, which increases heat absorption, which boosts the temperature; it's a vicious circle. By the time you can get a spatula under the fillet to flip it over, it may be almost black, reflecting just 10 percent of the heat and sucking in 90 percent.
There are at least three ways around this problem. The simplest is to stare, hawk-like, at the food and lower or remove the heat as soon as browning starts. That works fine for marshmallows but is not always practical in the kitchen or backyard barbecue.
In some cases, you can darken the color of the food at the start, for example by slathering it with a dark sauce or searing it in a very hot skillet before putting it on the grill. This is a way to make a fish steak cook more like a beef steak, which is fairly dark even when raw and so doesn't experience such a dramatic shift in heat absorption. This method generally shortens the cooking time.
Finally, try piling other ingredients, such as sliced onions or zucchini, between the food and the coals or the broiler element to moderate the intensity of the radiant heat. Cooking times will lengthen -- and you may end up having to toss out the sacrificial buffer ingredients if they get charred -- but that window of opportunity will stay open longer.
read more »
The same phenomenon is at work when you toast a marshmallow over a campfire: wait and turn, wait and turn... then brown, black and -- poof! -- it's aflame. The problem is perhaps most acute when cooking shiny-skinned fish on a grill or under a broiler. Once the skin turns from silver to brown, the heat pours into the fillet, and the window of opportunity for perfect doneness slams shut with amazing speed.
Anytime you cook light-colored food with high heat, inattention is a recipe for disaster. But the physics here is pretty simple, and once you understand it you can use several methods to improve your odds of making that perfectly toasted bun, golden half-melted marshmallow, or juicy grilled fillet.
At high temperatures -- about 400 F (200 C) and up -- a substantial part of the heat that reaches the food arrives in the form of infrared light waves rather than via hot air or steam.
The higher the temperature, the bigger the part that radiant heat plays in cooking. But this form of heat interacts with color in a profound way.
The bottom of a hamburger bun looks white because it reflects most of the visible light that hits it, and the same is true for infrared heat rays. There is a reason that white cars are popular in Phoenix -- they stay cooler in the sunshine, which is full of infrared radiation.
A silvery, mirror-like fish skin is even more reflective than a white car. About 90 percent of the radiant heat striking it simply bounces away. Because only around 10 percent of the energy sinks in and warms the fish, cooking initially creeps along slowly but steadily.
That changes rapidly, however, as soon as the food gets hot enough to brown. It's like changing from a white shirt to a black shirt on a sunny summer day. As the food darkens, that 10 percent of energy absorbed rises by leaps and bounds, and the temperature at the surface of the food soars.
So browning accelerates, which increases heat absorption, which boosts the temperature; it's a vicious circle. By the time you can get a spatula under the fillet to flip it over, it may be almost black, reflecting just 10 percent of the heat and sucking in 90 percent.
There are at least three ways around this problem. The simplest is to stare, hawk-like, at the food and lower or remove the heat as soon as browning starts. That works fine for marshmallows but is not always practical in the kitchen or backyard barbecue.
In some cases, you can darken the color of the food at the start, for example by slathering it with a dark sauce or searing it in a very hot skillet before putting it on the grill. This is a way to make a fish steak cook more like a beef steak, which is fairly dark even when raw and so doesn't experience such a dramatic shift in heat absorption. This method generally shortens the cooking time.
Finally, try piling other ingredients, such as sliced onions or zucchini, between the food and the coals or the broiler element to moderate the intensity of the radiant heat. Cooking times will lengthen -- and you may end up having to toss out the sacrificial buffer ingredients if they get charred -- but that window of opportunity will stay open longer.
read more »
May 11, 2013
When the weather turns warm, I find myself craving the smell and taste of a great homemade burger off the grill.
So what makes a great burger? There are a few simple rules. But if you remember just one of them, it should be that less really is more. Which is to say, the less you add to your ground beef, the less you handle the meat when mixing it, and the less you flip it while grilling, the better burger you get in the end.
The foundation of my backyard burger is a 50-50 combination of sirloin and chuck. I love mixing the leaner and cleaner ground sirloin with the rich beefiness of ground chuck. A patty that is 100 percent sirloin is too lean, and 100 percent chuck is too fatty.
If I am close to a good butcher, I also love to make a custom grind. You can ask the butcher to grind the odd pieces of brisket, short rib, skirt and hanger steak, and add it to a lean and clean base of sirloin for a top notch burger. The key is a mix of lean and fatty meat, freshly ground.
Beyond the meat itself, you don't want to add too many other ingredients, particularly wet ones. You don't want to compete with the flavor of the beef, or leave it too watery. I limit myself to a sprinkle of salt and pepper, plus just a bit of dry mustard and Worcestershire sauce. The last two amp the savory flavors of the burger without competing with it.
Once the meat is seasoned, I lightly mix everything together and divide it into equal portions. I generally use 2 pounds of meat to make six burgers. This step can be done up to a day in advance. If prepping in ahead, refrigerate the patties and make sure they are well covered to minimize the oxidation (discoloration) of the meat.
Before the burgers go on the grill, be sure to press your thumb into the center of each patty, pushing it halfway down. This is the real secret to a perfect backyard burger. This is because as the meat cooks, the fibers expand and they inflate the burger, turning it into a ball. If you make the depression with your thumb, the meat expands to fill the hole, leaving the burger flat.
A hot grill also is important to getting a great burger. Be sure to heat it with all burners on high (or wait until the charcoal is covered with a gray ash), then clean the heated cooking grates with a brassbristle brush. Reduce the heat to a medium just before placing the burgers on the grill. You should hear a satisfying sizzle when the meat hits the grates! Cover the grill and flip the burgers just once halfway through the cooking time.
The meat will initially stick to the grill grates. But as it cooks, it will naturally release itself. This is true of many foods and all protein, whether you are grilling or sauteing it. This is why it is so important not to flip the burgers more than once, as well as why so many burgers end up falling apart when they are flipped too early. And it should also go without saying that pressing down on the burgers with a spatula is a no-no, too!
Club House Burger with Buttered Bun
Start to finish: 30 minutes
Servings: 6
1 pound ground sirloin
1 pound ground chuck
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Coleman's dry mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin Olive oil
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
6 kaiser rolls, sliced
6 crisp butter or Boston lettuce leaves
6 slices purple or sweet onion, such as Vidalia
2 large tomatoes, cut into 6 slices
6 slices cooked bacon (optional)
Ketchup (optional)
Mustard (optional)
Mayonnaise (optional)
Heat a grill to high. In a large bowl, combine the ground sirloin and ground chuck. Mix it together, being careful not to overwork the meat. Add the Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, salt and pepper. Mix until just combined, then divide the mixture into 6 pieces. Gently shape each piece into a burger about 3/4 inch thick. Press your thumb gently into the center of each to form a depression.
Brush the patties lightly on both sides with the olive oil. Reduce the heat to medium, then add the burgers and grill until the meat no longer is pink, 8 to 10 minutes, turning once halfway through grilling time.
Meanwhile, brush butter over both sides of the rolls and grill until lightly toasted, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Serve the burgers immediately on the buttered rolls with a lettuce leaf, a slice of raw onion, tomato and a slice of bacon, if desired. Serve with traditional condiments on the side.
Nutrition information per serving:
550 calories; 260 calories from fat (47 percent of total calories); 30 g fat (12 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 110 mg cholesterol; 36 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 4 g sugar; 35 g protein; 760 mg sodium.
read more »
So what makes a great burger? There are a few simple rules. But if you remember just one of them, it should be that less really is more. Which is to say, the less you add to your ground beef, the less you handle the meat when mixing it, and the less you flip it while grilling, the better burger you get in the end.
The foundation of my backyard burger is a 50-50 combination of sirloin and chuck. I love mixing the leaner and cleaner ground sirloin with the rich beefiness of ground chuck. A patty that is 100 percent sirloin is too lean, and 100 percent chuck is too fatty.
If I am close to a good butcher, I also love to make a custom grind. You can ask the butcher to grind the odd pieces of brisket, short rib, skirt and hanger steak, and add it to a lean and clean base of sirloin for a top notch burger. The key is a mix of lean and fatty meat, freshly ground.
Beyond the meat itself, you don't want to add too many other ingredients, particularly wet ones. You don't want to compete with the flavor of the beef, or leave it too watery. I limit myself to a sprinkle of salt and pepper, plus just a bit of dry mustard and Worcestershire sauce. The last two amp the savory flavors of the burger without competing with it.
Once the meat is seasoned, I lightly mix everything together and divide it into equal portions. I generally use 2 pounds of meat to make six burgers. This step can be done up to a day in advance. If prepping in ahead, refrigerate the patties and make sure they are well covered to minimize the oxidation (discoloration) of the meat.
Before the burgers go on the grill, be sure to press your thumb into the center of each patty, pushing it halfway down. This is the real secret to a perfect backyard burger. This is because as the meat cooks, the fibers expand and they inflate the burger, turning it into a ball. If you make the depression with your thumb, the meat expands to fill the hole, leaving the burger flat.
A hot grill also is important to getting a great burger. Be sure to heat it with all burners on high (or wait until the charcoal is covered with a gray ash), then clean the heated cooking grates with a brassbristle brush. Reduce the heat to a medium just before placing the burgers on the grill. You should hear a satisfying sizzle when the meat hits the grates! Cover the grill and flip the burgers just once halfway through the cooking time.
The meat will initially stick to the grill grates. But as it cooks, it will naturally release itself. This is true of many foods and all protein, whether you are grilling or sauteing it. This is why it is so important not to flip the burgers more than once, as well as why so many burgers end up falling apart when they are flipped too early. And it should also go without saying that pressing down on the burgers with a spatula is a no-no, too!
Club House Burger with Buttered Bun
Start to finish: 30 minutes
Servings: 6
1 pound ground sirloin
1 pound ground chuck
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Coleman's dry mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin Olive oil
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
6 kaiser rolls, sliced
6 crisp butter or Boston lettuce leaves
6 slices purple or sweet onion, such as Vidalia
2 large tomatoes, cut into 6 slices
6 slices cooked bacon (optional)
Ketchup (optional)
Mustard (optional)
Mayonnaise (optional)
Heat a grill to high. In a large bowl, combine the ground sirloin and ground chuck. Mix it together, being careful not to overwork the meat. Add the Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, salt and pepper. Mix until just combined, then divide the mixture into 6 pieces. Gently shape each piece into a burger about 3/4 inch thick. Press your thumb gently into the center of each to form a depression.
Brush the patties lightly on both sides with the olive oil. Reduce the heat to medium, then add the burgers and grill until the meat no longer is pink, 8 to 10 minutes, turning once halfway through grilling time.
Meanwhile, brush butter over both sides of the rolls and grill until lightly toasted, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Serve the burgers immediately on the buttered rolls with a lettuce leaf, a slice of raw onion, tomato and a slice of bacon, if desired. Serve with traditional condiments on the side.
Nutrition information per serving:
550 calories; 260 calories from fat (47 percent of total calories); 30 g fat (12 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 110 mg cholesterol; 36 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 4 g sugar; 35 g protein; 760 mg sodium.
read more »
May 04, 2013
For months on end, my family and I have had our eyes on a grill place that was preparing to open at the junction of Village Road and Shirley Street. On Saturday past as we were driving by, we noticed that the coming soon sign had been replaced by the open sign. That was the quickest U-turn I'd ever made in my life. (To be quite honest, I observed all the rules of the road, turned on to Shirley Street and came around to the restaurant).
We just had to see what Bucks Fire Grill was all about. And BBQ ribs is one of my favorite things to eat -- especially if it's done right. (I've had some botched BBQ in my time, and I've had some really good ones).
So I pulled up with my mom Jestina; sister Cornesha; niece Waltonique and the newest addition to this eating-out clan Justin, who at three months pulled up for a seat at the table.
We walked into a rustic open-air facility that seemed homey and down-to-earth with wooden tables and benches. As the restaurant is so close to Montagu, there was a cool evening breeze wafting through the place, much to our delight. And we found a menu had a mixture of Texas, Latin and Caribbean influences.
Perusing the menu of the restaurant that was only into its first week, a number of menu items caught our eyes. My family and I are total wing fiends. For us, there's nothing like a good platter of hot wings to start off a meal, so of course the Bucks smokin' hot wings caught our attention, served with mild, spicy or nitro sauce. The other offerings include smoked nachos grande (tortilla chips heaped with smoked pulled pork, jack cheeses, tomatoes, jalapeños served with salsa and sour cream); steak tidbits served with chimichurri sauce; tortilla chips with pico de gallo; chicharritas (long thin green plantain chips, lightly salted and not too sweet). Black bean soup, red bean soup and tostones (green plantain chips, deep fried and lightly salted) round out the appetizer menu.
The salad offerings run regular as with most restaurants -- Caesar or a tossed garden salad.
Entrees include steak, pork ribs, smoked pork, salmon and shrimp skewers. And they're all served sizzling hot on platters. And you get to a choice of two sides -- yuca with mojo (boiled cassava with citrus and garlic sauce); macaroni and cheese; black beans; a baked potato; garden salad; white rice and peas n' rice.
If you've got a hankering for a sandwich, the options include a beef burger, pulled pork or a chicken breast sandwich. Kids can take their pick of a hamburger, cheeseburger or chicken breast strips.
We started with the wings, but were bummed when our server told us that they did not have any nitro sauce. We had to go with the spicy. They were okay, but being the heat-seekers that we are, we were after mouth-burning heat.
While I love a good BBQ rib, I also love a good salmon; so I was pretty torn when it came time to order my entrée. I settled on the salmon after my mom opted for the ribs and my sister went with Bucks steak special.
The center-cut portion of fire-grilled salmon arrived just as I'd ordered -- a perfect medium. And it was delicious. My only problem was I'd ordered the yucca with mojo as a side and specifically asked the server whether it had any oil in it. She said no, but when it arrived it did.
The platter of ribs was so heaping that my mom got through two bones and had to have the rest packaged to go. My sister found herself constantly digging into my salmon that she said she would have to order it on a return visit.
While we opted out of having dessert, Bucks Fire Grill offers a Cuban flan, New York style cheesecake, chocolate brownie sensation (pecan chocolate brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate syrup) and three flavors of ice cream - chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.
read more »
We just had to see what Bucks Fire Grill was all about. And BBQ ribs is one of my favorite things to eat -- especially if it's done right. (I've had some botched BBQ in my time, and I've had some really good ones).
So I pulled up with my mom Jestina; sister Cornesha; niece Waltonique and the newest addition to this eating-out clan Justin, who at three months pulled up for a seat at the table.
We walked into a rustic open-air facility that seemed homey and down-to-earth with wooden tables and benches. As the restaurant is so close to Montagu, there was a cool evening breeze wafting through the place, much to our delight. And we found a menu had a mixture of Texas, Latin and Caribbean influences.
Perusing the menu of the restaurant that was only into its first week, a number of menu items caught our eyes. My family and I are total wing fiends. For us, there's nothing like a good platter of hot wings to start off a meal, so of course the Bucks smokin' hot wings caught our attention, served with mild, spicy or nitro sauce. The other offerings include smoked nachos grande (tortilla chips heaped with smoked pulled pork, jack cheeses, tomatoes, jalapeños served with salsa and sour cream); steak tidbits served with chimichurri sauce; tortilla chips with pico de gallo; chicharritas (long thin green plantain chips, lightly salted and not too sweet). Black bean soup, red bean soup and tostones (green plantain chips, deep fried and lightly salted) round out the appetizer menu.
The salad offerings run regular as with most restaurants -- Caesar or a tossed garden salad.
Entrees include steak, pork ribs, smoked pork, salmon and shrimp skewers. And they're all served sizzling hot on platters. And you get to a choice of two sides -- yuca with mojo (boiled cassava with citrus and garlic sauce); macaroni and cheese; black beans; a baked potato; garden salad; white rice and peas n' rice.
If you've got a hankering for a sandwich, the options include a beef burger, pulled pork or a chicken breast sandwich. Kids can take their pick of a hamburger, cheeseburger or chicken breast strips.
We started with the wings, but were bummed when our server told us that they did not have any nitro sauce. We had to go with the spicy. They were okay, but being the heat-seekers that we are, we were after mouth-burning heat.
While I love a good BBQ rib, I also love a good salmon; so I was pretty torn when it came time to order my entrée. I settled on the salmon after my mom opted for the ribs and my sister went with Bucks steak special.
The center-cut portion of fire-grilled salmon arrived just as I'd ordered -- a perfect medium. And it was delicious. My only problem was I'd ordered the yucca with mojo as a side and specifically asked the server whether it had any oil in it. She said no, but when it arrived it did.
The platter of ribs was so heaping that my mom got through two bones and had to have the rest packaged to go. My sister found herself constantly digging into my salmon that she said she would have to order it on a return visit.
While we opted out of having dessert, Bucks Fire Grill offers a Cuban flan, New York style cheesecake, chocolate brownie sensation (pecan chocolate brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate syrup) and three flavors of ice cream - chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.
read more »
May 02, 2013
For release on May 2, 2013: Nassau, Bahamas – Expansion into Nassau continues for Dunkin’ Donuts as the franchise celebrates the opening of its newest location, and first drive-thru, in the Independence Shopping Plaza on East Street South. With Dunkin’ Donuts now more convenient than ever, customers are able to grab their morning coffee, lunchtime sandwich, or afternoon pick-me-up in a fast, friendly environment, without the hassle of getting out of their vehicles. read more »
May 01, 2013
Soup Okra & Grouper Chowder SALADS Caesar Salad with garlic croutons & Reggiano dressing Carrot & Raisin Slaw with cinnamon Titi Shrimp Cocktail Salad Farfale with walnuts & pears in an Asian drizzle Chicken Roast Corn and Cilantro Salad ENTREES Conch 'n Rice with...
read more »
read more »
May 01, 2013
Soup Creamy lobster and plantain bisque with basil oil Miniature savory buns Salad And Sushi Bar Assorted sushi rolls Grilled Asparagus and yellow tomato salad Portobello mushrooms and baby corn Chicken and cilantro salad soy vinaigrette and sesame seeds Spinach and Roma tomatoes...
read more »
read more »
April 29, 2013
Every week Bahamaslocal.com promotes a business that services and professionalism embodies what a company should be, and this week we're promoting Sushi Rokkan. read more »
April 28, 2013
On the 28th & 29th of June 2013, Chef Jamall Petty host of Island flare Celebrity Interview/ cooking show in conjunction with the Mall at Marathon, Johnson & Wales University, Sandals Hotel Foundation, BahamasLocal.com, Kelly’s Home Centre and various other groups and partners will put on a one of a kind culinary event. Both eleven & twelve grade students will be filmed as they compete in the ultimate high school culinary battle called “food fight” to win a culinary experience of a lifetime and incredible prizes. read more »
April 27, 2013
Anyone who has the temerity to refer to himself as the "king" of anything has to be able to live up to the title. Well Kwivan Miller boldly named his team the Bahama Bar-B-King and lived up to the title as he captured the crown at the Thompson Trading Co. and Cattlemen's BBQ Sauce 1st Cattlemen's Smokin' Hot BBQ Competition.
Miller walked away with $500 and a trip to Puerto Rico to compete in the finale at the Cattlemen's Caribbean BBQ Competition. The New Providence grill-off took place at the new waterfront boardwalk at Bay Street Marina behind Green Parrot on East Bay Street. Competition categories included beef, BBQ sauce, poultry, pork ribs, seafood, pork butt and showmanship (the coolest looking booth).
The Bahama Bar-B-King head chef, who works at the Albany Resort, has been working in the field for approximately 12 years said he felt a sense of overwhelming pride when he was declared the winner in the championship ranking.
Miller and his team -- his brothers, Brandon and Llewelyn Miller and his girlfriend Lavanda Stubbs - eked out a slim win (634 points) over the second place BWF Grill Masters (633 points). The Meat Police finished third (616 points). Twenty-four teams competed.
Miller learned about the competition one week before the finale and entered immediately. He had been looking at an avenue to get his sauce out to the public and felt the competition provided the perfect venue.
"The competition was the true test for it because the only people that had tasted it were coworkers that purchase it from me and family, so the competition really was the true test to see how the public would really feel towards the flavor of the sauce on food," he said.
It's a recipe Miller refuses to divulge, but which he came with as a way to improve the taste of a sauce they had ordered in at work and that hadn't tasted good. He said he adds seven ingredients -- fresh herbs and a little Asian-fusion to bottled Cattlemen's Sauce which he said alters the flavor completely. He's been producing the sauce for about a year.
"I played with ingredients, put some stuff together and I realized that my colleagues were impressed by it, so I just started to make it at home and sold it to people." He sells a bottle of sauce at $12 for a quart.
While he said his sauce was a hit with most people during the competition, he wasn't pleased with what he produced and it was reflected in the scores. Miller's sauce was ranked 17th. Da Gone Fishin Group took top honors followed by Big Hurt Grillers and Grill, Chill & Swill.
"I wasn't too pleased with the actual sauce for the competition because I knew it could be better," he said. "I had to do a really big batch. I'm accustomed to doing just small batches for the house or for sale, so I found myself having to play with it a lot to the point where I said let me stop. I did a three-gallon batch, compared to doing a two or three quart batch. It was sort of challenging sauce wise."
In the poultry division, Miller's team finished fifth behind BWF Grill Masters, Star's Hot Grillers, Meat Police and Da Radio House Smokers.
In the rib division, Miller scored second behind The Bootleggers. Ronnie North was third. And in the seafood division, Miller was sixth behind Da Gone Fishin' Group, Unique Grillers, Cowboys, Charlie & Da Boys and BWF Grill Masters.
"We did not medal a lot. I only won a medal in the ribs category where we finished second. Other teams got numerous medals, but we were consistent in the four categories that counted towards the Puerto Rico trip."
Over the course of the next two-and-a-half months he plans to work on perfecting the flavor profile for his big batch sauce for the July 18-19 competition.
And he says he's beyond excited to compete there.
"It's really thrilling just knowing that I won it and an honor to know that I will be going to represent the country, so I'm going there [Puerto Rico] with a lot of pride and a lot of anticipation. This was actually my first competition, so to win after a first try really showed me that I probably slept on my potential and it was the first true test of my culinary skills. To me that win was one of my biggest accomplishments," he said.
Unfortunately, Miller said he did not get the opportunity to try his competition's foods because by the time he shut down his grill to relax, it was time for the results and everyone's food had already gone.
"But the competition definitely was there. As I looked around I saw these fancy grills, and grills that were big as mini cars, but I said just let me put my best foot forward and at least medal and hope for the win of the dream prize to Puerto Rico, and we pulled it off," said Miller.
Looking back he said the competition was successful, organized and provided a different experience for Bahamians in terms of something to do with the family. It's one he said he would like to repeat.
"They gave us the scores so that gives us the opportunity to look at what we need to improve on so and work and tweak on what you have to adjust for the next year. It was my first time -- second time around we will come back stronger. And a lot of guys were close up on us for second and third and I know they definitely will be after us, so we definitely have to come with the full 100, we definitely have to come 110 percent. I definitely look forward to defending the title and we will be there next year for sure," he said.
While he won't reveal his recipe, Miller offered up a couple of BBQ dos and don'ts. He said to always be careful with pepper. If you put pepper in your sauce he says to try not to go overboard with it, especially if you're cooking your sauce. He does not cook his sauce, but if you do he says don't cook the pepper in it, but rather to let the sauce cool and add a little pepper at the end because the longer the sauce sits the pepper starts to bloom.
He also said to be careful if you add any type of flavored vinegars to your sauce because it will have a tendency to be too sharp. And if you're adding fresh herbs he said you again want to be careful with the amount of herbs because the majority of herbs tend to be overpowering if you put too much. He says you should strive to create a balance in the flavor profiles so that no one flavor overpowers the other.
When he barbecues he prefers to submerge his meat in the BBQ sauce as opposed to brushing his meat while it's on the grill. By submerging it he said every single inch of the meat is covered with the BBQ sauce. After submerging the ribs he said to allow the excess sauce to drip off before placing the ribs on the grill to avoid burning.
As for the dry rub versus wet sauce debate, he says people should use whatever technique works for them. He says there's no right or wrong, but he prefers a dry rub, especially for his ribs. More often than not the night before he puts his ribs on the grill, he says he marinates them overnight with a rub that has fresh herbs, brown sugar and a few other "secret" ingredients.
He also prefers to work with pork ribs that he says have the best flavor when cooked right. Beef ribs are his second choice because they are big and juicy.
Championship ranking results
Bahama Bar-B-King
BWF Grill Masters
Meat Police
The Bootleggers
Da Radio House Smokers
Da Gone Fishin' Group
Star's Hot Grillers
Ronnie North
Charlie & Da Boys
Sun Pigs
Big Hurt Grillers
Pirates Pub & Grill
Smokin' Hott
Hoggy Style
Team Tourism
Cowboys
Unique Grillers
K & J's
Grill, Chill & Swill
Grill Optimister
Kick's
Gardi's
Vel Mudda Sik Grillers
Serial Grillers
Sauce ranking
Da Gone Fishin' Group
Big Hurt Grillers
Grill, Chill & Swill
Meat Police
BWF Grill Masters
Hoggy Style
Charlie & Da Boys
Gardi's
Cowboys
Smokin' Hott
K & J's
Da Radio House Smokers
Grill Optimister
Team Tourism
Ronnie North
Kick's
Miller
Pirates Pub & Grill
Poultry ranking
BWF Grill Masters
Star's Hot Grillers
Meat Police
Da Radio House Smokers
Miller
Pirates Pub & Grill
The Bootleggers
Charlie & DA Boys
Da Gone Fishin' Group
Sun Pigs
Cowboys
Big Hurt Grillers
Vel Mudda Sik Grillers
Unique Grillers
Grill, Chill & Swill
Grill Optimister
Hoggy Style
Ronnie North
Team Tourism
Gardi's
K & J's
Kick's Smokin' Hott
Ribs ranking
The Bootleggers
Bahama Bar-B-King
Ronnie North
Serial Grillers
Team Tourism
BWF Grill Masters
Charlie & Da Boys
Da Gone Fishin' Group
Big Hurt Grillers
Meat Police
Pirates Pub & Grill
Grill, Chill & Swill
Cowboys
Hoggy Style
Unique Grillers
Kick's
K & J's
Grill Optimist
Gardi's
Vel Mudda Sik Grillers
Sun Pigs
Seafood ranking
Da Gone Fishin' Group
Unique Grillers
Cowboys
Charlie & Da Boys
BWF Grill Masters
Bahama Bar-B-King
Pirates Pub & Grill
Hoggy Style
read more »
Miller walked away with $500 and a trip to Puerto Rico to compete in the finale at the Cattlemen's Caribbean BBQ Competition. The New Providence grill-off took place at the new waterfront boardwalk at Bay Street Marina behind Green Parrot on East Bay Street. Competition categories included beef, BBQ sauce, poultry, pork ribs, seafood, pork butt and showmanship (the coolest looking booth).
The Bahama Bar-B-King head chef, who works at the Albany Resort, has been working in the field for approximately 12 years said he felt a sense of overwhelming pride when he was declared the winner in the championship ranking.
Miller and his team -- his brothers, Brandon and Llewelyn Miller and his girlfriend Lavanda Stubbs - eked out a slim win (634 points) over the second place BWF Grill Masters (633 points). The Meat Police finished third (616 points). Twenty-four teams competed.
Miller learned about the competition one week before the finale and entered immediately. He had been looking at an avenue to get his sauce out to the public and felt the competition provided the perfect venue.
"The competition was the true test for it because the only people that had tasted it were coworkers that purchase it from me and family, so the competition really was the true test to see how the public would really feel towards the flavor of the sauce on food," he said.
It's a recipe Miller refuses to divulge, but which he came with as a way to improve the taste of a sauce they had ordered in at work and that hadn't tasted good. He said he adds seven ingredients -- fresh herbs and a little Asian-fusion to bottled Cattlemen's Sauce which he said alters the flavor completely. He's been producing the sauce for about a year.
"I played with ingredients, put some stuff together and I realized that my colleagues were impressed by it, so I just started to make it at home and sold it to people." He sells a bottle of sauce at $12 for a quart.
While he said his sauce was a hit with most people during the competition, he wasn't pleased with what he produced and it was reflected in the scores. Miller's sauce was ranked 17th. Da Gone Fishin Group took top honors followed by Big Hurt Grillers and Grill, Chill & Swill.
"I wasn't too pleased with the actual sauce for the competition because I knew it could be better," he said. "I had to do a really big batch. I'm accustomed to doing just small batches for the house or for sale, so I found myself having to play with it a lot to the point where I said let me stop. I did a three-gallon batch, compared to doing a two or three quart batch. It was sort of challenging sauce wise."
In the poultry division, Miller's team finished fifth behind BWF Grill Masters, Star's Hot Grillers, Meat Police and Da Radio House Smokers.
In the rib division, Miller scored second behind The Bootleggers. Ronnie North was third. And in the seafood division, Miller was sixth behind Da Gone Fishin' Group, Unique Grillers, Cowboys, Charlie & Da Boys and BWF Grill Masters.
"We did not medal a lot. I only won a medal in the ribs category where we finished second. Other teams got numerous medals, but we were consistent in the four categories that counted towards the Puerto Rico trip."
Over the course of the next two-and-a-half months he plans to work on perfecting the flavor profile for his big batch sauce for the July 18-19 competition.
And he says he's beyond excited to compete there.
"It's really thrilling just knowing that I won it and an honor to know that I will be going to represent the country, so I'm going there [Puerto Rico] with a lot of pride and a lot of anticipation. This was actually my first competition, so to win after a first try really showed me that I probably slept on my potential and it was the first true test of my culinary skills. To me that win was one of my biggest accomplishments," he said.
Unfortunately, Miller said he did not get the opportunity to try his competition's foods because by the time he shut down his grill to relax, it was time for the results and everyone's food had already gone.
"But the competition definitely was there. As I looked around I saw these fancy grills, and grills that were big as mini cars, but I said just let me put my best foot forward and at least medal and hope for the win of the dream prize to Puerto Rico, and we pulled it off," said Miller.
Looking back he said the competition was successful, organized and provided a different experience for Bahamians in terms of something to do with the family. It's one he said he would like to repeat.
"They gave us the scores so that gives us the opportunity to look at what we need to improve on so and work and tweak on what you have to adjust for the next year. It was my first time -- second time around we will come back stronger. And a lot of guys were close up on us for second and third and I know they definitely will be after us, so we definitely have to come with the full 100, we definitely have to come 110 percent. I definitely look forward to defending the title and we will be there next year for sure," he said.
While he won't reveal his recipe, Miller offered up a couple of BBQ dos and don'ts. He said to always be careful with pepper. If you put pepper in your sauce he says to try not to go overboard with it, especially if you're cooking your sauce. He does not cook his sauce, but if you do he says don't cook the pepper in it, but rather to let the sauce cool and add a little pepper at the end because the longer the sauce sits the pepper starts to bloom.
He also said to be careful if you add any type of flavored vinegars to your sauce because it will have a tendency to be too sharp. And if you're adding fresh herbs he said you again want to be careful with the amount of herbs because the majority of herbs tend to be overpowering if you put too much. He says you should strive to create a balance in the flavor profiles so that no one flavor overpowers the other.
When he barbecues he prefers to submerge his meat in the BBQ sauce as opposed to brushing his meat while it's on the grill. By submerging it he said every single inch of the meat is covered with the BBQ sauce. After submerging the ribs he said to allow the excess sauce to drip off before placing the ribs on the grill to avoid burning.
As for the dry rub versus wet sauce debate, he says people should use whatever technique works for them. He says there's no right or wrong, but he prefers a dry rub, especially for his ribs. More often than not the night before he puts his ribs on the grill, he says he marinates them overnight with a rub that has fresh herbs, brown sugar and a few other "secret" ingredients.
He also prefers to work with pork ribs that he says have the best flavor when cooked right. Beef ribs are his second choice because they are big and juicy.
Championship ranking results
Bahama Bar-B-King
BWF Grill Masters
Meat Police
The Bootleggers
Da Radio House Smokers
Da Gone Fishin' Group
Star's Hot Grillers
Ronnie North
Charlie & Da Boys
Sun Pigs
Big Hurt Grillers
Pirates Pub & Grill
Smokin' Hott
Hoggy Style
Team Tourism
Cowboys
Unique Grillers
K & J's
Grill, Chill & Swill
Grill Optimister
Kick's
Gardi's
Vel Mudda Sik Grillers
Serial Grillers
Sauce ranking
Da Gone Fishin' Group
Big Hurt Grillers
Grill, Chill & Swill
Meat Police
BWF Grill Masters
Hoggy Style
Charlie & Da Boys
Gardi's
Cowboys
Smokin' Hott
K & J's
Da Radio House Smokers
Grill Optimister
Team Tourism
Ronnie North
Kick's
Miller
Pirates Pub & Grill
Poultry ranking
BWF Grill Masters
Star's Hot Grillers
Meat Police
Da Radio House Smokers
Miller
Pirates Pub & Grill
The Bootleggers
Charlie & DA Boys
Da Gone Fishin' Group
Sun Pigs
Cowboys
Big Hurt Grillers
Vel Mudda Sik Grillers
Unique Grillers
Grill, Chill & Swill
Grill Optimister
Hoggy Style
Ronnie North
Team Tourism
Gardi's
K & J's
Kick's Smokin' Hott
Ribs ranking
The Bootleggers
Bahama Bar-B-King
Ronnie North
Serial Grillers
Team Tourism
BWF Grill Masters
Charlie & Da Boys
Da Gone Fishin' Group
Big Hurt Grillers
Meat Police
Pirates Pub & Grill
Grill, Chill & Swill
Cowboys
Hoggy Style
Unique Grillers
Kick's
K & J's
Grill Optimist
Gardi's
Vel Mudda Sik Grillers
Sun Pigs
Seafood ranking
Da Gone Fishin' Group
Unique Grillers
Cowboys
Charlie & Da Boys
BWF Grill Masters
Bahama Bar-B-King
Pirates Pub & Grill
Hoggy Style
read more »
April 26, 2013
Freeport, Bahamas - Flying Fish Modern Seafood in Grand Bahama Island continues their successful Educational Series this Sunday, April 28th with a class dedicated to Chocolate! Our weekly Sunday event is a cooking demonstration & dinner focusing on chocolate savory & sweet.
read more »
read more »
April 23, 2013
Grills blazed under tents while the scorching sun reflected the fiery spirit of competition during Saturday’s first annual Cattlemen’s Smokin’ Hot BBQ Competition hosted by Green Parrot at the East Bay Marina.
read more »
read more »
April 20, 2013
MIAMI -- When you're talking about rum, how much does the Caribbean really matter?
For the rum world, it's a more serious question than it sounds, and the answer exposes a schism in the industry, a divide between massive producers who value uniformity in a global market and smaller players and connoisseurs who prefer nuanced production that reflects the time and place a rum is made.
A walk down the rum aisle of a liquor store sees this played out. While major companies like Pernod Ricard might acknowledge that its Malibu is a "Caribbean rum"and has notes of coconut flavor, you won't find specifics beyond that. Likewise, Diageo's Captain Morgan doesn't indicate which island port its jaunty pirate logo calls home.
That's because the largest liquor companies have realized it's not critical to promote their rums' origins in their global branding, says Arun Sharma, professor of marketing at the University of Miami School of Business Administration. That allows them flexibility to produce their spirits where they need to meet demand on the mass market.
"The brand is more important than where it's produced,"Sharma said.
At Bacardi, which sells more than 18 million cases of rum worldwide each year, consistency and quality are paramount, even as it expands its offerings of flavored, spiced and premium rums.
"Our marketing approach and advertising hasn't really focused on the Caribbean. ... It's a lifestyle. It's a way of life,"said Bacardi brand master David Cid.
Except that rums can vary greatly based on where and how they are produced, something aficionados have long known and smaller producers have begun promoting as a way to distinguish themselves. Cuba and Puerto Rico have lighter, more delicate rums; Jamaica veers to the full-bodied, darker liquors; and Haiti is known for the cognac-like flavor of its Rhum Barbancourt.
Blue Chair Bay Rum, which country music star Kenny Chesney is launching this spring, is a good example. Chesney chose a distiller in Barbados specifically to infuse the spirit with an authenticity he sought to represent his love for the island lifestyle, says CEO Mark Montgomery. And as rum sales grow, you can expect to see more of that. Fueled by a cocktail revival on the food scene -- as well as prominent billing on TV shows like "Mad Men" -- liquors captured more than a third of the alcoholic beverage market last year, including sales of 25.5 million cases of rum in the U.S. alone, a 2.5 percent jump over the year before. Flavored and spiced rums account for more than half of that total.
"Every island in the Caribbean, every country in Central and South America makes 'the best rum in the world.' There's a lot of pride in rum," says Robert A. Burr, organizer of the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival that opens to industry professionals and the public this weekend.
"Every country has some sort of different history, equipment, preference. But now we're in much more of a global world where it's easier to try other people's rum."
Of course, that information isn't always obvious. Rum can be tricky for drinkers to figure out because it can be produced anywhere, unlike Scotch whisky that by definition comes from in Scotland, says Bernhard Schafer, a professional spirits judge participating in the Miami rum festival.
At a pre-festival tasting this week, rums from Ireland, Colorado, the Philippines, Florida and New Zealand mingled with offerings from Barbados, St. Barths and Panama. Aside from noting the country of origin, none of the labels referenced the Caribbean. And the rum from Panama -- called Ron de Jeremy, a play on the Spanish word for rum -- had a different association in mind ... A portrait of adult film star Ron Jeremy is on the label.
The growing variety of rums in the marketplace should assuage the fears of anyone who's been avoiding rum since, perhaps, an ill-advised bender in college, said Rob V. Burr, a self-described "rum evangelist" and the son of the festival's organizer.
"I always like to tell people, there's a rum for that."
read more »
For the rum world, it's a more serious question than it sounds, and the answer exposes a schism in the industry, a divide between massive producers who value uniformity in a global market and smaller players and connoisseurs who prefer nuanced production that reflects the time and place a rum is made.
A walk down the rum aisle of a liquor store sees this played out. While major companies like Pernod Ricard might acknowledge that its Malibu is a "Caribbean rum"and has notes of coconut flavor, you won't find specifics beyond that. Likewise, Diageo's Captain Morgan doesn't indicate which island port its jaunty pirate logo calls home.
That's because the largest liquor companies have realized it's not critical to promote their rums' origins in their global branding, says Arun Sharma, professor of marketing at the University of Miami School of Business Administration. That allows them flexibility to produce their spirits where they need to meet demand on the mass market.
"The brand is more important than where it's produced,"Sharma said.
At Bacardi, which sells more than 18 million cases of rum worldwide each year, consistency and quality are paramount, even as it expands its offerings of flavored, spiced and premium rums.
"Our marketing approach and advertising hasn't really focused on the Caribbean. ... It's a lifestyle. It's a way of life,"said Bacardi brand master David Cid.
Except that rums can vary greatly based on where and how they are produced, something aficionados have long known and smaller producers have begun promoting as a way to distinguish themselves. Cuba and Puerto Rico have lighter, more delicate rums; Jamaica veers to the full-bodied, darker liquors; and Haiti is known for the cognac-like flavor of its Rhum Barbancourt.
Blue Chair Bay Rum, which country music star Kenny Chesney is launching this spring, is a good example. Chesney chose a distiller in Barbados specifically to infuse the spirit with an authenticity he sought to represent his love for the island lifestyle, says CEO Mark Montgomery. And as rum sales grow, you can expect to see more of that. Fueled by a cocktail revival on the food scene -- as well as prominent billing on TV shows like "Mad Men" -- liquors captured more than a third of the alcoholic beverage market last year, including sales of 25.5 million cases of rum in the U.S. alone, a 2.5 percent jump over the year before. Flavored and spiced rums account for more than half of that total.
"Every island in the Caribbean, every country in Central and South America makes 'the best rum in the world.' There's a lot of pride in rum," says Robert A. Burr, organizer of the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival that opens to industry professionals and the public this weekend.
"Every country has some sort of different history, equipment, preference. But now we're in much more of a global world where it's easier to try other people's rum."
Of course, that information isn't always obvious. Rum can be tricky for drinkers to figure out because it can be produced anywhere, unlike Scotch whisky that by definition comes from in Scotland, says Bernhard Schafer, a professional spirits judge participating in the Miami rum festival.
At a pre-festival tasting this week, rums from Ireland, Colorado, the Philippines, Florida and New Zealand mingled with offerings from Barbados, St. Barths and Panama. Aside from noting the country of origin, none of the labels referenced the Caribbean. And the rum from Panama -- called Ron de Jeremy, a play on the Spanish word for rum -- had a different association in mind ... A portrait of adult film star Ron Jeremy is on the label.
The growing variety of rums in the marketplace should assuage the fears of anyone who's been avoiding rum since, perhaps, an ill-advised bender in college, said Rob V. Burr, a self-described "rum evangelist" and the son of the festival's organizer.
"I always like to tell people, there's a rum for that."
read more »
April 13, 2013
Freeport, Grand Bahama - The Flying Fish Supper Club continues this Sunday evening, April 14th. Reserve today to experience the varied tastes of Flying Fish in one evening at our Supper Club at 7pm. This Sunday we feature an INDIAN FEAST theme.
read more »
read more »
April 13, 2013
The South's love affair with fried chicken, collard greens, gumbo and biscuits is being challenged -- and changed -- by an unlikely influence. The North.Which may seem strange -- or even heretical -- until you stop to consider that Southern food has always been a confluence of cultures, an amalgamation of its African, European and Native American locals. It just happens that this time around it's the North that is infusing its ideas in the culinary mix.
Credit for this fresh face of Southern cooking goes to a growing band of chefs -- some born in the South, many not -- who are looking North as they reinterpret the classics.
Take Vivian Howard, for example. The 35-year-old owner of the Chef and Farmer restaurant in Kinston, N.C., is a true Southerner, the daughter of a North Carolina hog farmer whose grandmother baked candied yams with butter and brown sugar. Yet the yams Howard serves are smashed and double fried, like a Caribbean plantain, a reflection as much of her time spent cooking in New York as of her heritage.
In Louisville, Ky., a Korean-American from Brooklyn marries sorghum and local lamb -- and bourbon! -- with Asian flavors. In Georgia, Canadian Hugh Acheson showcases the Mediterranean potential of Southern staples such as ramps, morels and veal sweetbreads. And in Carrboro, N.C., Matt Neal -- whose dad Bill Neal helped revive Southern cooking in the 1980s -- channels his love for New York City in buttermilk biscuits topped with pastrami.
Many argue that Southern food is the country's only true regional cuisine.
But much of its distinctiveness comes from its ability to blend. African slaves brought their rice growing culture, laying the groundwork for iconic dishes like gumbo and jambalaya. Sweet potatoes resembled the yams they knew from home, and were used to fill European items like pies. Native Americans contributed their knowledge of the land and its ingredients, showing newcomers how to use corn for foods like cornbread and grits.
These rich food traditions often are what attract chefs from other parts of the country. At Louisville's Magnolia 601, Brooklyn-born Edward Lee seamlessly blends tradition with the flavors of his Korean heritage in dishes like crab cakes with green tomato kimchi and mango with red onion and daikon sprouts. But rather than corrupting tradition, Lee says such innovation moves it forward.
"I'm not a Southerner and I don't cook Southern food," he says. "I cook my food with a nod to Southern food and culture. I'm playing on their culture and history. I'm not making it better or worse. I'm just doing something different."
In North Carolina, New Jersey native Andrea Reusing projects memories of childhood trips to New York's Chinatown into whole fried local flounder and tea-cured local chicken. She plays on a Southern classic with Korean-style fried chicken wings that offer a brittle crunch and a sweet-spicy glaze. Country ham shows up in fried rice and field peas dot black sticky rice instead of hoppin' John.
"A lot of these Asian flavors are also Southern flavors," Reusing says. "Crunchy fried chicken, salty ham, a great whole fish. Peanuts. There are so many similarities. "At his two Athens, Ga., restaurants, Acheson adds French, Italian, Spanish, even North African flavors to Georgia ingredients, with dishes like grilled octopus and purple cape beans, cioppinostyle local seafood with stewed collards and roasted local chicken with red peppers and sesame. He even has kimchi creamed collard greens, a nod to the classic creamed spinach. Such interpretations, Acheson says, fit right into the South's history.
"Eighty percent of what we think of as Southern food is from slaves who were not indigenous," he says. "It's amazingly geographically different, inflected from so many parts of the world."
While some may think of the newcomers as carpetbaggers, Howard is flattered by the attention. Playing with Asian flavors or adding Mediterranean accents not only helps develop the region's food culture, she says, but also honors it. "It says a lot about what people have come to appreciate about our regional cuisine here."
Howard is one of a growing number of native Southerners who traveled or lived outside the region, then returned home with fresh ideas. Trained in New York at WD-50 and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market, Howard initially tried to bring Northern dishes to the South. The response was lukewarm.
So she began embracing all the things she'd grown up on -- collards, sweet corn, cucumbers, field peas -- but reinterpreting them, drawing on lessons she learned in the North. Today, baby collards are flash fried like potato chips, and lima beans are slow cooked with mustard greens and sausage until they melt on your tongue. A pecan pie isn't a pecan pie at all, but something between a chocolate-chip cookie and a salty, crunchy nut bar.
"What I'm trying to do is translate my region," Howard says. "There are all these subcultures of Southern food. People are familiar with low country, with Appalachia. I'm trying to do that same thing with the cuisine of the frugal farmer in eastern North Carolina, but do it in a way that's attractive for people who live here and is interesting for people who don't."
Like Howard, 41-year-old Matt Neal first fell in love with New York and its food during a childhood visit to the legendary Second Avenue Deli. Back home, he says he and his wife Sheila finally gave up on someone coming from the city to open a deli they could eat lunch at, so they decided to do it themselves.
"I'm not Jewish or Brooklynese or anything like that, but I figured we could figure out how to make pastrami," he says. "I had smoked meat before -- whole pigs -- so pastrami wasn't a huge stretch."
At Neal's Deli they serve that pastrami on Southern buttermilk biscuits, and offer a roster of groovy hotdogs like the Chilean "completo," served in the style of Chile with mayonnaise, sauerkraut, avocado and housemade hot sauce. The pimento cheese is made not just with cheddar, as per tradition, but with Swiss and provolone as well.
These chefs are successful, observers say, because their audience also has been traveling the world.
"What is happening in the South is that we are more open to discovery," says Southern cookbook author Jean Anderson. "There's always a core of Southern recipes that will be there forever. But I do think, and it's because many Southerners are much better traveled and much better educated, they're open to experimenting."
An influx of new immigrants over the last couple of decades also has inspired a more adventurous spirit in chefs and home cooks alike, say Paul and Angela Knipple, authors of "The World in a Skillet: A Food Lover's Tour of the New American South." Vietnamese immigrants, Kurdish refugees, and in the last 10 years many Hispanic farm workers have all brought their culinary cultures.
"The cuisine our grandchildren will eat will look a lot like it does now, but the flavors will be different," she says. "Southern cuisine is made of immigrant cuisines. And it will slowly embrace the cuisines that come in, as it always has."
Miso-Smothered Chicken This one-pot chicken dinner by Kentucky chef Edward Lee blends a staple of Southern cooking -- fried chicken -- with two deliciously savory Asian ingredients, salty miso and a half pound of shiitake mushrooms. Together they produce a chicken that is tender and wildly flavorful with a thick sauce that is good enough to eat by the spoonful.
Though the recipe calls for bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, we also tested it with boneless, skinless thighs and found it just as delicious.
Start to finish: 1 hour 15 minutes (30 minutes active)
Servings: 4
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/3 cup bourbon
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark miso
8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, thinly sliced
Cooked rice, to serve In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, cayenne and garlic powder. Add the chicken and toss well to coat evenly.
In a medium Dutch oven over medium, heat the oil until it shimmers. Add the chicken pieces skin side down and cook, turning once, until golden on both sides, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a paper-towel-lined plate. Set aside.
Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of oil from the pot. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally,until softened and golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the bourbon and cook until all the liquid has evaporated, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the chicken stock, orange juice, soy sauce and miso and bring to a simmer. Return the chicken to the pot, cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and tender, about 30 minutes.
Add the mushrooms and simmer, uncovered, until the mushrooms are tender and the sauce is thickened to the consistency of a gravy, about 10 to 15 minutes longer. Serve with rice.
Nutrition information per serving: 460 calories; 200 calories from fat (43 percent of total calories); 22 g fat (5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 80 mg cholesterol; 32 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 5 g sugar; 22 g protein; 1200 mg sodium.
o Recipe from Edward Lee's "Smoke and Pickles,"Artisan, 2013.
read more »
Credit for this fresh face of Southern cooking goes to a growing band of chefs -- some born in the South, many not -- who are looking North as they reinterpret the classics.
Take Vivian Howard, for example. The 35-year-old owner of the Chef and Farmer restaurant in Kinston, N.C., is a true Southerner, the daughter of a North Carolina hog farmer whose grandmother baked candied yams with butter and brown sugar. Yet the yams Howard serves are smashed and double fried, like a Caribbean plantain, a reflection as much of her time spent cooking in New York as of her heritage.
In Louisville, Ky., a Korean-American from Brooklyn marries sorghum and local lamb -- and bourbon! -- with Asian flavors. In Georgia, Canadian Hugh Acheson showcases the Mediterranean potential of Southern staples such as ramps, morels and veal sweetbreads. And in Carrboro, N.C., Matt Neal -- whose dad Bill Neal helped revive Southern cooking in the 1980s -- channels his love for New York City in buttermilk biscuits topped with pastrami.
Many argue that Southern food is the country's only true regional cuisine.
But much of its distinctiveness comes from its ability to blend. African slaves brought their rice growing culture, laying the groundwork for iconic dishes like gumbo and jambalaya. Sweet potatoes resembled the yams they knew from home, and were used to fill European items like pies. Native Americans contributed their knowledge of the land and its ingredients, showing newcomers how to use corn for foods like cornbread and grits.
These rich food traditions often are what attract chefs from other parts of the country. At Louisville's Magnolia 601, Brooklyn-born Edward Lee seamlessly blends tradition with the flavors of his Korean heritage in dishes like crab cakes with green tomato kimchi and mango with red onion and daikon sprouts. But rather than corrupting tradition, Lee says such innovation moves it forward.
"I'm not a Southerner and I don't cook Southern food," he says. "I cook my food with a nod to Southern food and culture. I'm playing on their culture and history. I'm not making it better or worse. I'm just doing something different."
In North Carolina, New Jersey native Andrea Reusing projects memories of childhood trips to New York's Chinatown into whole fried local flounder and tea-cured local chicken. She plays on a Southern classic with Korean-style fried chicken wings that offer a brittle crunch and a sweet-spicy glaze. Country ham shows up in fried rice and field peas dot black sticky rice instead of hoppin' John.
"A lot of these Asian flavors are also Southern flavors," Reusing says. "Crunchy fried chicken, salty ham, a great whole fish. Peanuts. There are so many similarities. "At his two Athens, Ga., restaurants, Acheson adds French, Italian, Spanish, even North African flavors to Georgia ingredients, with dishes like grilled octopus and purple cape beans, cioppinostyle local seafood with stewed collards and roasted local chicken with red peppers and sesame. He even has kimchi creamed collard greens, a nod to the classic creamed spinach. Such interpretations, Acheson says, fit right into the South's history.
"Eighty percent of what we think of as Southern food is from slaves who were not indigenous," he says. "It's amazingly geographically different, inflected from so many parts of the world."
While some may think of the newcomers as carpetbaggers, Howard is flattered by the attention. Playing with Asian flavors or adding Mediterranean accents not only helps develop the region's food culture, she says, but also honors it. "It says a lot about what people have come to appreciate about our regional cuisine here."
Howard is one of a growing number of native Southerners who traveled or lived outside the region, then returned home with fresh ideas. Trained in New York at WD-50 and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market, Howard initially tried to bring Northern dishes to the South. The response was lukewarm.
So she began embracing all the things she'd grown up on -- collards, sweet corn, cucumbers, field peas -- but reinterpreting them, drawing on lessons she learned in the North. Today, baby collards are flash fried like potato chips, and lima beans are slow cooked with mustard greens and sausage until they melt on your tongue. A pecan pie isn't a pecan pie at all, but something between a chocolate-chip cookie and a salty, crunchy nut bar.
"What I'm trying to do is translate my region," Howard says. "There are all these subcultures of Southern food. People are familiar with low country, with Appalachia. I'm trying to do that same thing with the cuisine of the frugal farmer in eastern North Carolina, but do it in a way that's attractive for people who live here and is interesting for people who don't."
Like Howard, 41-year-old Matt Neal first fell in love with New York and its food during a childhood visit to the legendary Second Avenue Deli. Back home, he says he and his wife Sheila finally gave up on someone coming from the city to open a deli they could eat lunch at, so they decided to do it themselves.
"I'm not Jewish or Brooklynese or anything like that, but I figured we could figure out how to make pastrami," he says. "I had smoked meat before -- whole pigs -- so pastrami wasn't a huge stretch."
At Neal's Deli they serve that pastrami on Southern buttermilk biscuits, and offer a roster of groovy hotdogs like the Chilean "completo," served in the style of Chile with mayonnaise, sauerkraut, avocado and housemade hot sauce. The pimento cheese is made not just with cheddar, as per tradition, but with Swiss and provolone as well.
These chefs are successful, observers say, because their audience also has been traveling the world.
"What is happening in the South is that we are more open to discovery," says Southern cookbook author Jean Anderson. "There's always a core of Southern recipes that will be there forever. But I do think, and it's because many Southerners are much better traveled and much better educated, they're open to experimenting."
An influx of new immigrants over the last couple of decades also has inspired a more adventurous spirit in chefs and home cooks alike, say Paul and Angela Knipple, authors of "The World in a Skillet: A Food Lover's Tour of the New American South." Vietnamese immigrants, Kurdish refugees, and in the last 10 years many Hispanic farm workers have all brought their culinary cultures.
"The cuisine our grandchildren will eat will look a lot like it does now, but the flavors will be different," she says. "Southern cuisine is made of immigrant cuisines. And it will slowly embrace the cuisines that come in, as it always has."
Miso-Smothered Chicken This one-pot chicken dinner by Kentucky chef Edward Lee blends a staple of Southern cooking -- fried chicken -- with two deliciously savory Asian ingredients, salty miso and a half pound of shiitake mushrooms. Together they produce a chicken that is tender and wildly flavorful with a thick sauce that is good enough to eat by the spoonful.
Though the recipe calls for bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, we also tested it with boneless, skinless thighs and found it just as delicious.
Start to finish: 1 hour 15 minutes (30 minutes active)
Servings: 4
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/3 cup bourbon
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark miso
8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, thinly sliced
Cooked rice, to serve In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, cayenne and garlic powder. Add the chicken and toss well to coat evenly.
In a medium Dutch oven over medium, heat the oil until it shimmers. Add the chicken pieces skin side down and cook, turning once, until golden on both sides, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a paper-towel-lined plate. Set aside.
Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of oil from the pot. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally,until softened and golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the bourbon and cook until all the liquid has evaporated, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the chicken stock, orange juice, soy sauce and miso and bring to a simmer. Return the chicken to the pot, cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and tender, about 30 minutes.
Add the mushrooms and simmer, uncovered, until the mushrooms are tender and the sauce is thickened to the consistency of a gravy, about 10 to 15 minutes longer. Serve with rice.
Nutrition information per serving: 460 calories; 200 calories from fat (43 percent of total calories); 22 g fat (5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 80 mg cholesterol; 32 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 5 g sugar; 22 g protein; 1200 mg sodium.
o Recipe from Edward Lee's "Smoke and Pickles,"Artisan, 2013.
read more »
April 06, 2013
N.G.M. Major High School student Cordell Wells was crowned the winner of the National All-Island Senior Young Chef Competition.
The 15-year-old 10th grade Long Island student won with his Yuma Pulled Mutton in a Pumpkin Crawfish Rice Mold with Vinaigrette Coleslaw, which was awarded the Best Robin Hood Flour dish, and his Molten Chocolate Fruit Surprise with Coconut Cream Anglaise and Whipped Cream Topping.
He snagged a Lincoln College of Technology scholarship worth $10,000 and a cash prize of $1,500 for his win.
Cordell was the third student from N.G.M. Major to capture the senior title. Denece Adderley took the title in 1998. Rhonda Major took back-to-back honors in 1995 and 1997.
Eight Mile Rock High School's Luciano Simmons was scored in the second spot. The Grand Bahama 11th grade student prepared a Mahi Mahi Rice Patty served with Pumpkin Soup and a Island Savory Cupcake Trio. Simmons also won a scholarship tenable at Lincoln College of Technology valued at $5,000 and a cash prize of $750 from Mahatma Rice and Robin Hood Flour, distributed in The Bahamas by Asa H. Pritchard Ltd.
C.R. Walker Senior High School's Taneisha Rolle cooked her way to a third place showing with her Bahama Chocolate Lava Cake and her Spicy Coconut Conch Jambalaya with Bahama Seafood Sausage which was awarded the Best Mahatma Rice Dish. She walked away with $300.
Helena Hepburn of San Salvador High finished fourth with her Irresistible Tropical Pumpkin Cake with Strawberry Blueberry Cream cheese Sauce and Mouth Watering Rice Bowls with Salmon and Vegetable Stir-fry. Her take home cash prize was $250.
"This year I have seen tremendous improvement in the quality of product produced by all of the students," said Chef Edwin Johnson of Gilgan Holdings who has judged at the competition since its inception 21 years ago. "Good skills were demonstrated as relates to organization, cooking skills, calmness, menu and recipe presentation and compilation with more attention paid to sanitation. We've also seen more use of indigenous products. Items like noni, hibiscus flowers, rice to make drinks and conch made into sausage. More technique and cooking skills are being used to secure the nutritional value of food," he said.
Atlantis executive chef Clement Williams, RIU executive chef Don Ingraham, manager of test kitchens for Mahatma Rice Debbie Wheeler, and Culinary Hospitality Management Institute Chef/Lecturer Eldred Saunders also judged the competition.
Yuma Pulled Mutton in Pumpkin-Crawfish Rice Mold Topped with Vinaigrette Coleslaw
Mutton pre-boil
6 oz fresh Long Island mutton, de-boned
1 tsp Season All
1 bay leaf
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 lime juiced
Mutton-pulled
6 oz Long Island mutton, gravy included
1/4 onion, chopped
Mutton pre-boil method
In a medium sized pot combine 1 cup of water, mutton and half of seasonings. Boil for 15 minutes on medium low heat. Pour off water. Add the other half of ingredients and water and mutton and boil for another 30 minutes. Add an additional teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. Let cool and refrigerate overnight in juices.
Mutton-pulled method
In a small Pyrex pan combine the mutton and chopped onion. Bake for 20 minutes. Pull mutton and keep warm.
Pumpkin mousse
1/4 cup homegrown pumpkin, roasted and pureed
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp minced onion
1 tbsp butter
1/8 cup heavy cream
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
In a medium frying pan combine butter and onion, stir fry until translucent. Add spices and seasonings, cook until spices scent the air. Then add pumpkin puree. Whip cream until stiff. Add pumpkin mixture and fold into cream.
Pumpkin-Crawfish Rice Mold
1/3 cup Mahatma Extra Long Grain Enriched Rice
5 cups of water
2 tbsps salt
In a large pot add water, bring water to a boil. Meanwhile in a colander in a clean drain add rice and rinse thoroughly, let drain. Once water has come to a boil, add rice and salt. Keep boiling for 11 to 12 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Rice mold
1/3 cup rice, cooked
1 small fresh crawfish tail, deveined, boiled and minced
1 tbsp butter
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup fresh pumpkin, roasted in olive oil and pinch of salt
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease four molds of a muffin tin.
In a medium-sized bowl, add rice and pumpkin. Mash and stir until combined, add crawfish, repeat process. Add other ingredients and stir until combined. Add 2 tablespoons to each mold, press into the bottom and sides making sure the rims of each mold are even. Bake for 20 minutes. When finished, do not allow to cool.
Cole slaw
1/8 cup finely shredded white cabbage
1/8 cup finely shredded red cabbage
1 tbsp finely shredded carrots
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp crushed black pepper
In a small bowl, add vegetables. In an air-tight container, add other ingredients and shake until combined. Add vinaigrette to veggies and toss. Toss and refrigerate.
Spicy tomato glaze
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
In a small saucepan, add the first five ingredients until combined. Then add the rest of ingredients and slowly cook on medium heat for 30-35 minutes. Let cool and strain in a squeeze bottle and refrigerate until ready to use. Make sure to take glaze out at least 30 minutes before serving.
Assembly of rice mold
In a medium-sized plate, place a rice mold and add a dollop of the pumpkin mousse. Place a forkful or more of the pulled mutton and a pinch of the vinaigrette coleslaw. Drizzle with spicy tomato glaze.
Molten Chocolate Fruit Surprise with Coconut Cream Anglaise and Whipped Cream Topping
Molten Chocolate Cake
1/3 cup Robin Hood Flor
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp freshly grated coconut
2 tbsps guava, slightly pureed
2 tbsp crushed fresh pineapple
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a large bowl, add all ingredients and whisk thoroughly until combined. Add mix to ramekins by 1/4 cup fills. Bake in a 9-10 inch pan for 12-14 minutes.
Guava-Raspberry Syrup
2 tbsps guava puree, strained
2 tbsps raspberry puree, strained
2 tbsps sugar
4 tbsps water
In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients and whisk together. Cook slowly over a medium-low flame for 20 minutes.
Coconut Creme Anglaise
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 tbsps sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp coconut extract
In a medium saucepan, add milk and cream and cook on medium heat until it comes to a light boil. In a small bowl add eggs and sugar and whisk until fluffy and pale. To the milk mixture, add extract. Add some of the hot milk mixture to the egg mixture by tablespoons until mixture is at room temperature whisking after every tablespoon. Return to saucepan and cook on low heat until mixture coats the back of your wooden spoon. Let cool and cover tightly.
Assembly of cake
In a medium-sized plate, ladle a spoonful of the creme anglaise in the center of the plate. Gently spread out the anglaise into a wide circle. Place a cake in the center of the anglaise puddle and top with whipped cream. With a piping bag filled with the guava and raspberry reduction, place sequencing dots of syrup about 1/2 inch apart, then gently with the tip of a knife, starting from any dot, pull knife through all dots until you reach the starting dot.
read more »
The 15-year-old 10th grade Long Island student won with his Yuma Pulled Mutton in a Pumpkin Crawfish Rice Mold with Vinaigrette Coleslaw, which was awarded the Best Robin Hood Flour dish, and his Molten Chocolate Fruit Surprise with Coconut Cream Anglaise and Whipped Cream Topping.
He snagged a Lincoln College of Technology scholarship worth $10,000 and a cash prize of $1,500 for his win.
Cordell was the third student from N.G.M. Major to capture the senior title. Denece Adderley took the title in 1998. Rhonda Major took back-to-back honors in 1995 and 1997.
Eight Mile Rock High School's Luciano Simmons was scored in the second spot. The Grand Bahama 11th grade student prepared a Mahi Mahi Rice Patty served with Pumpkin Soup and a Island Savory Cupcake Trio. Simmons also won a scholarship tenable at Lincoln College of Technology valued at $5,000 and a cash prize of $750 from Mahatma Rice and Robin Hood Flour, distributed in The Bahamas by Asa H. Pritchard Ltd.
C.R. Walker Senior High School's Taneisha Rolle cooked her way to a third place showing with her Bahama Chocolate Lava Cake and her Spicy Coconut Conch Jambalaya with Bahama Seafood Sausage which was awarded the Best Mahatma Rice Dish. She walked away with $300.
Helena Hepburn of San Salvador High finished fourth with her Irresistible Tropical Pumpkin Cake with Strawberry Blueberry Cream cheese Sauce and Mouth Watering Rice Bowls with Salmon and Vegetable Stir-fry. Her take home cash prize was $250.
"This year I have seen tremendous improvement in the quality of product produced by all of the students," said Chef Edwin Johnson of Gilgan Holdings who has judged at the competition since its inception 21 years ago. "Good skills were demonstrated as relates to organization, cooking skills, calmness, menu and recipe presentation and compilation with more attention paid to sanitation. We've also seen more use of indigenous products. Items like noni, hibiscus flowers, rice to make drinks and conch made into sausage. More technique and cooking skills are being used to secure the nutritional value of food," he said.
Atlantis executive chef Clement Williams, RIU executive chef Don Ingraham, manager of test kitchens for Mahatma Rice Debbie Wheeler, and Culinary Hospitality Management Institute Chef/Lecturer Eldred Saunders also judged the competition.
Yuma Pulled Mutton in Pumpkin-Crawfish Rice Mold Topped with Vinaigrette Coleslaw
Mutton pre-boil
6 oz fresh Long Island mutton, de-boned
1 tsp Season All
1 bay leaf
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 lime juiced
Mutton-pulled
6 oz Long Island mutton, gravy included
1/4 onion, chopped
Mutton pre-boil method
In a medium sized pot combine 1 cup of water, mutton and half of seasonings. Boil for 15 minutes on medium low heat. Pour off water. Add the other half of ingredients and water and mutton and boil for another 30 minutes. Add an additional teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. Let cool and refrigerate overnight in juices.
Mutton-pulled method
In a small Pyrex pan combine the mutton and chopped onion. Bake for 20 minutes. Pull mutton and keep warm.
Pumpkin mousse
1/4 cup homegrown pumpkin, roasted and pureed
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp minced onion
1 tbsp butter
1/8 cup heavy cream
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
In a medium frying pan combine butter and onion, stir fry until translucent. Add spices and seasonings, cook until spices scent the air. Then add pumpkin puree. Whip cream until stiff. Add pumpkin mixture and fold into cream.
Pumpkin-Crawfish Rice Mold
1/3 cup Mahatma Extra Long Grain Enriched Rice
5 cups of water
2 tbsps salt
In a large pot add water, bring water to a boil. Meanwhile in a colander in a clean drain add rice and rinse thoroughly, let drain. Once water has come to a boil, add rice and salt. Keep boiling for 11 to 12 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Rice mold
1/3 cup rice, cooked
1 small fresh crawfish tail, deveined, boiled and minced
1 tbsp butter
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup fresh pumpkin, roasted in olive oil and pinch of salt
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease four molds of a muffin tin.
In a medium-sized bowl, add rice and pumpkin. Mash and stir until combined, add crawfish, repeat process. Add other ingredients and stir until combined. Add 2 tablespoons to each mold, press into the bottom and sides making sure the rims of each mold are even. Bake for 20 minutes. When finished, do not allow to cool.
Cole slaw
1/8 cup finely shredded white cabbage
1/8 cup finely shredded red cabbage
1 tbsp finely shredded carrots
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp crushed black pepper
In a small bowl, add vegetables. In an air-tight container, add other ingredients and shake until combined. Add vinaigrette to veggies and toss. Toss and refrigerate.
Spicy tomato glaze
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
In a small saucepan, add the first five ingredients until combined. Then add the rest of ingredients and slowly cook on medium heat for 30-35 minutes. Let cool and strain in a squeeze bottle and refrigerate until ready to use. Make sure to take glaze out at least 30 minutes before serving.
Assembly of rice mold
In a medium-sized plate, place a rice mold and add a dollop of the pumpkin mousse. Place a forkful or more of the pulled mutton and a pinch of the vinaigrette coleslaw. Drizzle with spicy tomato glaze.
Molten Chocolate Fruit Surprise with Coconut Cream Anglaise and Whipped Cream Topping
Molten Chocolate Cake
1/3 cup Robin Hood Flor
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp freshly grated coconut
2 tbsps guava, slightly pureed
2 tbsp crushed fresh pineapple
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a large bowl, add all ingredients and whisk thoroughly until combined. Add mix to ramekins by 1/4 cup fills. Bake in a 9-10 inch pan for 12-14 minutes.
Guava-Raspberry Syrup
2 tbsps guava puree, strained
2 tbsps raspberry puree, strained
2 tbsps sugar
4 tbsps water
In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients and whisk together. Cook slowly over a medium-low flame for 20 minutes.
Coconut Creme Anglaise
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 tbsps sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp coconut extract
In a medium saucepan, add milk and cream and cook on medium heat until it comes to a light boil. In a small bowl add eggs and sugar and whisk until fluffy and pale. To the milk mixture, add extract. Add some of the hot milk mixture to the egg mixture by tablespoons until mixture is at room temperature whisking after every tablespoon. Return to saucepan and cook on low heat until mixture coats the back of your wooden spoon. Let cool and cover tightly.
Assembly of cake
In a medium-sized plate, ladle a spoonful of the creme anglaise in the center of the plate. Gently spread out the anglaise into a wide circle. Place a cake in the center of the anglaise puddle and top with whipped cream. With a piping bag filled with the guava and raspberry reduction, place sequencing dots of syrup about 1/2 inch apart, then gently with the tip of a knife, starting from any dot, pull knife through all dots until you reach the starting dot.
read more »
April 06, 2013
Fifteen-year-old Kenisha Stubbs emerged winner of the 21st Annual Junior Young Chef Championship.
The St. John's College student impressed the judges with her Mahi Mahi Rice Burger which was judged the Best Mahatma Rice Dish and her Nuts of Joy Pumpkin Surprise. She earned $250 for the win.
Placing second was L.N. Coakley High School's Hazen Rolle with her Crepe Cheesecake Bundles with Cocoplum and Orange Sauce. The dish also won the Best Robin Hood Flour award. She had also prepared a Cheesy Conch Casserole with Mahatma Rice and Hollandaise Sauce.
North Eleuthera High School's Joshua Griffin finished third with his Sour Orange Whitefish and Guava Ricotta Crepes. He picked up $100 for his efforts.
Judges for the junior championship were Chef Charles Missick, Central Bank; Executive Sous Chef Seanette Cooper, Sandals; Atlantis Executive Chef Rosemary Sinclair and 2006 Senior Champion Young Chef Winner and Graycliff Pastry Chef Celeste Smith.
Nuts of Joy Pumpkin Surprise
1/4 cup almonds
1/3 cup coconut
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp rum extract
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour one cookie sheet. In saucepan, melt butter. Cool. In a small bowl, whisk egg whites and sugar, salt and rum extract until foamy. Whisk in melted butter, then flour. Add almonds and coconut.
Make four circles on prepared cookie sheet. Spoon 1 1/2 level tablespoons of the batter in each circle and spread evenly in the circle. Bake for five minutes or until the edges turn brown. Use nonstick cooking spray on the sticks to wrap the cookie around.
Use the turner to lift cookies from the cookie sheets, wrap cookies around greased stick with plastic wrap. Cool completely on the sticks then take cookies off the sticks and place on cooling rack.
Mahi Mahi Rice Burger
4 slices of Mahi fish
Seasonings
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 tsp garlic
Hot pepper
Fresh spinach, shredded
Method
In medium bowl, add the fish and seasoning. Set aside in the refrigerator. Put fish on hot grill and fry until done. Keep fish warm. In a small sauce pan, saute onion and spinach. Keep warm. On serving plate, place fish on rice bun with spinach and garnish.
Marinade sauce (4 cups)
1 cup marinade sauce
1/2 cup assorted peppers, each
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup tomato
In a small saucepan, stir in marinade sauce, assorted peppers, garlic and tomato. Cook until most of the water has reduced.
Rice Bun
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup yellow rice
1 egg
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in rice. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until all water is absorbed and done. Meanwhile, make cheese sauce. Add Parmesan cheese and egg to cooked rice and put into the food processor to make a smooth paste.
Take the rice out of the food processor and evenly spread the rice mixture onto a sprayed parchment paper and roll out rice with sprayed rolling pin. Use a cookie cutter to form the rice buns. Put on a plate and refrigerate for about 5-10 minutes. Cover. Remove rice from refrigerator, spray grill and place buns on very hot grill. Keep warm. Garnish.
read more »
The St. John's College student impressed the judges with her Mahi Mahi Rice Burger which was judged the Best Mahatma Rice Dish and her Nuts of Joy Pumpkin Surprise. She earned $250 for the win.
Placing second was L.N. Coakley High School's Hazen Rolle with her Crepe Cheesecake Bundles with Cocoplum and Orange Sauce. The dish also won the Best Robin Hood Flour award. She had also prepared a Cheesy Conch Casserole with Mahatma Rice and Hollandaise Sauce.
North Eleuthera High School's Joshua Griffin finished third with his Sour Orange Whitefish and Guava Ricotta Crepes. He picked up $100 for his efforts.
Judges for the junior championship were Chef Charles Missick, Central Bank; Executive Sous Chef Seanette Cooper, Sandals; Atlantis Executive Chef Rosemary Sinclair and 2006 Senior Champion Young Chef Winner and Graycliff Pastry Chef Celeste Smith.
Nuts of Joy Pumpkin Surprise
1/4 cup almonds
1/3 cup coconut
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp rum extract
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour one cookie sheet. In saucepan, melt butter. Cool. In a small bowl, whisk egg whites and sugar, salt and rum extract until foamy. Whisk in melted butter, then flour. Add almonds and coconut.
Make four circles on prepared cookie sheet. Spoon 1 1/2 level tablespoons of the batter in each circle and spread evenly in the circle. Bake for five minutes or until the edges turn brown. Use nonstick cooking spray on the sticks to wrap the cookie around.
Use the turner to lift cookies from the cookie sheets, wrap cookies around greased stick with plastic wrap. Cool completely on the sticks then take cookies off the sticks and place on cooling rack.
Mahi Mahi Rice Burger
4 slices of Mahi fish
Seasonings
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 tsp garlic
Hot pepper
Fresh spinach, shredded
Method
In medium bowl, add the fish and seasoning. Set aside in the refrigerator. Put fish on hot grill and fry until done. Keep fish warm. In a small sauce pan, saute onion and spinach. Keep warm. On serving plate, place fish on rice bun with spinach and garnish.
Marinade sauce (4 cups)
1 cup marinade sauce
1/2 cup assorted peppers, each
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup tomato
In a small saucepan, stir in marinade sauce, assorted peppers, garlic and tomato. Cook until most of the water has reduced.
Rice Bun
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup yellow rice
1 egg
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in rice. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until all water is absorbed and done. Meanwhile, make cheese sauce. Add Parmesan cheese and egg to cooked rice and put into the food processor to make a smooth paste.
Take the rice out of the food processor and evenly spread the rice mixture onto a sprayed parchment paper and roll out rice with sprayed rolling pin. Use a cookie cutter to form the rice buns. Put on a plate and refrigerate for about 5-10 minutes. Cover. Remove rice from refrigerator, spray grill and place buns on very hot grill. Keep warm. Garnish.
read more »
April 05, 2013
Freeport, Bahamas - Flying Fish Modern Seafood in Grand Bahama Island continues their successful Educational Series this Sunday, April 7th with Modern Tricks & Techniques. Learn from Chef Tim Tibbitts. The menu for Sunday is:
Compressed Watermelon Sashimi; Deconstructed Shrimp Cocktail...
read more »
Compressed Watermelon Sashimi; Deconstructed Shrimp Cocktail...
read more »
March 25, 2013
Freeport, Grand Bahama Island - This coming weekend is Easter here in the Bahamas. As is our custom at Flying Fish we will be closing for the holiday days to give our staff time with their family and friends. Therefore we will be closed Friday, March 29th, and Monday April 1st, 2013 and only serving Easter Brunch...
read more »
read more »
March 25, 2013
Freeport, Grand Bahama Island - This coming weekend is Easter here in the Bahamas. As is our custom at Flying Fish we will be closing for the holiday days to give our staff time with their family and friends. Therefore we will be closed Friday, March 29th, and Monday April 1st, 2013 and only serving Easter Brunch...
read more »
read more »
March 25, 2013
Grand Lucayan is offering Hop On Over Big Spring Savings! oGood Friday Buffet Dinner oEaster Sunday Brunch. oEnjoy games & activities all weekend. o Special Resident's rate! oUp to 10% Off Spa oKids Eat FREE ...
read more »
read more »
News by Category
- About Bahamians
- Accident/Emergency
- Animals/Pets
- Art
- Books
- Business
- Caribbean News
- Community/Charity
- Court
- Crime
- Culture
- Disputes
- Education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Fashion
- Finance
- Food/Cooking
- Garden
- Health
- Home
- Letters
- Movies
- Music
- Obituaries
- Opinion
- Politics
- Press Releases
- Public Works/Infrastructure
- Roadwork
- Sports
- Video News
- Weather
- World News
- Bahamas Local Stories
- Bahama Islands Info Stories
- Nassau Guardian Stories
- Tribune Stories
- The Bahamas Investor Stories
Latest News Comments
Mario at last )... read article
Brandon Braynen Hello there I was looking through your site and I wish to learn more about the art.Ever since watching about krav maga two years on NG channel I wanted desperately to learn the art now that there is s... read article
Ads
News Archives
Bahamas Newspapers
Abaconian
http://abaconian.com/
The Bahama Journal
http://www.jonesbahamas.com/
The Eleutheran
http://www.eleutheranews.com/
The Freeport News
http://freeport.nassauguardian.net/
The Nassau Guardian
http://www.thenassauguardian.com/
The Tribune
http://www.tribune242.com
| 
| 
rica wow... read article