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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

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Chef Jermaine grills with Bobby Flay By SHAVAUGHN MOSS ~ Lifestyles Editor ~ shavaughn@nasguard.com: Our grandparents have always told us to put our best foot forward at all times because we never know who we're going to meet. Well that was the situation Chef Jermaine Lockhart found himself back in December, 2008 — cooking for four visitors at his family-run restaurant Charlie Joe's at the Same Ole Place, at the behest of a taxi driver. He fed them a seafood trilogy of lobster, conch salad and stone crab claws for their appetizer, followed by Grouper in a Piccata Sauce, and an Asian-styled conch, similar to cracked conch, but tossed in a Hoisin sauce, soy and ginger sauce topped with shredded carrots. They finished with a duff trio of guava, coconut and raisin. Those people, happened to be executive producers of Bobby Flay's Food Network Show "Grill It! with Bobby Flay." They were impressed with the food Lockhart presented and asked him if he would film an episode with Flay. Less than a month later, in January, he had filmed the one-hour television show, focused on jerked grilled chicken, with Chef Flay. Lockhart also prepared Sky Juice for the segment which first aired in early June. "The whole experience was actually more relaxing than I thought it would have been," said Lockhart, who was known as Jay Lorenze on the show, and met Flay half-an-hour before they filmed. He says it took all of an hour-and-a-half to shoot, and they prepared the food in real time, with no swap-outs. "I think we took more time in wardrobe than anything else, trying to find stuff that would actually show up on camera," he said. In each episode of "Grill It! With Bobby Flay," a Food Network viewer known for their grill mastery is chosen to cook alongside Flay. The guest griller's best recipe is the food of the day. The twist — Chef Flay has no idea about the food of choice until the guest arrives, so he has to whip up his own recipe on the fly. The show isn't about the competition, but about people getting the opportunity to grill with one of the best pit masters around, and that was what Lockhart got. After tasting Chef Flay's offering, Lockhart said he still prefers his own recipe for jerked chicken, which is prepared with a wet rub. On the show, he did not give Flay his secret recipe, and didn't give it to The Nassau Guardian either, but revealed that the use of peppers — he uses three kinds — for the different flavors each is key, along with the other ingredients, preparation and the charcoal. "Everything is all slow, and like most good things, it all takes time," he says. Lockhart attributes his culinary chops to his Food and Nutrition teacher at St. Augustine's College, outside of his grandfather. He also studied at the Bahamas Hotel Training College, Johnson and Wales, Rhode Island, and did his three-year apprenticeship at the Crystal Palace Hotel, and even ventured as far as opening his own restaurant — Rumors — now closed. He is the kind of chef who likes to infuse Bahamian products with other influences like Asian and Italian. The chef who now works on a private yacht, says with the experience he's received traveling the word, forces him to think outside the box, and not just do Bahamian cuisine. "I pick up food preparation from various and cultures, and find it would be such a waste to not bring something home, so when in places like Greece and Italy, I cook Bahamian, and when I'm at home I'll cook Greek. I mix it up. My clients love that, and that's one of the reasons people love to come to Charlie Joe's especially if they know I'm there, because they know they'll get something they wouldn't have expected. "I have a lot of people that come in and just say fix me something. They don't ask what it is, they don't question what it is. But there are one or two questions that I ask: What don't you like? And do you any allergies? And they give me carte blanche to do what I feel. And they don't ask about price . . . but obviously, I won't kill anybody with the price, but it allows me to be me. I can't fit molds well — not anymore. So to move around is good, and doing the private work is better," he said. Lockhart, who is the second chef on his 230-foot plus yacht, actually departs the country today for a three-month stay in Greece. And the story of how he came to be working on a private yacht is quite interesting. After leaving the kitchen, he got into butler service, and actually got a job, managing a house in Lyford Cay where he met Chef Fletcher Ferguson. After three years of working together he said Chef Fletcher told him he'd glimpsed his resume and noticed he was a chef, to which Lockhart answered in the affirmative. "He then asked me 'Why are you managing homes?' I said just took a break, and he said 'you must not have been good at what you do?' He said that to me in January, 2007, in February I resigned and never put back on another butler outfit." Lockhart put his chef's jacket back on — locked his hair — which he says is his commitment to himself and his career, and doesn't want to change it again. "I did a lot of private caterings just to refresh my skills after my four-year break, and then I ran into the owners of the yacht that I now work on, and since 2007, I'm still working with them, and it's a treat and mind-stimulating because I never know what to expect." The exposure from the travel he says is second to none, especially as he gets to travel around the world at someone else's expense, and get paid to do it. Chef Lockhart has visited every Caribbean island in the except Cuba. He's traveled the United States, and Canada, visited Athens, Greece and Corfu; Istanbul, Turkey; Albania, and was in Montengro, on the day they won the water polo world cup. He's been to Croatia, Italy, Venice, Sardinia, Madrid, Spain . . . He would encourage any chef to work on a yacht, because he says the experiences are amazing. He admits the work schedule can be tough and that he can put in anywhere from 15 to 17 hours a day, preparing three meals per day plus snacks for the owners, their guests and the staff. On his yacht, the crew alone numbers 30. "It's a work hard, play hard game, and most people that own yachts expect service, and they expect the best, and a chef has to be a multi-tasker, unless you work on a large yacht like mine, where you can get away with just being a pastry chef, and just do pastries. He also says it is also lucrative with a crew chef, the last chef on board making approximately $5,500 as a base salary, out of which he has to pay nothing for while onboard — not even toothpaste or toothbrush. And there's somebody to do laundry. Head chefs can get paid anywhere from $9,000 to $10,000 per month, with the second chef somewhere in between. "So for someone that's young, it's a pretty good deal," he said. Bobby Flay's tips for stress-free grilling Source: Foodnetwork.com Feel the Heat: Light coals about 30 minutes in advance of cooking time. To determine if the coals are ready, hold your palm five inches over the fire. If you can hold it there for two to three seconds, the fire is hot; if you can stand four to five seconds, the fire is medium; and tolerating a full six seconds means the fire is low. Stop the Stick: Use high heat — and patience — to prevent food from sticking to the grill. "A lot of guys think that grilling means turning everything 40 times," says Flay. "I use really high heat, turn it once and let a nice crust form. It sears in the flavor and keeps food from sticking." Repeated turning cools the meat so that it steams instead of searing. Cook Ahead: To speed up grilling time, partially pre-cook chicken, spare ribs, potatoes, carrots and other slow-cooking food in the oven or microwave. Fallout Solutions: When using skewers, cut food into chunks that are too large to fall through the grate. Or, grill foods whole, then cut them before serving. Give Up the Gadgets: "Forget the bells and whistles and keep your equipment simple," says Flay. All that's required are a strong pair of tongs, a sturdy spatula, some heavy-duty potholders or mitts and a strong wire scraper. Climate Control: If you need more than one cooking temperature, mound some coals on one side to create a hot section and spread coals out on the other side for a cooler section. Other ways to control heat are to raise and lower the grill rack. The closer the rack is to the fire, the hotter it will be. And opening vents will raise heat, while closing them will lower it. Avoid Overgrill: Brush the foods you are grilling with sauces during the last 20 minutes of cooking to prevent over-browning or burning. Quick Cleanup: "Before you shut your grill off, brush it when it's still hot and all the crusts will come away and burn in the coals," instructs Flay. He recommends a good quality grill brush with metal bristles to scrape the grate clean. Wednesday, June 24, 2009