The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
New book explores diverse world of Black food in America
To fully understand the complexity of Blackness, a good place to start is food, Marcus Samuelsson said. The Ethiopian-born, Swedenraised, Harlem-based chef has teamed up with co-writer Osayi Endolyn and a pair of recipe developers, Yewande Komolafe and Tamie Cook, to publish “The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food.”
The book profiles dozens of culinary professionals who are shaping the future of Black food in America, including Tavel Bristol-Joseph, the award-winning chef behind Emmer & Rye, Hestia, Kalimotxo and TLV in Austin.
Austin chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph, who is from Guyana, makes food influenced by his travels and experience in culinary school.
Bristol-Joseph, who was named a Food & Wine Best New Chef last year, grew up climbing coconut trees in his native Guayana, but he said his cooking is equally as inspired by his travels around the world.
“If you’re being true as a chef or creator, you are influenced by everything you’ve experienced in your life,” Bristol-Joseph said. “I don’t want to put myself in a box and say I’m only doing Caribbean food. I want to be true to myself and the guests and say, ‘Hey, I remember walking in Japan, and I had this food at this stall.’ How do I bring that into my restaurant? How do I create and be inspired by that?”
The African diaspora reaches to most corners of the planet, from Brazil, Suriname and Guyana to Mexico, the Caribbean and the U.K. Black people have been living from Australia to Sweden for generations, by choice or by force.
Black food can be California food, in the case of “Jemima Code” author (and Los Angeles native and former Austinite) Toni Tipton-Martin, who is now the editor-in-chief of Cook’s Country magazine. Black food can have Asian influences, as in the case of Nyesha Arrington, whose roots extend to both Mississippi and Korea. Black food can have hints of both Haiti and the Pacific Northwest, which is what you might find at a restaurant helmed by Gregory Gourdet, the Portland-based chef whose first cookbook is slated to come out later this year.
Pepperpot is a dish that Tavel Bristol-Joseph grew up eating in his native Guyana. It’s one of three recipes created in his honor in “The Rise.”
“I wanted to do a book that I wish I had when I was 18 or 19” to show that diversity of Black excellence, Samuelsson said in a recent Zoom call with Bristol-Joseph about the book. “We share being Black, but I wanted to show that our journeys are not monolithic,” Samuelsson said.
“The Rise” features established experts, including historian Jessica B. Harris, whole hog barbecue king Rodney Scott and the late Leah
Chase, to a new generation of academics and chefs, such as “Cooking Gene” author Michael Twitty, Gullah Geechee chef BJ Dennis and chef Mashama Bailey.
Food historians and culinary anthropologists have named five original cuisines that stem from non-immigrant Black culture in the U.S. — Lowcountry, Southern food, Cajun, Creole and barbecue — but when we look at Black immigrant foodways in addition to those original cuisines, “we start to understand the complexity of Blackness,” Samuelsson said.
Oxtail pepperpot with dumplings
Oxtail is one of my favorite meats and I like it best when it has been slow-cooked for hours, so I recommend cooking it the day before and letting it sit overnight. What makes this dish so homey and delicious is the mix of the oxtail and the dumplings, which everyone can relate to as being an example of comfort food at its finest.
This traditional Caribbean dish — mostly from Guyana — is made by stewing meat in a dark, rich gravy flavored with cinnamon, brown sugar, hot chiles and cassareep, a special brown sauce made from cassava root. African Americans adapted the recipe using oxtail instead of offal, which are the internal organs of butchered animals. Regardless, this is a dish that only gets better with time in the pot.
FOR THE OXTAIL:
1 (4-pound) piece oxtail
11⁄2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1⁄2 cup vegetable oil, divided
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
21 cloves garlic, minced
7 tablespoons minced ginger (3-inch piece)
2 plum tomatoes, diced
2 scallions, sliced
1 Scotch bonnet (or habanero) chile, stemmed and
chopped
3 sprigs fresh thyme
7 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon whole allspice berries
6 cups chicken stock
FOR THE DUMPLINGS:
2 cups all-purpose flour
21⁄2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1⁄2 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
For the oxtail: Season the oxtail on all sides with the salt and pepper. Heat 1⁄4 cup of the oil in a large (8-quart) Dutch oven set over mediumhigh heat. When the oil shimmers, add the oxtail and brown on both sides, about 15 minutes.
Remove the oxtail to a paper towel-lined dish. Heat the remaining 1⁄4 cup oil in the Dutch oven and add the carrots, onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, scallions, chile, thyme, brown sugar, soy sauce, ketchup and allspice and stir to combine. Return the oxtail to the pot, add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook, covered, for 2 1⁄2 hours, or until the oxtail is tender and the meat is falling away from the bone.
For the dumplings: Place the flour, cornmeal and salt in a medium bowl and stir to combine. Add the water and use your hands to work the mixture into a dough ball. Knead the dough in the bowl for 2 to 3 minutes. Divide the dough in half and cover one half with a damp towel.
Continue to knead one dough ball for 5 minutes, or until smooth. Roll the piece of dough into a 21- to 24- inch snake-like piece. Cut the dough into 1-inch pieces, set on a baking sheet, and cover with a damp towel. Repeat with remaining dough ball.
Stir the dumplings into the oxtail stew for the last 30 minutes of cooking time and cook until dumplings are tender and cooked through. Serves 4 to 6.
(From “The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food” by Marcus Samuelsson and Osayi Endolyn)