Preparing food takes
an amazing amount of attention to detail.
Food is one of the great equalizers.
It offers an incredible opportunity
for laughter, for deep discussion,
contemplation, problem solving.
When I am cooking,
the goal is to have someone eat and have their senses awakened
and take them on a journey to rediscover
the dish, each time they take a bite.
Hi, my name's Erick Williams.
I am the chef and owner of Virtue
Restaurant, Daisy's Po'Boy and Tavern, Mustard Seed Take Out Kitchen,
and Top This Mac and Cheese.
What else we got to add to that gumbo?
It’s roux? It just needs to be stirred?
Yes sir.
My man.
I decided to invite friends from the chefs community into my home and the tradition
of a red beans and rice dinner traditionally found in New Orleans.
I grilled chicken,
ash roasted rutabaga, roasted chicken.
Additionally, I seared American red snapper.
I did a lima bean and mustard green dish
alongside of that with coconut rice.
When I think back to what I saw
most as a kid, it was Southern food.
I feel very connected
to that space when I'm cooking.
I look to pay a lot of homage
to those that cooked before me
to think “who was the person
that discovered collard greens and thought
to cook them in a way that was healing
and in a way that will provide a way of survival?” The first thing I do
when preparing chicken on the grill is I generally brine it for a day.
I chose to use a Tabasco brine.
It allows me to season the chicken really evenly.
I take the backbone out because when grilling chicken,
I like to have a flat surface, much like people would do
if they were doing brick chicken.
Bring the chicken up to room temperature.
Then I move into lighting the grill,
cooking logs
down to coals.
We brush the chicken with oil,
seasoned it lightly with salt and pepper
and I apply the chicken on to the grill,
breast and leg side down.
I was really lucky to get beautiful
American red snapper.
I prepared the snapper by filleting it off of the bone.
There's almost always still a few scales
and usually the most unlikely thing for me to do at home.
But it's one of those necessary evils.
And the reason it's unlikely for me to do at home is because the scales
get everywhere.
Once the snappers filleted and I've removed all visible scales,
I check the fillets, make sure that there are no remaining bones,
and if so, I use fish tweezers to remove those bones.
And then I portion the snapper
to basically a pretty uniform size
for a fillet that doesn't really want to be uniform.
I’d season them with salt, pepper,
sear them to get the skin crisp and serve them
garnished with scallions.
As a child, I was fun loving.
I was energetic, curious.
I lived in a home that was safe, that was encouraging, that contained rigor.
I was working in kitchens as a means to an end,
and I had the opportunity to meet a chef, Michael Kornick.
And he was so passionate about food, it became infectious.
I worked at MK for 20
years.
Rutabagas always have a wax coating on them.
And so I take the rutabaga
and I lay them directly on top of the coals
and they look like charcoal by the time they're done.
If I was to describe a rutabaga,
I would describe it as what a turnip wants to be.
Rutabagas have a natural sweetness to them.
The rutabagas they're dressed with sunflower seeds,
arugula, midnight
moon cheese, which is a firm
goat cheese.
I generally soak my beans overnight.
In this case I was using dried lima beans.
I started with diced onion, red bell pepper
and sliced garlic.
I sweat the onions, the garlic,
then I add the red bell peppers.
At that point I stir the beans in
and I add turkey stock.
I simmer the beans
until they're about 80% done.
At that point, I add enough mustard
greens where there is about a 60%
ratio of mustard greens to beans, once
they wilt.
Hi everyone How are you doing Chef?
Virtue, Daisy’s,
Mustard Seed Kitchen and now Top This Mac and Cheese,
were all designed to fill a void.
I strongly believed that the world
was craving kindness and it continues to crave kindness.
And we wanted to have a space
that is considered safe space,
that is culturally alive and vibrant,
that tells the stories
in the narrative of the black experience through food
and music
and textures and art.
And we wanted to harness that in one space.
Hello, Welcome to Daisy’s Po-Boy and Tavern.
How are you doing?
I’m good. How are you?
I’m great. I’m great. How are you enjoying your sandwich?
Good, did you make this?
We want places that feel inclusive,
it's just surrounded by black culture.
That's what sets the table.
I appreciate you, man.
I didn’t know it was Black owned.
I appreciate ya’ll man.
Thank you.
I took a warm pan, I sweat diced sweet potatoes added
par cooked Carolina gold rice
and I moisten that rice with coconut milk.
Fold it in the coconut milk, loosen the rice with a little bit
of the turkey stock that we have reserved and finish it
with salt, pepper.
I thought this particular meal was an incredible opportunity
for me to invite friends
from the chefs community into my home.
To just let our hair down, get a chance to connect.
You know, I think that
people that are at your dinner table should be people that you respect.
I think that's part of the experience.
That's grandma dish, right there.
Like, really,
how many times do we get a chance to do this Never.
Right. That's the other part.
So fellowship is important.
We take a lot of pride in making sure
that we leave the industry better than it was when we found it.
And part of our contribution is making sure that young cooks can see
chefs that look like them and owners and operators that look like them.
And an effort for us all to believe that, you know,
the world is not one dimensional, it's not made for some and not others.
And that that the stigmas are put behind us.
And that's important to me.