NBC gets a taste of Caribbean cooking

WHO WOULD have thought that NBC Weatherman Al Roker would be learning the finer points of Caribbean cooking from our own Trini-born chef, Debra Sardinha-Metivier? That’s exactly what took place yesterday at approximately 9.50 am on the cable show NBC Today, hosted by Katie Couric. In their cooking segment, Sardinha-Metivier and Roker talked about Caribbean cooking, and elaborated on the spiciness of the typical Caribbean menu.
 
“Everything comes together with a lot of flavour and spice,” she smiled. “We’re here through the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) in New York. First we’re gonna have a huge fair down in Golden Green this afternoon, and there are lots of activities for the whole week featuring a variety of cultures and cuisine . . .lots of things happening.” During CTO week Sardinha-Metivier will be doing a number of culinary demonstrations around New York city, her contribution to raising awareness of Trinidad and Tobago as a tourist destination. She showed Roker how to cook Grilled Curry Chicken Breasts, making a marinade which contained (among other things) Trinidad rum, curry powder, cumin, cayenne, garlic, salt and some oil to blend the mixture together. Roker was given the task of soaking the chicken breasts in the mixture.

“This is nice,” Al said, dipping, then placing the meat on a barbecue grill as per her instructions. Sardinha-Metivier then made a salad that included red onion, red and yellow bell peppers, carrots, corn and more. Roker added the scallions, sweet peppers, and the cilantro honey-lime vinaigrette. “Is it all about spice in Caribbean cooking or can you tailor it a little?” Roker asked. “Spice doesn’t necessarily mean hot, spice just means different flavours coming together with lots of nice smells and different colours. I think we’ve come a long way in Caribbean cooking. I think it’s definitely on the forefront.

“We have a lot of different groups that meld throughout the islands and have a lot of chefs that go throughout the islands to demonstrate. I’m freelancing for now.” At the end, the cast of NBC Today came to see what the finished products looked like, staring happily at the colourful table filled with local treats that included accras, callaloo, sahinas and our famous Maracas styled bake and shark... and even taking a tidbit or two to taste.