Smallscreen News
A Tasty Chat with 'Man Fire Food' Roger Mooking, Cooking Channel's new star
By April MacIntyre Sep 24, 2012, 18:04 GMT
The Cooking Channel has a tasty new addition to their already badass lineup: \'Man Fire Food\' with Roger Mooking.
The Cooking Channel has a tasty new addition to their already badass lineup: 'Man Fire Food' with Roger Mooking.
The series sees Chef Roger Mooking traveling the country to discover inventive ways to cook with fire, in Cooking Channel's new series Man Fire Food. On the September 18th premiere, he visited the Skylight Inn, a family-run restaurant in Ayden, North Carolina serving up hog-style barbecue for 65 years.
We love Roger's intrepid nature and good taste in food as he endures the heat as he visits with pit masters, chefs and home cooks, all looking to create complex, flavorful dishes utilizing the element of fire. Whether cooking over an open fire in a rustic chuck wagon or smoking meat from inside a double-decker, Roger follows the smoke signals for a mouthful of flavor and a whole lot of heat.
Also in the premiere, he went to Greer, SC for Bovinova for a two-day meat-filled feast started by five food-loving friends. While there, Roger is introduced to the custom-built cow rack used to roast a 1,000 pound cow over a colossal open flame and feed more than 600 barbecue lovers.
Upcoming episodes feature visits to Pacifica, Calif., where Roger helps a pit master prepare a whole pig for a Hawaiian-style barbecue right on the coast; Austin, Texas to see how South American parilla-style rib roasts and pork steaks are cooked to perfection on a homemade grill; and Grain Valley, Mo. to meet a local mechanic who has transformed a retired Cessna airplane into a smoker for everything from pork butts to chicken.
Roger Mooking is the host and co-creator of his own internationally broadcast television series Everyday Exotic and host of Man Fire Food on Cooking Channel. He is the co-host of the hit show Heat Seekers on Food Network.
To add to his growing plate, Roger's highly anticipated first cookbook Everyday Exotic: The Cookbook hit shelves in 2011. In addition Mooking is the recording artist and creator of Soul Food; a unique food and music project released by Warner Music. For Roger, music and the epicurean world are seamless. One feeds the body, the other the soul; it is all food in all its various forms.
Mooking knows smoke, fire and flavor and was available to answer a few questions we had regarding his craft.
Monsters and Critics: Barbecue-it's a subject that divides southerners, Texans and mid-westerners. In your opinion, who serves it up best in the USA, and why do Yankees suck at so badly?
Roger Mooking: Haha. The best BBQ I've put in my mouth is in Austin Texas at a place called Franklin Barbecue. Bar none. Maybe there is something in the water in the South and Mid-West that makes them BBQ specialists. Maybe they aren't just smoking wood. (Laughs)
M&C: There is a primal need to cook with fire outdoors for many people. Why do men seem to gravitate towards this more than women, in your opinion?
RM: I think its part of the whole primal need for men to feel as though we still need to hunt and provide. Putting a piece of a once living animal that they hunted ...hey, hunting can happen in a grocery store too! And cooking it over some flames speaks to the Neanderthal in every man. And the women just let the men do it to get them out of the house and their hair for a while anyway. Women run the house, everyone knows that.
M&C: Give me your no fail, panty dropper awesome recipe for the guys out there who need to impress a special someone, I would love to feature a recipe of yours!
Grilled Steak with Black Bean Shrimp, Roasted Eggplant and Broccoli Dust
Recipe courtesy Roger Mooking
Total Time:
1 hr 20 min
Prep:
20 min |
Inactive Prep:
10 min |
Cook:
50 min
Yield:
4 servings
Ingredients
Black Bean Sauce:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon fermented black beans, roughly chopped
1 red finger chile, minced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
2 fresh cilantro stems, finely chopped
Black Bean Shrimp:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 shallot, minced
Twelve 21/25 shrimp, shells removed, deveined and roughly chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
2 green onions, sliced
Roasted Eggplant:
1 eggplant, cut into 1-inch circles
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Grilled Steak:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Four 6 to 8-ounce pieces beef tenderloin (trussed, optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
Broccoli Dust:
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 heads broccoli, florets shaved, stalks finely diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
For the black bean sauce: Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium to high heat. Add the ginger, garlic and shallots and saute until golden and tender. Add the fermented black beans and chile and stir to incorporate. Add 1 cup water, the soy sauce, seasoned rice wine vinegar and sugar, stir. Stir the cornstarch and water mixture into the pan and allow to thicken for 1 minute, then remove from the heat. Add the cilantro, stir and set aside.
For the black bean shrimp: Heat the oil in a small saute pan. Once the oil is hot, add the shallots and saute until tender. Add the shrimp and stir. Once the shrimp is cooked, add 1 1/2 cups black bean sauce. Stir, remove from the heat, add the cilantro and green onions and set aside until assembly.
For the roasted eggplant: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place the eggplant pieces on the baking tray and pierce with a fork. Drizzle the oil over the eggplant and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until the eggplant is slightly caramelized and tender, approximately 20 minutes.
For the grilled steak: Preheat the grill to medium-high and lightly oil the grill grates. Sprinkle the steaks with pepper and place on the grill, flipping halfway through cooking. Cook until desired doneness. Remove from the grill and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
For the broccoli dust: Heat the butter and oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallots and saute until caramelized and tender. Add the diced broccoli stems and stir to incorporate the ingredients. Once the broccoli is tender, add the shaved florets, season with salt and pepper, stir, remove from the heat and set aside.
To assemble: Place three pieces of roasted eggplant on each plate. Place the rested grilled steak on top of the eggplant. Spoon the black bean shrimp over the grilled steak, then garnish with spoonfuls of broccoli dust around the outside of the plate.
