The concept for this Chicken Dinner was the culmination of my project with Active Cultures, Go Tell It On The Mountain. The menu was based on a portion of my seven-month expedition where I spent 90 days on a farm in Northern California. Although, True Grass Farms was primarily a regenerative cattle ranch, the chickens left a lasting impression. So the five course menu, from start to finish, consisted of chicken or eggs.
Chicken wings and egg whites fermented three months before the dinner added depth of flavor and bolstered a noise-to-tail approach to the menu.
Service began with Chicken liver mousse
CHICKEN LIVER MOUSSE, wrapped in spring onion Thai basil flowers, Maldon
CHICKEN DUMPLINGS, a staple in the South, typically made with flour dumplings. This dishes’ dumplings were inspired by a French Preparation of Pike Dumplings. Poached chicken breast dumplings, chicken giblet sausage, kefir cream sauce, dill pickles, and fresh dill
DEVILD EGG SALAD TARTINE The bread on this open-faced sandwich was a collaboration with Céor bakery. I asked for a brioche made from the same sprouted grains Meandering Farmers (then based at True Grass Farms) fed their chickens––wheat, oats, sorghum, barley. Toasted Céor bread, pasture raised eggs, egg-white garum mayonnaise, pickled daikon and green tomato relish scallions, fermented hot-sauce, smoked paprika
PEACH SWEETS pistachio nougat, dried peach, spearmint syrup.
RED BEANS & RICE >< Cooking With LACMA, Rancho Gordo Beans, Koda Farms Rice, pork belly, furikake.
Read about this project commissioned by The Los Angeles County Museum of Art here
Go Tell It On The Mountain was a project commissioned by Active Cultures, read more here. The following selection of photographs are documents of the seven month expedition.
PEMMICAN
Cooking rice over the fire at camp. Joshua Tree, California
True Grass Farms, Tomales, California
Processing a deer that was struck by a vehicle just meters from my van. Most of the meat was salvaged and ground for fermented Venison
VENISON GARUM, with the addition of salt and koji, most meat can be fermented like fish sauce in Asia or garum in Italy. This venison garum fermented for nine months.
DEER HEART
FARM PIZZA, All of the ingredients, with the exception of the shiitake mushrooms, where sourced within miles of True Grass Farm
CINQVÉ (pronounced SEEN-KAY), was a Soul Food pop-up that debuted at The Underground Museum in 2018. The project was steeped in telling the story of Black Food, tracing it’s origins in West Africa, through the American South and into cities across the country via the Great Migration. Menus featured traditional dishes reimagined with contemporary techniques to celebrate California’s heirloom ingredients, asserting the vitality of a cuisine that continues to evolve.
Every CINQVÉ menu featured HOPPIN’ JOHN, a dish with roots in West Africa often served on New Year’s Day. Recipes traditionally call for Black-eyed peas, rice, collard greens, and pork (typically cured or smoked such as bacon). Heirloom Rancho Gordo Beans baked with pigs feet, Koda Farms Organic Kokuho Rose Brown rice tossed in collard green purée, Toasted Anson Mills benne seeds, cured Pead’s and Barnett’s bacon, and onion sprouts.
YASSA CANARD, Each CINQVÉ menu featured a take on at least one dish that can be enjoyed if you were to dine in a West African country such as Senegal. While studying in Dakar, Senegal, I encountered Yassa Poulet, a recipe that consists of deeply caramelized onions and grilled chicken. For our pop-up at Lasa, a contemporary filipino restaurant in LA, we prepared Yassa Canard. Duck confit, onions caramelized in Dijon with mustard greens tossed in honey mustard vinaigrette, and chives.
MAAFÉ, or West African Peanut Stew consist of beef, lamb or chicken stewed with vegetables and ground peanuts. This deconstructed rendition calls for making a sauce from the stew liquid and grilling braised short-ribs. It’s finished with chopped roasted peanuts, and wasabi greens.
During the pandemic lockdown on the heels of George Floyd protests, Juneteenth 2020 takeout dinner at Porridge and Puffs
EAT SOUL UP >< GAGOSIAN BEVERLY HILLS, took place on the gallery’s rooftop deck. The performance explored sampling through hip hop and Soul Food recipes passed from one generation to another.
My mother’s Hoppin’ John was served in a signed edition of sample cups. This Hoppin’ John recipe was the basis for my remixed dish served on CINQVÉ menus
Taya guided guests to the roof via elevator wherein Outkast’s Elevators (Me and You), 1996 played on a loop
The Playlist for the event consisted of song sampled by 90s hip hop artists
Compound Butter Profile by Oriana Koren
LA Times Profile by Amy Scattergood