Top chef Emeril Lagasse was one of the culinary hits of Cayman Cookout this year with a packed schedule involving a cooking demonstration on Seven Mile Beach and serving up grilled piri piri shrimp bundles at Rum Point.
Known for his Creole and Cajun cuisine, into which he incorporates his Portuguese heritage, Lagasse was appreciated for the way he mingled with guests while serving up his signature dishes at Cayman Cookout food festival.
“Emeril’s actually serving the food here himself. That’s amazing!” said Cayman resident and food fan Kathy Guilbert at the Beach Bash event at Rum Point.
“It’s so intimate here; you really get to interact with all the chefs. This is the only food festival where you really get to meet and talk with them. You don’t get that at other events.”
Lagasse, known for his catchphrase ‘Bam!’, has been coming to Cayman Cookout for ten years and told the Compass that he keeps on coming back “because it’s a really great event,” adding, “I love the Cayman Islands. It’s a wonderful place.”
Lagasse, 65, is one of the world’s richest chefs thanks to the success of his long-running TV cooking shows on American TV such as ‘Emeril Live’ and ‘Essence of Emeril’, as well as more than a dozen cookbooks, a range of kitchenware and spices, and restaurants in New Orleans, Las Vegas and Florida.
Cooking secrets
Attendees at his ‘Best of Emeril’ cooking demonstration event on the beach at The Ritz-Carlton watched Lagasse, with his son EJ Lagasse, prepare some of his signature dishes, including Portuguese pork and clams, and were treated to samples of his red wine-braised octopus.
Quizzed as to how Lagasse managed to keep the octopus so soft and tasty, the chef let the audience into a trade secret: “I cook it with a slice of raw bacon,” he announced, a tip noted by many of the home cooks in the audience.
After the cooking demo was over, there was a rush by audience members – who had each paid $195 for a ticket – to have their pictures taken with the chef himself and to quiz him for more cooking tips. Those who didn’t get the chance to chat for long with Lagasse might get their chance next year instead.
“Hopefully I’ll get invited back next year!” he told the Cayman Compass.
It looks like a safe bet.
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