Join Kwame Onwuachi, the award-winning chef and best-selling author, as he ventures across Jamaica to explore his Afro-Caribbean roots. On his journey, he visits the people and places that have influenced his unique outlook on life and cooking as he rediscovers the cuisine that has shaped his culinary voice.
Kwame lands in Jamaica, and while he’s not yet sure what exactly he’s going to be cooking, he knows he needs to stock his pantry with all the essentials. Learn how to make jerk paste, marination, curry powder, and Kwame’s famous AP (all-purpose) seasoning, which he calls “salt on steroids” and puts on everything! This lesson is the building block for almost every recipe Kwame will make.
Looking for the secret of how to get your food to taste better than everyone else’s? Kwame will show you how. Stocks are the foundation of cooking, the building blocks of flavor and cuisine. Learn how to make chicken stock, shrimp stock, and vegetable stock, and you’ll instantly elevate your food.
Jamaican recipes are famous for their long overnight marinades. In this lesson, Kwame teaches how to pack a whole lot of flavor in any dish and shows how to make marinades for three dishes: Brown stew chicken, oxtails, and curried goat.
This comforting dish is what Kwame would eat at home after school almost every day. The chicken is blackened and braised in a rich brown gravy with a hint of spicy Scotch bonnet pepper. Kwame serves it with fried plantains and Calypso aioli, making it a fantastic dish that will be a total crowd pleaser. The essence of Jamaica on a plate.
Pepper shrimp is one of Kwame’s favorite snacks. Growing up in the Bronx, he’d always chow down on the electrifying dish. In Jamaica, he looks forward to eating on the road from Montego Bay to Kingston, and on the beautiful beaches. Learn how to make this easy shrimp recipe, which is preserved in a spicy sauce.
Jerk is a symphony of flavors, encapsulating the finesse, attention to detail, and all of the nuances of Jamaican cooking. Learn how to make Jamaica’s most famous dish that is known for its intense depth of smokiness, heat, spice, and flavor. Kwame has been eating jerk chicken his whole life, and shares with you his secret recipe – a three day process – that tells the story of the history of Jamaica.
Beef patties are Jamaica’s ubiquitous fast food. While growing up in the Bronx, Kwame used to eat the flaky meat-filled hand pie nearly every day after school and church. The quintessential Jamaican snack goes hand in hand with pillowy soft coco bread. Kwame teaches how to make the patty pastry dough, the beautifully seasoned beef filling, and delicious coco bread.
When Kwame thinks back to his childhood, curried goat is his earliest food memory, bringing him fond memories of his grandfather. Not only does Kwame teach how to make one of his favorite Jamaican recipes, but he also shares important cooking skills like caramelization, cooking with thought and intention, layering flavors, and the importance of tasting as you cook. He serves the curried goat alongside the most perfect crispy potatoes, or GBD (Golden Brown Delicious) as Kwame calls them, plus a tangy Green Seasoning Aioli that you’ll love in your cooking repertoire.
Transport yourself to the beaches of Jamaica and make Kwame’s favorite fried dish. The freshly-caught snapper is rubbed with marination and all-purpose seasoning, shallow-fried until the skin crisps, then is drenched with Escovitch sauce, a mixture of vinegar, carrots, onions, all-spice, and spicy Scotch bonnet peppers.
Jamaican comfort food at its finest. Kwame grew up eating this "pot of wonderful magic liquid" with his father: A stew dish with gungo peas (pigeon peas), red peas (kidney beans), salted meats, and coconut milk. Make a huge pot for the whole family to taste the love!
Jewel, Kwame’s mom, just arrived on the island and they are ready to cook together for the first time in Jamaica! In order to properly celebrate Jewel’s visit, they make a Jamaican classic, which is also her favorite dish: Braised oxtails with coconut rice and pigeon peas. And of course, no family gathering would be complete without a cocktail, so they whip up a refreshing rum punch packed with fresh Jamaican fruits.
It's not breakfast in Jamaica without ackee and saltfish, a dish that Kwame's Grandma Gloria would serve him as a child. Kwame teaches all about Jamaica's national dish that reminds him of comfort and heritage.
