We'll Make It Work!

 Table 16

AJ Gregson, Table 16's sous chef, met with Kwol Ksa and husband Eugene Pierce to plan their Montagnard - American collaboration. Kwol brought in some rice to sample, as well as some fish sauce, shisho (perilla, a kind of mint), and other goodies.

Kwol Ksa and Eugene Pierce

 Kwol and AJ Gregson, who vows to make it all come together on Saturday.

Listing ingredients

Part of the fun of this project is listening to the back and forth between American chefs and refugee cooks. As Kwol and AJ discussed possibilities they began to build an idea, one suggestion after another. Yes, cassava leaves can work. Yes, we need to have something that will taste good at room temperature. You can make the hot sauce with chilis. Not too hot. Oh, yes, a squeeze of lemon will help a lot. AJ wants to know if any teams will include Carribean peoples, because he gets a good idea about a sweet potato dish with island influence. He tried a fried sweet potato chip but its color didn't look right, even though he topped it off with some great additions. It tasted great, but the color...

Next we're on to talking about Perdue chicken farms and the cost of raising chickens for Perdue, the times for the Saturday event, the reliability of the kitchen. How many people again? 

Kwol describes a typical Montagnard meal for AJ. It's pretty basic with fresh ingredients. She mentions the shisho and then the lemon and pretty soon the team has written down its recipes.