Pitch
Chef Interviews
Posted by Jonathan Bender on Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 11:20 AM
Chef Ali Shirazi works on a batch of cilantro.
A good chef can tell if a recipe is a winner or loser just by looking at the ingredients. A great chef knows exactly how to save any recipe. Chef Ali Shirazi, who mans the test kitchen for specialty-foods manufacturer Original Juan, just keeps making new ones.
Yesterday, Shirazi talked about how he relishes the challenge of his job, unless it involves the world’s hottest pepper. Tomorrow, he’ll explain how you can try the latest products he’s whipping up in his test kitchen through Original Juan’s retail store.
What are your culinary inspirations?I’m always thinking about food even when I’m driving. It’s exactly like painting, putting two or four colors together. I think about how I can create something beautiful.
What’s your favorite ingredient? Indian and Moroccan spices — the exotic flavors. You can create so many things from these two cultures to bring to Western culture. Last year, I get to make a Moroccan hamburger spice. It has the flavor and fragrance that would make you want to cook it all the time. It’s not just a glob of meat you put on the grill. You’ll try it and ask for more … and more … and more …
What was your best recent food find? It was a sauce I was working on that started with lemon grass and coconut milk. Those two worked together so well.
What’s your favorite local ingredient?Do you remember Mark Marino? I used to go to his organic farm and pick up ingredients. He always knew what the chefs were looking for and had unusual vegetables and herbs.
What are you experimenting with? I’m working on different ketchups: a roasted garlic ketchup, onion, Indian and Moroccan.
What’s one food you hate? None. There are no foods I hate.
What’s one food you love? Oh, God, can I say it? Fish. I can eat it every day. Sea bass is one of my favorites. I like snapper and salmon. We put it in parchment paper and then grill it or roast it. I also remember in Tehran, there was a small butcher shop with a slaughterhouse in back. You could see the pigs and the lambs. It couldn’t get any fresher than that.
What’s your guilty pleasure? Eating calves’ livers. It’s so rich, but then you think about a baby cow. I remember a few times at home I made rabbit. I didn’t tell the kids it was rabbit. Then a month passed, and I told them, “Remember that food that everybody was craving? It was a bunny.” I just think you need to expose your kids to different things.
What’s always in your kitchen? Fresh fruits and nuts — I always have two bowls out. I love any fruit and nut. I have since I worked in the restaurant and would go to the City Market.
Besides your own place, where do you like to eat out? I wish Christopher Elbow had a restaurant, so I could go out and eat over there. We like the pizza place, Spin. The roasted figs and prosciutto, that’s my favorite one.
What’s one book that every chef should read? Start with the books from the Culinary Institute of America — they’re great for basic cooking and beginners. After that, go to Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. If you learn those books, you’re on the right track.
Who’s got the best barbecue in town, and what are you ordering? Oklahoma Joe’s, Danny Edwards for sweet potato fries, and Arthur Bryant’s for the portions. I’ll usually order some combination of pork and beef and the baked beans.
What’s your dream drinking/eating destination? I’d like to go to Morocco and learn Moroccan cooking. I know a lot about the food, but I’m seeing it in pictures. I want to go to the spice markets in the city and smell them and be there.
A chef is only as good as … his mother.
