With Ryan Coogler’s Sinners racing into the Oscars ceremony with a staggering 16 Academy Award nominations, shattering all previous records for one film, the moment practically demands more than a standard watch-party spread.
Chef Brigid Washington has exactly that in mind. The Trinidad-born chef says that Caribbean flavors are ideal for an Oscar viewing night as momentous as this.
“My husband Joseph and I have always looked forward to Oscar Sunday,” Washington told EBONY. “I typically do a very aromatic day-long braise — allspice, scotch bonnet, ginger, culantro features heavily in my cooking — with either oxtails or short ribs. I also make roasted root vegetables: celery root, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, rutabaga rubbed with thyme and cumin, with wilted garlicky bitter greens.
If you aren’t already salivating, there’s also an ethereally airy and butter dinner roll, “which in Trinidad we call ‘hops’ bread,” she shared.
If Washington could invite one nominee to sit at her upcoming delectable table for the Oscars, it would be Delroy Lindowho is nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in Sinners.
“Because of his versatility and range as an actor, he is a once-in-a-generation talent. It’s stunning how he can situate the viewer right into the action or intimacy of the moment, without it ever looking like acting or work,” she gushed.
With Lindo being from the Windrush generation: British citizens with Caribbean heritage, Washington would make sure two items would be on his plate: “A Red Strip Shandy, a nod to his English and Jamaican roots, as well as a baked beef patty with tumeric scented dough and a velvety meat filling spiked with scotch bonnet and scallions.”
It’s all part of Washington’s culturally flavored journey, which she’s sharing in her latest book, Salt, Sweat & Steam. It’s a personally candid account of her time as a student at the Culinary Institute of America, out this April.
“Every day in the production kitchens, I was slower and messier than my classmates. And interestingly enough, comparing myself to them didn’t spur any improvement,” she recalled. “When I decided to run my own race, or in this case, cook my own meal, that’s when I got better, and that’s when the thoughts of quitting subsided.
Washington’s motto became crystal clear: “Comparison is the thief of contentment,” she declared.
Thinking of the meal plan to honor Sinners historic run, Washington drew inspiration from a beloved spot in Tobago.
“Walking distance from Store Bay, one of Tobago’s most iconic beaches, is Skewers, a little roadside grill shop and national treasure. On more than one occasion, I’ve eaten both lunch and dinner there, because the food is that consistently great,” she stated.
“Skewers serves a cult-favorite garlic sauce; one spiked with the grassy heat of fresh garlic, the fruity fire of pimento, and grounded by a bevy of green herbs. It is literally my death row condiment. To celebrate Sinners stratospheric run, at home in my kitchen, I’m going to drag some citrus-grilled boneless chicken thighs that I cooked on a stove-top cast iron grill plate — through a thick bracing pool of this vampires-be-dammed garlic sauce.”
That’s one doorway we all hope we’re invited through.
The 98th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, March 15, starting at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) on ABC and stream on Hulu.
