RECIPE INSPIRATION
Inspired by the tastes and flavours of southern America, this laid-back menu from Londoner Yinka Ogunbiyi is perfect for lazy days in the sun
RECIPES YINKA OGUNBIYI
Meet Yinka
Chef and recipe developer Yinka Ogunbiyi has a passion for barbecue technology and is studying for a joint MBA and master’s in biomechanical engineering at Harvard University, @foodfireandsoul
the way I cook is all about big, bold flavours. My way of thinking is: how can we make this taste as delicious as possible and keep it simple to make? What’s the most striking way we can present these interesting flavours that still feels familiar? For this menu, I’ve picked ingredients I love from various cuisines and incorporated them into the dishes: bell peppers, paprika, cumin, crab, capers, the chilli with the honey, the summery peaches.
Growing up, I was always surrounded by food. I’m from a Nigerian family of scientists and engineers who became butchers and chefs when they moved to London; my mum had a restaurant, and still does. So, from an early age, I was in the kitchen learning how to make Nigerian food.
That’s where the love started. Then, when I arrived at Harvard to study business and engineering, my student friends and I started throwing all-night dinner parties that would start at 11pm and finish at 5am. We made elaborate, eight-course meals to celebrate life and to share our love of food. I particularly like to barbecue, and I took a class called ‘Engineering a Better Barbecue’; the aim was to design a barbecue smoker. The challenge our professor set was to smoke him a brisket every weekend. We’d serve it to him on Saturday at 6pm and he would grade our efforts! During those 12-hour smokes, we collected experimental data from the brisket, fed this into our models and eventually we designed a new barbecue smoker, building it in the ceramics lab then smoking food on it. We went from there to releasing a line of barbecue grills and smokers – astrange combination of all my experience – and I started my Instagram account (@foodfireandsoul) as a home for my recipes. People are really engaged with it.
Back home with my mum, we bond over Nigerian food; how we can modernise and be inventive with it. I love fresher flavours and my mum is more traditional, but we share ideas and inspire each other.
Hot honey peach cornbread PAGE 74
Crab remoulade dip PAGE 71
Cajun butter salmon and red pepper rice PAGE 71
SERVES 4
HANDS-ON TIME 10 mins
TOTAL TIME 10 mins
Starter CRAB REMOULADE DIP
Perk up your taste buds with this peppery little starter – it’s a great o
