SMOKING AND GRILLING WITH CHEF DAVID ROSE

It has been quite a year and yet, 2020 continues to roll on. In the midst of a lot of uncertainty, there have been things that remind us how life was prior to living in the pandemic that has taken place across the globe. This holiday season will be a bit different than what we have experienced with us socially distanced and not partaking in holiday parties and events that we have been used to in the past. We caught up with Chef David Rose to hear some tips on how we can tackle this year's season.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We enjoyed seeing you as a finalist on Season 13's Food Network Star, being a Food Network personality and a number of shows. How do you define your cooking style?

CHEF DAVID ROSE: My cooking style is kind of a mix of a couple of different things. First off, my family is Jamaican and I am from the tri-state area so there is a huge cultural melting pot. I would say that I cut my teeth in terms of cooking in the South. So you see a lot of Southern influences and twists on my recipes. But I was also classically trained in the French arts at Le Cordon Bleu where I graduated summa cum laude back in 2006 – very proud of that one right there! I would say that my cooking style is elevated Southern with a Caribbean French Twist and a bit of international influences. So I'm sort of a man of mystery and a chef of mystery! I like to keep people on their toes and to keep them guessing.

AM: The Athleisure team throughout quarantine has enjoyed a number of the dishes from Omaha Steaks so we know that they are more than just steak and chicken as they have sides and desserts. As the Executive Chef for Omaha Steaks, what is the synergy between you and the brand and what can we expect to see between you and them in this partnership?

CHEF DR: Definitely. I am a huge smoking and grilling fan and fanatic! I have about 4 or 5 grills so I think that smoking and grilling unleashes the natural amazingness and flavors that you can find over at Omaha Steaks. From one of my favorites, the Tomahawk Ribeye that nice luscious bone eye and then there is the file as well as the strips and the T-bone. You also can’t go wrong with a lobster tail as well. I’m pretty sure when offered a surf and turf, nobody ever ever said no! A lot of those things go really well together. As far as being Jamaican, you know we eat everything. Whether it be chicken, it’s beef, turkey – whatever. We love everything and you can find so many assortments of proteins from ready to eat sides and ready to eat desserts. It’s all on the web-site and I’m excited to be able to bring my Southern influence and Caribbean influence to an incredible company known for their meat and protein portfolio in order to exude and explore and to showcase my style of cooking with Omaha Steaks.

AM:We’re in holiday mode and obviously celebrations look a little different this year with virtual get-togethers and gatherings. What tips do you have especially for veteran hosts that will be putting on dinners that are slightly scaled back then what they’re used to.

CHEF DR: I think that 2020 is a year that nobody has experienced and I’m pretty confident in saying that. According to a new Harris Poll, more than half of Americans are planning to celebrate with 5or less people and 1/3 of Americans are opting or are considering Zoomsgivingwhich is through the joy of Zoom whichI’m pretty sure that everyone has become acclimated with during quarantine. You can celebrate that experience of cooking and eating even if you’re not able to do it in person but can through the magic of Zoom or other virtual platforms.

The holidays can be very anxious especially if it is the first time that you have ever cooked a turkey. We have a 10lb pre-bast-ed turkey that gets shipped to your door-step. What I recommend is that the #1mistake that most rookies make when they are tackling a turkey is not allow-ing enough adequate time for the turkey to thaw. You always want to allow for at least 3 days for that turkey to thaw. If it’s a 10lb one, you want to give it the full 3 days and if you want the crispy skin that we all love and is indicative of a turkey, you want to uncover it in a roasting rack for an additional 24hours. By doing that, it’s going to dry the skin out and give you that golden brown crispy turkey skin every single time. As far as doing all of that. We also suggest making your turkey a day ahead of time. It allows you to have a stress free, anxiety reduced day on Thanksgiving. When you do that, you want to take the turkey out, remove the breast, the thighs, the legs and the wings. The key thing is to allow the turkey to rest and come to room temperature. What you do then is put it inside of the fridge. When you remove the turkey from the fridge on Thanksgiving day, you just need to reheat it and then you’re just focusing on the sides, the appetizers and my personal favorite – the desserts. Another way to shave some time from the prep is to buy some mix and match sides from the site as there are a lot of options. We also have a great partnership with Wine.com where we have some packages that can be purchased.

I always say, that being ready, being prepared and keeping your freezer stocked with a plethora of goodness means that you’re always going to be the hero at any Thanksgiving or Zoomsgiving table.

AM: What are your go to mains and sides that you enjoy having around?

CHEF DR: One of my favorite things is a Prime Rib Roast. I think that this reigns supreme at any holiday dinner table. I just love to eat that bone when I’m done. I’m a gnawer Athleisure, I’m a gnawer. If you have dogs, the dogs will appreciate that as well. The great thing about a Prime Rib Roast is that I can be shared with families, it’s great for leftovers – you can make a prime rib sand-wich the following day. To me, nothing screams celebrations, nothing screams holidays more than an amazing Prime RibRoast. We have an amazing selection of those as well.

AM: What are some recipes that we should keep in mind as well as we are navigating this holiday season?

CHEF DR: What I would recommend is that you want to go and brine the turkey to add additional flavor. These pre-basted turkeys are already pre-brined. They have their brown sugar, their honey and so it’s not just about the flavor but the color so it has that golden brown deliciousness. Now some of my personal flavor recipes is that I love doing compound butters. They're great for steaks, they’re great for roasts and I recommend if you want to get that juicy lush turkey breast, is make that. A compound butter is a fancy way to essentially say a butter with herbs like thyme, rosemary, sage and garlic. To get that re-ally juicy and luscious turkey breast, you take that compound butter and you slide it under the skin and slather it all over the breast. Now what that does is that when that turkey slowly cooks and we know that that fat of the butter is where the flavor comes in – it just makes it taste amazing with great texture 10 out of 10 times.

AM: Like you said earlier, 2020 no one can say that we have ever seen anything like this! How do you plan on ringing in the New Year?

CHEF DR: I think everyone is looking for-ward to ringing in 2021 and what I’m planning on doing is having a nice Prime RibRoast, maybe a filet or Ribeye on the grill– one of these amazing food packages where you can’t forget about your libations! For me, a nice glass of bourbon and just enjoying one of my favorite pairings– steak and bourbon. You can’t go wrong with that.

IG @ChefDavidRose

PHOTOS COURTESY | OMAHA STEAKS

Hear Chef David Rose on our show, Athleisure Kitchen - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multimedia companion podcast network! Subscribe to be notified when the episode drops. Listen on iHeart-Radio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, AmazonMusic, Google Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Read the Nov Issue #59 of Athleisure Mag and see Smoking and Grilling with Chef David Rose in mag.

BETTER TO GIVE THEN RECEIVE WITH MADISON PREWETT

We first got to know about Madison Prewett on The Bachelor Season 24 as she got to know Peter Weber. Although they ultimately didn’t find love together, we loved how she was passionate about basketball and specifically Auburn Basketball (we enjoyed seeing her dad who is the Director of Operations for the men’s basketball team), her commitment to her faith, her focus on giving back and even voluntarily leaving after being a runner up on the show! So when we found out that this holiday season that she is lending her voice to World Vision! We wanted to find out more about their gift catalog, how it assists those in need and how we can come together to help others whether they are here in the US or elsewhere around the globe.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What is that you love most about the holiday season and how will you be celebrating this year?

MADISON PREWETT: Obviously my favorite part about this season is that it’s a season full of - well at least how I was raised and how I have been so fortunate - is that it is a season of being able to give back and to be able to celebrate it with the people that are closest to me. That’s why I think that it’s so cool to be able to partner with World Vision. This is something that is so dear to my heart and something that I am so passionate about. My family is also passionate about this and every single year, we’re asking ourselves, what can we do to help those that aren’t able to do that same experience of being able to celebrate with those that they love or really just to celebrate in general. So I think that it’s so perfect that I was able to really connect with World Vision at this time especially with everything going on at this time with the pandemic. There are more kids living now in poverty and you can give - we all can give gifts that can change lives. So I think that that is really what I love and what I am excited about this holiday season.

AM: You have partnered with World Vision. Can you tell our readers about this organization?

MP: Yeah! World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization and they work all over in nearly 100 countries - including the United States. That’s something that is so amazing to me as it’s just not something that is overseas, but is also something that is right here! They provide people the tools so that they can overcome poverty and that is something that I really love about World Vision. They aren’t just handing over whatever, they are actually walking through it with these people, they’re training these people, they are empowering these people to really create change for their lives. It’s not just handing them something, but it’s actually creating that change for them right here and for the legacy of that family that they are going to be able to create.

AM: Tell us about the World Vision Gift Catalog and their focus on giving a gift to change a life. Can you tell us about the gifts that they are offering to change lives?

MP: You can buy gifts like goats, alpacas, emergency food kits and there are a bunch of gifts that you can give beyond symbolic gifts. You can also do tangible gifts that you can give as well. There are handcrafted gifts like jewelry, candle holders, ornaments. I’m wearing one of their rings now which is known as their Circle of Hope Ring by Sadie Robertson Huff. I love jewelry so this is just something that is so easy for me to wear and to want to give people. The most popular gift at World Vision is the gifting of animals! You can buy a goat for $85 and I think that it is one of those things that here, you’d say, “why would you want to buy a goat?” But it’s actually so beautiful because you can really transform not only a home and a family’s life, but an entire community. Because those goats multiply and it’s more than just them cooking a goat and eating it right? But the goats can provide up to 16 cups of milk a day and they also not only provide milk for their families, but they can also sell that milk and also help those that are around them. So for $85 you can provide a goat and it’s just something that can really change these people’s lives and their futures forever.

AM: These gifts, in terms of the catalog, do they exist only during the holiday season or can people contribute year around?

MP: You can definitely contribute year around. Right now the way it works is that you can go to WorldVision.org and can choose a gift and then you can just browse the catalog, order the gift and then you just purchased something that is making a difference. You can also honor a loved one by giving a gift that is in their honor and in their name which makes it more personalized. You can definitely do this year round but right now is just such a great time in that you are already buying gifts and are already getting presents under the tree and spending money during this time. So why not give a gift that is purposeful and is making a difference?

AM: We're currently watching Tayshia Adams on The Bachelorette and we're pretty excited about The Bachelor with Matt James. I enjoyed you on your season of The Bachelor what was that like for you and what have you been up to since we saw you on Season 24?

MP: The experience was full of a lot of highs and lows. I think that I really learned a lot about myself and just coming off the show, I was able to have a new perspective on a lot of things. Now I have this new platform and I want to be able to do what I can especially in this time where there is a lot of loneliness, poverty and division and be able to be a part of something that is bigger than myself. So that’s why really since then, I have been focusing on what I can do to find out my purpose, how I can help and doing a lot of speaking, writing and partnering with amazing organizations like World Vision. I just want to be involved with the ways that I can help in the midst of everything that is going on and that’s why I love World Vision for everything that they are doing to help people in this time during the pandemic in the US with family emergency kits that are filled with essentials that people can purchase for $75. It can feed a family of 5 for up to a week which is really amazing. All these families are desperately in need and it provides essentials like masks, hand sanitizers and things like that. To be able to be a part and to help with things that are going on all over the world but also right here in the United States.

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