Selena + Chef (2020–…): Season 4, Episode 3 - Episode #4.3 - full transcript
- Well, it's nice out today,
isn't it?
- I could get a tan.
- Okay, Sel, I'm gonna
record you doing this.
Okay, go.
- All right, all right.
Here I go, here I go.
- This is behind the scenes.
- She's gonna
get it in the hole.
Three pointer.
- Show me what's up.
- That never happens to me.
- Literally, it's because
I took out the camera.
You get it in.
- Oh, stop.
- She's a performer, people.
She's a performer.
- Summer should be filled
with sunshine,
fun, family, friends,
and food.
Okay.
This year,
I'm spending
my summer vacation
learning all I can
about cooking
from the world's best chefs.
- Hello?
- Hi.
- Because you can cook
a great meal together
even if you're apart.
- Gorgeous.
- Oh, my gosh.
That's so nice.
Let's create some art
out of bananas, shall we?
Go ahead and grab
a springform pan
and then preheat to 350.
DeVonn.
- Ooh.
- Ooh.
- Really quick, I want
to show you the okey dokey jar.
- [groans]
- Also, you owe me
a dollar from the other day.
I didn't forget.
- Fine.
Okay, springform pan.
- Oh, this is it, guys.
A springform pan.
I've seen this.
- [gasps]
Wait.
- It looks like a spring
on the little end.
Season four,
still Googling pans.
- Okay.
- And preheat to 350.
- Okay.
- Oh, my gosh, is this aloe?
- Uh, I don't think
that's aloe.
- I think it's aloe.
- No.
- Well, we'll find out.
- "Selena + DeVonn", take one.
Ready to call him?
Let's do it.
- ♪ Oh, I'm trying,
I'm trying, I'm trying ♪
♪ I'm trying, I'm try ♪
♪ Oh, trying,
I'm trying, I'm trying ♪
♪ I'm feeling so fire ♪
- Okay.
Hello?
[gasps]
Hi.
- What's up?
How are you?
- I'm so good.
How are you?
- I'm so excited
to be cooking with you today.
- Today I'm cooking
with DeVonn Francis.
He's a first-generation
Jamaican American artist,
activist, video host, and chef
that created
his own ethically minded food,
media, and events company,
Yardy, NYC,
when he was just 24 years old.
I'm so happy
to be cooking with you.
This is my best friend,
Raquelle.
- Hi.
- And Kelsey.
- Hi.
- All of us are
not great in the kitchen.
- As long as you have passion
and you're a good listener,
we can get through this
together.
- Oh, Raquelle.
I'm just kidding.
[laughter]
Oh, wait. I also have
to thank you for my flowers.
They're beautiful.
- Oh, my God,
you got the flowers.
- Yes, thank you.
- Also, you look great.
This outfit is incredible.
- I love it.
- It's fire.
- Who, me?
- It's so good.
- Yeah, you.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Thank you.
Okay, so should we talk about
what we're making today?
- Yes, please.
- Today, I'm gonna show you
my version
of a Jamaican meal
using the banana.
We have a torched
banana cake
developed from
working with my mom.
She would always make
a pineapple
upside down cake.
I was like,
how do we elevate
the pandemic
banana bread
to new heights?
And then we're doing
roasted snapper
in banana leaves,
so the banana appears
that way too.
- Yeah.
- Oh, wow.
- I've a question for you.
Are these the banana leaves?
- Yes.
- No.
- Those are indeed
the banana leaves.
- I thought it was aloe vera,
and Selena said no, it's not.
- Aloe is for the next episode,
but I got you.
Don't worry.
[laughter]
Are you ready for banana cake?
- Uh, definitely.
- Fab, fab.
This one starts with us
making a dry caramel,
and then we're gonna go into
making the cake batter itself.
- Yeah, okay.
I am a terrible baker, but yes.
- I got you, don't worry.
We're gonna get through this.
- Okay.
- All right,
here's your list.
Unsalted butter,
granulated sugar,
you're gonna need--oh.
- Oh, grab it?
[laughter]
- You're gonna need salt.
- Got it.
- Vanilla, all-purpose flour.
You're gonna need almond meal
or almond flour.
Then you need baking powder.
- Got it.
- You have a scale, too, right?
I like to measure in grams.
- Got it.
- She doesn't walk, she runs.
- She'll be back.
- So we also have two eggs,
coconut milk.
- Why do I feel like
you're doing this--
you're on a game show.
- You're on the clock.
You've got 30 seconds left
to grab groceries.
- Is that not coconut milk?
- Oh, yeah, it is.
- Yeah.
- Coconut milk, four bananas.
- Okay.
- And then grab grape seed oil.
- Grape seed oil.
- Cool. Good?
- Yes.
- Also, grab a pot like this
just to make your caramel.
- Okay.
- Make sure that we have about
a quarter cup of sugar.
- Okay, we're good.
- Did you already
measure out your butter?
- Butter, butter,
butter, butter, butter, yes.
- Cut it up into cubes,
and you can just set that
in a separate bowl.
And you're gonna
dump all
of your granulated sugar
into that saucepan.
- Now, do I need it
on a medium to high heat?
- You're gonna want it
to be medium to low,
so it doesn't cook
too quickly, all right?
- Yes.
- And this is the type
of thing where you want
to kind of sit and watch it
because it'll burn
super quickly.
- I feel like I'm getting good
at making caramel.
- Yeah, I think so.
- Don't forget
to stir that pan.
[laughter]
- Got you.
When did you start cooking,
DeVonn?
- I've always been
in the kitchen with my family,
cooking with my mom
and my aunties.
And then my dad decided
to open a restaurant
with no cooking skills
whatsoever.
He just wanted
to have a fab place
for people
to come and hang out.
And so I was cooking
at his restaurant
and also
just cooking at home.
- So basically,
your whole life.
- Oh, 100%.
- Okay.
- Uh-huh.
- You're gonna add your butter
to it, give it a good stir.
It's gonna bubble up.
- I don't know if it's supposed
to be making that noise.
- No, that's perfect.
That is exactly
the noise you want to hear.
- Okay, great.
- It should be singing to you.
Talking to you like,
"I'm ready."
- [laughs]
- Okay.
- You smell it, guys?
I do.
- Oh, it smells so good.
- Do you have
that springform pan?
- Yes, I do.
- Once all your sugar
is dissolved,
you're gonna pour your caramel
at the bottom of the pan.
- All righty.
- Your caramel looks
better than mine does.
- Oh, shucks.
[laughter]
- And to make sure
that you just keep, you know,
your oven safe, put it
into a sheet tray like this,
so nothing, like, spills out
and doesn't goes everywhere.
- It's so pretty.
- Okay, cool.
We're gonna do
two separate bowls, right?
We're gonna do one bowl
for dry ingredients
and we're gonna do another bowl
for wet ingredients.
- All righty.
- So with your bowl
on the scale,
measure 195 grams
of all-purpose flour.
- Okay.
Whoa, that's 636.
- Don't forget
to tare your scale.
- What does that mean?
- Huh?
- Use a smaller bowl.
Now, put that bowl
on the scale.
Don't turn it on yet, though.
- Okay.
- Exactly.
Now, turn it on.
[beeps]
- Oh.
- Is it--
- What did it do?
- See what I mean?
- Yeah, you're so good.
You're so good, DeVonn.
- Tare your scale.
We're still learning.
You're still learning.
- Whoa, 210. That's not good.
- Wow, so if she didn't
tare the scale,
we would've ruined
the whole dessert.
- It would've been way off.
- Oh, yeah.
- Getting messy.
- Perfect.
Oh, my God, it's 195.
- Yes.
[laughter]
- Yes.
- Professional.
- Okay.
Okay, next step.
35 grams of almond meal
into the bowl.
- All right.
- Yes.
- She started to tap.
She's like, boop, boop.
Oh, my God, you're too
into the scale now.
- Got it.
- And then we're gonna do
14 grams of baking powder.
- Got it.
- And then you're gonna
add 4 grams
of kosher salt
to this as well.
- There we go.
Oh, four.
[laughter]
This is so fun.
- Just give that a stir.
- Fun.
- What city are you based in?
- I'm in Brooklyn right now.
- Oh, cool.
- Oh, I love New York so much.
- Are you ever
on the East Coast?
- Yeah, so I shoot
my TV show in New York,
and it's one of my favorite
places in the world.
- Oh, my God, we're gonna have
to have you out
for a dinner party.
Everyone's invited.
- I'll be back,
so I'll hit you up for sure.
- Hell yeah.
- Take me out.
[laughter]
- A night on the town, yeah.
Grab your other bowl.
Measure in 225 grams
of granulated sugar.
It's very, very
on the sugar-heavy side.
- What?
- Love it.
- Next step
is your coconut milk.
- This guy.
- Thank you.
How do I open up a can?
- A can--
- Is it this?
- No, no.
No, no, that's a wine opener.
- Yeah.
[laughter]
- Well, okay.
- There's another method
to opening up,
but it's maybe dangerous.
- Wait, what do you--
- Okay, but can
I just see what that is?
- Do you have, like,
a small paring knife?
Like, a tiny one?
- Yeah.
- Yes, that should work.
Okay.
Oh--
[laughs]
- We found it.
We found it, Selena.
- We found it.
- We found it.
We found it.
Thank God.
Right on time.
- You can put the knife down,
Selena.
Put the knife down.
[laughter]
- Oh, that would be scary.
- Okay.
- Never mind, we can revisit
that some other time.
- Okay.
- And that's gonna be
about 230 grams
of coconut milk.
- Okay.
- Pour in about 100 grams
of grape seed oil.
- Done. Okay.
- We're gonna take
one whole egg,
but then you're gonna
want to put in
just the egg yolk
from the other egg.
- Oh, yeah.
- And the last step is gonna be
two teaspoons
of vanilla extract.
- Two, got it.
- And then
just give it a whisk.
- I can tell this
is gonna be so delicious.
- This is--okay, okay, okay.
- So you want to make sure
it's nice and even
and homogenous.
It should be sort of silky.
- Oh, I've never seen
that move before.
- What is that?
- That is a technique.
That is definitely a technique.
- He's like, I don't know
if that's a technique.
- [laughs]
Now, what we're gonna do is--
we're gonna work
on our bananas.
- Great.
- Take a banana,
lob off both ends.
Now, you'll see that there's a
line right here on the inside.
- Yeah.
- Take your knife,
follow the line like this
until you have two bananas.
- Okay.
Voilà.
- Perfect.
Slip your finger under, so that
it all comes out in one piece.
Yup.
- Okay.
- And then you're gonna
repeat that
with your other four bananas.
- All right.
Girls, want to do one?
- Sure.
- Grab a knife.
Are you following the line,
ladies?
- Mm, not really.
- Stay inside the lines.
- Okay.
[gasps]
- Oh, no, I messed this up.
- Oh, first cut of the season.
- Oh.
- [gasps]
- Oh, no.
- Already?
- The sad part about it,
DeVonn,
is that it wasn't even
when I was doing that.
It was when I was
putting it to the side.
- Oh, got it.
- That's even
more embarrassing,
but I'm gonna put on
a Band-Aid,
and we will be good to go.
Done.
- Okay, amazing.
So we're gonna do is that same
method except without the skin.
So you're just gonna take off,
like, the width of a quarter.
Just take that top part off
so that you have a flat edge
to work on top of.
- Okay.
- That's making me nervous.
- Be careful, be careful,
be careful, be careful.
This is, like,
this close to your skin.
This is terrifying.
- It is so stressful.
- Surgical precision.
- Oh, God.
- Nobody freak out.
- [sighs]
- Oh, am I getting
a little cocky?
- This is stressing me out.
- Showing off for your friends.
- Future baby daddies
out there.
Okay.
[laughter]
- Will she stick the landing?
- We're good.
- ♪ Can't keep my hands ♪
- Perf.
- Yes.
- She did it.
- Yay.
- Banana queen.
- Okay?
- I don't know
if you can see my setup,
but essentially
what I've done is
I've laid the bananas
into the caramel.
- Let me see.
Oh, okay.
- And you're gonna want
to make sure they look
like they're spooning,
essentially.
Like, it's a beautiful
polyamorous banana moment.
- Cute. Okay.
- Very progressive bananas.
- Love that.
- ♪ My hands to myself ♪
- Take your whisk
and then slowly whisk
the dry
into the wet ingredients.
- You want to whisk it?
- I'll whisk, you pour.
- Yeah.
- Teamwork
makes the dream work.
- Do you not know how to whisk?
That's stirring.
That's--like this.
- Okay, so why don't
I pour and you whisk?
- Okay.
- There you go.
- I don't know
how to whisk apparently.
- Sorry.
- But I know how to tap.
- Yeah, you do.
- It looks great.
- Yeah.
- All right.
Thanks, R-money.
- Welcome.
Okey doke.
Oh.
- Oh.
- Unbelievable.
- Dollar in the jar.
- Dollar in the jar.
- Sorry, I have
to put a dollar in the jar
every time I say "okey dokey"
because it's lame.
- Oh, no.
- She has a problem
where she keeps saying
"okey dokey" in the kitchen.
- You just have
to, like, manifest
a new, fab phrase
for yourself.
- Yeah, from,
like, this century.
[laughter]
- Exactly.
How's that batter?
- It's incredible.
- Pour that over the banana.
- [gasps]
Yum.
- Ooh.
- It is set.
Mm, okay.
- Pop that into the oven
for 40 minutes.
- This is gonna be good.
- Fantastic.
We got it.
- Yay.
- I'm gonna set
a little timer for myself
just because I am
the most forgetful chef
that you'll probably ever meet.
- Well, any excuse to Raquelle
getting her phone out,
so put a timer on it, babe.
- [laughs]
- This is my moment.
- It's my moment.
Were we meant to put
the pan on a sheet tray?
- Oh, yeah.
- Just so that it catches
any sort of drips.
- We didn't do that.
- Okay, okay.
We got it. We got it.
It's okay,
it's okay, it's okay.
- You got the mitts?
- No worries.
- Oh, careful, it's hot, babe.
What the hell are you doing?
- I don't know, I didn't think
it'd be that hot.
- What do you mean--this
is really unsafe.
Really unsafe.
- It's so hot.
Oh, my God.
- I know it is.
- Okay, all right.
You did it.
- [sighs]
- [laughs]
- One time a cute guy texted me
because he saw the show
and then he never took me
out on a date.
- Huh.
- No way.
- What?
- I was like,
is that a good thing
or a bad thing?
- Sounds like
they're intimidated.
- Yeah.
- You know what?
I receive that.
Thank you.
- You need someone who's gonna
meet you where you are,
you know?
- Yeah.
- True that.
- Okay.
- Shall we move on
to our snapper?
all: Ooh.
- Snapper time.
- So what I like to do is.
I'll lay my snapper out
on maybe paper towel
on a sheet tray
to absorb some
of that excess moisture.
- Hello, babies.
[laughter]
- Oh, those look great.
The one thing
I'll say about California
is that the produce is
so much better than New York.
- Really?
- I was gonna say
ours looks different.
- Yeah, it does.
- And then you're gonna salt
both on the flesh side
and also on the skin side.
If you don't have skin, it kind
of falls apart as it cooks,
so it kind of acts
as this protective barrier
for the meat.
- Okay.
- And so what I'm gonna do now
is--we're gonna grab
our ginger.
You can use a spoon
or you can use a peeler.
I'm just gonna use a spoon
to get all that skin off.
- You're getting really good
at the ginger.
It's also so interesting me how
much we use ginger in dishes.
- Yeah, it's true.
- Would you agree?
- It's also so good for you
for inflammation.
If you're, like,
got bad knees like I do
somehow at the age of 29.
- Yeah.
- Sel's 29.
I'm 30.
Kelsey's a little younger.
But we had a chiropractor
come last night
and we, you know,
we're all out of whack.
It's crazy 'cause we're
so young, but...
- Anything to talk
about last night.
- [laughs]
- What happened last night?
- She had a spiritual awakening
during this whole
chiropractic visit.
- Well, it ties in 'cause
his name is banana hands.
- Wait, the chiropractor's name
was banana hands?
- We call him banana hands,
yes.
- He has big hands.
- Hell yeah.
I'm jealous.
[laughter]
I actually had a chiropractor
appointment for the first time
a week ago, and she told me
that my hips were misaligned
and I asked her, is it
because of twerking too much?
[laughter]
- Hey.
- She said there's no clinical
studies that prove that yet,
however I should reduce
the amount
of backing my ass up.
- No, you can never reduce
the amount.
- I don't think
I agree with that.
- [laughs]
[bell dings]
And guess what?
It's time to check
banana cake.
- Oh, forgot about that.
- Whoo.
- Oh, wow.
It looks perfect.
- Oh, my God,
yours is super brown.
- That is gorg.
- Just test it with a little
toothpick in the center.
If it comes out clean,
then you know it's done.
- Nothing.
- Yes.
- You did it perfect.
- Hell, yeah.
- I didn't know
you were a baker.
- I'm not.
- You are now,
thanks to DeVonn.
- That's right.
- Okay.
We're gonna grate ginger
into one of the bowls.
And essentially what this is--
it's gonna become the base
for this pickled vegetables
that we're gonna do.
- Okay.
- Next kind of phase
is gonna move on
to our mandoline moment.
- Love me a mandoline moment.
- So we have our yellow pepper
that we're just going
to slice on the butt side.
- We don't cut it or anything.
We just go straight for it.
- Exactly.
- Okay.
Hate that noise though.
[laughter]
- You want to do it just
until you get to the seeds
and then that can go
into your bowl with the ginger.
- Everyone be careful
when they use this.
- And then you'll move onto
the green one next.
Your poblano.
- Okay.
- Also, I forgot to mention,
but if someone could help
by preheating your oven to 425,
that'd be amazing.
- Got it?
- Got it.
- Thanks, babe.
- And so once you're graduated
from your poblano,
you can go on to your shallot.
- Okay.
- Take the skin off
and then same thing.
Just make little onion rings,
and just one shallot is fine.
- I'm starting to cry.
- No, don't cry.
- Ooh. Okay.
- And then what we're gonna do
is move on to our coconut.
- I'm excited for this.
- Have you opened
a coconut before?
- I actually have,
and I'm not very good at it.
- [laughs]
- So where you gonna do it?
- Right here.
- On the ground?
- Be careful of your fingers.
Go.
- Oh.
[laughs]
Here.
- All right.
- She smashed it.
- Good girl.
- Well, the good thing about
this is it's not about
technique,
it's just about passion.
- Okay.
- The cool thing
about brown coconuts is,
all you got to do
is, like, whack them a ton
of times to get to the meat.
And so grab, like, a heavy--
like, a knife or something.
- What about that?
- Do we use this?
- Oh, you can use a mallet.
Sure.
- Ooh.
- Whoa.
- I'm excited for this.
- Oh, I'm standing
way clear of that.
- [laughs]
- Ready?
- Well, first of all,
you should do it
over the sink,
so it doesn't go everywhere.
- [sighs]
Okay.
- Using the back of my knife
or what your mallet is gonna
do, just gonna--
Kind of rotate it
as you hit it.
- It'd be terrifying
with a knife.
- Yeah. All right.
- You got it.
Yeah.
Get it, get it, get it.
- Hey, hey, hey.
- Maybe I should twerk
to your coconut opening.
- Yes, I think that'll help.
- It is, like,
a really good beat.
It's like--
- ♪ Well, woman ♪
♪ The way the time ♪
- Oh, he's twerking.
- Hey.
- ♪ I got the right ♪
♪ Temperature fi shelter
you from the storm ♪
♪ Oh, Lord ♪
- Yeah.
- ♪ Things to turn you on ♪
- Break that coconut.
- I can't.
Kelsey, you try.
- Okay.
- [laughs]
- Wait, so what do I do?
- No, not with me.
Your own hand.
- Oh.
- [laughs]
- Twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk,
twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk.
[all scream]
- You got it.
- Yes.
- Oh, my God, Kelsey.
- So keep hitting it until
it breaks into two pieces.
- Okay.
- Oh, my God, it's beautiful.
- [sighs]
- Oh, yes.
Perfect.
You killed it.
- No. Ew.
- [laughs]
- I mean, listen, you should be
tasting as you go.
- Okay.
- And then scoop
a little bit of the meat out
and put it into your bowl
with all your vegetables.
- Oh, dear.
I knew this was gonna be hard.
- I know.
I felt it.
- It should be,
like, paper-thin slices.
You don't have
to go deep at all.
- Oh, that's perfect.
- Ooh, Sel, be careful
with the knife.
- She knows what she's doing.
- That's a good amount.
- You think?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- So what we're gonna do now
is make a very quick pickle.
- Okay.
- Salt pulls water out of,
basically, anything
that it touches, so what
we're gonna do is sprinkle
a generous bit of salt
into our vegetable mixture...
- Okay.
- With two teaspoons of
the seasoned rice wine vinegar.
- Oh, look at you.
- And then we're just gonna
mix that together in the bowl.
What's gonna happen is,
the more acid and salt
you put in,
the more it's gonna leach
that water from the vegetables.
And essentially the vegetables
are gonna, like, soften
in their own brine,
essentially.
- That looks so good.
- Mm-hmm.
- And that's gonna be
our little condiment
that goes on top of our snapper
once it's roasted.
- Great.
- And so now what I'm gonna do
is--I'm gonna grab
a clean sheet tray, like so,
and then we're gonna grab
our banana leaves.
- Yay.
- This is so cool.
- So you can open up two leaves
and just lie them
on top of each other.
- It's like a Hula-Hoop skirt.
- So the thing that
I love about banana leaves
is that traditionally
in Jamaica,
they might use
the banana leaves
to actually bury food
underground and cook it.
And the enslaved people,
they would actually
run and, like,
hide and conceal their food.
And they didn't want
smoke to show up,
and so they would bury
their food underground
to conceal their smoke,
so people wouldn't know
where their location was.
- Oh, wow.
- And so the cool thing
about that technique is,
you get this really beautiful
and, like, earthy flavor
that's imparted
into anything you cook.
- I love that.
- That's amazing.
- So I want you to grab
this beautiful jar
of the Yardy World
Madre Mezcal chili salts.
- Got it.
- Which I happen
to design myself.
- What?
- Oh, my gosh.
- Wow, wow, wow.
- That's so cool.
- This was designed
with cocktails in mind.
However, it's great
for seafood specifically.
If you want a little bit
of chili or heat added,
it's already got, like,
good amount of salt in it.
- Okay.
- And we're just gonna add
a little bit onto the fish skin
and the flesh again.
And then we're gonna add
a generous shake
of our coriander.
- Okay.
- Transfer
both of those pieces of snapper
onto your banana leaf bed,
and you can put them
skin side down.
- This look beautiful.
- Looks gorg.
- Take a little bit
of olive oil
and drizzle it
all over the snapper.
That looks good. And so,
what you're gonna try to do
is create
a little, like, baby blanket.
- Huh?
- I'll take one side.
I'll fold it over kind of
like I'm wrapping a present.
- Oh.
- Fold it over.
And then I'll add
a little bit more to the top,
just to make sure there aren't
any air holes, essentially.
- Okay, I don't think we can
really do that with this.
- Cut some of this
and put it on top
on the places that are open.
- Yeah, you have plenty.
- Oh, okay.
[laughter]
- Perfect.
- Okay, cool.
Your pieces of snapper are
a bit bigger than mine are,
so you're gonna need
a bit more cook time.
Say 15 minutes
to see how it goes,
and we'll check it.
- Wait, will you take
a picture of these?
- Yes, I will take
a photo of you.
- 'Cause it's so pretty.
- You look so proud.
- Definitely.
- Killed it.
- Looks good.
Okay, cool.
- Okay.
- All right.
So this is the part
we've all been waiting for.
I'm so excited to torch
something with you.
both: Ooh.
- That face.
- Let's grab that banana cake
and a sheet tray or a plate.
- Okay.
- What we're gonna do is,
actually, if you grab
a little offset spatula or--
- Like this?
- Okay, cool.
So first,
we're gonna go around the side
and so that just releases
the cake from the sides,
if it is touching.
- Okay.
- And so what we're gonna do
is--we're just gonna unlock
our springform.
Yeah.
- So cool.
- You can give it,
like, a little jiggle.
- Okay.
- Take the plate.
Put it on top of the cake.
You're gonna hold it
like a burger
and then flip it.
Yeah.
- Awesome, Sel.
- Exactly.
Using your offset spatula
again,
you're just gonna take
the top off.
So it's kind of like
you're picking a lock.
And you're just gonna press
against the top
and you can kind of feel it
release as you kind of
make a little divider
between that and the cake.
- You got it,
you got it, you got it.
Ooh.
- Good job.
- She a baker.
- It doesn't look bad.
- It looks so good.
- That looks so good.
- I'm so happy.
- You made that
- Really nice.
- Okay, perfectionist,
pushing it into the center.
I see you over there.
- I'm trying.
- Grab another bowl,
fill it with, like,
a quarter cup
of that granulated sugar.
- Okay.
- Shake an even layer
of the sugar.
- We love some sugar.
- Mm-hmm.
- Because your caramel's
still wet,
it's gonna start to dissolve.
You want to see a little bit
of sugar on the top.
That's how you know
you have enough.
- How's that?
- That looks good, yeah.
And you can always add more,
but let's start there.
[laughter]
Oh.
That's okay.
Just take your spatula
and just smooth it out.
- You can never have
too much sugar.
- And so grab
that trusty torch.
- Oh, my gosh.
- This is some--
- Wow.
- So you turn this.
- Here.
- Light it up.
- Grab.
- Whoa.
- I have way too much hairspray
in my hair
to stand close to that.
- Oh, no.
When I'm torching,
first and foremost,
I'm always torching
at a 45-degree angle.
You want the sugar to melt,
but you don't want it to burn.
So it should start
to look like amber sweat.
- Hey, hey, hey.
- This is, like, advanced
level, but if you can have
the sugar in your hands
and the torch in the other,
you can add more sugar
on top of that first layer.
- Sel, why are you holding
the flame over there
while you're sprinkling sugar?
- Oh, [bleep].
- [laughs]
- I'm just kind
of going with the flow.
- That looks so good.
So when you're done
with that layer of sugar,
you're gonna want
to immediately
sprinkle flaky salt on it.
- Flaky salt.
- A little flaky moment.
- Nice work.
- Oh.
I think I did a good job.
- And then you have
your torched banana cake.
- I feel like Betty Crocker.
- You did it.
[laughter]
I'm so proud of you.
- All right, so is it time
to check on our snapper
in the oven?
- Oh, my God,
I forgot about the timer.
- Oh, my God, I forgot.
- I'm gonna check on mine.
- Oh, it might be done.
- It looks like
crispy paper, right?
- Yeah.
- Are we ready
for the big reveal?
- I am.
- Ooh, mine looks so good.
- Looks pretty perfect.
- Wow.
Wow, wow, wow.
- Wow.
- That smile.
- This is so cool.
- You can actually
transfer this
to, like, a really beautiful
share plate
'cause we're gonna start
dressing it.
- Okey doke--
- Oh, my God.
- Get the jar.
- Oh, no, that's a dollar.
- Call these
the okey dokey dollars.
I'm getting the big bucks.
- Okay, whatever.
[laughter]
So do I put the whole leaf on
for decoration?
I like to keep it
all together
so that you're getting
the whole island fantasy.
- Love that.
- You should lean in
and hear, like, Bob Marley
singing "One Love."
- Wait, wait, let me get in.
[laughter]
- Jeez.
- Wait, we should've--
[laughter]
- You got it.
- No, no, no, no.
Wait.
- She don't got it.
- Okay, this is--
- Be careful with your hands
because the pan
is very hot still.
- Nope.
- Oh, no.
- You know what?
It's gonna be covered
with vegetables anyway,
so we're Gucci.
- Okay, it's beautiful.
- Shut up. This idiot.
- [laughs]
- Okay, we're gonna dress
the snapper
with the pickled
vegetables now.
- Oh, my gosh,
it looks delicious.
- And so I'm gonna take
one lime,
and I'm just gonna make
little wedges
so that you can squeeze it
at your leisure.
- Okay.
[laughter]
- And then the little wedges
go onto the plate.
- Stunning.
- It looks so good.
- Then take a little bit
of olive oil
and just sprinkle that on too.
- Oh, my God.
- She is chef.
- Oh, my gosh.
- It looks so good.
- I did it.
- So the last step,
you have some cilantro
and parsley, I think.
- Yes.
- That just gets sprinkled
all over your fish.
- Yum.
- Nice.
- Yeah, and there we have it.
- Okay.
Guys, do you want
to get a few forks...
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- So we can try a few
of these things?
Just a little bite.
- Oh, my God.
- Is it good?
- The seasoning on it
is incredible.
- You did it.
- Oh, my gosh.
Did you change my life today?
- I hope so.
I like to think
I'm a changer of lives.
- That's incredible.
Thank you so much.
- [chuckles]
No worries, no worries.
- DeVonn, do you mind
telling us about the charity
that we are
going to be donating to?
- Absolutely.
I'd love to.
The Trans Justice
Funding Project
is a community-led
organization
that distributes funds
to other
trans-led organizations
around the nation.
There's a lot of anti-trans
legislation happening,
and we need
to just be great allies
and great stewards of community
by funding these things.
- I couldn't agree more,
and I am beyond honored
that we could contribute
in any way possible
and get the word out.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you for
supporting the cause.
- And I'm so thrilled that
we're about to enjoy this meal.
- We're gonna go
twerk our way outside.
- Yes.
- Hey.
- Dinner time.
[laughter]
- Thank you for everything.
Take care.
- Yeah.
- Bye.
- Take care.
- Bye.
Thank you.
- Enjoy the meal.
Bye.
♪ ♪
- Whoo.
- Aw.
- Look how pretty it is.
- It's beautiful.
- It's so good.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Yum.
- There you go.
- Thank you.
[laughter]
- This fish is so good.
How would you rate
my cooking skills?
One through five.
- Six.
- Oh, my God.
- I really like it.
- This is, like, a 3.9.
- Oh.
- Thank you for the honesty.
I need it.
- But we haven't gotten
to the cake yet.
- Okay, I'm gonna try
a piece of cake.
- Oh.
[laughs]
- Is it good?
- Oh, it just went--
It just went up five beyond.
I'm tearing up.
- [laughs]
- I don't know
if you can see it.
I have actual tears forming.
- Wait, this just literally
made me so happy.
- Oh, my God.
- [laughs]
Let's do a little cheers.
- Bananas for life.
- Yeah.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- All right,
take it from the top.
♪ ♪
[laughter]
- Mm, mm, mm.
- [laughs]
- [laughs]
- A day in the life of Sel.
isn't it?
- I could get a tan.
- Okay, Sel, I'm gonna
record you doing this.
Okay, go.
- All right, all right.
Here I go, here I go.
- This is behind the scenes.
- She's gonna
get it in the hole.
Three pointer.
- Show me what's up.
- That never happens to me.
- Literally, it's because
I took out the camera.
You get it in.
- Oh, stop.
- She's a performer, people.
She's a performer.
- Summer should be filled
with sunshine,
fun, family, friends,
and food.
Okay.
This year,
I'm spending
my summer vacation
learning all I can
about cooking
from the world's best chefs.
- Hello?
- Hi.
- Because you can cook
a great meal together
even if you're apart.
- Gorgeous.
- Oh, my gosh.
That's so nice.
Let's create some art
out of bananas, shall we?
Go ahead and grab
a springform pan
and then preheat to 350.
DeVonn.
- Ooh.
- Ooh.
- Really quick, I want
to show you the okey dokey jar.
- [groans]
- Also, you owe me
a dollar from the other day.
I didn't forget.
- Fine.
Okay, springform pan.
- Oh, this is it, guys.
A springform pan.
I've seen this.
- [gasps]
Wait.
- It looks like a spring
on the little end.
Season four,
still Googling pans.
- Okay.
- And preheat to 350.
- Okay.
- Oh, my gosh, is this aloe?
- Uh, I don't think
that's aloe.
- I think it's aloe.
- No.
- Well, we'll find out.
- "Selena + DeVonn", take one.
Ready to call him?
Let's do it.
- ♪ Oh, I'm trying,
I'm trying, I'm trying ♪
♪ I'm trying, I'm try ♪
♪ Oh, trying,
I'm trying, I'm trying ♪
♪ I'm feeling so fire ♪
- Okay.
Hello?
[gasps]
Hi.
- What's up?
How are you?
- I'm so good.
How are you?
- I'm so excited
to be cooking with you today.
- Today I'm cooking
with DeVonn Francis.
He's a first-generation
Jamaican American artist,
activist, video host, and chef
that created
his own ethically minded food,
media, and events company,
Yardy, NYC,
when he was just 24 years old.
I'm so happy
to be cooking with you.
This is my best friend,
Raquelle.
- Hi.
- And Kelsey.
- Hi.
- All of us are
not great in the kitchen.
- As long as you have passion
and you're a good listener,
we can get through this
together.
- Oh, Raquelle.
I'm just kidding.
[laughter]
Oh, wait. I also have
to thank you for my flowers.
They're beautiful.
- Oh, my God,
you got the flowers.
- Yes, thank you.
- Also, you look great.
This outfit is incredible.
- I love it.
- It's fire.
- Who, me?
- It's so good.
- Yeah, you.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Thank you.
Okay, so should we talk about
what we're making today?
- Yes, please.
- Today, I'm gonna show you
my version
of a Jamaican meal
using the banana.
We have a torched
banana cake
developed from
working with my mom.
She would always make
a pineapple
upside down cake.
I was like,
how do we elevate
the pandemic
banana bread
to new heights?
And then we're doing
roasted snapper
in banana leaves,
so the banana appears
that way too.
- Yeah.
- Oh, wow.
- I've a question for you.
Are these the banana leaves?
- Yes.
- No.
- Those are indeed
the banana leaves.
- I thought it was aloe vera,
and Selena said no, it's not.
- Aloe is for the next episode,
but I got you.
Don't worry.
[laughter]
Are you ready for banana cake?
- Uh, definitely.
- Fab, fab.
This one starts with us
making a dry caramel,
and then we're gonna go into
making the cake batter itself.
- Yeah, okay.
I am a terrible baker, but yes.
- I got you, don't worry.
We're gonna get through this.
- Okay.
- All right,
here's your list.
Unsalted butter,
granulated sugar,
you're gonna need--oh.
- Oh, grab it?
[laughter]
- You're gonna need salt.
- Got it.
- Vanilla, all-purpose flour.
You're gonna need almond meal
or almond flour.
Then you need baking powder.
- Got it.
- You have a scale, too, right?
I like to measure in grams.
- Got it.
- She doesn't walk, she runs.
- She'll be back.
- So we also have two eggs,
coconut milk.
- Why do I feel like
you're doing this--
you're on a game show.
- You're on the clock.
You've got 30 seconds left
to grab groceries.
- Is that not coconut milk?
- Oh, yeah, it is.
- Yeah.
- Coconut milk, four bananas.
- Okay.
- And then grab grape seed oil.
- Grape seed oil.
- Cool. Good?
- Yes.
- Also, grab a pot like this
just to make your caramel.
- Okay.
- Make sure that we have about
a quarter cup of sugar.
- Okay, we're good.
- Did you already
measure out your butter?
- Butter, butter,
butter, butter, butter, yes.
- Cut it up into cubes,
and you can just set that
in a separate bowl.
And you're gonna
dump all
of your granulated sugar
into that saucepan.
- Now, do I need it
on a medium to high heat?
- You're gonna want it
to be medium to low,
so it doesn't cook
too quickly, all right?
- Yes.
- And this is the type
of thing where you want
to kind of sit and watch it
because it'll burn
super quickly.
- I feel like I'm getting good
at making caramel.
- Yeah, I think so.
- Don't forget
to stir that pan.
[laughter]
- Got you.
When did you start cooking,
DeVonn?
- I've always been
in the kitchen with my family,
cooking with my mom
and my aunties.
And then my dad decided
to open a restaurant
with no cooking skills
whatsoever.
He just wanted
to have a fab place
for people
to come and hang out.
And so I was cooking
at his restaurant
and also
just cooking at home.
- So basically,
your whole life.
- Oh, 100%.
- Okay.
- Uh-huh.
- You're gonna add your butter
to it, give it a good stir.
It's gonna bubble up.
- I don't know if it's supposed
to be making that noise.
- No, that's perfect.
That is exactly
the noise you want to hear.
- Okay, great.
- It should be singing to you.
Talking to you like,
"I'm ready."
- [laughs]
- Okay.
- You smell it, guys?
I do.
- Oh, it smells so good.
- Do you have
that springform pan?
- Yes, I do.
- Once all your sugar
is dissolved,
you're gonna pour your caramel
at the bottom of the pan.
- All righty.
- Your caramel looks
better than mine does.
- Oh, shucks.
[laughter]
- And to make sure
that you just keep, you know,
your oven safe, put it
into a sheet tray like this,
so nothing, like, spills out
and doesn't goes everywhere.
- It's so pretty.
- Okay, cool.
We're gonna do
two separate bowls, right?
We're gonna do one bowl
for dry ingredients
and we're gonna do another bowl
for wet ingredients.
- All righty.
- So with your bowl
on the scale,
measure 195 grams
of all-purpose flour.
- Okay.
Whoa, that's 636.
- Don't forget
to tare your scale.
- What does that mean?
- Huh?
- Use a smaller bowl.
Now, put that bowl
on the scale.
Don't turn it on yet, though.
- Okay.
- Exactly.
Now, turn it on.
[beeps]
- Oh.
- Is it--
- What did it do?
- See what I mean?
- Yeah, you're so good.
You're so good, DeVonn.
- Tare your scale.
We're still learning.
You're still learning.
- Whoa, 210. That's not good.
- Wow, so if she didn't
tare the scale,
we would've ruined
the whole dessert.
- It would've been way off.
- Oh, yeah.
- Getting messy.
- Perfect.
Oh, my God, it's 195.
- Yes.
[laughter]
- Yes.
- Professional.
- Okay.
Okay, next step.
35 grams of almond meal
into the bowl.
- All right.
- Yes.
- She started to tap.
She's like, boop, boop.
Oh, my God, you're too
into the scale now.
- Got it.
- And then we're gonna do
14 grams of baking powder.
- Got it.
- And then you're gonna
add 4 grams
of kosher salt
to this as well.
- There we go.
Oh, four.
[laughter]
This is so fun.
- Just give that a stir.
- Fun.
- What city are you based in?
- I'm in Brooklyn right now.
- Oh, cool.
- Oh, I love New York so much.
- Are you ever
on the East Coast?
- Yeah, so I shoot
my TV show in New York,
and it's one of my favorite
places in the world.
- Oh, my God, we're gonna have
to have you out
for a dinner party.
Everyone's invited.
- I'll be back,
so I'll hit you up for sure.
- Hell yeah.
- Take me out.
[laughter]
- A night on the town, yeah.
Grab your other bowl.
Measure in 225 grams
of granulated sugar.
It's very, very
on the sugar-heavy side.
- What?
- Love it.
- Next step
is your coconut milk.
- This guy.
- Thank you.
How do I open up a can?
- A can--
- Is it this?
- No, no.
No, no, that's a wine opener.
- Yeah.
[laughter]
- Well, okay.
- There's another method
to opening up,
but it's maybe dangerous.
- Wait, what do you--
- Okay, but can
I just see what that is?
- Do you have, like,
a small paring knife?
Like, a tiny one?
- Yeah.
- Yes, that should work.
Okay.
Oh--
[laughs]
- We found it.
We found it, Selena.
- We found it.
- We found it.
We found it.
Thank God.
Right on time.
- You can put the knife down,
Selena.
Put the knife down.
[laughter]
- Oh, that would be scary.
- Okay.
- Never mind, we can revisit
that some other time.
- Okay.
- And that's gonna be
about 230 grams
of coconut milk.
- Okay.
- Pour in about 100 grams
of grape seed oil.
- Done. Okay.
- We're gonna take
one whole egg,
but then you're gonna
want to put in
just the egg yolk
from the other egg.
- Oh, yeah.
- And the last step is gonna be
two teaspoons
of vanilla extract.
- Two, got it.
- And then
just give it a whisk.
- I can tell this
is gonna be so delicious.
- This is--okay, okay, okay.
- So you want to make sure
it's nice and even
and homogenous.
It should be sort of silky.
- Oh, I've never seen
that move before.
- What is that?
- That is a technique.
That is definitely a technique.
- He's like, I don't know
if that's a technique.
- [laughs]
Now, what we're gonna do is--
we're gonna work
on our bananas.
- Great.
- Take a banana,
lob off both ends.
Now, you'll see that there's a
line right here on the inside.
- Yeah.
- Take your knife,
follow the line like this
until you have two bananas.
- Okay.
Voilà.
- Perfect.
Slip your finger under, so that
it all comes out in one piece.
Yup.
- Okay.
- And then you're gonna
repeat that
with your other four bananas.
- All right.
Girls, want to do one?
- Sure.
- Grab a knife.
Are you following the line,
ladies?
- Mm, not really.
- Stay inside the lines.
- Okay.
[gasps]
- Oh, no, I messed this up.
- Oh, first cut of the season.
- Oh.
- [gasps]
- Oh, no.
- Already?
- The sad part about it,
DeVonn,
is that it wasn't even
when I was doing that.
It was when I was
putting it to the side.
- Oh, got it.
- That's even
more embarrassing,
but I'm gonna put on
a Band-Aid,
and we will be good to go.
Done.
- Okay, amazing.
So we're gonna do is that same
method except without the skin.
So you're just gonna take off,
like, the width of a quarter.
Just take that top part off
so that you have a flat edge
to work on top of.
- Okay.
- That's making me nervous.
- Be careful, be careful,
be careful, be careful.
This is, like,
this close to your skin.
This is terrifying.
- It is so stressful.
- Surgical precision.
- Oh, God.
- Nobody freak out.
- [sighs]
- Oh, am I getting
a little cocky?
- This is stressing me out.
- Showing off for your friends.
- Future baby daddies
out there.
Okay.
[laughter]
- Will she stick the landing?
- We're good.
- ♪ Can't keep my hands ♪
- Perf.
- Yes.
- She did it.
- Yay.
- Banana queen.
- Okay?
- I don't know
if you can see my setup,
but essentially
what I've done is
I've laid the bananas
into the caramel.
- Let me see.
Oh, okay.
- And you're gonna want
to make sure they look
like they're spooning,
essentially.
Like, it's a beautiful
polyamorous banana moment.
- Cute. Okay.
- Very progressive bananas.
- Love that.
- ♪ My hands to myself ♪
- Take your whisk
and then slowly whisk
the dry
into the wet ingredients.
- You want to whisk it?
- I'll whisk, you pour.
- Yeah.
- Teamwork
makes the dream work.
- Do you not know how to whisk?
That's stirring.
That's--like this.
- Okay, so why don't
I pour and you whisk?
- Okay.
- There you go.
- I don't know
how to whisk apparently.
- Sorry.
- But I know how to tap.
- Yeah, you do.
- It looks great.
- Yeah.
- All right.
Thanks, R-money.
- Welcome.
Okey doke.
Oh.
- Oh.
- Unbelievable.
- Dollar in the jar.
- Dollar in the jar.
- Sorry, I have
to put a dollar in the jar
every time I say "okey dokey"
because it's lame.
- Oh, no.
- She has a problem
where she keeps saying
"okey dokey" in the kitchen.
- You just have
to, like, manifest
a new, fab phrase
for yourself.
- Yeah, from,
like, this century.
[laughter]
- Exactly.
How's that batter?
- It's incredible.
- Pour that over the banana.
- [gasps]
Yum.
- Ooh.
- It is set.
Mm, okay.
- Pop that into the oven
for 40 minutes.
- This is gonna be good.
- Fantastic.
We got it.
- Yay.
- I'm gonna set
a little timer for myself
just because I am
the most forgetful chef
that you'll probably ever meet.
- Well, any excuse to Raquelle
getting her phone out,
so put a timer on it, babe.
- [laughs]
- This is my moment.
- It's my moment.
Were we meant to put
the pan on a sheet tray?
- Oh, yeah.
- Just so that it catches
any sort of drips.
- We didn't do that.
- Okay, okay.
We got it. We got it.
It's okay,
it's okay, it's okay.
- You got the mitts?
- No worries.
- Oh, careful, it's hot, babe.
What the hell are you doing?
- I don't know, I didn't think
it'd be that hot.
- What do you mean--this
is really unsafe.
Really unsafe.
- It's so hot.
Oh, my God.
- I know it is.
- Okay, all right.
You did it.
- [sighs]
- [laughs]
- One time a cute guy texted me
because he saw the show
and then he never took me
out on a date.
- Huh.
- No way.
- What?
- I was like,
is that a good thing
or a bad thing?
- Sounds like
they're intimidated.
- Yeah.
- You know what?
I receive that.
Thank you.
- You need someone who's gonna
meet you where you are,
you know?
- Yeah.
- True that.
- Okay.
- Shall we move on
to our snapper?
all: Ooh.
- Snapper time.
- So what I like to do is.
I'll lay my snapper out
on maybe paper towel
on a sheet tray
to absorb some
of that excess moisture.
- Hello, babies.
[laughter]
- Oh, those look great.
The one thing
I'll say about California
is that the produce is
so much better than New York.
- Really?
- I was gonna say
ours looks different.
- Yeah, it does.
- And then you're gonna salt
both on the flesh side
and also on the skin side.
If you don't have skin, it kind
of falls apart as it cooks,
so it kind of acts
as this protective barrier
for the meat.
- Okay.
- And so what I'm gonna do now
is--we're gonna grab
our ginger.
You can use a spoon
or you can use a peeler.
I'm just gonna use a spoon
to get all that skin off.
- You're getting really good
at the ginger.
It's also so interesting me how
much we use ginger in dishes.
- Yeah, it's true.
- Would you agree?
- It's also so good for you
for inflammation.
If you're, like,
got bad knees like I do
somehow at the age of 29.
- Yeah.
- Sel's 29.
I'm 30.
Kelsey's a little younger.
But we had a chiropractor
come last night
and we, you know,
we're all out of whack.
It's crazy 'cause we're
so young, but...
- Anything to talk
about last night.
- [laughs]
- What happened last night?
- She had a spiritual awakening
during this whole
chiropractic visit.
- Well, it ties in 'cause
his name is banana hands.
- Wait, the chiropractor's name
was banana hands?
- We call him banana hands,
yes.
- He has big hands.
- Hell yeah.
I'm jealous.
[laughter]
I actually had a chiropractor
appointment for the first time
a week ago, and she told me
that my hips were misaligned
and I asked her, is it
because of twerking too much?
[laughter]
- Hey.
- She said there's no clinical
studies that prove that yet,
however I should reduce
the amount
of backing my ass up.
- No, you can never reduce
the amount.
- I don't think
I agree with that.
- [laughs]
[bell dings]
And guess what?
It's time to check
banana cake.
- Oh, forgot about that.
- Whoo.
- Oh, wow.
It looks perfect.
- Oh, my God,
yours is super brown.
- That is gorg.
- Just test it with a little
toothpick in the center.
If it comes out clean,
then you know it's done.
- Nothing.
- Yes.
- You did it perfect.
- Hell, yeah.
- I didn't know
you were a baker.
- I'm not.
- You are now,
thanks to DeVonn.
- That's right.
- Okay.
We're gonna grate ginger
into one of the bowls.
And essentially what this is--
it's gonna become the base
for this pickled vegetables
that we're gonna do.
- Okay.
- Next kind of phase
is gonna move on
to our mandoline moment.
- Love me a mandoline moment.
- So we have our yellow pepper
that we're just going
to slice on the butt side.
- We don't cut it or anything.
We just go straight for it.
- Exactly.
- Okay.
Hate that noise though.
[laughter]
- You want to do it just
until you get to the seeds
and then that can go
into your bowl with the ginger.
- Everyone be careful
when they use this.
- And then you'll move onto
the green one next.
Your poblano.
- Okay.
- Also, I forgot to mention,
but if someone could help
by preheating your oven to 425,
that'd be amazing.
- Got it?
- Got it.
- Thanks, babe.
- And so once you're graduated
from your poblano,
you can go on to your shallot.
- Okay.
- Take the skin off
and then same thing.
Just make little onion rings,
and just one shallot is fine.
- I'm starting to cry.
- No, don't cry.
- Ooh. Okay.
- And then what we're gonna do
is move on to our coconut.
- I'm excited for this.
- Have you opened
a coconut before?
- I actually have,
and I'm not very good at it.
- [laughs]
- So where you gonna do it?
- Right here.
- On the ground?
- Be careful of your fingers.
Go.
- Oh.
[laughs]
Here.
- All right.
- She smashed it.
- Good girl.
- Well, the good thing about
this is it's not about
technique,
it's just about passion.
- Okay.
- The cool thing
about brown coconuts is,
all you got to do
is, like, whack them a ton
of times to get to the meat.
And so grab, like, a heavy--
like, a knife or something.
- What about that?
- Do we use this?
- Oh, you can use a mallet.
Sure.
- Ooh.
- Whoa.
- I'm excited for this.
- Oh, I'm standing
way clear of that.
- [laughs]
- Ready?
- Well, first of all,
you should do it
over the sink,
so it doesn't go everywhere.
- [sighs]
Okay.
- Using the back of my knife
or what your mallet is gonna
do, just gonna--
Kind of rotate it
as you hit it.
- It'd be terrifying
with a knife.
- Yeah. All right.
- You got it.
Yeah.
Get it, get it, get it.
- Hey, hey, hey.
- Maybe I should twerk
to your coconut opening.
- Yes, I think that'll help.
- It is, like,
a really good beat.
It's like--
- ♪ Well, woman ♪
♪ The way the time ♪
- Oh, he's twerking.
- Hey.
- ♪ I got the right ♪
♪ Temperature fi shelter
you from the storm ♪
♪ Oh, Lord ♪
- Yeah.
- ♪ Things to turn you on ♪
- Break that coconut.
- I can't.
Kelsey, you try.
- Okay.
- [laughs]
- Wait, so what do I do?
- No, not with me.
Your own hand.
- Oh.
- [laughs]
- Twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk,
twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk.
[all scream]
- You got it.
- Yes.
- Oh, my God, Kelsey.
- So keep hitting it until
it breaks into two pieces.
- Okay.
- Oh, my God, it's beautiful.
- [sighs]
- Oh, yes.
Perfect.
You killed it.
- No. Ew.
- [laughs]
- I mean, listen, you should be
tasting as you go.
- Okay.
- And then scoop
a little bit of the meat out
and put it into your bowl
with all your vegetables.
- Oh, dear.
I knew this was gonna be hard.
- I know.
I felt it.
- It should be,
like, paper-thin slices.
You don't have
to go deep at all.
- Oh, that's perfect.
- Ooh, Sel, be careful
with the knife.
- She knows what she's doing.
- That's a good amount.
- You think?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- So what we're gonna do now
is make a very quick pickle.
- Okay.
- Salt pulls water out of,
basically, anything
that it touches, so what
we're gonna do is sprinkle
a generous bit of salt
into our vegetable mixture...
- Okay.
- With two teaspoons of
the seasoned rice wine vinegar.
- Oh, look at you.
- And then we're just gonna
mix that together in the bowl.
What's gonna happen is,
the more acid and salt
you put in,
the more it's gonna leach
that water from the vegetables.
And essentially the vegetables
are gonna, like, soften
in their own brine,
essentially.
- That looks so good.
- Mm-hmm.
- And that's gonna be
our little condiment
that goes on top of our snapper
once it's roasted.
- Great.
- And so now what I'm gonna do
is--I'm gonna grab
a clean sheet tray, like so,
and then we're gonna grab
our banana leaves.
- Yay.
- This is so cool.
- So you can open up two leaves
and just lie them
on top of each other.
- It's like a Hula-Hoop skirt.
- So the thing that
I love about banana leaves
is that traditionally
in Jamaica,
they might use
the banana leaves
to actually bury food
underground and cook it.
And the enslaved people,
they would actually
run and, like,
hide and conceal their food.
And they didn't want
smoke to show up,
and so they would bury
their food underground
to conceal their smoke,
so people wouldn't know
where their location was.
- Oh, wow.
- And so the cool thing
about that technique is,
you get this really beautiful
and, like, earthy flavor
that's imparted
into anything you cook.
- I love that.
- That's amazing.
- So I want you to grab
this beautiful jar
of the Yardy World
Madre Mezcal chili salts.
- Got it.
- Which I happen
to design myself.
- What?
- Oh, my gosh.
- Wow, wow, wow.
- That's so cool.
- This was designed
with cocktails in mind.
However, it's great
for seafood specifically.
If you want a little bit
of chili or heat added,
it's already got, like,
good amount of salt in it.
- Okay.
- And we're just gonna add
a little bit onto the fish skin
and the flesh again.
And then we're gonna add
a generous shake
of our coriander.
- Okay.
- Transfer
both of those pieces of snapper
onto your banana leaf bed,
and you can put them
skin side down.
- This look beautiful.
- Looks gorg.
- Take a little bit
of olive oil
and drizzle it
all over the snapper.
That looks good. And so,
what you're gonna try to do
is create
a little, like, baby blanket.
- Huh?
- I'll take one side.
I'll fold it over kind of
like I'm wrapping a present.
- Oh.
- Fold it over.
And then I'll add
a little bit more to the top,
just to make sure there aren't
any air holes, essentially.
- Okay, I don't think we can
really do that with this.
- Cut some of this
and put it on top
on the places that are open.
- Yeah, you have plenty.
- Oh, okay.
[laughter]
- Perfect.
- Okay, cool.
Your pieces of snapper are
a bit bigger than mine are,
so you're gonna need
a bit more cook time.
Say 15 minutes
to see how it goes,
and we'll check it.
- Wait, will you take
a picture of these?
- Yes, I will take
a photo of you.
- 'Cause it's so pretty.
- You look so proud.
- Definitely.
- Killed it.
- Looks good.
Okay, cool.
- Okay.
- All right.
So this is the part
we've all been waiting for.
I'm so excited to torch
something with you.
both: Ooh.
- That face.
- Let's grab that banana cake
and a sheet tray or a plate.
- Okay.
- What we're gonna do is,
actually, if you grab
a little offset spatula or--
- Like this?
- Okay, cool.
So first,
we're gonna go around the side
and so that just releases
the cake from the sides,
if it is touching.
- Okay.
- And so what we're gonna do
is--we're just gonna unlock
our springform.
Yeah.
- So cool.
- You can give it,
like, a little jiggle.
- Okay.
- Take the plate.
Put it on top of the cake.
You're gonna hold it
like a burger
and then flip it.
Yeah.
- Awesome, Sel.
- Exactly.
Using your offset spatula
again,
you're just gonna take
the top off.
So it's kind of like
you're picking a lock.
And you're just gonna press
against the top
and you can kind of feel it
release as you kind of
make a little divider
between that and the cake.
- You got it,
you got it, you got it.
Ooh.
- Good job.
- She a baker.
- It doesn't look bad.
- It looks so good.
- That looks so good.
- I'm so happy.
- You made that
- Really nice.
- Okay, perfectionist,
pushing it into the center.
I see you over there.
- I'm trying.
- Grab another bowl,
fill it with, like,
a quarter cup
of that granulated sugar.
- Okay.
- Shake an even layer
of the sugar.
- We love some sugar.
- Mm-hmm.
- Because your caramel's
still wet,
it's gonna start to dissolve.
You want to see a little bit
of sugar on the top.
That's how you know
you have enough.
- How's that?
- That looks good, yeah.
And you can always add more,
but let's start there.
[laughter]
Oh.
That's okay.
Just take your spatula
and just smooth it out.
- You can never have
too much sugar.
- And so grab
that trusty torch.
- Oh, my gosh.
- This is some--
- Wow.
- So you turn this.
- Here.
- Light it up.
- Grab.
- Whoa.
- I have way too much hairspray
in my hair
to stand close to that.
- Oh, no.
When I'm torching,
first and foremost,
I'm always torching
at a 45-degree angle.
You want the sugar to melt,
but you don't want it to burn.
So it should start
to look like amber sweat.
- Hey, hey, hey.
- This is, like, advanced
level, but if you can have
the sugar in your hands
and the torch in the other,
you can add more sugar
on top of that first layer.
- Sel, why are you holding
the flame over there
while you're sprinkling sugar?
- Oh, [bleep].
- [laughs]
- I'm just kind
of going with the flow.
- That looks so good.
So when you're done
with that layer of sugar,
you're gonna want
to immediately
sprinkle flaky salt on it.
- Flaky salt.
- A little flaky moment.
- Nice work.
- Oh.
I think I did a good job.
- And then you have
your torched banana cake.
- I feel like Betty Crocker.
- You did it.
[laughter]
I'm so proud of you.
- All right, so is it time
to check on our snapper
in the oven?
- Oh, my God,
I forgot about the timer.
- Oh, my God, I forgot.
- I'm gonna check on mine.
- Oh, it might be done.
- It looks like
crispy paper, right?
- Yeah.
- Are we ready
for the big reveal?
- I am.
- Ooh, mine looks so good.
- Looks pretty perfect.
- Wow.
Wow, wow, wow.
- Wow.
- That smile.
- This is so cool.
- You can actually
transfer this
to, like, a really beautiful
share plate
'cause we're gonna start
dressing it.
- Okey doke--
- Oh, my God.
- Get the jar.
- Oh, no, that's a dollar.
- Call these
the okey dokey dollars.
I'm getting the big bucks.
- Okay, whatever.
[laughter]
So do I put the whole leaf on
for decoration?
I like to keep it
all together
so that you're getting
the whole island fantasy.
- Love that.
- You should lean in
and hear, like, Bob Marley
singing "One Love."
- Wait, wait, let me get in.
[laughter]
- Jeez.
- Wait, we should've--
[laughter]
- You got it.
- No, no, no, no.
Wait.
- She don't got it.
- Okay, this is--
- Be careful with your hands
because the pan
is very hot still.
- Nope.
- Oh, no.
- You know what?
It's gonna be covered
with vegetables anyway,
so we're Gucci.
- Okay, it's beautiful.
- Shut up. This idiot.
- [laughs]
- Okay, we're gonna dress
the snapper
with the pickled
vegetables now.
- Oh, my gosh,
it looks delicious.
- And so I'm gonna take
one lime,
and I'm just gonna make
little wedges
so that you can squeeze it
at your leisure.
- Okay.
[laughter]
- And then the little wedges
go onto the plate.
- Stunning.
- It looks so good.
- Then take a little bit
of olive oil
and just sprinkle that on too.
- Oh, my God.
- She is chef.
- Oh, my gosh.
- It looks so good.
- I did it.
- So the last step,
you have some cilantro
and parsley, I think.
- Yes.
- That just gets sprinkled
all over your fish.
- Yum.
- Nice.
- Yeah, and there we have it.
- Okay.
Guys, do you want
to get a few forks...
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- So we can try a few
of these things?
Just a little bite.
- Oh, my God.
- Is it good?
- The seasoning on it
is incredible.
- You did it.
- Oh, my gosh.
Did you change my life today?
- I hope so.
I like to think
I'm a changer of lives.
- That's incredible.
Thank you so much.
- [chuckles]
No worries, no worries.
- DeVonn, do you mind
telling us about the charity
that we are
going to be donating to?
- Absolutely.
I'd love to.
The Trans Justice
Funding Project
is a community-led
organization
that distributes funds
to other
trans-led organizations
around the nation.
There's a lot of anti-trans
legislation happening,
and we need
to just be great allies
and great stewards of community
by funding these things.
- I couldn't agree more,
and I am beyond honored
that we could contribute
in any way possible
and get the word out.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you for
supporting the cause.
- And I'm so thrilled that
we're about to enjoy this meal.
- We're gonna go
twerk our way outside.
- Yes.
- Hey.
- Dinner time.
[laughter]
- Thank you for everything.
Take care.
- Yeah.
- Bye.
- Take care.
- Bye.
Thank you.
- Enjoy the meal.
Bye.
♪ ♪
- Whoo.
- Aw.
- Look how pretty it is.
- It's beautiful.
- It's so good.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Yum.
- There you go.
- Thank you.
[laughter]
- This fish is so good.
How would you rate
my cooking skills?
One through five.
- Six.
- Oh, my God.
- I really like it.
- This is, like, a 3.9.
- Oh.
- Thank you for the honesty.
I need it.
- But we haven't gotten
to the cake yet.
- Okay, I'm gonna try
a piece of cake.
- Oh.
[laughs]
- Is it good?
- Oh, it just went--
It just went up five beyond.
I'm tearing up.
- [laughs]
- I don't know
if you can see it.
I have actual tears forming.
- Wait, this just literally
made me so happy.
- Oh, my God.
- [laughs]
Let's do a little cheers.
- Bananas for life.
- Yeah.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- All right,
take it from the top.
♪ ♪
[laughter]
- Mm, mm, mm.
- [laughs]
- [laughs]
- A day in the life of Sel.