A macaroni dish inspired by Tupac (left), Chef Derek Simcik plating some food for an unrelated event (right); Photo: Abby Hocking via Food & Wine (left), @nelson_yong via Simcik’s instagram (right)
There are many reoccurring tropes in hip-hop; women, money and drugs, you know the trinity. But one of the more underappreciated lyrical themes that doesn’t get enough love is food
MF Doom‘s Mm.. Food is a classic ode to munchies, Gift of Gab opened up about alcoholism on “40oz For Breakfast,” and who can forget Kanye and his affinity for croissants.
With food being such a big part of hip-hop, it was just a matter of time before someone flipped the script and started incorporating rap themes into food — enter some of the more marquee shows over the years: Action Bronson‘s cooking show, F*ck, That’s Delicious, Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party, the list goes on.
Now a Seattle-based chef wants to add to the narrative. The chef-de-cuisine at Scout PNW, 33-year-old Chef Derek Simcik, prepared a seven-course menu last Thursday (November 2) honoring rappers and their favorite foods, of which Food & Wine magazine reported on, interviewing the kitchen talent about the project.
“There are always musicians who love food,” Simcik told Food & Wine. “Look at DJ Neil Armstrong‘s Instagram, look at Questlove from The Roots, they’re always talking with chefs and talking about food. And you see it in all their lyrics, all over the place.”
To enhance the overall experience, Simcik teamed up with the aforementioned DJ Neil Armstrong who provided an exclusive mixtape for the event. “The music that I play, people don’t want to hear at clubs anymore, they want to hear Justin Bieber and Future and Drake,” Armstrong continued. “They don’t want to hear Stevie Wonder anymore, but dinner is the perfect place for me to play my music. Every time I come out with a new mixtape I join up with a chef and that’s where the playlist comes from.”
Lucky patrons were treated to variety of delectable dishes including pork crackling with bottarga, an Italian fish dish, and cheddar (inspired by A Tribe Called Quest‘s “Ham ‘N’ Eggs“), prawns into langoustine served with a rich bisque and caviar (a nod to Pimp C), and toasted milk ice cream served with homemade marshmallows in a cinnamon cereal puff dish (in honor of LL Cool J and his love for cereal).
Chef Simcik had something special in mind for Tupac and Biggie who he calls “the gods of hip-hop.” For Pac, who is a fan of macaroni, Simcik created a pasta dish that included truffles and foie gras. While Biggie’s classic verse on “Big Poppa” — “A T-bone steak, cheese eggs and Welch’s grape” — Simcik stretched out a little and did something extraordinary.
“T-bone steak was one of his go-to’s, so obviously it would be steak. But then I asked how do you make beef bigger without throwing more foie on it? With prosciutto, when they’re dry aging it, they cap it with fat to keep it from going bad, so what we did is took that same inspiration and I used duck fat to get the flavor and dipped all butt one sides of it so it could still air dry,” Simcik divulged again to Food & Wine.
“We aged it for two weeks and then sous vide it for three days at 54 degrees Celsius. The piece of meat we used had such a high fat content, so I wanted to make sure it cut like a nice, tender steak but [the aging] still made it funky. Like hip hop.”
As for future hip-hop inspired menus, it appears Simcik doesn’t want to stop the train, posting a humble brag on instagram that hints at a forthcoming series, quoting a lyric from Jay-Z‘s “On to the Next One.” So as with all things food and music — everyone wins.
