Dinner with the 'Pork Family'

Shanica Blair, Gleaner Writer

In celebration of the Gleaner's Food Month, Outlook brings you another 'Dinner With'. This time, it's with the best person to have in the kitchen - a chef.

There are moments in home cooking when a meal surpasses expectations, eliciting praises at the dinner table and leaving the creator feeling like a bona fide chef. So what happens when a professional chef steps into their home kitchen?

People generally assume that anyone with a close loved one who is a chef must eat well and experience many exotic meals. Well, those close to Chef Omar Jackson, certainly do, because he goes all out whenever he is cooking - whether at home or at work. He does not cook all the time when he is home, but when he does, the meal is definitely going to be a show-stopper - it's all or nothing.

"I cook sometimes, but my wife does most of the cooking. If you want me to eat a lot, you have to cook because I cannot eat a lot of my own food. If we have visitors or friends over, I will cook," he told Outlook when we dined with him last Sunday.

"It is different cooking at home than at the restaurant, because I am more relaxed at home and in a more comfortable setting. At the restaurant, it is basically a job, because I have to keep the guests in mind. The guests' happiness comes first. I have to ensure that the staff gets stuff done at the restaurant, deal with the menus, train people. Right now, I have a brigade of 36 persons (double shift)," he explained of his job at Tripple T'z Eatery on Annette Crescent.

His wife, Cavanine, daughters Ruth and Esther, ages 12 and 6, are all thrilled that daddy is a chef.

"It is splendid being married to a chef because I am not really a kitchen person. I have a family with small children so I definitely have to cook most of the times because my husband is out working, but it is not really my speciality," Cavanine told Outlook.

She beamed with delight as she explained: "There are perks to being married to a chef. In terms of creativity of meals, there is always something different and he does dishes different from how a normal husband would. Even if it's chicken, it is done in some out-of-this-world way, so it's not just chicken," she explained.

Their older daughter, Ruth, said she wanted to be a chef just like her daddy. "She prepared the salad for today's dinner," Jackson pointed out.

Family day

"Sunday is family day; we try and get together almost every Sunday because that is when friends and relatives get to visit. And that's my cue to cook," he laughed.

Dubbed the 'Pork Family' by the Outlook team, Cavanine's favourite dish is anything with pork, but jerked pork is really her thing. According to Jackson, the family really loves pork and, regardless of what they are cooking, pork has to be included.

Jackson does not have a favourite. "I like anything infused, for example taking Mediterranean and infusing it with Jamaican or Caribbean."

Jackson told Outlook that he got his love for cooking from watching his grandmother while growing up in Westmoreland. The chef, who has travelled the world and worked for 10 years at the former Ritz-Carlton in Montego Bay, has never had any formal training, 'a natural born chef' some may say. He said he attended seminars and training sessions and became a chef 17 years ago and has been a professional chef for six years.

"I used to love watching my grandmother cook and everything she cooked was made with love. Thus everything I cook is gourmet. I don't do anything simple."

Jackson sure lived up to his word because he whipped out of his magic hat: herb garlic roasted pork with a ginger, raisin and tomato sauce with mango chutney, glazed baked potatoes with gungo peas and rice, baked macaroni and cheese and bacon-wrapped baked fish with a coconut rundung sauce. Dessert was banana flambé served with vanilla ice cream and Oreo cookies.

Dinner with the

'Pork Family'

Photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Even at home, Jackson goes all out.

At top: Chef Omar Jackson (centre), his wife, Cavanine, and his daughters Ruth and Esther and family friend, little Tori Anderson.

PORK

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PLEASE SEE PORK, 6