On Tuesday (June 11th) multi-Grammy Award winners Usher and Babyface were honored at the Apollo Spring Benefit Gala at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater.
Thursday, September 14, 2023. The Institute of Culinary Education, Brookfield Place, Manhattan, New York City — The Knockturnal was cordially invited to a tasty gathering, “Cooking with McCormick and Doug E. Fresh” and renowned McCormick Chef, Cindy Gilbert at the Institute of Culinary Education located in Brookfield Place. The class began with a meet and greet and photo opportunity with legendary Hip Hop and beatboxing extraordinary, Doug E Fresh (yes, that Doug E. Fresh, from the Legendary Get Fresh Crew).
On the 3rd floor of the immaculate waterfront property, Brookfield Place, guests entered into an exclusive dining and kitchenette space where we were warmly greeted by the McCormick spice team, registered and handed name plates for our cooking stations. The guests, aka the cooking novices, mingled and sipped signature cocktails along with light appetizers as we discussed our excitement to cook the selected dish of the evening: Spiced Cod with Mashed Plantains. At 7:30pm, sharp, chef Cindy Gilbert took charge and had us suit up for the cooking class demonstration with seasoned (no pun intended) hip hop veteran, Doug E Fresh.
The week prior to the live cooking demonstration, Doug E Fresh and McCormick partnered together to deliver a flavor-full song and new music video. The collaboration, as they say in the Hip Hop world, was formed to celebrate the milestone of 50 years of Hip Hop alongside the king of Fresh himself and with the iconic seasoning brand, McCormick, releasing its first newly designed bottle in nearly 40 years. To our surprise, the beatboxing champ not only keeps it fresh on record, but inspired the dish of the evening. Doug E and Cindy Gilbert led the way as we mixed and matched up spices to try his new original recipe with the use of McCormick.
The ingredients for the Spiced Cod and Mashed Plantains were inspired by the love for his heritage and his instinctual cravings for Caribbean cuisine. The delicious dish was super easy to make, only needing a prep time of 15 minutes and cooked in under an hour (45 minutes to be exact).
The recipe for the Spiced Cod with Mashed Plantains, included:
- 4 Cod filets
- and began with boiling 3-4 medium sized plantains, peeled and chopped in a pot of water
- and ½ a cup of coconut milk
Once placed on the stove, the newbie cooks were instructed to redirect their attention to creating the spice blend for their dry rub to add to their Cod.
The spiced Cod would be covered in (or sprinkled, based on individual palate preference) with the following herbs:
-
- 2 teaspoons of McCormick Garlic Powder,
- 1 teaspoons of McCormick’s Thyme Leaves;
- ½ teaspoons of McCormick’s Crushed red pepper;
- ¼ teaspoons McCormick’s Ground Allspice;
- ¼ teaspoons McCormick’s Ground Cinnamon;
- ½ teaspoons of salt;
- and 2 teaspoons of oil
After blending the spices, each guest chef dry rubbed their individual filets to their taste preference and sent it off to the fryer for a total cook time of 6 – 8 minutes, rotating the cod every 3 to 4 minutes on each side until done.
Shortly after, the chefs were instructed by head chef Cindy Gilbert, to remove the boiled plantains, add a cup of the boiled coconut milk and water to the plantains and mash them into a mashed potato-like consistency. Once plated, our dishes held a generous portion of mashed plantains and were topped with our flavor packed Cod. To enhance the natural flavors of the plated dish, garnishes of pickled red onions, diced red peppers and cilantro were accented on the Cod. To compliment our Spiced Cod and mashed plantains, the Institute of Culinary Education prepared and served sides of braised kale.
Following the demonstration, we sat with Doug E Fresh and McCormick team to relish in and savor our meals. The evening closed with a surprise “Happy Birthday” song and vegan chocolate cake presented to Doug E Fresh and the guests departed with take-home gifts of utensils and spices courtesy of McCormick. We also received a cool bluetooth speaker in the shape of an old school cassette tape, loaded with Doug E Fresh’s new, “Get Fresh” song for McCormick’s 40 year Red Cap re-design. Try out the Spiced Cod and Mashed Plantains recipe out for yourself and let us know what you think. Enjoy (and, in the words of Doug E Fresh, “Get Fresh ya’ll”)!
During Grammy weekend, UnitedMasters hosted a Celebration of Independence concert featuring performances by Russ, Grammy nominated Tobe Nwigwe and Brent Faiyaz. Steve Stoute’s UnitedMasters partook in Grammy weekend festivities by celebrating the power of independent music and the innovative artists who are pushing culture forward. UnitedMasters and its guests completely packed out the Hollywood Palladium.
We have new clip from the much anticipated 2-hour FOX special, Who Shot Biggie & Tupac featuring the former bodyguard of Notorious B.I.G. talking about the night Biggie was shot. In the clip he explains the order of the cars and goes in to detail about his thoughts on the murder.
On the commercial set of Febreze’s ‘#12Stinks of Christmas’ campaign the other day, I got to hang out with the ‘human beatbox’ himself, Hip Hop Pioneer Doug E. Fresh and social media dog sensation @ItsDougThePug.
In their second installment of ‘#12Stinks of Christmas’, Febreze is kicking it old school this time around with a hip hop inspired music video collaboration between the legendary Doug E. Fresh and cutest pug ever @ItsDougThePug. Off the success of it’s 2015 version with Jane Lynch and Matthew Morrison, Febreze is still the product to beat in odor elimination and fresh scents.
As for the most followed pug on the internet, Doug the Pug has been super busy since taking social media by storm in 2015 with over 2 million followers on Instagram, and 4.4 million likes on Facebook. Attending music festivals, radio stations, and television talk shows, Doug the Pug and his #12Stinks partner-in-crime Doug E. Fresh expose the many holiday stinks in the commercial, and how Febreze is the best solution to tackle those smelly jobs of the season.
Although Doug the Pug was unavailable for comment, Doug E. Fresh sat down with us for a few words on his day of shooting, why Febreze is his preferred brand (as is mine), and what he’s got going on currently.
How are you feeling today?
DF: I’m good, I’m good. Thank you. We are here, we could all be somewhere else.
That’s right.
So, tell me about how it was working with Febreze on this commercial, and working with Doug the Pug?
DF: Well, you know, I enjoyed working with Doug. I mean, I think that sometimes he tried to take a little bit more of the shine than me; but we been working it out though. You know, I’ve had all kinds of partners, Slick Rick, Lil’ Vicious; so you know, Doug the Pug, he can’t front on me (laughing). It was a lot of fun.
The people here made it very pleasant. Febreze is an incredible product; and we do use it genuinely. It has been very useful, I think in everybody’s house. Even if it’s not for Doug the Pug, if its just for another Doug, it’s a good look, and it’s a good thing.
Do you have dogs, or pets of your own?
DF: No, I had a cat. My cat just passed away, unfortunately. But I had him for close to 19-20 years; he lived a long time. He was definitely somebody that Febreze was necessary for because, although he was a very clean cat, for some reason, he had a problem with furniture yo, I don’t know what it was. I would bring a new couch in there, and he would just be like, “I have to bless it”; so I had to use Febreze man and just try to calm him down.
Yeah, Febreze is a savior. I use Febreze at home myself; I have a dog of my own at home. It’s my savior; all of their products.
DF: Yeah, it’s for real yo; the candles, the sprays, all of them. Febreze is a really good product. So that’s one of the reasons why I thought it would be good to do what I enjoy; I love animals, by the way. The dog, Doug the Pug, I thought that was a nice addition; and at the same time, it being Febreze makes it a nice little combination.
How long have you been on set today?
DF: I’ve been rolling since maybe about 7:30-8 o’clock this morning. I went and recorded the song (for the commercial); and after I recorded the song, I came over here. But if you really want to know, I flew in, and I was in the airport because there was a problem with my flight; so I was in the airport for like nine hours. I really didn’t sleep, but I’m cool. I’m good; I do this with my eyes closed. This is what I do.
Tell us about recording the song for the commercial; and what that process was like?
DF: I did some beatboxing, then I had to change the track over, do some stuff to it musically to enhance it. And then what I did was, I took the flow of it, and I tried to change it up. Then I used the flow that I thought could compliment it and still give it the energy that it needed. So it was like a little 1-2-3-4 step process to make it sound exciting but not lose the meaning, see what I’m saying. Like, I could have taken the whole song and turn it into something else; but I just wanted to capture the meaning, sprinkle it up a little bit. You know, jazz it up; season it up.
What else is going on with you these days?
DF: I got a lot of stuff going on. I’m coming out with a lot of new material. I’m doing a lot of songs with different people, I’m doing them in different markets from the jazz, inspirational, EDM, Hip Hop, R&B; collaborations with different artists all the way through.
I just did the grand opening for the African American Museum down in D.C., and I performed with me, Chuck and Common. We did a special performance for a TV show, a show coming on ABC. We did it for the President and the First Lady; it was really nice.
I worked with the First Lady on her campaign, ‘Let’s Move’; on the theme song. I did another song that was dedicated to the President, Zero to Sixty (featuring Jordin Sparks, and Brady Rymer), dealing with a lot of health & wellness; fighting childhood obesity, stuff like that.
I do close to 200 shows a year; I’m all over.
I just got finished doing Magic’s 25th Year Anniversary for he and his wife, as well as his HIV situation. I do so many different events; it’s nonstop.
And you still enjoy all of it ‘til this day?
DF: Yeah, you know that. I couldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it. That’s the whole purpose of doing it. When you don’t enjoy it, you shouldn’t be doing it; unless it’s just about getting a check, and that’s never what it’s been about for me. I feel like, it’s a great feeling in your life when you can do what you love and love what you do. And if it has a good affect on people, then that’s a good place to be.
In matching track suits and all, check out Doug E. Fresh and his four-legged friend @ItsDougThePug in this season’s Febreze holiday remix commercial ‘#12Stinks of Christmas’. With the limited edition holiday collection, that disgusting whiff of leftovers in the kitchen trash will be way under control.
Kwanzaa 2015: Energize, Recognize! At The American Museum of Natural History.