>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington, D.C.
>> Nobody here in Washington,
D.C. can agree on much
of anything these days, but there
is one thing I think everyone does
think is true Daniel
Thomas can cook.
[Applause] Chef Thomas regularly
serves up thoughtfully prepared,
nutritious and most important
delicious meals to people
like DC movers and shakers, US
Senators, you'll have to ask them
about that enduring tradition of
the famous bean soup they have
in the Senate restaurant.
People like Barak Obama, Joe Biden,
Hillary Rodham Clinton
among many others.
Eating covers a lot of ground.
Most of us spend far too
much time at our desk chowing
down on something that
comes in a Styrofoam box.
It's eating but it's
not really special.
Chef Thomas makes eating special
and important pleasurable event.
I was reading some recipes on his
website and I lingered quite a while
on one for fire grilled
asparagus, marinated tomato salad
with roasted summer squash.
Just saying that is an appetizer.
Chef Thomas is a graduate of the
world famous The Culinary Institute
of America, he's a native of
Washington, D.C. and we're very glad
to have him with us today.
First if you will a
brief legal disclaimer.
This event is being videotaped
for subsequent broadcasts
on the Library's website
and other media.
The audience is encouraged
to offer comments
and raise questions during the
formal question and answer period
but please be advised that your
voice and/or image may be recorded
and later broadcast
as part of this event.
By participating in the question
and answer period you are consenting
to the Library's possible
reproduction
and transmission of your remarks.
Who knows you could be
our next reality TV star.
Please welcome if you
will Chef Daniel Thomas.
[ Applause ]
>> You want me to out front first?
All right.
That was pretty good.
Can I get a better welcome
than that, you guys?
[Applause] Let's make
some noise in here.
Whew. Whew.
If you love food, make some
noise in this camp today.
[Applause] If you love healthy
eating make some noise in this camp.
[Applause] All right who is lying?
Put your hands down.
Some of you all are lying.
Somebody had fried chicken
earlier or French fries, you know?
Just kidding.
Well, hello and welcome.
Welcome to you all
to the 2014 Library
of Congress National Book Festival.
Oh, my gosh this is
an exciting moment.
I want to say it's a pleasure
to be here, an honor to be here,
so many special guests,
so many people,
everybody sitting down,
how are you guys?
Appreciate it.
Good to see, everybody
standing up appreciate you guys.
Everybody sitting up front, welcome.
My name is Chef Daniel Thomas thank
you so much for the introduction.
I was one of the head
chefs for the US Senate,
I cooked for President Obama,
Hillary Clinton, the Reagan Family,
the Kennedy Family, the
Obama's, the, I can't remember.
I'm getting old.
[Laughter] I'm getting old.
I just want to say welcome
to everybody can I
cook for you all now?
[Applause] Hold on time out.
Let's try this again.
Can I cook for you all now?
[Applause] All right,
all right, all right.
Where's the music?
I was going to dance
for you all today.
Whew. It's hot up here just
to let you guys know it's hot.
Everybody say hot.
>> Hot.
>> Hot, it's very hot up here.
So I have, everybody asked me
before what are you making today?
Can everybody see the mirrors?
>> Yeah.
>> So you can see somewhat
of what I'm doing up here.
Now, raise your hand if
you have my book today.
Now raise your hand if
you're going to get it.
Can I get police up here to
the cooking demonstration area?
Let's try this one more time.
Who is going to get the book?
There we go.
All right.
So we're going to get
it, so excited.
Who wants to know what
I'm making today?
All right.
I told some of you all before I
just want to say first I'm not going
to call them out, I'm
not going to show you
where they are but they're here.
I want to welcome some
special guests.
First real quickly my mom and dad.
Stand up you guys.
[Applause] Stand up.
Would you stand up?
[Applause] Stand up.
So you've got to say
hello to your parents.
They actually it was crazy
it's an honor to be here
because I was just named the
first African American male chef
to the Library of Congress
National Book Festival.
[Applause] Thank you
so much for this honor.
It's an honor.
I know the librarian of the Library
of Congress Mr. Billington is here.
Congressman John Lewis is
on his way over right now.
I just saw him and spoke with
him as they were introducing me,
Congressman Clyburn and also the
great big Gregory is on his way.
So I want to say thank you for
being here and things like that.
They're like who are those guys?
[Laughter] So first I'm going to
tell you what I'm going to make.
I am going to make some
wonderful, sexy, delicious,
amazing food for you today.
The first is pan-seared scallops.
So this is where you guys say, ohhh.
Everybody say ooh.
>> Ooh.
>> Everybody say ahh.
>> Ahh.
>> Okay. So, so I have herb
crusted pan-seared scallops,
I have herb crusted
pan-seared salmon,
and I have herb crusted pan-seared
nice jumbo shrimp and I'm going
to make you want to slap
the person next to you
but I don't have any
insurance for you
so there is police in the building.
Please do not slap anybody.
So the first thing that you like to
do is get your pan very, very hot.
So, I have some wonderful,
amazing sea scallops
that you guys can see
here and it's crazy.
It's like I'm looking at
you but you're looking at me
but you're not looking at me
because you're looking up.
So I appreciate it.
So I have some amazing
salmon here as well.
Can you all see on that side?
Okay. I have some great
sauteed organic spinach,
I have some wonderful shrimp here
and I have some amazing mushrooms.
We have some more food coming up
here, but I'm going to talk to you
about just a little
bit of healthy eating.
I'm also the Regional Executive Chef
for the American Diabetes
Association.
Who knows someone with
diabetes or may have diabetes?
Everybody.
So if you want to talk
to me after this
about how can you take your food to
the next level with healthy eating
and make a sexy dish no problem
let's have a conversation.
So, whenever you're
cooking healthy food,
you want to get a pan
very, very hot.
Everybody say hot.
>> Hot.
>> So the pan is very, very hot.
Now, we're going to do what I call
L-I-T-F, everybody say L-I-T-F.
>> L-I-T-F.
>> That stands for
lock in the flavor.
So what does that mean, chef?
Well, I'll tell you.
I'm going to take some
of these herbs
and spices that I have here today.
Now, everything that I'm going
to make here and everything
that is inside of my cook book you
can get at your local grocery store.
You don't have to go anywhere,
you don't have to order online,
you can get it at the grocery store.
A lot of times expensive
herbs that you find
at the grocery store
may be expensive.
I love herbs and spices, but it
can be expensive to buy fresh herbs
and spices and things so
I'm going to show you how
to do it using your dried herbs and
spices to make it taste just as good
but it's healthy and sexy.
Uh-oh. I'm [inaudible].
All right.
They train you with the police
when the police are running
and you hear something like
that, you've got to running.
If you see me running,
you should run too.
Okay? All right.
Here we go.
So, what do we have here?
I have some fresh dried thyme here.
So, we have the salmon
and the scallops.
Now the pan has been
on here for a couple
of minutes getting very, very hot.
Now, you take your two fingers,
your index and your middle finger
and your thumb and you sprinkle
six inches above the food.
How many inches?
>> Six.
>> Now who likes thyme?
I love thyme.
All right.
Now we're going to take a
little bit of chili powder,
who likes a little chili powder?
If you like chili powder, I want you
to move your body kind
of like chili style.
So everybody kind of do
a little hip action here.
Are you guys getting this on camera?
This is a little dip, if you're
standing up, I want everybody
at the same time to
chili drop one time.
Everybody just kind of drop.
There we go.
It's okay people sitting down stand
up a little bit don't
worry, all right?
So we're going to sprinkle
that vigorously.
So now I have some oregano.
Now this is ground oregano.
Now the ground oregano it has
to be 6 inches from the protein.
Why? Because oregano, ground
oregano is like a dust.
So if you are looking with high
heat and fire, you do not want
to the oregano to kind
of dust away and go away.
Some people do magic tricks with
it where they sit it on fire.
Do not do that at home,
ladies and gentlemen.
So, I'm going to do
that just like this.
Now I do let you know that it is
going to smell good in a little bit.
It's going to smell
very, very delicious.
Now who is from the D.C.
/Maryland/Virginia area?
Make some noise in here.
[Applause] Who loves Old Bay?
[Applause] Now they're not paying
me for this, but I love Old Bay.
So instead of having salt I'm going
to sprinkle just a little
bit of Old Bay across.
Whoa. Now I have a little bit
of paprika, everybody say voila.
>> Voila.
>> There we go.
So while that's working I'm going to
come to this side and I love garlic.
Let's get this out of the way.
[Laughter] I love Larry.
Larry has been with me
for years and Grover.
You gave my flowers away to somebody
else that I just gave to you?
Our work relationship
is over, Larry, okay?
So I have garlic here.
You take your knife,
let's move this cup
out of the way so everybody
can see it.
Can you all see?
Okay. Now, I just, one time
and the skin comes right off.
Did you all see that?
Now you've seen it on TV
now you're seeing it here
at the National Book Festival.
I'll show you again,
be careful, one time
and you see all the
skin comes right off.
So we're now going to
chop this bad boy up.
I don't know why I say that.
My grandfather says it all the time,
I'm going to chop this bad boy up.
I don't know what that is, I never
got it, but you all have it today.
Everybody say I'm going
to chop that bad boy up.
>> I'm going to chop
that bad boy up.
>> All right.
Come on, somebody.
Uh-oh, there it goes just like that.
So, now I'm going to chop.
So when you're chopping,
now a lot of times you see
on Food Network they chop
fast and you're trying
to figure out how to do it.
I'm going to show you how to make
sure you do not hurt yourself.
So you put your hand, everybody put
your hand like this, your left hand,
four fingers next to each other and
your thumb, then have your knife,
have your invisible knife,
good job, brother, good job,
and then you put it on top of the
knife, but you want it two inches
from the tip of the blade
so your hand doesn't slip.
You're now going to
just, just like this.
You can go as fast as you want
to, you can have a conversation,
anybody know what the stock
market looks like right now?
[Laughter] You know.
People ask me one of the things they
used to asked me at the Capitol,
I will leave the republican office,
the republican senators will be
over here, the democratic
senators would be over here,
they're both talking
trash about each other
and then the reporters will come
out, well, chef, what's going on?
What are they talking about?
Well, you know what I tell them?
I don't do politics I do food.
Is that all right?
[Applause] So you can love me
instead of hating me because I cook
for the lovely politicians that
we have in America, all right?
So now we have amazing garlic.
So now that's finished.
Let's come over here.
Where is my, uh-oh, man down.
Oh, here we go.
I got nervous, I got
oil, we're okay.
Let's give it up for
our team over here
as well that's helped
me out so much.
[Applause] We're going to
get some nice fresh pepper.
So now everybody put
your arm up like this.
That was pretty weak
let's try this again.
All right that's how you
do it and then twist.
[Laughter] So if you ever have a
date with your wife or somebody
that you're in a relationship with
or somebody you're just meeting,
I promise you she will love you
forever if you just do this.
Oh, my gosh, where
did you learn that?
Just say Chef Daniel Thomas
at the National Book Festival.
I promise you she will love you
forever if you just do this.
Oh, my gosh.
Where did you learn that?
Just says Chef Daniel Thomas
at the National Book Festival.
I promise you.
So now, now that my pan is
hot, is my pan smoking yet?
Let's find out.
So, I have a little bit of what
Rachel Ray calls E-V-O-O, which is?
>> [inaudible]
>> Oh, wow, let's try this again.
What is it?
>> [inaudible]
>> Extra virgin olive oil, okay.
So we're going to put
about, that's pretty good.
That's about a table spoon
of extra virgin olive oil.
Is it smoking?
It's smoking.
Who wants to hear it crackling?
So I'm going to get
this out over here.
So while that is smoking who wants
to see me saute spinach first?
I'm going to show you how
to do it at the same time.
So, here we have some
good old sauteed spinach.
If you hear the crackling, you're
lips are about to be smacking.
It's all right.
So, we have some pepper.
Is pepper healthy for you?
>> [inaudible]
>> I didn't hear you,
what did you say?
>> Yes.
>> Everybody say hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey.
So we have that.
Now you take out your spoon.
What's the first move I showed you?
All right one, two, three,
now you take your spoon
but don't slap anybody, okay?
Here we are.
We have this right here
and now we're going
to add a little bit of Old Bay.
Now, I know that I wanted to,
yes, I wanted to say something
as I'm doing this, I want you all to
give me somebody who just became one
of my clients and who I'm going to
have the pleasure of taking care
of who made this all possible
for everybody to be here,
I want you please to give a
round of applause, real quick,
for the Librarian for
the United States Library
of Congress Mr. Billington.
How are you, sir?
[Applause] Show us some love.
Give it up everybody.
The Librarian for the
Library of Congress.
[Applause] Hey, good
to see you, Liz.
Mr. Billington, you
burnt my spinach, buddy.
[Laughter] I'll charge you for it.
So now we have our spinach.
So now I am going to take my
spinach and put it here very quickly
and get that out of the way.
Who loves sauteed spinach?
I love sauteed spinach.
So now as a matter of fact I'm
going to take this over here
because I want to show
you, anybody know how
to take the skin off
a piece of fish?
Who would like to learn how to
take the skin off a piece of fish?
All right.
I'll show you that today.
Now that my pan is hot,
how are you young lady?
That is his lovely
bride, Mrs. Billington.
How are you, young lady?
Yes, yes. [Applause] Uh-oh.
Are you switching?
Give it up for the
sign language people.
[Applause] I don't know
what the name for it is.
Interpreter.
There it is.
Sorry, I'm a chef.
Let's talk about consume.
All right so now I'm
going to show you how to,
we talked about L-I-T-F,
which stands for?
Say it one more time,
stands for what?
>> Lock in the flavor.
>> Lock in the flavor.
So all my seasonings
here just like that.
Face down.
Now as that's cooking very,
very quickly, I'll take this
and toss it over here very quickly.
Now, with the salmon to show you
very quickly as that is going,
let me just check it
so it doesn't burn.
I want lots of color.
So high heat, lots of color.
Is it a little heat or high heat?
>> High.
>> Okay. So when you're
taking a piece of salmon
and I promise you I will squeeze
a couple of more squirts of Purell
on my hands afterwards,
at the end of it you want
to have your cutting
board very, very close.
Can you see?
You want to have your cutting
board very, very close to the edge.
You're then going to take a small
slither all the way to the skin
but do not break the skin.
You're then going to flip your
knife, everybody say flip.
So you see how the extension of
my hand, do not do that at home.
I am just kidding.
So we're going to take it and then
I'm going to slice very gently
as I grab the skin and then
you slice all the way through
and now there's no
skin on the salmon.
Look at that, ladies and gentlemen.
[Applause] So now portion
control, slice it one time.
Here we are.
So now, I'm sorry I
didn't tell you --
you want to see some
color on this bad boy?
Here we go.
Let's see which one looks the best.
Look at that there.
Can you all see that?
That's when you say
oooh, then you say ahhh.
Then you say we love Chef Daniel.
[Laughter] All I know you don't want
to say that, okay, appreciate it.
So I flip those over and
look at that sexiness there.
I then take the salmon and I'm
going to do the same thing.
Now a key to healthy eating and
just eating in general is plating.
Who does a great job
at plating food?
Oh, I appreciate that.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate it.
Well, I'm going to
show you how to plate.
Can I show you how to plate?
So now as that's cooking
I have my sauteed spinach,
I have this pan rocking and
rolling right here and just
in case somebody else gets hungry
I'm going to take this and I'm going
to cook it for someone here.
Who wants a piece of salmon?
Raise your hand.
All right.
Can we get some more salmon up here?
I'm just kidding you
guys, just kidding.
[Laughter] Maybe to the Billington's
I'll give you guys some salmon.
So I have some heavy cream.
>> [Laughter]
>> Yes, the flavor is
going to stay in there.
I promise you I'm going
to take care of you.
The skin is still on there.
So, the salmon takes a lot
quicker than the scallops
so I'm going to flip that over.
Do you see that color we have there?
So now people ask me all the
time how do you get your food
so tender and your proteins?
You need moisture.
After high heat you need moisture.
So let's look at this salmon.
Look at that there you guys.
That's where you clap.
It's okay.
[Applause] That's gorgeous.
Is that gorgeous?
I'm asking you.
>> It's gorgeous.
>> Okay. [Laughter] So now everybody
when do you put your garlic in,
at the beginning or the end?
>> End.
>> Why?
>> Burn.
>> Because it will burn.
So now I'm getting
ready to add my garlic.
Who loves garlic again in here?
So now you're wondering
how do you keep salmon
and scallops and garlic
from burning?
This right here.
Anyone love wine in here?
Why did some kids raise their hands?
Okay, parents what's going on here?
[Laughter] So I have so just
in case your kids you want them
to enjoy the flavor of wine,
I have something what I
call white cooking wine.
Let me cover the label,
white cooking wine.
This is white cooking wine and
it does not have the alcohol
but it does the same thing to
make sure we do carb reduce.
Everybody say reduce.
>> Reduce.
>> Reduce.
I'm going to add this now.
Look at that there.
Whew. Everybody say whew.
>> Whew.
>> Say it one more time.
Say whoa.
>> Whoa.
>> Now throw your hand
into it, whoa.
>> Whoa.
>> All right.
Look at that there.
Tell me this doesn't
look or smell good.
Can you smell that yet?
[Applause] Like a cartoon character,
you know, it doesn't work for me.
So now this is how
you make your sauce.
Who likes making sauces at home?
Who wants to learn how
to make this sauce?
This is where you take your heavy
cream and add your heavy cream.
Now you can have, people say I still
want to eat this way and that way
and I still want it to taste great.
Well, everything is
in portion control.
Everybody say portion control.
>> Portion control.
>> Everything is portion control.
Whoa. Are you okay?
Are you sure?
You sure? You need an
avalanche or anything?
It gets dangerous in
a kitchen, okay.
All right.
It's time for that bad
boy to come off now.
Just take this and
put it down there.
So now that bad boy is a nice
medium rare, which people love.
I know it's a cultural thing where
they teach you to make your salmon
and every other dish and your meat,
who likes meat cooked medium rare?
Who likes it well done.
All right.
I'm going to put this here.
So, I have this here and
I'm going to show you how
to plate in just a second.
I have this here and I have
what I want I am now going
to add a little bit of heavy cream.
All right.
So, now it's time to start
decorating the plate while
that's cooking.
Can you see that?
Does it look good?
Does it smell good?
Would you like to eat it?
All right.
I need 1,000 people to come up --
just kidding, just
kidding, just kidding.
So we are now going to take
this amazing sauteed spinach.
Now, this is how you plate.
People kill me when
they're plating food
and they just plop
food on the plate.
I can't stand it.
I can't stand it at all.
So I'm going to take our
sauteed spinach right here,
healthy sauteed spinach, and
squeeze it just a little bit
and then mat it down
just a little bit.
Oh, that smells so delicious.
Oh. Can you all smell that?
Can you all smell that?
I'm going to come down
there in a little bit.
Uh-oh, man down.
All right so now that this
is almost done this is
where you add your cheese.
Who likes cheese?
Who likes parmigiano-reggiano
cheeses?
Ohh, ahh. So then I
want to add a little bit
of parsley flakes for color.
Now, where's my utensils?
We need just a little more
white wine and we're going
to need just a tad more heavy cream.
Now this recipe is in my book.
Look at that right there.
Can you see that and smell that?
And now I'm going to
add some amazing shrimp.
Who likes shrimp?
[Applause] Whew.
Who is hungry?
Make some noise if
you're hungry in here.
Whew. Recipes for a new you.
So now we have our shrimp
and we have our scallops,
what's the last ingredient
we need to add?
Old Bay. Now we take
it off the fire.
You can do that at
home I promise you.
That one is okay.
So now that I have my
sauce it's now time to add,
oh, I forgot one ingredient.
>> [inaudible]
>> No, the [inaudible] was in there.
Was she not paying attention?
[Laughter] So I'm going to add very
quickly some sauteed mushrooms.
[ Chopping ]
Put it back on the fire and in
30 seconds we're going to a dish.
Is that all right?
That's all right.
Now just to show you I've only
been up for 25-30 minutes.
So you can have this dish at home
in about 25 to 30 minutes, prep time
and cooking time because
I did no prep in the back.
All this is from scratch
right here in front of you.
All right?
So, now it's time for plating.
So you see we have our wonderful
spinach concoction here.
Can everybody see?
You guys can't see?
Is that better?
Hold on. Which way?
All right you can make noise.
I appreciate it.
There we go.
I want to make sure you all see.
Are you ready?
All right.
Look at that scallop there.
Dad, are you hungry?
My dad loves some scallops.
This is where you need
silence in the room.
Shhh. You can't talk.
All right.
[Laughter]
[ Silence ]
All right this thing is getting hot.
All right.
[ Silence ]
Shhh.
[ Silence ]
Shhhh.
[ Silence ]
In holy matrimony, I now
pronounce you shrimp and shrimp.
[Laughter] Shhh.
I want you to scream
when it's finished.
You can't talk but if it's
looking good, give me a nod.
Is it all right?
So now my cause is right
here at the bottom.
[ Pause ]
There you are, ladies and gentlemen.
[ Applause ]
Can you all see that?
Does it look good?
>> Yeah.
>> I have a couple of recipe
cards I'm going to give
out with sexy summer [inaudible]
recipe right before the summer ends.
I know the kids have to go back to
school and everything like that,
but I want to say it was an
honor and pleasure to be here.
This is my book, Recipes for a New
You: Healthy Eating at Its Best.
Healthy can be sexy, it can be
fun, let's put some spice back
into our lives and I'd love for
each and every last one of you
to have a copy in your home or
ten for you and your family.
It would make a great
Christmas gift.
Thank you so much.
My name is Chef Daniel Thomas.
Thank you so much, everybody.
[ Applause ]
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.