We Only Layer Flavors: An Exclusive Guest Post from Lester Walker, Co-Author of Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen

Aunt Millie is my uncle’s wife. She had a large family — four kids! — so she was always cooking. My brother and I spent a lot of weekends with them, and what I remember most vividly is the aroma that greeted us every time we walked in that door. One day, I saw her reach into the freezer and bring out an ice cube tray. She took one cube, and put it in the pot. “Aunt Mil, what is that?” I asked. She told me it was her sofrito. That one little cube was the source of the aroma. It held so much value and gave so much emphasis to the dishes it became part of. It also helped me realize that a recipe tells a story. Aunt Millie was first generation, of Puerto Rican descent, and learning that recipe connected me to her Hispanic heritage.

Aunt Millie’s sofrito was a catalyst for me. It was one of the first recipes I ever learned to make, and the more I learned about it, the more impact it had. In a way, it’s the reason I wanted to pursue cooking. I’ve always taken it with me, both for its layers of meaning and as a practical starting point to so many of my dishes. It laid the ground work for the way I cook today and the way Ghetto Gastro approaches our mission. I look at a lot of our dishes as representations of different boroughs, different cities, different places and points of view. Sofrito is New York City. Whether I’m in Paris or Tokyo, there’s always some of the essence of that sofrito in every dish. Ghetto Gastro brings the Bronx to the world and the world to the Bronx, and this dish is an example of that. We live that WOLF lifestyle. We Only Layer Flavors!