America's cooking stars show their stripes

Take a "Bam" from Emeril, cooking quips in Julia's inimitable patrician trill and speedy cleaver work by Martin Yan -- all on stage in Providence, Rhode Island -- and you've got the recipe for

Monday, July 19th 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Take a "Bam" from Emeril, cooking quips in Julia's inimitable patrician trill and speedy cleaver work by Martin Yan -- all on stage in Providence, Rhode Island -- and you've got the recipe for fun.

Some of the culinary world's best-known celebrities cooked in concert Wednesday night at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, and improvised a recipe they dubbed Divine Providence, using Rhode Island ingredients. Their market basket included clams, fish, some of Emeril Lagasse's Portuguese seasonings and, yes, the Mayor's Own Marinara Sauce.

After showing the audience how he makes his mother's Portuguese kale soup, Lagasse -- who grew up in Fall River and played drums in a band before he headed off to Johnson & Wales culinary school in 1977 -- played a mean break on hanging pots and pans.

Before the concert, when asked where she ate in Providence, Julia Child replied, "Al Forno. We all ate there last night. I'm surprised I can even waddle onto the stage after that. It was wonderful!"

Child, 87, greeted Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. with a cheery, "Mayor! How's your marinara?" as he arrived for a news conference yesterday afternoon.

She announced, "I'm here with my old friend Emeril. I'm very impressed with what you've done with this city. It's beautiful."

Lagasse, who has restaurants in New Orleans, Orlando and Las Vegas, and stars on Emeril Live, TVFN's most popular program, said, "I'm absolutely delighted to be in Providence. It's one of America's greatest eating cities."

Cookbook author and cooking teacher Shirley Corriher of Atlanta, sometimes referred to as a "walking food encyclopedia," also cooked and joked with Lagasse and Yan. She's the expert Julia Child calls with food questions.

A typical question? "Julia called to ask why tender baby spinach leaves turned bitter when she cooked them," Corriher said. "I explained that after about seven minutes of cooking spinach, you have mass destruction. The acid leaks out of the leaves with overcooking. Stephanie [ Hersch, Julia's assistant] told me she had to eat spinach five days straight after that, while Julia experimented to cook it just the right amount of time."

The event was staged in conjunction with the annual convention of International Association of Culinary Professionals, meeting this week in Providence. More than 1,500 food experts are in town for seminars and to explore Rhode Island food.

Janie Hibler, president of IACP, said, "We chose Providence because you`re such a diverse city, with a fabulous culinary history."

Some 1,000 tickets were sold to the event Wednesday night, with the proceeds -- about $170,000 -- going toward a culinary scholarship fund. The fund also raised money through an auction held after the performance.

Lest anyone think a live cooking show is void of audience participation, last night's crowd clapped, laughed, and yelled Emeril's signature cry of "bam!"

"We love you, Emeril," a member of the audience yelled out when the chef came on stage.

After Emeril, Corriher made smoked salmon in puffed pastry, demonstrating a stove that could cook the dish in a little more than four minutes. Yan, who is known as a wizard with a chopping knife, bet that he could debone two chickens in about half that time -- and won.

The cooks themselves were rapt when Child walked on the stage. She and Emeril began dressing up a plain sponge cake with everything from M&Ms to lemon curd. Child thought it needed a kick.

"Do we have any booze here?" she asked.

Someone brought a bottle of wine out; Emeril doused the cake.

But the crowning moment of the evening came when the four chefs stood before a table of 41 ingredients, all incredients that are either unique to Rhode Island or available in the state, and were given a mission: To make a main dish that represented Providence.

Into a stir-fry went several kinds of shellfish, fish, and a myriad of vegetables. Quahogs, of course, were included, as was a healthy portion of the mayor's marinara sauce. A few Rhode Island ingredients, however, didn't make the cut. It seems coffee syrup and jonnycake meal didn't fit into this dish.

When Child declared the dish only "pretty good," Yan dumped in more of the mayor's sauce. She tasted again.

"It's good," she said.

Mayor Cianci joined the cooks on stage afterward, and gave the dish an official city seal of approval.

"We're so distinguished to have all this talent at one table, cooking a dish for the City of Providence," he said.

He declared the chefs artists and performers. After the show, as the audience headed downstairs for a reception, Cianci quipped that the most popular political favor in his office lately was tickets to Emeril's show.

Asked earlier in the day about early influences that led them to cooking, the chefs referred to each other and their upbringings.

Lagasse said, "My mother, Hilda, was one of my greatest influences. And the smells of Portuguese bakeries in Fall River, and the charcuterie shops. And I watched Julia on TV; she was my mentor. And Martin Yan."

He mentioned that he and Julia believe that no one should go a day without learning something. The morning of the culinary concert, Child had taken a food writing course.

Julia smiled fondly at Lagasse. "Emeril always influences me, every time I see him."

He added that he loves his work. "This is fun. It's making people happy." Julia added, "And you can eat your work!"

The concert was organized by Johanne Killeen of Al Forno.

When Martin Yan, who was born in China, was asked how he could use the Mayor's Own Marinara, he said, "There are many similarities in food around the world -- Chinese pot stickers, Italian ravioli. I have a young family, and they love pasta with tomato sauce."

He added that he watched Julia cook on TV when he was in college, and dreamed of being on TV himself. "She is good, informative -- and one funny lady!"

What makes a good chef? "Greed," Child said. "You have to be hungry to be a good cook."

Lagasse agreed. "I can't cook when I'm full."

As Yan, Lagasse, Child and Corriher leaned together for a photo, the ever-jolly Corriher orchestrated. She announced that before photos, Child always says, "Don't say 'cheese' -- say 'Play!'"

Later in the night, the posed again. This time they said: "Souffle!"

With reports from Jennifer Levitz.