NOLA Fox 8 WVUE TV Peruvian Cooking Demo
What do you do when you get invited to do a live cooking demo on TV at the last minute? You say YES! That’s what happened as soon as I arrived in New Orleans for the upcoming Peruvian pop-up dinner at Carmo this Saturday July 27 to celebrate Peruvian Independence Day.
Since we only had about 4 minutes to demo our dish, we decided to prepare Choros a la Chalaca, a Peruvian steamed mussels dish that hails from the port of Callao on the Pacific coast of Peru. And though we prepped the ingredients before arriving at the news station, we waited to cook the dish just before going on the air.
While the news anchor was still delivering the news, we were ushered to a side counter, so we could set up, steam the mussels, and plate the dish. As we were getting ready, the camera in front of us panned to take a close-up of the dish, and on the monitor they announced that our segment was next — Live, from New Orleans, it’s Pisco Trail!
Choros a la Chalaca Live TV Demo
As soon as the segment started, our rapport in front of the camera was wonderful, the host was charming, she made me feel very welcomed, asked us questions about the pop-up, and as I talked about the ingredients in the dish, I spooned some salsa criolla on a mussel for her to try. My favorite part? Her reaction:
I love the salsa, what a kick it has!
Oh my goodness, it’s like a party going on in my mouth!
Later that night, we went out for drinks in the French Quarter to celebrate, and on our way home, a stranger came up to me and said “I saw you on TV today!” That’s the first time anyone has said that to me, probably because this was the first time I was on TV, and I am delighted that my first time was in one of my favorite cities — ¡Gracias Nueva Orleans!