NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� remembers the moment when it became clear to him that his oldest daughter was an honest-to-goodness chef.
鈥淲e were talking, and she was in the kitchen, and she鈥檚 looking at me, but she鈥檚 chiffonading these herbs and not looking down," he recalled recently.
"Within the first three minutes, there鈥檇 be at least one geyser of blood if I was doing that. I鈥檓 thinking, 'Oh my God, she knows what she鈥檚 doing.'鈥�
Courtney Roker Laga indeed knows what's she's doing: She's a developer and culinary school graduate who has worked in two Michelin-starred restaurants, including Caf茅 Boulud in New York City.
The Rokers 鈥� the elder, who is often leading the cooking segment on the 鈥淭oday鈥� show, and the younger, who has made her career 鈥� are naturals to collaborate, and father and daughter have done just that with
Each dish seems to open a window on the Roker clan, like the Crunchy Cornmeal-Fried White Fish dish inspired by Al's father, the made by Al's mother or the Italian Rice Cake by son-in-law Wes' great-grandmother.
鈥淲hen I was developing these recipes, I got kind of emotional a little bit,鈥� says Courtney, who also acted as the book's food stylist. 鈥淎s soon as I ate them, it brought me back to my childhood.鈥�
Very often, there were no recipes written down for the Roker clan dishes. 鈥淐ourtney has done such an amazing job,鈥� says dad. 鈥淪he鈥檚 almost like this food detective who reverse-engineered recipes and nailed these tastes.鈥�
To add to her burden, Courtney was pregnant with Al's first grandchild, Sky. 鈥淚n a period of nine months, she birthed the baby and a cookbook. I鈥檓 not sure which is harder,鈥� Al jokes.
Food and cooking have always been a part of the Roker family's life. One story about Courtney is that at age 6 she would go into the garden and pick edible flowers to decorate dinner plates.
The pandemic prompted everyone's favorite weatherman to fill his Instagram feed with home-cooked dishes and Courtney suggested this was the perfect time to make a new cookbook, one far different than the ones he wrote years ago, like 鈥淎l Roker鈥檚 Big Bad Book of Barbecue鈥� and 鈥淎l Roker鈥檚 Hassle-Free Holiday Cookbook.鈥�
鈥淭he cookbook has evolved,鈥� he says, looking up and reading off a list of touchstone books on his bookshelf, like and "The Silver Palate Cookbook," both stingy with photos and cold on personal details.
鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 necessarily tell a story, and they weren鈥檛 as visually interesting," he says. 鈥淲hen I wrote my first one, there was a color insert of maybe 12 pages in the middle, and that was it. Now, there鈥檚 a picture for just about every recipe.鈥�
Readers will learn that the Rokers prefer to add a little cream cheese in their scrambled eggs and have perfected The McRoker 鈥� a breakfast pancake sandwich with eggs, cheese and bacon. Courtney's Shrimp Tikka Masala is a family favorite, and Al has updated his mother's Chicken Cacciatore by adding sundried tomatoes and capers.
There's a Coffee-and-Spice-Rubbed Pork Chop using instant coffee that Courtney developed, not knowing that Al's mom would make instant coffee when she was getting six kids out the door in the mornings.
鈥淐ourtney actually didn鈥檛 realize, but she was reaching back to her grandmother with this recipe,鈥� says dad.
They honor celebrity by offering his recipe for short ribs, the most elaborate thing Al makes, requiring five hours of cook time. Al met Boulud while doing a segment years ago on what up-and-coming chefs were doing for Thanksgiving. They remained friends.
One much easier dish is Sweet Potato Poon, Al's mother's signature side. The origins of the name are lost to history; Al thinks they might be West Indian or perhaps Southern.
To 3 pounds of chopped sweet potato are added cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, allspice, canned pineapple, plenty of butter, flour and baking powder. The finishing touch is lightly browned marshmallows.
Al and his siblings took great delight in torturing their mother by trying to distract her as the marshmallows burned. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 have to scrape it all. The smoke alarms going off 鈥� it鈥檚 the holidays,鈥� Al says. His mom eventually got wise and bought multiple bags of marshmallows.
In one way, "Al Roker鈥檚 Recipes to Live By" is a look back at the Rokers' extended family and, in another way, it's a collection to be handed down.
鈥淚 got emotional also because I鈥檓 thinking of my daughter and passing this down to her," Courtney says. "And I鈥檓 so grateful to be able to have done this with my dad. Not everyone can say that they can do a project like this with their parents.鈥�
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
