Teryl Jeffrey has created a self-contained Japanese-style chicken grill from vehicle parts and reclaimed wood from shipping pallets.
Jeffrey has named the grill 1-8-7 CKN, and his recipe for yakitori chicken skewers make a public debut at the 26th annual Bite of Nanaimo at Beban Park on Friday, Oct. 19.
Yakitori is a Japanese term for charcoal-grilled chicken Jeffrey prepares by cooking chicken in pork fat and then grilling it on a charcoal grill made from a piece of truck frame and steel bed frame sections welded together with help from a friend.
“The method that I’m using is I’m confiting the chicken skewer in straight clarified pork fat, so it’s fully cooked in pork fat and after it’s confited in pork fat it comes onto the grill to get the smoky flavour.”
The skewers are offered in shio (salt) or tare (teriyaki) flavours.
Jeffrey said he is inspired by late rapper and actor 2Pac and chef Anthony Bourdain. Both had their influence when the name for Jeffrey’s grill, 1-8-7 CKN, was thought up on the fly while he was filling out the Bite of Nanaimo entry form.
“I had to come up with a name, literally, sitting there filling the information,” Jeffrey said. “She’s already put me down as Teryl’s Chicken and I thought, that’s lame. I listen to a lot of hip hop, a lot of West Coast rap and a line that’s often in West Coast hip hop is the line 1-8-7, which stands for the California penal code for first degree murder, for murder one, so what I’m doing is I’m straight murderin’ chicken … I’m not apologetic. I’m doing 100 per cent for what I want to do.”
Joining other first-timers at this year’s Bite of Nanaimo are the Coast Bastion Hotel and Cold Front Gelato and BeachFires Pacific Grill.
Bite of Nanaimo is TheatreOne’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Up to 1,000 tickets for the event are sold for the event, which raises $15,000 to $19,000 for the theatre annually.
“This is our biggest fundraiser and it’s been running for so long it’s undergone some changes and major challenges,” said Nadine Wiepning, TheatreOne marketing and box office manager.
Numbers of food and liquor vendors come and go over the years, but there are long-term event supporters, such as Vancouver Island University’s culinary institute.
Cassidy Country Kitchen, Sawmill Taphouse and Grill, The Vault Café, Coco Café, Longwood Brewery and Wolf Brewing are on the list of vendors offering tasty treats.
“The people who come out, we are just so grateful for them, I just don’t even have the words to express,” Wiepning said. “It’s such an effort for them to get everything together and then come to the event and at the same time their restaurant is also operating. I just feel that they’re so committed to us. It’s a charity thing for them to do.”
This year’s theme, ‘A Night on Broadway,’ gives visitors an opportunity to not only pose in a photo booth but also have selfies taken with a cast of roving characters from Broadway musicals. Dirk Heydemann of Heydemann Art of Photography is providing his photography services and Nanaimo Theatre Group, VIU theatre students and Schmooze Productions are some of the sponsors providing actors for the event. The Big Mess is providing the main music entertainment.
Bite of Nanaimo runs 4-9 p.m. Oct. 19. For tickets and other information, visit www.theatreone.org.
photos@nanaimobulletin.com
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