By Shabna Rahman
Salmah Hack, famous for her Guyanese cooking on Instagram, took her skills to Season 2 of PBS’s “The Great American Recipe”, where she delighted the judges with her traditional dishes, becoming one of three finalists in the competition.
Born and raised in Richmond Hill, Little Guyana in Queens, New York to Guyanese parents, Hack moved to Orlando, Florida after getting married in 2005. She was the first brown, Indo-Caribbean, Guyanese Muslim woman, who wore a hijab to participate in such a show.
The other two finalists were Brad Mahlof, a Lebanese Jewish-American (who won) and Leanna Pierre, a Barbadian-American. They also displayed dishes that kept their family traditions alive. As the overall winner, Mahlof had one of his dishes featured on the cover of “The Great American Recipe Cookbook”, which comprises 100 recipes from all of the contestants, highlighting the diversity and flavours of each dish.
The eight-part show was hosted by Alejandra Ramos, a writer and contributor on NBC’s “The Today Show” in New York. Each episode challenged the home cooks to showcase their favourite dishes, as they battled to win the national search for the great American recipe.
During the last episode, the finalists received touching letters from their loved ones, about what dishes to prepare. Hack’s mother chose baigan choka and daal, Pierre’s father requested ackee and saltfish, the national dish of Jamaica, while Mahlof’s mother wanted him to make matzo ball soup.
For the main course, Hack, a project manager for a software company, chose to make Guyana’s national dish, pepper-pot and bread, and for dessert, cassava pone.
The finalists were in for a big surprise when they were told that they would receive help to make their last dish. When Hack’s husband, Naeem; Mahlof’s mother and Pierre’s best friend, appeared, they were overjoyed.
Hack grew up watching Food Network and other cooking channels on television and would always get excited “anytime we saw somebody from Indian descent… or a brown person, rather, on TV…”
In her case, she knew what it felt like for Guyanese who tuned in to the show every Monday night from June 19 to August 7, 2023, and saw her preparing other traditional dishes such as ‘kitchri’ and stewed chicken, chicken curry and roti, bake and salmon, vermicelli cake, egg ball and mango sour, methai and barfi.
Hack developed a love for cooking Guyanese food and desserts, after starting her culinary journey with her mother, Zalena Hack, her aunts and her grandmother who is now 88 years old and has Alzheimer’s disease.
In episode 3 Hack became emotional while presenting the ‘kitchri’ and stewed chicken dish that her grandmother taught her to make. She called the dish “a bowl of hug from my grandma.”
Meet and greet
She proudly returned recently to her hometown Richmond Hill for a meet and greet with her supporters and was hosted by the Tropical Isle Roti Shop and Bakery on Liberty Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard.
At the pop-up event too, and in the spirit of the holidays, the owner of Tropical Isle, Danny Persaud, handed out 100 tote bags containing bakery goods and Guyanese spices.
He also teamed up with Hack to ensure that there were snacks for everyone. He provided pastries, cake and sugar cake, while Hack made barfi, vermicelli cake, methai and gulab jamoon cake.
The outside of the restaurant was transformed with beautiful decor by Top Notch Events and Backyard Events, to create a welcoming atmosphere. A tea and coffee station was also set up for everyone to help themselves.
Everyone was surprised and very excited when the host of the show, Alejandra Ramos, graced the event with her presence.
She enjoyed the pastries and sweets that were served and Hack was happy to take her into the restaurant and introduced her to a variety of Guyanese food. She tried some of them and truly enjoyed the new food experience.
The South Queens Women’s March – an organisation that deals with gender-based violence – was also part of the activity. Members created awareness and also collected toys to distribute to children at their annual holiday pop-up pantry, the following week.
Hack, the star of the event, posed for photos with fans, friends and family who turned out to celebrate her. She also demonstrated how to make fudge using evaporated milk, white sugar and essence.
This took about 30 minutes, with some people volunteering to help her stir the fudge. During that time, Hack took the opportunity to answer questions and share her experience on the show.
“I decided to do the show because I grew up watching Food Network, I grew up watching food TV… But to see somebody that was brown, Indo-Caribbean, Guyanese, that was Muslim, somebody that you knew from your neighbourhood, that’s what I wanted for myself and that’s what I wanted to represent…,” she said.
“I wanted to go out there and cook on a TV show, things that we eat at home. I mean, Baigan choka and daal is what we eat on a Sunday morning, vermicelli [which she chose to spell, ‘vamazelli’ like the way it is pronounced], is an Eid Day gift for us.
“I wanted to go out there and educate others about what Guyanese food is; what is Indo-Caribbean food. You know, I represented a corner of the world that is large and mighty as you can see and I wanted other people to know about that… so that was my intent. That was also the intent of me starting my Instagram blog…”
In fact, it was her captivating dishes on Instagram that made the casting agent for PBS’s “The Great American Recipe”, recognise her talents. He reached out to her in May 2022 and invited her to participate in the show in Virginia, USA.
At first, Hack thought it was a scam. She only realised that it was “legit when the gentleman sent me his LinkedIn profile…” After that there was a long process of interviews, to get to know her and who she represents; such as her food, culture and family, along with recipe writing.
She did not know she was selected to be on the show and was only informed one week before flying to Virginia for the filming. She described her time there with the seven other home cooks as “an adventure like no other.”
Her experience on the show was very fulfilling because it allowed her to tell her story through food; sharing a little about herself, her culture and her faith.
It was also great working with the other home cooks who represented different regions around the US and their countries of origin.
She thanked everyone for following her along, for supporting her throughout the journey and for tuning into the show every Monday night, for not just seeing her there, but to see a little piece of themselves represented because that was her aim and intention.
You can follow her Instagram page: @salmahhack, to learn more about other mouthwatering food she prepares.
