He also crafted an all-season dish inspired by the prodigious burnt caramel flavors of Mount Gay's Black Barrel: a slow-cooked lamb rib braised with ginger, chili, and soy sauce. The culinary bold-faced name, cookbook author, and out-of-the-box innovator has created a cocktail-a signature Manhattan, with Mount Gay rum in place of Rye. 'To me, it's the aged Bourbon casks that make a difference,' he says, telling me that his view of rum has changed since he began collaborating with the heritage brand. I decide right then that I'll never drink a single malt whiskey again, as long as I can tipple top-shelf rum from Mount Gay, made in Barbados since 1703 at the world's oldest continually-operating rum distillery.
New suede,' he says, using chef words to describe the rum. But, our phone call is still an elegant experience. The top chef and co-star of a new cooking competition show is in his backyard in Southern California with views of the sea, and I'm on the Texas Coast, sitting on a pier with a pelican. We're not sitting across from each other in a speakeasy -we're on the phone. It's Thursday and Chef Richard Blais and I are sipping Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum neat.
