1 The Friday morning kickoff event for the Cayman Cookout is always José Andrés's beachfront demo, for which he prepares some type of spectacular entrance. This year it was a line of samba dancers with José taking up the rear.
2 José Andrés, Eric Ripert, and Tony Bourdain follow the samba dancers with pisco sours already in hand
3 Daniel Boulud enjoys himself watching from the sidelines, and immediately becomes the butt of most of José's jokes.
4 The large paella pans are oiled down and waiting to go on the wood fires contained by rings of cinder blocks
5 The key ingredients for the sofrito- dried chile pepper, onion, garlic, and tomatoes
6 Today's demo is fideuà, a variation on paella that substitutes short toasted pasta instead of rice. Sauteing the lobster is the first step.
7 Oh no, horrors! José suddenly realizes that there is not enough lobster for the larger than anticpated crowd, so.....
8 José Andrés, thinking fast, races down to the beach where he manages to pull freshly caught lobster out of a kayak that happens to be conveniently nearby. Kinda funny how those fresh lobsters seem to be from Maine and still have their rubber bands on....
9 Gotta get those lobsters back to the tent and into the frying (or paella) pan
10 While the fideuà is cooking, time to do a quick demo of making gazpacho, if only the blender would cooperate
11 And the drink of choice is a pisco sour
12 Video of José Andrés kicking off the 2015 Cayman Cookout with an entertaining take on making lobster fideuà on the beach with gazpacko and pineapple pisco sours. With Daniel Boulud in the audience, José does not spare his hilarious commentary on the differences between Spanish and French cuisine, and why French restaurants cost so much.
13 Daniel Boulud watches with his newborn, as José Andrés strips out of chef jacket, pisco sour in hand
14 The lobster was first cooked half way and then reserved. Next the sofrito and fideuà pasta was started. Once that has cooked sufficiently, the lobster is returned to the paella pan for the final few minutes.
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16 José compares the recipe in his book to what he just cooked, and is a bit disturbed that they don't quite match up
17 Eric Ripert documents José's masterpiece
18 As does Daniel Boulud
19 The mighty fine and tasty result- lobster fideuà
20 Friday lunch was by chef Michael White, of Marea in NYC and the Bedford Post Inn, in Bedford NY
