Akasha Richmond was first up on the GOHO Kitchen Theater hosted by KitchenAid. Akasha Richmond is the owner of the Akasha Restaurant in Culver City, CA.

Akasha is demoing the Americraft Cookware line of products. Akasha is very matter-of-fact. Before she came on stage, she was being fitted for her mic and she said this was a horrible mic. She was live! It was kinda funny. She came on stage and had on one of those headset microphone things like they use in the Madonna videos. She starts her demo by showing us how to cook coffeecake in a skillet. She really didn’t go into much detail about who she was or that she owns a restaurant in Culver City. Her restaurant has been highly recommended by friends and by several food bloggers around Los Angeles!

Like I said, she started her demo making coffee cake in the skillet. She then went to start her demo on something savory. Akasha wanted to show how to cook chicken breast in the Americraft Cookware without any oil, butter or any fat at all! She placed the chicken breasts in the hot skillet. She mentioned that the pan needs to get hot in order for the full effect of the 360 degree cooking that the cookware promotes.

From Americraft’s website:

Design That Delivers. Americraft cookware works like a small oven, dispersing heat uniformly, cooking food evenly—and perfectly. All without water and without oil, grease or other unnecessary additives that detract from the pure essence of the ingredients. It is called “surround cooking” or “360º” and is unique to Americraft for use in home kitchens. Our 7-layer construction creates an “oven” effect. Heat from the stove is conducted through an aluminum alloy inner core, requiring less heat. Food cooks evenly to perfection, with no water, oil or additives necessary. So nutrients aren’t destroyed from high temperature or washed away through boiling. And healthy fats, naturally present in our food and vital to our health, don’t turn “rancid” (these damaged fats have been linked to many health issues including heart disease and cancer.)

She then started to steam some broccoli in a 2 quart pot. She was trying to show how the cookware is support to form a vapor seal with the lid. By spinning the lid on the pot, and the steam generated from the food, a vapor lock should form with the lid, keeping the essential steam trapped to cook the food. She was never able to get it to work.

The third dish she made was “steaming” fish in the pan. Some salsa, corn, fresh spinach on the bottom of a saute pan and then some tilapia filets on top. While this was going, she checked up on the chicken to show how it browned and without any fat at all.

She was really stretching the demo out. She was telling stories about how she went out toe Joe’s Stone Crab last night and basically had a done to eat. Then she mentioned that she was going to Alinea tonight. I’m jealous. In fact I’m jealous she had Joe’s Stone Crabs! :) Speaking of which for our Southern California Readers…don’t forget to head to Rockin’ Lobster for their special buckets! Anyway…I’m off point.

Anyway…it was an interesting demo. I like Akasha, she is very endearing, just not sure she made for a good product spokesperson today, but I think its her marketing rep that didn’t her all the info she needed. Here’s what she had going against her. I think that stove is being fed by propane and not natural gas. This doesn’t get a hot as it should in a short amount of time. We spent alot of time waiting for something to heat up. I’ll check out Americraft’s line of cookware later in the day.

She started a very interesting line of discussion, well…it was more of a one-way discussion, about how kids today don’t know what they want. They go to culinary school not knowing what they want and something to the effect of disillusionment of being “top chefs”. Then these kids finish culinary school and are hit with the hard reality that life and working the line is nothing like being a “top chef”. She says that being a good chef has to do with knowing flavors.

If you are in Culver City, CA anytime soon, stop by her retaurant for some great food! I know I will soon!

Akasha Restaurant
9543 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
310-845-1700