Yesterday was a blast at the Traktor Cookery school, and today we bring you day two of the proceedings, in which we had guests DJ Shiftee, David Morales, and Hector Romero chat with us about food and music, all while making a few snacks in between.
Meal 1: Shiftee
Comedy was in abundance with Shiftee taking over kitchen duties at the Traktor Cookery school. The first of our guests to don the chef’s hat, Shiftee’s dish was a bit less chic and a bit more simple—sandwiches. As he says, his meal preparation is less “making a sandwich” and more “painting a sandwich,” which he did with his special sauce over toasted ham, turkey, and cheese.
Shifting the conversation to music, Shiftee talked about his turntablist past—he was formerly a DMC champion—but has since moved toward DJ and club performance, feeling the need to expand beyond scratching and turntablism to progress. He also spoke about his work as an instructor at NYC’s Dubspot production school and the importance of education and mentorship when it comes to developing your skills.
At the end of the meal and chat, Shiftee treated attendees to an impromptu session, playing with Maschine, turntables, Traktor, and some tunes from Beatport.
Shiftee’s ADE picks:
Meal 1: David Morales and Hector Romero
In what was the most “family dinner” vibe of the event so far, the absolutely legendary NYC DJs David Morales and Hector Romero joined the cookery school for a double-dish of skirt steak and tuna pasta. Attendees were a mostly American bunch, many clear fans and followers of the Def Mix crew since the beginning. One guest arrived a day earlier to secure his space, claiming it would be a huge mistake to miss the food these two put together.
Romero’s and Morales’ friendly banter was apparent from the start of their chat, joking about taking cooking classes, and Romero claiming that food was his second passion (next to music, naturally). Morales discussed the importance of David Mancuso’s Loft parties and playing with Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage. Romero took a forward-only approach, not wanting to dwell on the past, where Morales was much more direct, saying, “What I do for a living and my passion has been raped,” referring to the new generation of DJs’ lack of real drive and passion for the music being created. “When I didn’t have the money to buy a new record, I would still go out and buy that record,” he said.
Hector Romero’s ADE picks:
Kyodai – Sex Affair (Dub) – Release Date: 16 October 2012 by Room Control
Jack Squad Ft Helena Jesele – ‘Red Light’ snip 128 SCL by TomDeNeef_JackSqua
Meal 3: Native Instruments’ Daniel Haver and Mate Galic
Native Instruments’ CEO Daniel Haver and CTO Mate Galic hosted the day’s final meal, which draws the likes of Carl Craig, Chris Liebing, and other industry folks. The NI pair has a fondness for good food, discussing their favorites from Italy, France, Japan, and California—the latter particularly for its organic and vegan options. On the NI front, though, they expound upon their Future of Sound philosophy, which aims to explore sounds that are yet to be heard but also to enable artists to create great recordings with an affordable and accessible platform. They also mentioned the impact that Apple’s business and design vision has had on inspiring Native over the years.
So what’s next for NI? Keeping mum on the topic, Haver and Galic prefer for us to just find out early next year.
Recipes
Shiftee’s Everyday Sandwich
ingredients:
wheat bread
sliced ham
sliced salami
sliced turkey
sliced Swiss cheese
jalapeno peppers
deli mustard
hot sauce (Frank’s Red Hot or equivalent)
marinara sauce
Tabasco sauce
steps:
toast bread
blend mustard, hot sauce, and marinara sauce into single sauce; spread on bread
drip tabasco sauce
add jalapeno peppers and Swiss cheese.
microwave for 20-30 seconds
add ham, salami, turkey
slice in half
disco
David Morales’ tuna pasta
(serves 30)
300 ml extra-virgin olive oil
60 g butter
12 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2500 g short pasta, such as fusilli
2125 g good-quality canned tuna in oil (preferably Italian), drained of most of the oil
300 ml dry white wine
1750 g cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
25 basil leaves
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Hector Romero’s grilled skirt steak
skirt steaks
sea salt
fresh pepper
limes
Photos by David Cornelissen
