Hamilton teen Raihan Audu spent two days cooking a Thanksgiving meal fully by himself for his household. The 14-year-old by no means imagined {that a} photograph of the feast would deliver at the very least a bit pleasure to a whole lot of hundreds of individuals.
His older brother posted a photograph of the meal on Twitter — displaying bowls filled with candy and savoury meals, with chef Raihan on the helm of the desk. Raihan solely knew it had been posted when his brother referred to as him at college to say that hundreds of individuals have been sharing it on social media.
“I checked his Twitter, and it was already at 10,000 likes. After which it stored on going up, and it was overwhelming,” Raihan stated, including that the feedback have been telling him what job he had executed. “It was very nice.”
On the time of writing this text, the image had been favored greater than 787,000 occasions, with virtually 70,000 retweets.
Raihan began serving to his mom make Thanksgiving dinner when he was 10 years previous, however over the previous few years, he is taken extra of a lead.
His older brother who shared the photograph, Fadel Audu, stated it has all the time been clear how a lot ardour Raihan has for cooking.
4 years in a row! My brother the culinary GOAT at 14. Cooked all of it. <a href=”https://t.co/tZKfvOXJ6m”>pic.twitter.com/tZKfvOXJ6m</a>
—@Kingflacko3
“He is all the time been making meals and going surfing and recipes. Simply making meals on a regular basis,” he stated.
When Fadel got here dwelling at 11 p.m. on Oct. 11, the day earlier than Thanksgiving, his youthful brother was already within the center of cooking the vacation meal for the following day.
“Apron on, dough in every single place, all that stuff,” he stated. “Then I get up the following morning and he is nonetheless within the kitchen cooking.”
The teenage prepare dinner did not cease till 2 p.m. on Monday.
The top end result was a sequence of dishes that featured macaroni and cheese, candy potato casserole, two varieties of rice and a turkey — which even managed to shock his older brother. It wasn’t like a “common, dry” turkey, he stated — it was loads higher.
“The meals’s actually good. I am shocked he was in a position to get each single dish to style good,” Fadel, 19, stated.
“I am very happy with him. He actually has expertise. He will get higher each single time he cooks, yearly.”
Getting artistic within the kitchen
Raihan, who got here to Canada together with his household in 2010, was born in Ivory Coast. His mother and father are from Nigeria.
He began cooking early on, with easy issues like immediate noodles, however was pushed to make meals that have been advanced and included numerous totally different dishes, like Thanksgiving dinner.
Raihan stated he made the marinade for the turkey with onion, garlic and lemon, and utilized butter beneath the pores and skin with out ripping it. Then he basted the turkey now and again.
The time crunch, Raihan stated, is a part of the enjoyable.
“It is actually intriguing, the preparation it takes,” he stated. “Additionally, the period of time it takes. How it’s a must to handle your time to satisfy deadlines…. I’ve to complete all by [1 p.m.]. So, it is simply enjoyable attending to be within the kitchen, get artistic and make fascinating meals.”
The prepare dinner is self-taught and appears up recipes on-line. However he stated he modifies them, including totally different flavours, and retains recipes he creates in a guide.
“I make my very own twist to it by including various things to make it style higher,” Raihan stated.
He stated he likes to prepare dinner conventional Nigerian meals, like amala and jollof rice, but additionally pizza, wings and lasagna. The teenager additionally delves into baking croissants and French baguettes.
Raihan stated he gravitates towards numerous Cajun seasonings, jalapeno peppers and Scotch bonnet peppers.
‘I really feel like he deserves this recognition’
Fadel thought folks could be taken with seeing how proficient his youthful brother was, however he by no means thought the photograph would get such unimaginable traction.
“I am very completely satisfied for him. He is being doing this for a very long time, and I really feel like he deserves this recognition. Each time he cooks, I might all the time see him being on MasterChef [for] children, cooking it up. I believe he can actually do it,” he stated.
“After I’m within the kitchen, and I am simply making my easy stir fry, he is beside me making some colossal creation that I’d have by no means considered. And it is actually good, too.”
Raihan stated he’ll begin posting cooking movies on his new TikTok account, raihancooks, so folks can proceed to comply with a few of his Thanksgiving recipes and different meals he likes to make.
For extra tales in regards to the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success tales throughout the Black group — try Being Black in Canada, a CBC venture Black Canadians might be happy with. You can read more stories here.
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