Thursday Life introduced you last week to celebrated chefs April Bloomfield and Mario Batali. We share kitchen space today with Jose Enrique, Seamus Mullen and Johnny Iuzzini as we continue our countdown to NyamJam Festival slated to take place at Goldeneye on November 13 and 14 where this impressive roster of chefs have promised to deliver tantalising fare infused with flavours of The Rock.

Festival co-founder Reyna Mastrosimone has paired these chefs with local culinary stars like chefs Brian Lumley, Colin Hylton and Gariel Ferguson and many local purveyors, foodstuffs, farms and street food.

The weekend kicks off with a Fleming dinner co-hosted by Island Outpost founder Chris Blackwell on Friday, November 13 at GoldenEye’s famed Ian Fleming Villa with headlining chef Mario Batali for 150 guests. Part proceeds of this dinner will benefit The Oracabessa Foundation.

Tickets are available at www.nyamjamfestival.com/tickets

José Enrique

José Enrique is putting Puerto Rican food on the world’s stage with his namesake restaurant at La Placita de Santurce, which was named one of Conde Nast Traveler’s Best New Restaurants and won him a spot on Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chef roster in 2013.

Thursday Life (TL): What are your larder must-haves?

José Enrique (JE): Island limes and hot sauce. I have tried some of the hot sauce here. I love the use of Scotch bonnet; it gives a great kick to the food.

TL: Butter or olive oil?

JE: We use a lot of olive oil in Puerto Rico, but I love butter as well.

TL: Wine or Champagne?

JE: I guess Champagne. I can start off the day with Champagne and finish it off with a little red wine.

TL: Jerk sauce or Scotch bonnet pepper?

JE: I’d go for the Scotch bonnet.

TL: I am in Jamaica because…

JE: We are here to get in touch with the land and agriculture on the island for when we come back in November for NyamJam.

TL: What’s your best food experience of all time?

JE: It’s always the same one — it’s my grandmother’s rice and beans. Sitting at her table with the family, kids running around, when she leaves the kitchen everybody runs in to eat from the pot.

TL: My earliest food memory was…

JE: It was with my grandmothers. My mother was always working, so as a kid I would stay with one of my grandmothers – one was Cuban, one was Puerto Rican. The Puerto Rican one cooked a lot of boiled yams, boiled green beans, codfish (salt fish as you call it here) in a lot of olive oil, and we’d have lots of avocado. Then my Cuban grandma, she would just be doing dishes left and right, you would go into the kitchen and she’d have a Béarnaise sauce on. It was a good contrast.

Seamus Mullen

Seamus Mullen is an award-winning New York chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. Mullen is also a leading authority on health, wellness and the healing power of food.

Thursday Life (TL): What are your five larder must-haves?

Seamus Mullen (SM): Salt, olive oil, coconut oil (I cook with coconut oil a lot. I spend a lot of time in Central America and they cook a lot with it. But I love it for its health properties and flavour), some sort of acid — citrus or vinegar, and some sort of spice, probably Scotch bonnet.

TL: Butter or olive oil?

SM: Olive oil.

TL: Wine or Champagne?

SM: Wine (white).

TL: Jerk sauce or Scotch bonnet pepper?

SM: I am going to go with Scotch bonnet pepper because it is a little more varied, there are more things you can do with it.

TL: You are in Jamaica because…

SM: I am in Jamaica to get ready for NyamJam — getting to know the food and culture. It is my first time here and I have become a huge fan of ackee and salt fish. I live in Brooklyn, and eat a fair amount of West Indian cuisine, so I already love escoveitch fish.

TL: On this your very first visit to Jamaica, what were you eager to try?

SM: The fruits. I had sweetsop this morning, which was incredible. The variety of mangoes is blowing my mind — the Julie mango was incredible.

TL: Best food experience of all time…

SM: Oh my gosh, that is an impossible question to answer.

TL: Your earliest food memory…

SM: I spent a lot of time with my English grandmother; she kind of raised me. She was born in Argentina and went to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris in the 1930s, so she knew her food. She and I used to go fishing when I was really young, about five or six, to catch trout and crayfish and she would cook everything. She taught me to cook trout with brown butter and capers and that was my favourite dish as a kid. It is still something that I love and is a comfort dish for me.

TL: You are in Jamaica because…

SM: I am in Jamaica because it is an incredible place to be and I am getting ready for NyamJam. This has been just amazing, seeing so many ingredients that I didn’t know existed before — tasting ackee, Otaheite apple, naseberry. Getting to cook with all of those is going to be cool.