Cooking With The DJ: Linguine and Slim Jims with Frankie Banks

In this space, I'll be bringing you recipes and food stories from the globe's most cookin-est DJs, paired with carefully selected music for culinary enhancement. In my years in the music game, I have found DJs to be among the most discriminating food connoisseurs. This is no coincidence. When travelling, you're being taken to pre-gig meals, usually at a local flagship. When throwing parties in your own town, you're taking guests to dinner or hunting for late night eats. When home relaxing, you're making up for all the gut-buster airport tour food by whipping up some good home cooking. And of course, you're Instagramming it all.

Today's dish is linguine with Slim Jims, clams and black garlic, a recipe courtesy of Detroit DJ, producer, and restaurateur Frankie Banks. Frankie is practicing for post-apocalyptic dinner parties by blacking out and cooking stuff he finds in dusty, disused kitchen cabinets at 4AM.

THUMP: Frankie, you're pretty deep in both the restaurant and the music games. Rep your gastro-sonic credentials.
Frankie Banks: I basically grew up in a pizzeria. My dad had a spot called Paisano's that he opened in the 70s. I started flipping pies there in middle school. I recently opened a restaurant with my brother called The Sardine Room. In the early 2000s I started putting together DJ nights. People in other cities know me for playing a lot of Detroit music. I typically try and play stuff from other places when I'm here. I have an EP with the dude Quelle called Team Social and a bunch of beat shit from Fake Gold Chain (my other moniker).

Recently, I've been putting together events under the Party Time Cookin' umbrella that have both a food and music component. I have a monthly called Rap & Noodles. Every month we feature a different noodle dish and have guest chefs and DJs from around the city. The tagline for the night is "Me and you, umami and your cousin too." [laughs]

Explain the concept of Party Time Cookin'. 
Party Time Cookin' started off as blog about cooking while blacked out—those times when you get home at 4AM and try and piece together a meal from nothing but condiments and a raw onion. Since then, it has developed into series of events with a web TV show in the works. I've also been working on a similar concept called "Bitch, You Breakfast"—Sunday daytime/brunch parties featuring both music and chef talent from around the city. I'd like to do a Party Time Cookin' tour—roll up with an RV full of chefs and DJs and blow out backyards around the country.

OK, so what are we cooking today?
Linguine with Slim Jims, clams and black garlic. This is some real deal party time shit right here. Ass wasted at 3AM with a few Slim Jims and a can of clams laying around. Some Macho Man Randy Savage shit.

Jesus. OK. Explain this to me.
This shit was so good, we actually ended up putting a version of it with Spanish chorizo in place of Slim Jims on the menu at The Sardine Room. This was a collaborative effort with party time veteran Bill Knapps, who deserves more credit than I do for the actual creation of the recipe. He also just happened to have recently stolen a bunch of black garlic from the last job he worked at.

Black garlic has this complex, sweet/savory flavor that really works well with the spicy sausage taste of the Slim Jims and the brininess of the clams. Umami for days. Clams a make her dance.

[Laughs] So do I have to be a cooking genius to make this?
I'm pretty sure I remember Bill Knapps taking an Ambien before he decided he was going to try and cook the last time he made this, if that answers your question. That could actually be a great video series, Cooking on Ambien with Chef Bill Knapps. Seriously though, a lot of the flavor in this dish is due to the black garlic—you need to track that shit down. Other than that, it's really pretty simple.

What's the appropriate song pairing here?  What should we be listening to while we cook this? 
Actually, as I was making this, the homie [G-Unit Producer] Nick Speed was hangin' out, playing some new tracks he just finished with Dopehead [of the Danny Brown affiliated Bruiser Brigade]. Def a good look for any party time cookin' session. Jooky styles.

Sounds dope. Bon apetit. 

Linguine w/ Slim Jims, Clams, and Black Garlic by Frankie Banks and Bill Knapps

Recipe serves 3-4

12 oz of dry linguine
2 sticks of Slim Jim original
2 6.5 oz can of chopped clams in juice
1/2 cup of dry white wine
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, divided
2 tablespoons chopped black garlic
2 tablespoons of chopped Italian parsley
3 qt of water
Sea salt and cracked fresh black pepper to taste

1. Cut Slim Jim into small coins and set aside.  
2. Heat a sauce pot with water to a rolling boil.  Salt the water to taste like the ocean.  Add the linguine to the water and stir.  Reduce heat to medium and cook the pasta until al dente.  About 12 minutes.  Strain the pasta and reserve an 1/8 of a cup of the water to add to the sauce.
3. Meanwhile, heat a large sauté pan with a coating of olive oil. Add the Slim Jim and the chopped black garlic. Sauté, moving frequently for approximately 3 minutes or until aromatic.
4. Add the wine and let reduce by about half.
5. Add the clams with juice. Return to a boil. Slowly fold in the butter, stirring rapidly.
6. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
7. Add the pasta and reserved water to the sauce. Stir.  Let stand for a couple of minutes and serve.
8. Add chopped parsley over the top and serve.

Last week we cooked Dr. Pepper Chicken with The Hood Internet's Steve Reidell. Read more.

You can follow Frankie and his Party Time Cookin' exploits on twitter at @frankiebanks.

Michael Fichman is a DJ, record producer, writer and BBQ enthusiast living in Philadelphia - @djaptone