NEW YORK — Al Roker reflects on the moment he realized his eldest daughter had truly embraced her culinary skills.
“In a conversation, she was busy chiffonading herbs while maintaining eye contact with me,” he shared recently.
“If I attempted that, I’d likely end up with at least one fountain of blood within minutes. I thought, ‘Wow, she really knows her stuff!’”
Indeed, Courtney Roker Laga possesses impressive culinary expertise as a graduated recipe developer who has worked in esteemed Michelin-starred eateries, including Café Boulud in New York City.
The Roker family—comprising the well-known father who leads cooking spots on the “Today” show and the daughter who has carved out her path in the culinary world—have combined their talents for the new cookbook titled “Al Roker’s Recipes to Live By: Easy, Memory-Making Family Dishes for Every Occasion.”
The recipes contained within the book offer a glimpse into the Roker family’s heritage, such as the Crunchy Cornmeal-Fried White Fish inspired by Al’s father, the Sweet Potato Poon crafted by his mother, and an Italian Rice Cake passed down from the great-grandmother of son-in-law Wes.
Courtney admitted that crafting these recipes stirred up emotions within her. “When I tasted them, it brought back memories from my childhood,” she confessed, having also served as the book’s food stylist.
Often, traditional Roker family recipes were not documented. “Courtney has been like a food detective, meticulously reconstructing recipes to capture these flavors,” Al praised.
Her efforts were compounded by the fact that she was also expecting Al’s first grandchild, Sky. “In the span of nine months, she brought a baby and a cookbook into the world. I’m beginning to wonder which task was tougher,” Al joked.
Cooking has always been an integral aspect of the Roker household. A charming anecdote recalls how Courtney, as a young girl of six, would wander into the garden to gather edible flowers to adorn their dinner plates.
The COVID-19 pandemic inspired Al to share home-cooked creations on his Instagram. Courtney suggested this was the ideal moment to create a new cookbook, differentiating it from his previous works like “Al Roker’s Big Bad Book of Barbecue” and “Al Roker’s Hassle-Free Holiday Cookbook.”
“The cookbook reflects an evolution,” he remarked while eyeing a collection of influential cookbooks on his shelf, including “The Joy of Cooking” and “The Silver Palate Cookbook,” acknowledging their lack of engaging visuals and personal stories.
“They didn’t really tell a narrative and were somewhat visually uninspiring,” he noted. “When I released my first book, it barely had a color section of 12 pages. Now, nearly every recipe comes with its own photo.”
Readers will discover that the Rokers enjoy a splash of cream cheese in their scrambled eggs and have created The McRoker—a breakfast pancake sandwich filled with eggs, cheese, and bacon. Courtney’s Shrimp Tikka Masala has become a family favorite, while Al revamped his mother’s Chicken Cacciatore by incorporating sundried tomatoes and capers.
In an inventive twist, there’s a Coffee-and-Spice-Rubbed Pork Chop that Courtney crafted using instant coffee, unknowingly echoing Al’s mother’s practice of making instant coffee for her six kids’ morning routines.
“Interestingly enough, Courtney didn’t even realize she was connecting with her grandmother through that recipe,” Al remarked.
They honor renowned chef Daniel Boulud by including his short ribs recipe, the most complex dish Al attempts, taking five hours to prepare. Al first met Boulud while filming a segment about emerging chefs’ Thanksgiving endeavors, and they’ve since built a friendship.
A simpler offering is Sweet Potato Poon, a treasured side dish created by Al’s mother whose name origins remain a mystery; Al speculates it may be linked to West Indian or Southern roots.
The recipe entails mixing three pounds of chopped sweet potato with cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, allspice, canned pineapple, copious amounts of butter, flour, and baking powder, all topped with lightly browned marshmallows.
Al and his siblings delighted in distracting their mother while marshmallows toasted a bit too long. “The smoke alarms were blaring—it was always during the holidays,” he recalled. Eventually, their mother wised up and stocked up on marshmallow bags.
In many respects, “Al Roker’s Recipes to Live By” serves as a tribute to the Roker family’s legacies, while also becoming a family heirloom for future generations.
“I felt emotional thinking of passing this down to my daughter,” Courtney stated. “I am incredibly thankful to have shared this experience with my dad. Not many can say they have collaborated on such a project with their parents.”
