**SHOP for LIVE with DOUGLAS CULLEN of DOUGLAS | INSPIRED BY MEXICO! Airing Oct 24 @ 4:00 PM Pacific/6:00 PM CST/7:00 PM EST
A Simple & Elegant Salpicón , a Flower Power Cocktail with a Sweet Hibiscus Finish, & the SKL Holiday Line-up
For those new to Sharing KITCHENS LIVE, I am Jenn Sharp, and I am thrilled you are here! Thank you for being a part or our community, encouraging those around you and giving me the chance to know you.
If you enjoy the banter, the food or the love, please hit that ♥️, so others can find us.
Welcome back to Sharing KITCHENS LIVE, where we virtually cook with a special Substack guest here in New Orleans, via their home Kitchen (somewhere in the world.) We make a dish or two, sweet or savory, and share a cocktail to sass up the fun. So whether you are with us to cook a long, or just coming for the company, we are ecstatic you are here! Details, Links and Recipes (to make your grocery run) are below.
(photo credits to Douglas | Inspired by México & Andrés | Inspired by Mexico).
What: Salpicón (Mexican Shredded Beef Salad)
Cocktail: Flower Power Cocktail (in honor of NO KINGS) made with Agua de Jamaica.
Who: The talented Douglas Cullen of Douglas| Inspired by Mexico!🇲🇽
When: October 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM PST/6:00 PM CST/7:00 PM EST
Where: Here & a possibly a POP-UP in NOLA. Watch this week for more to come on this….
How to Join: Click here to add it to your calendar and to join the LIVE. If you are subscribed to Sharing KITCHENS LIVE you should receive a link in your email and/or by push notification.
I’m so excited to have Douglas | Inspired by México on with us! This will be our first authentic Mexican offering, which happens to be my favorite food in the world! (Narrowly beating out Italian and French) 😃 Douglas’ experience and vast repertoire of Mexican recipes, along with his passion for the food and culture, compel my need to know more!! This is a SIMPLE recipe, easy to cook along, so we hope you will be toasting and chopping with us! (Prep ahead details listed below).
Salpicón (Mexican Shredded Beef Salad)
Douglas Cullen, Douglas | Inspired by Mexico
When you’re craving a light, refreshing salad, look no further than salpicón. A cold Mexican salad made with shredded beef, chicken or fish, you can serve salpicón as a main dish on tostadas, or on the side of your favorite Mexican meal. Our salpicón recipe is prepared with beef and makes a whole bowl, so invite your friends over to share!
Notes
If viewers would like to prepare the salad live as we make it they will need to prepare the beef in advance. The rest of the ingredients will be chopped and assembled during the event.
Ingredients
¼ cup olive oil
1 ¼ lb skirt steak
4 Roma tomatoes
½ head iceberg or Romaine lettuce
3 limes
2 avocados
½ cup pickled chilis (chiles en vinagre)
4 tablespoons fresh parsley
⅓ red onion
4 ozs panela cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Prepare the Beef in Advance
Slice the beef against the grain into 1-inch chunks.
Fill a pan halfway with water and add the sliced beef. Cook over medium-high heat for about 30 minutes or until tender.
Remove the beef from the broth and shred using a knife and fork. You can let it cool and shred with your hands, but it will be easier to shred while hot.
HOW IT WORKS
Sharing KITCHENS LIVE will be hosting LIVE on Substack every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month.
The first episode of the month will be a lunchtime slot (12:00PM CST, 7:00PM GMT+2) to accommodate our international friends;
the second episode of the month, at 6:00PM CST, is to better fit the dinner slot here in the US. The announcement will be sent out a week before we air to allow for those cupboards to be replenished (and to Stock That Bar!)
Oh did I forget to mention? There will be a COCKTAIL DEMO at the beginning of each episode, followed by the LIVE Cook Along featuring a dish (sweet or savory.)
The planned duration of the livestream will be between 30 and 60 minutes, but feel free to come and go as needed. We’re happy you’re joining us no matter how long you stay. ♥️
Can’t wait my friends!
Flower Power
Jenn Sharp in honor of “No Kings” Protest
Ingredients
1oz Fresh Lime or Lemon Juice
1oz Cointreau
1oz Gin or Vodka
1oz Agua de Jamaica Simple Syrup (below)
Sugar for rim
Shaker
Chilled Glass
Agua de Jamaica Simple Syrup
1 C. Water
1 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Hibiscus flowers
Put in small saucepan, heat on lowest setting on the stove until sugar is dissolved (about 5-7 minutes). Let stand for 10 minutes to steep. Strain flowers from syrup and store in clean container.
Instructions
Pour all ingredients into a shaker of ice and shake thoroughly for 20-30 seconds. Run a spent lemon around the rim of a chilled coupe glass, invert into a plate or bowl of sugar to create a sugar rim. Pour into chilled glass, and garnish with a lemon or orange wedge and a hibiscus flower. Serve immediately.
Agua de Jamaica
Used with Permission - Douglas Cullen
Mexico’s well-known jamaica drink, Agua de Jamaica or “hibiscus water.” A perfect drink to serve with the mid-day comida. The flavor is sweet and tart at the same time and very refreshing.
Prep Time 2minutes minutes
Cook Time 15minutes minutes
Total Time 17minutes minutes
Ingredients
2 cups dried hibiscus flowers
2 quarts water
½ cup sugar per pitcher of jamaica
Instructions
HIBISCUS CONCENTRATE
Put 2 quarts of water in a pot
Add 2 cups of dried hibiscus flowers to the water
Bring to a boil
As soon as the water boils reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes
After 10 minutes turn off the heat and allow the hibiscus concentrate to cool
PITCHER OF JAMAICA
Put ⅓ of the concentrate in a half-gallon pitcher and add the sugar
Fill the pitcher with cool water and stir vigorously to dissolve the water
Serve chilled or over ice
Notes
Optional
Add I cinnamon stick to the water when steeping.
Alternative Sweeteners
Instead of sugar, you can sweeten your drink with piloncillo or agave syrup.
Storing
The concentrate will keep for 5 days in the refrigerator.
Store in a sealed container so that it doesn’t take on flavors for other foods in the fridge.
Nutrition
Serving: 11ozs. | Calories: 129kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Sodium: 5mg | Sugar: 33g
The Food Writers’ Retreat, Spring 2026
REMINDER — Please make sure funds are available in the account you designated for Installment Payments and that all information is correct. Our first installments came in, so our venue can charge on November 1st, and went off mostly fine. There were a few errors that kicked back payments. In order to keep our progress on track, please keep this in mind. If there are any extenuating circumstances that we need to work on, just let me know. Thank you. ❤️
UPDATES: We currently have two shared accommodations left, our canceled private booked up fast! If anyone is interested, please let me know. (Shared rooms, not shared beds) I am planning to do the drawing for the Yes, Chef! feature of the Retreat November 14th, at 12:00 NOON CST on Sharing KITCHENS LIVE. Our SKL special guest, and Drawing Cohort, will be the incomparable Kate McDermott sharing her pie skills and me fumbling along trying to keep up! 😉 [As a reminder, Yes, Chef! is the community cooking opportunity for one guest to Lead for each meal. Rebecca Blackwell made the excellent suggestion that we randomly assign “Teams” to each lead and let the chips fall where they may! This is going to be such fun! ] Join us (Retreat Goers) to see if you are a LEAD, or whose TEAM you are on!!
Details and updates for all Retreat events to come in the Official Retreat Post, which will be sent via Substack and individually emailed the first week of November. Some guests have asked that we use the Chat feature, so it will also go out via the Roux & Choux Entertaining Chat thread in SS as well.
Also, as we’ve discussed, I suggest waiting until after I give the all clear (first week of November) to make flight arrangements just in case there is a mass defection for some unforeseen reason. Not likely, but after the pandemic we are all too familiar with the concept that the unlikely does sometimes happen. 😊. (Of course, your plans are yours and you may have reasons that you need to make them sooner. This is only my humble suggestion.)
We strive, as humans, to tick all those boxes: family, career, philanthropy, health. I’ve noticed that in the race, we miss the moments. The minutes, or seconds, that it takes to make eye contact. To smile at the person we are “transacting” with. To see, really SEE, our own loved ones.
This world is too fast, and this retreat is about slowing it down.
Taking a metaphorical, and physical, deep breath and sinking into an armchair…French 75 in hand and soul sista on deck. (The retreat is not restricted to women, but so far the only male will be Colton (possibly Shalako), who have been pressed into service to help their mother.) 😂
Stay tuned as the date approaches and the details unfold. 🥂
If you didn’t have a chance to catch the last SKL with Sheryl O'Connell, enjoy! Her recipes are so consistent and delicious and she was an absolute JOY to host!
UP NEXT ON SKL
Kate McDermott, of the famous Pie Cottage, November 14, 2025 10:00 AM Pac/12:00 NOON CST/ 7:00 PM GMT+2 HOLIDAY SPECIAL - Making Pie & Drawing for “Yes, Chef!” slots (for Food Writers’ Retreat) 🥧🎁🎄☕️
We’re BA-A-a-a-ack! Rebecca Blackwell, the incomparable, will be sharing her special Holiday deliciousness with us and we’ll be Rockin’ round the Kitchen for sure! 😂🍸🎄 December 12, 2025 10:00 AM Pac/12:00 NOON CST/ 7:00 PM GMT+2 HOLIDAY SPECIAL II
I’m so excited to host these wonderful Substack Stars!
Cheers, my friends….🥂