Lakendra Davis

Brown Butter Waffle 

At age 10, I was making pancakes and omelets. From there, my high school offered culinary arts. It was fun stuff. I was independent. I was also the weird kid who didn’t like sweets, so when I ate a waffle, it was no jam, no jelly. I liked to eat them with cream cheese. 

I’ve been developing or tweaking this waffle recipe for years. When we started City Farm Co. as a business inside the Nashville Farmers’ Market, we would do this waffle as a waffle bowl and put sausage and eggs on top. One time we did it with brisket and a fried egg. We wanted it to be street food. But then I realized it was just a great waffle. Eventually we graduated from a whipped cream on top to mascarpone, which I like better. 

Perfecting this mascarpone is my proudest achievement because I learned how to use sous vide. You put heavy cream in a bag, sous vide it for 10 minutes, then add a little lemon. Then back in the sous vide for 10 more minutes, then strain it through cheesecloth. Then I add bourbon and fresh vanilla bean and thyme. 

This was the first thing I made for my mom where she said “Oh, my girl is a chef!”