Knife Drop with YouTube Sensation and MasterChef Finalist Nick DiGiovanni

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Spear (00:00):
Did you know that at Harvard if there aren't any
concentrations you like you canapply to have one created? No,
seriously. And that's just oneof the interesting things you're
going to learn from today'sguest. This is Chris spear and
you're listening to ChefsWithout Restaurants, the show
where I speak with culinaryentrepreneurs and people working
in the food and beverageindustry outside of a

(00:21):
traditional restaurant setting.
This week, my guest is NickDiGiovanni. Nick was a
MasterChef finalist on season10. By the way, he went on that
show while attending Harvard, nosmall feat there. It's a great
story, and I don't want to givetoo much of it away in the intro
here. Since then, he has beencreating food and cooking
content online. His videos areboth educational and funny,

(00:42):
often done in collaboration withother celebrities and YouTube
personalities. He's madeslushies with Mr. Beast, chili
with Kevin from the office, andhe recently broke the Guinness
Book of World Records for thelargest Beef Wellington. That
video by the way, featuredsomeone you might have heard of
Gordon Ramsay. Nick still seemspretty grounded. While grateful

(01:03):
for his fans and followers, hesays he doesn't get caught up in
the numbers on the analytics.
Last week, he released his firstcookbook, knife drop creative
recipes anyone can cook. And ofcourse, we're gonna be talking
about that as well. So whetheryou're a chef, home cook, or one
of Nick's 20 million fans, Ithink you're gonna enjoy this
episode. As always, I loveconnecting with my listeners.

(01:27):
The best way to reach me is byfinding me on Instagram at Chefs
Without Restaurants, and my DMsare always open. And all I ask
is that if you enjoy the show,please share it with a friend.
And the show is made possiblewith the support of my sponsors.
This week's episode is broughtto you by the United States
personal chef Association andhire a chef.
Are you a personal chef lookingfor support and growth

(01:48):
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opportunitie, call Angela at1-800-995-2138. Extension 705 or
email aprather@uspca.com.
Hey Nick. welcome on the show.
Thanks so much for coming on.

Nick DiGiovanni (02:50):
Chris. Thank you for having me.

I'm looking forward to talking to you today. I'm
maybe not even as excited as mykids are my kids actually have
been watching your channel. Imean, I'm excited. Don't take it
the wrong way. But I have 11year old twins and my son in
particular dreams of being aYouTuber, he hasn't figured out
what that means to him yet, likewhat he's gonna do? Yeah. knows,
I'm sure you get that a lot,right.

I feel like that is the new big dream job.
I've heard it from a lot ofteachers believe it or not.

Yeah, I mean, you can go deep into these things.
It's crazy. Like my printerstopped working a couple of
weeks ago. And I just like wenton YouTube and Google the model
of my printer. And like someonesuggested, Hey, have you like
flipped it upside down andlooked at the door underneath?
Maybe something jammed? Andwouldn't you know, there was a
pencil in there. Like, I neverwould have even thought that and

(03:37):
someone took the time to make avideo as to how to like unclog
your printer. That's what I loveabout YouTube as you can find
anything. But if if you want tolearn how to cook, I mean, me. I
went to culinary school, Igraduated in 98. And like, we
barely just had the internet. Ithink, you know, when I
graduated, I had only had theinternet for two years. And now
I think you could sit at homeand learn so much. You can

do it all YouTube has something for
everyone. It's true. You canfind the most obscure topics and
there's somebody out there thathas learned it better than most
people in the world and he'sjust excited to share what they
know about it. And I find thatso fascinating.

You recently crossed the 10 million
subscriber mark with I thinkmore than 5 billion total views.
That's that sounds insane to meand more than 11 million Tik Tok
followers. So we're like, Idon't even know. Incredible is
maybe the best word but I'mstill at a loss for words. How's
that feel to you?

Exciting is the simplest way to put it. At the
same time. It doesn't reallychange much for me if that makes
sense. Because I am still makingvideos that I think will excite
people that I love to makemyself and to a certain extent
the number of subscribers there.
It's fantastic. It's It'sexciting. It's great to have
them all there. But the realityis I have to keep making good

(04:59):
videos anyway, or it doesn'treally matter regardless, so I
haven't thought of it too much.
And some people are surprised tohear that but you know, it's a
number and I more care about theactual people behind those
numbers and the the people thatI want to teach to cook, right.
So that's my concern is justmaking sure I continue to create

(05:21):
top quality videos, the bestthat they can be videos that I'm
going to enjoy, and I'm notgoing to get burnt out on
making. And, you know, I sort offorget about that number
sometimes.

And, you know, I think one of the things is, it's
really easy to become popularfor one video or one style, and
then just go all in on that, butthen you're only doing that
thing, whether it be making likea viral pizza dish, and now
you're making pizza everyday,like you have a lot of variety
to your channel, which I thinkis really cool. Yeah,

I think it's fun to it's fun for me. And it's
fun for others to explore, andto try new things. And I don't
want to get caught up in onespecific region of, of cuisine
or type of food all the time, Iwant to keep learning and I want
to, I want to be able to cookanything, and I'm still
learning, sometimes you will notrealize that or think about that

(06:12):
I'm still learning to

when I think about like what I was doing at your
age, it was nowhere near thethings you've accomplished. And
we're gonna, like, I want totalk about so much of that. I
think a great place to start iscollege because you have a
really interesting story. Youwent to Harvard. Harvard is not
usually known for being aculinary school. So can you talk
to me a little bit about what,you know, why did you go to
Harvard? What were you thinkingyou're going to do when you went

there? Well, the reality is, I felt very
fortunate to even get accepted.
And that was the first step. AndI hit it was hard to say no, I
think once I was accepted. Andnowadays, I mean, college is
ridiculously hard to get intoanywhere, it doesn't matter
where you're applying. It'svery, very competitive. It's
very difficult. And so I look atit as a bit of a crapshoot.

(06:58):
Sometimes, once I got in, I sortof felt like, Okay, this is a
place that I can probably go andwhatever my dreams might be,
which I didn't know at the time,I could hopefully have a good
shot at achieving some of themhere. And so I went. And that's
when I kind of came to thisrealization that I had
absolutely no idea what I wantedto do.

I can't imagine going to Harvard not knowing
what I wanted to do. That seemsreally scary. To me.

It is, but I also looked at college as a
place that you could hopefullygo and get, it would guide you
in the right direction, right.
And I don't know how most peopleapproach college or think about
it when they're headed there.
I'm sure there are a variety ofmotions and things that go into
people's minds. But it was veryunexpected, all of it. And it

(07:50):
was very, I guess I took everyopportunity there. And I just
sort of ran with it. And I'vedone that my entire life just
sort of seeing things as theycome and try to figure out what
the best next step forward is.
So when I'm asked, What do Iwant to do in three years, and
in five years, I often don'thave a good answer to that
because it was the same back incollege. And as it is now. I

(08:11):
take things usually day by day.

Well, I think things change so much like, for
example, YouTube, when I was akid when I was in college, like
it didn't even exist. So youwould never say I want to be a
YouTuber like there was noconcept. Right now I work as a
personal chef cooking inpeople's homes. And I have a
podcast and neither of thosewere things like maybe there
were private chefs. But theyweren't thing. So you know,

(08:38):
people say to my kids, like,what do you want to be? And they
talked about things they'reinterested in. But the reality
is, my kids are 11 by the timethey're 1821, what they're doing
might not even be a career rightnow.

It's very interesting how fast the world
is changing?

Well, what did you did you have to declare a major
when you like, went to Harvard,like you must have had some idea
why you were going there and tosay, like, not a culinary school
or not to be a plumber. Like,what What were you thinking kind
of when you entered school?

Yeah, I remember being stuck in somewhat
of a weird rut. I didn't knowwhat I wanted to do at all. I
loved food. I always knew that.
And I always have known that.
But at the same time, foodwasn't so much as you sort of
hinted at something that I couldnecessarily pursue in a
traditional way at Harvard. Andso I remember looking at lots

(09:32):
and lots of concentrations, lotsof majors trying to figure out
what could I pick, and I couldnot pick anything, I simply
couldn't find one that Iactually enjoyed, or that seemed
to fit authentically with me.
It's hard to make something lastthat you're not going to
actually enjoy, right? We alllearned that at some point in
some way. And so I just couldn'tpick anything and that's when I
had to start looking at otheroptions. The question was, how

(09:54):
would I go about doing what Iloved and doing Something with
food while at Harvard.

So you decided what anyone would do? You just went
to them and said, I want tocreate my own course here,
right?

Yeah, they have the option listed on the list of
concentrations, it's called aspecial concentration. It's
basically you create your ownmajor. But the reality is
there's when I was there, atleast, there were probably six
or seven kids in the entireschool. And so that's, you know,
that's, that's nothing thatnobody is actually successful

(10:31):
in, in achieving that andgetting the school to agree that
of all the 49 majors that theyhave listed, you can you need to
be able to create this specialone for yourself to be able to,
you know, use your time best atwhen at school, right? It just,
it's very, very hard to convincethem that one of the ones they

(10:52):
have existing is not going tofulfill what you need. And so
the real challenge was yes, onceI set on doing the special
Major, the real challenge was, Ihave to now convince the school,
which was not easy. What made

you think that you were going to be able to do
that? I mean, it just seemshuge. I would never even think,
you know, I went to a culinaryschool, I would not even think
about saying like, Hey, youdon't have a foods of Africa
class, you should do that, youknow, just like one class, but
to go to what's arguably one ofthe most, if not the most
prestigious universities in thiscountry and just say, you don't

(11:28):
have anything here for me,really, I think you should have
this course. And this is, andthis is how you're going to do
it. I mean, that's, that's huge.
I don't want to downplay that. Ithink that's a huge
accomplishment. So talk a littlebit about how did that, like,
what did you have to do to makethat happen?

So it was absolutely not just me. And if
it was just me, it would nothave happened. So it really came
down to getting a bunch ofprofessors on my side, I
basically built a team, I had tobuild a full group of people who
believed in this and who wantedto help me and would stick their
necks out to help me convincethe school that this should be

(12:06):
approved. And it was rejectedthe first time. And that was
after months and months andmonths of preparing documents
and writing up essays and papersand statements from these
professors. And, and by the way,these professors were from all
across campus, they were fromdifferent different types of
classes. You know, one was inthe environmental sciences one

(12:27):
was in, they had some notculinary classes, but they had
some classes that had coveredtopics and food in them. So
these professors are from allover the place. And it was
rejected, which that was tough,because suddenly it made me turn
back and have to look once againat that list of majors that I
really did not want to do. Butwe just revised our application,

(12:50):
we made another push, I think wehad to wait a semester to do it
again, or something like that.
I'm guessing they just make itthis difficult, because they
want to really, really make surethat you you need to do this you
want to do this is the onlything that you want to do. But I
didn't even I didn't even bat aneye I just we adjusted our
application, we tried to make iteven stronger. pushed it again.
And and it was approved.

So from that point, how long did it take for it to
become a program that you could,you know, take classes. And

so when I was approved for this special major,
it didn't mean that other peopleon campus can now take this, I
guess some Yeah, it was just me,I guess someone could have taken
note and said, Oh, you know,this would be a fun, this, this
would be fun to try. I'm gonnatry to do this as well. But what
I did notice that was reallycool was that they made a Class

(13:41):
A few years after I left calledfood in the environment. And so
that to me, says that they theymay have seen, okay, we have a
little bit of a gap here.
Someone made a special major inthis and you know, they were
able to justify that it wasn'tquite there but that we had the
infrastructure for it. And nowthey have a class so I'm gonna
guess that if I now was there asa student and I applied, they

(14:02):
would just say go take thatclass and then figure something
else out.

That's really cool.
And during that time, you alsoended up on MasterChef season 10
right you're you're still inschool when you're doing that
right.

Yeah, so Master Chef ended up being around my
towards the end of my collegeexperiences my senior year and I
just that that was that was afunny little thing I would
happen I was just walkingthrough a hallway saw a flyer
somewhere they must have beengone rammed his face or
something like that. And whichwhich will catch your eye if
you're into food of course and,and I just figured why not give

(14:39):
it a shot. Have you watched theshow? I had watched some
episodes. I don't think I'vegone through a full season or
anything like that, but I'vecertainly seen it online.

So you thought I'm gonna try this Master Chef
thing. And what what did youthink the likelihood was that
you're going to end up on theshow? Were you really confident
saying yeah, I think I've got ashot or was it kind I have a
dream shot for you.

Well, you know, what's ironic is that there was
another Harvard student a fewseasons before. So I figured
there was absolutely 00 chancethat I would ever get even
considered, just because I feellike, you know, if there's going
to be so many college kidsaround the country that apply,
what are the odds that theyactually take another Harvard
student just a couple of yearslater. So that had already been

(15:24):
news on campus that this one kidhad done it, and I knew about
it, but I still sort of figuredwhy not right, I had nothing to
lose. And as I said, I wasreally, truly trying to chase
down everything in food that Ipossibly could while on campus,
I maximized my time at school bydoing as much with food as I
possibly could. So this wasanother thing to give it a shot.

So at that point, were you cooking like, were you
cooking for a job while you'rein college? Like, where was your
cooking experience coming from?
Or was it just self taughtthings that you learned growing
up? And you were, you know,reading recipes and cookbooks
and looking online? How wereyou? How did you know how to
cook well enough to go onMasterChef?

Initially through family, then a little
bit later, I worked at arestaurant. The summer before
college started, that was myfirst true restaurant gig. And
then in college, yes, I did havea restaurant job that I would go
to a couple of nights a week.
And that was the most legitimaterestaurant job that I've had, I
ended up making good amount ofmoney for how long I worked

(16:22):
there, I was running one of thebetter stations in the
restaurant, down my further downthe line there. And my time
there, I think once I built uptrust with the chef and that
kind of thing. So it really, itwas a really, really great way
for me to learn how to cook at amore professional level while
otherwise, you know, being at aschool that just of course, had

(16:43):
no culinary background at all.

And you did really well. You went on to what third
place?

Yes. And in third place.

That's amazing.
What did you learn aboutyourself, being on the show,
like going through that process?

I'm really into the idea of fearlessness in the
kitchen. That's the big wordthat I talk about all the time,
it's in my cookbook, I cannotstop talking about how you need
to be fearless in the kitchen.
And, you know, Chris, youprobably would agree. Again,
you've done a sort of similarpath and the that unique path
and food that most people don'thave. And I think it's all about
just having fun with food. AndI'm sure you'd agree with that.

(17:23):
And not taking things tooseriously. Because I think that
has happened in the past withfood a lot of times and you
know, you can make great foodwithout taking it too seriously.
So that's the really big thingthat I feel I took away from
MasterChef was just the the ideaof fearlessness.

I don't understand why people are so fearful, you
know, it's funny, like I grewup, and household, my mom cooked
all the time, I got my love ofcooking from her. But she was
100% like recipe driven, right?
So if we're gonna make thisrecipe tonight, and she doesn't
have bell peppers, we're justlike not making it there was it
wasn't even a consideration toleave it out or sub something,
right? And I see that day to dayI go in people's houses, and I

(18:04):
cook dinners for them. And theytalk about like, oh, I don't
think I could make that like,and I keep telling people what's
the worst that could happen.
You're gonna try this dish. Itdoesn't work out. Big deal. It's
just like a dinner at hometonight. Like, but I think
people are paralyzed people areafraid to cook for me. Do you
ever hear that from people like,Oh, I'm so scared to cook for
you. It's like, why are youscared to cook for me? I'm just

(18:27):
a normal person.

Yeah, I have I have. The funniest times for me
have been. I've been on tripsbefore I was in Italy one time.
And I was at some restaurant.
And I guess one of the guysthere at the restaurant had seen
some videos or whatever knewsomething about my background.
And he said he came up to thetable and said that he was
really, really nervous. And thenhe'd been nervous ever since he
saw the reservation, I must havemade the reservation or

(18:51):
something. And I startedlaughing and I I pretty much
just, you know, I startedlaughing with with him. And I
was so confused at the same timebecause I was like, What? What
are you talking about? I'msitting here, I'm all excited to
eat. Why would you ever benervous? Just cook your own
food? You're clearly fantasticat it. I'm not, you know, so I
think I think it is funny whenpeople think that way. You

(19:13):
should also be cooking foryourself in a sense, right? I
mean, if you're, if you'recooking with love, then you're
going to cook good food ifyou're cooking with that love
and fearlessness that I think isis the most important in the
kitchen. It's going to be great.

What I really think is fantastic is I feel like
you're connecting to I'm sureyou know what your audience
demographics are some somewhatbut like a younger generation,
which to me is amazing. Like mykids are more interested in
watching your cooking videosthan someone who in my mind is
more well known. You know, likeI'm gonna sit and watch maybe
like an hour long Masimo butTorah like masterclass my kids

(19:52):
want to like watch your stuff.
And I think that's greatbecause, you know, for me it was
like PBS when I was really youngand then there are early days of
Food Network, so whatever isgetting people engaged, and it
doesn't have to be kids, I mean,I think your videos are funny. I
think you're doing approachablerecipes. So that might also be
for a home cook, who's maybejust starting their journey.
Like, for me whatever it takesto get people interested in

(20:13):
cooking, eating new foods,trying new things. So I'm really
happy to see this new wave of,you know, people on social media
and YouTube and stuff makingvideos, because I think it's
great. It's interesting,because, you know, I've like a
foot in both of those worlds.
And I know a lot of like,restaurant chefs don't see a lot

(20:35):
of people on YouTube, like, theyseem as like YouTube chefs, and
not real chefs. And I'm usingair quotes here. Because I hear
that a lot as someone who talksto exclusively non restaurant
chefs, what's your feedback beenfrom people in the professional
food world?

You know what I'd say? I think there's a shift
happening now with that lastpart that you mentioned, I have
become quite close with a numberof chefs that, frankly, I've
looked up to for a lot of mylife. And now I think they
realize that there's actuallysomething here with the idea of
what we were talking aboutbefore, with kids getting really
excited about food and cooking.
There's no reason for there tobe any sort of tension between a

(21:10):
really well trained restaurantchef, and someone that's making
food and cooking videos online.
There can be collaboration,there should definitely be that
kind of back and forth, check tomake sure that okay, yeah, you
could, you know, you could havedone this better, you could,
but, but and that's totallyfine. I think all that that
collaborative type of thing isgreat. That's, that's what makes

(21:32):
things better. And that'll helpto make everything better. But I
think there's a shift happening.
I think people realize now thatpeople want to watch food videos
online, people want to learnrecipes, and sometimes a quick
32nd 35 second video, as opposedto sitting down to watching a 30
minute 45 minute TV special, Idon't think they have to be

(21:52):
mutually exclusive. But I thinkthere's a shift happening. And
I've, I've recently morerecently sort of seen this
newfound respect at times fromsome of these chefs that we're
talking about, who realize, youknow, there's room for
everybody.

And we're gonna talk about your cookbook a
little later in the show. Butjust while we're on this topic,
you've had some great chefscontribute recipes to your book,
one of my favorite chefs is Kenoranger. You know, I'm a
Massachusetts guy. So he's likethe best tomato. I say the best
meal I've ever had in my lifewas at Toro, Jamie best. And
that's also someone I love andhaving a meal, there was just
amazing.

I'm so happy to hear that. You know what the
second year we're talking aboutrestaurant chefs and that kind
of thing. Ken is the firstperson who popped into mind, I
woke up this morning. And thevery first text I saw on my
phone was, hey, when you comeback to Boston, I'm on my book
tour right now. And he said,hey, when you come back to
Boston, I got a bottle ofchampagne waiting for you.
Because he was all excited aboutthe cookbook. And for me, that's
such an amazing, exciting thing,because he's the chef that, you

(22:50):
know, he, he has restaurantsaround the world, but especially
in Boston, there are a lot of myfavorite places to go in the
city. And I've always looked upto him, as somebody who is just
so creative with food hasachieved so much in the food
space. Yeah, we've become closefriends. And I love what he
does. And I really think heappreciates what I do as well.

(23:10):
So it's a perfect example ofthat relationship. And that
shift that I feel like I'mstarting to see.

And he just put out a cookbook with his daughter,
which I think is fantastic. Youknow, yeah. Well, we'll get back
into the cookbook, obviously.
But like, let's talk about thecontent. When did you start a
YouTube channel? And what like,why were you doing it when you
started? What was the purpose?
Was it just going to be kind ofmessing around for fun? Did you
think from the onset, like, Iwant to educate people talk me

(23:37):
through the starting of yourYouTube channel.

It was another place for me to share. I
sometimes feel as if you can getvery caught up in all the
different social media apps,there's Tik Tok, there's
Instagram, there's YouTube,there's Snapchat. And there are
too many times, right? It's hardto manage them all. And it gets
a little bit stressful. Andsometimes, you know, I wish
there was just one easy placethat we could all go and do all

(24:02):
the different things that we do.
And you want to have to have 25apps on your phone. But
obviously, that's not how it isand YouTube I looked at as a
place that I might be able toexperiment with some slightly
longer format videos. Becauseagain, as I said before, I don't
think the longer TV episodesthat people grew up watching on
the Food Network and on TV haveto be completely fizzled away,

(24:23):
and that this new wave of shortform 35 second videos is going
to come replace it. I don'tthink that's what's going to
happen at all. So I wanted toexperiment with some longer
videos and see if that could bea different outlet for me to
just teach and share.

Do you have to have a team like for someone who
let's say I've not put anycontent out but I'm thinking
yeah, like I want to put videosout there. It's a little
daunting because so many peoplenow the production values are so
high. It almost seems like youneed to have someone shooting
your camera, shooting yourvideo. What if it's just me
right like my wife goes to work.
My kids are at school. I'm hereby myself and I want to make
videos. Is it possible to makelike good videos by myself? And

(25:04):
to that point, like when youstarted where people helping
you? And if not like, what pointdid someone come on to be your
cameraman, I know you havesomeone working with you and a
whole team now. But

I initially started out with the shorter
form content, just doing it allmyself. Believe it or not, the
only thing that that I tried toget help on for that now is some
of the editing, I started justfilming myself running back and
forth to the camera. And thentaking all that footage off
myself editing it all myself inuploading it all myself. And I,

(25:38):
to this day, still do all thefilming for the short stuff by
myself, I just like it that way.
And it keeps me morecomfortable. And just, you know,
I like that creativity, I likechanging the camera, the camera
angles, I like messing aroundwith the settings, I just, I
really enjoy it. And I don'twant to lose touch with that. So
I still do all of that. Butsomeone helps with the editing
of the shorter stuff. Now, then,of course, on the other side,

(26:00):
YouTube is this sort of bigger,totally different beast, where
you do have to have some helpmost of the time, especially for
food and cooking, where I thinkit's very important to have
different angles, you have topick up all the sounds, there's
a lot of things there that youneed to you need to really nail
for it to be a good video. Andso you know, I've got my camera
guy who I've been working withfor years and years now, Manny,
and then we have, we have afantastic editor, Brandon, who

(26:23):
just he's got a gift, when helooks at all this footage, he's
got this gift where he can justpull it together does amazing,
enjoyable experience. And soyes, you do need you do need a
team, the team is much biggerthan that there are more people
that help plan the videos,there's quite a few things. But
in terms of just that differencebetween the shorter form stuff

(26:45):
now and the longer form stuffyou do need, depending on what
type of videos you're making,you certainly need though.

So with like the longer form stuff, how long
would you say and I know thevideos are dramatically
different. But how long does ittake start to finish? Like from
conception to finishing editing?
Considering, you know, whoever'sdoing that for you? How long
would you say it would take todo a video? Like if you made a
10 minute video for YouTube? Howlong do you think that 10
minutes actually takes to putout one really great piece of

(27:13):
content?

It completely varies based on what we're
doing. The most recent one tookabout six or seven months,
because it was a Guinness WorldRecord. And we did it with for
Ramsey. That's good. Yeah, itwas all the dates, we had to do
multiple different shoot days.
So that one took three differentdays of filming. And then yeah,
a lot of different peoplebecause that would involve the
health inspector. And again,it's rapid and Gordon's team it
was so that was that was alonger one, of course. But then

(27:38):
I can go and rate fast food menuitems and get in the car with my
camera guy Manny, after I callhim at, you know, nine in the
morning. And we confirm thatwe're filming that that day, and
spend three hours drivingthrough drive thrus all day, and
it takes us you know, a couplehours and then the editing time
so it totally totally depends.

We can't gloss over the fact that you won a world a
Guinness Book World Record withGordon Ramsay, that's like
you're just kind of mentionedthat offhandedly. But that
that's crazy. And it was really

fun. That was really exciting. Those are fun
projects for me, because they'rechallenging. They do take some
time. And we failed them before.
And it's expensive. And it'sreally, really a bummer if you
fail one because you just you'vehad all those people help out,
you've got you know, you've gotall this footage, you've done
everything and then you fail therecord. So it's happened to us
before and that was tough, butthey're so so rewarding. If you

(28:29):
pull them off, and you get thatsame feeling. You get that same
feeling that you got, if you'reon I don't know, let's say your
school sports team and you andyou score the game winning goal
or somebody does and everyone'scelebrating together. It's
something like that, that's hardto describe that just keeps me
going with those. It's just ahuge, huge team effort to pull
them all together. And when youpull it off, it's it's, as you

(28:51):
said, it's a big deal. It's aworld record. It's an exciting
thing. So we love we just lovedoing them.

Just pick up the phone call Gordon and say hey,
like I'm thinking about thisthing. Let's do it, right. Yeah,
that video. I know, Max was inthe video help it you know, you
brought on other sets of hands.
Right? Yeah, do that. So that'sone of the interesting things is
there seems to be so muchsynergy between content
creators, not just in the foodworld, but it seems like all
these people run in circles. Howimportant is that to you to you

(29:22):
know, have a group of people torely on bounce ideas off of
being each other's videos, is itseems like that's something you
enjoy is kind of collaboratingso cute talking about
collaborations a little bit.

I love collaborations that goes right
off that aspect of being on ateam and, and a team as a whole
and kind of how all the how allthe functions of a team work.
Really. Collaborations, to meare one of the best ways to keep
things fresh, keep things movingforward. Keep things exciting.
You can learn so much. I alwaystake away at least you know at

(29:59):
least One new little tip tip ortrick in the kitchen, at the
very least when I when I amworking with someone new, it's
just exciting. And it's fun. AndI also think it's so interesting
for people online to who arewatching who are excited to see
these videos, to suddenly seethese two people interact
because everyone interacts insuch different ways. So even I

(30:19):
get really excited when I seetwo new people that I, you know,
I might know both of them. Butdoing something for the first
time because it's always sounexpected, and you're just
looking for all those little funnuances, the little jokes that
happen, you know, sometimesmaybe there's some awkwardness,
it just, it can be differentevery time and it's very
exciting.

Everyone loves a good crossover. My kids were
watching one of your videos, andI said, Hey, I know that got you
know, someone from anothervideo. Of course, you know, I
guess so. You know, Mr. Beast,now I kind of know you. So I
guess I'm like only two degreesof separation from Mr. Beast,
right? Which I guess makes melike the coolest dad in the
neighborhood. I pretty muchthinks my kids don't care about

(30:58):
anyone else. I know. I've talkedto really amazing people. But
like, now I know a guy who knowsMr. Beast. So there you go.
Yeah, I mean, I think collabsare so important. And for me, it
helps with like, I talked aboutloneliness a lot like I was
running a kitchen where I had100 people working there. And
then like, I go start a personalchef business. overnight. I have
no employees, no one to workwith. I'm creating content in my

(31:20):
kitchen alone. I'm you know,cooking for guests. It's like I
just wanted to build a network,like Chefs Without Restaurants
is not just a podcast. It's anetwork of independent chefs.
And it's mostly you know, forthe support system so we can
bounce ideas off each other talkto each other. I love collab pop
ups. Last month, I drove I livein the DC area, and I got in my

(31:42):
car and drove up to New Jerseyand did a collab pop up with a
friend just because we wanted tocook together because we like
each other. You know, I thinkthat's so cool.

So much fun.
It's one of the it's one of myfavorite things to do. And it's
it's one of the things that Ireally think keeps the food
industry as a whole movingforward. It's, it's it's a way
to make things new and exciting.
It really is.

And now you have a new cookbook out what was it?
Let's say did drop yesterday. Idon't even know what day of the
week it is. Yeah, just came outThursday, June 15. Yeah, dropped
on June 13. Sharp it on Tuesday.

i By the way, I learned this. I didn't know
books. Release on Tuesdays. Thatwasn't I didn't know that.

cookbook fan. Like most chefs like wait, it's like,
Ooh, what to what's coming outnext Tuesday. It's gonna be like
five bucks. I'm gonna drop 200bucks on Tuesday.

No, I never I truly can say I never it was it
was a fun new fact for me tolearn that books release on
Tuesdays. I thought that wascool.

Well, there's a 1000s. Probably millions of
cookbooks out there already.
Right? So What compelled you towrite one? I'm sure. It's a, you
know, a huge task andundertaking. So what made you
decide you want to put togethera cookbook?

I've learned so much. I've dedicated virtually
my entire life to learning aboutfood as someone like you have as
well. I really think that yes,there are so many cookbooks out
there. Could you buy them alland learn all these different
things? And you know, youtotally could, and is there
going to be overlapping? Inevery cup of tea that's ever

(33:18):
been written? I'm sure there isright food is food. And there's
a certain list of fundamentalsthat are always going to be
there. But I do feel as if I canoffer this unique perspective on
food. I approach food with thisappetite to always learn and to
stay creative. And again, I'vespent so much time learning from

(33:40):
so many different people that Ijust feel I have this, I like to
look at it as a food journey,right? I have this unique food
path food journey throughout mylife that nobody else has. I
know that for a fact, right? Andso no matter what I'm gonna have
these unique insights andexperiences that I can share
with other people that no oneelse, no one else out there in
the world can share. That's thereality of it all. And so,

(34:04):
again, I think it isinteresting, because you bring
up a fair point that there areso many books out there and
there, there have got to be somany overlaps. And it's like, at
a certain point, you really needanother cookbook. But I would
say, yes, I think you can learn,you can learn so much. And being
somebody who has dedicated hislife to learning. I feel I have

(34:24):
so much to offer.

When you touched on the storytelling that even if
you didn't use the wordstorytelling, you know, it's an
execution. And yeah, I use, forexample, like art, you go to an
art gallery, and you just lookat a painting and especially as
you get an abstract stuff, likeif you don't read the thing,
you're just like, I don't know,like, it's okay, what am I
looking at? And then you read itin the description and what the
artist meant and what he putinto it. And you're like, oh,

(34:49):
and it makes the painting somuch more impactful. And I think
cookbooks are the same way.
Like, it could just be a recipeon a page and it's like, oh,
great, it's another you know,Smashburger recipe or what Ever.
But then, if you've got theheader with a story or you know
your introduction, it reallygoes a long way into kind of
letting the reader know who youare.

Yeah, I really think that everyone has such a
different food journey. And Ialways like to say that you can
learn something from anybody inthe world about food that you
didn't know you can, they canshare an experience that they
had a long time ago, they canshare it, it makes me think a
little bit of that, of thatscene in Ratatouille. Where is

(35:30):
it Anton ego, the kind of evilmean food critic, yeah, at the
end, who you get that flashbackat the end, where he suddenly he
tastes the ratatouille and heremembers, he remembers his mom
giving him this as a kid. And Ijust that, that, it gives me
chills watching it and thinkingabout it, and just that memory
for him. And when his eyes andhis face light up. And that
feeling, you know, you can sharethings like that with other

(35:53):
people, you can just you can gointo depth describing it and I
get excited about that kind ofthing.

And your recipes, you know, they're all for the
most part recipes people havesome foundational understanding
for and I think it's importantto have some some of it a
reference point, like, I do liketo make truly unique dishes that
are my own. But at some point,it needs to be a callback to
something right, like I thinkit's, it helps the person decide
what they're going to make.
Sometimes you look through abook and you're like, I don't

(36:20):
know what any of this is, Idon't know what any of these
ingredients are, I'm not goingto make it but then you might
see a quiche recipe or chickenwing recipe, and you have some
idea of what that's going to bebut then you look at and you're
like, oh, there's like aninteresting little twist there.
So I think that, you know, in myopinion is beneficial to someone
who's maybe going to pick up abook and try some of these
recipes.

I did my very best to keep this book as
approachable and as accessibleas possible. And my overall
thinking on it is, you know,it's got that foundational, you
know, front section where youcan go in there and you can,
depending on your background andfood, of course, you can go in
there. And you can learn in avery, very simple and

(37:00):
straightforward way how to dothose sort of basic things,
whether it's brown butter, orcaramelized onions, and you can
skim through those if you feellike you're you know, you don't,
if you're already that way pastthat, go ahead and skim through
that part. But I think it'sreally important that once you
learn those, you then just gooff and you do your own thing.
And you use your own creativespin on things. You don't follow
anything to a tee in my in mycookbook, or anybody's out

(37:22):
there, do your own thing, use itas a reference, use it as a
guide. And do your own thingafter that, because everyone is
going to appreciate food in atotally different way.

I'm a big fan of teaching techniques, not
recipes. But I think one of theinnovative things is the use of
QR codes in this book, you'rethe second person, I'd pyland on
my show, she does Thai cooking,and she has a new cookbook. And
similarly, I think that'sawesome the way you're bringing
it together. So for those whohaven't seen the book yet or
don't know I'm talking about,can you talk a little bit about

(37:52):
the QR codes and how they workin your book.

I love the QR code aspect. It's something
where you know, if you'reconfused on this recipe, you can
go ahead and you can scan thisQR code. And I'll show you that
really simple. Simplified, Ishould say technique in a matter
of 15 or 20 seconds. So let'ssay you're trying to roll a
burrito. That's an easy example.
If you're getting a little bitused by the by the writing,
which can be confusing, it's youcan put things in words, but it

(38:18):
can sometimes be hard to, thenyou literally can scan this code
and in seconds, you're lookingat a very simple top down view
of me rolling a burrito. And youcan just have your hands, follow
my hands and have it right nextto you. So I love the idea of
sort of combining all thosedifferent things, video,
regular, you know, pen to papercookbook, you follow the written

(38:41):
instructions. It's a nicecombination where you can pick
and choose, you can take it orleave it. But I feel it's really
helpful for some of those finertechniques.

And I think that's why people gravitate towards
YouTube for so many reasons inthe first place. Because a lot
of people are visual learners. Ithink learning something that
you've never learned, like I'vetalked about a pig's head like I
have tons of books onbutchering. I wanted to butcher
a pig's head. I've read thebooks, but I went to YouTube and
Chris Cosentino he had back inthe day had put together like an

(39:15):
aid video before he did likelong form. There were like eight
three minute clips step by stepof like how to butcher a pig's
head. And that really helped melearn as opposed to just reading
this book on butchering it wasvisually seeing it. So I think
this is going to be somethingthat's going to be more
commonplace in cookbooks as wego forward. But it seems like
you're early on the game. Sokudos to you.

I agree. I do think we'll see more. And thank
you. i i I will also tell you, Ididn't think of the idea on my
own. As you said there are a fewcookbooks that are starting to
sprinkle out. I don't know whothought of it first. I'm
thinking it was probably in linewith the whole era of
restaurants having QR codes andthe tables and that sort of
thing. And it actually makessuch perfect sense. It's so

(39:57):
crazy to me that someone didn'tdo this earlier on because It
worked. So well.

I was just featured in a book, someone wrote a book
about chefs. And I think therewas 50 stories from 50 chefs.
And instead of puttingeveryone's bio, just the back
page, he listed all the chefswith a QR code to each one of
them. And when you scanned itand went to each person's and
whether it be their website ortheir bio page, I thought that
was really neat. Instead ofloading up the book with just
bios of 50 chefs, you can justscan the code for each one if

(40:22):
you want to learn more and, andthen it goes right to my
website, like how cool is thatif someone's reading a book and
my names in there, they mightnot check me out, but to scan a
QR code and go to my website,awesome,

really smart.
I'm so happy that that peopleare using utilizing QR codes and
these fun, new creative waysbecause to me, there are a few
better applications than puttingthem in cookbook.

I will say, if I was asked what my like last meal
on Earth would be, it'd be RhodeIsland style calamari and I feel
like you You missed the boat alittle bit by not putting that
recipe in there you went with asquid ink or more of a like a
cherry pepper, pepper balm,lemon garlic butter, but now I
do love calamari. I mean,that's, that's one of my

(41:04):
favorite things to eat in theworld.

I'll tell you right now that if I was going to
sit down for plate of perfectcalamari, my go to would
probably be classic hot tub,either hot or cold. Actually,
sometimes it depends on theweather outside. It depends.
Sometimes I like the contrast.
And I like hot calamari withthat nice cold marinara or out
Aviat or whatever you want touse, right? I think this one in
the cookbook that has the sortof squirting aoli it's fun. And

(41:28):
it looks beautiful, right? It'screative, right? You're using
every part of the squid a littlebit of the squinting to put it
in there and make this kind ofdarker black aoli to go with it.
But I agree. It's very, veryhard, oftentimes to be the
original, the classic, the OGthing in food, it's hard.

I was gonna say how did you go about picking the
recipes for your book? I'm surethere was a huge arsenal to draw
from where did you start withthat?

I looked a lot at every little thing that I
have from my past and food,right, I had notes on my phone
that I've taken while eating atrestaurants. traveling around
the world. I looked at all thedifferent notes that I'd taken
while at MasterChef I looked atall the recipes that I'd saved
from grandparents and familymembers, I had tabs saved on my

(42:23):
computer have different videosI'd watched and different
different recipes I'd seen overthe years, I pretty much looked
at every little possible thing,and piece of food related or
cooking related knowledge thatI've ever come across. And then
I just tried to distill it alldown into 256 pages. That's the
reality.

That's hard. It's like picking a favorite child,
although maybe picking like 50of your favorite children. Yeah,
it is hard. What about thedecision to include recipes from
other chefs? Because that's notsomething you commonly see,
there's a lot of fullycollaborative cookbooks where
it's all recipes from differentchefs. And then most people just
do their own. Why include, youknow, a handful of recipes from

(43:04):
other chefs?

Well, you know, I've tasted some really, really
great things over the years. Andsometimes a food or a recipe is
perfect. It's, it's perfect forme at least again, I really
believe that everyone tastes insuch a different way. And so
that's why I say don't followrecipes to a tee. But there's a
certain point in time where youmake something and it's really

(43:28):
hard to make it any better.
That's that's the truth. 100%There were some of these recipes
that I thought about from mypast or looked at or remembered
having where I just said, youknow, I, I would be so grateful
if this person would let meshare this with the rest of the
world, I'm not going to changeit, I'm going to give them full
credit. And I want a sectionwhere I can share these, these
perfect bytes that I've had overthe years. And I

think giving credit is so important. Something I
love seeing like you do, becausewe've all picked up a cookbook
or watched the video wheresomeone does something and they
haven't mentioned it and youdon't have to I don't always do.
But you're like, oh, wow, Iknow, they didn't you know,
that's not their technique. Soseeing like, oh, Kenji, you
know, did this or so and so didthat. Like, it's nice to just

(44:10):
kind of say, yeah, obviously,I'm not the one who came up with
this, this person really hasthis great technique. And I'm
using it here. And I love seeingthat in content. I tried to do
as much as I can again, like wecan't do it all the time. Right.
Like every time you do somethingyou Brian something. It's not
like, well, I got this from thisperson. But I do think it's nice
to kind of give a shout out tothose who have, you know,
generously shared their infowith others.

Yeah, yeah. As you're, as you're noting, I, I
if there's anything I've pickedup a bit of if there's anything
or anyone that I remember,picking up a bit of inspiration
from I make sure to, to note itin one of those blurbs at the
top of the recipe or whatever itmay be. And that's helpful too.
Because, you know, if someonelikes that little tip from
Kenji, let's say they can goback and look at some of his

(44:53):
other stuff if they feel likethat's a really cool and fun
thing that's up their alley. SoI think it is important. The
reality with food too is youknow, As you and I both know,
you can't really go andtrademark recipe. But it's good
to it's good to give creditbecause people think of new
techniques and people think ofthings all the time. And even
though you can't trademarkrecipe, it is sometimes pretty
obvious anyways, we all know whothought of certain things in

(45:15):
food. And that's just how that'sjust how it is.

So like, right now I'm seeing everyone doing, you
know, the lace, right. And likein the pan like that, I think it
was like the art Zack thing. Youknow, it's like, everyone's
doing that now, at some points,like, Oh, can we just like maybe
move on to something new rightnow. So you're out on the road
promoting this book? What'sthat, like, I know, you're just
getting underway.

It's great.
It's, it's so much fun meetingall these different people that,
that have these nice messages toshare with me as well. Our
demographic is it leans young,which I love. My whole entire
goal with a lot of this is toteach more kids to cook and just
get them inspired about food andcooking. So I've had people walk
up to me and say that theystarted a, that they just

(45:57):
started college, they were goinginto finance, and they've taken
a complete 180 and are going toculinary school. Now we're
working in a restaurant on theside, I've had other kids who,
you know, well, I'm surprised oreven frankly, just by seeing
them, I'm surprised they're evenold enough to be to be reading
it and understanding some of thestuff and they're telling me
that they love cooking already,and that they're they want to be

(46:18):
a chef. So it's so exciting tomeet all these people, it really
is. And it's a lot for sure. Imean, it's a lot to meet so many
people in such a condensedamount of time. But it's also
just so exciting. And I there'ssomething about it that even
though I should probably betired, I'm not and I just love
it. The reality for me with allthis is that I don't care so

(46:40):
much where it is where I'mgoing, you know what the city
is, I I just get so excitedmeeting all these people and
finally seeing face to face,somebody who has changed. And
they're so excited to tell methat they've changed your show
me. People have pictures ontheir phones that this pesto
pasta they made. And some ofthese kids are eight or nine

(47:02):
years old, and they're showingme this homemade pasta with some
pesto on top. It's impressive.

And I think it's also great because, you know,
when I think 20 plus years ago,when I want to get in the food
world, it was not something thatwas really encouraged. I think
by parents, you know, it's kindof like if you weren't smart
enough to get into like, anacademic college or you didn't
have anything else like sure youcould go on food night, I did
well in high school, but I thinkmy parents were kind of like, I
don't know, it's tough, you'renot gonna get paid well, like

(47:29):
why do you want to do this. Andnow just seeing kids at such a
young age get really interestedin it, the hopefully they can
even be showing their parentsnot that you need parental
validation. But you know, toshow that they're actually
interested in this and that theycould make a career. And there's
so many more options. Now I'mjust really excited about the
future for the culinary worldbecause it's again, I think it's

(47:50):
great.

Me too. And it's going to bring all this new
excitement. And it's going tobring all these new ideas, and
it's going to continue to changein a really fun way. So I too am
looking forward to just watchingwhat happens as this next
generation of of home cooks andyoung chefs rises up, because
it'll be really exciting to seewhat they what they create.

And you've talked about creation started your own
product lines. Osmo salt, youtalking about the Osmo? Salt?
Yeah, yeah,

so Osmo I was struggling for a while with this
concept that I was making allthese videos online. So many
people around the country andaround the world were able to
watch them, but they weren'table to taste anything. And food
is very visual, but it's alsofood. And at a certain point,
you want to eat it. Right? So Ijust wanted to think of a fun

(48:41):
way where, you know, how can Icreate something that I've
really been a part of that I canshare with as many people as
possible that even if it'ssomething as small as salt,
which is salt, but at the sametime, you need salts, food
doesn't taste right without it.
And so salt to me seemed likethe perfect thing to do here. I
wanted to create something thatpeople could try. And again,

(49:03):
similarly to you know, some someof these younger kids coming up
to me and showing me a picture,or telling me how excited they
are about learning to cook thisspecific dish. They'll also tell
me what kind of the salts thatthey use and and how they're
using them and asked me myfavorite. So it's so exciting to
see a young kid get excitedabout salt too, because you
would have never expected thatthat would have been a thing.

(49:25):
But it is.

And is that in any retail stores? Or is it all like
direct to consumer off the web.

It's mostly direct to consumer off the web,
but it is it is actuallystarting to pop up in more and
more stores, whether they'relittle butcher shops or just
small little specialty stores.
And we're considering doing alittle bit more with that. But
it's been exciting for me to getpictures from friends or
different, you know, differentpeople on online tagging me and
suddenly seeing Osmo in somestore that I didn't you know, I
didn't even know about yet. Soit's been great to see it spread

(49:53):
around.

And I know you said you know you don't really think
too far ahead. So I guess maybeyou don't have a 20 year plan or
so. But what short term? Whatare you working on? I mean,
obviously, the book is taking aton of time and you're going to
be creating videos. But do youhave any other things that we
haven't talked about that you'reworking on right now?

I really mean it when I, when I say that I
take things day by day, a lot ofthe time, of course, I I try to
think forward and think ahead.
But in this space, things move.
So fast opportunities come upwithout you expecting them to
come up. And things can changein such a short period of time
that that I that I'm always sortof moving on the fly. So I don't

(50:38):
know what's next, I havedifferent things that float
around my head, floating in mymind, do I want to open a
restaurant at some point? Do I,you know, do I do another
cookbook? Do I just want to keepmaking videos and stick to that
for a while after the book issort of settled down? After the
dust is settled there? I reallydon't know. But whatever it is,
I'm very happy and excited. Ijust, I never really know until

(51:01):
it happens sometimes now.

So then what dictates a yes or no, I'm sure
having as many followers as youdo that someone's inbox,
probably your PR team gets blownup with opportunities. But when
something comes across yourtable to do a collab, endorse a
product do this thing. How doyou decide what is worth your
time and what is not?

I try to keep it authentic. And that's the
only way to keep moving forwardfor me. Because if it's not,
then I'm just not going to beexcited about it. And I think
that's going to be very obviousto anyone that sees it. So if
it's something that I trulylove, then that's when I usually
lean more to it. Yes. I alsohave a great team around me. And
it's it's very helpful to talkto people about just you know,

(51:45):
what do you think I like to heareveryone's opinion, and I want
to know what people think.
Because it's not just me andthis anymore. But it can be very
difficult to figure out yes orno on certain things. It can be
hard.

And there's nothing wrong with trying something and
not working out and then cuttingit right. Like I feel like
sometimes people feel they'vestarted something they don't
want to quit. But I'm a believerin Yeah, like, try a bunch of
stuff. But I did this thing. Itdidn't work out. I don't think
it's worth my time. Let's keepmoving. Right? Yep. What's
exciting to you about food rightnow? Like, is there a place? Is

(52:18):
there a style of cuisine dish?
Like, what are you excitedabout?

I just think everything's changing so fast,
some in good ways, and some andbad ways in the world. But with
food. I feel like there'ssomething new whether it's a new
trend, new. The best example Ican think of is, I don't know,
let's say sunchokes. A couple ofyears ago, people had no idea
what sunchokes even more andthen all of a sudden they were

(52:44):
in every single restaurant, theywere in a puree, they would make
them they would make them frythey pickle them. And then
suddenly everyone's excitedabout sunchokes or what are the
I'm blanking on the name. Whatare the peppers that

like shishito peppers? Yeah,

Shishito peppers is another great
example, right? Shishitopeppers, all of a sudden were on
every single menu everywhere.
And they made them you know, youhad blistered shishito peppers,
and you had like miso, ShishitoPepper. So I think just seeing
more and more people learn newthings about food, and then be
excited about this newingredient is one of my favorite
things. I know, it sounds likesomething simple. But I really
liked the idea that, you know,there's something great out

(53:22):
there that people don't knowabout quite yet. And then
suddenly, it becomes it becomesknown enough that it's on every
single menu, and people aredoing different and fun things
with it. And and everyone andyou know, everyone is able to
suddenly try it and understandit. That's exciting to me.
Because I think it's it's verycommon that people get stuck in
this sort of, you know, you goto the market, and you get the

(53:44):
same thing every time and youdon't really branch out. But
I've had so many friends in thepast two, I've shown them
something new, they've tastedsomething new, and then their
eyes light up. And they can'tbelieve that they haven't tasted
it before. And they some part ofthem just awakens inside. And I
like to see that in people. And,you know, with with that
phenomenon that I'm talkingabout with the Shishito Pepper

(54:06):
explosion. That's what that'show it happens. And it makes
people happy and excited. So Ilove to see that.

It makes my job easier. You know, the challenge
is, as a personal chef, Ipropose menus, like I build
custom menus for you. So youfill out a questionnaire about
what you'd like and don't like.
And I think a lot of people tendto, even though they've seen
some of these things on menus orwhatever, they will tell you
that there may be steak andpotatoes and how do I convert
that person? So maybe it has tobe like a special bonus chef's
course or something. But I loveseeing people when they've never

(54:36):
tried something. I do a sunchokepannacotta right, which I don't
know that I've seen anywhereelse. I think I built it off
Jeremy foxes on vegetables. Ithink there was something like a
sunchoke milk in there orsomething. I was like, oh cool,
like what if I infused the creambase, and then just did a
traditional pannacotta add somesugar, some gelatin and people
are like totally blown away. Sothen my mind starts going down

(54:57):
these roads like I want some I'mthink crumbly. So I think of
IKEA and I get like their ryecrisp bread, and then use like
Christina Tosi style, likecrumble up their crisp bread and
melt, you know, melted butterand brown sugar and put that on.
And that's just for them. It'slike, oh, would it be crazy to
put a little dill on here andput like a sprig of dill and
like, that's just, you know, I'mbuilding one after another, but
it goes back to like, seeingsomething cool. And one person's

(55:18):
cookbook, you know, Jeremy Fox,and the thing about like,
Christina toesies, crumbletechnique, and just kind of
like, melding these thingstogether, but still making my
own recipes. Which is whereagain, I love giving shout outs
to people who, you know, I'veborrowed techniques from them.
But yes, like people then willbe like, Oh, sunchokes, I at
least have seen those. I'vetried them once. And yeah, I'll

(55:39):
get that as a dessert. So

I love hearing that creative process. By the
way, it's super exciting to hearsomebody who's excited about
food, talk about it in that kindof way. It's a really fun thing
to look into the mind ofsomebody who thinks about food
in a different way that you do.
I do

a daily creative practice. There's a guy, James
Altucher. He has a podcast, abunch of books. I don't know if
you've ever heard of him, but heand his wife wrote a book called
Become an Idea machine. Andbasically, that like if you
wrote 10 ideas a day, so theirbook is like a guided one. Like
he gives you ideas. And I pickedthis up like eight years ago. So
I have a notebook and every day,it's like, freeform, I'll just,
you know, throw something out.
Avocados. Okay, right avocados.

(56:19):
And I don't know what that'sgoing to be and I just do 10
things. avocado ice cream. Whatif I, you know, battered and
fried avocados? What if I pureedavocados and mixed it in a masa
dough and made an avocadotortilla like it could be
ridiculous. And I do that everyday and some of its garbage. And
then sometimes I'll go back andlook at something I'm like, wow,
that was a good idea. I'm notsure that that's how I would do
it. But I'm going to build onthat. So I'm creating, you know,

(56:41):
10 new potential recipe ideas orcomponents a day. And that's how
a lot of my recipes come about.

I love that.
And I just, I wish I could spendtime with more and more and more
people to just have this kind ofconversation and see into the
into the way their mind workswith food because we all think
about it such a different way.
And again, you can learnsomething from everyone.

Yeah, absolutely.
Do you have any parting wordsfor our listeners, you've had so
much great advice, hear so much.
But if you want to leave peoplewith one or two things, what
would that be?

To whoever you are listening. This motto is
everywhere for me. And it's verysimple. And talk about giving
credit. It's straight from themovie Ratatouille, which is my
favorite movie, but I stillthink it I still think it's
important. I really believe thatanyone can cook. And no matter

(57:38):
what your skill level is, nomatter what you've done in the
kitchen or what you think youcan do. It's true. And I've seen
it so many different times. Andso if you're just starting to
cook or if you're already afantastic chef, anyone can cook
and go into the kitchen and havefun and just enjoy it.

100% I am so on board with that it's a life
skill. You don't have to make ita profession. You don't have to
video it just just startcooking. We all eat right? We
all eat at least three times aday. I mean, you know, sometimes
my kids skip meals, but we alleat three times a day. Yeah.
Well, thanks for coming on theshow. It's been great talking to
you and getting to know you.

Thank you so much. I really enjoyed the chat.
Thanks for having me.

As always, we put everything in the show notes,
people will be able to get thebook a link to your Osmo salt.
They'll be able to find you onsocial I'm sure people if
they're listening to this, theyprobably already found you
because my audience compared toyour, you know, 30 million or
whatever. They already know youbut all of the links are in the
show notes. And to everyone outthere. This has been Chris with
the Chefs Without Restaurantspodcast. Thanks so much and have

(58:41):
a great week. Go to chefswithout restaurants.org To find
our Facebook group, mailing listand check database. The
community is free to join.
You'll get gig opportunities,advice on building and growing
your business and you'll nevermiss an episode of our podcast.
Have a great week.

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