April 25, 2025 • 39 mins
Sacrifice, resilience, and cultural pride converge in this profound conversation with Chef Nelson Millán, whose remarkable journey from Puerto Rico to global culinary ambassador demonstrates the transformative power of unwavering commitment.
Born in Puerto Rico and initially pursuing law to please his father, Millán's life changed course when he discovered his true calling in the culinary arts. Their cultural disconnect was immediate – his father dismissively asked if he wanted to be "like the little ladies in the kitchen" rather than a "prominent lawyer." This reflection on Latin American perceptions of professional cooking opens a fascinating window into how cultural attitudes toward culinary careers have evolved.
The depths of Millán's dedication become apparent as he recounts sleeping in his van between closing Wendy's at 3 AM and attending baking classes at 6 AM. These sacrifices built the character that would later define his leadership style and commitment to mentorship. His gratitude toward the "angels" who supported him – particularly his mother and also school coordinator Alicia Rivera who drove him to school for three months – reminds us how critical support networks are in achieving our dreams.
Millán's expertise ultimately led him to write curriculum for the Culinary Institute of America's Latin Caribbean studies program and travel globally as an Ambassador for Australian Beef. His newest venture, Sofrito cubes, represents his vision of sharing authentic Latin flavors with the world in a convenient format – his "gift from Latin America to the world" akin to how tikka masala and marinara sauce have transcended their origins.
For anyone fascinated by the intersection of cultural identity, culinary innovation, and personal determination, this episode offers rich insights into how food traditions evolve while maintaining their authentic roots.
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Our podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at the industry. Don't miss out on upcoming episodes where we'll continue to cook up thought-provoking discussions on important topics, including mental health awareness.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode is brought to you by Australian
Beef and Lamb.
Hello food fam.
This is the Walk Talk podcast,where you will find the perfect
blend of food fun and cookingknowledge.
I'm your host, carl Fiodini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country and the
(00:22):
official podcast for the NewYork, california and Florida
restaurant shows, the PizzaTomorrow Summit and the US
Culinary Open at NAFM.
We're recording on site at IbisImages Studios, where food
photography comes alive and Iget to eat it.
Email us to learn more Info atwalkintalkcom.
Chefing in studio today is JesseTeissowitz, cdc, from the Inn
(00:46):
at Celebration, and let me tellyou I had a soft shell crab po'
boy today that simply put agigantic smile on my face.
Plus, he did a sashimi gradeahi tuna poke bowl over crispy
wonton tostadas.
More on that in a moment.
Today's guest is the embodimentof resilience, passion and
(01:08):
purpose in the culinary world.
Born in Puerto Rico and once ontrack to become a lawyer, chef
Nelson Milan chose a differentpath, one forged in fire, sweat
and an unwavering belief in thepower of food to transform lives
From sleeping in a van whileworking double shifts to
crafting curriculum at theCulinary Institute of America.
Van while working double shiftsto crafting curriculum at the
Culinary Institute of Americathat's, the CIA folks to leading
(01:29):
kitchens from San Juan to SanAntonio.
His story is nothing short ofextraordinary.
Now an ambassador for Aussiebeef and the creator of an
innovative sofrito product, chefNelson's journey proves that
true commitment can turnsacrifice into legacy.
Let's kick this off with somedish descriptions from today in
the kitchen, and we're going toget to Chef Nelson shortly.
(01:51):
Chef Jesse, welcome back to thestudio.
You know you've been here a fewtimes already, except you were
kind of like playing you knowplaying second fiddle over here
to Chef Paul Today was your dayand you killed it.
Thanks for coming out andcongratulations on the badassery
(02:13):
that was your dishes today.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate the opportunityand yeah, I'm in the front today
, not in the back, kind ofwaving, looking at everybody.
But I'm just honored to be here.
Thank, I appreciate that whereyou're from central florida, a
little little city calledarborndale.
I'm an arbor dalian, I guessyou would say so.
I've lived here my whole life,all over polk county in general,
(02:36):
but yeah, pretty much up therelet's talk about what you did
today.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Give us the menu descriptions of these dishes so.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So the soft-shelled crab po' boy was battered in
some rice flour and somecornmeal, making it nice and
crispy.
I did a cucumber salad withsome hot chili oil, some chili
flakes, a little bit of red winevinegar and also homemade rum.
A lot that's some hot sauce,some mayo, some lemon cage
seasonings, stuff like thatspice it up a little bit.
My books Less is More bringsout the freshness of the dish
(03:09):
and the crispiness of the bread.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
It's a nice little hearty dish.
If you would, I have to tellyou what you did with the
cucumber and the onion and allthat stuff.
It was spice, there was heat,but it was like the perfect
amount of heat to this thing.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
You did a freaking great job today.
Well, thank you.
Um less is more.
You want the heat to come atthe end a little bit.
Get that flavor coming in theback end.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I was happy with it.
Thank you.
The color on that ahi waspretty spectacular too.
Yeah, it's beautiful right itreally was, man.
I you know.
If there's tuna, if there's ahi, I might have it.
I don't know, but when I jumpinto it I always enjoy it.
That was super fresh.
You could tell Everything wasreally perfect with that.
(03:55):
I'm glad you made it.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
It's very fun to make Tostadas.
It's a nice light flavorbecause there's not a lot of
cooking involved.
We'll cook with the lemon juiceor the lime juice, if you would
.
If you like sushi I mean it'sright there on the tongue Nice
umami flavors, just fresh, Imean it's the best way to
describe it.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Hey, it sounds like a fun dish.
Are one of these items going toend up on your menu?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yes, the po'boy will be on the menu.
Since it is spring, it's a nicegoing-in-the-summer dish.
You know handheld soft-shellcrab po' boy.
I'll definitely put it on themenu for weekend specials.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I'm actually going to your hotel with my wife this
weekend.
It's our 10-year anniversary,so we're going there for a night
.
Congrats, congrats, yeah.
Thank you, john.
Did you ever think I would havemade 10 years in a marriage?
Yeah, the smile says it all.
All right, let's welcome ChefNelson Milan to the program.
Welcome, chef.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Thank you.
Thanks for the invite.
Glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
You know, we had a really great conversation the
other day.
It was, I don't know, an hourand a half worth of talk, and we
must have crossed paths.
I was at a1a produce and dairyand you were at the ocean reef
club, and since then I feel likethere might have been a few
other places and people that weknow together as well for sure.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
I think.
Uh, like I always says, it's abig industry but a small network
.
You always come across someonethat knows, someone that you
have crossed paths with.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
How did we go from Frisbees to fine dining?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Frisbees.
Well, probably 8, 10 years oldwhen I put together my first
pizza ever and probably my firstconcoction in the kitchen,
experimenting at my housekitchen, and I didn't know
anything about leavening agentsor yeast or anything in that
regard.
So I just took flour and waterand mix it together and make
(05:54):
what I call that at that time, adough that I stretch and put
some sauce and cheese and somepepperoni and sausage on it and
stick it in the oven and when itcame out out it came out really
stiff, what I call a frisbee.
I could cut probably necks withit and but nonetheless my
family enjoyed it that day andthey said that they liked it.
(06:16):
Uh, now, now that time haspassed, I understand that they
were probably lying a little bitto me, but nonetheless, the
expression on their faces andtheir reaction an immediate
reaction that I gathered fromtheir self put me on a path of
thinking that I could createstuff with my hands, food-wise,
(06:37):
that will nourish people, and Ithink that's what put me on a
path of pursuing a culinarycareer.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It's interesting how you ended up in culinary,
especially when you had atrajectory.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
You were going to become an attorney, you were
going into law Correct, I wentto a private high school and
through high school I was tryingto find my way through culinary
school but unfortunately atthat time in the island there
were no places that you couldtake a serious course on it.
There were like three-monthcourses here and there, chefs
that were just trying to equippeople for kitchens in three
(07:12):
months, but nothing serious.
Graduated high school and mydad suggested that I become a
lawyer.
So, following that path andlistening to him, I went to
college and three and a halfyears into it, fortunately I
came across a very firstopportunity to do a 24-month
(07:35):
course in culinary, the firstpilot program that the
government in Puerto Rico hasput together.
So it was a public proposal anda public, open proposal and as
many people as they wanted toapply applied for the proposal
and I was one of them 364 peopleto be exact at that time to
(07:58):
pick 25 people for 45 grants tobe in that pilot course.
So I got lucky enough to be oneof the 25s.
I just quit my politicalsciences courses at college and
I never looked back.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
That must have put a lot of strain on the
relationship with the family,especially with my dad.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
He liked the fact that I had switched what he
called a very prominent possiblecareer for the kitchen and I
put this in context In LatinAmerica we don't have the
culture, the culinary culturethat is known to be in probably
in other countries like Europeand the US itself.
(08:40):
Like his notion of someonecooking at a professional level
in the kitchen, in aprofessional kitchen was a lunch
lady at a school, so that'swhat he said to me when he
learned that I had quit mypolitical sciences and switched
to culinary school.
He mentioned bluntly.
(09:02):
He said you want to be in thekitchen like the little ladies?
Is that what you want to be,instead of being a prominent
lawyer?
My response to that was yes,that's what I want to pursue,
and at that point I have made myown research and obviously the
top kitchens in the world werein the by and led by males and
good prominent chefs as well,and so I was very clear on my
(09:24):
cat and my decision at that time, so I stick to it.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Last week we had Chef Fiona Espana on the program and
she's a Latina ACF chapterpresident in LA.
What she said on her episodewas when she got into the
kitchen she thought it was goingto be all women and it actually
(09:49):
was the opposite.
She walked in and realized thatit was mostly a male dominated
field, and it's pretty amazingto see the different
perspectives from people beforethey enter this world of
culinary.
I think that's fascinating.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Very interesting for sure, but again, in Latin
America, being the machomasculinos that we are known to
be and being a chef wasn't againlooked as a very respectable or
reputable and honorableprofession, due to the lack of
knowledge.
Probably at that time and Idon't blame him he wanted me to
(10:28):
be a lawyer, but I wanted to bea chef.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
So and here I am.
You've spoken about angelsalong the way, some key
individuals that kind of inlight of the fact that you know
the relationship with you knowyour father and yourself, of the
fact that you know therelationship with you know your
father and yourself, thesepeople stepped up and kind of
(10:51):
brought you through to the endof the journey.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Can you talk about who they are and what they did
for you?
Oh yes, at that point my dadwas lending me a car that it was
of his possession and to go tocollege.
And when he knew that I was notgoing to college, for whatever
he wanted at that time, he saidlet me have the keys of the car
and find a way to go to yourculinary school.
And taking consideration thatthe culinary school was an hour
(11:17):
and 15 minutes commute from thehouse and no public
transportation at that timewould take me there.
So I called the schoolcoordinator.
That was the one that has givenme the news that I'll be, that
I have been accepted to thecourse as one of the 25
candidates, and her name isAlicia Rivera, and I'm forever
(11:39):
grateful about what she did forme because when I call her and
tell her, alicia, I got bad newsfor you.
I might not be able to continuewith the process at this point
and become part of the coursebecause I had no transportation
(11:59):
to get to the school.
The lady lived probably twotowns from me, going in
direction to the school.
She immediately said you're notgoing to do that in my watch Go
out to the main highway so youcan't even walk in, or however,
you can do that and I'll pickyou up every morning and we'll
take you to school and bring youback from school until you can
find, probably, a way oftransportation.
(12:22):
And she did that for me forthree months.
On the other hand, my mom mom'salways to the rescue knew about
the situation and sheapproached me and said find a
part-time job that can get you alittle bit of income so we can
get into a car that we can do adown payment on it and I'll help
(12:43):
you with the monthly payments.
Three months later I found ajob at Wendy's that was just
next door to the school andthat's how I started my career
and generated a little bit ofincome in order to get a
transportation to school.
But if it was not for these twoangels that you call come
(13:06):
alicia rivera, my mom, dominavillalongo uh, I would have not
been where I, where I am todaythere's a power of sacrifice.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
When you're trying to achieve something where whether
it's investing all your moneyinto something, all of your time
away from family, you know allof the the sweat and the tears
and and so on there's somethingreally gratifying about getting
to the other side.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
You were sleeping in a van while you were at Wendy's.
This is one of the most busieststores in the capital of Puerto
Rico.
The town of Isla Verde actuallyclosed to someone next to the
airport and so this store wouldclose at 3 o'clock in the
morning.
Having to go through my sectionof the course, of the culinary
(14:19):
course baking and pastries, thatwe needed to be at the
classroom at 6 o'clock in themorning and me closing stores at
3 o'clock in the morning, andyou're talking about scrubbing
restrooms and cleaning the lineand mopping floors until 3.
And then not much time to goback home, because my home was
(14:40):
again an hour and 15 minutescommute so by the time I would
get home it was time to comeback.
So not much time to go home,and I recall several times
staying at the parking lot atthe school, literally sleeping
in my van for two hours andwaking up and going to the
classroom directly.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
How do you think those sacrifices shaped your
leadership style that you havetoday?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
It definitely built character and I was 19, 20 years
old at that time.
Obviously, you look back nowand at that time you don't know
you're going through thesacrifices and not just going
and doing so Because you've gotto do what you're got to do in
order to survive and succeed.
Stay responsible with what youalready have committed.
Looking back now, obviouslythis sacrifice is sleeping two
(15:27):
hours and going to the classroomand going back to work next day
and doing it all over and over.
It builds character and it putsthings in perspective that if
you truly want to achieve thingsin life, sometimes it's not
going to be as easy as you thinkit is.
It requires a lot of commitmentfrom your end.
It definitely shapes you tobuild a platform for anything
(15:53):
that you will build upon therest of the career path.
You will build upon the rest ofthe career path.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I'm certain that what you did in the van and Wendy's
to get started, that had topropel you into push carts and
entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yep, wendy's um.
That job lasted for about 10months until an opportunity
arose.
And here's Alicia Rivera to therescue, the coordinator of the
course.
She called me to the office andshe said the chef from the
Caribe Hilton which at that timethe Caribe Hilton was the hotel
(16:29):
in Puerto Rico the chef justcalled and asked if I can send
them someone that can help inone of the stations at the
Sunday brunch, someone that canhelp in one of the stations at
the Sunday branch.
They used to put a massivespread out activation on Sunday
branch, like 12 differentstations by 12 different
countries and approaching foodand whatnot.
So she asked me if I wanted todo that and that that will count
(16:53):
.
The hours that I'll put inthere will count as a practice
hours towards graduation of thecourse.
And I said sign me up and I'llput in there will count as
practice hours towardsgraduation of the course.
And I said sign me up and I'llbe there next Sunday.
That's how the opportunity cameto work at the Hilton.
And while working at the Hiltonat Union Hotel, I find out that
I will have fixed things offMondays and Tuesdays.
(17:14):
I acquired a tackle cart that Istarted operating in my
hometown on those two days andactually three days, because my
shift was until Wednesday at 3pm.
So I will open Monday, tuesdayand Wednesday morning until one
o'clock, from 10 to one, fourhours right in the middle of
downtown of my hometown.
And that's how I became a sortof an entrepreneur and I got
(17:42):
great results from that, to thepoint that that provoked buying,
an, acquiring, a mom and popand brick and moral business,
that my plan was to developfranchises and I get to a point
that I developed three morecarts and the restaurant that I
just acquired became that likethe commissariat, that venture,
(18:05):
and I did that for about twoyears and it was extremely
successful at that point theremust have been things that you
learned through yourentrepreneurial adventure with
the carts that you didn't learnin culinary school Resilience
adaptation, if I need todescribe it in a couple words,
(18:27):
and improvisation as well, atthe same time, as part of the
adaptation.
So you have to you plan certainways, but then again things
don't go the way you plan andthen you have to pivot and move
in directions that you willnever see coming your way.
Nonetheless, it's definitelylessons learned, lessons of
(18:50):
resilience and commitment.
At the end of the day, when youcommit to something, that's
what keeps you going and wakingup the next day and brushing
your hair and your feet anddoing it all over again.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Chef, how long have you been in the food industry?
Our wonderful food industry.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
This coming month, in May, is going to be 35 years 35
years.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
You've made it a very long way and you're still
growing.
You're still building a legacy.
I know when we spoke, youtalked a lot about mentorship.
So you've mentored young cooks,you've written curriculum at
the CIA and impacted a lot ofpeople.
What does mentorship actuallymean to you and what makes
someone actually worth theinvestment?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I think mentorship, when you look at it from the
perspective of it's bigger thanyourself and it's something that
everyone that is in thisbusiness owe to the craft in
order to, like you said, buildlegacy and in order to keep the
craft alive, everybody has tobecome a mentor.
(19:57):
At any given time, you do thebest you can in order to pour
into the next generation as muchas you can of your skill sets
and accumulation of knowledgeand experiences.
My analogy to that is it's likeplanting you spread the seeds
and some of them will come outreally beautiful and flourished,
(20:18):
and some of them might notdevelop as much as you would
expect that they will develop,but nonetheless, I think there's
a beauty on passing onknowledge and taking it as a
responsibility that is biggerthan yourself, the size of the
craft itself.
It's a responsibility we allhave to pass on to latone in
order to keep the good craft,which is the culinary craft,
(20:42):
alive.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Let's talk culinary roots and identity.
You helped shape LatinCaribbean curriculum at the CIA.
How do your Puerto Rican rootsinfluence your cooking and how
important is culturalauthenticity in today's culinary
landscape?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I think authenticity is definitely the anchor to the
branching out to many otherpossibilities in the canary
field and in a world that we aremore entertaining than ever
before, ever since internet andaccess to that information and
(21:22):
you can travel at the tip ofyour fingers on information and
culture and food and ingredients, and so I think, as the world
gets more mixed, in that regards, anchoring in tradition on
authenticity is more importantthan ever, because then things
get blur and unfortunatelyevolve into something else that
(21:46):
probably loses a little bit ofauthenticity and, and, uh,
identity.
In that regards, I think it'svery important to stay rooted
and then branch out and launchfrom that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I don't think that that a lot of people recognize
how big of a deal it is that youactually wrote curriculum for
the CIA.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Well, it was an opportunity my way.
I became the chef of the SantaMonica Club in 2010, and that
was July 2010.
July 2010.
And on September 2010, ithappened that the school was the
branch of San Antonio for theCIA was getting inaugurated.
(22:26):
Talk about being at the rightplace at the right time.
And the head hunter brought meto that position, put me
together with the managingdirector of the school and, at
the same time, the director ofthe of the latin cuisine studies
.
The department at that time wasin and we met and the
(22:49):
opportunity came and tocollaborate with a curriculum
that, for the first time in thehistory of the culinary
Institute of America, they haveshown interest in Latin cuisine.
So they learned that I was fromPuerto Rico and they asked me if
I could write recipes for acurriculum of Puerto Rico, cuba
(23:10):
and the American Republic, whichis the Spanish-speaking Latin
countries of the Caribbean.
And that was right up my alleyand I remember I took up on the
challenge and committed to itand in three months I put
together about 252 pages ofrecipes and PowerPoints and
tests and so for the curriculumin that regards, and I passed
(23:33):
along to them and he gotapproved.
I passed along to them and hegot approved.
And when the time came to teachthe course, indiana called
again and asked me if I couldteach the class and obviously I
hesitated a little bit becausemy main focus was the San
Antonio Country Club at thattime recently arrived and I
asked him what the commitmentwill be.
(23:54):
They said it's going to beprobably two, three times a year
.
Two, three groups of studentscoming from Hyde Park.
But I told them I said, can youshare the first set of dates so
I can help you until you findsomeone that can teach the
course?
And fortunately, orunfortunately, I stayed teaching
the course for eight yearsafter that.
(24:15):
I stayed teaching the coursefor eight years after that.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
You went from taco carts to the Culinary Institute
of America and then now you'reglobal.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
You're an ambassador for Aussie beef.
Talk a little bit about that.
Greater Victoria came my way aswell.
Like the many others we havedescribed On this occasion, I
had a phone call from Jacqueline.
She left a voice message,actually on my phone.
I was in the middle of ameeting.
She said, chef, give me a callback.
I think I have a greatopportunity for you.
When I called her, she saidwhat about 14 days on the ground
(24:55):
in Australia, five differentcities, learning about beef and
the process of Australian beef?
Sounds to you all expenses paid.
Obviously, I was skepticalagain and I asked what's the
catch?
And she just shared with me.
The intention is obviously thatwhen you come back, you help us
spread a good gospel of goodAustralian beef in the US.
(25:19):
At that time, I was alreadyusing their products for about a
year, and this product speakson their own, and the
opportunity to learn where itcomes from and how it's
processed and what are thedetails that they're looking to
in order to produce such a greatproduct are definitely all my
attention.
And so I went to Australia,spent 14 days, went from city to
(25:43):
city.
We even glamped in the sitewhere the cows laid down and
enjoyed looking and watchingover the stars and the moons and
the breeze at nighttime and itwas a great experience, from
learning from embryo to thegenes, to the embryo, to the
(26:04):
development of the cattle andhow they monitor the progress
with tips on their ears, sendingsignals to servers, to the
feedlot, to the slaughterhouse,the whole entire process.
They have it down to a scienceand it explains the reason why
they do have such a greatproduct chef jacqueline ayola.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
She is so cool, what a great, great person.
And you know she's got this.
Uh, this product, this aussieselect, cured um cured lamb.
You know about it right.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Totally.
As a matter of fact, I've beenusing the products introducing a
little longer than probablyfive, six months into my menus
here at the club and I'm usingparticularly the pastrami.
And they're all awesome.
I have tried them all, but inthis case I'm using actually the
pastrami.
It's one of my items for lunchand it's been well accepted.
(27:00):
Jacqueline is a great lady, forsure but just for giggles.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
What, um, what's on the menu?
What are you doing with it?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
we're serving it with a man bread.
Um, making a flat uh breadsandwich.
If you will crust it a littlebit on the flat top, glaze it
with hot honey like for texasand counterbalance of uh on
saltiness and whatnot.
We serve it with lettuce,tomato pickled cucumbers and a
bit of lettuce.
It works phenomenally.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
It's definitely an innovative product that you're
not going to find in very manyplaces.
I'm thrilled you're using it.
I have some chefs over hereturned on to it as well.
With that said, we're talkingabout evolving.
How do you think the culinaryindustry is going?
Where are we headed right now?
Chef?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I think in my span of life of almost 35 years like I
said, turning next month into itI have experienced big booms of
evolution.
When I started back in thebusiness, hot cuisine was the
topic of the moment and thenfrom that evolved to gourmet
(28:07):
cuisine and from gourmet went toa little bit more
gastro-molecular, with FerranAdria and all these Spanish and
Spaniard restaurants that wereavant-garde at that time.
In my opinion, I think whatI've seen lately and like I
explained before, the world isgetting more intertwined.
(28:31):
It's easier to travel to places, a little less expensive to go
from places to places and beingexposed to culture, food
idiosyncrasies and approaches oningredients through food
idiosyncrasies and approaches oningredients.
And the more you travel, themore you take back with you and
apply to your own style andmenus.
So in my personal experience,some people ask me what's your
(28:56):
favorite cuisine or what's yourfavorite dish to execute.
For some reason, I have beenfinding myself in a position
that it makes it very hard toanswer that question at any
given moment, because it's acontinuous evolution of my
experiences and places I visitand people I talk to and
(29:19):
ingredients I come exposed to.
In resume, I think food isgoing to get more used and more
mixed and other versions ofcuisine will evolve from there
that we are not even foreseeingyet.
That, in terms of authenticityand rooting and culture, are
(29:40):
going to be fantastic, androoting and culture are going to
be fantastic mixes of differentcultures, if you will.
Whatever was French before isnot going to be French anymore.
Whatever was Vietnamese,whatever was Asian, it's going
to be all blurred.
But what's going to come out ofthat we're yet to see, but I'm
excited about what the outcomewill be.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Well, chef, that leads to something Legacy in a
frozen cube, Sofrito cubes.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
The idea came from another entrepreneur venture,
entrepreneurship venture that Istarted in South Florida.
When I was in South Florida andthat's something we didn't talk
in our previous conversation,but I was working at the Ocean
Reef we became part of thischurch in Miami and, as you know
, miami is probably the meltingpot of cultures when it comes to
(30:29):
in regards of Latin American,you know.
So we became part of this smallgroup of church you know goers.
We got there probably inAugustust, um, and then
christmas approach really quickand uh, at that time we were
(30:49):
exchanging gifts and whatnot andI had the idea of putting
together like a little box ofmixed appetizers, like mini
versions of our street food inpuerto rico, and passing along.
And next thing I knew was thatsome of them came back and said
hey, my family's visiting forNew Year's.
Can you put together somethinglike you did for me on Christmas
(31:10):
, like you gave me on Christmas,and this summer I'm charged for
it and it's going to be for 30people.
And that was the beginning of anunforeseen sort of
entrepreneurship venture thatturned into seven formal
accounts, from hotels torestaurants, to gas stations and
(31:31):
whatnot, and what derived fromthat was the challenge of
cooking in unstandardizedrecipes that my wife at that
time stepped up and did while Iwas working my day job at the
ashraf.
But she my wife was an artistand she had nothing to do with
(31:52):
cooking at bigger scale or bigvolume.
So what I did is I standardizedthe sofrito, our Puerto Rican
sofrito, into those cubes thatturned them into recipes like
one cube of sofrito into thosecubes that turned into recipes
like one cube of sofrito perpound of product.
And at that time we were doinglike 80 pounds of beef or 80
pounds of chicken for fillingsfor empanadas or many other
(32:13):
applications.
So in our days off I foundmyself going to the cooler and
to the freezer and pulling outthose cubes that I built for her
in order to standardize andmake it easier for her to cook
in batches, and I found out thatthey were very convenient.
That was the aha moment, like onmy head, that if it's
(32:34):
convenient for me and myhousehold, I think it could be
convenient for many other peopleas well.
That way I can actually share alittle bit of the behind the
scenes secrets that we havealways kept in our Latino
culture.
Like so frequently, it's one ofthose smuggling devices that we
sort of has used behind thescenes among ourselves, like
(32:56):
passing them from household tohousehold and from families to
families, but it has not beenshared, probably, with the world
, and I think, in the way thatit has been packaged before,
it's not that user-friendlyeither for many reasons.
You either have them frozen ina big tub of one pound or you
(33:18):
have them on the shelf withshelf-stable capacities that
unfortunately, it's not thefreshest one.
So by monoportioning and frozencubes I think you achieve a
little bit of freshness andconvenience at the same time.
On the portioning of it, thatallows you to utilize fresh
(33:40):
sofrito on hand all the time.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Well, I can tell you something right now.
You know, john, over here he'suh, he's a little puerto rican,
he's a little cuban, you know, alittle white guy, he's a bunch
of stuff.
But he's over here staring atme and he's got like one eyebrow
raised and he's just like he'sdefinitely for this.
Okay, I just want you to knowhe's here for this, for the
sofrito cubes.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
That's awesome Because, again, it's already in
the market here in the DallasTexas area I have it actually in
four supermarkets and runningout in June in one of Mayer's
chains locally as well and ithas been accepted in a way that,
(34:25):
again, we're not reinventingthe wheel here.
It was just making it a littlemore user-friendly in order to
be able to share it with othercultures.
My hope is that tikka masalahas become mainstream, or
Italian marinara sauce hasbecome, or pesto has become the
(34:45):
gift from Italians to the worldIn the way that we're packing
the sofrito.
It becomes our gift from LatinAmerica to the world as well,
and more cultures are willing totry it and cross that line of
the unknown or the kind offoreign or too exotic in order
to at least try it andincorporate it into their food,
(35:10):
like we were talking about.
That's my opinion was.
I think cultures are going toget mixed and more and more, and
I think this could be oneopportunity.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
So not only do I agree with everything you just
said, but now I'm in the moodfor a pesto.
Thanks, chef, I appreciate that.
Chef, I am digging this, thesofrito.
How do people find it?
Where do they find you?
Speaker 3 (35:32):
Website will be wwwdelencantofoodscom
Delencantofoodscom.
Instagram is atdelencantofoodscom.
Instagram is at DelEncantoFoodsas well.
Personal my personal is ChefNelson Milan.
Instagram and Facebook as well.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Jess.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
TycewitsJesse on Facebook and in at Celebration
Instagram perfect.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I want to thank Haley Heath, the Australian Beef and
Lamb, and, of course, JackieJacqueline Ayola for everybody
kind of putting this togetherwith you.
Chef Nelson, you are amazing.
Thank you so much for being onthe show today, John.
You're always a fan man.
I tell you what, Chef, you gotto see the pictures that are
(36:22):
coming out of this.
I'm going to make sure you getall the links and all that stuff
.
Okay, Kang, Uh, we are out.
This episode is brought to you by Australian
Beef and Lamb.
Hello food fam.
This is the Walk Talk podcast,where you will find the perfect
blend of food fun and cookingknowledge.
I'm your host, carl Fiodini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country and the
(00:22):
official podcast for the NewYork, california and Florida
restaurant shows, the PizzaTomorrow Summit and the US
Culinary Open at NAFM.
We're recording on site at IbisImages Studios, where food
photography comes alive and Iget to eat it.
Email us to learn more Info atwalkintalkcom.
Chefing in studio today is JesseTeissowitz, cdc, from the Inn
(00:46):
at Celebration, and let me tellyou I had a soft shell crab po'
boy today that simply put agigantic smile on my face.
Plus, he did a sashimi gradeahi tuna poke bowl over crispy
wonton tostadas.
More on that in a moment.
Today's guest is the embodimentof resilience, passion and
(01:08):
purpose in the culinary world.
Born in Puerto Rico and once ontrack to become a lawyer, chef
Nelson Milan chose a differentpath, one forged in fire, sweat
and an unwavering belief in thepower of food to transform lives
From sleeping in a van whileworking double shifts to
crafting curriculum at theCulinary Institute of America.
Van while working double shiftsto crafting curriculum at the
Culinary Institute of Americathat's, the CIA folks to leading
(01:29):
kitchens from San Juan to SanAntonio.
His story is nothing short ofextraordinary.
Now an ambassador for Aussiebeef and the creator of an
innovative sofrito product, chefNelson's journey proves that
true commitment can turnsacrifice into legacy.
Let's kick this off with somedish descriptions from today in
the kitchen, and we're going toget to Chef Nelson shortly.
(01:51):
Chef Jesse, welcome back to thestudio.
You know you've been here a fewtimes already, except you were
kind of like playing you knowplaying second fiddle over here
to Chef Paul Today was your dayand you killed it.
Thanks for coming out andcongratulations on the badassery
(02:13):
that was your dishes today.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate the opportunityand yeah, I'm in the front today
, not in the back, kind ofwaving, looking at everybody.
But I'm just honored to be here.
Thank, I appreciate that whereyou're from central florida, a
little little city calledarborndale.
I'm an arbor dalian, I guessyou would say so.
I've lived here my whole life,all over polk county in general,
(02:36):
but yeah, pretty much up therelet's talk about what you did
today.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Give us the menu descriptions of these dishes so.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So the soft-shelled crab po' boy was battered in
some rice flour and somecornmeal, making it nice and
crispy.
I did a cucumber salad withsome hot chili oil, some chili
flakes, a little bit of red winevinegar and also homemade rum.
A lot that's some hot sauce,some mayo, some lemon cage
seasonings, stuff like thatspice it up a little bit.
My books Less is More bringsout the freshness of the dish
(03:09):
and the crispiness of the bread.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
It's a nice little hearty dish.
If you would, I have to tellyou what you did with the
cucumber and the onion and allthat stuff.
It was spice, there was heat,but it was like the perfect
amount of heat to this thing.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
You did a freaking great job today.
Well, thank you.
Um less is more.
You want the heat to come atthe end a little bit.
Get that flavor coming in theback end.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I was happy with it.
Thank you.
The color on that ahi waspretty spectacular too.
Yeah, it's beautiful right itreally was, man.
I you know.
If there's tuna, if there's ahi, I might have it.
I don't know, but when I jumpinto it I always enjoy it.
That was super fresh.
You could tell Everything wasreally perfect with that.
(03:55):
I'm glad you made it.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
It's very fun to make Tostadas.
It's a nice light flavorbecause there's not a lot of
cooking involved.
We'll cook with the lemon juiceor the lime juice, if you would
.
If you like sushi I mean it'sright there on the tongue Nice
umami flavors, just fresh, Imean it's the best way to
describe it.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Hey, it sounds like a fun dish.
Are one of these items going toend up on your menu?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yes, the po'boy will be on the menu.
Since it is spring, it's a nicegoing-in-the-summer dish.
You know handheld soft-shellcrab po' boy.
I'll definitely put it on themenu for weekend specials.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I'm actually going to your hotel with my wife this
weekend.
It's our 10-year anniversary,so we're going there for a night
.
Congrats, congrats, yeah.
Thank you, john.
Did you ever think I would havemade 10 years in a marriage?
Yeah, the smile says it all.
All right, let's welcome ChefNelson Milan to the program.
Welcome, chef.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Thank you.
Thanks for the invite.
Glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
You know, we had a really great conversation the
other day.
It was, I don't know, an hourand a half worth of talk, and we
must have crossed paths.
I was at a1a produce and dairyand you were at the ocean reef
club, and since then I feel likethere might have been a few
other places and people that weknow together as well for sure.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
I think.
Uh, like I always says, it's abig industry but a small network
.
You always come across someonethat knows, someone that you
have crossed paths with.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
How did we go from Frisbees to fine dining?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Frisbees.
Well, probably 8, 10 years oldwhen I put together my first
pizza ever and probably my firstconcoction in the kitchen,
experimenting at my housekitchen, and I didn't know
anything about leavening agentsor yeast or anything in that
regard.
So I just took flour and waterand mix it together and make
(05:54):
what I call that at that time, adough that I stretch and put
some sauce and cheese and somepepperoni and sausage on it and
stick it in the oven and when itcame out out it came out really
stiff, what I call a frisbee.
I could cut probably necks withit and but nonetheless my
family enjoyed it that day andthey said that they liked it.
(06:16):
Uh, now, now that time haspassed, I understand that they
were probably lying a little bitto me, but nonetheless, the
expression on their faces andtheir reaction an immediate
reaction that I gathered fromtheir self put me on a path of
thinking that I could createstuff with my hands, food-wise,
(06:37):
that will nourish people, and Ithink that's what put me on a
path of pursuing a culinarycareer.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It's interesting how you ended up in culinary,
especially when you had atrajectory.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
You were going to become an attorney, you were
going into law Correct, I wentto a private high school and
through high school I was tryingto find my way through culinary
school but unfortunately atthat time in the island there
were no places that you couldtake a serious course on it.
There were like three-monthcourses here and there, chefs
that were just trying to equippeople for kitchens in three
(07:12):
months, but nothing serious.
Graduated high school and mydad suggested that I become a
lawyer.
So, following that path andlistening to him, I went to
college and three and a halfyears into it, fortunately I
came across a very firstopportunity to do a 24-month
(07:35):
course in culinary, the firstpilot program that the
government in Puerto Rico hasput together.
So it was a public proposal anda public, open proposal and as
many people as they wanted toapply applied for the proposal
and I was one of them 364 peopleto be exact at that time to
(07:58):
pick 25 people for 45 grants tobe in that pilot course.
So I got lucky enough to be oneof the 25s.
I just quit my politicalsciences courses at college and
I never looked back.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
That must have put a lot of strain on the
relationship with the family,especially with my dad.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
He liked the fact that I had switched what he
called a very prominent possiblecareer for the kitchen and I
put this in context In LatinAmerica we don't have the
culture, the culinary culturethat is known to be in probably
in other countries like Europeand the US itself.
(08:40):
Like his notion of someonecooking at a professional level
in the kitchen, in aprofessional kitchen was a lunch
lady at a school, so that'swhat he said to me when he
learned that I had quit mypolitical sciences and switched
to culinary school.
He mentioned bluntly.
(09:02):
He said you want to be in thekitchen like the little ladies?
Is that what you want to be,instead of being a prominent
lawyer?
My response to that was yes,that's what I want to pursue,
and at that point I have made myown research and obviously the
top kitchens in the world werein the by and led by males and
good prominent chefs as well,and so I was very clear on my
(09:24):
cat and my decision at that time, so I stick to it.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Last week we had Chef Fiona Espana on the program and
she's a Latina ACF chapterpresident in LA.
What she said on her episodewas when she got into the
kitchen she thought it was goingto be all women and it actually
(09:49):
was the opposite.
She walked in and realized thatit was mostly a male dominated
field, and it's pretty amazingto see the different
perspectives from people beforethey enter this world of
culinary.
I think that's fascinating.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Very interesting for sure, but again, in Latin
America, being the machomasculinos that we are known to
be and being a chef wasn't againlooked as a very respectable or
reputable and honorableprofession, due to the lack of
knowledge.
Probably at that time and Idon't blame him he wanted me to
(10:28):
be a lawyer, but I wanted to bea chef.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
So and here I am.
You've spoken about angelsalong the way, some key
individuals that kind of inlight of the fact that you know
the relationship with you knowyour father and yourself, of the
fact that you know therelationship with you know your
father and yourself, thesepeople stepped up and kind of
(10:51):
brought you through to the endof the journey.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Can you talk about who they are and what they did
for you?
Oh yes, at that point my dadwas lending me a car that it was
of his possession and to go tocollege.
And when he knew that I was notgoing to college, for whatever
he wanted at that time, he saidlet me have the keys of the car
and find a way to go to yourculinary school.
And taking consideration thatthe culinary school was an hour
(11:17):
and 15 minutes commute from thehouse and no public
transportation at that timewould take me there.
So I called the schoolcoordinator.
That was the one that has givenme the news that I'll be, that
I have been accepted to thecourse as one of the 25
candidates, and her name isAlicia Rivera, and I'm forever
(11:39):
grateful about what she did forme because when I call her and
tell her, alicia, I got bad newsfor you.
I might not be able to continuewith the process at this point
and become part of the coursebecause I had no transportation
(11:59):
to get to the school.
The lady lived probably twotowns from me, going in
direction to the school.
She immediately said you're notgoing to do that in my watch Go
out to the main highway so youcan't even walk in, or however,
you can do that and I'll pickyou up every morning and we'll
take you to school and bring youback from school until you can
find, probably, a way oftransportation.
(12:22):
And she did that for me forthree months.
On the other hand, my mom mom'salways to the rescue knew about
the situation and sheapproached me and said find a
part-time job that can get you alittle bit of income so we can
get into a car that we can do adown payment on it and I'll help
(12:43):
you with the monthly payments.
Three months later I found ajob at Wendy's that was just
next door to the school andthat's how I started my career
and generated a little bit ofincome in order to get a
transportation to school.
But if it was not for these twoangels that you call come
(13:06):
alicia rivera, my mom, dominavillalongo uh, I would have not
been where I, where I am todaythere's a power of sacrifice.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
When you're trying to achieve something where whether
it's investing all your moneyinto something, all of your time
away from family, you know allof the the sweat and the tears
and and so on there's somethingreally gratifying about getting
to the other side.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
You were sleeping in a van while you were at Wendy's.
This is one of the most busieststores in the capital of Puerto
Rico.
The town of Isla Verde actuallyclosed to someone next to the
airport and so this store wouldclose at 3 o'clock in the
morning.
Having to go through my sectionof the course, of the culinary
(14:19):
course baking and pastries, thatwe needed to be at the
classroom at 6 o'clock in themorning and me closing stores at
3 o'clock in the morning, andyou're talking about scrubbing
restrooms and cleaning the lineand mopping floors until 3.
And then not much time to goback home, because my home was
(14:40):
again an hour and 15 minutescommute so by the time I would
get home it was time to comeback.
So not much time to go home,and I recall several times
staying at the parking lot atthe school, literally sleeping
in my van for two hours andwaking up and going to the
classroom directly.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
How do you think those sacrifices shaped your
leadership style that you havetoday?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
It definitely built character and I was 19, 20 years
old at that time.
Obviously, you look back nowand at that time you don't know
you're going through thesacrifices and not just going
and doing so Because you've gotto do what you're got to do in
order to survive and succeed.
Stay responsible with what youalready have committed.
Looking back now, obviouslythis sacrifice is sleeping two
(15:27):
hours and going to the classroomand going back to work next day
and doing it all over and over.
It builds character and it putsthings in perspective that if
you truly want to achieve thingsin life, sometimes it's not
going to be as easy as you thinkit is.
It requires a lot of commitmentfrom your end.
It definitely shapes you tobuild a platform for anything
(15:53):
that you will build upon therest of the career path.
You will build upon the rest ofthe career path.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I'm certain that what you did in the van and Wendy's
to get started, that had topropel you into push carts and
entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yep, wendy's um.
That job lasted for about 10months until an opportunity
arose.
And here's Alicia Rivera to therescue, the coordinator of the
course.
She called me to the office andshe said the chef from the
Caribe Hilton which at that timethe Caribe Hilton was the hotel
(16:29):
in Puerto Rico the chef justcalled and asked if I can send
them someone that can help inone of the stations at the
Sunday brunch, someone that canhelp in one of the stations at
the Sunday branch.
They used to put a massivespread out activation on Sunday
branch, like 12 differentstations by 12 different
countries and approaching foodand whatnot.
So she asked me if I wanted todo that and that that will count
(16:53):
.
The hours that I'll put inthere will count as a practice
hours towards graduation of thecourse.
And I said sign me up and I'llput in there will count as
practice hours towardsgraduation of the course.
And I said sign me up and I'llbe there next Sunday.
That's how the opportunity cameto work at the Hilton.
And while working at the Hiltonat Union Hotel, I find out that
I will have fixed things offMondays and Tuesdays.
(17:14):
I acquired a tackle cart that Istarted operating in my
hometown on those two days andactually three days, because my
shift was until Wednesday at 3pm.
So I will open Monday, tuesdayand Wednesday morning until one
o'clock, from 10 to one, fourhours right in the middle of
downtown of my hometown.
And that's how I became a sortof an entrepreneur and I got
(17:42):
great results from that, to thepoint that that provoked buying,
an, acquiring, a mom and popand brick and moral business,
that my plan was to developfranchises and I get to a point
that I developed three morecarts and the restaurant that I
just acquired became that likethe commissariat, that venture,
(18:05):
and I did that for about twoyears and it was extremely
successful at that point theremust have been things that you
learned through yourentrepreneurial adventure with
the carts that you didn't learnin culinary school Resilience
adaptation, if I need todescribe it in a couple words,
(18:27):
and improvisation as well, atthe same time, as part of the
adaptation.
So you have to you plan certainways, but then again things
don't go the way you plan andthen you have to pivot and move
in directions that you willnever see coming your way.
Nonetheless, it's definitelylessons learned, lessons of
(18:50):
resilience and commitment.
At the end of the day, when youcommit to something, that's
what keeps you going and wakingup the next day and brushing
your hair and your feet anddoing it all over again.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Chef, how long have you been in the food industry?
Our wonderful food industry.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
This coming month, in May, is going to be 35 years 35
years.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
You've made it a very long way and you're still
growing.
You're still building a legacy.
I know when we spoke, youtalked a lot about mentorship.
So you've mentored young cooks,you've written curriculum at
the CIA and impacted a lot ofpeople.
What does mentorship actuallymean to you and what makes
someone actually worth theinvestment?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I think mentorship, when you look at it from the
perspective of it's bigger thanyourself and it's something that
everyone that is in thisbusiness owe to the craft in
order to, like you said, buildlegacy and in order to keep the
craft alive, everybody has tobecome a mentor.
(19:57):
At any given time, you do thebest you can in order to pour
into the next generation as muchas you can of your skill sets
and accumulation of knowledgeand experiences.
My analogy to that is it's likeplanting you spread the seeds
and some of them will come outreally beautiful and flourished,
(20:18):
and some of them might notdevelop as much as you would
expect that they will develop,but nonetheless, I think there's
a beauty on passing onknowledge and taking it as a
responsibility that is biggerthan yourself, the size of the
craft itself.
It's a responsibility we allhave to pass on to latone in
order to keep the good craft,which is the culinary craft,
(20:42):
alive.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Let's talk culinary roots and identity.
You helped shape LatinCaribbean curriculum at the CIA.
How do your Puerto Rican rootsinfluence your cooking and how
important is culturalauthenticity in today's culinary
landscape?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I think authenticity is definitely the anchor to the
branching out to many otherpossibilities in the canary
field and in a world that we aremore entertaining than ever
before, ever since internet andaccess to that information and
(21:22):
you can travel at the tip ofyour fingers on information and
culture and food and ingredients, and so I think, as the world
gets more mixed, in that regards, anchoring in tradition on
authenticity is more importantthan ever, because then things
get blur and unfortunatelyevolve into something else that
(21:46):
probably loses a little bit ofauthenticity and, and, uh,
identity.
In that regards, I think it'svery important to stay rooted
and then branch out and launchfrom that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I don't think that that a lot of people recognize
how big of a deal it is that youactually wrote curriculum for
the CIA.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Well, it was an opportunity my way.
I became the chef of the SantaMonica Club in 2010, and that
was July 2010.
July 2010.
And on September 2010, ithappened that the school was the
branch of San Antonio for theCIA was getting inaugurated.
(22:26):
Talk about being at the rightplace at the right time.
And the head hunter brought meto that position, put me
together with the managingdirector of the school and, at
the same time, the director ofthe of the latin cuisine studies
.
The department at that time wasin and we met and the
(22:49):
opportunity came and tocollaborate with a curriculum
that, for the first time in thehistory of the culinary
Institute of America, they haveshown interest in Latin cuisine.
So they learned that I was fromPuerto Rico and they asked me if
I could write recipes for acurriculum of Puerto Rico, cuba
(23:10):
and the American Republic, whichis the Spanish-speaking Latin
countries of the Caribbean.
And that was right up my alleyand I remember I took up on the
challenge and committed to itand in three months I put
together about 252 pages ofrecipes and PowerPoints and
tests and so for the curriculumin that regards, and I passed
(23:33):
along to them and he gotapproved.
I passed along to them and hegot approved.
And when the time came to teachthe course, indiana called
again and asked me if I couldteach the class and obviously I
hesitated a little bit becausemy main focus was the San
Antonio Country Club at thattime recently arrived and I
asked him what the commitmentwill be.
(23:54):
They said it's going to beprobably two, three times a year
.
Two, three groups of studentscoming from Hyde Park.
But I told them I said, can youshare the first set of dates so
I can help you until you findsomeone that can teach the
course?
And fortunately, orunfortunately, I stayed teaching
the course for eight yearsafter that.
(24:15):
I stayed teaching the coursefor eight years after that.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
You went from taco carts to the Culinary Institute
of America and then now you'reglobal.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
You're an ambassador for Aussie beef.
Talk a little bit about that.
Greater Victoria came my way aswell.
Like the many others we havedescribed On this occasion, I
had a phone call from Jacqueline.
She left a voice message,actually on my phone.
I was in the middle of ameeting.
She said, chef, give me a callback.
I think I have a greatopportunity for you.
When I called her, she saidwhat about 14 days on the ground
(24:55):
in Australia, five differentcities, learning about beef and
the process of Australian beef?
Sounds to you all expenses paid.
Obviously, I was skepticalagain and I asked what's the
catch?
And she just shared with me.
The intention is obviously thatwhen you come back, you help us
spread a good gospel of goodAustralian beef in the US.
(25:19):
At that time, I was alreadyusing their products for about a
year, and this product speakson their own, and the
opportunity to learn where itcomes from and how it's
processed and what are thedetails that they're looking to
in order to produce such a greatproduct are definitely all my
attention.
And so I went to Australia,spent 14 days, went from city to
(25:43):
city.
We even glamped in the sitewhere the cows laid down and
enjoyed looking and watchingover the stars and the moons and
the breeze at nighttime and itwas a great experience, from
learning from embryo to thegenes, to the embryo, to the
(26:04):
development of the cattle andhow they monitor the progress
with tips on their ears, sendingsignals to servers, to the
feedlot, to the slaughterhouse,the whole entire process.
They have it down to a scienceand it explains the reason why
they do have such a greatproduct chef jacqueline ayola.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
She is so cool, what a great, great person.
And you know she's got this.
Uh, this product, this aussieselect, cured um cured lamb.
You know about it right.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Totally.
As a matter of fact, I've beenusing the products introducing a
little longer than probablyfive, six months into my menus
here at the club and I'm usingparticularly the pastrami.
And they're all awesome.
I have tried them all, but inthis case I'm using actually the
pastrami.
It's one of my items for lunchand it's been well accepted.
(27:00):
Jacqueline is a great lady, forsure but just for giggles.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
What, um, what's on the menu?
What are you doing with it?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
we're serving it with a man bread.
Um, making a flat uh breadsandwich.
If you will crust it a littlebit on the flat top, glaze it
with hot honey like for texasand counterbalance of uh on
saltiness and whatnot.
We serve it with lettuce,tomato pickled cucumbers and a
bit of lettuce.
It works phenomenally.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
It's definitely an innovative product that you're
not going to find in very manyplaces.
I'm thrilled you're using it.
I have some chefs over hereturned on to it as well.
With that said, we're talkingabout evolving.
How do you think the culinaryindustry is going?
Where are we headed right now?
Chef?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I think in my span of life of almost 35 years like I
said, turning next month into itI have experienced big booms of
evolution.
When I started back in thebusiness, hot cuisine was the
topic of the moment and thenfrom that evolved to gourmet
(28:07):
cuisine and from gourmet went toa little bit more
gastro-molecular, with FerranAdria and all these Spanish and
Spaniard restaurants that wereavant-garde at that time.
In my opinion, I think whatI've seen lately and like I
explained before, the world isgetting more intertwined.
(28:31):
It's easier to travel to places, a little less expensive to go
from places to places and beingexposed to culture, food
idiosyncrasies and approaches oningredients through food
idiosyncrasies and approaches oningredients.
And the more you travel, themore you take back with you and
apply to your own style andmenus.
So in my personal experience,some people ask me what's your
(28:56):
favorite cuisine or what's yourfavorite dish to execute.
For some reason, I have beenfinding myself in a position
that it makes it very hard toanswer that question at any
given moment, because it's acontinuous evolution of my
experiences and places I visitand people I talk to and
(29:19):
ingredients I come exposed to.
In resume, I think food isgoing to get more used and more
mixed and other versions ofcuisine will evolve from there
that we are not even foreseeingyet.
That, in terms of authenticityand rooting and culture, are
(29:40):
going to be fantastic, androoting and culture are going to
be fantastic mixes of differentcultures, if you will.
Whatever was French before isnot going to be French anymore.
Whatever was Vietnamese,whatever was Asian, it's going
to be all blurred.
But what's going to come out ofthat we're yet to see, but I'm
excited about what the outcomewill be.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Well, chef, that leads to something Legacy in a
frozen cube, Sofrito cubes.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
The idea came from another entrepreneur venture,
entrepreneurship venture that Istarted in South Florida.
When I was in South Florida andthat's something we didn't talk
in our previous conversation,but I was working at the Ocean
Reef we became part of thischurch in Miami and, as you know
, miami is probably the meltingpot of cultures when it comes to
(30:29):
in regards of Latin American,you know.
So we became part of this smallgroup of church you know goers.
We got there probably inAugustust, um, and then
christmas approach really quickand uh, at that time we were
(30:49):
exchanging gifts and whatnot andI had the idea of putting
together like a little box ofmixed appetizers, like mini
versions of our street food inpuerto rico, and passing along.
And next thing I knew was thatsome of them came back and said
hey, my family's visiting forNew Year's.
Can you put together somethinglike you did for me on Christmas
(31:10):
, like you gave me on Christmas,and this summer I'm charged for
it and it's going to be for 30people.
And that was the beginning of anunforeseen sort of
entrepreneurship venture thatturned into seven formal
accounts, from hotels torestaurants, to gas stations and
(31:31):
whatnot, and what derived fromthat was the challenge of
cooking in unstandardizedrecipes that my wife at that
time stepped up and did while Iwas working my day job at the
ashraf.
But she my wife was an artistand she had nothing to do with
(31:52):
cooking at bigger scale or bigvolume.
So what I did is I standardizedthe sofrito, our Puerto Rican
sofrito, into those cubes thatturned them into recipes like
one cube of sofrito into thosecubes that turned into recipes
like one cube of sofrito perpound of product.
And at that time we were doinglike 80 pounds of beef or 80
pounds of chicken for fillingsfor empanadas or many other
(32:13):
applications.
So in our days off I foundmyself going to the cooler and
to the freezer and pulling outthose cubes that I built for her
in order to standardize andmake it easier for her to cook
in batches, and I found out thatthey were very convenient.
That was the aha moment, like onmy head, that if it's
(32:34):
convenient for me and myhousehold, I think it could be
convenient for many other peopleas well.
That way I can actually share alittle bit of the behind the
scenes secrets that we havealways kept in our Latino
culture.
Like so frequently, it's one ofthose smuggling devices that we
sort of has used behind thescenes among ourselves, like
(32:56):
passing them from household tohousehold and from families to
families, but it has not beenshared, probably, with the world
, and I think, in the way thatit has been packaged before,
it's not that user-friendlyeither for many reasons.
You either have them frozen ina big tub of one pound or you
(33:18):
have them on the shelf withshelf-stable capacities that
unfortunately, it's not thefreshest one.
So by monoportioning and frozencubes I think you achieve a
little bit of freshness andconvenience at the same time.
On the portioning of it, thatallows you to utilize fresh
(33:40):
sofrito on hand all the time.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Well, I can tell you something right now.
You know, john, over here he'suh, he's a little puerto rican,
he's a little cuban, you know, alittle white guy, he's a bunch
of stuff.
But he's over here staring atme and he's got like one eyebrow
raised and he's just like he'sdefinitely for this.
Okay, I just want you to knowhe's here for this, for the
sofrito cubes.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
That's awesome Because, again, it's already in
the market here in the DallasTexas area I have it actually in
four supermarkets and runningout in June in one of Mayer's
chains locally as well and ithas been accepted in a way that,
(34:25):
again, we're not reinventingthe wheel here.
It was just making it a littlemore user-friendly in order to
be able to share it with othercultures.
My hope is that tikka masalahas become mainstream, or
Italian marinara sauce hasbecome, or pesto has become the
(34:45):
gift from Italians to the worldIn the way that we're packing
the sofrito.
It becomes our gift from LatinAmerica to the world as well,
and more cultures are willing totry it and cross that line of
the unknown or the kind offoreign or too exotic in order
to at least try it andincorporate it into their food,
(35:10):
like we were talking about.
That's my opinion was.
I think cultures are going toget mixed and more and more, and
I think this could be oneopportunity.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
So not only do I agree with everything you just
said, but now I'm in the moodfor a pesto.
Thanks, chef, I appreciate that.
Chef, I am digging this, thesofrito.
How do people find it?
Where do they find you?
Speaker 3 (35:32):
Website will be wwwdelencantofoodscom
Delencantofoodscom.
Instagram is atdelencantofoodscom.
Instagram is at DelEncantoFoodsas well.
Personal my personal is ChefNelson Milan.
Instagram and Facebook as well.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Jess.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
TycewitsJesse on Facebook and in at Celebration
Instagram perfect.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I want to thank Haley Heath, the Australian Beef and
Lamb, and, of course, JackieJacqueline Ayola for everybody
kind of putting this togetherwith you.
Chef Nelson, you are amazing.
Thank you so much for being onthe show today, John.
You're always a fan man.
I tell you what, Chef, you gotto see the pictures that are
(36:22):
coming out of this.
I'm going to make sure you getall the links and all that stuff
.
Okay, Kang, Uh, we are out.
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