Cooking Up Retro Recipes with Bobby Hicks

Where are all my vintage cookbook lovers? Maybe you like the classics like The Joy of Cooking, or one of my favorites, Charleston Receipts. Or maybe you dig the ones put out by a company like Campbell's cooking with soup cookbook, or the aptly named favorite brand name recipe cookbook. On today's show, I have Bobby Hicks, the man behind retro recipes kitchen and online video series where he cooks the good, the bad, and the weird from those vintage cookbooks. Hi, I'm Chris spear host of Chefs Without Restaurants, the show where I speak with culinary entrepreneurs and people working in the food and beverage industry outside of a traditional restaurant setting. Have you ever seen a recipe for banana mayonnaise and thought maybe I should try that. But I'm not so sure, or have wanted to tackle poached eggs in the aspect? Well, Bobby's here to do it for you first, and he's pretty amusing while doing it. But isn't all fun and games, we talked about some of the challenges of running a food content channel online. You know, the raw products food can cost quite a bit. I'm sure everyone knows, especially with inflation right now, Bobby was saying he could easily spend$1,000 a month just purchasing the food. And that doesn't even take into account the time it takes to make these dishes and film and edit all the videos. So his advice is to have a plan for monetizing from the start, if possible. Now, he already had experience with video production, marketing and working with brands before doing this. So he was a little more intentional about how he set up his channels. If you haven't seen retro recipes kitchen, you can check out his videos on Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube. And of course, I've linked all that in the show notes. I actually think it's a really cool idea because I love so many of those retro cookbooks and recipes. As a kid of the 80s. I grew up with my mom cooking them. I grew up with my grandmother and great grandmother's serving a lot of these types of dishes at holidays and family gatherings. And honestly, I think it's time to bring a lot of them back. I'd love to know what your favorite retro or vintage cookbook is. Please jump on over to Instagram and let me know in the comments when I post about this episode or send me a DM you know where to find me. I'm at Chefs Without Restaurants. And I'm gonna give you one solid call to action this week. It's to Please share the show. Share it with your friends, your family, your colleagues, post about it on social media, let me know that it's something you enjoy, and it's worth my time to keep doing. Thanks so much for taking the time to listen to the show. And as always have a great week. Hey, Bobby, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for coming on.

Hey, man, thanks.

I am really looking forward to talking to you about some. I think it's gonna be weird shit potentially. Is that okay to say weird shit.

I mean, I my entire life is based around weird shed. So it'll be fitting

now. So for those who don't know, what you do you run social media channels, Instagrams YouTube based around the idea of cooking retro recipes. Is that like a good five seconds synopsis?

Yeah, I mean, even like, the name of the channel itself is retro recipes kitchen. So if you weren't really sure what you're getting into, you know, you're gonna be in for a surprise.

Yeah, well, you and I met through a friend Justin Khanna he does. For those of you listening out there, you probably know, Justin, because he's been on my show a bunch of times I've been on a show, but we kind of do like this. I don't know mastermind, where we talk with other content creators in the food space. And that's how we connected and I'm so glad we could because I had never heard of you before. I don't know how you have like 80,000 followers on Instagram, it never just filtered its way into my path. But I'm so glad that we were able to connect. Well, I'm

super glad that we're able to connect also. And if anything, this is kind of indicative of just like the social media realm itself, you know, it's like, on a tiny little rant, you know, it's it's a, it's one of the things I've been doing this for about a decade, you know, just just working with brands, creating content and trying to figure out like the way to people's screens and people's hearts and just kind of like having fun with it along the way. And the most difficult thing that I've come across, consistently, it's just the fact that creating this content, you invest so much of yourself in what you're doing, you're you you don't want to, you know, kill the babies, as we say, like, you get rid of any of the good stuff and like you'll, you'll sacrifice hours of your day to do this. And then just to find out that it's not shared to really anyone. And it is one of those things where it's like, you know, algorithmically, you know, it's like we all talk about the algorithm and it is one of those things where it's interesting because you would think that my channel and Justin's and yours and stuff would be cycled around to other people but you know, with like minded interests, but it just never really happens that way.

Well, they say in content creation, you really have to niche down and I think you've done a incredible and insane like, I'm looking at you and behind you is this whole retro setup like it looks like your living space is retro. So it's not just this posing for five minutes a day on the camera, I feel like, I mean, is this your whole life? Like, do you ever just, like get up and put on a normal, like sweat suit and T shirt?

Honestly, I actually love to live in a sweat suit and T shirt. You know, it's like when I when I'm home, and I'm not filming something or editing something, I want to be comfortable. So it's like, I'll wear a pullover sweater and I'll wear a t shirt, and I'll wear my crocs, you know, because like, they're just comfy. I can't picture it. Yeah, but it is one of those things where, you know, I genuinely like, enjoy going thrifting I love finding vintage clothing and vintage kitchenware, and Vintage Books in particular. And, you know, our house is is entirely designed to be a studio for each room. And because, you know, when my girlfriend and I lived in New York City, you know, it's like we had a studio and then we just made our apartment, a studio because we'd work with brands. And so it's one of those things where now it's like, coming here we were like, Let's let's just make every single room a different look different style of the same idea. So it's like we've done project photoshoots in here and video shoots and the kitchen is a different vibe, but it still is vintage, my girlfriend's like, like our bedroom is kind of like her special little studio. And it's almost like a Victorian style. And it's, it's, it's been a labor of love, but it is very much identifiable with like, who we are where it's like, we are creatives that kind of enjoyed the aesthetic of the past, but the, like, the the phrase that I often use with retro spaces, like, you know, vintage dishes, but modern values. Yeah, and so it's, it's, it's kind of one of those things where it's like, you know, we love the the aesthetic of pretty much everything from like the 60s and before but you know, we'll stick with more modern up to up to date values.

When did you make the switch to really going with the food stuff, like I scrolled all the way back through your Instagram, and it looked like in kind of mid 2021, you shifted from being this kind of stylish modelesque feed of such and then went into food, like, I mean, like you, your photos are beautiful. And I want to find out a little bit about that. But you definitely went from less photos of like you and like what you're out and about doing to food, and then it just kind of ramped up from there to like, all food.

So as I mentioned, like, I've been doing this for about 10 years. And it's one of those things where when I was living in New York, especially, you know, I was represented by an agency, and the agency would bring campaign projects, you know, so like, I'd work with companies like Nike, with Audi, you know, with Bose, like, even JC Penney, you know, and a lot of the a lot of like, the projects that would come along would be based around clothing or fashion, because that's just what brands had money for, you know, around 2021, you know, it's like, my agent left. And, you know, I think it's safe to assume that I'm no longer with them, because I haven't heard that anything since. And so it's like, I knew I had to kind of take things into my own hands, which was really scary. It was one of those things where I've had somebody, you know, one agent or another actually supporting me, and helping bring me work for the better part of a decade. And when I didn't have that I had to kind of like, you know, do what they did and do it by myself. And so I stuck with what I was comfortable with. And I knew that the retro SP channel, you know, the cooking videos, were just starting to pick up steam, which I which I, I even tried to tell my agency, I know, there's no there's a future with this. And I can see the ways that it can make this work. And, you know, it's like one of the things that I've always been very good at is this delivering value for any client that I work with. And I was able to articulate very early on exactly what I wanted to do with retro ESPYS because, again, for doing content creation for a decade, you know, it's like everything that I do has a purpose to it. And I knew that I was going to create retro recipes in a way that could be turned into a monetizing property.

Before we go too deep retro recipes for those who don't know what it is retro recipes, is you're finding old recipes, sometimes very strange recipes and like old cookbooks and then making them to see how they come out.

Yeah, so I mean, like the idea behind rich recipes is is you know, like exactly as you put it, you know it's I usually say the good the bad and the gelatin you know, and you know, it's it's one of those things where when it started I kind of just picked like the strangest weirdest dumbest shit that I could find, you know, and would make the Um, and you know, it's like, good, bad or not, you know, it's like I'd give it a shot. And it was a lot of fun because I'd make these dishes and then be super surprised, because some of them actually, as awful as it would sound were really delicious. And I don't know, you know, it's one of those things where since then, like, I've kind of opened it up a little bit more where it's not just terrible dishes, you know, now I'm just trying to make classic dishes from cookbooks, you know. And just, and I think that it's been really great, because a lot of people have gone to see these dishes come out. And they're, and they have, like, a strong sense of nostalgia tied to it. So I mean, do something as dumb as like the onion sandwich, you know, where it's literally like rye bread, a little bit of butter and raw onions, you know, and which is actually surprisingly good. And I'll have, like, dozens and dozens of people, right back against, like, the hundreds or 1000s that are like, yeah, that's disgusting. You know, and like, I'll have doesn't send her like, No, this is amazing. And my grandfather made this for my dad made this and, you know, it's like, he just passed away, like, you know, last year. And so this is really just bringing back these great memories. And, you know, it's like, maybe I'll give this a shot or, and it's just a lot of fun. Because it's like, as dumb as these videos might seem, I genuinely think that like they are helpful for a lot of folks in some form or fashion. Where did this

start? Were you already a collector of vintage cookbooks? And was this something that like you had wanted to do for a while before you really jumped in?

So I mean, like, my background was kind of, like earliest, my forte was was mostly in video production. You know, it's like, a decade ago, I saw the value in video way before anybody else did, you know, it's like, everybody was still kind of focusing on photographs, because that's what Instagram was kind of pushing. But I was like, I want to learn video. And I have a feeling that that's going to be important. So because I taught myself how to do commercial grade video, you know, and I spent years practicing it and learning and everything else. My focus was more based around the idea of like, hey, you know what, let's do something fun and creative during the lockdown in New York. And my girlfriend, we're just kind of stuck inside it was I really struggled with that. Because I'm a person that would get out I'm very sociable. And I just had to like, figure out something that I could do. And I didn't have the space to do it there. But I brainstormed the concept out like enough that I could do it when we moved to the house in Florida that we eventually got. And so the idea is basically just why don't we marry the idea of like, bringing back these old retro commercials, like, because they're examples that I'd found online that were just super inspiring, you know, and it was just like, very nostalgic, kind of like you the way of tomorrow, you know, everything was like the product of tomorrow. And I just wanted to make some of these videos that were kind of like a silly recipe, but modeled after the look and feel and sound and vibe of like those videos. And I was like, I could do that. Because I have a good video editing background, I can shoot everything and do this all by myself. And let's just see where it goes. But yes, I mean, the idea basically just behind it that it's like, you know, I just wanted to incorporate these vintage dishes with kind of like the modern editing and aesthetic that I could do to kind of match that. And it's just kind of fun because it ended up like working out where we took this silly recipe for bunny biscuits for Easter, you know, and that was the first video that I made. And we made it look and sound really vintage. But the thing that we're missing also is like voiceovers, you know, and Keiko eventually was just like, Wait, why don't we actually ask this girl Katie. And she'd known her? And she's like, Yeah, she does Broadway, and she does voice acting and stuff. And so we ended up like hiring Katie for the next video. And since then, like she and her fiance both do voice acting, and they are the heart and soul of like, the retro SP videos like I would never in my life, I'd sooner quit making those videos, then use somebody else, you know, because they're just they add such a depth to them. It's so fun.

It definitely has that retro commercial vibe. Like you nailed it. And, you know, I think these recipes are so much fun. This is I mean, I don't want to say this is the way I grew up eating but like kind of you know, I'm 46 my, you know, I grew up in the 80s. And, you know, both my mom and my grandmother, were doing these things like every brand had the recipes like we all eat the green bean casserole right like that just came off of, you know, the canned mushroom soup and the dry onion thing. Like they needed a way for people to use their stuff. And there's 1000s of these cookbooks out there for how to make these like sometimes delicious, sometimes weird sometimes both like dishes using company's products and all of the recipes that I love that I remember from my childhood are some variant of kind of these things that you do. You know, you go to your grandmother's for Thanksgiving and there's some weird dip on the table and it came off of the box at some point adduct or out of one of those little pamphlet cookbooks, so I love this stuff.

It's kind of great for me in a sense, because it's like, if you've chatted with people, they're like food creators, I think that there's something that either like people may or may not talk about, but it's like creating food content is not cheap. You know, it's one of those things where, you know, if you are going to you make a video based around, let's say, like steak and potatoes, you know, it's like, just to make content for people to, to kind of download and watch for free, the that could cost you, let's say, 15, or 20 bucks, you know, it's like, if you just want to get potatoes, decent kinds of steak, herbs, butter, you know, like, the smallest little things they add up so quickly. And so it's kind of fun, because like, you know, because of what I do, a lot of it does revolve around canned goods, soups, Campbell Soup, Santa's, like canned fruits, and, you know, whatever. And, you know, it does make it easier for me to make some of these videos without breaking the bank per se, because I was going daily, for about nine months. And, you know, the thing that I think people don't understand is that even though what I'm making is not terribly expensive, I was still spending, I feel like sometimes, like, close to $1,000 a month on just like food expenses, you know, and so it's, it's, this kind of ties back into like, like, with the brand advertising aspect where people should these days actually have a plan set aside, or at least, like ready for the future, if they're going to be doing content creation based around this, to try to see if they can find a way to monetize what they're doing outside of just like, you know, like, Adsense or like views, like, like, you know, payment for the amount of views you get, you know, because you're gonna be, you're gonna be like racking debt if you're not careful. Because as much as some people can like watching your videos, you know, if you don't have a way to actually pay for it, then you know, that's gonna bite you pretty badly later on.

Yeah, it's nice for me, you know, I don't create a lot of content that is not based around my job. So it's, you know, like, I'm a personal chef, and I have the benefit of someone's already fronted me some money, and I'm gonna get paid a decent sum to like, do their dinner party. So can I create content while I'm creating those dishes, although I do so much clients houses, so that's not always realistic, which is the frustrating part of like, I'm going to this person's house at night, and it's dark, and the lighting is terrible, and I'm not bringing my stuff. And by the way, I have to serve them food while it's hot. So I can't really like stop and do a photo shoot in the middle of dinner. So I actually work with leftovers a lot. Like, quite often you'll see me doing some of the prep video stuff. But then the next day I'll come home and it's like I saved a little the potatoes from last night and a little the pork and like, I can mock up a photo video shoot using the leftovers, but actually doing it on site. It's next to impossible.

Yeah, that's actually a really solid idea, though. It's like I love that. I love the ingenuity of that. Because again, it's like if you want to do and elevate a dish, you know, it's going to take a lot of time, which you know, for somebody that spends all this days like shooting videos and editing and pitching and stuff like there is no time. So to find the find the best way to do that, like you are like That's awesome.

So are you eating all this stuff at home? Like is that all you consume in your house is like weird Angostura cheese dips and sandwiches at your house is or do you just like have chicken parm night?

No, it's It's funny. It's like, you know, so my girlfriend's Keiko, like, she doesn't eat a lot of proteins actually, chicken, turkey, and fish, you know, like shrimp and stuff. And then otherwise, she doesn't really eat anything else, you know, it's like, we like mostly vegetarian, if anything, you know. And so, it's actually great because like, I'll make these dishes, I usually try to, like, scale down the recipes. So I'll read the full read the full recipe, this may be meant to serve eight people, but I'm making it so that it's going to serve maybe three people or four people, you know, because food waste is something that I'm, like, very passionate about, like avoiding, you know, it's like I have wonderful neighbors that are always willing to take food off my hands. You know, the rest of our family is actually really great with helping us take food off your hands. And, you know, it's it's one of those things where it's like, I tried to spend as much time as possible, like encouraging folks to you know, like compost their scraps or save their scraps and use those for stocks and like try to teach little tiny side techniques that they might not have known or they might have seen other people doing videos, but they're like, oh, I don't have to have, you know, like a full fresh carrot. I can use all these scraps from these other things as well. You know, I don't know. So it's, it's one of those things for like I just tried to encourage good eating habits for others. And then for us, and I like, most of the time, honestly, I don't feel like cooking. So like, I'll go to the store, I'll pick up a rotisserie chicken, and I'll make us a big salad. And then I'll just save the rest of the chicken are put in my freezer. And so, you know, after a week or so, like, I'll have a whole bunch of chicken bodies, so they can turn into a really delicious stock and make it into a soup or something, you know,

looking at these recipes, I want to dig in to some of them, because there's lots of really interesting stuff. What is a recipe that you thought was going to be atrocious, that you loved? Is there one or two that stick out? They're like, there's no way I'm gonna like this. And you're totally surprised.

Honestly, like most of the videos, I will post, like, you'll look at a recipe and be like, Oh, that sounds absurd. And he's probably going to hate this. And then you'll see my reaction at the end of the video. And I'm genuinely super surprised. And it doesn't mean that it's like a 10 out of 10 bagger, you know, but but it is one of those things where it's like a dish that I think is going to be a solid Trash Can two turns out to be a seven, you know, and I think like a fun like recent one that kind of pops in my head isn't actually from an old cookbook, per se, although I'll preface by saying I've seen similar recipes, so I know that it would still work from those things. But it was a recent video I did where it was. I was kind of experimenting with formats and I wanted to do something this year a new series I'm doing called antiquated or AI. And the whole idea is basically like, you know, I make a dish. You guys have no idea what you're watching. And you have to determine whether or not you think that this recipe is actually just an antiquated recipe from an old cookbook, or it was generated by AI and at the end of the video I actually break what it was and stuff and so it was a lot of fun because people would would look at him instantaneously be like this is antiquated This is from an old book. I have four books that probably have this in there. And sure enough, it was actually created by AI like right in front of me I screen recorded so you can see it just like processing and creating it. And it was recipe that had like it was it was the canned fruit and bean salad. And it was equal parts of Kim like fruit medley, you know, and then it was like canned corn can black beans, canned tomatoes, canned olives, Dijon mustard, like mayonnaise and Honey,

how did it taste? Because that sounds terrible.

It sounds horrible. Right? It sounds it's so insanely awful. I almost feel like I'm forgetting an ingredient, you know. And it was just like, you look at this. And it's like, all of these things. And it was actually pretty solid. Like it was it was to the point where I actually because here's the thing, I hate mayonnaise. And I hate olives like those two things. Like if it's in a dish, I'm guaranteed to just hate it if you have good manners. Like if you had Duke's mayonnaise before. I've never had Duke's in this recipe, I'd finally found a place I found like an Asian market that sold QP Manning's and so I use that. But in my mind, I'm like, I don't even think it matters. You know, what do you got demonstrated there? It's like, it doesn't even matter. This

whole like aI thing? What was your prompt for the AI? Like, what are you feeding into it to get a recipe like that,

I only did the one run, you know, but I had watched some videos before where it's like, you kind of have to like go into it with a little element of specificity. So it's like, if I just typed in, I think I literally typed in, like, make me a a weird canned food recipe, you know. And because I said canned food, you know, it was able and weird. It had just enough information, be able to like plug it all together and roll with it like that. But I've seen other things where it's like, if you just say make me a recipe with chicken here to give you probably like the most basic thing. So it's like when I do these, like, I'll probably like moving forward, like I'm probably going to continue that where it's going to have a particular set of verbiage in there that's actually going to like, give it something where it could be related to a retro recipe in some way. So like, you know, make me a dish with spam and you know, like mustard. I don't know, you know, and or like, you know, like, potatoes and pork fat. Who knows, you know, it's like,

I want all those I want potatoes with pork fat and spam, like all together like a home fries kinda in the morning or like a hash like a spam hash.

I know. I'm trying to think of like bad examples. And then they're all I know, my brain can't do it. And just like that, that's that works. I would say to that.

What's one of the worst dishes that you've made though that needs to stay in the past?

There are a lot there are a lot that I I'd say the two that come to mind. Right? Like almost any aspect right? It is going to be like a fail for me, like I've made, I've made about three or four different aspects. And an aspect if anybody doesn't know is basically like a dish that utilizes gelatin. And it's almost like taking like a soup, and then infusing a gelatin so that it solidifies. And so it's like a solid kind of like cold serve soup, you know, but it's terrible. The texture of it is just, like revolting. And the worst one that I made, I was actually really surprised by it, because like it was it was from Julia Child, it was the poached egg and aspect dish. And it's one of those things where it's like, I love making poached eggs, it's honestly like, I get such a kick out of it. It's so fun, I enjoy the process. So when you get a perfect poached egg, it's great. So to make a poached egg, and then like kind of, you know, add a little bit of aspect in this in this like container, and then let it semi set and then put the poached egg on there and surround it and you just like you going back in waves kind of like layering it and as you go and get this done, you know, without the lake the marijuana and stuff that was diced in there. And I was just like, this is going to be probably not bad. And I got it and I caught it. And it was just the most instantaneous, like, I just wanted to vomit. And I literally like spit it up in the trash can like a second into it. And I had to like put like a blurb like over the screen as I did it. It was funny, it made good laughs but it was one of those things where it's just like aspects never fail. Like they're just the most awful thing in the world. Unfortunately, a lot of Amish recipes that I've tried to cook. Like the cookbooks themselves are just useless. Because the Amish cook very intuitively, it's always like family passed down recipes to they'll be like, No, you got to make sure you add this ingredient, you know, and you're just like, even if you never even give a recipe and how to make that, you know, it's like, and they're their specs are just way way off. And so like anything I've made those Amish almost always just kind of like, was just a waste of my day.

It's disappointing because I love so much of that food I used to live near like Lancaster, Pa and I have a lot of those cookbooks. But I know you're talking about there's so many of those recipes. That's why I like my family recipes. I tried to get my mom, my mom cooked almost exclusively from a recipe, but all of my other ancestors didn't. So like we would make my grandmother's New England baked beans. I'm from the Boston area originally. And like my grandmother's would be like half a pound to three quarters of a pound of this and then like scant amount, but I knew my mother had like measurements, I'd say, okay, when you make this, how much are you using, because I wanted to make sure that I had that so that when everyone was gone, I would have some idea of what they were doing. But yeah, I have all these little, I have some of my books in front of you. But just you know, like these little note cardi things with random recipes on them. But you don't always have the measurements. And trying to figure out some of those family favorites has been a real challenge. There's a recipe that my grandmother made that was like a seasoned oyster crackers that she always had is like a snack mix. And today, it would be like putting like probably like powdered ranch dressing and butter or oil. But I can't find the actual recipe with the measurements. And it just doesn't taste the same. Like I followed some recipes online. And the ratios are not of what they were with her. So I'm trying to rank like I think there was a lot of Worcester shear in there and like dried dill, and they're my favorite snack cracker. But nobody in my family can find this recipe, the scents

delicious also. And it is really funny because like a lot of the like, I think what's interesting about the retro recipes that they make is the fact that it's like, if you look at if you look at the cooking in a generational kind of aspect, you know, people are always kind of like bagging on, like the food from, you know, boomers food, you know, it's like, you always hear this and this, like, if you really take a minute and look back and think of it in a historical sense. It's actually fascinating, because, you know, it's not like, inherently we just had bad food. You know, it's it's more of like, the lesson, like the recipes that we're making, we're making these because they were passed down to us this was way before the advent of the internet, you know, this is, you know, this is before every house had a had a refrigerator, you know, it's like back in the day, you know, your grandma would make something, pass it to your mom, your mom pass it to you. But it's like if your grandma grew up during the Great Depression, where they had nothing, and she didn't have any thing to really kind of pass on to you. You're like, her child, you know, is a recipe to pass down. You know, it's like those recipes were built out of necessity. And so a lot of the dishes that you find are as weird as they might sound today. Like I find like they're actually usually pretty awesome, or at least like just pretty brilliant. Because they're able to utilize them as minimal ingredients and create something that could potentially have flavor from things that you just never really would have expected. So we like canned goods like we don't really like potted meat. But guess what potted meat can actually be jacked with flavor. I've made things with like deviled ham, that just you open the can and it smells like dog food. But then you mix it with a few things. And the cat

like playing like because I didn't like mayonnaise, because I think you're supposed to mix that with mayonnaise, right? And I ended Manet's, so I was just like, pull off the lid and just sit there with a spoon. It's It's so gross. It's been ages since I've done that, I probably should see what that tastes like. But I used to love that as a kid would just pop the lid off and just like dig in with a spoon out of the can of deviled ham.

Yeah. And it's one of those things where then it just kind of gets interesting, because then you know, it's like you have a different generation of kids that are growing up now. It's like the 50s, you know, the 40s 50s 60s. And it's like, these people are like, it's not like they're just trying to recreate things. This was around the time that like we were starting to bring in more of like a world cultural perspective. People are traveling outside of America, now. They're making cookbooks about what's happening over in France, what's happening over in Spain, what's happening over in, in, like the rest of the entire world. And so then all of a sudden, we're finally getting new, fresh recipes, but they're bastardized. They're just like the American version, because they want to try to make it so that it's like palatable to the home, and something that they can get at a grocery store. So you get things that are like, you know, Hungarian goulash, but you're using Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

The first time I had hollandaise, and this is what I thought holidays was my mom found a recipe and it was like mayonnaise, yellow mustard, like bottled lemon juice, and then you just like, in melted butter. And like she was poached eggs. And we would have like eggs benedict. And that's what I thought Hollandaise was done. I was a kid because that's like what we had and cheese cake was always the incident, it was like the sweetened condensed milk with like, you put in a little bottled lemon juice, and that would like solidify it. And then you just put it in the pre made like little Graham tart shells with some canned cherry pie filling. And that was like cheesecake. You know, that's the kind of stuff I grew up with.

It's just fascinating to me. Because, you know, when I'm making these again, like I get a lot of people like that. So demographically, most of my audience is actually female. And the average general age demographic is between 35 to 45. You know, which is kind of interesting to me, I think because that's kind of ballpark around my age demographic. But then there is like, there's like a pretty solid amount of folks that are actually like born in like the 60s, you know, that follow this and like they're always talking about how their parents made like this, or they did this. And like I'd mentioned before, it triggers this kind of nostalgic reaction for them where they're just like, man, it's kind of like with you the potted meat, you know, it's like, they look back to just like, oh, this is so crazy. I haven't thought about this in a decade, or 20 years or man I had that when I was seven. And I can't believe that, you know,

this is my cooking for my business. Not all of it. But I am more inspired by this than like Michelin restaurant cookbooks and stuff. Like for all the fancy pants cookbooks I have and the Noma books and Sean Brock books like I would rather cook from these community cookbooks. The people dig it like last night I did a dinner party. One of my favorite appetizers is called pepperoni spread. It's something I created kind of based on like a ham salad that you take pepperoni and put it in the food processor with cream cheese, a little mayonnaise, hot sauce, some smoked paprika, some dried oregano, and then you put in dried apricots chopped up and put on like sourdough bread with toasted walnuts. People are just like what like I love pepperoni. But I've never had to except on a pizza and just you know, taking this super processed like deli meat and making something really delicious. So I'm more inspired by this type of recipe, to be honest,

what I think is interesting is if you really kind of step back, I think that like we've definitely become really snobby and the advent of Whole Foods and like you can have your option of milk or you know, it's like, everything that's kind of relatable with our culture today. You know, it's like, I think the thing is so interesting. Is it back then before we really truly understood what to look for with good food, they were doing it in their own weird way. They're trying it out. Because with what you're talking about, you're taking you're taking garbage food, like you said and turning it into something that's great. And guess what, with that, you've got salt, you've got fat, you've got acid, you've got texture, you know, it's like you got a little bit of smoke and spice, like you're hitting on all the parts of your palate, and that's why that kind of stuff works. And the same reason why like that. That anchovy like the the Angostura dip that you talked about before. I'm afraid of the anchovies in that though, but that's that's the thing. It's like it's one of those dishes where like when I made it, I was also afraid of anchovies. I'm also not a big fan of cream cheese. And so I was just like, like, I'm not gonna love this, I think and then I made it and it's just like when you when you take a step back, you realize, oh, man, this all had a purpose. The the Angostura gives it like this very aromatic herbaceous kind of quality to it. It's almost like a little spicy. The the anchovies gave it like an umami to it that you don't taste any fish. But it gives it that underlying depth that almost like olives could give, you know, where it's like it's salty and funky and weird, but it's like when it's balanced, right? With that tart acid that you get from like the cream cheese, you like that, that kind of sour quality. You know, everything worked. And I just think that that's the kind of thing that I love playing with and experimenting with with these recipes, because it's like, you never know what you're going to expect.

You know, before I started my personal chef business, I worked for a place and we did a food bank fundraiser every year called off the shelf. And the idea was that I went into the food bank and checked out what they typically had there and then created a seven course dinner that we were selling tickets for $150 a head for we would race like 10 to 15 grand a year from this amazing and just do like how can we really make super high end like really fun, delicious food using these canned goods and things that you would just find on a typical shelf at a food bank and it got weird like we did corned beef and cabbage ramen one year so I made what I call like corned beef hash dashi. So I took like the Libby's corned beef hash and like dumped it in a pot with like water and then put some, like all kinds of flavorings in there. And then it's like the Benito Yeah, so Yeah, and like we would uh, I think we did Ken sauerkraut, pickled eggs. So he took canned sauerkraut and then just like had the pre hard boiled eggs that you get in the giant bucket and just put them in sauerkraut. So that was like the egg component and just like cut it in half and had this like full on Hard Boiled cooked sauerkraut pickled egg, like just, it got weird, but we came up with some really cool stuff like canned beat Grenada, like I would take canned beets, and like puree them up and like add some simple syrup and freeze it and make like a grenade as a palate cleanser.

That's so fun. That obviously sounds almost like a top chef elimination challenge.

That's kind of where it came out of is like as we were brainstorming like what would be the best way to do one of these fundraiser dinner. So I'm like, I can get weird. Like, let's just go and yeah, I posted some of those recipes. I did a trail mix romesco sauce before you know what romesco sauces. Yeah, of course. Yeah. So like trail mix, like it's got a ton of nuts in there. The chocolate gives it a little something so almost like a malayi type. So you know, like, like canned roasted red peppers can fire roasted tomatoes, you put like trail mix in a skillet with some olive oil like Spanish olive oil and garlic and let it cook down and then just like puree it all up with the canned tomatoes and Canvas red peppers. And yeah, there's really, like There's dried raisins in the trail mix. So it added sweetness. And to me that totally made sense. And

that actually sounds basic because I mean, like, it is funny because it is like a very common question that I get from folks who they're just like, Do you Do you know what this is? And I'm like, yes, yeah, like I I've spent my entire life like reading books and cooking and educated myself though these things. And so it's a fair question when it's like I make really dumb shit like this. But I like I can see exactly what you're talking about. And like when I watch these shows, like I can visualize how their brain is working when they're doing this. I think that something like a trail mix romesco sounds like such an awesome idea that I want to do now

I need to like get a lot of these recipes out there because I have so many of them, I was just winging it. And I should probably go back and like Tinker these and just like post on them and share them with the world because some of them are delicious. But you can also like make these into really kind of higher end things to my favorite recipe growing up with something called Greco from my favorite cookbook, my mom's cookbook, it's called America cooks. It's actually ever right here. It's a woman's league cookbook from like 1967 and you can see all the light attaches but it's you like cook shell pasta and then you saute like a green pepper with an onion and then you add in canned mushrooms canned cream corn canned tomato sauce, ground beef cooked and mix it with like the shells and bacon oven with like cheddar cheese on top, which on its own is delicious. But you know I've gone to replace canned mushrooms with like may attacchi mushrooms and porcini mushrooms and the cheese switch out to like a smoked gouda Pepper Jack blend and the meat do like a beef pork veal blend, you know and serve that and that's something that I can serve to customers and they think it's delicious. Like who wouldn't want fresh corn right off the cob like make your own cream corn and just use that as like the template for you know, something that you can really dress up and be like, yeah, here and charge people 100 bucks a plate for it.

It's kind of funny because like I've had a lot of people when I do like alive or like writes me in questions. They're like, Have you ever considered opening a restaurant or have ever done this? And it's like, no, I'm not but it's one of the things where it's like if If I were to consider doing something like that, it would follow under that kind of vein where it's just like taking these classic iconic dishes. And, and just just making them really well, you know, like not necessarily like doing it with a bunch of canned stuff. But like, for example, like one of my staple dishes that we would make my girlfriend, I would make, like, at least once a month, I feel like would be a vegetarian shepherd's pie, you know, it's just like an easy way to get more veggies in your diet. And like, if you feel like it actually has a different name, like it's like a instead of Shepherd's pie with lamb and stuff, it's like a Harvest Pie or something, if it's vegetables, but But it's like, you know, I make the sauce from scratch, and it would use like fresh ingredients and roast the roasted vegetables to get some caramelization and depth of flavor and all these other things. And at the end of the day, you're like, make make a really delicious palm puree with like, you know, Herb infused like you have a bouquet garni and your cream is is heating up to really infuse the milk before you put it in the potatoes and all these things. And it's like, you know, like taking these classic staples, but just making them a little better than your grandma did you know, or like your mom did or no offense, grandma, no offense, Grandma, you know. And I just think that it's like, that's one of the things that I do, I try to do a little bit here and there more just kind of like in tips like they point out, but eventually down the line. Like I'm always trying to come up with like a new series, like every six months, I have like a new kind of style or series that I introduce into things. And I think like one of them would eventually like to be kind of like, like, retro recipe remakes, you know, where it's like, I take a bad dish or take a dish that was okay, but then remake it and show like folks like how they could do it today with modern techniques, you know, and proper cooking elements and stuff that like they just might not have known. And kind of instead of just going for the cream of mushroom soup, like show them how to make, let's say, like a really good bash Mel. And you know, like, you're really getting the most flavor out of the mushrooms and using fresh herbs and, you know, I don't know. Yeah, that's like, that's, that's something I would like to do as well. Because I think that educating folks on how to cook is kind of the point.

But you're also very entertaining. I, you know, I think the show is actually successful because of your personality. Like, it seems like you're having fun with it. And I've got to say that whole, like, you're just like, looking right at the camera, just dropping the stuff, right in the book, you must have had some massive like, for those who haven't seen it yet. Like, as you're reading every ingredient off the list, you're just kinda like looking straight ahead of the camera and just like blind dropping this stuff into a bowl, sometimes it hits quite often it doesn't.

Yeah, I think honestly, there might be like somewhere like a forum that has just like a running bet to see like how many times I do miss things in the box, you know, because it's like, there are days where I make it in there every time and, and I'm not like reshooting it, you know, it's like a hold butter, like in a jar like over over the dish and just wait for it to go. Forgetting about the fact that there's flour in there. And so in the butterfly and lay like loosens from the warmth of my hand and follows in the bowl, all this flower shoots up everywhere. It's like, it's funny, it's catchy. It's it's definitely something where I kind of get annoyed with because I'm like, I pride myself with being very clean. And so when I make a big mess, and like

I think that's the interesting thing about the social media, and it's because it's entertainment, like, why are people watching this? I mean, yes, sure, they're gonna learn some cooking and get some recipes, but it's also entertaining. Like, as I'm like scrolling through this stuff, like, I'm kind of bored, like looking at this, like this guy's from, you know, wherever I'm not gonna throw it anyone's name, but just like making this random, very intricate, like duck dish, like, I'm not going to do that. And I'm not even really entertained. Like,

I think that I kind of suffer from a little bit of an impostor syndrome at times, where it's like, that's probably one of the reasons why I'm always trying to innovate and try new things and push forward and, and really make the most out of what I'm doing. Because it's like, when you look at videos, online, especially today, like, and my feet is mostly filled with just like cooking videos, like I genuinely love to support others and kind of see what they're doing and just kind of get ideas but like, I pride myself in the fact that what I do feel is very different than others. Because, you know, I am putting more of my personality on the camera. I'm engaging more with the audience in that way instead of just like a top down shot of the food. And it is one of those things where it's like, I don't know, it's like I do kind of struggle at times to kind of like, consider what I'm doing is better or worse than others, but I do agree with you in the sense that it's kind of like it gets it gets a little exhausting at times just seeing the same, the same videos over and over and you can't really tell if it's a new video or not, you know, like sometimes that's the struggle.

Did you have content that popped off? I feel like you have a lot of people who are following you on your different platforms like was there a viral video or moment or what's like, follower growth been like for you?

Um, yeah. So I mean, like, it's kind of funny because when I started the retro SPS channel, we started it just an Instagram account, and it was back in like 2021. It started for Easter. And then it was like, the second or third video that I did maybe like a month later, was, perhaps to this day. So I think it is like still very much like the most popular video that I've done. And it didn't happen then it happened like later on last year, but I like reshard it on tick tock, but it was a chicken profane aspic. And it was one of those films recipes where like, I made it look old and sound old, and we the voice acting and stuff. And I made a really intricate tic toc video that was kind of going through and making this aspect dish that took me an entire day to make because I made the consummate, I made, you know, like cook the chicken, you know, like, did everything right? And it makes this beautiful dish, I had the giant Jello mold and everything from the, you know, the 50s and makes this really beautiful, awesome dish. And my girlfriend and I were actually like a little excited to try it out. We're like, Oh, this is this doesn't look that bad. It kind of looks like looks like a chicken soup, you know, that can stand up and ended up making it. And on camera, like we're both expected to kind of like, it's fine. We both took a bite. And both of us just couldn't even swallow it, we're holding it in our mouth, like trying not to. And it's just this this long, long video have like the reaction of us eating it, which is like about a minute long, at least with edits in there. Because it was longer. And just like our just faces just falling apart and just dying because it's like, we desperately don't want to eat this. But we also don't want to spit it up. So we're just kind of like, trying to hold it did. And people saw that. And it went it was the first like viral video. And this was again, like, I think maybe like in May or so of last year just before the algorithm changed. Where it's like I was on average getting, you know, 100,000 views, you know, and my audience went from zero to, you know, I'd say like, maybe 30,000 or something kind of within a few months. And it was amazing, because I was like, why found my niche. And then, you know, it's like that video popped, and it jumped up to 100,000 followers within like a week, which is nuts. That's crazy. Yeah, cuz I also tried to make it a point to like, actively reply back to like, as many people as possible, I tried to create more of a relationship with my audience rather than just, you know, than just kind of like posting content and just ditching it. You know, it's like, I think that it's very, very important for like, keeping your audience being social

on social media. Yeah, exactly.

So I just enjoyed it, too. I think it's a lot of fun, people have fun with it. And, you know, it's like, you can tell who's been sticking around when you engage more, you know, it's like, there's some folks that have been watching these videos for like, two years, and I know them and I talk to them on a regular basis, sometimes I follow their accounts, because like, we become friends, you know, but it's like, you know, when that happened, it got really difficult because I had 1000s of comments in that. And it was one of the first times where I was just like, overwhelmed with what was happening. And that kind of shared with me the idea of like, okay, this is actually working, I can stick with this, I can make more out of this. And since then I've I've not been chasing after getting the viral hit. Because, you know, like, at the end of the day, a viral video doesn't necessarily mean anything, it just means that you're getting exposed to more folks. But the thing that kind of bums me out is that, you know, in the Social Media Marketing World, you know, it's like, you've got tons of videos that are viral, you know, you've got videos of people that have, you know, fail videos, like they are like, like the trick shot videos, like these are things that go viral really easily, or people that you like, skateboarding tricks, it goes viral, but it's like, it doesn't, that's not something is relevant for everyone. Whereas like, I think food is a universal kind of thing. And so it's one of the things for even though if you were born in India, and you're watching a video of me making a really absurd sounding dish, they might still be able to enjoy it just as much as somebody that's in like Idaho, you know, but the thing that I've kind of been struggling with, and especially the last, not struggling but just trying to understand more over the last year is like, you know, the algorithm is basically deciding that, you know, X amount of people are only interested in what you're doing, you know, and when you know That's not the case. And so I think the viral videos more than anything just kind of taught me the fact that it's like, food is a universal thing that it's appreciated, you know, it's like you, you could literally have no idea how to cook something, and you'd still be interested in watching these videos. And so that's something I kind of would like to see, like an algorithmic change at some point where it's just like, instead of kind of putting people in boxes and saying, Okay, your audience is only allowed to see this, maybe like 10% of your audience can see this because oftentimes, the this is genuinely like how much exposure you might get there, it's just to kind of open things back up a little bit and just let it kind of organically fall into the the accounts where it lands.

Like, every time I consume one piece of content that is not food and beverage, then I only start to see that stuff. And it's like annoying how that works. Like I was going to a soccer game, I don't know, like four months ago or something. So I was like, following the teams and stuff on Twitter. And now like my for you is all about like soccer. And these teams and these players, it's like, I don't really want to see this all the time. Like I just wanted to, like, follow the playoffs up until the finale about like, all of a sudden, it's like, Oh, this guy is really into soccer, let's just show him that stuff. And it's, it's so weird how that works.

Yeah, and that I mean, it goes a little deeper as well, where it's like, this kind of ends up being one of those those indicators of kind of like where the society could be heading as well. Because, you know, for example, if if your algorithm is telling you what you like, and it's not exposing you to anything else, we're going deep now, or like Joe Rogan style, but if it's not, if it's not actually introducing you to the broader world of the variety that like we used to be able to see, and we all enjoyed, you know, that you're not getting exposed to perhaps more intelligent, you know, content, you know, more refined content. And it's one of the reasons why it's like, you know, like, as much as people kind of hate on it, it's like, you know, you see just tick tock dance videos, or you see like the same things over and over. Because it's like, this is what this is all people are seeing. And so they're thinking, this is what we have to be making. And it just kind of becomes like a death, a death spiral of content, where it's just like, these little bubbles are created because of an algorithm.

Yeah, I don't know if we talked about this on the last call or not that we had had, but like, my whole thing about, you stopped being creative, because we're taught now to follow the trends like trending hashtags, trending, whatever. And for me, like, That's music, like, I'm very much like punk post punk. In the old school alternative, it's like, my videos could potentially get more views if I'm using the new Taylor Swift song, or like, the corn kid audio, but like, I want to use a bad religion to like in my video, and it's really hard to do that when you're like, man, but I want people to also see my stuff. So shouldn't I just use whatever is trending, but then we're just making the same homogenous goo that like everyone else is making like, Great, then you will sue Yeah, we all use the Lizzo sound, and I got 200,000 views for that song. But like, I don't really even like that music. I mean, that lives. I mean, this is pretty cool. But you know,

that's, that's kind of the thing, you know, it's like, especially as a person that's been doing this for a decade, you know, like, that is one of the things that I've always kind of struggled with. And I've kind of found ways to like compromise for things, like, for example, I use that little jingle of from, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and I use that for every single video. I like that. Yeah, and it fits with the brand, you know, it keeps it very simple. And it's one of those things where, you know, it's like a compromise, like, there's a lot of other stuff that I'd love to probably also use, but but it might not be relevant. And so I think if you're able to kind of like, step back and find a happy medium and like find something that is, is trending, because like that's what I discovered is like, oh, that's actually a trending audio sample, I'll use that because it also fits with the kind of the content that I make. And now it becomes more of like an identity to my brand. So it's like other little things like using the exact same background. And so it's really helpful. So like my kitchen, every video I do, even if it's filmed, and not just on my iPhone. Now it's like it's the exact same background so people are watching it, they're instantly able to kind of recognize it. The same audio. Same intros, you know, it's like on this episode of bring it back or say in the past, we're making the section set from

how many times do you muddle that because you say it so fast, like do you have to reshoot that a lot? Because I don't know that I could get that out so quickly.

No, I honestly like I tried to do single takes for everything that I do. You know, again, it's like the good bad, the ugly. It's like, you know if I like I actually shared a video today I did a shot yesterday. And it was chicken Kyiv, which is like one of the most nostalgic dishes I've ever made, like I that is my childhood right there. And I made it from scratch from this recipe. And as I'm getting ready to eat it, just like I'm talking about how this transported me back to being a kid. And then as I'm doing, I get ready to take a bite, like the whole thing falls off the fork, and it just looked down like oh, man, you know, but it's like, that's the stats, the goods, you know, it's like, that's the stuff that like I actually even just the other day I did a video where I said exactly to your point, I was like, on this episode of bring it back or say in the past, we're making the and I realized I forgot what year because I always say the title of the recipe and what year it came from. And I stopped myself and like what year is it again? And then they go back? And they say it again? Like I used it? Yeah, because I think it is really funny to show like the mistakes

or all your reactions done for the first like the first time you try a bite? Is it always on camera?

Yeah, always, always, I make it a point. So let's say like I'm making like a cake batter or something, which which honestly, if it's for like a bring it back or say in the past, or like most of the others, like if it's a mystery meal episode, which which we'll get into if you if you have time, I don't know how much time you have. But with those recipes, I always make it a point to like not taste things as I go, which goes against everything you know, as a cook, but it's like, I'm trying to go into it with the with the most blind perspective of like, what this should be tasting like until the very end, because I just followed the exact recipes, you know, so it's like, if it tells me a quarter teaspoon of salt, that's what I'm doing, you know, if it's when it needs maybe like two tablespoons, you know. And so like that, it's kind of like, I'm able to talk that and be like this should bring it back or stay in the past. It's like this recipe. It's not bad, it needs some tweaking this recipe could say in the past, but I've had this before. And I know it's good. So you guys can play with that. And then we're just like with mystery meals, like, that's where I bring guests in. And it'll be like a chef or friend or celebrity or something like this will come in. And they'll give me a recipe with just the ingredients, you know, and no instructions, I have no title, I have no idea what the dish is supposed to be. And they'll also send me three video hints. And so I save the video, hence my phone, but everything else is isolated. So I've never looked at the hints. I've never looked at the actual recipe, I just see the ingredients, I'll prep the ingredients. And then I've got 60 minutes to basically make a dish from that. And I try to get it as close as what I think it might be. And so it's a lot of fun, because it's like, you know, those are. It's also used as like a proof of concept for a show concept that I've been like pitching, but it's like, kind of fun between the competition and silliness. And you know, it's kind of like the the ability to bring people in that have like larger platforms or might be like talented chefs, you know, yeah, I

saw Dan Churchill you've worked with on there. And he's, he's a, he's a pretty great guy and chef and has a large audience. And

yeah, I've known Dan, I've known Dan for a little while back in New York and stuff. And it's funny, because it's like, reached out to him. And it took us like six months to kind of like really locked down a time because he's just the busiest person I've ever met. You know, and but it's funny, because it's like, you know, the way I tried to pitch it is like it take, if you give me 10 minutes of your day, you just all you have to do is choose the recipe. And then just do a little intro read the ingredients, say three hence, and then you're done, you know, and then I'll take care of all the rest of it. And so then, that way, like I have the ingredients, I film everything, I cut it and then I use it as an opportunity to kind of like help promote people as well. So brings my audience a little exposure into their world. So that hey, you know, like they might not actually people may have seen Dan's videos before, but they might not have known that Dan also makes a Teresa lie like a beacon Teresa or like, they might not have known that. You know, he's on the Drew Barrymore show, you know, or might not know him at all.

I love that like having a community of like minded people not even always like minded but just kind of in the same space, and how do you work together and do some cool stuff. That's why I love having this podcast like having you on.

Thank you. Yeah,

it was great having you on the show today, I

think as well. Thanks

so much, as always has been Chris with the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast. Thanks for listening and have a great week. Go to chefs without restaurants.org To find our Facebook group, mailing list and check database. The community's free to join. You'll get gig opportunities, advice on building and growing your business and you'll never miss an episode of our podcast. Have a great week.