Renata Ameni

Renata Ameni

Renata’s Five Rules for Bringing Fine Dining to Everyday Baking This week, I sit down with Renata Ameni [https://www.instagram.com/renata.ameni/?hl=en], executive pastry chef and partner at Birdee [https://www.instagram.com/birdeenyc/?hl=en], to talk about bringing the mindset of fine dining into everyday baking. After spending years in some of the world’s most exacting kitchens, Renata shares her Five Rules for Bringing Fine Dining to Every Day Baking. She talks about one piece of equipment that is a must-have, how to set up your station for success, buy a scale, and to never overlook the power of a thoughtful garnish. Whether you’re baking your very first loaf of bread or trying to make your cakes, cookies, and pastries just a little bit better, these are practical lessons that will immediately change the way you approach the craft. One of the things I admire most about Renata is that she doesn’t see fine dining as something exclusive or unattainable. Instead, she treats it as a way of thinking. Precision isn’t about perfectionism; it’s about removing variables so your creativity has room to shine. The same discipline that helped her succeed at Eleven Madison Park and Saga now shows up in a neighborhood bakery where the goal is simple: make someone’s day a little better through a great pastry. It’s a reminder that excellence rarely comes from complicated techniques. More often, it’s the accumulation of small, intentional decisions repeated over and over again until they become second nature. Introduction Hello, and welcome to Five Rules for the Good Life. I’m your host, Darin Bresnitz. Today, I’m back in Greenpoint chatting with Renata Ameni, who is the executive pastry chef and partner at Birdee. She’s here to share her five rules for bringing fine dining to everyday baking, about the importance of having a scale at home, how choosing the right plateware elevates what you bake, and that by perfecting the balance of salt and acid, you’ll be able to level up your at-home baking game. It is incredible insights for someone who has baked at some of the highest levels of dining and a great guide for anyone who’s looking to try baking at home for the first time or for anyone who’s looking to raise their prowess. So let’s get into the rules here on HRN. From Brazil to Fine Dining Renata, so nice to meet you coming from my old stomping ground of Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Thanks for making the time to sit down and chat with me. Of course, thank you for having me. Brazil has such a rich tradition of pastries. What do you love about Brazilian baking culture that is different than French or Italian or any other parts of the world? First of all, it has a lot of eggs, has a lot of yolks because it comes from the Portuguese. So the Portuguese nuns, they use egg whites to starch their uniforms, so they had all these egg yolks leftover. So they start making sweets with that. I feel like in Brazil, the pastries, the sweets, they’re very easy to make. It’s very easy to make at home. It’s fast. You don’t need thousands of equipment or anything like that. So I think that this is great. Lessons from the World’s Best Kitchens You’ve worked at some of the highest upper echelons of fine dining, Jean-Georges, Eleven Madison Park, and Reisa. What mentality and what tips did you take away from those moments in your career? Those places changed my life. It was a lot about discipline, especially at Eleven Madison Park. The practice, like boring thing that you have to make every day, that really makes you better. The way that you approach your cooking, more than just sit down to eat, it’s the whole experience to make people feel that they’re special. Opening Birdee Pulling from your background from Brazil and baking there and working in these fine dining restaurants, you have now opened your first solo bakery, Birdee, in Williamsburg. When did you realize it was time to take flight on your own? What did you want to say? Working in restaurants, pastry chef always has to kind of adapt to what the savory chef is doing, right? Sure. I always had all the freedom at Crown Shy and Saga and everything that James would let me do anything. But still, you have to align with the kind of food that the restaurant serves. At one point, I’m like, I just want to be able to do my own thing. It’s not that I wasn’t. I really was. I just wanted not to be behind anyone’s shadow, which was really hard for me because then you kind of own the spotlight. Everything you make is on you. Can’t blame on anyone else. The Five Rules Rule #1: Get a Scale I am not a baker. I am much more comfortable as a savory chef. A lot of the times when you think about that type of cooking, you go more to these fine dining, high-end, Michelin-star type restaurants. What most people don’t realize is that you need to bring those same elements if you want to have that same type of success when you’re making baked goods, which is why I’m so excited for you to chat about your five rules for bringing fine dining to everyday baking. Now, when I got into bread, I got the first piece of equipment that you talk about and it changed everything. What’s your rule number one? Get a scale. Full stop. It’s the simplest thing. It doesn’t have to be a fancy scale or anything like that. You can get measuring spoons too. No. Just get the scale. It’s worth it. It’s a little investment. It’s going to really change the way you bake. It’s easier, you’re going to make less mistakes, and it’s going to be worth it. Rule #2: Have Your Mise en Place Ready Once you get a scale, once you know the exact weights, I have found that being prepared is another key part of baking. So being prepared in this way is a big part of rule number two. Have your, we call it in restaurants, mise en place. It’s going to be a huge problem. You’re going to have to do it all over again. And that’s what I tell my team. I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I still do it. I finish scaling things. I go back to the recipe and I kind of cross everything that is already scaled. You can always adjust to savory. When that bread is fully baked, there’s no putting salt back in. No, there’s not. And it depends on the bread you’re making. You have sourdough, whatever. It’s going to take you three days to be able to make that recipe again. Rule #3: Elevate Your Plateware Since I mostly make pizzas, I have either a cutting board or a metal pizza platter that I serve all my food on. Anytime I do anything else, I feel like the presentation is always lacking. Having these elements in your pantry makes up your rule number three. The plateware where you serve your food is going to matter because a lot of fine dining is the presentation. Have wooden boards or if you have a big platter, things that are really nice that you already have at home. It’s not like you have to go buy anything. Of course. Be creative. Sometimes you think you have this vintage stuff at home that was from your mom or your grandma. It’s going to elevate whatever you want. Rule #4: Garnishes Matter Once you have the pastry or the bread or whatever you baked on the plate, adding little flourishes can take what you’re making up to another level, which is your rule number four. Garnishes, they matter. If you’re making a cake, make a crumble. Put a little crumble on top. Put fresh fruits. If you’re able to buy microgreens and microflowers, they’re your best friends. It takes nothing. You don’t have to do anything. But if you put it on top, it already looks super elevated. Rule #5: Balance with Salt and Acid You’ve done the measuring. You’ve done the plating. But when you’re thinking about what goes into making an elevated fine dining type of baked good, pulling from the savory world makes up your fifth and final rule. What’s rule number five? Salt and acid. All the time. All the time. Always salt. And acid is super important, especially for cake. Put some acid in the frosting. It’s going to take something that is, “Oh, this is tasty,” to, “Oh my God, this is amazing.” I like this burnt honey cake that we make at Birdee. It’s very salty in a good way because there’s the burnt honey and you add the salt and it just brings you to a whole other level. I like to serve it with a very acidic strawberry sorbet. Where to Find Birdee Renata, if people want to see what you’re serving or check out what you’re doing or just come by the shop, where can they go? Come to Birdee at the Refinery at the Domino Building, and we’re there literally every day of the week. Amazing. Well, Renata, I cannot wait to swing in and grab some pastries. Something very sweet and something very sour. Thank you so much for having me. I hope to see you there soon. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Joe Beddia

Joe's Five Rules for Building a World for Yourself Joe Beddia didn’t just build one of the best pizzerias in America—he built a world. From the moment you walk down the alley and step through the door at Pizzeria Beddia, you can feel that every detail exists for a reason. In this episode, Joe shares his Five Rules for Building a World for Yourself, from finding work that genuinely inspires you to surrounding yourself with people you want to spend your days alongside. We also talk about the challenge of protecting your values as success arrives, why your name is your most valuable asset, and how building something lasting requires equal parts conviction, curiosity, and restraint. Whether you’re opening a restaurant, starting a business, or simply trying to create a life that feels like your own, Joe’s rules are a thoughtful roadmap for doing meaningful work on your own terms. There’s something about going home to Philadelphia that always resets me. Maybe it’s because so much of who I am was shaped there, or maybe it’s because the city has always rewarded people who care more about substance than spectacle. Every trip home is an excuse to revisit old favorites, but even more than that, it’s a chance to see what people have built since I left. Joe’s restaurant is one of those places. It isn’t just a great pizzeria—it feels complete. Every corner, every plate, every decision reflects the same point of view. As someone who spends a lot of time talking to people about creativity, I find fully realized visions endlessly inspiring. They’re a reminder that the best work doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when someone has the courage to imagine an entire world—and then patiently builds it, one decision at a time. Five Rules for Building a World for Yourself Joe Beddia Hi everyone, before we get into today’s episode, I have a little bit of housekeeping to take care of. I am so excited to announce that I am partnering with the Food Institute who has acquired HRN and is the new home for Five Rules for the Good Life. Together, we’re going to be growing I couldn’t be more excited about this new partnership and excited to see where we take the show. Introduction Hello and welcome to Five Rules for the Good Life. I’m your host, Darin Bresnitz. Today, I’m in my hometown of Philadelphia chatting with Joe Beddia, the chef and owner of Pizzeria Beddia and the author of the incredible pizza book Pizza Camp. He’s here to share his Five Rules for Building a World for Yourself. We talk about the importance of doing things that inspire you, working with people you want to be around, and staying true to your vision and values as you grow. It’s a great conversation for anyone starting their own business—or anyone looking to build something meaningful with intention. So let’s get into the rules. Building a World Joe, so good to see you. Thanks again for all the hospitality the last time I was in Philly. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Excited to be here. For anyone who’s ever visited Pizzeria Beddia, they really get a sense of your vision. How did you approach bringing your worldview and mentality into the restaurant? I had a unique circumstance where I had a very small pizzeria for five years. It was literally myself making pizza in a 300-square-foot shoebox. When our lease was up, I was approached by a startup restaurant group in Philadelphia. I got creative control over the menu, the design, and everything, which is probably pretty rare. I worked with a lot of friends and really tried to create something special. It was a different time. We were developing this in 2017. Money was different. We did it for a lot less and got a lot more for our dollar. I was there when it opened, and I was there a couple months ago. You can still feel the DNA of what you wanted to build, even though it’s evolved over the years. How has it changed? It’s evolved through the people. We have different cooks now. Our head chef and sous chefs are different. I’d probably say the restaurant is the best it’s ever been. That’s really a testament to those individuals and how they’re able to work together. At this point, I don’t really want any credit. I created something, but I’d like them to take ownership. Giving someone the opportunity to be creative and own new menu items has been amazing. From my perspective, it’s such a great experience because you walk down this little alleyway, see the neon sign, walk through the door, and suddenly you’re inside this whole world you’ve built. What do you hope people feel when they come here? I like keeping tradition alive by using really great ingredients and making well-fermented dough, but I also like stretching ourselves creatively. We pickle strawberries and make burrata salads. You can come for a traditional pizza that reminds you of your childhood, but you can also have a great soft serve with amaro on top or a beautiful bottle of wine. It’s about honoring tradition while giving ourselves permission to be creative in the same space. Now that you’ve been open since 2019, written an incredible book, and received so much recognition, I’m excited for you to share your Five Rules for Building a World for Yourself. Rule One Go Where You Feel Comfortable A lot of people feel like they have to constantly push themselves or chase opportunities that don’t really fit who they are. But your first rule is about grounding yourself before you build something. What’s Rule Number One? Go where you feel comfortable. That’s a tricky thing because you should absolutely challenge yourself. But you should also feel like you’re in a space that makes sense for you. You want to work for a great chef. It might be difficult. But if you’re learning and growing, every failure becomes growth. It’s kind of like Philadelphia. You come into this town and it’s rough around the edges. But once you prove yourself, people invite you into their homes. Kitchens work the same way. You have to earn your place. Rule Two Find What Inspires You You have to be inspired enough that you’re willing to dedicate your time—and really part of your life—to something. I feel fortunate because I became obsessed with pizza while working in restaurants. I’d travel to New York, visit all the old-school places, go to Di Fara, Totonno’s, Una Pizza. I was fascinated by serious pizza makers. Eventually I started experimenting on my own and realized, “I want to take a shot at this.” How do you become inspired? For me, it was traveling and tasting. That’s what changed everything. Once I found that inspiration, I decided to go all in. Rule Three Work With People You Want to Be Around Going all in on a restaurant means endless hours. Finding the right people to spend those hours with is one of the hardest parts. What’s Rule Number Three? Work with people you want to be around. Someone doesn’t have to have the most experience in the world. They just have to be a good person. They need to care, show initiative, and be interested in learning. You can teach almost anyone the technical side of the job if they’re passionate about the work. Rule Four Figure Out What Medicine Works for You Even if you’ve found inspiration and surrounded yourself with good people, this work is still incredibly difficult. There are great days and terrible days. Rule Number Four? Figure out what medicine works for you. It’s a little tongue-in-cheek because when I started, the medicine that worked for me was drinking—which isn’t something I’d recommend to anyone. Eventually it led me down a path where I was overusing alcohol to deal with stress. That pushed me toward therapy and healthier ways of dealing with anxiety. I’m not sober, but I have a completely different perspective than I did in 2013 when I opened the original pizzeria. I just opened a restaurant in London, and I realized that one of my rules now is simply finding something healthy that genuinely works for you. There’s a tremendous amount of stress in this business, and you need a way to manage it. Rule Five Your Name Is Your Currency Now that you have two restaurants and years of success behind you, I’m sure you’ve had opportunities that didn’t align with the world you wanted to build. Your fifth rule is about staying true to yourself. Trying to stay true to who you are and your values. There are always going to be offers. People will want you to sell something or attach your name to something you don’t really believe in. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve done less and less of those things. Your name is your currency. It’s all you really have. So you want to spend it on things you genuinely believe in and can be proud of. Closing Joe, congratulations on everything. If people want to come have a slice, a whole pie, a bottle of wine, or simply experience the world you’ve built, where should they go? Pizzeria Beddia, 1313 North Lee Street in Philadelphia. Or Bar Aetna in the Newington Green neighborhood of London. Incredible. Joe, I can’t wait. I’ll be back for Thanksgiving and we’ll definitely stop by to pick up some pies to bring home. Thanks for making the time. Great to see you as always. Excellent. Thank you. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Adrianne Calvo

Chef Adrianne Calvo [https://www.instagram.com/chefadrianne/?hl=en] has built a life around the belief that flavor is the ultimate north star. As the chef, writer, and restaurateur behind Chef Adrianne's Vineyard Restaurant and Bar [https://chefadriannes.com/] in Miami, she has spent her career proving that the fundamentals never go out of style. In this episode, she breaks down her Five Rules for Cooking with Maximum Flavor — from why the real work happens before anything ever hits the pan, to how controlling moisture is the secret most cooks overlook, to why the final ten percent of a dish is responsible for ninety percent of its impact. Whether you are cooking for the people you love or just trying to get more out of what you make at home, this one will change the way you think about what's on your plate. What I love about sitting down with Chef Adrianne is that she reminds you that flavor is not a technique, it's a commitment. It's easy to chase trends, to pile on ingredients, to rush to the finish line — and she calls all of that out with such clarity and warmth that you immediately want to go back into the kitchen and start over. The way she talks about tension, contrast, and intention made me think less about cooking and more about how the best experiences in life are the ones that engage you rather than just comfort you. That's the kind of conversation that sticks with you long after the meal is over For my first piece for Caper [https://caper.media/], I wrote about Jingbo Lou [https://caper.media/p/landlord-betting-on-los-angeles-restaurants-alpine-court] and the incredible community he has helped build at L.A.’s Alpine Courtyard. His approach to the landlord-tenant relationship is a true innovation and something that could be a north star for the shifting restaurant landscape. Introduction Hello and welcome to Five Rules for the Good Life. I’m your host, Darin Bresnitz. Today, I’m in Miami sitting down with chef, writer, restaurateur, and teacher, Adrianne Calvo, whose spot, Chef Adrianne’s Vineyard, Restaurant, and Bar, has been serving up. She’s here to share her five rules for cooking with maximum flavor. She talks about the importance of preparation before putting anything in the pan, that the amount of moisture in a dish can be maker and that the final 10% of finishing determines 90% of its impact. It is a great conversation for anyone who leads with flavor in the kitchen as looking for extra tips to get the most out of what they make at home. So let’s get into the rules. Getting Started: A Culinary Journey Chef Adrianne, so nice to meet you. Thank you for sitting down with me all the way from Miami. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. You got into the culinary world at such a young age. What foods and flavors drew you in? I got into the — yeah, I wanted to be a journalist. I was put in a cooking class by mistake my junior year of high school, and it wasn’t until Johnson and Wales University came in and did a demo doing a strawberry and cream cheese stuffed French toast that completely enchanted and captivated me. That exact dish that made me switch paths for the rest of my life. Hopping on this path must have opened up such a big world to you and put you on so many adventures, including heading to Napa Valley, which was a big inspiration for you in your life and your restaurant, Chef Adrianne’s Vineyard Restaurant and Bar. What was it about that area that inspired you so much? One of the culinary competitions that I had won while at Johnson & Wales University, and I chose to go to Napa Valley because going to culinary school, they really focus on that connection of the land, the food, and the wine and how it makes people feel. I’ve been hearing about for two years now. I want to feel it. I want to go experience it. And I wasn’t even of legal drinking age. Boots on the ground. I remember going with my mom and I was like, oh my gosh, everything they said is real. This is like Narnia for bon vivant. I remember thinking one day, if I ever have a restaurant, I want to bring that feeling to Miami. At that time, Miami was really missing the mark. There was no connection to land, food, wine, sitting down at a table, bursting with different flavors, really knowing the story of where your food came from. Don’t even get me started on the wine. I don’t even know if Miami knew the term wine in the early 2000s. Napa really inspired my very first restaurant, Chef Adrian’s Vineyard Restaurant and Bar. That’s not to say that your restaurant doesn’t follow those, but it seems that flavor is your North Star. Oh, yes. Why does that element of cooking dictate everything you do? It’s the fundamental belief that trends come and go. And much like fashion, Coco Chanel that said, what’s great will always be great. I’m just paraphrasing it. That’s what classics are. And you are right. We don’t follow trends. We’re actually the opposite of that. The human experience of being able to find the guiding principles in your cooking and your life and your business makes me so excited for you to share your five rules for cooking with maximum flavor. Rule #1: Build Flavor Before Heat Ever Touches the Pan Your first rule is something that I have gotten so much better at and learned the importance of as I’ve cooked over the years. What’s your rule number one? Rule number one is build flavor before heat ever touches the pan. So many people rush to get things in a pan. Maximum flavor doesn’t begin at the stove. It begins in preparation, seasoning your proteins in advance, tempering ingredients the right way, and understanding how salt migrates and what separates dimensional cooking from flat execution. Rule #2: Control Moisture Like It’s Currency You talk about salt and you talk about adding flavor. Some of the times when people prepare a dish in advance, there’s a marinade or they’re drawing moisture out. It can affect the way that things actually cook, especially if you’re looking for a crust with the steak or a nice type of sear. Your rule number two talks about keeping this in mind when it comes to moisture. Rule number two is control moisture like its currency. Water is the silent saboteur of flavor. Excess moisture prevents caramelization and this is like a big deal for me. So many cooks and even well-trained chefs don’t realize you just take a scallop that’s very moist by nature and you season it and then you throw it in a pan to try and get that nice sear on it. Yeah. You’re never going to get a sear. You’re just going to poach or steam that scallop. You’re never going to get color on it. You’re going to overcook it to death. Removing that moisture, taking that extra step to pat it dry. Oh my goodness, that’s a secret. You want that sear, that char, and you can only achieve that by removing the moisture. Rule #3: Layer with Intent, Not Excess Removing items when you’re cooking and editing, especially when you reference someone like Coco Chanel, is really important to achieve the final result that you want. And even though you talk about maximum flavor, that doesn’t always mean more is more. What’s your rule number three? Rule number three is layer with intent, not excess. More ingredients do not equal more flavor. Precision does. Intention does. Think in layers. Fat for richness, acid for lift, salt for amplification, heat for a little intrigue, and texture for memory. Just think of something simple like a burger or a hot dog, and sometimes people will put potato chips on it, and that crunch really makes a difference. Just having that sensory really makes for that unforgettable bite. The fat versus the acid, the salt versus the sweet — that balancing of flavors really does make an impact when you’re putting together any sort of either savory or sweet dish or just cooking for something that really is going to awaken the palate. Your rule number four talks about how comfort isn’t always the goal. Rule #4: Cook for Contrast, Not Comfort Oh no. What’s your fourth rule? Rule number four is cook for contrast, not comfort. The palate remembers tension. Crisp against tender, bright against deep, hot against cool. Oh my gosh, when you think hot against cool you just think of warm apple caramel tart and then cold ice cream. A perfectly cooked dish without contrast is forgettable. A dish that plays with opposition becomes addictive. Great cooking doesn’t soothe, it engages you. You put all this time into cooking, you’ve had this preparation, you’ve thought about the balance, you’ve controlled the moisture. Your fifth and final rule talks about pulling it all together and it’s where a lot of people, including myself, get really nervous right before you present what you’ve cooked to the people you love. What’s your rule number five? Rule #5: Finish Like It Matters Finish like it matters because you’re cooking for the people you love. Oftentimes, you’re pulling it out of the oven. You just, boom, goes on the table. It’s a race to the finish line. But the final 10% of a dish determines 90% of its impact. A squeeze of acid right at the end, a drizzle of olive oil, fresh herbs — I love that. Where to Find Chef Adrianne Well, if anyone wants to try your complete dishes at the restaurant or join any of your cooking classes on live streams or pick up your book, where can they go? How can they follow along with what you’re up to and what you’re doing in the world? You can follow me on socials at Chef Adrianne, and that’s the same handle for YouTube, for the livestream, for the channel, or you can pick up any of my cookbooks on Amazon or wherever books are sold. Amazing. Congratulations to everything. I can’t wait to swing to the restaurant next time I’m in Miami. Oh, thank you so much for having me. It was awesome, and congratulations on everything you’re doing. Get full access to Five Rules for the Good Life at fiverules.substack.com/subscribe [https://fiverules.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Noah Galuten

Noah Galuten [https://www.instagram.com/galuten/?hl=en] has spent years cooking alongside some of the best chefs, pit masters, and grill masters in America, so when it came time to write Grill Time [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/781433/grill-time-by-noah-galuten/], he wanted to share everything he had learned. He joined the show to share his Five Rules for Better Grilling, covering everything from why gas grills deserve more respect to the flavor advantages of cooking with wood and charcoal. We also get into the surprising power of mayonnaise, why chasing perfect grill marks can be overrated, and the one tool that will instantly make you a more confident cook. Whether you’re feeding a crowd or just trying to get dinner on the table, these are practical rules you’ll actually use. Summer has officially arrived. The days are longer, the drinks are colder, and every meal suddenly feels like a good excuse to be outside. There’s something about cooking over fire that changes the pace of the day. Neighbors linger a little longer, friends show up a little earlier, and dinner becomes the event instead of the thing that happens before it. If you’ve been looking for a reason to dust off the grill, invite some people over, and make the most of the season, this conversation is the inspiration you need to get started. Photo by Kristin Teig Jacaranda’s recent opening in Los Angeles has had the culinary community abuzz with Daniel Patterson’s return to fine dining. Opened and owned with his wife, Sarah Lewitinn, this thirty-seat, tasting menu has been years in the making. Read my latest profile [https://www.finedininglovers.com/explore/articles/jacaranda-daniel-patterson-rebuilds-fine-dining-his-own-terms] for Fine Dining Lovers on them, their love story and their road to opening. Introduction Hello, and welcome to Five Rules for the Good Life. I’m your host, Darin Bresnitz. Today, I’m joined by Noah Galuten, whose new cookbook, Grill Time, Why You Should Be Grilling for Better, Healthier, Easier, and More Delicious Meals, is out now wherever books are sold, to share his five rules for better grilling. We talk about how there’s no shame in the gas grill game. With that being said, nothing tastes better than smoke in food and how one secret ingredient is the key to better grilling. Summertime is here and if you’re looking to get outside and to do some cooking, there is no better conversation for some inspiration and some rules to get your grill game going. So let’s get into the rules. Why Grilling Is Different Noah, it’s so good to see you. Congratulations. Your new book has been out for a little less than a week. Grill time. Thanks for stopping by and making time for the show. Thank you for having me, man. This first week has been so great. Summertime is here. It’s time for grilling. What do you love so much about this season and cooking this way? There’s so many things I love about grilling and the great thing about living in Los Angeles is you can grill 12 months out of the year. I know. I try to be nice to the people who don’t have the weather that we have. That’s true. Grilling is just the way that I actually find myself cooking for my family the most often. It is easier, cleaner, faster, often healthier than you would do it on the stove. There’s stuff that I would never do on a stove in a million years that I will do on a grill a hundred times out of a hundred. To cook a piece of chicken, to put on a salad, who’s pan searing? No one. It’s always grilled chicken at a restaurant. Throw it on a gas grill in the back, charcoal grill. You’ve got something instantly. A lot of people get intimidated by grilling. It’s usually due to one bad experience because they’ve only tried it a handful of times. How do people get back on the horse after having a grilling mistake? It’s like anything. The second time is going to be so much easier. The barrier to entry is basically having a grill. And once you have one, do it a couple times, get better at it. Writing Grill Time Once you find that inspiration of what to cook and how to cook it, it just makes you want to get outside even more. With so much of this type of cooking under your belt, how did you select the stories and recipes you wanted to share? When a band has their first album, they spend their entire life creating it and then your second album is two years later and you’re trying to come up with a whole lifetime of stuff. This was this lucky stroke of mine because my first cookbook was so much of my family cooking growing up, my mom’s food, the food that I make for my family at home. And then I have this whole other side of grilling that I’ve been doing forever and learning from amazing mentors like Kevin Bloodsoe for Bloodsoe’s Barbecue and with Ari Colander for Seafood Stuff, Jeremy Fox for Vegetables. I got to lean all that information into the way that I cook and grill at home. So it just spilled out of me. It came together so quickly. There was so much food that I cook all the time on the grill that I’ve never gotten to write about. Grilling cookbooks were just different from regular at-home cookbooks. Grilling is the type of cooking practice that you can always get better at. You can always refine your approach. Rule #1: There Is No Shame in the Gas Grill Game Now I’ve been around a lot of chefs who swear on nothing but aged pecan wood or cherry wood or some other sort of refined— Those people don’t cook for their kids on a weeknight is my theory on that. I love cooking with wood and charcoal. I have an entire outdoor cooking show on Tastemade called Barbecue Smokeout I make with Kevin and Bloodso. It is an amazing way to cook and I love it. But with that being said, a great part of my life is getting dinner on the table and being able to throw— The Gas Grill is an incredible— A Gas Grill, there is no shame on it. And there’s no reason that just because you can make something more delicious with Smoke or Charcoal that will take longer time that you shouldn’t just do the easier option when it’s easier. And having limited time on a weeknight or when you’re just trying to make a quick lunch, gas is great. Rule #2: Nothing Tastes Better Than Grilling Over Wood and Charcoal But when you do have the time, maybe it’s a weekend, maybe it’s a holiday, your rule number two talks about this type of grilling. Rule number two, nothing tastes better than grilling over wood and charcoal. So I kind of break this book down into two categories, Sure Weeknight Grilling and Weekend Project Grilling. Yes, I have cooked so many slow smoked pork ribs in the thousands over my career at Bloodso’s and I’m very good at it. I’ve had it a million times, but now my favorite rack of ribs in the world— I call it smoke grill. They do it in the book where essentially you take a classic grill. I love these PK grills. It’s a really old company that’s been doing it forever. You essentially push all the charcoal to one side of the grill, put wood chunks on top, almost like you’re doing a reverse sear like on a two inch thick ribeye. Instead of— You Get A Smoky Crispy Edged Rib That’s Done In Half The Time Of A Slow Smoke. You Can’t Fake The Flavor Of Smoke. Rule #3: Getting Char on One Side Is More Important Than Getting Char Everywhere Rule Number Three is getting char on one side is more important than getting char. So this comes out especially with things that are quicker cooking like a burger patty, asparagus, zucchini. If you try to get char all over the entire thing, especially if you’re on a gas grill that’s not super firepower, doesn’t have a ton of BTUs, get that char and that coffee. Rule #4: Mayonnaise Is the Secret to Better Grilling There is a chef trick that I was taught years ago about how to add some more moisture and flavor and to give yourself a little bit of grace when you’re cooking on the grill, which I’m so happy because it showed up as rule number four. Here are the haters. They know what’s coming. Guys, it’s mayonnaise. Yep. Mayonnaise is the secret to better grilling. And all you weirdo mayonnaise people out there, you guys are worse than cilantro people because theirs is a genetic condition. You guys just can’t stop talking about how you don’t like mayonnaise. It’s not about tasting mayonnaise. It’s not about eating mayonnaise. It’s about the chemical properties of a perfectly emulsified fat that you can use it for so many things on the grill. The big one to me, and I learned this from my buddy Ari Colander, who’s an incredible chef, painting the thinnest veil of mayonnaise on a piece of fish or a whole fish allows it to become virtually nonstick on the grill. It also allows you to get seasonings to adhere perfectly to it and it makes it brown better. I can cook perfect crispy skin salmon on the grill with just one flip, a little bit of mayonnaise, some salt and pepper and it’s amazing. Anything that you can do to add extra flavor and give yourself some breathing room on the grill is a rule well used. Rule #5: Use a Meat Thermometer Your fifth and final rule deals directly with understanding when to take your meat off the grill. What’s your rule number five? Use a meat thermometer. What are we talking about here, guys? It’s the easiest game changer. There’s this masculine thing of, no, I don’t need it, I know meat, I can touch the palm of my hand, no worries. You know the exact internal temp of a pre-marinated Trader Joe’s pork? And that’s fine. This is a sub-rule to this rule. Cooking it properly. Closing Noah, congratulations on everything. If they want to pick up a copy of Grill Time or come see you on your incredible book tour that has a lot of delicious food and great guests, where can they go to learn more? You can go to my website for all the tour dates. I have a 21-city tour with some of the best chefs and restaurants in the country. People like Chris Bianco, Frank Piniello, Ann Kim, Aaron Franklin, Kevin Blood. So it is a crazy, crazy, crazy lineup. I’m so blown away by the kindness of the people in our industry. Check that out on my website. Also, anywhere books are sold. The book already came out. So if you’re on Amazon, it’s probably 75% off the week after it came out. Good luck out on the road and I hope to be eating food and seeing you behind a grill very soon. Let’s go grill some meat and have some beers. Get full access to Five Rules for the Good Life at fiverules.substack.com/subscribe [https://fiverules.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Matty Matheson

Matty Matheson has spent the last decade carving out his own lane by doing what most people are too scared to do: making things before anyone gives them permission. On this episode of Five Rules for the Good Life, Matty joins Darin to talk about creating Just a Dash, finding his on-camera voice before “content creator” was even a career path, and why the best ideas usually start with a couple of friends, a camera, and a willingness to see what happens. They discuss trusting your collaborators, investing in yourself before anyone else will, and how consistency matters more than virality. Matty shares his Five Rules for Making Your Own Show, including why you should only cook things you love or hate, why working with friends changes everything, and why originality still matters in a world built on algorithms and imitation. There’s something deeply inspiring about Matty’s journey because none of it feels manufactured. It feels earned. Watching someone continue to create for years, through rejection, uncertainty, changing platforms, and shifting industries, is a reminder that momentum is built through consistency, not shortcuts. The conversation is really about the value of showing up over and over again, trusting your instincts, and building with people you actually care about. There’s a specific kind of joy that comes from making things with friends, from laughing through the chaos, from figuring it out together in real time. Even when something fails, even when it gets messy, the act of creating is still better than standing still. Making something, anything, is how you find your voice. Photo by Sid Tangerine Five Rules for the Good Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Introduction Hello and welcome to Five Rules for the Good Life. I’m your host, Darin Bresnitz. It is always a good time when I get to sit down with today’s guest, Matty Matheson, whose new season of Just a Dash is out on Netflix right now, along with the fifth season of The Bear coming out on FX and Hulu on June 25th. He’s here today to share his five rules for making your own show. We chat about the importance of working with people you trust, that to get everyone to buy in with what you’re making, you need to... So let’s get into the rules. Getting Started in Video Matty, so good to see you. I love to hear the birds chirping and the sun streaming through in Canada. Thanks for making the time to sit down and chat with me. You’re very welcome. That’s our canary, Waffles, and Waffles is just having a beautiful day it seems. You are no stranger to TV. I’ve seen you cooking across different mediums for such a long time. Not every chef is drawn to that type of pursuit. What made you want to get involved in the first place? Well, great question. The first video I ever made was my cheeseburger video. We made that over 10 years ago now. My era, the beginning of that, when I was 26, 27, 28, if you were on TV, you were a massive star. There wasn’t any middle ground. There wasn’t any content. It wasn’t anything. Some producers at Vice hit me up to see if I wanted to do something. In Canada, we shot a cheeseburger video, and that’s what it was. It’s funny, I look back on that stuff. There’s no persona. There’s no yelling. There’s no anything. It’s just me being funny and talking in my regular voice. I was just drawn to it because they wanted to do something different. It wasn’t some big TV show. It wasn’t a competition show. It wasn’t some thing that was out there that was on some major network. That was what drew me to that, was just hanging out with people that I already hung out with, my friends that worked at Vice. It was still purer then. There was no anything. It wasn’t creating. We just made a cooking video, a how-to video. Finding an On-Camera Voice You had a chance to evolve before this new ecosystem of creators. What do you remember about learning that time and finding your on-camera persona before it became such a commodity to do content? I would do a video every two, three months. What a cadence compared to today. I did that and then I did my pancake video and then I did my get-you-laid lasagna video. It was just like a thing where we made it when we made it. I think I got paid 500 bucks a video at that time too, which was kind of nice. Seems about right. It was more money than I ever made in a two, three hour span of time. It was incredible to get that amount of money when I was that age. It was more money than I ever made. There was no references. Building Just a Dash We shot Just a Dash two years ago. It’s amazing. It took a long time to edit. Tort and his crew, we took a long time finding it. The way that we shoot Just a Dash is we shoot for 10 hours, 12 hours, and then we find everything in the edit. We’re always cooking one dish. There’s all these sub-stories and things and stuff. When we made the season, it wasn’t with Netflix. It wasn’t with anybody. It was still just self-funded with the Canadian Arts grant that we get. We wanted to make something that was a little bit... so this was us putting in a little bit more effort. We had six or seven more people on set. We had costume, we had set deck, a couple producers. I had a little relationship over with Netflix and they were kind of looking for something and I was kind of looking to see if they were down. It was a very easy thing. We showed it to them. They were very excited. It’s a no brainer. And it was funny. I even told them when we first started to meet, I was just like, I pitched you this show like six years ago. I guess they weren’t ready for it. Obviously because of The Bear I got a little more juice. Yeah, I got a little bit of Hollywood juice from that. We get to put something like Just a Dash out there and let that ripple out. I’m glad that you got that juice because the show is great and it’s allowed you to stay in this game for so long, which is why I’m so excited for you to share your five rules for making your own show. When I watch this season, there’s just such a levity, such a formed world with the people behind the camera and you in front of it. I just feel that you’re letting us into your home and into your life, which is a big part of your rule number one. Rule #1: Cook Something You Love or Hate Rule number one is cook something that you love or hate because then there’s no middle ground. So you need to have feelings. For the type of content that I make, either I love it or I’m trying to figure it out and I hate it. Then the plane starts crashing and then I have to land the plane every episode. That’s our snake eating its own tail thing that we’re always doing. We’re excited, we get smoked, and then we land the plane. Always cook something that you love or something that you don’t understand. By cooking something you don’t understand, by the end of it, you’ll probably understand it and enjoy it. Rule #2: Work With Friends Creating that space from a production point of view to allow you to cook something that might work or go off the rails is really determined by the people who you work with and the relationships you have, which makes up your rule number two. I love working with friends. Working with friends has given me an incredible life and has allowed us all to continuously work together. Having somebody like that that knows you and knows how to work you. On the first two seasons of Just a Dash we had no producers, no writers, no nothing. Whoever was there that day was there. It was just me, Camera B, Sound Guy, Tor, Michelle, myself. It is a thing of trusting your crew. Believing in your crew. Also having this thing where everyone is level. Everyone is a part of it. Everyone is adding to the cup. That’s the thing that’s the most important. Everyone is on the level. Everyone is a part of this. Everyone is equal. Everyone is doing their thing making this video. Maybe that’s just because I naturally want everyone to have fun and everyone to be hanging out. That’s why my videos just genuinely organically went to this. Oh yeah, what if we just turned the cameras around and it was just all my friends hanging out and we’re just making this video and I’m just the idiot in front of the camera, but the whole show is the 360 of five idiots hanging out about making a thing. Rule #3: Get Everyone Behind You Being able to lead a group of people, having the ability to take a stand and say, no, this is what we’re making, this is what you get, is a fundamental tenant of your rule number three. Rule number three is believing in yourself enough to get everyone behind you. Yeah, I’m always like just get me something to cook. Let’s not overthink it. Get me all the ingredients. If I don’t have all the ingredients that will make it better. But that comes with a lot of trust. You need that trust to be able to communicate how to cook at the same time as be funny, to be present or unpresent, but still keep the train rolling. The reason why I can be so funny or be so ridiculous at times is because the cooking, I’m not thinking about the cooking. I’m never really thinking about the cooking. You know it. I know how to make pasta. I know how to make a cream sauce. Cooking is very funny to me. As long as you understand the foundation, you can do multiple cuisines and multiple things and there’s only certain amount of things you can do. You can fry, you can roast, you can broil, you can boil, you can simmer. Also finding your path throughout the video is part of my journey where I’m like a lot of the times I have an idea what I’m cooking and then I’ll get a feeling or an excitement about something as I’m doing it. And then that can switch a lane really quickly for me. And then we just are going down that path. But for everyone else to be able to go down that path is that freedom. Oh, I’m going to make grilled chicken fajitas. Okay, and I start doing it. I’m like, yo, what if we made a fried chicken sandwich fajita? Hell yeah. Food isn’t different to the journey. It doesn’t really matter what I’m cooking. As I’m finding my happy place, truly, while I’m cooking this thing, I allow the happy place to get turned upside down and set on fire. And then everyone around me is watching and not helping, but that’s part of it. It is a thing knowing that that is what makes everything click, is us understanding our levels of where we’re going. Are we actually getting upset or are we just a little bit upset? I don’t think we’ve ever had to fully take a break or something like that where we go on these emotional voyages. Believing in yourself, knowing that you’re going to finish and finish strong, people will believe in you and that’s consistency. Rule #4: Invest in Yourself On the other side of believing in yourself creatively is the reality of production, what it takes to actually get something off the ground, which usually deals with finances. And sometimes it’s hard to get people to invest in you before you invest in yourself, which makes up your rule number four. Spend all of the money you have on yourself. Exactly. Invest in yourself. Yep. Very low to the bottom of the barrel where I have risked financial risk for my family multiple times to believe in myself and to believe in that the project we’re working on, it will just continue. I didn’t make Just a Dash to sell it at first. I made Just a Dash because I wanted to get Just a Dash. I made the first season of Just a Dash when everyone said no. I had left Vice. I went to LA. I had meetings at every frigging place thinking I had dead set on life. I had It’s Suppertime. I had Munchies. And I was just like, oh. Easy, new show, new me. Yeah, like I’m over here now. And everyone’s like, who the f**k are you? And I was like, oh, okay, cool. Got to the point where I was just like, I’ll pay for myself and start my own YouTube channel. That’s what every single person does. But back then it was like a different thing. I still don’t know how to make content on my phone. Like I meet all these Instagram chefs and people that are making content. I’ve done a couple of collabs and I’m like, you literally just shoot all... Then I’m going to f**k with myself, believe in my friends and believe in the people that I’ve made all these things with. I believe in them. I know that they can make good s**t. I know that I can make good s**t. And I know that people like it. I may not be this valued person to all these networks. The internet, which was my fanbase at that time, enjoyed it and fucked with Just a Dash hard. And as you believed in yourself and as you built out this world, you just continuously go. At the beginning, it was this incredible time of you and your friends making something, doing something, putting it out there. Consistency and Fans It’s all because of the fans. Every day I wake up and I’m so grateful for everybody and everything that’s happened to me. I have spent the last 10 years being very consistent with output on a lot of different fronts. I’ve given a lot of myself to a lot of videos and things all around the world. I’ve gotten that back, that reciprocal, and I think it is a beautiful thing. Being able to be in the game for 10 years, making all these videos and work with so many people... Rule #5: Be Yourself Your fifth and final rule reminds anyone who wants to make their own show to keep this point of view when you’re creating something for yourself. Rule number five, try to be yourself. You are a hundred percent original. Everyone now wants originality, authentic, whatever authentic means anymore. You are original. Don’t try to be me. Don’t try to be something. When I was making Dead Set On Life, I was like, I don’t want to watch Anthony Bourdain shows. Still to this day, I’ve only seen two episodes of anything Bourdain’s ever done. I’ve read all of his books multiple times. I love his books. Of course. But I was just like, if I’m going to be making this stuff, I want to put the blinders on. Now it’s even more difficult because everyone is in their own echo chamber. “Oh, I saw you do this recipe so I’m going to do the same recipe.” Being viral sucks so bad. It’s so whack because I’ve never really been viral. It’s just been this continuous... I’m not at home whipping up f*****g chorizo lasagnas, shrimp cocktails with a sauce from scratch. No, f**k that. Cocktail sauce from scratch is disgusting. I even talked about that on Just a Dash. It was like people that put lemon zest in cocktail sauce. It was like you guys are maniacal. Get out of here. What are you doing? It’s ketchup and horseradish. Maybe Tabasco. Stop it. Closing Matty, I really appreciate not just the show, but you showing people who actually want to get out there and still make something original and authentic how to do it. If people want to watch Just a Dash or see the other things that you’re working on, where can they go? How can they see what you’re up to? Just a Dash is on YouTube still, bi-weekly, new cooking something on YouTube. You can watch all three seasons of Just a Dash on Netflix. You can get my cookbooks wherever you can get cookbooks, I feel. Matty, so good to see you. Congrats on everything. I really do love this show. Hopefully we’ll run into each other somewhere in the world soon. Hey, I’ll see you when I see you buddy. It’s nice to see you right now. It really is. Get full access to Five Rules for the Good Life at fiverules.substack.com/subscribe [https://fiverules.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].