Tyler’s Ultimate, The Great Food Truck Race, Food Court Wars, Food 911, How to Boil Water, Planet Food, All American Festivals and My Country, My Kitchen. If you’ve tuned in to these shows on Food Network, you know a thing or two about Tyler Florence, who has hosted them at one time or another for 18 years. But did you know that the celebrity chef has a kitchen retail shop in California? That he owns three restaurants? Has a line of baby food? Is the author of 12 cookbooks, including Inside the Test Kitchen, slated for release this November? That he will be a main attraction at this year’s Taste of St. Louis? In anticipation of seeing some heated action – along with his quirky grin – during Florence’s cooking demo on the amphitheater stage Sept. 19, we caught up with the busy chef and father of three to ask him our most pressing food questions.
On a recent St. Louis dining experience:
“One place that was a pivotal experience for me as a chef was Adam’s (Smokehouse). I’m on a big barbecue kick … The St. Louis barbecue scene – I could never put my head around it until I went to Adam’s. When they started serving applesauce with barbecue, that’s distinctive. It feels distinctively German. Adam’s opened my eyes to that special, sub-genre barbecue in America.”
On his favorite American regional cuisine:
“I’m from the South, so to me, the food from the American South defines what American is. Things like fried chicken and barbecue are ones I grew up with and appreciate … It’s distinctive, heritage American cookery at its finest.”
On ethnic cuisine:
“I really like Vietnamese food. It’s so dynamic, so delicious. I order pho a lot from the restaurant down the street from my house in California.”
On the impact of social media on the culinary world:
“Social media has allowed everyone to take ideas and share them at a rapid pace. Chefs are getting really talented at a young age to decode plating styles, where before you had to go to the city and experience the restaurant to experience what that restaurant was all about. The downside about this: When young chefs get a chance to be exposed to visual stimulation, what they do miss sometimes is the terroir, the experience, the travel, the battle scars, the story, the emotional connection.”
On strange occurrences while filming a TV program:
“On Food 911, we were up against the elements in a lot of ways. We threw a party at someone’s house every time. You never knew what was going to happen. We got kicked out of a couple of houses. We were in Cleveland shooting a pizza show with this lady. In the middle of shooting, this older lady storms into the house and (said), “What the hell is going on here? Who are you people?” It wasn’t this lady’s house. It was her boyfriend’s mother’s house. She kicked us out.”
On being schooled by a chef:
“Victor Somoro: my culinary instructor at Johnson & Wales. 1989. Sauce and Skills. Knife-cutting skills. Victor picks up my knife, looks at the blade. He says to me, “Dull knife, dull chef.” And he walks away. My knives are always razor-blade (sharp).”
On the culinary lessons he’ll never forget:
“Simplicity and balance are two of the most important lessons I’ve learned. If you don’t have balance, your things are too salty and sweet or too spicy. Simplicity is a really, really powerful word that I’ve taken along with me forever. If you’re really picky about the ingredients, even if they are canned stuff, if you are choosy about what you’re serving … it shows a level of finesse when you can make three or four ingredients into the most special thing in the world.”
On kitchen gadgetry:
“Having a super expensive knife that’s hard to sharpen is more frustrating than having a Victorinox. If you have a down-and-dirty, cheap, good knife you can keep sharp, you’ll use that every night of the week. When I have a sharp knife, I mince an onion and I look down at those perfect squares. That makes me really happy … I grab those kinds of knives more than my $400 Japanese knives.”
This article appears in September 2014.