You will feel better after reading this interview with Michael Symon
"Be a little bit nicer to people than you usually are. Be smart but not crippled in fear. And we’ll get through it."
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When I had Bobby Flay on the newsletter, he called fellow Iron Chef Michael Symon his “best friend,” which made my day, because I’m used to hearing about famous duos that secretly have beef. Think about it: Lennon and McCartney. Avon and String. Brady and Belichick. None of these stories have happy endings.
So after Bobby hung up the phone, I went on a deep dive to determine whether their friendship withstood scrutiny—and let me tell you: They passed with flying colors.
I watched Bobby and Michael make grilled cheese on local news in 2015.
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I watched them rib each other on the Today Show—where Michael claimed Bobby’s rub was “discounted” at the store, prompting Bobby to respond: “It reminds me of your books at Barnes and Noble.”
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And then, I watched them make up.
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I even found a clip of Michael talking about the short period of time during which he was roommates with Bobby—and I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s one of the best descriptions of friendship I’ve ever heard.
“Bobby and I have been best friends for 20 years,” Michael explained, “but when you’re roommates with someone, you start being like: Where have you been? You’re working too many hours! I was worried sick last night; you didn’t text!”
“The other day,” Michael recalled, “Bobby was getting ready to leave, and I was like: ‘It’s gonna be hot! Make sure to wear sunblock!’”
They say don’t meet your heroes—and, in general, you probably shouldn’t spend hours watching them on YouTube either. But the closer I’ve looked at Bobby and Michael, the more I’ve liked them. They’re real friends; and they’re the real deal.
Over the past few days, Michael has been cooking recipes on Food Network’s Facebook Live—which are designed to be easy to make during quarantine. They use very limited ingredients; and you don’t need to have much cooking experience to whip them up. Here’s his suggested shopping list:
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But Michael also makes sure to note that his recipes are “flexible based off of what you have in your kitchen and what is available in your local grocery stores.” So, no matter what ingredients you have on hand, you can spend your nights cooking with (and like) an Iron Chef.
Here’s his pasta bake recipe:
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And here’s his recipe for Sloppy Joe tacos.
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You can watch him make both of those dishes, and many more, on Food Network Live’s Facebook Page, where he’s cooking every day at 5pm ET.
“It’s not going to be fancy,” Michael told me. “It’s what people want to probably eat right now, what they can afford to eat right now, what they’re able to get right now.”
So, check out those Facebook Lives, but first, read my interview with him, which I hope will brighten up your day, just as it did mine.
What he cooked when he found out work was cancelled
Michael: I get in the car, drive to the city, get through the tunnel, and my phone rings, and Food Network is like, “They just cancelled everything.” And they’re like, “What do you wanna do?” I’m like, “I’m gonna go to my apartment, have two espressos, get in the car in thirty minutes, and I’ll go back to my family.”
So I got in the car going back, I called my wife, and I’m like, “Honey, I’m going to be home way earlier than expected, and I’m going to stop at the store, and I’m getting chicken and potatoes and spinach and I’m just making roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach.” Nothing fancy here tonight, just good old-fashioned Midwestern Comfort Food.
Everyone asks, “What would your last meal be?” I always say, “my mom’s lasagna.” But I didn’t have five hours, so I made roast chicken, which, to me, is like one of America’s great comfort foods. And you can have it on the table in under an hour.
How to make Roast Chicken in under an hour
Michael: My tactic is super-hot and fast. So I actually turn my oven up to, like, 500. Let the chill come off the chicken a bit, dry it really good. If I had time time, I’d salt it the night before and leave it uncovered in the fridge to really dry out the skin so the skin gets really crisp. If not, I just season the outside pretty aggressively, stuff the cavity with some, like, garlic, lemon, and a whole bunch of fresh bay leaves, rub the whole thing with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and just let it rip.
Takes about 45, 50 minutes. Pull it out, let it rest, and perfect.
READ: Michael Symon’s roast chicken recipe.
How to make mashed potatoes with four ingredients
Michael: I cook the potatoes. When they’re soft, I drain them, and then for every pound of potatoes, I whip in about half as much butter and sea salt. I’ve trained all over France and stuff, so it’s like Pomme Purée, super buttery. When I started dating my wife almost thirty years ago, I made her the mashed potatoes. She’s like, “Oh my god, these things are so good, I’ve never had mashed potatoes this good.”
Eight years later, she came into the kitchen, and she actually witnessed me making the mashed potatoes. She’s like, “Did you always put in that much butter?! Jesus Christ, what are you doing to me?!” I was like, “Oh, honey, they’ve always been this way.” Which is why I’m not as slender as Bobby. Maybe he puts two-percent milk in his potatoes. I just do potatoes, butter, sea salt, a little bit of nutmeg, and that’s it.
READ: Michael Symon’s Brown-Butter Mashed Potatoes. (Unlike the potato recipe he described to me, this one includes a bit of creme fraiche.)
If your grocery store is sold out, check out your bodega (if you have one)
Michael: I know every city doesn’t have this—but I couldn’t find things at a regular grocery store, and then I went to a local bodega, and they were loaded with stuff. Totally stocked. So I bought, like, tomatillo purée. They had every canned thing you could imagine. They were stocked. So maybe people should look a little outside their traditional shopping habits.
“I want to know what the hell I’m going to do with all this Cream of Mushroom soup.” — a reader named Richard Haussmann
Michael: I’m a midwestern kid, so Cream of Mushroom soup was, like—people actually wrote cookbooks on how to use Cream of Mushroom soup. So there’s a casserole—very popular throughout middle America—with cream of mushroom soup. You literally take either frozen or fresh green beans, coat them in the mushroom soup, put bread crumbs on top, and bake them in the oven. If you want to get really fancy with it, you could put some of those canned fried onions on top. The full midwestern delight.
You can also pan-sear chicken thighs, legs, and breasts, hit it with a little bit of white wine, then the mushroom soup, and braise them in that. You could use it as a braising liquid for pretty much any meat. So if you want to do pork chops, chicken, beef, pick a protein and braise away. Anything in the casserole department, mushroom soup will work for.
Where you should donate (if you can)
We’ve always worked very closely with No Kid Hungry. We’ve always worked with Blessings in a Backpack. But I think that the biggest thing right now—especially if this lasts, and the schools get cancelled—you have to remember that there’s a lot of kids below the poverty line that get two hot meals a day at school. So I would just say, look to your local food banks.
Look to any of those areas and try to have an impact locally. Support and do your part locally. Every city has a food bank. We do things with the Cleveland food bank. I actually just did something with the New Hampshire food bank. Go to your local food bank, see what they need—whether it’s canned goods, maybe a little bit of help timewise. Just do what you can.
We’ll get through this. That’s one things about people and Americans. We’re a resilient bunch. Be a little bit nicer to people than you usually are. Be smart but not crippled in fear. And we’ll get through it.
Homecooking Hacks
After the Bobby Flay newsletter came out, I saw this tweet in my mentions:
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Holy shit, I thought, this food looks good.
Thankfully, the chef responsible for it, Emily Sandler, has agreed to share a couple of her recipes with our readers. One shows you how to make a Pesto Vegetable Frittata. The other is a simple recipe for mini-lemon pies. Both seem great.
I also want to shout out one of my oldest friends, Jack Minton, for making Nicholas Morgenstern’s “Apocalypse Sundae,” topped with New God Flow-inspired caramelized bread. If you missed the Morgenstern newsletter, definitely take a look at it. This dish only requires around four ingredients.
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Support: Grovehouse Family Fund
My friends Sean Feeney and Missy Robbins, who own Lilia and Misi in New York City, are raising money to take care of their staff during this difficult time. They are great human beings; and this is a great cause, so I hope you support them if you can. Donate here.
If you need something to watch...
...check out Massimo Bottura’s Instagram Lives from quarantine in Italy. He’s one of the best chefs in the world; and this is exactly the content we need right now.
Also, Massimo, if you see this, I’d be honored to feature you on this newsletter. (And I promise: I won’t do a rigorous fact-check on your friendships.)
Until next time…