Shortly after walking into Birmingham's beloved Hot and Hot Fish Club recently to chat with Chef Chris Hastings, I was greeted by a warm smile, a firm handshake and a bottle of sparkling San Pellegrino by the Chef himself. As far as culinary royalty goes, Chef Hastings is certainly on that list. He's a James Beard winning, Iron Chef conquering, seafood loving, PB & J eatin', passionate and inspiring chef. Read on as he talks about his most unforgettable meal, what it was like competing against Bobby Flay, his awesome advice for serious home cooks, and lots more...
Let's start with what everyone wants to know about
a phenomenal chef: What are at least 5
items that you always have stocked in your home kitchen?
- Collection of fresh herbs
- Seasonal fruits and vegetables
- Good olive oils, grains and vinegars, or what
I call a well-stocked "larder".
Larder being an old term for your cellar or where you store dried
goods.
- Interesting sauces, whether they be a sriracha,
hoisin or hot-sauce. Things that
are in that go-to that I may not necessarily make myself. A well-stocked pantry is very important.
- A six pack of beer from Back Forty Beer Co.
- Red wine
Julia Child's world was changed by a simple dish of
perfectly cooked Sole Meuniere. In fact,
she described the dish as "...the most exciting meal of my
life". Tell me about your most
unforgettable meal.
I tend to think first and
most often about the meals that I had with my family when I was a child. I was responsible for going out and catching the
seafood, and then my mother, grandmother and aunts would cook all of the local vegetables
and we'd have these amazing spreads of steamed crabs, oysters, flounder, and
shrimp. We'd eat it all family style on
a big, huge open table. Those are the
things that I remember as most impactful, certainly as a young person, that
made me super aware of the value, power and magic of food, and the hope of
great food.
"Those are the
things that I remember as most impactful, certainly as a young person, that
made me super aware of the value, power and magic of food, and the hope of
great food."
Professionally, I had a
great meal in a restaurant in Venice
called Da Fiore. I'll never forget - I had been to the Rialto market that morning and saw all the
beautiful ingredients. It was a
mind-blowing experience. Then, that
evening we went and had a wonderful meal there where we had the famed soft-shelled
crabs from Venice. We also had a squid-ink risotto that was
still to this day one of my most distinct food memories. We had a beautiful orange gelato for dessert
that had an amazing texture and flavor.
What I remember most about those things is that they were so simple, yet
so delicious and were executed perfectly.
It wasn't particularly fancy, but it was just perfect risotto, perfect
soft-shelled crabs and perfect gelato.
Having been to the market that morning and seeing all those ingredients
really tied together a lot of things for me and the value and importance of it,
which was amazing.
The farm-to-table philosophy is such an incredibly
important concept. What are some key
points about this philosophy that you think readers should know?
Farm-to-table for me, is
the way we do business. It's at the core
of what we do. One of the most asked
questions I get is, "How do I access the ingredients you, the chef,
use?" One of the things in the chef
industry is how do we solve a problem that is an increasingly worrisome food
supply, where we don't know the chemicals going into food and there's no
oversight or regulations on chemicals put into food, processed foods and on labeling? We're seeing some really negative results
from these things, such as an increase in Asperger Syndrome and ADHD. We instinctively know that what we eat affects
our health, and it's just not complicated.
What I hope for is that through this farm-to-table movement that we
champion here, we can, one purveyor at a time, help businesses not only become
recognized, but expand the community's knowledge that they're here and that they
show up at farmers' markets and people begin to discover them. The next thing you know, the network that is
right now just a restaurant network becomes a community's food supply over
time. But, that takes a long time. So, what you have to do is approach it one
bite at a time. You plant a seed today
and hope that your children's children may live in a world where that seed is a
mature tree and they lie under that tree and enjoy a life that is healthier, and
that access to better foods is the norm, not the privilege of the wealthy. The farm-to-table concept affords me the best
products in the world. I get to play
with them everyday and have an amazing time being involved with these
people. My hope is that, after I'm long
gone, this movement will be evolved and mature enough to solve a lot of
problems that I think are tough issues for our country.
"You plant a seed today
and hope that your children's children may live in a world where that seed is a
mature tree and they lie under that tree and enjoy a life that is healthier, and
that access to better foods is the norm, not the privilege of the wealthy."
Where do you stand on the organic vs. not-organic
debate?
I'm not a hardliner about
organic only. Some chemicals, if used
properly, are good. It's when you know
what the chemicals can do and how their properties work, and that they have a
toxicity period and become non-harmful because it deteriorates over time. Then,
I'm okay with that. As long as it's
handled well and properly. Would I love
things to be more sustainable and organic?
Absolutely. But I understand some
of the challenges of farming. Where I
get a little more concerned is there are challenges when saying "Well, it's
strictly all organic." It's
difficult for farming communities to go from what they've done for the last
75-100 years to not doing chemicals at all.
There has to be a transitional moment.
I just want good quality produce, and animals that have been treated in
a healthy environment where they're allowed to eat things that aren't loaded up
with hormones and chemicals. I worry
less about agricultural chemicals than I do about processed chemicals. I think that's a big concern. As long as you aren't using chemicals that
are carried over to your food. I worry
about the modification of the genetics.
That seems unsafe and no one really knows about the long-term affects.
Seasonality is also important. Simple meals made from the very best,
seasonal ingredients are always the best...hands-down . How has seasonality been an inspiration to
you, and how has it been a restriction?
Seasonality has no
restrictions for us, because we have such a network of purveyors around the
south and the country that we use.
Twenty years ago it was a little more challenging, because we just
didn't have the vast network of farmers, and people who raised chickens, goats,
pigs...you name it. That infrastructure
took a minute to discover, to support and have time to grow, so that it was big
enough to not only support their families but then enough to produce to sell to
numerous restaurants.
Everybody is quick to fawn
over the chef, but who are the heroes of the chefs? Those are the purveyors...The people who give
their life to doing something exceptionally well. Whether that's raising oysters, chickens,
vegetables, heritage breed animals, make cheese, and on and on. These people are where I get my inspiration,
and I'm so indebted to them for their passion and commitment, because we
couldn't do what we aspire to do without them.
They are our real heroes. They're
an extension of our family.
"Everybody is quick to fawn
over the chef, but who are the heroes of the chefs? Those are the purveyors..."
When it comes to developing new recipes, what
inspires you the most?
The ingredients themselves
and their flavors. For example, when you
taste the first-of-the-season crawfish, ramps, shad roe, and all kinds of
things, tasting them and thinking about them in relation to those things that
are available now gives us a lot of inspiration, because you taste it and go,
"Wow!". Maybe it's been a year
since you've tasted it last. We don't
serve things unless they're in their height.
Tasting that first-of-the-season ingredient is a wonderful reminder of
those flavors and how we combine them and respect those flavors. At the end of the day, you can't put together
food that's a whole bunch of food thrown together on a plate. You have to put it together in a logical
fashion that allows each one of the flavors to be realized individually, but yet
eaten together is a real WOW moment for the guest. That's not easily accomplished. You do it partly through good technique, the
combination of ingredients, and textural contrast. You also have to bring some balance in terms
of fat and acid to the table. There's a
lot of moving parts to a really well-executed dish, even if it's only a handful
of ingredients you have to think through a number of things to make it that WOW
moment.
Is there a particular culinary trend for 2013 that
you're most excited about?
I think that a healthy
focus on eating and vegetables being a bigger part of the ratio of what you eat
is changing. I think people are getting
away from having a big ole' giant piece of protein and then a little bit of
vegetables. I think a shift is taking place and a more balanced approach is the
becoming the norm.
I see particularly the
younger generation very concerned and interested in what's going into their
body, where their food is accessed from, learning how to cook better, caring
more about the provenance of their food.
I think that's a really healthy trend.
If you could eat dinner tonight anywhere in the
world, where would it be and what would you order?
In the USA, I'd go eat with Daniel
Patterson at COI Restaurant. I think
he's doing really great work. I've also
never eaten at Paul Bocuse's restaurant, and I think that would be
worthwhile. I would want to eat at the
very best restaurant in Japan...There's
a noodle guy in Japan
(I forget his name because I can't pronounce it), and I'd love to eat
there. That's a tough question, because
there's so many great restaurants.
Good! You may know that the Gulf is the most tested
and regulated water in the world due to that spill. The science has been really good on the samples
of fish and shellfish out of the Gulf, particularly Alabama seafood. We're really interested in getting this
amazing, delicious and healthy seafood into the hands of people who, because of
the oil spill, may have decided to give it a rest until they're certain that
it's okay...And it's fine. We have to
train people to get back into the habit of asking the important question of
where your seafood is from. For example,
80% of shrimp on the market in America
is imported. Where is your fish
from? You've got the same problem. You've got a lot of fish from other countries
being dumped onto our market that are farm-raised and aren't regulated well,
which is scary from a chemical stand-point.
We want people to ask themselves these important questions, so that they
can get the best quality and support their local communities. It takes us back to the hope of future
generations. You want your children's
children to be able to go anywhere in their community and get great stuff. Always ask for wild-caught Alabama shrimp and fin fishes. Know who your oystermen and fishermen are and
try to really support that. If we don't
make a conscious decision to support those people and the chain is broken and a
generation drops out of the supply side because business drops and they can't
support their family, there's not going to be somebody to step into those shoes
and fill it. College graduates don't
become oystermen and fishermen. So,
we've got to recognize that Gulf seafood has been part of our identity and love
of where we are and then realize that if we don't want those traditions to
disappear than we have to make a cognizant decision when we go to the grocery
store to buy wild-caught Alabama
shrimp, oysters, fin fishes, crabs and all of that. If we don't take a personal responsibility
for everybody out there, than shame on us because it will go away.
"We've got to recognize that Gulf seafood has been part of our identity and love
of where we are and then realize that if we don't want those traditions to
disappear than we have to make a cognizant decision when we go to the grocery
store to buy wild-caught Alabama
shrimp, oysters, fin fishes, crabs and all of that."
With a James Beard award and also a win against
Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America under your belt, the past year has been
incredible. With such an outstanding
career, do you have any plans to open additional restaurants in the future?
It's been an awesome
year! Yes, we are actually. We're looking to expand our brand a little
bit. So, we're going about the process
of figuring it out now, so it's an exciting time.
So tell me, what was it like beating Bobby Flay on
Iron Chef?
That was a really cool
experience because you don't get invited everyday. That's just one of those things in our world
that is very special. I had never really
thought about it until they called. It
was such a surreal experience. After it
happened and we had actually won, we couldn't say anything to anybody. It was like, "What just happened?? Oh my gosh, what does this mean??" It was hard to really get your brain around
what it meant until people started to react.
Letters poured in from all around, particularly the South. What I realized from this outpouring of
emotion was that people were really proud, they were from a southern
perspective and loved seeing someone put a really good face on a southern
person and business. You know, a lot of
times we get painted in a different light.
That show really represented the farming community and the food that's
produced here. If you saw the show, you
could really tell that this was food from somewhere special. Alabamians were really proud, southerners
were really proud, and of course we were too.
We didn't go into that whole thing with the idea that our goal was to
beat Bobby Flay. We said winning for us
is not defined by beating the Iron Chef, it's defined by representing
ourselves, our brand, our state and our region in an honest, real way. We worked really hard to think about how we
wanted to present food. We took pottery
from Earthborn Pottery, moon shine, local vegetables and fruits. We applied our sensibilities so that when the
judges ate it and you saw the effort that went into it, it was very clearly
whom we are and where we're from. It
worked. Without the pressure of winning,
it allowed us to win.
What would people be surprised to find in your
kitchen?
I have a bunch of game
that I've shot. It might also surprise
people that peanut butter & jelly is my favorite sandwich after work. That might be a shocker. I like black raspberry or blackberry jam and
smooth Jif. That's kind of my late night
pleasure. That might surprise some
folks.
What advice would you give a serious home cook?
Don't be afraid to develop
your own style and your own personal approach to food. I find that home cooks are unconfident and so
bought into the recipe that they can't change anything. Food is not that way. A recipe is a guideline, unless you're
baking. You need to approach it in a way
that's not so anxiety ridden. Relax and
enjoy the process and channel your inner chef.
Just go with it and enjoy it.
Cooking should be that. That is
the hope of the process, that it's a cathartic, relaxing, enjoyable journey
through a creative process that allows you to evolve your thinking, gain some
knowledge, develop confidence and begin to think about what you really like and
enjoy in cooking. The last thing I'll
say, is that to produce good food you need good ingredients, but you also need
to understand a balance between fat and acid - olive oil and lemon juice, white
wine and butter, vinegar and olive oil.
That balance and understanding and how you use it in a judicious way to
brighten and intensify flavor so it's maximized is really important.
"That is
the hope of the process, that it's a cathartic, relaxing, enjoyable journey
through a creative process that allows you to evolve your thinking, gain some
knowledge, develop confidence and begin to think about what you really like and
enjoy in cooking."
Thanks again to Chef Hastings, for taking the time to meet with me!! His restaurant can be found at:
Hot and Hot Fish Club
2180 11th Court South
Birmingham, Alabama 35205
Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday
5:30-10:00pm
Phone:
205-933-5474
Website:
http://www.hotandhotfishclub.com/
Cookbook:
http://www.hotandhotfishclub.com/cookbook/
