Andrew McLeod – Cooking is an Exercise in Practicality

Chef Andrew McLeod Avenue M

What we covered in this episode

Chef Andrew McLeod from Avenue M talks about the challenge of launching a new menu when a customer base
How did he balance the business need to keep classics on the menu and the desire to add his own creations?
Chef Andrew McLeod says that cooking is an exercise in practicality and not a series of creations from an artist.
Avenue M's menu features locally sourced ingredients. Chef Andrew McLeod takes us through the relationship with local farmers and purveyors.
He shares his passion for Salumi and Pasta.
Chef Andrew McLeod describes the concept of the Sunday Supper Series created during the pandemic.
He talks about his sources of inspiration and his creative process.
Chef Andrew McLeod mentions his latest ingredient obsession: mushroom pellets.
He describes his experience with chef Sean Brock.
Chef Andrew McLeod talks about addiction issues in the industry and the need for recovery and asking for help.
Series of rapid-fire questions.
Link to the podcast episode on Apple Podcast https://bit.ly/Andrew_McLeod

Links to other episodes in the Appalachian region

Conversation with Chef Matt Bolus in Nashville

Covid-19: 3 Chefs respond with Chef Ian Boden

Episode with Chef Edward Lee

: Sausage BBQ Chef Andrew McLeod

: Freshly cased and tied n’duja Chef Andrew McLeod

: Hot chicken dumpling soup Chef Andrew Mc Leod

: Salt roasted carrots dressed in a chimichurri of the tops, cranberry, and ricotta

: Salami cotto with castelvetrano olive, Calabrian chili and toasted almond

: Ricotta caratelli with Nduja sugo Avenue M

: Avenue M – Brown butter apple cake with black apple and cream cheese

: Smoked beet cake with beet cream cheese frosting – Avenue M

Submitted questions from podcast listeners

Quick and easy pasta recipes with few ingredients.

A recipe from Chef McLeod. “That's a really easy kind of one pot deal or one pan deal that I like to do sometimes is either farfalle or macaroni or whatever, kind of dry noodle that you have laying around to cook that. While you're doing that, render some sausage, some breakfast sausage, like hot and spicy Jake's breakfast sausage, or something like that in a pan. Toss in some kale or torn up collard greens or turnip greens, or whatever you have around and glaze that in the sausage fat. Drain off some of the fat, add a little bit of cream to the pan and toss your pasta with it and crush it with some Parmesan cheese and fine herbs and lemon juice. That's a really good, if you got twenty minutes for a quick dinner or a lunch meal.”

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During the pandemic, people are more into comfort food, and the old classics that are on the menu resonate with them.

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I don't view a dish as something that I created or that we created as a team, or that comes inherently from a creative place. I really feel that cooking is an exercise in practicality.

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My understanding of a chef is that you've sourced the best product that you can from the best place that you can. That's your responsibility to figure out how to translate that into something that somebody wants to eat.

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Most people that are serious about cooking have had periods where they really had an inflated sense of themselves. I was certainly one of those people that was really trying to do things that were far beyond my skill set and trying to be in places that I didn't belong to.

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Chef Sean Brock always had the PIE theory – Product, Ideas, and Execution. That's something that was really important in our development as chefs and managers working with him.

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You can’t properly express anything creatively without proper technique and fundamentals.

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I'm a really open-source guy. I don't believe in secrets in the kitchen.

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Filled pasta is always my favorite kind to make by hand. That's where I feel like I just have the most satisfaction of working with my hands.

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Chef Sean Brock is the biggest influence that I'll ever have. He's the first person that allowed me to come in and see a real kitchen. I was never the same after that day. It just sparked me in the direction that I currently am still in.

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