Matty Matheson: celebrity chef and actor talks new role in 'The Bear' and new cookbook

Published Nov 9, 2024, 10:43 PM

Matty Matheson is best known to TV fans as loveable handyman Neil Fak on hit series The Bear - but he's got plenty of real-world experience in the world of food.

But before he appeared on our screens, he made a name for himself as a celebrity chef - he owns plenty of restaurants, hosts YouTube cooking tutorials, and he's written a few cookbooks of his own.

His newest book Soups, Salads, Sandwiches was released earlier this year, and it promises to give readers plenty of easy recipes that can be recreated at home.

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You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin from News Talks.

Edb Here in New Zealand, we beast know Matty mathieson as lovable handyman Neil Thack on Emmy Award winning show The Bear, But Mattie is actually the only cast member who is a celebrity chef. So for twenty years, Matty has worked in the culinary world. He owns a bunch of restaurants, hosts YouTube cooking shows, and is a cookbook author. Matty has released his third cookbook. It's called Soups, Salads and Sandwiches. Matti Mathison joins me. Now, morning, Mattie, good morning, and how are you really good? Thank you, thank you for being with us. Hey, you say that you had trouble coming up with an idea for this third book, So how did you settle on Soups, salads and Sandwiches.

Well, you know, I was just sitting there and I was just like eating a salad, and you know, as I usually do, I eat lots of salads, avid salad eater. And then I was just like, I wish I was eating soup and a sandwich, you know. And then I was just like, wait, we should make a book about just soup, sooul sandwiches. Nobody really does that, you know, like it's always like overla, It's just like a super solad sand like who cares, you know, but it's just like no, they they deserve their flowers.

You know, chapter on soup, you really give soup high praise. One soup sort of even changed your life.

Yeah, I think I think soup is uh, soup is a beautiful thing. It's it's a you know, we're all made of soup. I think it's like if I could eat you know, FA every day, I would eat FA every day.

You know, it really is. I don't know. I think I'm just a big baby soup boy. You know.

What is it though? Is it? Is it just good for the soul? Can you put everything? Can you have everything in the soup from the broth to actual you know, you know noodles, Yeah, like noodles everything. You know, there's so.

Many things you want, you know that just a velvety, beautiful personate maple soup that's nice. A brothy, spicy beef noodle soup slurping and eating incredible. You know, you want a charred broccoli cheese soup awesome. You know, like this beer. I got a beer cheese soup with like roasted pumpernickle bread. It's like drinking a fond do you know, It's incredible.

It's so true. I love the section on sandwiches because I think most of us, you know, we grow up going to school with these sorry mom, but pretty lousy sandwiches and your lunch box, you know, and you just you get over sandwiches when you're young, and then you just kind of blow the sandwich genre apart in this book. I don't know where I'm gonna start when it comes to making sandwiches.

Well, they're like building buildings, you know, like there's real architecture on building a good sandwich, A soft bun, a toast, and you know, whole wheat, a rye, the filling, cold meat, hot meat, sandwich like fried not.

Fried, grilled.

There's so many things that you can do with sandwiches, you know. I think that it's just like, you know, you want to be able to make something that like when you eat it, it's it's delicious, and it's there's crunch, there's sweetness, there's sour, there's you know, I don't know. It's like sandwiches can be incredible, you know.

And it's a little bit like it sort of turns into a bit of a treble guide as well, because you know, you've got sandwiches from New York and Philly and some of these classics that are North American sandwiches that we're probably not hugely familiar with.

Yeah, Like, I think that's the thing is like, you know, I'm from Canada, so it's the same type of thing like growing up in Canada, you know, part of the whole commonwealth there, And I think it's just like going to the state. I spent so much time in the States. I'm like, these cities have these sandwiches that it's just like we don't eat like that, we don't like you know, and it's just like these sandwiches are so iconic and so powerful and I'm just like just trying to spread the love.

You know.

The key to a salad. I thought this was really interesting. I don't think I've ever read anybody talk about this in a in a cookbook before. And you just go on about the seasoning of a salad.

Well, yeah, people like, you know, God forbid you put salt and pepper on it lettuce, Like it's just like lettuce should have salt and pepper on it, you know, Like it is like a thing that's like everything should be seasoned until it tastes good.

That's it.

Like it's like it's not like one thing determines the other, Like like a perfectly seasoned salad, like even if it was just lettuce greens with oil and vinegar and some like lemon juice and some salt and pepper could be the greatest thing of all time.

I love the way to You include Trecia's chuna salad in this book, and there's these photos of her with this massive pink sort of tup wear that she's filled. And I think all families have that one kind of salad we go to of which we make far too much of. And I don't know it's going to last for lunches for a week or something, But this is this is a real family dish of yours, isn't it.

Yeah, I guarantee you there's a pink bowl right now filled with half tuna salad in there that she's munching on all week.

For sure, everyone has something they love and hate about cooking. I really hate it when I have guessed over and they stand in the kitchen and watch me cook. That just does my head. And what about you?

I really don't like doing dishes. I'll cook all day. I'll cook all day, I will do everything. I'll even clean up, but like just doing the dishes just I'm like, I don't want to do everything, you know. So I'm like, I'm happy to cook. I will cook twenty four hours straight, like if we're doing Thanksgiving or if we're doing Christmas like a big thing, I'll cook everything. I'll do everything. I'll do everything, But I'm like doing the dishes. I just want to lay on the couch and like go into a comba. You know.

I kind of thought that was global etiquette when it came to hospitality and things like. You know, the chief shouldn't never have to do the dishes. That is the role for someone else, right.

Yeah, you know Trish that no I think, yeah.

No, okay, so you doping to do a few dishes.

No, we we like to split it up, you know.

Yeah. I really loved as well. In the intro of the book, you talk about how it's absolutely fine that cooking should make you uncomfortable which I think is another really nice, sort of practical, realistic thing to say, because I'm often I often launched do something and just go, I have no idea how this is going to turn out, and it's actually really nice. You just go, that's totally fine, that it's normal. We all get like that.

Yeah.

Well, I think every time you cook something, it's still for the first time, you know, like everything makes a difference, you know, And I think especially in the home, like you start cooking something when of your kids runs in and does something. Then you run away and you burn the onions or you do something, and then like something's happening, and like every time you're doing something, But it's just like cooking is a crab. It is a trade, you know, it is a skill. So it is like, you know, any I think good worthwhile shouldn't be easy.

You know.

I read that out of all the things you do, you like to keep the books as close to who you truly are. So what does this book say about you?

I love my family and I love making uh, soup, salad, sandwiches, you know, like I think it's just like I love making you know, I love making tasty sandwiches. I love making salads. I love making soups like I love, I genuinely do. That's what I make most of the time. I usually definitely make a salad every day, you like, whenever we're making as a family, like we always try to have a salad of some sort.

You know.

So I think I think this book is you know, I'm not really at home making elaborate, chefy, you know, dishes.

I'm not.

I got three kids at home. I need to make grilled cheeses like I want to share. I'm making tuna melts. I'm making like food that everybody eats and make it like, you know, like I think I don't. I think most chefs aren't cooking what they're making at theirs. You know, at a restaurant, you got all your chefs to help you make it, you know. At home, it's just like this just makes something tasty and yummy. It makes you feel good.

I do love all the photos in the book. Are they from your home? I believe that you were on a farm on Ontario and Ontario.

Yeah, yeah, that's all like like we shot, you know, we shot all the stuff, all the lifestyle stuff and like all that. We were on the farm for about a week and then and then we shot all the studio stuff another week.

I love the wood fid bath.

It's a nice thing, you know. It's a toasty little it's a toasty little spot.

Yeah, No, that was awesome. I wonder how important it is to you to have a place like that to go, especially, I mean these days, you know, you're very very well known. Is it nice to have a place like that to come home, to be to feel grounded in?

It's the best. There's nothing better.

Like it really is lucky, Like we found a beautiful farm in our hometown where me and my wife are from, and.

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, Like, we're.

Very lucky to have found that house and kind of found our forever home the first time.

You know, it really is amazing.

I love it. Just reminded me. I love the photo of you too, when you're young like this you reenacted it. How old were you guys? Like high school sweethearts or something?

Yeah, we went to Prome together.

Oh gorgeous. No, I love that photo. You don't know, Hardy, look like you've aged.

Look.

I love the beer. It is such a great sh being hugely popular. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got involved because you weren't initially in the cast. Is that correct?

Uh yeah, Like I think they already cast a bunch of people, and then I was brought on as like a consultant and then grew into a producer and executive producer roles, and then uh yeah, Chris was just like, Chris is my friend, you know, Like I didn't have to audition, Like Chris just called me.

It was just like, we want you to play this role. I don't think it was going to be a big role.

And then it turned into maybe, you know, it has turned into a bigger role, and yeah, like Chris was just like, can you act? And I was just like, I don't know. I don't think so, but maybe. And I was just like and that's honestly, like, I'm just lucky that my friend called me.

You know, did you feel uncomfortable? Was that an uncomfortable and you're working on sick Okay, hang on, what do I do? How do I do this?

Dude?

The very first, the very first, Like it's one of those things where I was very comfortable working with the chefs, working with the actors, working with all the departments on making the show, Like that's like a collaborative creative thing that I'm used to making restaurants and working with teams, and it's amazing. But then it's like, okay, now it's like you gotta shoot your scene. I gotta go stand next to Jeremy Allen White and talk about some friggin ball breaker arcade game. And I'm just like, ah, man.

It was crazy.

Like you're the first time and they're like action and You're like wait, and I start like laughing because I'm like, okay, action, and then it's just like no, it's for everyone.

Starts one starts acting and you're like what, Like we're just having to we're just onside hanging out. Like now we're over here, we're acting. I was like, what's going on? You guys are crazy? But that's like, it's amazing. It really is.

It's a cool thing to be able to do something you've never done before and be surrounded by such professionals. And they gave me the same kind of reciprocal I was helping them do cooking stuff, they're helping me do acting and really spend some time with me and really got me to a really nice place.

I think you know absolutely, the show kind of gives you. I well, I'm king to hear your thoughts on this. Just how realistic is it? Because it doesn't look like the kind of environment that a lot of people would like to work in. How close to reality is it working in a kitchen like that.

It all depends if you got a jerk chep or not. I think, like, once again, we're making a television show. I think that we have somebody who has a lot of emotional and mental damage. He's coming home to take over his, you know, his brother's restaurant, who's passed away through something pretty.

Violent and doesn't know how to deal with anything.

Doesn't know how like just being able to cook well, like Carmie can, Krmi can cook well? Can he truly lead? It doesn't seem so he's trying to figure it out. I think there's a lot of people around him that believe on him. I think there's a lot of people that don't give up on him, and I think he doesn't give up on them. And I think they're all in this weird, you know, toxic little world. And I hope there's not a lot of restaurants like that, And I you know, I didn't work in a lot. I worked in like pretty intense restaurants, but you know, it's I never worked in a restaurant where it was a family owned business like that, you know where, and especially in the circumstances that the bears place once again. And it is a television show, and I think some of the realities are real, and some of the things are about a character who's been written for television.

You have a host of restaurants yourself. I know that you've got a lot going on the cookbook, merchandise lines, acting. When it comes to the restaurants, of course, it's just been such a difficult time for hospitality over the last few years post COVID. How things were you are?

You know, we're we're putting back the pieces, you know, we're putting back to pieces. We're trying to give people a beautiful experience and trying to make people feel welcomed and feel part of something, and trying to be consistent with the love and service that we give and the food quality that we put out into our restaurants. And I think we're in a really good place, to be honest, you know, I'm very filled with gratitude of our restaurants and the amount of people that are going to them and our staff that are working as hard as they are, and you know, I'm really I'm really proud of our restaurants and what we're doing, and you know a lot of them. Like before the pandemic, I didn't have any restaurants, you know, and now I got a couple, and and it's it's an amazing thing. The pandemic birth my restaurants.

I went.

I couldn't do anything else. I had to go back to just feeding people. And it really sparked my love of food and my love like really like I was just like, no matter what happens, I guess I can. I can go to the end of my driveway and sell a sandwich or sell some barbecue, and I can like provide for my family. Like that's what it got to during the pandemic where I had to do my barbecue pop up and from there I opened parts from their Maddie's Patties and Cafe rang and you know Prime Seafood Palace and Rizos House a Palm and like all these restaurants and it's just like I didn't have those. I didn't They were birth from me finding my love of restaurants again. And like you know, I was in a chef for you know, almost seven years, and then and then I had to stay home for a while, and then I had to figure out how to provide for my family. And food gave me that that that opportunity. I can go out, I can cook, and I can provide for my family. And that's what we did.

Look, I'm glad that you managed to find the time to write another cookbook for us as well. Thank you so much for the book, a very generous cookbook, and thank you so much for your time. Really nice to talk to you.

Thank you. I love New Zealand.

It was many methes and celebrity chef and Neil Feck from Emmy Award winning show The Bear his new cookbook Soups, Salads and Sandwiches and tell me what the sandwiches are remarkable. It is in stores now.

For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rutken, listen live to news Talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

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