Get To Know Brad Leone

Brad Leone wants you to go outside. Not right at this moment. But, like, generally. He also wants you to know that you’re a better cook than you think you are. Which is nice, isn’t it? I’m passing on these messages because I was lucky enough to interview Brad the other week and got to catch up with the New Jersey native about all things food, drink, and cooking with fire.

For those of you who didn’t spend their lockdowns watching Bon Appétit YouTube videos on repeat: Brad is a cook, bestselling author, and internet personality. He’s one of the many Bon Appétit alumni who has managed to build a successful solo career for himself, embracing his outdoors persona through cookbooks like Field Notes for Food Adventure and popular YouTube series such as ‘Makin’ It’ and ‘Local Legends’.

Some internet chefs are intent on getting you to buy and eat a worrying amount of butter. Brad, on the other hand, is dead set on showing you how to be a little more yourself in the kitchen while also teaching you a little bit more about the world around you. He wants you to think about where your produce is actually coming from and pay your respects to the people growing it.

Whether he’s speaking to chefs looking to improve food service in the American school system, finding out how cast iron actually works, or showing you how to construct the perfect pork roll, Brad does what he does best with a clear understanding and passion for people. He’s been described as having “Golden Retriever energy” but I think that even cat people will be won over by his friendly patter. Here’s what happened when Mob met Brad Leone:

It's been great, to be honest. There's pros and cons of having your own business but the pros certainly outweigh the cons. It's nice to be able to put in the work and you really get what you put into it and there's no bullshit in that. I'm certainly not a one-man show, though. Thank God. I’ve got a great team of so many talented people. So, it is kind of like being in a band because we all do our jobs well and then we’re also just getting to work together and getting to know each other better. We’re still in the phase of figuring out our own style and voice for making videos and storytelling together. The first pancake is never the best but it’s awesome to be able to grow and, I think, get better at what I'm trying to do with people I trust.

Yeah, I do think it helped kind of swing the pendulum. I mean, people have always been going outside. But I feel like there is a – I don't wanna say global because there’s a lot of different cultures who have been doing it for a long time – but, you know, I'll speak for myself and my world: which is America. There is a bigger reach and pull for people to go outside and, more importantly, and what I like to focus on with both of my shows is like where food is coming from and who's responsible for it outside of just chefs. There's a whole big chain of people that if you're not growing your stuff or whatever. I love doing that too. Being able to showcase those passions and trades that people are dedicating their lives to that really do make all the difference in the world. And like you mentioned, when people were shut down for a while, there was a greater desire to get back out.

That whole lockdown, at least in America, really did expose how fragile the food system is. Especially an industrialised one where there were only five or six mega plants that are doing all these things. And when they shut down, the food turns awful for a lot of people. Being able to just highlight and showcase the importance and people are better cooks and better gardeners than I think a lot of folks give themselves credit for. It's in our DNA.

When it comes to the culinary space, Bourdain is a huge one. He was an inspiration for a lot of people. And then I really did like Alton Brown as well. I forget the name of the show he had [Good Eats], but it was real scientific. He was quirky. He was fun. He was a real personality. As for Bourdain, he's known mainly as a chef and for his great books. But his shows, you know, although they were food oriented – with food just being this universal language, like music – it was really a show about humans. He went into cultures and showed how something like food can transcend governments and oceans and cultures and religion. It's a universal language.

Yeah, it’s funny. I guess it's a bit like how Europe has so many different countries in it. I mean, America's got so many beautiful places and, especially when you talk about outdoor worlds and ecosystems and forests – we got two oceans and we got the Gulf of Mexico and we got anacondas and crocodiles and we got elk and bison and incredible seafood and then these big great plains and deserts. It’s a pretty diverse nation. We got really interesting neighbours, you know. It's a really fun spot. I really enjoy being able to cook and travel and I've been really fortunate to be able to cook and travel and hang out with people all over just our country alone. Whether it's cooking or finding out how people grow garlic or make steel skillets in their basement – I love all of that.

I don't feel like it did happen overnight. Like, hell, I barely graduated high school. I like writing but I didn't do well in English class. I'm more of a creative writer, as we like to say. I was doing construction until I was 27 years old before I took out a loan and found an apartment in Brooklyn where I went to a culinary school. And then, you know, I was cooking in restaurants and did an internship at Bon Appétit. I wanted to do something more than just restaurants, though. Because it’s freaking hard work. And I knew – from working at a few greasy spoons and some turn and burn kind of places – that I didn't want to work the line or be a chef. I'm grateful for my time at Bon Appétit – we had a good run, we had some awesome people, and we made some excellent videos together. Again, it was just like the right little bubble at the right time there. But then to be able to take that experience and grow and build my own stuff? It's scary. And exciting. And I want to continue to get better at it and I would love for it to be as big as possible.

Oh, probably like a good salad. Salads are really underrated. People love them but people don't really like to make them. A good salad and a solid dressing can go a long way. Knowing how to make a good fried chicken is a great skill, too. Same goes for searing a good bit of meat – whether it's a pork chop or a steak or whatever you want to eat. I think just learning how to do that properly – salting it a day ahead of time, preheating your skillet – small things like that make all the difference. I'm a simple cook, but I like really good ingredients. And I truly believe you're a better cook than you think you are. We're not doing brain surgery here, folks. All you need is a few simple principles and a couple of techniques. Once those click, the range of colours you’ll suddenly have on your palette will be pretty broad.

Oh, you horrible man. I don't know if I wanna pick between those two. Oh, that's fucked up. Good olive oil is great – and even when it comes to cooking, it's probably a little bit more versatile… but then to never have a good bit of bread and butter with some salt on it? Man. This is fucked up. I guess – I hate this. This hurts my soul. Firstly, I hope we never have to live in a world where you have to pick between those. This is tough. I feel like I could pick between them if you were like seafood or meat or like bread or rice or something like that. I might go… I might go – fuck. Oh, cruel, cruel world. So, I could never have a crab without melted garlic butter again? I couldn’t do that because I wanted olive oil instead? I'm gonna go with butter.

Well, I love the Dome and I really love the Roccbox – especially the one we made together. It’s got a really cool colour on it and a couple of neat little features, too. But it’s just a really solid cooking tool. It's kind of phenomenal how versatile it is. I can have it at the studio, I can have it in the backyard. I can throw it in the truck, we can go to the beach. I can even throw it on a boat and we can go cook clams on an island. It's really hard to beat.

Preheat it, especially if you're gonna make a pizza. You gotta allow that bottom to heat up, and you gotta yourself one of those little laser thermometers. Make sure you get that bottom nice and hot because you don't want a pizza with a soggy bottom. If it’s nice and hot, you’re gonna get that leopard spotting around the crust and the base.

You know, as it's sinking in, I'm kind of regretting my answer to that butter and olive oil question. I think I would actually probably take olive oil instead of butter. Just for the longevity of everything, you know? I'll miss the butter. It's fucked up. But I could pull it off with olive oil. So, for the record: olive oil.