Today we’re going to continue with our Chef series – what we can learn from and be inspired by from famous chefs. Today, we’ll talk about Guy Fieri. Guy is the host of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives from Food Network. He has a great love for American comfort food. He loves roadside diners and dive bars, and he travels around the country to find unique places that make local-inspired food. He just loves to make ordinary dishes that are easy to cook, and to elevate them. He has many of what he calls “Guy-ify” dishes. So, there’s a lot we can learn from this inspiring chef. Let’s get started.
Firstly, let’s talk about some lessons about American comfort food from Guy. American food, he says, is regional and deeply cultural. It’s not one thing; it’s many different things in many different parts of the United States. Barbecue styles differ by state, diners serve meals that reflect local history, and perhaps immigrant influences in the past have shaped classic dishes.
For him, comfort food is about what you remember growing up; what reminds you of home and what you crave when you need comfort. Comfort food makes you feel good. He believes that indulgence isn’t always a moral failure. He unapologetically loves burgers that are stacked high, fried foods, cheeses, sauce, and carbs. For him, eating well means sometimes indulging.
He’s got a real gift for taking what we like to cook and making it taste better, as well as making it easy to learn how to cook effectively from scratch. He just makes the cooking process fun and full of joy, and the food itself delicious. He teaches that taste matters more than elegance, that comfort food deserves respect and that we should do our best to enjoy the cooking process and enjoy the food. He says “Cook with confidence, not fear.” He doesn’t apologize for using strong seasonings. He’s constantly tasting as he cooks and adjusting.
His flavors are built in layers. This is something that all the chefs we’ve looked at have mentioned, and it’s very important. Flavor is built in layers, so you need to season your food at multiple stages, whether it’s seasoning your meat, seasoning whatever you’re going to mix with it, seasoning your sauce, and then seasoning the whole dish at the end. You can use salt and you can use herbs and spices. You would use acid to brighten the food if it’s very rich, or to balance it if it’s sweet – that would be vinegar or citrus. You balance your salt, your fat, your acid, your sweetness, and your heat, building depths of flavor.
He suggests that we cook with ingredients that we actually like. Sometimes we feel guilty, like we should use something like mushrooms or kale or spinach, things that we don’t actually like, because they’re healthy. Instead of that, he suggests using things you enjoy. Use accessible ingredients, prioritize taste over trends, and cook the food that you want to eat. You don’t need exotic, expensive, or unusual items – cook with what excites you.
Then he also says that you should learn by tasting, not just measuring. This is very different to baking, where you need to follow the recipe. The method and the quantities are very important when you’re baking, but when you’re cooking, they’re not as critical. You can learn by tasting – you can taste the food at every step and adjust.
You can taste something and or smell something and think, now what would compliment that? What do I like to go with this flavor? If you’re making a tomato-based meat sauce, maybe you can add some basil leaves to that for that extra lift. If you’re making a stew, maybe a vegetarian or a fish stew, then you can think of zesting some lime or lemon to lift that and add a little bit of acidity. Zest works great with chicken as well. So, use whatever ideas come to you, and don’t be afraid of trying new things. Learn by tasting and testing.
Make food and cooking fun for you with low pressure, humor, and experimentation. Get the other people in your family to taste too and give ideas, but cook for the people not for approval. Cook with your eaters in mind, and what they enjoy as well.
Respect simple food, and see what you can do to elevate it. I’m going to give you some ideas for that from Guy. Burgers, sandwiches, mac and cheese, tacos – you can elevate all those things. For home cooks, he says, cook with confidence, lots of flavor, and with joy.
So, here are some common things we like to make and how to “Guy-ify” them according to him. Here’s how to do scrambled eggs, Guy-ified. Cook them butter, and add sautéed onions, peppers, or zucchini. Finish it with cheese and hot sauce, and top it with something like chives.
For a plain and ordinary chicken breast Guy-ified, season it aggressively before you cook it. Have a hot pan, and sear it hard to get that golden color and to prevent it from being dry. Then deglaze your pan with stock or wine and possibly make that into a sauce to pour over your chicken. Finish it with a squeeze of lemon, some butter on top, and some herbs, making it juicy and saucy, not dry. This goes for steak as well. Season it aggressively, and sear it hard. Deglaze your pan, make a sauce, and top it with some fresh ingredients.
For pasta with sauce from a jar, Guy-ified, sauté your garlic and maybe some onion or chili in olive oil, and then add the sauce from the jar with a splash of the water from your pasta from when you cooked it. Finish it with some butter, some cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano, and a bit of acid like lemon or lime. This gives a good layered flavor to your pasta, elevating that jar of sauce.
To make Guy-ified grilled cheese sandwiches, put butter on the outside of your bread to make it golden and crispy, and perhaps put some mayonnaise inside. Add something like caramelized onions or bacon for a good texture. Use two different kinds of cheese, or instead of the mayo, put cream cheese on the inside. Serve them with a dipping sauce, and go for a great texture. Make it indulgent.
Then for ground beef, Guy-ified, salt it early, cook it very hot, and let it brown. Don’t stir it constantly – you don’t want a lot of liquid in there. When you’re cooking and browning it, add onions and garlic. De-glaze the pan with worcestershire sauce or soy sauce, and bring out that meaty flavor,
To make baked potatoes, Guy-ified, rub the skin with oil like olive oil, and salt, and then bake them until the skin is crispy. Split them open, and add butter, cheese, and sour cream. You can cut an X in the top and then use your hands to squish it open. Finish it with some crumbled bacon or green onions. It’s crispy on the outside, and loaded and cheesy on the inside.
Then there’s frozen pizza, Guy-ified. Bake it directly on your rack, or on a metal plate or stone to get that crispy base and crispy crust. Add extra cheese or meat halfway through cooking – that’s an interesting idea. Finish it with some spicy honey or chili flakes. You could brush the edge of the crust with some garlic butter before baking it, or do it just as it comes out, for extra flavor and crunch.
To make Guy-ified ramen noodles or instant noodles, cook the noodles separately. Add some egg that’s soft-boiled or jammy, and then stir in some butter or oil. Top it with some scallions or chili oil – make it rich and “slurpable”.
Here are a couple of extra things for when you’re cooking steak Guy-ified. Salt it early, and then pat it dry. I mentioned this already, but sear it hard in a hot pan. Also, baste it with butter, garlic, and herbs. You can make a little collection of herbs tied with a string to use as a brush to baste your butter and garlic. Then rest your meat before slicing it.
For tacos – Guy-ified, season your meat really well. Warm your tortillas in a pan or in the oven before using them. Add some acid like lime or lemon to your filling, and finish with fresh herbs and sauce.
To make salad, Guy-ified, you can add protein like chicken, sliced steak, or eggs. Make a simple vinaigrette with oil and some acid like apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, or balsamic vinegar, with a bit of salt. Add a crunch like croutons. You can make homemade croutons from sourdough bread with a bit of oil, onion powder, and salt and roast or bake them. You can use seeds and nuts in the salad, and you can finish it with cheese like feta or goat’s cheese. You can add pine nuts and basil pesto. Find ways to upgrade your salad.
For mac and cheese, Guy-ified, add mustard or hot sauce to your cheese sauce. Mix cheeses – use different kinds – sharp ones, ones that are extra melty. Top it with buttered bread crumbs, and then grill or broil it to get a good crust.
To elevate canned soup or soup from the grocery store, start by sautéing onions or garlic, and then add stock or cream to deepen the flavor, and season it well. You can add some fresh herbs or some acid like lemon juice. That makes it even better.
Here are some even simpler upgrades for food. If you’re going to be microwaving some rice. If you have leftover rice, you could stir in some butter, olive oil, and salt it some more. Maybe add some soy sauce or garlic powder. You can also take some leftover rice and stir fry it with a bit of coconut oil or whatever fat you like, and then add a bit of egg to make stir-fry rice. You can add frozen veggies if you like, and again, season well.
If you have a rotisserie chicken, you can warm it in a pan with butter. You can add lemon juice, hot sauce, or seasoning if it’s bland. If you have a sandwich, it’s nice to toast the bread before sometimes. Then add mayo to one side and mustard to the other side. Salt your tomatoes before you add them to get rid of the extra liquid. And then add lots of different layers – meat, some vegetables, some cheese – to make a great sandwich. So, those are some quick, easy, fun ideas.
Guy also tells us how to rescue bland food step by step. Number one is to add salt, a pinch at a time. Stir it in well, and then taste and repeat if you need to. Step two – add an acid like lemon juice or vinegar. That wakes everything up and makes it brighter. Lemon zest is also amazing in a lot of things. Number three – add more fat, maybe a bit of olive oil or a bit of butter. You can do this to vegetables you’re going to steam like broccoli. It makes it taste good. Fourthly, if you need to, you can add heat – chili flakes, hot sauce, smoked paprika. Even that mild heat adds some interest. And then step five is to add texture or freshness. Add some fresh herbs chopped up, some crunch from seeds or crumbled up croutons, or some cheese – anything that rounds it off well.
According to Guy, these sauces will fix everything. They’re ultra lazy sauces – hot sauce, chili sauce, barbecue, teriyaki, garlic, aioli, and buffalo sauce. Instant flavor!
Then to wrap it up, let’s talk about the simple Guy Fieri weeknight cooking framework. He says “Think of this as a repeatable formula, not a recipe.” – the Guy formula. You sear, you build, you boost, you balance, and you finish.
Sear – you would brown your protein or your vegetables hard, and give them flavor. The flavor starts with color. Number two is build. That would be adding your aromatics, your spices, onions, garlic, and peppers. He loves to toast his spices for a short time in a pan to enhance their flavor. Then number three, boost – add something bold like cheese, a sauce, a stock, or mustard. Do something that goes well with the dish and has got a strong flavor. Then there’s balance. Add your salt again, your acid, and your heat – taste and correct along the way. Then number five, finish – add your freshly chopped herbs, your crunchyness, your bright zest, citrus drizzle, and any kind of crunch that’ll add to the overall effect. You’ll end up with a wonderful, creative, delicious meal.
So, those are lots of inspiring ideas from Guy Fieri. Look him up on YouTube. You can watch him cook some amazing recipes in a very simple way, and be inspired in your cooking.
