7.15.25 | Raccoon in a Chef's Hat

Portrait of the Chef as a Young Man

I came up through this industry fairly broke.

It doesn't pay well, the hours are shit, you work holidays, birthdays and anniversaries, you miss the music shows, the festivals, your friends’ weddings, birthdays, all the things. As an up-and-coming line cook I loved the grind. I still love the grind.

During my line cook days, I always had roommates. Most of them were line cooks as well. Somehow I could always afford weed and beer, but as a young cook food came third. I stole what I couldn't afford and snagged every bit of food during service that I could. I was basically a raccoon in a chef hat.

I remember one winter when we couldn't heat the house so we nailed blankets up in the doorways. We heated rooms selectively. The kitchen wasn't one of them. We were in the kitchen for two reasons: to get to the bathroom and to get beer. On the rare occasion everyone had the same day off we would cook.

Being broke is the mother of invention in the kitchen. We’d make drop biscuits involving flour, water, baking powder, maybe an egg, maybe oil, butter if we could filch it from the restaurant, milk if we filched it. We would stir up this paste-like mix in a bowl, drop it on a pan and bake it until it was “edible.” A little PBR and hunger will make anything go down. Spaghetti and drop biscuits got me through some lean times.

As we aged and got better jobs, we learned not to work at places that don't pay a living wage. We spent less on partying and more on good food. Our cooking came together more for enjoyment rather than necessity. Spaghetti became bolognese, biscuits became briskets, rice, now stir fry. Writing about it today, it seems bleak, but it never felt that way. It never felt as sad as it sounds on paper. I was with my friends, making it happen. It was always fun and eating together was a joyful time. I don't want roommates anymore, but I cherish the time, or at least most of the time, I spent with my friends, broke, cooking, grinding through the industry together.

Today I’m cooking a dish my new and final roommate taught me: roasted root vegetables and sausages. It's simple, a staple in our house, and filling. I don't have to steal my food these days and I don't have to cook because if I don't everyone in the house goes hungry, but I still enjoy it for the same reasons I enjoyed it all those years ago. I am cooking with the ones I care about for the ones I care about.

Some things change, some things don't.

—Chef Matt

FROM THE JULY 15, 2025 NEWSLETTER | CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE