Speaker 1: I Am All in again Luke's Diner with Scott Patterson,
Speaker 1: an iHeartRadio podcast, Hey Everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am All
Speaker 1: and Podcast one eleven productions, iHeartRadio, iHeart Media, iHeart Podcast.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Episode two of Luke's Diner with my very
Speaker 1: very special guests Alex Trim. Let me tell you a
Speaker 1: little bit about Alex. He is a chef. He's originally
Speaker 1: from London. He grew up in it with a deep
Speaker 1: rooted passion for food. Thanks to his mother's French culinary
Speaker 1: background and his father's hospitality expertise. He traveled across Europe
Speaker 1: doing richest appreciation for fine dining, moved to the US
Speaker 1: and his teens. He eventually settled in Chai Town, Chicago,
Speaker 1: working at Michelin Starred Alnia and as a sous chef
Speaker 1: at True. Later with Let Us Entertain You, Let Us
Speaker 1: l E t t Ucee Entertain You, he helped launch
Speaker 1: a new restaurant concept for pivoting to private dining in
Speaker 1: twenty and twenty one. Today, Alex shares high end Michelin
Speaker 1: Star recipes online, becoming a go to expert for fine
Speaker 1: dining content on Instagram and TikTok. Alex made a beautiful
Speaker 1: version of strawberry shortcake called Victorias Sponge on his TikTok page.
Speaker 1: We're going to dive into that later, but first, Gilmour
Speaker 1: Girls a shortcake in season one, episode three, Kill Me.
Speaker 1: Now we're back in the kitchen, Alex, Hello, welcome, thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us. We're thrilled to have you. Let's
Speaker 1: get into Suki's kitchen and she's always frazzled. Jackson's making
Speaker 1: up one of his produce deliveries that are always appears
Speaker 1: to be not accurate or incorrect, and they talk about
Speaker 1: replacing strawberries since he has bad strawberries, and she rejects them. Wants,
Speaker 1: uh blueberry, he wants. He's trying to push blueberries. I
Speaker 1: want to make a blueberry shortcake. Is that even in
Speaker 1: the realm of possibility?
Speaker 2: Alex, Yeah, I mean that's That's one of the beautiful
Speaker 2: things about food, right, is that you know, we're you know,
Speaker 2: there's there's the classics, right, and it's it's what everyone knows,
Speaker 2: neveryone loves, you know, strawberry shortcake is a is a
Speaker 2: piece of classic Americana. But but the really cool thing
Speaker 2: about food is it really has no bounds. You can
Speaker 2: you can kind of do what you want. I mean,
Speaker 2: there there are vague sidelines. A lot of people say,
Speaker 2: like no cheese with fish and things like that, but
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, if something tastes good,
Speaker 2: then there's really no reason not to being a chef.
Speaker 2: One of the cool things is is uh and the
Speaker 2: way that I cook a lot of it's about season now,
Speaker 2: you know I in the episode and he says that
Speaker 2: the strawberries are not good, but the blueberries are looking great.
Speaker 2: You know, as a chef, you kind of learn how
Speaker 2: to pivot with these things. And rather than rather than
Speaker 2: being upset, like oh, I can't make my strawbery shortcake, now,
Speaker 2: it's like, okay, great, now I get to make a
Speaker 2: beautiful bloobery shortcake. It's just something different and you get
Speaker 2: to play around like that. It's it's more of an
Speaker 2: opportunity right now.
Speaker 1: Laura l I ends up bringing the leftover blueberry shortcake
Speaker 1: that Suki made as dessert to the Friday night dinner.
Speaker 1: The debut Friday Night dinner of the Shell at the
Speaker 1: Gilmour House. Emily calls it use desserts. What are your
Speaker 1: thoughts on that. Would you be horrified if somebody did that?
Speaker 2: No, not at all, definitely not. I can tell you that,
Speaker 2: especially working in restaurants for private parties and events and weddings,
Speaker 2: you always make more than you need. It's the only
Speaker 2: way to make sure that you know, running out is
Speaker 2: the worst thing you want to do. You never want
Speaker 2: to say were out of something. So there's there's always
Speaker 2: tons left over, and you know, at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, it's just who's going to turn down fresh desserts?
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Right right?
Speaker 1: When did you first discover, Alex your affinity for making food?
Speaker 2: I guess I was basically born into it. You know,
Speaker 2: my mother is a classically trained chef. She grew up
Speaker 2: in Her parents owned a pub in England, so she
Speaker 2: grew up in a pub. So I mean I I
Speaker 2: then grew up deeply rooted in the hospitality industry with
Speaker 2: my father, and you know, I was cooking. I remember
Speaker 2: cooking before I could even reach the counter. I had
Speaker 2: this little cream store that I would stand on and
Speaker 2: it would it would come up so only my eyes
Speaker 2: would go over the counter and things. So it's something
Speaker 2: I've always always, really really enjoyed. You know, the school
Speaker 2: that I went to when I was when I was young,
Speaker 2: they actually had like a culinary like a kid's culinary program,
Speaker 2: so I was involved with that. It's something that I've
Speaker 2: definitely always been interested in. Actually, I have Crohn's disease.
Speaker 2: It's inflammatory about whatever. When I was ten years old,
Speaker 2: I had some major surgeries done and I wasn't able
Speaker 2: to eat any solid food for multiple months, and then
Speaker 2: I was having these based like a juice box with
Speaker 2: predigestive food, like not nice. When I could start eating again,
Speaker 2: I think that's when I really really delved into it
Speaker 2: and kind of realized what I'd been missing and how
Speaker 2: important in my life food was. Looking back at it now,
Speaker 2: like so many of my happy and important memories are
Speaker 2: based around food and travel. I think it's one of
Speaker 2: those things that is just it really brings people together.
Speaker 2: I always wanted to be a chef, kind of went
Speaker 2: through the notion of, you know, cooks and chefs don't
Speaker 2: make a whole ton of money, so I was going
Speaker 2: to do other things and trying to get a degree
Speaker 2: and stuff like that, but you know, I always ended
Speaker 2: up coming back in the kitchen, and it just you know,
Speaker 2: it takes a special person to work in restaurants because
Speaker 2: of the and how unsociable it is. But the people
Speaker 2: that do do it, the people that do do it,
Speaker 2: you just love it. And it's it's it's just who
Speaker 2: I am. You know.
Speaker 1: It's a very special feeling preparing food for people and
Speaker 1: then sharing it and seeing the looks on their faces,
Speaker 1: and it's just it's a very joyful experience, very very deep,
Speaker 1: deeply routed, and it's a one I cook for my
Speaker 1: family as often as I can because I just it
Speaker 1: really relaxes me. I love preparing food for them when
Speaker 1: I'm home. It's just my favorite part of the day.
Speaker 1: You know, five o'clock hits and I start prepping and
Speaker 1: I just really really enjoy it. And I do not
Speaker 1: want any help. By the way, Are you are you?
Speaker 2: Are?
Speaker 1: You?
Speaker 2: Are?
Speaker 1: You particular about that too? When you're in your kitchen
Speaker 1: and you're preparing, you know some some special dishes do
Speaker 1: you you have to have and it's all about timing
Speaker 1: and and and and coordination, and you know exactly the
Speaker 1: moves you're gonna make when they need to be made.
Speaker 1: It's all very complex, and so do you have an
Speaker 1: assistant with you. And if there are other people there
Speaker 1: that don't really know the drill, do you kick them
Speaker 1: out of the kitchen you can clear it out.
Speaker 2: I think. I think back in the day when I
Speaker 2: was working in Mission Star restaurants, I was a little
Speaker 2: bit different than I am now. One of the really
Speaker 2: nice things about working in social media is that it
Speaker 2: has afforded me the opportunity to essentially I cook for
Speaker 2: those that I love and I put it online and
Speaker 2: that's and that's what I do, which is I mean,
Speaker 2: it's the best job in the world. I mean cooking.
Speaker 2: Like you said, cook cooking is an act of love,
Speaker 2: you know, we we do it for the people that
Speaker 2: we love, and I'm happy that I now get to
Speaker 2: do that as my full time job is just to
Speaker 2: cook the people that I do love. I think back
Speaker 2: working in Mission Star restaurants, you know that I was.
Speaker 2: It's a lot more intense. It's a lot more you know,
Speaker 2: you have a goal, you have a set timing and
Speaker 2: things like that. Now have dinner partodies and you know,
Speaker 2: you know things when things come out, they come out.
Speaker 2: And at the end of the day, it's more about
Speaker 2: the experience and the fun. My my mother does does
Speaker 2: Christmas dinner every year and invites tons of people over,
Speaker 2: and she she every ten minutes she has something. She
Speaker 2: she plans out two days worth a prep and and
Speaker 2: timing and things. And I will always say like, I'll
Speaker 2: come and help you, and then I end up showing
Speaker 2: up and the whole time plan goes out and we're
Speaker 2: too busy talking with people and having a martini and
Speaker 2: a chicken or whatever's in the oven, and we're forgetting
Speaker 2: about it. But it's it's it's it's more fun when
Speaker 2: when when you treat it like that. And I think
Speaker 2: that I think that's one of those things a lot
Speaker 2: of people are afraid of when they're learning to cook,
Speaker 2: is that it can be intimidating. But as long as
Speaker 2: you're doing it for fun and as a as a
Speaker 2: passion rather than a career, it's it's worth just trying
Speaker 2: to trying to make the most of it and enjoy
Speaker 2: it as much as possible.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm, Yeah, I'm gonna we're planning on going to
Speaker 1: Europe and doing some some cooking glasses in traveling throughout
Speaker 1: France and Italy.
Speaker 2: Cooking awesome. Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to it. Since you moved to
Speaker 1: the United States from London in your teens, did this
Speaker 1: influence your recipes and you're cooking overall?
Speaker 2: Definitely, you know, so I moved to North Carolina when
Speaker 2: I first moved here at fourteen, which was in the
Speaker 2: middle of North Carolina. From London. Is definitely a slight change.
Speaker 1: It's a little you know, it's a a throttle down
Speaker 1: on the gear shift. It's a little slower, yeah, laid back,
Speaker 1: yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: Through that, I definitely gained a huge love for Southern food.
Speaker 2: I think that Southern food is just some of the
Speaker 2: best food in the world because it's that same thing.
Speaker 2: It's not about harsh deadlines and timing. It's about love
Speaker 2: and it's about enjoyment, and that's what food really is
Speaker 2: rooted in. It's funny you say that you going to
Speaker 2: go do the cooking classes in Italy and France, And
Speaker 2: that's one of the other really exciting and cool things
Speaker 2: about food is you can learn so much about someone's
Speaker 2: culture by what they put on the plate, right, And
Speaker 2: it's the same thing with Southern food, like you can
Speaker 2: really feel that like Southern hospitality coming through in the
Speaker 2: food and Mexican food is one of my absolute favorite
Speaker 2: foods in the world. My wife was born in Mexico.
Speaker 2: Being able to learn about Mexican culture and history through
Speaker 2: their foods, I think is just fascinating because food is
Speaker 2: an act of love. It really people put so much
Speaker 2: of themselves into it and you can feel that, and
Speaker 2: that's what makes it really cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have made a delicious looking dessert called a
Speaker 1: Victoria sponge and it looks, yeah, a little bit different
Speaker 1: from your traditional strawberry shirt cake. Tell us what makes
Speaker 1: it different?
Speaker 2: So Victoria's sponge is a classic English strawberry dessert. You know,
Speaker 2: It's a slightly more dense cake, whereas a strawberry shortcake
Speaker 2: is more of a biscuit base. Victoria Sponge is just
Speaker 2: a very classic English strawberry caked dessert. I would say
Speaker 2: that Victoria Sponge is the English equivalent. Not in terms
Speaker 2: of the flavor profile, yes, but not in terms of
Speaker 2: like construction, but in terms of American like Americana strawberry
Speaker 2: shortcake is the thing Victoria sponge is like. The English
Speaker 2: dessert that features strawberries. Shortcake is an interesting one. Shortcake
Speaker 2: is actually rooted in English food as well. The base
Speaker 2: of it is scones. In England, we have scones or
Speaker 2: scones with clotted cream, which is a heavy cream that's
Speaker 2: basically been cooked overnight at a low temperature. It really
Speaker 2: thickens up. It's like a almost like mask, a pone.
Speaker 2: She spread that on like a nice fresh sco with strawberries.
Speaker 2: It's essentially what then became a strawberry shortcake, because shortcake
Speaker 2: isn't really cake in general. It is more of a biscuit.
Speaker 2: When when you're referring to something as short in cooking,
Speaker 2: it implies something that's been like crisped up or as
Speaker 2: crunch heath because of the use of a lot of fat.
Speaker 2: So you have like short bread, short cake, short crossed pastry.
Speaker 2: They all include a very high percentage of either butter
Speaker 2: or traditionally lard. So yeah, short shortcake is it's more
Speaker 2: of a biscuit that then becomes crispy on the outside
Speaker 2: because of the amount of butter in it. But no,
Speaker 2: the Victoria sponge was just an example. It's it's kind
Speaker 2: of you know, it's it's as English as it get
Speaker 2: when it comes to strawberry deserts.
Speaker 1: Any other fruit you could pair the shortcake with that you've.
Speaker 2: Peaches. Peaches go, I mean, peaches go great. It's it's
Speaker 2: I think if you think of anything that you would
Speaker 2: have have a biscuit with a breakfast and then just
Speaker 2: add cream to it and it's going to be delicious.
Speaker 2: You know, Like spiced apples this time of year would
Speaker 2: be fantastic. The blueberries again is great. It's seasonality, when
Speaker 2: things are in season that they will always they will
Speaker 2: always taste good. The other thing a lot of people
Speaker 2: don't realize is that when you buy seasonal like produce
Speaker 2: and vegetables and fruit, it's actually cheaper because it's in
Speaker 2: such abundance. So cooking seasonally, not only are you getting
Speaker 2: the best tasting products, you're actually saving money. Yeah. I
Speaker 2: you know. Another great one would be rhubob in the
Speaker 2: spring doing doing rubarb on on on shortcake would be
Speaker 2: would be delicious. That kind of contrast of super sound
Speaker 2: super sweet would be would be really delicious.
Speaker 1: Right, do you prefer using biscuits, sponge cake, or any
Speaker 1: other different type of base for your shortcake?
Speaker 2: If I'm doing doing shortcake, I like to do that
Speaker 2: like the real traditional make it make it very much
Speaker 2: like a biscuit, like it's a it's a very home
Speaker 2: style dessert, you know, it's it's comforting, it's supposed to
Speaker 2: be something that's that's very familiar. I think that if
Speaker 2: you do want to, if you want to switch it,
Speaker 2: switch it up, I would do that through a use
Speaker 2: of a different fruit as opposed to changing the actual
Speaker 2: structural because then at that point it would become almost
Speaker 2: an entirely different dish.
Speaker 1: And And do you have your own spin on a
Speaker 1: traditional strawberry shortcake or I do?
Speaker 2: Actually? Funny enough, I was. I've been meaning to cook
Speaker 2: that and film that and put it on my social
Speaker 2: media for a while, so I'll have to. I'll have
Speaker 2: to get to that fairly soon. I did. I did,
Speaker 2: actually did a really great strawberry jam a few months ago,
Speaker 2: and I used a ton of like whole vanilla beans
Speaker 2: in the strawberry jams. It like a strawberry vanilla jam,
Speaker 2: and it was just absolutely delicious. And I think that
Speaker 2: that that inside of the shortcake would be be really excellent.
Speaker 1: M might seem like an obvious answer here, but I'm
Speaker 1: going to ask it anyway. Why victorious sponge.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's it's you know, it's it's part of
Speaker 2: who I am. You know, it's my English heritage. I
Speaker 2: think that as as I as I get older and
Speaker 2: further in my my cooking career. You know, I've moved
Speaker 2: here as a as a teenager, so I wasn't really
Speaker 2: as inundated in what English cooking and English food it
Speaker 2: was and is at the time. And now that I've
Speaker 2: been here for so long, I'm kind of trying to
Speaker 2: really pull that part of my heritage back and really
Speaker 2: focus on what is English food? I think what is
Speaker 2: English food? It is one of those things a lot
Speaker 2: of people might be hearing and thinking, yeah, not that great.
Speaker 2: We don't have the greatest track record for the most
Speaker 2: interesting food in the world. But English food now is
Speaker 2: very much rooted in seasonality. It's rooted in like the
Speaker 2: whole farm the table concept. Being such a small country,
Speaker 2: you know, the ability to get beautiful produce across the
Speaker 2: entire country all the time is always a thing. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's just heritage.
Speaker 1: Basically, as we see in your work in your TikTok videos,
Speaker 1: presentation is so key to it. Any special ways to
Speaker 1: plate strawberry shortcake to give it that high end restaurant feel.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a really big fan of what I call
Speaker 2: grandma plates. You know, the kind of china that you
Speaker 2: would have seen in your grandma's house that at one
Speaker 2: point you thought was like the most gaudy thing in
Speaker 2: the world. I think that almost is coming back in
Speaker 2: style to an extent. I think when you do something,
Speaker 2: if you do something traditional but make it like very
Speaker 2: clean and simplified, and then put it on something like
Speaker 2: grandma plate, I think it actually really elevates. It looks interesting.
Speaker 2: I do a lot of my content I do on
Speaker 2: some vintage go Oran Bosh plate where that I think
Speaker 2: really really elevates the food and it it kind of adds.
Speaker 2: It adds a layer of interest without detracting from the
Speaker 2: dish that's actually on the plate.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmmm. And what do you what kind of beverage
Speaker 1: are you pairing? Strawberry shortcake?
Speaker 2: Give me your top, Okay, madeira, a glass of madeira,
Speaker 2: a glass of port, or a glass of sort ton
Speaker 2: some some sort of like sweet. I mean, some people
Speaker 2: might think it's too sweet, but I have I have
Speaker 2: an insation for sweet tooth. So you give me, give
Speaker 2: me some sort of fortified sweet wine. And I'm I'm
Speaker 2: I'm a I'm a happy boy with with the shortcake.
Speaker 1: You have an amazing TikTok page really really is. It's
Speaker 1: filled with resumes. Everybody should go watch a master and
Speaker 1: his realm. What have been some of your favorite sweet
Speaker 1: and savory dishes to make.
Speaker 2: It's funny. It goes back to heritage things again. I'm
Speaker 2: really enjoying doing things like shepherd's pie and cottage pie
Speaker 2: and kind of there are things that people everyone knows everyone,
Speaker 2: it's familiar to everyone, but then to kind of scale
Speaker 2: it up a notch and add that kind of fine
Speaker 2: dining flare, even things as simple as enriching the potato
Speaker 2: on top with egg yolks and then using a piping
Speaker 2: tip and broiling it so you get this beautiful pattern
Speaker 2: on top. As for desserts, there's actually another English English
Speaker 2: strawberry dessert that is one of my favorites. It's called
Speaker 2: eaten Mess and it's it's meringues crushed up with heavy cream,
Speaker 2: whipped cream and strawberries, and it's just it's it's light
Speaker 2: but flavorful, and it's it's perfect for the warm weather,
Speaker 2: which thankfully, being in Florida, we're still having. But I know,
Speaker 2: I know not everyone is getting right now, but no
Speaker 2: eaten mess is another great one. I did a full
Speaker 2: English breakfast one time, and that was one of my
Speaker 2: favorite things. I posted. It just it's it's it's homey
Speaker 2: things that I don't get to see as much in
Speaker 2: this country, so I'm happy to have a chance to
Speaker 2: kind of bring them more to the to the American audience.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Are you making dinner every night in the house?
Speaker 2: Surprisingly not? Actually, yeah, you.
Speaker 1: Do it all day and then you need a break.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I try and post seven days a week, so
Speaker 2: I need to shoot at least seven seven different dishes
Speaker 2: a week. I typically will cook all day long for
Speaker 2: three days. I'll do a breakfast at lunch and a dinner.
Speaker 2: So those three days we eat like we eat like
Speaker 2: kings and then and then four days a week, it's
Speaker 2: just like live off whatever scraps we can find a
Speaker 2: little left over, right right? Yeah? No, I mean I
Speaker 2: try and cook when I can, But yeah, it's surprisingly
Speaker 2: your social media is a I mean it's more than
Speaker 2: a four time job. I'm doing easily forty plus hours
Speaker 2: a week just in cooking and filming and then editing
Speaker 2: and all the other stuff that goes into it. Way, yes,
Speaker 2: I thought that I thought that doing social media would
Speaker 2: would afford me a bit more free time than working
Speaker 2: in restaurants, and it's actually turned out to be about
Speaker 2: the same.
Speaker 1: So yes, it's it's quite a job for sure. What's
Speaker 1: if you were to come into Luke's Diner, okay as
Speaker 1: a character on the show, what would you order and
Speaker 1: where would you sit? Would you sit at the counter?
Speaker 1: Would you sit at the table? Come up to the counter.
Speaker 1: What are you asking me to you? What are you
Speaker 1: shouting at me over the din?
Speaker 2: That's a tough one. Anything anything breakfast. I'm just I'm
Speaker 2: an absolute sucker for anything breakfast. Yeah, to be honest,
Speaker 2: you give me a massive plate like the full on
Speaker 2: American breakfast, scrambled eggs, bacon, was friends toast any of that,
Speaker 2: I'm very happy.
Speaker 1: That's pretty good stuff. Thank you for coming on everybody.
Speaker 1: Alex Trim an amazing chef. Check check him out at
Speaker 1: chef Alex Trim, great chef. And there's nothing better than
Speaker 1: beautifully prepared food to make your day, to improve your day,
Speaker 1: to make you happy, and all so made with love.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for sharing some of your time
Speaker 1: with us, Alex. We know you're busy and uh now
Speaker 1: you're going to get back to it, aren't you.
Speaker 2: Of course, that's it. Thank you so much. I really
Speaker 2: appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1: All Right, Alex all the best, all Right talks and thanks.
Speaker 1: Take care by hey everybody, and don't forget Follow us
Speaker 1: on Instagram at I Am all In Podcast and email
Speaker 1: us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com