Sam the Cooking Guy
On his website Sam the Cooking Guy is described as, “an everyday guy who has found a way to make cooking casually understandable. With no fancy equipment and by speaking English instead of ‘chef-speak,’ he’s sort of the everyman of television cooking. The show is shot right in his own house – and he cooks with his kids, dogs and neighbors occasionally around – just like everyone does. There's no fois gras... no white truffle oil, no ‘Peruvian mountain-raised squab in sesame-lime-soy marinade stuffed with braised forest turnips and wild inoki mushrooms in a hand pressed plum and raspberry glaze’. Sam is just a regular guy, using regular words showing how to cook easy, great food... Food that's ‘big in taste and small in effort’. It's a handful of ingredients and a few steps – that's it.”
You can view Sam the Cooking Guy on Channel 4 locally or on Discover Health.
Birth date: August 7, 1959
Birthplace: Vancouver, Canada
Current Residence: Carmel Valley, San Diego
Favorite Happy Hour: Where I am right now as I write this - PCG - Pacific Coast Grill in Solana Beach. Great food, great people and you can bring your dogs (outside). By the way they just brought my shrimp dumplings and their really good ahi tartare on won ton chips.
Favorite Cocktail: Almost any really good tequila on the rocks, with a wedge of orange.
Favorite Hangout besides your kitchen: The kitchen of any of our friends. Just hanging out and having food and cocktails.
Something only a local would know about San Diego?
Our Mexican food (even at the crappiest little places) is amazing.
When can I tune into your show?
Channel 4 twice daily and on Discovery Health Tuesdays from 4-5pm
Did you always want to be a host of cooking show?
No, not until 2001. In fact I wanted to be the host of a travel show, but it was sidelined by the events of 9/11.
What steps did you take to get to where you are now (having your own show)?
With no previous TV or legitimate cooking experience I knew no one would take me seriously. So I started by making a demo and I sent it out. When no one liked it - I sent it to a couple local stations as almost a last resort. The Fox station here liked me and agreed to put me on the air a couple times a week. They weren’t paying me, but at least I was on TV.
What would you be doing if you weren’t lucky enough to have your own television show?
I’d probably still be in the biotech business here in San Diego somewhere
Worst job you’ve had?
Telemarketing - for one day. I just couldn’t do it.
Favorite part of your job?
People coming up and telling me that I’ve turned them on to cooking.
Worst part about of your job?
The paperwork. The fricking paperwork is the worst part of any job.
Do you get recognized on the street?
Yes.
If you were to cook for the Queen of England, what would be on the menu?
I’d want to make the ol’ girl things that I wouldn’t think she’d had before but were still sort of comfort food: my enchiladas, my black bean salmon and definitely my doughnutmisu.
How many Emmy’s do you have? What categories and where do you store them?
I have 8 and I keep them on a shelf in our office with a bunch of other things. They’re all in the categories of Arts & Entertainment, Magazine Program, Feature Segment and one in the Religion category. Yes, you read that right - the religion category.
Do you really cook out of the kitchen at your house or is it a set?
No set, it’s just my house.
Do you do any sort of rehearsal for you shows?
Apart from knowing what I’m going to cook - that’s it. Rehearsing would be weird and would changed things in a not very positive way
Tell us something about yourself that a lot of your viewers don’t know about you?
I love popsicles. And I mean LOVE them.
Iron Chef 2008 Showdown: Sam “the Cooking Guy” vs. Rachel Ray. Secret ingredient is Bleu Cheese. Who wins and what would you make?
Vodka martinis with blue cheese olives, warm cabbage salad with blue cheese, buffalo chicken pizza and my macaroni with blue cheese and bacon. And yes, I’d win.
If you were stranded on a desert island and you got to keep one utensil from your kitchen what would it be and why?
It would be a big-ass knife. I could cut, spread, stir or whatever with it.
Have you ever dropped your glasses in the food you were preparing?
No - but it would be funny as shit if I did.
What’s your opinion of the five second rule?
It all depends on how well you know the particular floor. With a floor you’re really comfortable with, you can stretch it to maybe 30 minutes. With a floor you don’t like at all - even a second is too long.
Where can I get some of your famous recipes?
My brand new book is out, ‘Just a Bunch of Recipes’ that me and my publisher would love you to go buy. Or you can get most of my recipes on my website, www.thecookingguy.com
Do you have cooking classes?
Yep - and you can also find them all on my website in the ‘classes’ section. I cook, you watch, you eat and you drink - they’re really fun.
What’s the Flip Grill?
It’s a double-sided electric non-stick grill - flat griddle on one side and a ridged one on the other. Perfect for anything from cooking pancakes or a grilled cheese to a steak or scallops.
(You can buy Sam’s patented Flip Grill on his website www.thecookingguy.com; the George Forman has nothing on it!!)
What’s in the future for Sam?
More TV in the national spotlight would be sweet and definitely another book - in fact we’ve already started talking about what it’ll be.
Shout-outs?
To the family always - and to Pacific Coast Grill for a great HO (happy hour).