Meeting your hero

One of my favorite tv-shows I loved to watch when I was growing up, was the BBC show Ready, Steady, Cook! This show was presented at that time by TV personality and Chef Ainsley Harriott. He was a great inspiration for me for the years to come working in the professional kitchen. Now I have to say that I have more people who inspired me throughout my career and personal life, and of course I will mention them as well in different posts later on this website.

red bell pepper

green pepper

For the people who do not know the TV program, I will explain very short how this program looked like. There are 2 professional chefs and 2 guests, team red bell pepper and team green bell pepper, each guest had their own chef. The guests had done random groceries which they liked themselves for five pounds worth. Then each chef would go through the groceries and had to come up with a dish they will make from those products. Together with the guest, they are going to make the dish within 20 minutes. In the meantime, Ainsley Harriott would talk to the guests, talk to the chefs about the dishes they are making and answering questions from the audience about cooking, together with the chefs.

After 20 minutes, the dishes would be finished and then the audience would decide which dish would be the winner by holding up a sign of a red or green bell pepper. After deciding the winner, the winning chef would have short period of time to make again something with their own creativity. I find it an amazing concept what really promotes and shows the creativity and skills of the chefs. And of course, the host Ainsley Harriott made it all come together with his knowledge and his great vibe, giving his own sway to it! Full of positivity and open mindedness, always with a big smile!

But coming back to my story, years later when I was working in the professional kitchen. I started working for Dutch TV chef Herman den Blijker, thanks to my friend, former chef and a big inspiration for me as well, Hans van Triest (2006 winner of chef of the Caribbean in 2006 for Curacao and now owner of Kasteel Kerckebosch in Zeist, Netherlands) who asked me to work with him again.

blue man group

The work we did over there was to cook the pre-dinner for the performance act, The Blue Man Group, which I am a big fan of by the way. But during my time working there we did also other big events. One of those events was for an English company.

For their big party they hired Ainsley Harriot to do a Ready, Steady, Cook event on a stage in the middle of the dining room or hall I must say because it was a dinner for a couple hundred people. At that time, I had not only one chef Hans but also another chef, Eric Verver was his name, from the TV program ‘Herrie in de keuken’ from Herman de Blijker. So those two chefs I had were going to do the Ready, Steady, Cook show on stage with Ainsley Harriott.

But before the two chef-cook off started, Ainsley Harriott was going to do a cooking demonstration himself on stage, the dish he would make was Koftas. My job for the that day was to help, prep and assist Ainsley Harriot for his demonstration that night. Being his personal assistant so to say.

Later that day when the show almost started and everything was prepped for the demonstration for Ainsley Harriott his demonstration, I was standing with my two chefs Hans and Eric close to the stage to see the demonstration for ourselves.

But then it happened, Ainsley Harriot was being introduced on stage and got a big round of applause, my Chef Hans pushed me on the stage and said I had to help Ainsley on stage. Holy moly, there I was standing next to me childhood and teen hero in the kitchen! I was so nervous, not just because of standing next to my hero but also because the TV cameras that were pointed at us on the stage. I was so amazed of how Ainsley adapted to this because I do not think this was the plan for me to come on stage. But how he stole the show that night! Such much positive energy, good vibes, and sway! Making jokes, dancing, informative and so entertaining all at the same time!

So, Mr. Harriott if you are reading this, my apologies for disturbing the show but it was an unbelievable experience for me. The saying goes: Never meet your heroes but for me this is the complete opposite. It was an amazing and life-changing experience for me! Thank you for being so awesome and an inspiration!

But I should not forget to thank Hans van Triest for pushing me on stage at that time. Thank you so much for this experience and for being in my life as an inspiration as you are for me and many others.

As a tribute to this experience, I have made my own recipe of Koftas. If you are interested in making my Ainsley Harriott inspired Koftas, you can find the recipe in my Yohans recipes posts here.

kofta

Until we meet again!

Yohan