Chef Aaron McCargo Jr. livened up the crowd at the Pennsylvania Farm Show as soon as his smile and energy hit the stage. I’m not going to lie, I do not watch The Next Food Network Star. This was my first introduction to Chef Aaron and it’s easy to see why he won the Food Network Star title and earned the success that followed.
Since winning the 2008 season of The Next Food Network Star Chef Aaron McCargo Jr. has been lighting the fire of food inspiration in kitchens across the U.S. He invited us into his Big Daddy's Kitchen (Food Network show) and in 2010 published Simply Done, Well Done.
Chef Aaron is Jersey homegrown proud and has founded Play to Win, an organization created to instill in young men “the desire to become life-long learners and give each of them the tools to develop a 10-year life plan that will demonstrate productive choices.” He wants to share a gift he was given: a chance to develop a passion into a productive career. We talk more about this in my podcast interview.
Chef Aaron McCargo attended the Farm Show as part of the PA Preferred Culinary Connection experience. Week-long culinary events fill the stage highlighting local farmers and food producers. The culinary events are not to be missed.
How can you not dig on Chef Aaron?
His charm and authentic style along with many easy kitchen tips make him lovable. He shared several AMJ101 tips throughout his presentation.
Chef enjoys local and fresh food, basil and brussels sprouts from his garden, but what he really loves is bacon. It was evident while watching him prepare the Bacon and Pesto Pasta Salad dish (recipe). (Did you catch that he has a garden? His children get involved, too!)
Helpful tips in the preparation of this dish included precooking and cooling the pasta before adding the dressing to prevent the salad from becoming dry. Instead of cooking pasta with olive oil, be sure to season the water with salt.
Using the best quality, fresh and local ingredients is important to Chef Aaron. He suggests reading the bacon label for sodium content. Chef precooks a package of bacon and leaves it out on his counter, covered, for breakfast sandwiches, salads, snacking and so on.
Keeping recipes “basic and good” is the key to his cooking style. Chef’s pesto recipe includes only 5 ingredients: garden fresh basil, garlic, nuts, lemon juice and cheese. He suggests triple batching this recipe for many uses and precooking ingredients to have on hand for a quick meal.
What tips does Chef Aaron share to make an at-home cook into a superstar cook?
What items should a home cook should splurge on?
What tool trumps any other kitchen tool you can buy?
To find out how Chef Aaron keeps it real in the kitchen, listen in to this podcast interview; his laughter and inspiration are infectious. It's easy. Click here to listen in iTunes or here to listen online.
I was asked to particulate in the Thermador Chef Challenge (PA Preferred Culinary Experience) on the opening day of the Farm Show. It was mushroom day and there were several types of mushrooms used in our blue ribbon dish. Yes, our team won the blue ribbon and a lovely gift bag. Brandi Proctor (CBS News 21) and I were led by Chef Jason Clark (Mounte Hill Tavern). To get a sneak peek inside the winning gift bag and read more about the winning dish click here.
