If you’ve ever watched a cooking show, you know some of the recipes are, well, a little complicated. Does anyone actually have truffle oil just sitting around in their cupboards? I certainly don’t. And how do you expect me to make something when I don’t know the difference between chopped and minced garlic?
Enter Sam “the cooking guy” Zien. A master at his craft, Zien cooks like most people — through trial and error. With not an ounce of professional training, Zien has taught himself — and viewers of his TV show, “Sam the Cooking Guy” — how to cook simple, easy to follow recipes for good food at home.
“I think it’s pretty obvious that I do not [have any professional training],” Zien says of his non-traditional approach to hosting a cooking show. “[It’s] one of the things that makes the show work for a lot of people. If I were trained, I’d probably be inclined to bring out some of what I’d learned: technique, tricks, things like that, you know, fancier food. Because I don’t have that background, I can’t call on any of that experience, so I’m limited in what I can do, and that’s what makes the show so successful.”
The show, which Zien began filming in his home kitchen in 2002, features the affable and sometimes sardonic San Diegan dropping things, cursing, confusing one ingredient for another and showing all of his mistakes along the way.
“I didn’t [cook] before I started the show,” Zien says. “I really did almost nothing in the kitchen. I was ‘that guy’ who said, ‘I do the grilling,’ and I didn’t even do that well; not at all. I burned a lot of stuff; I dried things out.”
In early episodes, each of which is comprised of multiple shorter segments, Zien cooked simple things. Many of the recipes came from his wife of 25 years, Kelly, who had done most of the cooking for the family.
“I started doing things I thought I could do, like pizza on a pre-made crust, and [the show evolved],” Zien says. “I’m not trying to take away from what a chef does. The title of the show was intentional. You use the title chef because you have the skills and the ability — I don’t have any of that background. My skills have definitely gotten better, but by no means am I a chef.”
Zien tapes special episodes outside of this kitchen, too. In San Diego, he’s filmed in Balboa Park and Ocean Beach, and he makes it a point to visit restaurants made popular by locals. He’s even featured Jewish cooking in one episode.
“When I do stuff out of the kitchen, I try to do the first segment as a background and cook the last three segments,” Zien says of filming at a local synagogue as part of the episode’s first segment.
“I did a little thing in the kitchen talking about kosher food, and I showed clips of my son’s bar mitzvah, and then I made brisket, matzo brie and blintz casserole from frozen blintzes. It was a really fun show, because as each of those segments ended and went to a commercial, my uncle, who knows Yiddish well, would say a Yiddish word, and I would explain the word in English, and then he would say it in Yiddish again. It was so damn cute!”
Zien often refers to himself as “a Jewish kid from Canada,” in his show, but doesn’t cook a lot of Jewish foods at home outside of the holidays.
“We like a good brisket,” he says. “There’s not much better than a brisket grilled cheese sandwich or brisket hash — damn.”
Foul language aside, Zien is down to earth, with a take-me or leave-me attitude and sharp wit.
“I’m just a guy who cooks, and it’s that simple,” he says. “I cook with my kids, my wife, my dogs…I drop shit, I burn myself, I cut myself, and people come up to me and say, ‘I cook like you!’ and I usually say, ‘I’m so sorry — I hope it doesn’t hurt that much.’”
Zien never spent much time in the kitchen before he started his show and says it was a great way to learn, though it might not seem to be the easiest.
“I think cooking is a lot like riding a bike,” Zien says. “The first time you do it you suck. My first time was not very good — a lot of times it’s like falling off your bike, but by the third time it’s like the dad can let go of the seat, and you can do it on your own.”
For the most part, Zien features recipes on his show that he’s made before, but every once in a while he tries something for the first time with the cameras rolling. Mistakes are inevitable.
“We did a Cap’n Crunch seared tuna [on the show] — that’s just, like, one of the best things ever — it doesn’t sound good, which also helps the allure, but it’s really good,” Zien says. “The first time I made it was the night before. I had an idea, I tried it, but when I did it on the show, it didn’t work. All the coating fell off when I went to cut it. After, I realized I didn’t cut up the cereal enough; the chunky pieces didn’t stick. We finished with the segment, and I wasn’t happy because of the way that it turned out, but at the same time, I wanted people to understand why it didn’t work.”
Rather than starting over, Zien left the segment as-is, mistake and all, and he explained the correct way to make the dish.
“I really want people to know [how do the things we do on the show], because if I can do it, anyone can do it, and I really believe that,” he says.
The tuna recipe is featured in his first of two cookbooks, “Just a Bunch of Recipes.” (The second book, “Awesome Recipes and Kitchen Shortcuts,” came out this year). A third book, about grilling, is due out in February next year.
“A lot of people say they can’t cook,” Zien says. “It’s not that they can’t, it’s that they don’t. You just need to do it more!”
Zien says he tries to encourage people to look at recipes as flexible and changeable. He details a game he plays in his latest book to bring new life to old recipes.
“If you make something the same way you always have for years, and you go to the store to get your ingredients, pretend one of the ingredients no longer exists, and substitute it for something else,” he says. “If it calls for chicken, try turkey, try shrimp; see how it goes. Maybe it would make a really interesting thing. If you normally use Italian breadcrumbs, try Japanese panko crumbs. Don’t do the same thing the same way you always have.”
His offbeat sense of humor and the casual tone of his show have earned Zien 11 Emmys, including one for the episode on Jewish cooking. He is even nominated this year for an episode filmed on board the USS Ronald Reagan, which he says was one of the most memorable episodes to date.
“I’m helping people get into food in an easy, simple kind of way,” he says.
And while it’s nice to be recognized for what he does, Zien says he’s not trying to be anyone but himself — and what you see on TV really is what you get. He’s just as charismatic in person as he is on camera…or is it the other way around?
Sam The Cooking Guy airs on SD Channel 4 at 5:30 and 7 p.m., with new episodes every other week at 7 p.m.
For more information, visit www.thecookingguy.com.
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Sam’s Take on San Diego Eatin’
Any tips for becoming a better cook?
Use more heat, in the pan and on the grill. I think people are scared of heat, and they end up over-cooking things. We all instinctively, from eating food, know what things are supposed to look like when they’re cooked from the outside. To get a steak looking like that, you either have to use a lot of heat for a little bit of time or a little bit of heat for a long time, and if you use a little bit of heat for a long time, the outside of the steak will be looking good, but it will be grey all the way through.
Other than that, I would say just start cooking! Get in the kitchen and cook. If you don’t like something, change it. If you don’t have something, leave it out; it’s no big deal — just get in the kitchen!
What one item should everyone have in their kitchen?
One good knife. You don’t need a whole kit, just one good knife, and the knife that will be good will be made of good steel and fit in your hand. Don’t let someone tell you what you have to have; what you will use is what’s comfortable. But with a good knife, you can do anything — butter a piece of toast, cut a chicken, cut a steak — you know what I mean. The kitchen gadget world is [ridiculous]. I don’t own a rolling pin, because I don’t have to roll out a lot of stuff. I’m not making cookies here! I use a bottle — I mean, it’s round! The only requirement for a rolling pin is that it be round.
One food to eat the rest of your life:
It would definitely be salmon, no question about it. I don’t know many foods that are as versatile as salmon. From raw to cooked, every single appliance you have in your kitchen you can cook it with: the oven, pan, broiler, barbeque, grill, George Foreman — everything — and then totally raw.
Favorite place to eat in San Diego?
DZ Akins, for sure. I don’t think anything comes close for great Jewish food. I’m a big fan of the matzo brie there.
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Sam’s Cap’n Crunch Seared Tuna
(Serves 6 as an appetizer)
Beautifully seared tuned that’s been coated in crushed Cap’n Crunch. Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? Well, there’s just something about the sweet crunchy coating and the tangy sauce you make for it. Honestly, the only stupid thing would be NOT making it.
Ingredients
* ¼ cup mayonnaise
* 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
* 1 pound fresh sushi grade tuna, cut in two long rectangular blocks
* 2 cups regular Cap’n Crunch (don’t even think of using the peanut butter or crunch berry version)
* Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
* Asian chili sauce
* 2 tablespoons oil
* ¼ cup finely diced green onions (scallions)
Steps
1. Mix mayo and mustard. Set aside.
2. Crush the Cap’n in a plastic bag until it reaches a fine, powdery consistency. Put it on a plate and top with fresh ground pepper.
3. Lightly oil the tuna, season it with salt and pepper, then press down into the Cap’n, making sure it’s covered well on all sides.
4. Heat a non-stick pan really well, and then add about a tablespoon of oil.
5. When it just starts to smoke, add the tuna and sear quickly on all sides until lightly browned. Remove.
6. Carefully slice into ½-inch pieces.
7. To serve, spread the mayo mix on a plate, top that with the sliced tuna and drizzle a bit of the chili paste around it. Sprinkle with green onions. Make sure you get some of everything in each bite.
