Matty Matheson Kitchen Q&A
E!: Why is the kitchen such a special place?
MM: I think kitchens in general are so special because we need food. You need food, you need shelter, you need clothes. I think having a home and being able to cook something that nourishes you is something at the core that’s so beautiful and so powerful. The kitchen is always the best place to be. You’re at a house party, and everyone always ends up in the kitchen. When you’re cooking, everyone is in the kitchen. It’s the heart of the house. It gives so much. It’s my favorite room. I’ve always loved being in the kitchen with my parents and cooking now with my kids at home. It’s the best ever.
E!: What is your biggest tip to make Thanksgiving preparation easier and more efficient?
MM: My biggest tip is spread out all the cooking over a couple days. You want to enjoy Thanksgiving and not be cooking everything the day of. You can make your sweet potato, savory stuffing squares, you can make all the stuff a day or two in advance. And then the day of you just have to cook your turkey and then you kind of pre-make your sides a day or two before, and then you don’t have to run around. You just take everything, throw it in casserole dishes and warm everything up, and then you can actually enjoy Thanksgiving rather than catering for your family or friends and you’re running around in circles like a maniac. You want to try to plan your picnic as best you can.
E!: What’s your go-to Uber Eats order?
MM: Twice a week, we order from Kings Noodle in Toronto. We order congee, roasted pork, snow pea shoots, and salted donuts for breakfast. We get that one or two times a week. We’re at the office and Uber Eats is just there and you can order everything so easily. At least like one meal a day I’m ordering on Uber Eats.
E!: What’s a lesson you find yourself learning over and over again in the kitchen?
MM: Patience. Learning patience and taking your time with things, allowing things to cook and not rush stuff. Patience is truly vital in being successful in a kitchen at home, at work, anywhere.
E!: What’s a lesson you learned from filming The Bear?
MM: I think just working with other people, being truly collaborative and working with amazing people and doing something I’ve never done before. Working on a television show like that, I’ve never done that before. I’ve made TV where I’ve done unscripted stuff and traveled, but shooting a TV show where there’s almost 100 people and learning from all of those people. Watching, learning, hanging out, contributing, and collaborating every single day with these amazing people from prop and set and culinary, and cooking, and working with the actors. Being able to help and truly listen and watch and learn and participate, it’s really amazing to be able to go into a different field that’s very similar to restaurants where everyone is working toward one goal which is serving people. I think it’s the same type of thing where we’re trying to entertain people. Working with a large group of people is always an incredible experience. Well, not always an incredible experience, but learning to work with other people, I love it. I really like meeting new people, working with new people, doing things I’ve never done before. It’s really amazing.
E!: What have you learned from Martha Stewart?
MM: Martha is the boss of all bosses. I’m just constantly mesmerized and just being like, you know, this person, this demigod, is just so incredible. She’s just so profound. It really is an incredible thing to see somebody build their world and have so many people effected by it, and feed people. Everything Martha does, I’m just like in awe. If I can do 10% of what she’s done in her career, I’ll be happy.
