Live From The World Food Championships: Culinary Adventures: From Global Gastronomy to Pro Wrestling with Chef Brian Duffy and Mark Henry
Episode description
Get ready to embark on a gastronomic journey with our culinary maestros, Chef Brian Duffy and Mark Henry. They're pulling back the curtain on their illustrious careers, sharing pearls of wisdom, and recounting tales of their global culinary escapades. From the spicy Cajun and sophisticated French cuisine of Louisiana to the vibrant Spanish and exotic African influences on food, your taste buds are in for a feast of stories.
Ever wondered how meticulousness in the kitchen can translate into a life skill? Chef Brian and Mark underline the necessity of preparation and cleanliness in cooking, insisting that this 'clean as you go' philosophy can be incorporated into our daily routines. They enlighten us about their passion for infusing entertainment into cooking and intriguingly introduce us to Creole cuisine from Apollousus.
Mark Henry, a man of many talents, doesn't shy away from sharing his recipe for success. With a dash of humility, a sprinkle of relentless hard work, and a refusal to accept 'no' for an answer, he has cooked up a diverse portfolio that includes a successful website, podcast and pro wrestling show. Rounding off our chat, we touch upon the electrifying energy of the World Food Championships, expressing our awe for the commitment and creativity exhibited by all involved. If you're a food enthusiast, or aspire for culinary greatness, this episode is your perfect ingredient.
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The following brands and companies help us continue supporting the food industry - have a look below!
Thank you for listening to the Walk-In Talk Podcast, hosted by Carl Fiadini and Company. Our show not only explores the exciting and chaotic world of the restaurant business and amazing eateries but also advocates for mental health awareness in the food industry.
Our podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at the industry. Don't miss out on upcoming episodes where we'll continue to cook up thought-provoking discussions on important topics, including mental health awareness.
Be sure to visit our website for more food industry-related content, including our very own TV show called Restaurant Recipes where we feature Chefs cooking up their dishes and also The Dirty Dash Cocktail Hour; the focus is mixology and amazing drinks!
Thank you for tuning in, and we'll catch you next time on the Walk-In Talk Podcast.
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Transcript
Two one .
That is good for you . Thank you , that is good for you . All right food fan .
This is Chef Jeffery Schlesel of the .
Walkin' Top Podcast .
That's right . Carl is off and finally judging Bite Club .
That's right , bite Club . We'll find out what that means , because that's going to mean a whole bunch of things , but this is . We're here in Dallas at the World Food Championships . I have some celebrity people that just sat down with none other than Missin' Peach Rivera , 3D , Petunia . Take it away , brother .
Guys , I'm here with two heavyweights , whether it be in the wrestling powerlifting arena or whether it be in the culinary arena . First I'm going to introduce Chef Brian Duffy , who's on TV , does doing a lot of big things Crazy . We're going to get to what you're doing , but also sitting next to me is the man with the plan .
I'm a little intimidated right here , Don't ?
mean Mark .
Henry here , who is a lot of people's childhood heroes . We have the Texas kids the team behind us that are being pretty big fans of them . Hopefully . I thought it was for me , but it obviously is for him . But yeah , guys , thank you for coming here . Tell us how food has inspired you . Obviously you're in the culinary industry .
We're telling you a little bit earlier that you were kind of your mom and your grandma's helper in the kitchen . So let's start with you , Brian . Tell us why you're here and what makes you passionate about food .
I graduated culinary school in 1995 . I've been at this for a long time . To me it was all about the immediate gratification of cooking and having people respond immediately to whatever it is that you're doing .
And then that's turned from that kind of initial world of love into what I do now is my business , which is opening restaurants and speaking about hospitality all over the world , talking about the basics of being in the industry and what it takes these days trying to bring the younger generation up to where we are now , bring it back into that world of putting
phenomenal food on a plate , making it a profitable world . It's not all about the Instagram , it's not all about that TV portion of it . It's about doing something that is going to feed the world . That's the whole idea .
Is it always easy ? Is it always nice ? No , never .
Never . I mean you're lucky if it is . That was a setup .
That was a setup lob questions . Because the world of food is like the world of competition and people think that it's going to come easy . People think that it's going to come like when you want it , on your time , like man . You got to start sweeping the floor , you got to start washing the dishes , then you can graduate to something else .
This instant gratification and cooking is killing it . It's killing the business .
I'm 47 years old and I am now receiving the blessings of stuff I did when I was in my 20s . That time I put in . Then I'm now receiving those blessings 27 years later . That's awesome . You're right , it pays off and it's not instant , you know . Like you said , instagram Instagram , but everybody wants to like . Everybody's fueled by that dopamine rush .
But there's no better dopamine rush than being part of a team , being part of a completing task , whether you're getting through the night and shift , whether it's getting through adversity . The fryer went down , this went down . How are we going to get through adversity ?
And , depending on each other , there's no better feeling than that and I know you can experience that , and I know you can experience that through things that you've been through and you know , whether it be with a WWE or Hertz .
That's a damn fine lemonade . That was good . I was just lying . I'm just lying , I'm a clown . I'm a clown , I'm just a American . Before body knows lemonade for it . I actually left the camera right on you .
I wanted to see that in the other way . Listen , I'm a clown man . This is absolutely delicious .
Hey , you got the key for those were now cheers with one . Starbucks and a double lemonade .
Yeah , yeah , hey , starbucks .
Hey , what would you tell either one of you guys can answer this one , but what would you tell , like , these groups of students or the listeners out here , what would you tell them about the culinary one and your competition , you know , saving that she met ? What would you tell them to inspire them ?
I would say take all the teaching and lessons that you learned from food and apply them to your life , because as you cook , you clean immediately . Kids today don't clean a room . They don't clean the place where they sit and eat Like , they just leave everything . If you can operate your life like a kitchen is operated , life will be great .
Because you got to clean as you go . You got to prep . That's prepped is short for preparing and we want you to prepare your life like you can go , so so far , because you don't have the let down and the chances of yourself not living up because everything is already set before you . You just all you gotta do is go and cook now .
And we always say we see Steph Carey start to shoot and he hit two or three in a row and they go , let him cook . Man , the whole world revolves around how we eat and what we take in . So like the culture of food is why we have a relationship .
We only met each other once , but we know each other through other people and we know each other through the world of food . So we brothers- so that's why I say food is awesome .
And I've kind of got two things that to that One . It all starts with relationships , that there's too many people that are coming up that they're not paying attention to the relationships that they have . You know what I mean . I have cooked all over the world . I've met people all over the world . I meet people like this through the relationships that I have .
Okay , I get hired based off of relationships that I have . I met Mark Conway and that relationship brought me to this location . You mean Mr Suit , guy , mr Suit .
Guy , or you can get to that guy , mr Suit Guy . I don't know who wears that , mr Suit .
Guy . Better than that , mr Suit Guy . Mr Suit Guy . Hey , the only people that dress like Mark is Morticians and Pimps .
And the occasional Monday night , the Herdy Moons lights is on .
And Sam freaking Robbins , but it's all relationships and for everybody who's standing out there right now , you can't hear me , but I'm gonna tell you right now that the relationships that you create today are gonna make an impact on the rest of your life as you move forward .
And the second thing that I have to say is something that's so important to me that I tattooed it on my body , and that is that the art of the preparation creates the experience .
No matter what you're gonna do and no matter what direction you plan on going by having that preparation to get to that level whether it be learning how to cut an onion or whether it be learning how to do surgery , it's all about that world of getting the preparation done . That's what creates the experience . So have fun with what you're doing , man .
The other thing if you're not having fun , then get out . If you're not learning , then get out . Don't get involved . Yeah , it is funny .
I'm glad that you just touched on that , chef , and one of the things where we had the junior competition on Tuesday , as they were announcing that certain students were not making that place , I walked over and I said just this way , and you're gonna like this one , michael .
He said I focused on martial arts and one of the martial arts people I follow said the hardest belt to obtain is the white belt . It's the one that you actually have to put on and once you put that on , then you start to move .
And that's exactly it when we're starting out .
Like when we have I have a 10 year old and she starts to do something and she gets frustrated , especially with Saekwon Do . She's like I don't know how to do this , and she gets frustrated . I'm like did you know how to walk ? Did you know how to cut ? Did you know how to take ? Come on , preach man . So you have to keep on developing those things .
Preparation , you have to practice those piece . Yep , you have to be persistent , you have to do what you have to do . You're not gonna obtain this God-like status , whatever that is to anybody , unless you achieve that goal . And as chefs , we have to mentor these guys .
Absolutely , and it's harder to mentor now than it ever has to be . Oh my God , because the attitude there's a layer of glass that we've got to get through so that they can come up . It's not about them pushing through the glass . We've got to get through the glass that's on top to show them , to help them get back up .
Yeah , because there's too much attitude . I'm a member of the American Culinary Federation . I'm a previous president of the Palm Beach . Chapter and I'll be honest with you , one of our biggest things was how do we get these people , these students , to be more initiative ?
And then I was like well , what are you guys doing to mentor your students ? And , by the way , do you have a student ?
that's mentoring you .
Yeah , that's the biggest thing , man , we got to talk a lot more than we are at this second .
I'm gonna tell you that , honestly , I got a lot of shit to call in . I got a lot of shit to talk about .
Oh , because , this is a kitchen . I got a lot of shit to talk about . Let's get that going right now .
Let's go . Sorry , it's all right . Don't worry about it , carl . This is all the time . It won't be the first time , we're all right .
Mike , what ?
did you get involved in and how do you ?
get involved in all this stuff .
With the food I mean , obviously you like to eat .
Man , I love to eat and I travel to work . I've been to every major city in the world . I can probably name the cities I haven't been to over the thousands of places that I have been . What's your favorite cuisine ? I love Cajun , but I also like French and Spire .
I'm sorry , Are you saying that ? Because they got next to you ? You know where he's from right , no , no .
What's that man saying up top ?
Oh , he's from New Orleans . See , I can go through the gambit of New Orleans like cooking the whole that kind of me of where it started , like I love cooking the history of New Orleans . You can come on your podcast . My father was born in Apollosa , louisiana , got you .
And one of the first things that I got slapped for is he was teaching me and I don't know if kids get whooped what organizations pick it up like this . I was one of those kids in the area that did get whipped a lot . All my childhood stories end in a whooping .
My dad was trying to teach me how to make a punch train sauce and I was like it was like BOP and I was like okay what , what , what , what you changed that you had to spit up my sauce . So , like you , all is cooking like man , like gumbos and for you .
Yeah , that's home for me , when you eat cravings Craven's family who run that kind of food game in Apollousus love y'all , love y'all .
Shout out to them Craven's out of Apollousus , because they're dear to my heart and I just had to mention them . When you mentioned Apollousus and my Cajun folks are Tahaudas , tahaudas , yeah . So when you're not feeling well , you kind of gravitate to that Cajun after .
Where do you go when you're not feeling well , like what's your , what's craveable for you ?
I tell people that I'm a Blacksican because I love Spanish cooking a lot too , and cooking , you know , like with saffron and making . Fritos and like it's . I just love Spanish cooking . You know like in beans they just go with . You know your Southern American , African cooking too , yeah , so like you know soul foods , you know it's my , it's my third .
I like Italian . So like it's hard to miss me when you start talking about hey , you want something to eat , of course .
Look , let's go . So , after you travel the world and you've eaten a bunch of different places , especially when you're touring or doing whatever you're doing , what's that food that you come to ? Like man , I can't wait till I land in the States and I have a what ?
Oh man , I definitely like cornbread and and and uh Oxtail greens like Southern cuisine , but next it will be Mexican or Spanish . I believe , I have a place in Harlem so , like you know , I'll go to the Dominican spot down the corner and and man like Cuban , like if this Spanish man like Argentinian ? Have you been to Argentina ?
I love Argentina , barcelona or Barcelona man which , which you start to get to Mediterranean . But like you just can't miss me , Like I love all of those styles .
I keep my feet back down in New Orleans whenever you can and I'll take you on a tour because it's developing the new Creole , you know . So you have a lot of . Honduras that came there during with the fruit trade .
You have a lot of Palestinians that are there now , you have a lot of um Vietnamese that came after the of the Vietnam War , and you're seeing this metamorphosis of all these different types of cuisine , creating the new . I guess you would say Creole in a sense , and so I would love to invite you guys down . Come try it Thursday . Thursday .
You got it , honey . It's not Saturday you are , but . I'm free . I got to find out what my son's football schedule is . But I hey , man , we get an airline sponsor . I fly everywhere . We're going to help you work on that for us . We're going to take the story of all the way .
Hey , man , well , we've got one even better for that . So we're actually the podcast . So we're not only just the media , but we're also about food . Right , we're about the farmer all the way to the serving and the chef .
So what are the ?
initiatives that we're going to be doing is we're going to be doing a uh farmer's tasting menu that's going to be called crepeable farmer's tasting menu Now , instead of being farm to table , because that is such an over-abused word . What ?
are we going to do is when you go to the farmers and say , hey , what do you have ?
That's too much . Good , we're going to use that and we're going to use the great menu for that ? Wow , yeah , and we're going to do between six to eight courses . We might even do like seeing discourses like the Rocky Horror Picture Show or the venue , but nobody's going to get killed , maybe .
Maybe we might have one .
So it might be a murder mystery .
You're going to die , nobody's going to die , but imagine , imagine like like you come out and then you do it right , and then everything comes out , and then somebody gets murdered Right , and then it's a murder mystery . So we want to bring entertainment back in , because that's what we lost after they're from .
over .
Yeah , but we also want to feature our farmers . So yeah , I think we're good for you . You can do some fun , you're the help .
Yeah , man .
Let's go there , we go , I got my camera . You guys see that , yeah , literally .
I can't right there . You saw that .
I love the looking in the camera , but I'm like 75% that .
So , brian , tell us a little bit about what you do and and and where that's taken you now how long is the podcast and the 85 rice that you're based out ?
of where . So based out of Philadelphia , gotcha , I have a good hold that against . Well , do we want to bring this out to Harlem ?
No , I don't want to talk about the Miami and Dolphin in the last .
Miami and Dallas in the last two weeks , and either one of you have much to say .
I'm quiet now .
I'm quiet . Come on down on the way .
I have a consulting firm called Duff and Fight Experience Group . I open restaurants for clients . I help monitor their they're costing , I help deal with their staff . I train , I do creativity sessions with chefs . I speak about hospitality all over the world . Do you sleep ? What's that ? Do you sleep ?
This week I have , but that's only because I was sick , but I have been . I fly about 130,000 miles a year , so I'm constantly on a plane doing different experiences or whatever that is . I'm a partner in a bunch of different companies all over , from a cookie company out of Alaska to a spice company out of Germany to a bunch of other little things .
I've got a beer line coming out in . April . I do a lot of TV stuff . I just kind of do whatever keeps me in the industry without being in a kitchen every single day , you know , and .
I've done it all . I've done a lot of people that want to do that . If you love it , it don't feel like work .
Yeah , no , it's true . Years ago I cracked open a fortune cookie and that's what was there . Yeah , work a hobby and never work a day in your life , and that's what I did for most of my life .
I asked off to do the fun things that I get to do . I work all year long so that I can ski during the winter and I'm starting to get to a point now that I'm doing charity events on mountains so that I can incorporate my love of good food with something that I absolutely love to do , which is I love to ski .
I just started it again four years after four years ago , after 27 years of never skiing , because I banged up my knee 29 , 31 years ago and couldn't work in a kitchen for a couple months because of what I did . So I try to incorporate as much of my passion from my personal into my professional , which is why I have as much fun as I can .
That sound like you'll skate into work , like you'll sweat when you do it . I like activities that you don't sweat , you don't sweat .
I can't even eat without sweating . I'm sweating because I'm like I got a plastic jacket on .
You're so happy . I like doing this food and the air conditioning is on like 65 .
And then you can just talk about how to grow something how to help somebody else attain the level of success you had . You know like that's good .
What did you do to become successful yourself ?
I mean like never take no for an answer . I showed up the places where people told me to leave and they go . Look man , why are you here ? Like look man , we got off on the wrong foot , I'm going to drop my pride if you drop yours . Can we keep going , please ?
And then they got all right , man , grab a broom , yeah , and like sometimes you got to humble yourself , if you can humble yourself and have talent , because God bless me with a unique ability of different talents and I've been able to humble myself and not take myself so serious with my success that it don't allow me to teach somebody else , just by association .
You don't have to always go , hey , man , look , follow my direction .
Just listen . The humble part of it is massive . It's huge . You're not always going to be the headliner for everything you do , and if you can show up somewhere and if you can work , you know . Look , the other night I wasn't a headliner in an event . A buddy of mine asked me if I could win at home .
I just played at dishes for 10 other awesome chefs you know who , at the end of the event , were so appreciative of what it is that you've done .
I don't want accolades . I said , well , all she played for somebody like it's I mean come on man , Wait , wait , wait , wait , we'll call .
That's humility , We'll call . We'll call Because that should happen . That is amazing .
And I'm not making a joke on it .
I'm saying how special that was . I guarantee you , those people , that he did that for they like oh my gosh .
Well , they're not going to the end of Earth for that dude . It's funny that you said that , because earlier today we're talking about that and Carl was asking me I'm like , hey , what do you want me to do ? I could play . It was actually a pooch . Well , I said I can play the dishwasher or I can do whatever . I don't need to be number one and that's .
I guess that's also . As I got older , you know , I'm 53 . I just turned 53 . At 50 , I had a partner that was sitting at the bar drinking and I realized absolutely what am I doing to myself ? I'm not seeing my kid , I'm not seeing my wife , I'm not . What kind of life balance do I have ? And I literally said F it .
I literally walked away , started my own business .
My sister-in-law passed away .
We moved to the West Coast of Florida , started all over again . This opportunity came up that we're doing that with podcast and I could sit there and I can follow in my own poof , or I could just lift myself up like you saying yeah , and do what I need to do . That's nothing . That's what we have to do .
We are MacGyver's the chefs , we are pirates , we play hard , we work hard , but at the end of the day , we're all about our community .
I've walked into way too many events that I've been asked to come into , whether I'm headlining or MCing or showing up to work and I've talked to too many chefs who are like man , I only got to do this for an hour and I'm out of here because that's all I'm contracted for .
Well , my deal is if you're bringing me in to do something , I want to be there all day . I don't want to go home and lay in bed . I don't want to sit around , I want to work . Man , if I'm sweeping the floor , then that's what I got to do , if I can help you out in any way , because that's what the industry is .
It's about hospitality , and we should all be working together instead of well , my name's bigger on my jacket than yours , and that's where the successful people are coming in from Are the people that will do anything to make the job ultimately get done 100% , so 100% .
I mean , we saw in a way , why is my blood running out ? It's 73 degrees , right , you didn't get that . Why that dry ?
I only want the green M&M , sir , oh , I put that in a contract as a judge for you , ryder , and they walked out in hand to be two profit bags of green M&M's and I also had it that it had to be a straw that went into it , so we all knew what I was doing when I made that contract .
Then I got an agent and that all went away . I can't be funny anymore .
So what are you doing these days ?
What are you obviously ?
eating living life loving life .
We have the number one pro wrestling show in the world . On a serious exam called Busted Open . We are killing it . We got real good ratings and we have the number one wrestling podcast right now Busted Open Radio .
And that's based on where . Where do you guys record ?
We're based out of serious exam in New York . We do everything by satellite and I love the fact that I'm an executive at AEW pro wrestling . I have a good time still getting to put my foot in the pro wrestling waters and mostly man getting prepared for my website vmarkhenrycom .
It's been creating content and getting ready to do my own the Mark Henry show on my podcast , and I'm going to be doing cooking tutorials , going to the wrestlers houses and showing them how to make the dish that they love the most Gotcha .
That's fun man .
I like that . I like that you should have it with , like a chef throw down like wrestling style , like Andre Rush , chef Rush yeah , I don't know if you've seen him on .
I haven't , but you know I want to challenge Baron Corbin , uh oh , you just take Baron Corbin .
You heard him first . You heard him first At the World .
Food Championships next year . It's coming for you , my brother .
There you go .
I am coming for your skills . I will prep with you guys .
I got your back . I got your back . There we go .
It's time we got it right here .
It's time Before yeah , let's go , let's go .
All we need to do is be a chef , I'll be a Gene .
O'Kerlin .
now I'll be the chief chef any day of the week on that one man that's going to be a bomb . But Andre Rush is a really great individual too . He was the chef for the president Obama . He is a retired veteran . He does 2000 pushups a day .
His arms are like oh , I have met him before , I didn't .
Yeah , but he does . He does the PTSD , the mental health aspect . Oh yeah , wonderful human being , we've collaborated on mental health as well . Please tell him I said hello , hell yeah , I'm going to be great because he does these little .
Gets on his that with you and , oh my god , that would be a nice happy viral all I see during this conversation is me prepping .
There's a lot of shit going on right here that I'm just prepping . No , I'm just peeling carrots .
I'll be drinking that right there . I can see you . Hey , you guys messed up those carrots . You're back when you're doing it too , we , chef , we .
I love this man . Y'all awesome man . I gotta go out here , and you know like I'm married dude man , so don't , don't go , don't insinuate anything you give me put in the dog house , but like I gotta go out here with all these women , it's just you know , hard work , hard work .
That's rough . I'm gonna go out and watch got me too but I want to say that we're doing this in style .
Kudos to new chef . Thank you , new chef , for making us look so crisp , so clean in Dallas at the world food championships . Baby , thank you , brian Duffy .
Mark Henry , we appreciate y'all so much thank y'all so much .
This is an honor to sit here with you , gentlemen we'll talk after that .
I got very much . Definitely , guys , stay tuned . There is so much more . And look at the crowd just around here . I know that's what we're going to . Listen to this for a second , then we'll just get a pic with y'all .
Oh yeah , I need to talk to you about something and then talk to you about it .