Cooking at home
with chef Holen
Baked Alaska owner creates
online cooking series
Watch the videos
BY ALYSSA EVANS
Instagram: instagram.com/chefouttawa-
ter/
Within 24 hours of closing his restau-
rant’s doors in March, chef Chris Holen had
a cooking video online.
In the two months since, Holen has
fi lmed and uploaded about 25 videos. In
each video, Holen talks about the history
behind a food or dish, and a way to cook
it. Topics range from making homemade
sauce, to using foraged goods to cooking
fi sh.
“We’re all so busy with things normally
in our life,” Holen said. “Now we don’t
even know what day it is. But what we
do have is time with our families to make
things like risotto.”
Baked Alaska, Holen’s restaurant, was
closed in mid-March after Gov. Kate Brown
ordered restaurants to only offer takeout
and delivery services.
“I went, ‘What can we do?’ We can’t
do takeout, our food is not conducive to
that,” Holen said. “(The videos) are a way
to maintain our relationship with customers
during this time. It’s a comforting way to
come into people’s homes and still connect
with diners.”
Getting creative
Creating cooking videos is something
Holen has always wanted to try. His experi-
ence with them primarily has come from his
company Chef Outta Water, where he part-
ners with chefs around the world to learn
about their cultures and share his own.
“Not having the restaurant to go to every
day gives me that time to do something
I’ve wanted to do a long time,” Holen said.
“Seeing people’s reactions and engage-
ment has kept me going the whole time.
Facebook: facebook.com/chefouttawater/
YouTube: bit.ly/2LoqjOw
We’ve set it up so people can learn what
they want.”
The videos are posted on Facebook, Ins-
tagram and YouTube. On each platform,
Holen asks viewers what they want to see
in the next video and answers any questions
he gets.
“It’s kept me creative,” Holen said. “For
the fi rst week or two I had lots of things
to work with as I was winding down the
restaurant’s inventory. As time has gone
on, I’ve had less and less to work on. As a
chef and a person, I’ve taught myself new
things.”
Learning along the way
In making the videos , Holen fi rst decides
what dish he wants to feature. The dish is
often suggested by a viewer or local food
producer.
“It helps me be inspired for the next
video if I know what people are looking
for. Even when someone asks me to make
something obscure, I’ll do what I can,” he
said.
Then he researches the dish.
“I make a cup of coffee and fi nd out
what I’m going to have to work with to go
from there. I divide what I learn into his-
tory, nutritional value and something inter-
esting about the dish,” Holen said.
The day before fi lming the video, Holen
makes the dish in a trial run to make sure
everything tastes right. Then he fact-checks
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
See Page 5
Chris Holen prepares to make a meal in his kitchen.
Download The App
music first
iPhone
4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Android