When Sam Seideman was young, he and his undiagnosed ADD burst into the kitchen, intent on master-minding a new and delicious tomato sauce.
Secret ingredient: cinnamon.
“They do it with Greek food,” Sam shrugs. “It makes sense.”
The result? "A snickerdoodle tomato," he grins. "The execution was great, but it tasted vile."
It's this devil-may-care inventiveness and love of la cuisine that powered him through years of working in kitchens until, at 17, Gordon Ramsay called him "One of the keenest young cooks I've seen."
Yes, that Gordon Ramsay. Sam was one of four... well, one of two, really, because Gordon brought his daughter, Tilly, and one of her friends… selected to star in Uncharted: Showdown, a reality cooking show in Costa Rica.
In the show, the young chefs navigate dangerous animals and enormous bullet ants whose bites "hurt like a shot for four hours" to collect ingredients. They brave harrowing waves to scrape and pop sea cockroaches off of rocks (which seems like far too much effort to harvest something so disturbing). They clamber up slippery coconut trees and smash cocoa beans with boulders.
The entire show made me grateful for grocery stores, though I do recommend Westporters watch it - Sam was charming and deft, and it was his idea to make jackfruit tamales. It’ll make sense in the finale, which I won’t spoil.
Sam grew up in a family full of cooks and recipe-sharers. Ever since "he could hold a knife," he experimented in the kitchen, admitting, "I did a lot of substitutions and messed up a lot."
He began cutting his teeth in restaurant kitchens at 14 years old. During Covid, he pretty much sheltered in place at JR's on Riverside Avenue, working with Frankie Henriquez and owner Eric Johnson. Then stints at Knot Norms and Hudson Malone.
He shares special memories of Thanksgivings, when 22 family members descend upon his grandparents. "Thanksgiving with my family is some of the most stressful times in our life. There's always an issue with the turkey, and my aunt insists on making everything herself."
She did, however, consent to his hand-whipping the cream. An honor he recently imparted to a younger cousin. "I'm in college; I don't need to do this anymore."
I asked what he'd like to cook for Thanksgiving, now that he's unburdened himself of whipped cream.
He pauses for only a moment, "Maybe I'll do a roasted salad, with basil cashew whipped dressing." Then he cautions, "But I'd have to prepare it elsewhere."
Okay, let's pretend Sam's aunt suddenly granted him authority over the entire meal and promised no harm would visit him. What would he make?
He promptly responds, "I don't like turkey, so I'd make a stuffed pork loin, with sautéed spinach, onions, mushrooms, chestnuts, and homey spices. Mashed potatoes; I make a mean roasted garlic mashed potatoes. If you boil whole potatoes, you get them undercooked, so I cut mine up. The biggest mistake is powdered mashed potatoes, and you need full cream, full butter."
Which brings us to the topic of plants. Though he's happily omnivorous, he's plant-forward and fascinated by the transformative properties of ingredients.
"Zucchini tastes like water, but sauté it down and roast it; the sugar caramelizes, and you develop flavor," he explains. "You can transform a head of cauliflower into its own steak, and somehow it's juicy and has flavor." Then he hints, it's not a job for rookie cooks.
At one point, his goal was to have a restaurant, but his foray into reality TV "sparked" another side of food. "I love food and travel, experiencing the cuisine and the culture. I'd like to figure out a business to do that."
Currently, a junior at Penn State, in the School of Hospitality Management, and active in his fraternity, he recalls how his new friends were surprised to see his knives, not pegging him for the chef-type. Fast forward, he and his bros cook every Sunday. "I go to my friends' apartments and run a cooking demo. It's a weird balance of Greek life."
He also has plans for a prepped dinner service, "A meal plan thing, could be kind of a 'frat guy cooks'."
Until this service begins, you can kick it old-school with three of his "Thanksgiving" recipes, were he allowed to make them.
@samseideman_
Recipe Note:
This awe-inspiring pork is guaranteed to leave a lasting impression on your guests, one that has them licking the plate clean. While it may require a bit more effort than most, the results are without a doubt worth it. For clearer visual instruction on flattening and trussing the meat check out a YouTube video. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
Center-cut pork loin (about 4-5 lbs)
Filling:
6 slices Bacon, diced
2 Shallots, diced
3 C. Baby spinach
2 C. shaved Brussel sprouts
¾ C. diced Apple
6 Garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp Balsamic
2 tbsp Maple syrup
2 tbsp dijon
1 tbsp Salt
1 tsp Black pepper
1 ½ tsp Smoked paprika
2 tbsp Fresh thyme, chopped
2 tbsp Fresh rosemary, chopped
Gravy:
3 tbsp Butter
3 tbsp Flour
2 C. Chicken broth
1 1/2 C. Pan drippings
Directions:
Making the filling:
- Add bacon to a cold pan, turn on the heat, and slowly render the fat out of the bacon.
- Once almost crispy add shallots and brussels sprouts. Allow vegetables to sweat.
- Add spinach and apples. Sautée until apples slightly soften.
- Add garlic and cook until aromatic.
- Add balsamic and allow to deglaze.
- Transfer to a bowl and add dijon, maple syrup, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, thyme, and rosemary. Set aside
Preparing the pork:
- Start with the fat side of the pork down on the cutting board.
- Using a knife (I like to use a fillet or boning knife) slice about a ⅓” into the bottom of the pork, cutting lengthwise.
- As you approach one end of the pork turn it counterclockwise and bring your knife down to repeat the process until the pork cylinder turns into a flat sheet.
- Once flattened cover in plastic wrap and use a meat tenderizer to further flatten the pork
Assembling the pork:
- Lay pork flat and spread the filling edge to edge leaving about 1 ½”-2” of pork at the fat side.
- Roll the pork over itself tightly, ending with the fat side of the pork.
- Unravel a large amount of kitchen twine, keeping string attached to the roll.
- With the twine start with the pork fat side up and tie a knot on the far end of the pork leaving excess string hanging off of the knot.
- Bring string a few inches away from the new knot, string over your hand to create a loop, twist your hand to keep the string in a loop, and pull the loop over the far end of the pork, bringing the loop a few inches from the first knot.
- Tighten this loop and repeat every few inches of pork until you get to the end of the loin.
- At the end of the loin, take an excess amount of string and cut the twine roll.
- Flip the loin over, fat side down, and feed the twine through each loop of string, double looping each time to create a secure knot.
- Once at the end of the loin secure the twine to the first knot that you left excess string for
Cooking the pork:
- Preheat the oven to 425 and place an oven-safe pan on a burner at high heat.
- Oil your pan and sear off the pork until golden brown on both sides.
- Pop into the oven for about 1hr 15min or until the center reaches 160 degrees basting every 15 minutes.
- Remove pork and allow to rest for 10-15 min basting in pan juices for the first 3 min of its rest.
- Strain the pan drippings and use a baster to separate the fat at the top of the liquid.
Making the roux:
- In the same pan melt butter and whisk in flour.
- Cook the roux until the raw flour cooks out and slowly whisk in 1.5 C of the pan drippings and chicken broth.
- Reduce until preferred thickness.
Serving:
- Slice pork in ½” rounds.
- Spoon gravy over pork.
- Top with chives and serve.
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes
¾ C cream
Fresh thyme
Olive oil as needed
1 Garlic bulb
8 tbsp Butter (1 stick)
Salt/pepper
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Slice the very top of the garlic off and place face down on aluminum foil.
- Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and wrap tightly.
- Place in oven until garlic cloves are soft - about 45-60 minutes.
- Peel and quarter potatoes and place in a large pot with cold water.
- Salt water and bring to a boil until potatoes are soft - a knife can softly pierce the potato.
- Drain and transfer to a bowl with sliced butter, allow to melt.
- Place cream and thyme on the stove and allow to simmer.
- Meanwhile, remove garlic from foil after allowing it to cool for a bit and squeeze the garlic cloves out of the bulb.
- Using a chef’s knife, smash the garlic cloves into a paste mixing in olive oil as needed.
- Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes until they start to look roughly like mashed potatoes.
- Fold roasted garlic paste into potatoes.
- Remove thyme from cream and pour cream into potatoes as needed to the consistency of your liking - for thinner potatoes use more cream.
- Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.
- Garnish with chives and enjoy!
Kale Farro Salad
Ingredients:
Salad
2 C. Farro
4 C. kale
2 C. cherry tomatoes
1 Eggplant
2 Carrots
1 Butternut squash
2 Zucchinis
Fresh mozzarella (I like to use the small pearls)
Smoked paprika
Salt/Pepper
Garlic powder
½ lemon
Dressing
1 C. Basil
¼ C. Olive oil
2 tbsp. Apple Cider vinegar
2 cloves Garlic
½ Shallot
1 tbsp. Dijon
¼ C.Chives
½ C. Cashew
Juice of 1 ½ Lemons
1 C. Spinach
1 ½ tsp salt
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Cook farro according to directions on the box and allow to cool.
- Spread tomatoes on a sheet tray to be roasted whole.
- Slice zucchini and eggplant into strips and place onto a sheet tray.
- Cut carrots into strips to resemble french fries and place on a separate sheet tray.
- Cut butternut squash into cubes and place onto the carrots sheet tray.
- Cover vegetables in oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika and roast in the oven.
- Roast until tomatoes are soft and browned, zucchini and eggplant are caramelized, and carrots are browned (times will vary).
- Set vegetables aside.
- Put the kale into a large salad bowl and de-stem by pinching below the leaf on the stems and pulling the stem away from your pinched fingers.
- Squeeze half a lemon, and pinch of salt over the kale. Put a drop of oil on your hands, spreading it from palm to finger - this will help soften the kale.
- Massage the kale by squeezing and pinching the kale with your hands, think closed fist, open fist, repeat. The kale will go from a stiff lightly colored leaf to a softer more vibrant-colored leaf.
- When kale is massaged toss with cooled farro, roasted vegetables, and fresh mozzarella.
- To make the dressing put all ingredients into a blender and blend until whipped, about 2-3 mins. Taste and adjust seasoning as you see fit.
- Toss the salad with dressing, serve, and enjoy!