John Reed reads comments from viewers during his Tuesday live-stream on Twitch while he peels garlic to make pulled chicken enchiladas in his home in La Cienega.
John Reed chops an onion to go into a sauce for pulled chicken enchiladas while speaking to viewers of his Tuesday livestream from his home in La Cienega.
John Reed reads comments from viewers during his Tuesday live-stream on Twitch while he peels garlic to make pulled chicken enchiladas in his home in La Cienega.
Photos by Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican
Reed adds seasoning while making a sauce for pulled chicken enchiladas Tuesday.
Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican
John Reed addresses viewers as he opens his Twitch live-stream Tuesday before preparing pulled chicken enchiladas.
Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican
John Reed chops an onion to go into a sauce for pulled chicken enchiladas while speaking to viewers of his Tuesday livestream from his home in La Cienega.
The camera light was on, and John Reed was ready to perform. His props were ready, too: a blender, an oven, a four-burner electric stove and a wood block full of knives.
“Hope you’re having a cheeky Tuesday,” said the South Wales-born Reed, now a Santa Fe resident, to those tuning in to his Chef John Reed show. It streams at 10 a.m. four days a week on Twitch, a live-streaming platform and social media venue.
His interactive cooking show — celebrating its third anniversary this weekend — has racked up over a million views in the last three years.
This month, he also initiated a weekly baking show on YouTube. “It’s more for expanding my audience,” he said. “If I get enough exposure, it might open more doors and opportunities for me.”
On Tuesday, he showed viewers how to make pulled chicken enchiladas with a zucchini wrap, a process that took more than three hours.
Viewers — who often weigh in with questions and comments, offer advice to 31-year-old Reed and talk gossip — like the low-key, dry-witted chef’s approach to cooking. They seem to respond favorably to the way he treats them as if he were a teacher, a friend, a confidante — someone who wouldn’t mind if they wandered into his kitchen to watch him prepare a meal.
“His food is fantastic, so be sure to come hungry, and he goes into detail of what he is doing so you can make it, too,” said William Waldorf of Illinois, who first tuned into the show a year ago.
“Being someone who regularly watches various food channels on YouTube and television, I am happy I came across him because it’s like being at an interactive cooking show,” Waldorf added. “You can ask questions about various cooking topics or even give him a list of ingredients, and he will help you brainstorm what you could make for dinner.”
“Chef John Reed has created a stream where people of all ages and all walks of life can come together and learn how to cook quality food,” said a chat fan known as Miningforfish, who has been watching Reed’s program from Canada for eight months.
“Personally, I enjoy the humorous commentary, mixed with tips on how to advance my cooking skills,” the viewer said.
Cassie Stone of Texas agreed. “I love his energy and humor,” she said. “He doesn’t feel rehearsed or fake, and it is refreshing to know he doesn’t have anybody writing lines for him.”
During a typical show, Reed’s viewers — he averages 75 to 100 each day and has over 19,000 followers — engage him in a constant dialogue about what he is cooking but also unrelated topics, such as pets, the weather and the traffic levels in various cities.
Working as a live-streaming chef from his old adobe home south of Santa Fe, where he lives with his wife, local teacher Amanda CdeBaca, offers a calmer lifestyle than he had in the years he spent working as a chef in hotels and restaurants.
He started cooking with his mother in her kitchen in Worcestershire, England, where he was raised.
“I grew up in a home where we made our own food and always used leftovers,” Reed said. “That’s where the passion for cooking came from.”
He wasn’t sure what direction his life would take when he was in high school until a sympathetic counselor asked him, “What are you good at?”
The answer was immediate: “I’m good with my hands, so why don’t I do some cooking?”
Reed attended the Worcestershire College of Technology to study hospitality, catering and cooking. He was still in his teens when he landed his first jobs in the business, cooking in local hotels. It wasn’t long before he had moved up to head chef. He felt his rise was fast — so fast, in fact, that before he reached the age of 30, he thought, “I’ve done all that, what’s next?”
Well aware of the number of cooking shows on television and various internet channels, he decided to start a cooking program on Twitch, where he had a presence and played video games.
He’s learned a lot in three years about how to present himself on camera. He moves with ease and confidence around his kitchen,
Reed doesn’t crack jokes as much as he responds, with humor, to some of his viewers’ comments, which he reads aloud on the show.
One viewer complained in a chat that a pizza he ordered at a restaurant recently came out without sauce.
The viewer had requested the pizza “without sausage,” he said, but the server misunderstood.
Such casual chitchat dominated Tuesday’s show as Reed patiently explained how to debone chicken, prepare it for cooking and create an enchilada sauce.
Reed described for viewers how its aroma permeated the kitchen.
The best thing about his job, he said, is “helping people, showing them how you can make food that is healthy and good, how to develop their taste buds. I want to encourage them to cook in their kitchens every day, remind them they don’t need to do a takeaway [take out] tonight. ...
“Making a good dinner is an accomplishment,” he added.
