About

Hi, and welcome to my blog and the about page that took longer to write than any recipe.

This blog is more about YOU than me.

So, a little bit about me and then a lot about YOU and how YOU can benefit from the information on this recipe blog.

The Author

That would be me. Charlé Visser.

Laidback but passionate with a strong honest opinion on many things.

I'm the photographer, designer, webmaster, bank and dishwasher behind this blog. But, mainly, I'm the chef.

I started this recipe blog as a way of documenting my recipes and to openly share what I've learned over the course of my professional cooking career.

I cook food people want to eat, document the recipes and then share these professionally developed, easy to follow recipes with you. It's that simple.

Alongside all the joy of running a food blog and YouTube channel, I also own a catering company and manage restaurants.

My clients include everyone from royal families to celebrities, fashion houses, and large corporations.

I appreciate the quiet life with as few problems as possible, simply cooked good quality food and wine to match.

Why this food blog is different

I've been a chef my entire adult life.

As soon as I started cooking at the age of 16 I sacrificed family and social life in order to gain as much experience and knowledge as possible to become an expert in my field.

Working at the highest level for prestige companies and cooking for some of the most well-known people on this planet.

Not a teacher, lawyer, financial advisor or any of those popular food blogger professions that happen to also be able to flip a pancake.

You the readers are the most important part of this blog.

By supporting, reading, commenting, liking and sharing the recipes here, you enable me to share even more with you.

What you'll learn

• World cuisines - You will learn about a wide variety of world cuisines like Thai, Indian, Italian, South African, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Russian, Filipino, Scandinavian, Mexican, and many more.
• Home and comfort - Simple home-style dishes like Mom's famous melt-in-the-mouth roasted leg of lamb, or my version of a Viking style stew.
• Basics - Bare basics like how to chop onions and herbs the correct way. How to cook fish, spinach and bok choy properly. How to cook rice and couscous so that it's fluffy and light. Soft boiling quail eggs or making perfectly crunchy and light salad croutons.
• Everyday recipes - Making simple everyday staples like easy no-knead pasta dough, creamy mashed potatoes like you would have in Michelin starred restaurants, and chimichurri sauce, the gourmands' mayo and ketchup.
• Bread and baking - Baking bread is something everyone should be able to do. You will learn about sourdough starter, how to make sourdough bread, and how to cook a lovely delicately thin crêpe from sourdough discard. Learn about other bread, as in this amazing Russian Borodinsky dark rye bread few people know about. Make classics like carrot cake the best you ever had or again a touch of Russian magic with this layered honey cake.
• Fermentation - A discipline all by itself. We will do basic Lacto fermentation like with this sriracha sauce. Learn about Asian ferments like kimchi and how to grow koji so you could make your own soy sauce and miso. We will even look at how to make homemade Vietnamese style fish sauce by using nothing else than whole fish and salt.
• Seasonal treats - With food, there are many more seasons than the four basics seasons. Many products only have a short life and then their season is done. Some products have a peak season like with this roasted young carrot salad and this summer chanterelle soup. Or this beautiful summer fruit salad with berries and melon. This cherry frangipane tart is best when made with cherries in the hight of season.
• BBQ and Braai - Same-same but different. My big love in life is a good South African braai. Here is an amazing slow-roasted pork belly you slowly cook on the fire. Plus a few good braai sides and salads. Cook this Ukrainian beetroot soup(borscht) on the fire next time. Or a fresh whole angelfish stuffed with Thai aromatics.

What you won't learn

• How to make stupid stuff - Like mini pancake cereal or rainbow sprinkle blondies. There are dedicated websites for those fetishes.
• Bad techniques and cowboy shortcuts - Here you will learn only the best techniques and how to use them properly. If there's a legitimate shortcut, we will use it.
• How to cook stuff that looks great but tastes nasty - Professional restaurants are guilty of this. Some of the prettiest food taste the worst, and some of the tastiest food is no Instagram stars.
• Tasteless health food just for the sake of it - If something tastes great, and it happens to be vegan and gluten-free, then that's great. Otherwise, this blog is for responsible omnivores. I do include suggestions in each post on how you could tailor recipes to suit your dietary needs.

Personal coaching and advice