interviews

Chef Amanda Freitag of Food Network'sChopped and Iron Chef America had a lot to say about pork during her cooking demonstration at the San Francisco Chipotle Cultivate Festival. Bacon lovers cheered as she drew a fat roll of pancetta out of the fridge. She made a pork chop topped with crispy pancetta, and along the way shared her best practices for buying, prepping, and cooking pancetta. Seasoned pancetta cooks and newbies alike should keep reading for some key pancetta-cooking tips.

For the past two and a half years, Nate Appleman has been Chipotle's culinary manager, working on recipe developing for the burrito chain and its new Asian eatery ShopHouse, sourcing ingredients, and streamlining kitchen and restaurant operations. After his chef demo at the San Francisco Chipotle Cultivate Food Festival we discussed his nontraditional workdays at Chipotle, the challenges of using fresh ingredients, and the importance of thinking beyond the food being served.

POPSUGAR: What does your typical day look like?
Nate Appleman: My day changes every day. I work a lot on developing ShopHouse and seeing it to market. I'm personally involved in hiring the crew, the managers, looking at the food cost numbers, and developing the menu. I spend a lot of time on that. But I spend a lot of time on Chipotle. It's constantly changing, because we use real ingredients, and real ingredients change. It's not like other restaurants or companies that have a formula. We don't cook by formula; we cook by ingredients. We're constantly evaluating tomatoes, seeing how they change, and if there is a problem, fixing it.

PS: What's your favorite aspect of your job?
NA: There is no monotony to it. I never know what the day will bring, because it changes all the time. I love that. In a restaurant, when you become a chef, you stand on the line and expedite tickets every single day. I don't like that and don't want to do that. I want something new, exciting, and fresh. I want to be cooking, creating, and doing. I get that opportunity.

PS: What unusual challenges have come up?
NA: The big challenge with Chipotle and ShopHouse is we're a big company. We have really strong beliefs about the ingredients that we're using and the accessibility and availability of those ingredients is hard. For a small, independent restaurant it's easy. You go to the farmers market, you pick up the food, and you're using great stuff. Well, we try to do that on a large scale. We have almost 1,500 restaurants.

Nate talks about Chipotle lessons, restaurant trends, and more.

With two little girls running around her Brooklyn home, Maggie Gyllenhaal is very familiar with the ubiquitous Johnson & Johnson First Aid Kit. The kit, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, has come to the rescue of everyone from railroad workers (its original intended audience) to soccer moms over the past century. To celebrate the milestone anniversary, the star of the upcoming White House Down and mom to daughters Ramona, 6, and Gloria, 1, joined with Johnson & Johnson "Everyday Care" campaign to provide first aid safety information to families in need through Safe Kids Worldwide. The campaign — which consumers can support by creating their own custom First Aid Kits at CVS stores — will create five Sports Safety Clinic Kids' Zones across the country that educate kids about proper hydration and preventing sports injuries.

Though Maggie told us that she's been relatively lucky in the accident department so far, she knows the power of a Band-Aid to help a child, both physically and emotionally. "Sometimes though, I feel like they do want some attention and there is not much you can do," she said. "So to put on a Band-Aid [works]!"

Here are some more highlights from our conversation:

Maggie on her involvement with Johnson & Johnson: You just take for granted that there are first aid kits everywhere you go, and that there are Band-Aids and Neosporin. They are there when you need them, so it just seemed like a good fit.

Maggie on balancing her career and family: There was a project that I was thinking of doing that was in New York and it was OK, and then there is this thing I am going to do which is in London and it is fantastic. But, they worked it out for me that I can get her back to start second grade. What it took was me just saying, “Look, I really want to do this but I am a mother and I don’t want her to start a week late.” Because if you think about it from the perspective of a second grader, it is a huge deal. So I think that her dad [Maggie is married to Peter Sarsgaard] will probably take her back three or four days before me and then I will get back a few days before school starts and it will be fine. But I know my husband won't be able to clear all of her old stuff out of her room so we have to do that before we leave for London. [We will] get some new clothes for her for school in London — my husband he can do a lot of things, but he can’t do that!

Maggie on her girls understanding the celebrity factor: Ramona . . . has been doing this interesting thing. I will be with my kids and people will say, “Can you take a picture with me?” And I will say, "No, because I’m with my kids and I don’t want to ask my children to wait for you, you are a grown-up." But Ramona started doing this funny thing where she says, "Yeah, yeah you can!" I think she is joking me, like, "You can’t get out of it if I say it!" If someone comes up to me and I start to smile, she’ll say, "That’s a fake laugh!"

Keep reading for more of Maggie's thoughts on juggling acting and motherhood, traveling with her girls, and what it's like working with Channing Tatum.

Chef Amanda Freitag may look and act tough as nails on Food Network's Chopped and Iron Chef America, but in person, she's all smiles and infectious giggles. Fun fact: she and POPSUGAR LIVE host Matthew Rodrigues worked together on the set of Iron Chef America, so right away, she was happy to chat with another member of the family. I caught up with her after her cooking demonstration at the San Francisco Chipotle Cultivate Festival, where we talked about her life as a judge, chef competitor, and most recently, restaurant owner.

POPSUGAR: You are so bubbly and warm, but your personality on Chopped is so different! How is that?
Amanda Freitag: It is. I get totally edited. I'm funny behind the scenes. I'm funny sometimes with the chefs. I think they capture those moments when I'm being stern. That's only one part of me. The other fun-loving, playful part is the other 80 percent. It's hard. I have to be a judge; I have to be intimidating and serious.

PS: What have been some of your favorite moments as a judge on Chopped?
AF: Oh my . . . how much time do we have? Wonderful moments like when the lunch ladies competed, which we now call them "school chefs." There was not a dry eye in the house. Sam Kass was our guest judge who works with Michelle Obama on the White House food movement. These women, what they're doing and how they make those kids feel normal and feed them, as a chef, it's something I hope I can do someday. It was so moving.

Aside from the moments when people burn themselves, cut themselves, fall down, put nothing on a plate, Madison Cowan was a memorable chef for me, because he came on Chopped and blew us away. He made the most incredible, delicate, elegant food with a humble background and story. We were all blown away. That doesn't happen often.

PS: More often than not, is it judging the least disastrous of the bunch?
AF: Not always disastrous. It's a tough environment. Everyone is a little flustered. I've competed in that kitchen a couple of times. I can say it's incredibly hard — harder than Iron Chef for me. Chopped is 30 minutes. There is very little equipment, very limited pantry.

Keep reading to learn more about Chef Freitag's new restaurant.

Jeff Mauro, better known as the Sandwich King on Food Network, spent a little time away from his set (and his hectic schedule as spokesperson for Cracker Barrel Cheese) to talk to us about the meats and breads that are currently trending in the sandwich world (surprise: they're actually domestic!) and one classic American dish he's proud to have sandwich-ized.

POPSUGAR: What sandwich trends are you seeing this year?
Jeff Mauro: I am seeing a lot of bologna out there, a lot of grilled bologna. I did a grilled bologna burger last episode on the show that kind of prompted that. I did a really thick cut — I think a half-inch-thick cut — of grilled bologna. A lot of places in Chicago are doing grilled bologna with a fried egg and onions. I guess people want the nostalgia. That is where a lot of great trends come from, harking back to being a kid and eating grilled bologna. I am going to say that is going to explode even further.

PS: Pretzel buns are all the rage. We can't wait to make your homemade version this Summer. What's the ultimate way to fill 'em?
JM: I’ll tell you three things: a robust cheddar, pickled jalapeños, and ham. That’s all you need; it is the best of everything. It is like a ballpark in your mouth. You get the soft pretzel with the cheddar, so it’s almost like a nacho. It's unbelievable.

Keep reading to learn more, including Jeff's favorite sandwich creation from this year.

Jessica Alba isn't slowing down one bit as her eco-friendly baby and household cleaning product company, The Honest Company, enters its sophomore year of operation. The mom of two — Honor, 4, and Haven, 1 — has spent the past few months introducing new products for the company and promoting her bestselling guide to healthy and chic living, The Honest Life: Living Naturally and True to You. On the final day of her publicity tour, she headed up to Greenwich, CT, to receive the Champion For Children Award from the Mount Sinai Hospital Children's Environmental Health Center.

It was there that Jessica and the company's cofounder, Christopher Gavigan, spilled the beans to POPSUGAR about the next area they'll enter: the health and wellness arena. At the end of the month, Honest will introduce organic toothpaste and organic vitamins (both prenatal and children's versions), two products that grew out of their own children's needs. Jessica explained, "I was given prescription prenatals from my OB, and not only were they crazy expensive, no matter how many samples he gave me, every one of them made me nauseous." Her new vitamins are free of artificial colors, scents, and flavors (they're flavored with real fruits) and kid-tested (and approved).

Here are some more highlights from the conversation.

Jessica on why she focuses on Honest diapers' design: "I think cute-factor is so important when you're looking at the little booger all day long!"

Jessica on how involved she is with the diapers' designs: "I'm really nitpicky. . . . That's where I was like, 'I'm obsessed with Alexander McQueen, he made skulls beautiful, we have to put skulls on a diaper.' And my partners were like, 'You're crazy; nobody's going to buy that!' And I'm like, 'Are you kidding me? Just try it!' It ended up being like our No. 1 diaper!"

Jessica on her favorite diaper design: "I'm really into the strawberries right now. I always loved Strawberry Shortcake, and [Haven's] a little ginger, so the strawberries look really cute on her."

Keep reading for more of Jessica's thoughts on her business and the power of the Internet.

Just because you've become a mother doesn't mean you have to become serious and give up your style. That's the motivation behind Jeremy Scott's unlikely collaboration with Cybex, the infant and baby gear company, that was announced earlier this week. The designer best known for placing Bart Simpson-patterned clothes on his runway models and pink teddy bears on Adidas sneakers has created a fun, playful collection filled with animated snack foods ready to duke it out.

Hours before introducing his new Food Fight design, two editors and I were invited to sit down with Jeremy at London's Shoreditch Studios to discuss his inspiration, the moms he designs for, and what he thinks of the criticism of his friend Kanye West's pregnant girlfriend.

PopSugar: You just designed a Smart car and now a stroller. Do you have a thing for wheels?
Jeremy Scott: I would think the connection is that I love the idea of branching out into all kinds of design. For instance, I am the first designer ever to design a car now. Everything else has been an interior fabric . . . to have my designs go into a larger kind of spectrum in that sense. That's one of the reasons I agreed to do the collaboration with Adidas — to open that further. But then to do cars and strollers and next things, it's very fulfilling. I love the idea of my work touching people's lives in different ways. So much of high fashion can be so insular. As much as I love it, it, just by nature, is so insular. I like how these things can be parts of people's lives in different ways.

PS: You actually changed the exterior of the Smart car. Is there anything you'd change if you could create your dream stroller?
JS: If it was all neon and lighting up! There is a lot of safety baby issues, so I had to think about what would make the most impactful punch while not causing any trouble. That's why I decided to go with print more than anything. I just thought, well, it could just speak volumes, and keep babies safe, which is the most important after all.

Keep reading to see what Jeremy says about who he designs for and his thoughts on Kim Kardashian's pregnancy.

New dad Nick Lachey has a lot on his plate — he's just released a new solo album, A Father's Lullaby, 98 Degrees has a new CD (and subsequent tour) launching next month, and most importantly, there's 7-month-old baby Camden, his son with wife Vanessa Minnillo Lachey. We were lucky enough to chat with the very talented (and all-around nice) dad and learn more about what it's like to write music for his own child.

POPSUGAR: Congratulations on your new album and new baby! At what point did you decide you want to record A Father's Lullaby?
Nick Lachey: It was pretty early on in Vanessa's pregnancy. I had so many emotions running through my head, and music has always been my way of expressing that. I hadn't heard of any guys with lullaby albums, so I decided to go for it. It was really an inspiring time in my life. I started to write the melodies when she was pregnant, then waited on the lyrics until the baby was here and I could get to know him.

PS: Of the album's 12 songs, you wrote four yourself, and the rest are more classic lullabies. How'd you decide what you were going to include?
NL: Some of the songs are ones that I had a personal connection to. I've always loved "Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)," and my grandfather used to sing "You Are My Sunshine" to me as a child. The others are classic lullabies to give the album some context — like "Brahms' Lullaby" and "When You Wish Upon a Star."

PS: What's been the most surprising thing about fatherhood thus far?
NL: How it affects absolutely everything. It completely turns your schedule upside down, and your priorities change — definitely for the better, but it's a huge change.

PS: What's the best thing about being a dad?
NL: It's getting up with Camden first thing in the morning — going in to get him out of out of his crib around 7:30 and seeing him smile. That's our bonding time. I give him his first bottle, and I sing to him every morning.

PS: 7:30? That's not bad!
NL: Yeah, he's really a great kid. He sleeps very well. He's sitting up on his own now, and rocking. Crawling is just around the corner. He's becoming more and more expressive. It's a lot of fun.

Keeping reading to hear about Nick's plans to bring baby Camden along on his 98 Degrees tour and more!

It's no wonder that the always bright and colorful chef Anne Burrell absolutely adores Spring. I recently spoke to her about her shows on the Food Network, but she also had plenty to say about her favorite springtime produce, her ideal Easter menu, and how she stocks and organizes her kitchen.

POPSUGAR: We're approaching Spring. What produce do you love?
Anne Burrell: Spring is my favorite time of year. It's when Mother Nature is waking up again. Everything is light green, new, delicate, and delightful. Things like fava beans, ramps, spring onions, fiddlehead ferns, and morel mushrooms. It's such an exciting time of year.

PS: What does your ideal Easter menu look like?
AB: A big fat ham. If you're not a ham person, then definitely lamb, but I grew up having ham for Easter. Definitely lots of Spring veggies, like the ones I mentioned and asparagus. Of course, with an Easter menu, you have to have deviled eggs, because you just went for an Easter egg hunt. Definitely a bunch of egg salad sandwiches after that. I also love a Spring veggie crostata, a free-formed tart: mix fresh ricotta with Spring onion, some swiss chard, asparagus, and parmesan.

Keep reading to learn about Anne's pantry staples and Spring-cleaning projects.