Foodie doubles following thanks to COVID
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a series of features on East Coast social media personalities. In the next instalment, learn how Jess Emin got her start in the social media realm.
Inside his kitchen in a quiet neighbourhood in Dartmouth is where Andy Hay sets up a digital camera, tripod, some lights, ingredients and hits record.
Today, he’s making a classic batch of chocolate chip cookies — loaded with extra chocolate. And soon, he’ll post a short and sweet video of how it’s made on his Instagram page, which boasts more than 26,000 followers.
The chef, recipe developer and food/lifestyle content creator got his start in front of a screen three years ago on MasterChef Canada.
When COVID-19 hit, Hay was forced to shut down his catering company and brainstorm where to take his career next. Once again, he turned to the screen to share his cooking passion with his fellow East Coasters and people from all around the world, but this time, on social media.
Now, creating social media content is Hay’s full-time job, and he’s living for it.
The Chronicle Herald visited Hay’s kitchen and spoke to the foodie about what got his social media career started, his favourite recipes and any tips he may have for beginner cooks.
Can you explain what it is exactly that you do?
I create food content. The whole goal is to get people at home cooking more and enjoying it, so that’s what I’m trying to do, create food content, mainly videos, that get people cooking more at home.
When did this all get started?
I was on MasterChef Canada and got off that show and knew I wanted to do something in food, didn’t really know what that meant or looked like and I tried a lot of things. I was always creating content for social media, specifically for Instagram, but I didn’t know how that would actually turn into a business.
So I was running a catering company for a while and was slowly growing my Instagram following and then COVID hit and I had to shut down the catering company. And I used that opportunity to kind of just start creating more content. I got a lot more followers during quarantine because I did a quarantine kitchen, 100 days in a row of recipes, and that kind of just changed my whole business. I realized that this could become a business, it’s something that I really enjoy doing that I was pretty good at, so I kept the catering company closed down and just went pedal to the metal.
Before quarantine, how many followers did you have? And how many do you have now?
Before quarantine started, I had like 13,000 and then after, probably three months into quarantine, I more than doubled it, so I’m up to over 26,000 now. It’s all a result of that cooking I did during quarantine. It made a major difference.
What are some of your favourite recipes?
When I first got into cooking and was on MasterChef, I was super intimidated by baking, but now I absolutely love baking, so anything from cookies, cakes, squares. My wheelhouse there is very much nostalgia baking, so if you’re driving through the east coast and stop in a bakery in like New Glasgow or Cape Breton somewhere, the type of stuff that you’d find there, like the type of baked goods your grandmother would make, that’s what I try to make, that’s what I really like. And I think that’s what I’ve kind of become known for as well, is that nostalgia baking, but also party food is a whole other part of it, so I (make) stuff that people could have with friends or family.
Every day I’m creating content, so it’s really all over the place. Whatever myself and my wife are craving is what I’ll make.
What are some of the recipes you’re gearing up to make this holiday season?
I’ve (put together) 12 days of Christmas or holidays recipes, so anything from cheese balls to shortbread cookies to spinach dip in a bread bowl, stuff that’s really easy for people to make and stuff that people crave.
Do you have any tips for beginner cooks?
There’s a couple that I always go to.
Don’t be shy to cook your food on high heat, that’s a big thing that a lot of home cooks won’t do. If you put something in the oven, they’ll put it at like 300F, blast your oven at like 450F because you want to burn your food a little bit. It adds a lot of flavour. People think I’m joking, but it really does add a lot of flavour.
Don’t be shy to use salt. Salt brings out flavour in both baked goods and savoury food.
Season properly. On that note, also use an acid or a citrus. That will help augment flavours whether that’s lemon, whether that’s vinegar, that will help bring out more of the flavour.
Cooking is all about balance and essentially balancing acid, salt, heat and fat, so just playing around with those combinations will unlock cooking for you.
This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.