KENNY RICHARD PHOTOGRAPHY
Aly Romero
Moms hold many titles when it comes to running a household, but Aly Romero has a few extra when she’s running the kitchen. As a private chef, food influencer, brand ambassador, media personality and newly published author, Aly has been featured on several of the same TV programs that inspired her to first get into cooking, including “Good Morning America,” the Food Network and “The Chew.” Now as her debut cookbook, “Gas Fire Heat,” hits shelves in bookstores and retailers nationwide, Aly demonstrates anyone can cook, especially when passion is their key ingredient.
FOOD WAS A VERY BIG PART OF... life with my dad. He was the ultimate foodie. Whenever he would come to visit, he would always ask ‘What’s for dinner?’, even when it was 8 in the morning. We based the day around it, researching recipes, gathering ingredients, cooking, chatting, pouring a glass of wine and sharing stories as we enjoyed our meal. It was a great family experience we shared with each other.
I WANTED TO... honor his memory and love for food, so I decided to go to culinary school and learn the things I couldn’t teach myself. One of our classes had us working on a kitchen line on campus to simulate a real-life restaurant experience. That was something I specifically learned that I couldn’t get from watching the Food Network or my dad.
I STARTED MY FOOD BLOG AROUND... the same time I started culinary school [in 2016]. A lot of people can be very protective of their recipes and won’t want to share them, and I’m the opposite. If I learned something cool, I want to share it with other people so they can experience it as well. It started with me sharing recipes I was working on, then it became things I created in my kitchen. That’s how things started rolling for me in my private chef career.
I GOT A CALL FROM... a producer for ‘The Chew’ in 2018 to appear in their ‘You On The Chew’ recipe show-down. It was me versus another contestant, and we had a group of panelists judging our entrees to see whose was better. That was the first time I was on TV, and my carnitas street tacos ended up winning!
MY OTHER TV APPEARANCES INCLUDE... cooking with my husband on a segment of ‘Good Morning America’ and competing on the Food Network’s ‘The Great Food Truck Race’ as a member of the Meatball Mamas in Alaska. I just love talking about food and cooking live on TV. It was a ton of fun, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
MY BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT TO DATE IS... finishing my first cookbook! It’s a barbecue, grilling and smoking cookbook called ‘Gas Fire Heat,’ and it includes a ton of recipes and helpful hints for cooking outdoors. I worked on it for two years, writing all of the recipes, testing them out multiple times and measuring everything down to the salt and pepper. I even did my own photography. It was a labor of love that I’m very proud of and could definitely see doing again.
MY BOYS WOULD ALWAYS SAY... stuff like ‘Mom, that’s gas,’ or ‘that’s fire.’ When I began working on my book, my youngest son said I should call it ‘Gas Fire Heat.’ That’s how I got the name.
THE BEST THING ABOUT COOKING IS... that it brings everybody together. Eight years ago, I was just sharing recipes I love with people online. This cookbook is just another way to share the food I love with the world.