Curtis Stone: Sometimes the imperfections make you perfect

Despite his strong physique and striking features, Curtis Stone isn’t nearly as tough as he looks.

Chatting to the blonde Aussie celebrity chef, you immediately get the vibe he’s a laid back, gentle giant with a soft spot for the beautiful things in life, especially his family and quality food.

“We’ve been taught to look for perfection, which doesn't always mean beautiful. Sometimes the imperfections make you perfect,” Stone says speaking about fresh produce.

As Coles supermarket’s brand ambassador, Stone is well acquainted with shoppers’ expectations when choosing fresh fruits and vegetables and says “it’s a complex challenge.”

RELATED: Curtis Stone’s Stir-fried Kalettes Recipe With Chilli and Fresh Herbs

“It’s interesting looking at a specification as to what is a great banana for example. If a banana was 20% larger, it wouldn’t fit into our specifications,” he says.

Melbourne-born and bred, Stone is now living in Los Angeles, where he observes consumers embracing new food trends more willingly than those down under.

“The trend went to convenience for a while then to shiny and beautiful and always looking good but not always tasting great,” says Stone, thankfully, “it’s moving towards flavour.”

Coops in Sweden and the UK have begun to embrace ugly fruit and vegetables, while in the US, Stone says heirloom is a real trend.

“You can buy half a dozen different types of carrots,” he says, but unfortunately Stone says in Australia, “we haven't quite caught on yet.”

Despite this, Aussies have embraced different food trends such as food hybrids like kalettes - the lovechild of kale and Brussel sprouts.

We loved the versatile veg so much, South Australian growers Samwell & Sons have planted six times more this year and will be available exclusively at Coles from May.

“You can drizzle them with oil and throw them on the barbie, so they’re really good with meat. They make great kale chips if you break those few outer leaves off.. they’ll turn into the most beautiful little chips,” he says.

While dessert hybrids like cronuts are all the fuss at the moment, we asked Stone if he thinks fruit and vegetable hybrids like kalettes will be the next big food trend for 2016.

“If anything the trend is to go back to nature and to keep things simple,” says Stone, who appeared on Channel 7’s My Kitchen Rules as a guest judge.

“Stuff that we never use to cook with, we now we have access to,” he says.

“I remember growing up cooking and you either did this or that. It was French or Italian, or Chinese or Thai, and these days cuisines of the world have broken apart a little bit,” he says.

RELATED: Curtis Stone’s Guide to LA

While he has no answer for those who ask what his style of food is, as a cook, Stone says he never stops learning.

Whether it’s inspiration from other chefs, soaking up the American culture or rubbing shoulders with his talented young chefs at his Beverly Hills restaurant Maude’s, Stone says he’s constantly evolving and developing.

In fact, as soon as Stone returns to Los Angeles after his short two week stint in Oz, he comes back to the scaffolding of his new restaurant called Gwen.

“It’s named after my mum’s mum,” he says. “She grew up on a farm and use to tell us these stories of sheep hanging off the back tree. She’d be like ‘Honey, I need some chops for dinner,’ and grandad would go out and come back with a rack of chops.”

“It’s interesting, that was life and look how much it’s changed,” he says.

Along with his brother, Luke Stone, whom both began as butchers, it’s no surprise this Hollywood precinct will be meat-centric with a butcher shop and a restaurant off the back.

“We’re making our own salamis, prosciuttos and capicolas. It’s full of action,” he says.

Travelling frequently for work and involuntarily being away from his wife, Lindsay Price and two sons Hudson, 4, and Emerson, 1, for long periods, it’s obvious Stone is a seriously dedicated chef who is willing to put in all or nothing.

“I’ve never been that guy who opens a restaurant and never shows up. You really got to do it properly,” he says.

Although he’s now well established in the States, Stone still fondly reflects on Australia and secretly yearns for the things that make it such a great place.

When asked what he misses most, he says, “You always think about the bad stuff that you miss, like pies and sausage rolls, my mum’s roast pork with crispy skin - they don’t sell pork with the skin on in the US, which I don’t understand.”

It’s all about the crackling, “Right!” he agrees.

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