Whether he’s visiting his in-laws or is at home with his parents, wife and two kids on Father’s Day, you can find chef Dale Talde behind the grill cooking up king crab, clams, oysters, lobsters and other types of seafood. Talde, who coincidentally enough recently wrapped the third season of the Tastemade series All Up In My Grill (which is now streaming), enjoys putting in the work in the backyard on Father’s Day instead of going out to a restaurant (or eating at one of his own).
“It’s really more about celebrating the day with family. That’s what I want. I don’t care what we’re doing as long as we’re in this together. You want to go out for Mother’s Day because Mom works so hard at home trying to keep it together,” Talde says. “For Father’s Day it’s like, ‘Hey man, I like being at home and celebrating at home.’ It’s our turn to do the heavy lifting and be on the grill. It helps when you’re doing it with your family and you’re doing something that you love to do.”
As for Father’s Day gifts, Talde believes it’s better to give than to receive. “My kids are so young that giving me a hug and a kiss is priceless. At the end of the day, that’s all I really want as a dad,” he says. “With my dad, one year I got him a bottle of Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia Extra Añejo. It almost drinks like an aged bourbon and my dad would never buy it for himself. I think when you’re buying gifts for people, that’s what you should do. Give them an experience or give them something they wouldn’t get for themselves.”
If you have similar sentiments and need a gift for a father in your life, here’s what the chef recommends:
Kamado Joe Digital Charcoal Grill
“It’s like one of those ceramic Big Green Eggs except different,” Talde days. “I have one and it is super sick. It can help monitor temperature and can do automatic charcoal starts. It’s all digital, so you can do it through your phone. It’s on the high end, but it is just a sick piece of equipment.”
Ooni Koda 16 Gas-Powered Pizza Oven
“We use the propane-powered one on All Up In My Grill,“ Talde says. “It’s really awesome and I don’t think it’s just for pizzas because you can cook steaks on this thing. It gets up to about 1,000 degrees, so you can do steak in kind of a broiler-steakhouse style. Obviously, pizzas are fantastic on them as well. It’s really nice and convenient for roasting vegetables too. It can handle anything where top-down cooking is utilized.”
Meater Wireless Smart Thermometer
“This is one of those digital temperature readers that you can stick inside something like a large prime rib,” Talde says. “It’s paired to your phone and you can regulate the temperature with an app. I just love the ease of use of the app. In this day and age of technology, one of the things I look for is how easy the app is to use and how easy is it is to get to on my phone.”
Why Certified Carnivore Chef Dale Talde Is Digging in on Plant-Based Eating
Eating plant-based is really growing on the Filipino-American chefFish Grill Basket
“You can put a whole piece of fish or a ton of little peppers or pearl onions or smaller things in one of these baskets, lock it in and then flip it with ease,” Talde says. “For me, with a whole fish, I want to keep the skin intact for presentation purposes. It can be intimidating to try not to rip the skin off of a fish because it’s so delicate. These baskets just make it so easy.”
Blue Carbon Steel Frying Pan
“On the show, we like to hype the idea of the viewers getting on the grill and getting their hands dirty,” Talde says. “I’m putting this pan directly onto the grill because anything you can do inside the kitchen on your stove, you can do out on a grill. With these frying pans, they have little holes on the bottom so you’re basically kind of sauteing and grilling at the same time. I just like the functionality of this frying pan”
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