James Matos | Chef | Recipe Developer | Home Cook Advocate | Age 45

Bainbridge, NY-based culinary guide who believes that great cooking isn’t about fancy techniques—it’s about understanding flavors, trusting your instincts, and making every meal an opportunity to nourish the people you love.

My Story

I didn’t grow up in a restaurant kitchen or train at some prestigious culinary institute in France. I grew up in a small town where dinner meant something. It meant my grandmother’s hands working masa, my mom’s Sunday pot roast that filled the house with warmth, and neighbors who’d knock on the door with extra tomatoes from their garden. Food was our language before I even knew I was learning to speak it.

By my twenties, I was cooking professionally, but something felt off. I was executing someone else’s vision, plating food that looked perfect but didn’t tell a story. The disconnect ate at me. I wanted to create recipes that felt like home—the kind that get passed down, scribbled on index cards, and adjusted to taste. The kind my abuela never wrote down because she just knew.

The Turning Point

I was 38, working the line at a high-end restaurant in upstate New York, when my daughter asked me to teach her how to make my mother’s arroz con pollo. She was home from college, and I realized I’d been so focused on complicated reductions and precise temperatures that I’d never actually shown her the recipes that mattered. We stood in my kitchen that afternoon, and I couldn’t remember my mom’s exact measurements. I called her, and she laughed. “Mijo, you don’t measure that. You feel it.”

That moment cracked something open. I started writing down family recipes, testing them, and making them work for people who didn’t grow up watching these dishes come together. I left the restaurant world and committed to something different: creating recipes that bridge tradition and real life, that honor where food comes from while making it accessible to anyone willing to try.

What I Learned the Hard Way

I wasted years thinking complexity meant skill. I’d create these elaborate recipes with seventeen ingredients and three-day preparation times, and nobody made them. They looked impressive, but they sat unused. I had to unlearn the idea that good cooking needs to be difficult.

I also learned that perfectionism kills creativity in the kitchen. I spent so much time trying to make recipes “foolproof” that I forgot cooking is supposed to be forgiving. Some of my best dishes came from mistakes—from burnt bits that became flavor, from substitutions made out of necessity. The hard part was giving myself permission to embrace that messiness and teach it to others.

My Approach Now

These days, I develop recipes with real life in mind. I’m thinking about the home cook who’s tired after work, the parent juggling three kids, the person who wants to eat well but doesn’t have specialty ingredients or two hours to spare. Every recipe I create gets tested in my own kitchen first, usually multiple times, with regular grocery store ingredients.

I focus on teaching the why behind techniques, not just the how. When you understand why you’re searing meat or why you’re adding acid at the end, you stop needing to follow recipes exactly. You start trusting yourself. That’s the kind of cooking that sticks—the kind that becomes second nature and gets passed down.

My work blends traditional flavors with modern convenience because I live in both worlds. I want you to make your grandmother’s recipes, but I also want you to use your Instant Pot if that’s what gets dinner on the table. There’s no shame in shortcuts that work.

What I Believe

• Cooking is a skill anyone can learn—it’s not talent; it’s practice and patience with yourself.
• The best recipes adapt—if you don’t have cilantro, use parsley; if you hate onions, leave them out.
• Flavor comes from layers, not from expensive ingredients—it’s about building depth through technique.
• Mistakes are just improvisation—some of the world’s greatest dishes were happy accidents.
• Food connects us to our stories—every recipe carries memory, culture, and love forward.

How I Can Help You

Through www.pedrorecipes.com, I share recipes that actually work for real people. You’ll find everything from weeknight dinners that come together in 30 minutes to weekend projects worth the time investment. I break down traditional dishes, explain the techniques that matter, and show you how to make them your own.

I also offer personalized recipe development for people who want to recreate a dish from memory, adapt family recipes for dietary needs, or just learn to cook with more confidence. Whether you’re a complete beginner or someone who knows their way around the kitchen but wants to expand, I meet you where you are. My goal isn’t to make you cook like me—it’s to help you discover your own voice in the kitchen.

A Little More About Me

When I’m not in the kitchen, you’ll find me at the Bainbridge farmers market on Saturday mornings, talking to farmers about what’s coming in and planning recipes around the seasons. I’m an avid reader of food history—I love understanding how dishes evolved and traveled. I collect vintage cookbooks, especially community fundraiser ones from the 1960s and 70s, because they’re full of recipes people actually made and loved. And I’m always experimenting with fermentation, though my wife has banned any more kimchi projects until I figure out the smell situation in our basement.

Let’s Connect

I love hearing from people who try my recipes, who have questions about techniques, or who just want to talk about food. Cooking shouldn’t feel lonely or intimidating—it’s a conversation, and I’m always happy to be part of yours. Whether you nail a recipe on the first try or burn it spectacularly, I want to hear about it.

Get In Touch

Email: james@pedrorecipes.com

Instagram: instagram.com/jamesmatos10