Greg Baker

Greg Baker
Title: Freelancer
Location: Tampa, Florida
Education: Western Culinary Institute

Greg is a former chef/restaurateur with almost 40 years of hands-on restaurant experience. He retired from the restaurant industry in 2019 and set his sights on honing a craft he didn't realize he had until a few years earlier; writing. Greg has expert-level knowledge of cooking equipment, outdoor cooking, vegetable, meat, and seafood cookery, sustainable agriculture and fisheries, history as it relates to food, traditional Florida foodways, sustainable workplaces, mental health issues in the restaurant industry, and food as it affects our way of life. His written work has appeared in/on Food Republic, Tampa Tribune, Tampa Bay Times, Tasting Table, Florida Politics, Food & Wine, and Serious Eats.

Highlights:

  • Semi-Finalist, Best New Restaurant, James Beard Foundation, 2011
  • Semi-Finalist, Best Chef, South, James Beard Foundation 2012-2016
  • Featured in the Wall Street Journal's "Chefs Speak Out on Mental Health in the Restaurant Industry" 2018

Experience

Greg is an all-around food nerd who thrives on understanding the whys as much as the hows of food, whether it's how it's grown or brought to the plate. His years as a chef, utilizing a myriad of cooking tools, left him in the unique position to evaluate and relate the quality and worth of a product.

Favorite Purchase:

My favorite purchase was a Forschner ten-inch chef's knife for $37 in 1992. It's lasted decades in commercial kitchens and I still use it today.

Education

Culinary Arts, Western Culinary Institute, Portland, OR, 1987

About Serious Eats

Serious Eats, a Dotdash brand, is an award-winning food and drink website visited by over 7 million hungry readers every month. Our audience comes to us for rigorously tested recipes, science-driven cooking techniques, robust equipment reviews, and stories that offer cultural and historical context to the foods we love to eat.

Dotdash is among the largest and fastest growing publishers online, and has won over 50 awards in the last year alone, including Digiday's 2020 Publisher of the Year. Dotdash brands include Verywell, Investopedia, The Balance, The Spruce, Simply Recipes, Serious Eats, Byrdie, Brides, MyDomaine, Lifewire, TripSavvy, Liquor.com, and TreeHugger.

Read More from Greg Baker

Numerous marshmallow roasting sticks side-by-side.
Roasty and Toasty: I Tested 9 Marshmallow Roasting Sticks to Find Ones for Stress-Free S’mores and Hot Dogs
a variety of non alcoholic beers on a table with napkins and cards
I Tried 23 Non-Alcoholic Beers to Find the Best Ones I'd Happily Drink Any Day
Four different types of mortar and pestles on a wooden countertop.
I Tested 13 Mortar and Pestle Sets to Find the Best Ones for Spices, Pesto, and Curry Pastes
A number of coolers stacked on top of each other in a backyard.
I Tested 11 Coolers to See Which Ones Stayed Ice-Cold and Survived Being Pushed Off of a Truck
the airhood next to a griddle of bacon on the stove
Meet the AirHood: The Portable Kitchen Hood That Actually Removes Smoke and Odors
A person adding charcoal to a charcoal grill
Lump! Binchotan! How to Choose the Right Type of Charcoal for Your Grilling Needs
A person slices a tomato with a chef's knife. Two knife sharpeners are also in the frame.
To Find the Best Knife Sharpeners (Including Whetstones), I Sharpened Dozens of Blades
A person presses the buttons on a Nesco vacuum sealer, with two additional vacuum sealers in the frame
We Tested 24 Vacuum Sealers to Find the Six Best for Sous Vide and Food Storage
the anova precision sous vide 3.0 on a cambro with a white backdrop
The Anova Precision Sous Vide 3.0 Immersion Circulator Is the Fastest, Most Accurate Model Yet
A person uses a grill brush to clean the Weber Genesis E-335 Gas Grill
The Best Way to Clean Your Grill, According to Experts
four probe thermometers on a wooden table
Leave-In Probe Thermometers Provide Real-Time Readings for All of Your Roasting and Smoking Needs
a variety of charcoal chimneys on a wooden picnic table
I Burned Through 78 Pounds of Charcoal to Find the Four Best Chimney Starters