While you can't go wrong with grilled burgers and hot dogs with a side of corn on the cob or a veggie salad during these scorching months, it's quite possible you're starting to get a little bored with the same old-same old. Thankfully, privatechef on TikTok is here to bring you all the summer food inspo: With 1.1 billion views, this hashtag serves up fantastic meals prepared by professional cooks (and content creators) working for affluent clients in the Hamptons—that you can whip up yourself.
In these videos, private chefs invite you to spend a voyeuristic "day in the life" with them as they shop, prep, cook, and recover at the end of 15-hour work days. Their schedules are chaotic, but their environments are (generally) stunning: extensive gardens to gather fresh fruits, veggies, and herbs for daily meals, massive kitchens with state-of-the-art appliances and tons of sunlight, unlimited budgets to buy the best ingredients.
TikTok creator @chefbae recently shared her restock video at Erewhon, a high-end grocery chain in Los Angeles, which totaled an astronomical $3,515.09. Meredith Hayden, known on the app as @wishbonekitchen, works with clients in New York City, the Hamptons, and Nantucket and travels to Europe with families to cook for them while they're on vacation. She shares her personal life, recipes, and her experiences as a private chef with her 1.7 million followers; like other popular privatechef creators, she doesn't hide the exhaustion, sore feet, and long days that come with the job.
If you're into keeping up with the celebrities, @chefklosangeles works with the Kardashian family and others, offering the world a glimpse of what she prepares for them on a daily basis. Her videos are highly stylized and accompanied by music, turning her cooking process into an artistic experience. With a feature in the New York Times, Chef K has become something of a celebrity in her own right.
Chef @sobadash_ shared her prep for a Mother's Day event, which consisted of making a heart-shaped red velvet cake and cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, fried chicken, lobster mac and cheese, steaks with chimichurri, vodka sauce pasta, rice pilaf, and Caesar salad—all in one day. "Your time management skills must be phenomenal," one TikTok user commented, to which @sobadash_ replied, "I feel like I've done this so much I know exactly how much time I need. And if I have to, I just stay up all night."
Don't be intimidated by these professionals, though. Many of their dishes are simply delicious and easy to recreate. You may not shop at Erewhon or have an unlimited budget for unique (and overpriced) ingredients, but you can try out many of their meals at home. Perfect for summer: Hayden's "Double B BLT" (hint: add basil!), which has over 430,000 likes. Her video gives a step-by-step guide to a mouthwatering version of this classic sandwich—and would make a perfect alternative to another piece of grilled meat for dinner tonight.