Four years after purchasing a farm in the Santa Monica Mountains, celebrity chef Curtis Stone admits he still doesn’t know how to properly use the equipment needed.
Stone told Fox News Digital that he’s still learning the ins and outs of farming, pointing out that his skills with a chainsaw and tractor are not the best.
“Naivety – I had no idea how involved it was owning a farm because every time the wind blows, a tree falls on a fence,” Stone said.
“And then you got to get your chainsaw out, and between you and me, I’m not brilliant with a chainsaw, and they’re pretty dangerous pieces of equipment,” the star, who is married to actress Lindsay Price, added.
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Another piece of equipment he’s still learning is how to drive the tractor, noting that he’s “not brilliant” at it.
“I’m not a great farmer. I’m not gonna lie to you,” the Getting Grilled star said.
“But I do love the open space, and I do love the idea of having some animals out there one day. And I’ve got tons of veggies growing,” Stone explained.
“So, it’s a whole lot of fun. I’ve just got to get the skills.”
While Stone says each person in the family has a certain number of chores, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will get done.
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“They do, they don’t do any of them. But they do have allocated chores, but, yeah, none of them actually get done,” he said.
“Lindsay shows up for the wine harvest, because there’s a little vineyard on it, so she kind of likes picking the grapes with me. I think she enjoys drinking the wine more than picking the grapes, but anyways, it makes a pretty nice job.”
WATCH: CURTIS STONE TALKS ABOUT HIS FARM IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Stone and Price purchased the farm, which is called Four Stones Farm, in August of 2021. It is located in Agoura Hills — a city in the Santa Monica Mountains — near Malibu.
Stone, who hails from Melbourne, Australia, is known for starring in Top Chef Masters, America’s Next Great Restaurant, Take Home Chef and Crime Scene Chef.
The author also owns two restaurants in Los Angeles: The Pie Room and Gwen Butcher Shop.
The star shares two children with Price: Hudson and Emerson.
Stone recalled the first Thanksgiving they had at their farm after purchasing the property — and the kitchen disaster that took place.
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The chef said it all went downhill because he thought having just one oven would be enough for their Thanksgiving.
“I didn’t have enough firepower. I only had one oven. And I thought I’d be alright. It was a disaster,” adding that he didn’t “balance things out.”
WATCH: CURTIS STONE SHARES INSIGHT ABOUT FAMILY CHORES ON THE FARM
“Too much stuff coming out of the oven. And the turkey ended up taking longer than I thought. Because the truth about the turkey, if you’re roasting it, it’s a guessing game,” Stone said.
“You look at it. You read everything. You weigh it! And you estimate it’s going to take three hours and 20 minutes. What you really need is a probe thermometer, right?” in order to check the internal temperature.
“You need to cook poultry all the way through,” noting it has to reach 160 degrees internally.
“And that might take three, it might take two hours, it might four — it depends on how big the turkey is. It depends on how hot your oven’s running. So, you really got to check it,” he noted.
For the Thanksgiving disaster, Stone said that “nothing was ready.”
“My turkey was ready, and then I had no vegetables hot. I was like telling people to sit down, and then there’s no food on the table,” he explained.
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“You wouldn’t think that it happened to a chef, but it does. It happens to all of us sometimes. You live, and you learn,” he said. “You just got to get on with it. Pour them another glass of wine.”
Stone also revealed the most memorable celebrity holiday meals he’s made.
He said Sharon Osbourne called him to ask how to make Yorkshire Pudding, and he told her he would make it for her — and James Corden also got involved.
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“James Corden came into the butcher’s shop, and I was downstairs, and he’s starting to chat to me. I said I’ve got to run upstairs, and he goes, ‘What are you doing upstairs?’ and I said, ‘I’m making Sharon Osbourne’s Yorkshire puddings.'”
“He was like, ’Oh I want to see how you make them.’ So, I had James Corden sitting on the kitchen counter while I was making Yorkshire puddings for Sharon Osbourne. I felt like that was pretty fun. That it was a bit of a British-studded Christmas that year.”
Adding that Osbourne loved the Yorkshire puddings, as did Corden.
One of the most surprising things he’s seen a celebrity eat was a dish with liver.
He told his producer on “Getting Grilled” to ask celebrities one thing they would never eat, and guest Sebastian Maniscalco said he would never eat liver.
“So, I made chicken liver parfait, but I watched him. I made him make it with me, so he had to pick up the livers, and he had to put them into the purée, into the food processor,” Stone said.
“And he was literally gagging as he was doing it. But you can imagine how funny that was. But he actually did taste it, and he said it was very good. So yeah, I’ve seen celebrities eat all sorts of stuff — ’cause I’ve tricked them.”
When asked who would be on his dream holiday dinner party guest list, he said it would be the Beatles.
Stone has already cooked for Paul McCartney, revealing he made him a meal 20 years ago in New York City.
He said he remembered that McCartney was vegan. Stone recalled that McCartney told him to “‘whip up anything.'”
“Oh my God, the pressure,” he exclaimed. “I’ve got to do something fantastic, and I’ve got to do it fast.”
“This is before we all had plant-based things on our menu. We didn’t have any vegetarian alternatives back then,” Stone explained. “So, I think I cooked him some lentils and a few bits and pieces of veggies.”
“He enjoyed it. He called me up after the lunch and told me how nice it was. So, yeah, it was a big thrill.”
Stone’s two go-to dishes for the holiday season include great stuffing and great gravy, adding that “if you have those two things, everything else works.”
He said he fries a turkey every year after trying one for the first time in America — and thought it was “really good.”
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“Don’t drink too much before you decide to fry the turkey. That’s my advice. But you need a big enough pot to be able to take the turkey. And I do brine mine,” Stone explained.
“So, I brine it overnight, but then I take it out, I pat it really well, I dry it right off. And then you just fry it at a really low temperature. It takes about 35–40 minutes. That’s much faster than roasting a turkey,” he said.
Another family tradition is including kimchi on the table for Lindsay’s mom, who is Korean.
One of the biggest takeaways for Thanksgiving is making sure “everyone has a job,” so that no one feels left out.
Another important element to consider when cooking for a crowd, Stone said, is that the more food you make, the longer the prep and cook times.
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“It’s hard to get it all hot. That’s the one thing that is difficult — to get everything out of the oven, off the stove — all at the same time,” Stone said.
The chef even markets his own product, the Curtis Stone Electric Warming Mat, designed to keep dishes warm during holiday meals.
“Giving people jobs, having things coming out of different parts of the kitchen, maybe balancing the menu out so you do, maybe you want to do a cold Brussels sprout salad, you know, instead of hot sprouts — and that takes something off your stove,” Stone said.
“So, balancing what you’ve got to work with and what you want to serve, that’s important,” the star added.
