The first dish Ian Beck ever learned to prepare was an omelet.
He was 6 years old.
“I had to get a step stool,” he said about how he was even able to reach the burner.
This marked the beginning of a lifetime in the kitchen, starting with the one at home. After that came the kitchens of Boston Market and Ruby’s — both formerly in Redmond — and a few other local restaurants such as Celtic Bayou and Spazzo Italian Grill & Wine Bar in downtown Redmond.
“I’ve been cooking my whole life,” Beck said.
Now at 36, he is the chef at The Three Lions Pub at 23525 N.E. Novelty Hill Rd., A-101 on Redmond Ridge and this weekend, he will be featured on the 18th annual “KCTS 9 Cooks: Chef’s Secrets” special that is set to air live from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Paula Nemzek, the show’s executive producer, said “Chef’s Secrets” is part of the station’s cooking series, which began in 1996. In addition to this TV special, which features 16 chefs from restaurants throughout Washington and British Columbia, Canada sharing their favorite recipes, KCTS 9 also tapes two similar specials a year featuring home cooks.
Nemzek said the specials are fundraisers for the public television station, which relies on viewer support, with three-quarters of their funds coming from individual donors.
Viewers who pledge $60 (or $5 a month ongoing) will receive a cookbook that goes with the “Chef’s Secret” show or a DVD of the show and a digital edition of the cookbook. Those who pledge $96 (or $8 a month ongoing) will receive a copy of the cookbook and DVD.
“(We) use it as a ‘thank you’ for people who make a contribution to the station,” Nemzek said about the cookbook.
The cookbook features about 200 recipes from more than 100 chefs in Washington state and British Columbia, including all 16 of the recipes featured on air, including Beck’s.
For the show, Beck will be preparing a savory blue cheese bread pudding.
“It can be a standalone dish,” he said. “It can be a side. There’s all sorts of fun stuff you could do with it.”
He said he got the idea for a savory bread pudding — a dish that is usually sweeter and served for dessert — after finding a recipe for a savory blue cheesecake.
“Bread pudding is what I call a neutral vehicle,” he said about the dish’s ability to go sweet or savory.
Neville Redman — who owns The Three Lions Pub’s three locations (the other two are in downtown Redmond and downtown Bothell), The British Pantry and Neville’s Restaurant with his sister Alvia — said they have participated in the KCTS 9 cookbook six to eight times and he was asked to be part of the “Chef’s Secret” special about 10 years ago. This year, when he received the invitation to contribute to the cookbook again, he extended the offer to the Beck and the chef at The Three Lions Pub in Bothell as these locations just recently opened about eight months ago.
“It’s very gratifying,” Redman said about seeing one of those chefs being featured on Saturday’s special.
Beck said he never expected his dish to be chosen for the show “because it was bread pudding,” but Redman begs to differ. Having sampled the chef’s dish, which will be a featured special at the Redmond Ridge pub later this month, he said, “it’s very tasty.”
As his first live TV appearance approaches, Beck admits he is nervous. But he is looking forward to meeting the other chefs who will be featured, adding that he actually used to work with one — JJ Ullakko of KORAL Bar & Kitchen in Bellevue — during his earlier days.
