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Chef Jeff Woodward

Private Chef

Jeff Woodward is a Private Chef and the Owner of The Rogue Chef based in Branson, Missouri. With over 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry, he has cooked for esteemed clients including The Harlem Globetrotters, Peyton Manning, Mark Wahlberg, and Justin Timberlake. He has taught Culinary courses on becoming a Private Chef at College of the Ozarks. Through The Rogue Chef, he publishes recipes and a Food & Hospitality Blog weekly on his webpage. He also created his own line of specialty salts, rubs, and other food products.

Education

  • Culinary Arts Degree with a Certification in Baking, Ozark Technical College
  • Associate's Degree, Southwestern Illinois College

Professional Achievements

  • Won the Branson Tri-Lakes News Reader's Choice Award 2023 for Best Catering
  • Featured as a Chef Demonstrator 2 years in a row for The Women's Show in Springfield, MO
  • Featured as the Hollister Chamber of Commerce Spotlight Chef, published in Tri-Lakes News
  • Chef Jeff's food has appeared in a feature on KY3 Television
  • He publishes a recipe weekly in the Branson Globe newspaper and monthly in Lost on the Lake Magazine
  • Featured as a Chef in Discover Home and Style Magazine

Certifications & Organizations

  • American Culinary Federation
  • ServSafe Certification
  • Branson Chamber of Commerce
  • Hollister Chamber of Commerce
  • Table Rock Lake Chamber of Commerce
  • BNI (Business Network International)

Favorite Piece of Advice

Try new recipes and techniques in the kitchen. Don't be afraid to fail. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't, but you'll always learn in the process.

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Forum Comments (11)

What is the best cut of beef for good steaks?
To me, the best cut of beef for steaks is the Rib Loin for ribeye steaks. You can buy them whole, with and without bones, and cut to whatever thickness you like. I prefer a thick cut of 2 inches for boneless. Then I split the difference between the bones for bone in. I like the ribeye for its fat-to-meat ratio . Look for good marbling within the meat.

If you want something with less fat, I would go with a tenderloin . You can get just the filet, or if you can break down the whole tenderloin, you can get large filets and smaller medallions from the rest of the tenderloin.
What are the best burger recipes and cooking tips?
I like an 80/20 mix of meat to fat ground chuck or if you are grinding your own ribeye and fillet. I do not have a preference on cooking surfaces but do like either a smashed pattie or one cooked on a grill. 6–8oz balls or patties is the size I like to cook. For the smashed pattie you will need the grill to be extremely hot because you wont to develop a nice crust on the outside. You place the ball of burger meat on the hot grill and let set for about a minute before taking a heavy metal spatula or burger weight and push the ball into a pattie about a half inch thick . Let that cook for about 2 more minutes before flipping. Let cook for a few more minutes on the other side. I like my burgers medium rare to medium. Just before they are cooked, I like to add cheeses to the pattie. My preferences for cheeses are havartti and good old american cheese whether its white or yellow. You can also use provolone. These cheeses give you that perfect melt.

For seasonings on the burger I like salt, my brewers blend from Tuff Momma Salts works great, white pepper, granulated garlic and a little lime powder.

Toppings is where you can get crazy. I love fried eggs, bacon and fried avocado on mine with mayo and ketchup. I am not a big fan of a lot of garden items on a burger but there are a lot of options. Butter lettuce is a great lettuce for the burger, heirloom tomatoes, caramelized onions, and pickles of course. Some other fun items to place on your burger are fried pickle coins, fried jalapeño bottle caps, thin sliced and fried onion straws, or cheesy tater tots. - just to name a few. Let your imagination go wild when topping your burgers.

And lastly, always toast your buns. I like a good brioche bun or a good pretzel bun for my burgers. The more you put on the burger the sturdier the bun needs to be.
How do you tell if eggs are bad?
If you want to test if eggs are still good without cracking them, you can put them in water and see if they float - if they float, that's a sign they are bad.

There are also signs once the egg is cracked. You'll notice a smell when you crack it and you may see some red color inside.
Tips on how to make ice cream at home?
You can make simple frozen treats by freezing something in a bowl and then stirring up the mixture once it’s frozen. To freeze ice cream using an ice cream maker there are several options. The easiest no-fuss ice cream makers have a cylindrical bowl that you freeze until cold, then you add the chilled ice cream base and churn it in the maker until frozen. Kitchenaid has an attachment that uses a frozen cylinder and then you use the spinning base of the machine to freeze the ice cream.
Need an easy way to make fried rice
I dont make a lot of fried rice but when I do I love adding shrimp and other seafood, and keeping the seasoning simple. My biggest tip is to use day-old drier rice!
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