The earth shifted on its axis last year when Brooklyn Peltz Beckham posted a video to Instagram. The premise was simple: a sponsored post featuring his recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich. The public response, however, ballooned far beyond anyone’s expectations.
Peltz Beckham nearly broke the internet with his unconventional grilled cheese-making technique, namely the use of a blowtorch to give the sandwich a golden brown exterior. Opinions ranged from enthusiastic support to even more enthusiastic bashing. But the photographer and chef didn’t let the public have the final word.
Now, Peltz Beckham is delving even deeper into the food space with his newly launched hot sauce brand Cloud23, an elevated condiment made with organic ingredients. With two different sauces in the lineup, you can pair Cloud23 with virtually any food—grilled cheese included.
We invited Peltz Beckham to join us in the Delish Kitchen Studios to make his specialty recipe (with the blowtorch, obviously) and answer some questions about food, life, and family.
What was your reaction to seeing the response from the viral grilled cheese video?
“Oh my God, I loved it. I always get rubbish for cooking. I feel like because I grew up with it, you're always going to get a bit of rubbish, but it is what it is and you can't help it. People always going to be a bit mean. But it doesn't stop me.”
"I will always defend [using the blowtorch] just because it is fun to do it. That is a big component of it. But also, do you know what? It gets some nice little crispy cheese bits on the side. So I feel like people who hate on it actually haven't even tried it. So try it and you'll like it."
You’ve spent your entire life in the spotlight, how have you learned to manage the public scrutiny?
“Growing up, my dad was like, ‘We don't care if you don't want to be a footballer as long as you're happy,' which really made me happy. So I'm doing what I love. I've been working on my hot sauce for two and a half years, which I'm really happy about going into more the business aspect of things. He just said, ‘Keep doing your thing. Don't listen to the haters.’ That's his thing."
What inspired you to move into the culinary space?
“I’ve always been a foodie. I've always been lucky enough to travel to different places in the world with my mum and dad. Obviously my dad with football, we lived in Madrid, we lived in LA, Milan. Then Covid happened, I met my wife and started cooking for her and just fell in love with it. And now it's just something that just takes my mind off of things.”
Do you and Nicola cook together at home?
“I probably cook every other day. We live in LA so I have a very strict routine. I wake up, take my dogs out, work out, and then if I'm not doing anything I go back and I prep and I just cook the whole day.”
“Our favorite thing is staying in, watching our TV show or watching a movie. She does a face mask. We just hang out with our dogs and I'm cooking in the kitchen. She can't cook at all to save her life, but I do love her by my side because she makes the drinks, I make the food, and we're a good little duo.”
What kind of drinks does she make?
“She makes a really good lychee martini. My wife's very picky with drinks. She doesn't like the taste of alcohol, like me. She likes something sweet, but she also likes a lot of salt around the rim. So I make a Snapple vodka for her sometimes, and I grind the salt really thin. And then I put it around the edge of the glass. That's her go-to.”
What foods do you enjoy cooking and eating the most?
“A go-to date night meal is definitely my seven-hour slow cook spaghetti bolognese. That is my favorite to cook but also it's her favorite. Obviously, growing up in England, I will always lean to English food. I feel like it's the best. But then when I moved out here, all of my American friends were like, ‘Oh man, there's no seasoning and all that.’"
“I feel like the people who hate on English food are either going to the wrong places. But I'll always defend pie and mash, fish and chips. What else? Beans on toast, full English breakfast, everything.”
What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in the kitchen?
“I think there's so many different things you can do in the kitchen, so I think you're going to mess up most of the time, but the more you mess up, the more you learn. So you just have fun with it.”
What inspired you to launch Cloud23?
“I did my research and I just felt like there was this hole in the market with luxury condiments, especially for a really good price and for the best quality ingredients. I also wanted to make the sexiest condiment bottle, which I think I did pretty well. I wanted to go for a whiskey decanter tattoo vibe. And the best pairing for it is, it's really good on eggs, it's really good on a fried chicken sandwich. Any sandwich, steak sandwich. It goes good with anything. Except for cereal."
“With other competitors, 90% of them have gums or stabilizers or food colorings. I wanted to do fully organic, non-GMO, zero calories, just the best quality ingredients. And I think we did pretty well with it. Like I said, we've been working on it for like two and a half years. I wanted to create something that looks really good on a table and not just in the fridge."
What’s next for you?
“With Cloud23, I'm aiming not just for the hot source market, but I'm aiming for the whole condiment space. I want to do seven to 10 of my favorite condiments, all under the umbrella of hot sauce, like a spicy mayo or hot honey, stuff like that. So in five years I would love to have a successful condiment brand. Maybe my own restaurant, my own grilled cheese restaurant. We'll see. Five years is a long time. I'm keeping busy all the time, but right now, this is where my heart is.”
Cloud23 is available on c23.com and at Whole Foods Market.
