Muses of Cookery: Him Uy de Baron

One of seven kids, the creator of catering company Chef Cuisine has his mom to thank for his taste in food - good and bad.

                                                            "Who do I have to thank for my taste? My mom, Mercedita Uy de Baron."
                                        —Him Uy de Baron, executive chef of Chef Cuisine

The rush, the wonderful scents, the entire atmosphere, down to "pinching the good stuff before dinner time" lured Him Uy de Baron, the creator of catering company Chef Cuisine and a soon-to-open ramen bar, to the kitchen early on where he watched his mom cook. His mother, Mercedita Uy de Baron, liked to see all her seven kids whenever she was home—and they all came together in the kitchen to watch her cook. Having taken cooking lessons under Sylvia Reynoso, she decided to send her six sons to the same cooking school. "Getting them to behave was quite difficult, so I encouraged them to take summer cooking classes," she says. "It was my way of disciplining them, because I believe cooking is a discipline." She also saw it as an expression of love: "You have to have that desire to please your loved ones. Kailangan ’pag nilapag mo sa mesa, they're all salivating with gusto over the food."

While the boys would end up fighting over who would prepare Christmas dinner when they were kids, it was only Him who pursued cooking as a career. "I liked the satisfaction it brought me after the tables were cleared and everyone left with a contented smile," he says of those early days in the home kitchen. But beyond showing this Le Cordon Bleu-schooled chef the excitement of the kitchen and the pleasure provoked by a good meal, his mom was the one who introduced his palate to a wide range of food—from the homegrown to the unfamiliar—something invaluable to the future chef.

No basketball camps
"My mom really exposed me to food. I remember she would always bring me with her to eat out. I savored my first oyster and raw tuna in her company, and these taste memories are very important because they influence how I think as a chef today. She never sent me to basketball camp during summer. Instead, she sent me to Saisaki and to Sylvia Reynoso. For sure, they  have set the course for me."

An acquired taste
"Good food anywhere in the world is universal. If it's good, it's good. But it all comes from one place—the palate of a cook. And that's one thing you can't just learn from school or buy in a store; taste is something you acquire after long exposure to not only the good, but also to the bad. My taste has helped me from the very start of my career as a student in College of St. Benilde to Le Cordon Bleu and more so today. So I have my mom to thank for that."

The language of food
"I remember her perpetually cooking and trying something out when we were young. These served as our family's way of coming together and creating memories. I've come to share her love for certain foods, like ginisang monggo, mechado, dried fish, and other humble but excellent Filipino dishes. I learned how to appreciate food. She had a passion for food that was both nurturing and inspiring. She always had the right food for the right moment and occasion. It's as if she used cooking as a language."

Click for recipe: Mercedita Uy de Baron's Paksiw na Pata


Photography by At Maculangan | Hair, Makeup, and Grooming by Cherry Pacheco and Benjie Angeles | Specialty Aprons by Kitchen Couture

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