She beat Bobby Flay with her Abuela's Arroz con Pollo. She trained under Wolfgang Puck, Thomas Keller, and José Andrés. She was a Hell's Kitchen finalist. And then she walked away from all of it to build a career entirely on her own terms.
Chef Mia Castro is a Puerto Rican chef, cookbook author, food influencer, and TV personality, and her debut cookbook, Cocina Puerto Rico: Recipes from My Abuela's Kitchen to Yours, is already making waves. We're sitting down to talk about her full journey: from her Abuela's kitchen in San Juan to elite restaurant kitchens across Vegas, Miami, and New York, to the 6-year road it took to get this book published.
We're talking about first-gen pressure, being the only woman in the room, hiding your identity to fit in, COVID FaceTime calls that accidentally created a cookbook, building a personal brand as a chef, what success actually looks like when you stop chasing the dream someone else gave you — and the dish that beat Bobby Flay.This one hit close to home for me. You know I started my whole digital career as a Puerto Rican food blogger. Having Chef Mia in this conversation was a full circle moment.
WE GET INTO:
00:01 — Intro + Chef Mia Castro
00:50 — What makes Puerto Rican cuisine one of a kind
01:57 — The responsibility of writing Cocina Puerto Rico
03:32 — What Abuela taught her that had nothing to do with food
04:26 — Growing up in la cocina (homework could wait)
07:21 — First-gen pressure and choosing passion over the \"safe\" path
08:06 — Starting as a prep cook: the real culinary hustle
10:27 — Being the only woman in elite kitchens
13:07 — Feeling pressure to hide her Boricua identity in professional spaces
14:51 — Reclaiming Puerto Rican food — all the way to fine dining
16:25 — Leaving restaurants and carving her own lane
18:46 — How COVID + FaceTime with Abuela created Cocina Puerto Rico
22:16 — Beating Bobby Flay with Abuela's Arroz con Pollo
26:30 — Modernizing recipes for the diaspora without losing the soul
29:02 — The 6-year battle to get a Puerto Rican cookbook published
32:39 — The recipe that made her emotional: las cremitas
34:42 — Shooting the entire book at Abuela's house in PR
36:27 — Personal branding advice: treat it like a portfolio
37:54 — There is no luck. There is only preparation.
40:16 — Behind the scenes of Hell's Kitchen + Chopped
43:27 — Success redefined: from Michelin star dreams to time freedom
47:49 — The legacy she hopes Cocina Puerto Rico leaves
49:06 — The first dish to make from the book (and why it beat Bobby Flay)
52:37 — Where to find Chef Mia
53:00 — Outro
KEY TAKEAWAYS
CONNECT WITH MIA:
TAKE THE NEXT STEP:
This episode of Yo Quiero Dinero was produced by Heart Centered Podcasting.
","author_name":"Jannese Torres"}