3 Private Chefs Share Their Secrets From Celebrity Kitchens

Inside each client’s kitchen, Chef K catered for a different lifestyle. For the Jonas Brothers, she barbecued a lot—ribs in particular. For James Cameron’s family, it was all about organic, sustainable cooking using seasonal produce grown on their own land. Charlize Theron never wasted food, while family meals for the Kardashian clan required some juggling: Travis and Kourtney are vegan and gluten-free, Khloé only eats white meat, Kendall doesn’t like spicy food, Scott Disick is dairy-free, Kim watches her calories… and so on. “I can really go crazy and make every single thing across the board, so everyone has four options,” she says. “Which I’ve done many, many times.”

Before she even gets cooking for a client, she investigates their palate by perusing their kitchen staples. Lots of pasta? They must like Italian. Peri-peri seasoning? They’re into spice. What to make for dessert? “Open up the freezer [and look at their ice creams]. If I see more ice pops, for example, I might make a sorbet.” From there, she keeps a record of clients’ preferences in “forever lists” and “never lists”.

In LA, salad rules, with her Chinese chicken salad a favorite of Kylie Jenner: chopped chicken, avocado, cranberries, shaved carrots, radishes, sunflower seeds, and Chef K’s signature vinaigrette. “I chop everything really, really small,” she explains. “So every forkful consistently delivers.” Size matters in terms of portions, too. Hailey and Justin Bieber always request her Kobe beef sliders for events, which she created after noticing that a lot of women would avoid taking big bites in front of people. “If it’s all mini, they’ll eat more of it.”

Meredith Hayden

When chef Meredith Hayden cooks for designer Joseph Altuzarra and his husband, Seth Weissman, in the Hamptons, she is surrounded by gorgeous fresh produce. “There’s practically a farm stand on every block,” she says, which is handy in a household with a focus on nutrition. “I hate using the word healthy when I talk about food because that means different things to different people.” Instead, just “think of the vegetable first [when you’re cooking], then you’re already starting off on the right foot,” she suggests. “Treat meat like a luxury—because it is a luxury—and you consume it more thoughtfully and more sustainably.”