‘It's all about the dishes - I'm completely uninteresting myself!’

That was clearly André Jäger, who was one of the first to bring nouvelle cuisine to German-speaking countries and develop Euro-Asian cuisine in the 70s and 80s. I worked in his ‘Fischerzunft’ restaurant in Schaffhausen for two years and went through every stage from preparing vegetables to cooking meat and fish.

There I experienced for the first time what an intense flavourful experience passionate cooking at the highest level can be for the guests, but also for yourself: At one event, for example, I cooked a mandarin sauce that I thought was delicious. Then Mr Jäger came along and refined the sauce. It was an amazing experience for me to taste the difference: suddenly the sauce had a soul!

André Jäger left a lasting impression on me. As a person and with his way of preparing dishes in the Far East, which was completely new to me at the time. With his use of the best local and Asian products and his expertise about food and respect for it - because that's what cooking is all about.

That was my grandma. I lived with her for four or five years and there are a few dishes that are firmly memorised in my head, including her crumble cake and beer fish. Twice a week, the fish trolley would come round and she would get golden perch and poach it. The fish with potatoes and a sauce made from beer malt was the best dish for me as a child. My grandma had a vegetable garden, always cooked fresh and never threw anything away. And of course she also preserved vegetables. These are all memories of eating and handling food that shape you. Even many people who can't cook themselves feel the same way. And it's always fun when you cook great food and trigger something in your guests, even if they don't realise it at the time. It's all about smells and flavours that bring back memories.

It started out as a fun project. My chef, who has supported me for many years in my restaurant and hotel ‘Heckenrose’, is at home in the digital world and travels a lot on YouTube. He introduced me to this world. It was a new way for me to let off steam creatively. At some point, he brought his camera with him and we just got started.

Looking back, the first video we uploaded to YouTube was complete rubbish. But I enjoyed it and quickly got a feel for what was possible with editing and music. At first, the videos were only intended to be sent within my clique of four or five artists and musicians. They found the videos so funny that I produced more of them. The videos were diligently shared and recommended, so I soon needed a name and a logo, which I still use today. Apart from that, I was inspired by many influences and then made my own thing out of them. But it only really got big after almost two years.

Leaving the professional kitchen, cooking on a camping cooker and still delivering great food was simply a challenge that I wanted to take on. I then cooked at McDonald's and IKEA, among other places - I just enjoy these challenges.

I'm just not the type to celebrate show cooking and make a fool of myself in front of the camera. I don't want to talk, I don't want to push myself to the fore. What I do is the opposite of four chefs in pressed chef's jackets who spend 15 minutes preparing dishes with two pairs of tweezers each. I take it all a bit highbrow, but at the same time remain authentic and show real creations of mine. I produce the videos the way I would like to watch them myself. And the audience is mainly made up of chefs, who are also interested in the essentials: the dishes and their preparation. I myself am completely uninteresting. The chefs come to me for inspiration - for cooking as well as for plating.

My videos have also resulted in many great collaborations. Projects with winegrowers, charity events, cookery courses and much more. After selling the ‘Heckenrose’ in lockdown, I can now take care of all the events. I also get to see many different kitchens from the inside and work in different restaurants. This means that the clientele that we have been able to build up over the years with the Heckenrose can continue to enjoy Mike Germershausen's cuisine. I always change the menu every three or four weeks, otherwise I get bored. This variety is simply fun.

Fresh, regional ingredients, a small menu and - if I'm not using the camping cooker for the spectacle - good equipment are important to me. And B.PRO has some great appliances on offer. The COOK I-flex cooking station with its induction hobs is really cool - just like the serving trolley with hinged doors and panelling. The combination of the two is really worth its weight in gold: the serving trolley has an ultra-intelligent design, you have the worktop, the option of hanging extension modules for water or utensils on the left and right and an incredible amount of storage space at the bottom. This expands the possibilities of the cooking station enormously.

I've often had requests for events at beautiful locations where there was no kitchen. I then worked with various mobile kitchens. With these, you often switched on the hob and nothing happened at first. This is completely different with the COOK I-flex: thanks to induction, you have heat immediately, just like in a restaurant, and it is maintained. And the extractor bonnet is amazing. I've done events in a gallery and an artist's studio, so of course there were concerns about the fire alarms and the odours. In the past, I would have cooked by the window or the door to be on the safe side so as not to burn the place down - with the COOK I-flex, that's no longer an issue.

You can tell in many places that this is a professional, well thought-out tool: you don't have touch controls, which don't work with oily, wet hands anyway, but robust rotary switches. Click, on! Click, off! You don't bump into anything, the cooking station is super quick to clean and incredibly mobile: we've already used it to cook pasta in the vineyard in the middle of the vines, for example. The cooking station is simply great to work with.

My biggest pet peeve as a chef and employer is the question: who is going to cook this? Many people have left the industry, especially during the pandemic. And they're not coming back. There is a shortage of staff across all positions, from chefs to temporary staff at the sink. Automation, which B.PRO is driving forward, is the right approach. If it relieves the workload in the professional kitchen, there is more time for the really important things - for cooking with love and soul.