Exceptional chef Lucki Maurer: wild, honest, strong

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Exceptional chef Ludwig “Lucki” Maurer fought his greatest battle at the beginning of his 20s. The adversary: Lymphoma, inoperable. The prognosis: bad. An item on the bucket list that got this young man through his agonizing chemo: To become celebrity chef like his idol Stephan Marquard, the ‘Junge Wilde’. Today, a good 20 years later, the down-to-earth native of Lower Bavaria has long been a famous chef in his own right – and much more than that. He took the time to talk to KTCHNrebel.

Watch the entire video-interview with Lucki Maurer:

He never wanted to be a chef – at least at first

Lucki Maurer was not exactly born with a love of cooking – quite the opposite in fact. “I grew up in a hotel restaurant. My father is a chef and my mother works around the clock in the restaurant,” says the likeable celebrity, who with his long hair and piercings looks more like a heavy metal musician – and he is one too, but more on that later. “I saw first hand that this was not a work-life balance, only a work-work balance,” says Maurer. He wanted to become a farmer. But definitely not a chef. Never! However, his father pushed him to become an apprentice cook, arguing that it was a proper profession. You can find a job anywhere in the world. “I did that too,” says Maurer. “The first time I worked in an upscale restaurant, I realized it was a very creative job, not just backbreaking work. And that’s why I’m a chef!”

Image: Volker Debus

From nose to tail: Lucki Maurer pays attention to what the animal provides him

His father also taught him how to treat meat with respect – and rightly laid the foundation for Lucki Maurer’s love of the product, which even earned him the venerable title “Meat Pope.” In addition to working as a chef, Maurer and his wife Stephanie raised Germany’s first organic Wagyu breed, a venture the two have run successfully for more than ten years. Schergengruber Wagyu cattle was bred in accordance with EU organic guidelines at the Hof Schergengrub farm in Rattenberg near Straubing, which they acquired in 2006. This valuable meat is sought after by restaurateurs and private individuals alike – after all, Lucki Maurer is the expert par excellence for Wagyu and meat in general. Lucki Maurer’s numerous non-fiction and specialty books also bear witness to this, including the “Rind Complete,” (Beef Complete) cookbook for the sustainable nose-to-tail approach he champions with conviction. Isn’t the opulent title Meat Pope a contradiction? “I think Meat Pope simply stands for my work,” explains Lucki Maurer plainly.

Lucki Maurer with a calf in his arms - he follows the nose to tail in perfection

Image: Thomas Pfeiffer

“I have a farm. I have a restaurant. My work encompasses the entire process from the birth of a calf to grilling the steak. When dealing with meat, I believe the most important thing is to have respect for life. That’s why we don’t call it a ‘product’, but rather ‘food’. When asked what he thinks of creating in-vitro Wagyu with a 3D printer, which Japanese researchers recently succeeded in doing, his answer was clear: “I think that’s bullshit!” His motto: “Eat meat only once or twice a week, but high-quality organic meat – that’s the best way to go!”

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Ein Beitrag geteilt von Ludwig Maurer (@lucki.maurer)

Lucki Maurer is also a star on television

Lucki Maurer shares his expertise on numerous television shows with just as much passion. “Kitchen Impossible”, “The Taste”, “In 80 Steaks um die Welt”, “Einfach guad” … the likable star shows up on a lot of shows in Germany. He also shares his knowledge in cooking courses held at his atmospheric event location STOI (Bavarian for “stable”) in the former Hof Schergengrub stable. Even cooking legends such as Otto Koch, Heiko Antoniewicz or Stefan Marquard have already stopped by STOI. A recent guest was Israeli celebrity chef Haya Molcho, widely known in Germany thanks to the TV series Kitchen Impossible.

Image: Thomas Pfeiffer

Lucki Maurer also does everything in his heavy metal band

Incidentally, Lucki Maurer is also a successful musician. At the time, his bucket list also included organizing a music festival. And when the young man beat cancer, he organized his own festival to fight cancer! This was followed by the first CD with his band “Seasons in Black” and a tour through Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Lucki Maurer still plays in the same band today. As frontman “Luck” he has been giving his all on stage for 25 years and is looking forward to maybe finally going on tour again this summer.

His advice to all restaurateurs

At the end of the interview, the versatile star has two tips for success to share with his gastro colleagues:

To counter no-shows, it helps to accept reservations only in exchange for ticket sales.
And, most importantly, Be sure to follow your own style: “Be yourself and take money for your work!”

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