From “terrorising” the streets of Rathfarnham as a youngster to winning over the hearts of millions of viewers on Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, Irish chef Declan Horgan has had a culinary career spanning more than 25 years, that has brought him to restaurants in Dublin, Paris and the US.
Living in northern Virginia, he is now embarking on a new entrepreneurial chapter, and is eager to pass on his lessons to younger chefs about becoming “bulletproof” under the pressure of top kitchens.
Horgan grew up playing rugby and riding his BMX bike around Rathfarnham, as well as soaking up everything he could learn about food and cooking from his family.
“If you see the size of me, you’ll see that I love food. My mother’s mother taught me loads of stuff when she used to babysit me for playschool, and my mother was a great cook as well, we had every single cookbook under the sun,” he says.
Add to this his father’s pastimes of deep-sea fishing and shooting, from a young age Horgan was learning to butcher, and prepare and cook all sorts of meat and fish from beginning to end.
Inspired further by his first jobs at the vegetable section in Quinnsworth (now Tesco) and later the kitchen of a local pub, Horgan decided to go on and study at the DIT School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology in Dublin on Cathal Brugha Street, which included a work placement in the former Berkeley Court Hotel and Avenue in Donnybrook.
“The atmosphere of being on the line, cooking in a kitchen, the madness, the shouting and screaming, the camaraderie, the presenting of a dish, the science behind it, winning awards, that’s all just crazy, and I said yeah I need to do this,” he said.
After college, Horgan went on to work at some of Dublin’s top restaurants, including Michelin-star establishments Peacock Alley, Mint and Chapter One, and also spent a couple of years honing his skills in Paris, including at Michelin-star restaurant La Grande Cascade.
“I learned true hardship, how to become bulletproof and not to sweat the small stuff any more,” he says.
But Horgan felt he didn’t quite fit in with Irish kitchens, and set his eyes on the “land of opportunity”.
“My mottos were always different from the chefs there, I was too loud and too brash, I had to move on. I’m six foot four, I’m about 400 pounds, so I have a presence. I have nothing against Ireland, I love Ireland don’t get me wrong, but America was just a bigger place for me, with my loud mouth and whatever else,” he adds.
By 2017, Horgan was executive chef at Irish restaurant Kirwan’s on the Wharf near Washington DC, where his big personality prompted friends to push him to audition for TV roles.
“I sold my soul to the devil, and the first show I got was Guys Grocery Games. It was an easy transition, I soaked it up, I loved it. I wasn’t nervous, I enjoyed it immensely,” he says.
From the supermarket dash challenges on the show hosted by restaurateur Guy Fieri, Horgan went on to get his biggest TV break in season 19 of Hell’s Kitchen, becoming a fan favourite, finishing in third place and earning high praise from host Ramsay.
“I think I did the country proud, showed every aspect of Ireland, the funny side, the fighting Irish, everything, plus the level of skill that I had and how I treat human beings.”
Horgan said that the biggest thing he gained from the TV experience was belief in himself as a chef, despite his more alternative career path.
“I used to wake up every morning thinking, I’m a s**t chef, I don’t have a Michelin star, I don’t have a restaurant – but that’s not true. I gained self-confidence but not to the point that I’m an arseh**e. I’m still very humble, I’d get a clip across the ear if I wasn’t humble, from my mammy probably,” he says.
Horgan has several new ventures, including a food and beverage distribution company, Horgan’s Group LLC. He hopes to help Irish food brands breaking into the American market, including Irish liqueur brand Shenanigans (which Horgan also has an equity share in).
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“Horgan’s Group is going to be massive. I’m 47 this year, I have a five-year plan, and part of my empire should be built by the time I’m 50,” he says.
His advice to aspiring chefs is to focus on learning the trade from the bottom up.
“Anybody who says they’re just going to jump and become a head chef, they can forget about it. Make sure you find a place to work where you’re going to continuously learn. Realise you’re going to have to make a lot of sacrifices – friends, going to parties, don’t mind all that jazz. Focus on learning the trade.”
Reflecting on his own career and move to the US, he added that what it takes to be successful in the industry is “98 per cent perseverance, 1 per cent talent, and 1 per cent luck “.
“Do whatever you want to do, follow your dreams, don’t ever give up. All that can happen is you’re going to fail, and you’ll learn from your mistake, and then just do it again,” he says.
