JOHOR BAHRU: A 15-year-old boy who prepares a Christmas feast of 14 dishes single-handedly for his family not only stuns his family, but shoots to fame on Instagram with more than 5 million views so far.

Ricardo Leonel Lau’s video also attracted Steven Gao from Institute of Culinary Education of New York City, to leave comment: “looks great : ) on Ricardo’s Instagram.

Another US-based chef commented: “For people like Steve and I that work in Michelins in NYC, your curve is way beyond ours, especially at that age. Keep Growing, never sell yourself out of fame, or money, etc.”

Ricardo posted the video of him starting the preparation from 7 a.m. for 14 dishes, comprising roast chicken, tomahawk steak, cinnamon rolls, chocolate log cake, salmon soup, baked salmon, focaccia, baked cabbage, pavlova, cheesy mash cake, and others, all alone for the first time.

Prior to the big day, the young private chef actually spent one to two months planning, writing the names and ingredients of the dishes down as well as the costs to keep track of the total spendings for the menu of 14 dishes, some of them he was familiar but he made all the dishes fresh on Christmas day.

Starting with the desserts, he made bread pudding, hot chocolate, then cinnamon rolls, chocolate log cake in the morning till noon.

After that, he washed the cookware and utensils, followed by a 10-minute break for a quick lunch.

He spent the second part of the day cooking salmon soup, roasting chicken, grilling tomahawk steak, and still had time to decorate pavlova while seasoning the salmon and chicken.

He woke up early to make the doughs, prepping and chopping of the ingredients with a well-crafted plan to work more efficiently and save time while cooking, a technique called mise en place, a French culinary phrase which means “putting in place” or “gathering”.

He went through mental breakdown during the preparation as he had to spend more time than planned, broke two can-openers, and due to time constraint, he decided to take the risk of baking pavlovas in shorter time but at a higher temperature.

“I was anxious but the pavlovas turned out better than expected,” said Ricardo, who takes his hobby seriously while his ambition is actually to be a doctor.

The parents thought he would just be cooking a few simple dishes. His mother never expected him to prepare a feast all by himself.

“My mom loves salmon and my dad, steak, while my brothers love cakes.

“I made all the dishes which made them really proud,” said Ricardo, who spent time with his mother cooking in the kitchen for the family during the Movement Control Order due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

That was when he developed his passion for cooking.

Ricardo gained over 20,000 followers on Instagram in just two days after posting the video of him preparing for the family Christmas feast, with over 367,000 likes so far.

The video continues to be shared and reposted with many netizens leaving positive remarks.

“It’s surreal to have my work acknowledged by professionals in the culinary world, and this shows that my content is resonating not just with regular viewers but also experts.

“I have also received messages and praises from fans of all ages from all over the world.

“This makes me really happy and grateful,” he said.