Getting to Know You; Matt Ramsey
Matt Ramsey, Hawesville native, has been a Registered Nurse at Owensboro Health Regional Hospital for 19 years. He is also a self-taught cook and makes fun cooking videos that he posts on different social media sites.
You can find his cooking tutorials with detailed recipes on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, by typing his handle: @cookerofdeliciousness into those search engines. www.instagram.com/p/
Matt started posting on TikTok in December of 2020, and just in the last month, has hit a million followers. “I have somehow become successful with this,” he said, “and I don’t know how it happened, but I am not a chef by any means, not even close to a chef. I feel like I would be disrespecting real chefs if I said I was a chef. I’m just a regular guy who enjoys cooking. I mess up like everyone else, and learn from it and try to get better.”
Coffee Rubbed Ribeye, Chopped Buffalo Chicken Sliders, Philly Cheese Steak Cups and Bratwurst Smash Burgers are just a few of the dishes he creates, and shows step-by-step how to make. He also rarely misses an opportunity to make his viewers laugh.
“I try not to be too serious of a person,” Matt said. “I definitely like to include humor in the videos. I think it allows people to relate to them a little bit more. I provide the cooking videos, but then I try to just provide little tidbits of my life as well.”
His chocolate lab, Squire Maximus, actually played a role in the large following Matt has now. “I did a couple of videos, and it started to gain a little traction,” he said. “I got to 10,000 followers, so I actually made a video where I asked my wife how many followers I had to get to get a puppy. She said 100,000. I’ve wanted a big dog for awhile, and a chocolate lab is what I always wanted.
That’s really what motivated me to want to keep growing. And then, about the time I hit 100,000, she had already set it up that we were getting a puppy. She surprised me with that. He’s a good boy. He’s definitely a bottomless pit. He likes to eat. A lot of times when I cook, he’s hoping that I drop something.”
Matt is the son of Larry & Kay Ramsey. He worked on a couple of local tobacco farms until age 16, then he worked at Bill’s on the Hill throughout high school and some during college. “It was the best job I ever had,” he said. “I loved it. The Stephens were great to me, and I just really enjoyed that job. I still say it’s the best job I ever had.”
Ramsey graduated from Hancock County High School in 1998, and worked in the ER at Owensboro Health as a tech while earning his Associate’s Degree in Nursing at Owensboro Community College.
He was in the emergency department for over 7 years, and has worked in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory (Cath Lab) for 15 years now.
“I enjoy my job,” he said. “In the Cath Lab, we get to help a lot of people. I was a clinical supervisor in the ER on night shift when I left for the Cath Lab, for a better home schedule. Because my son, Jake, was 6-months-old, and I just wanted to be home more instead of working night shift.”
Matt says he loved growing up in Hawesville. “It’s a small town. You know everybody. The convenience of Owensboro is why we live there, but I do miss Hancock County,” he said. “All of our family is still up here, and we visit every week.”
Matt met his wife, Rachel, while they were both attending HCHS. She is from Lewisport, and the daughter of Alan & the late Ginger Frakes. Her step-mom is Diana “Dee” Frakes. Rachel is the Director of the Social Security Administration in Owensboro. Matt & Rachel married in 2004, at Lewisport Baptist Church. They will be celebrating their 19th Wedding Anniversary this year on June 26th.
TheyRamsey’s are blessed with 2 children, Jake and Zoey. Jake is a Freshman at Apollo High School. He is on the wrestling team, and placed eighth in the state in his weight class. Zoey is a Seventh Grader at College View Middle School. She’s on the dance team and they recently won first place in state, in hip hop.
“My wife can cook, but she usually doesn’t because I enjoy cooking,” Matt said, “So, she usually just lets me do it. I do all the grocery shopping at our house. I do all the cooking, and she is nice enough to clean up the mess. We’ve always had that arrangement, whoever cooks, the other one has to clean.
My son, he doesn’t really care about cooking much right now. My daughter does enjoy cooking, and sometimes she will help me and try to learn some things.”
Matt said their favorite to cook and eat at home is steaks. “I just got into cooking about 13 years ago, when we moved into the house we’re in now,” he said. “I got a Weber Grill and started cooking and enjoy it, so I like cooking for family and friends. Usually, whenever they’re coming over, I’m not cooking something healthy. We’re gonna cook something that we can enjoy and just have a good time. Being a cardiac nurse, I definitely understand that diet is important in health, but I also feel like you have to enjoy life. I think moderation is key in everything. You have to occasionally have foods that you enjoy. I think food is something that bonds people.”
Two different companies approached Matt as he was gaining popularity, asking him to use their products. They now sponsor him on all platforms – Kosmos Q, an award winning BBQ seasoning company based in Oklahoma, and Flavor God owned by Christopher Wallace, who’s goal is making chemical and filler free seasonings.
Matt sometimes cooks for his children’s teams and also for Rachel’s coworkers, and his coworkers. At the end of Jake’s wrestling season this year, he made a Little Debbie Celebration Snack Cake Tour for the banquet, and posted a video of how to make it, comically referring to it as the “Little Debbie Leaning Tower of Pisa.” The next day, he and Jake headed-out for Tulsa, OK to watch the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships. “All the best wrestlers in the country were there,” he said. “We had a great time. My son got to meet all of his favorite wrestlers. He’s a Penn State fan, and 3 wrestlers from Penn State won the national title. It was very exciting, and good quality time with him.”
In his spare time, Matt likes to play golf. He has played some great courses all over the world, including The Old Course at St Andrews Golf Club in Scotland.
He also loves to hike, and in 2020 hiked 270 miles through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. “It was 18 amazing days,” he said. “I just like being outdoors, and time doesn’t always allow me to do those things, but that’s the stuff that I like to do other than spending time with my family.
I’m pretty involved with my son’s wrestling and my daughter’s dance. I try to be at all the games, and I really don’t like missing anything they’re a part of, because they’re only little once.”
Ramsey said he tries to make desserts for his wife on Valentine’s Day and other occasions, and his favorite to make is cheesecake. He likes to experiment with variations, such as a recipe he included on one of his videos for Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Covered Strawberries. Matt sometimes includes trending music on his cooking videos, but says his favorite artists are: Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, and The Avett Brothers, which he and Rachel enjoyed seeing live in Bowling Green.
By Jennifer Wimmer
