What We Learned about Cooking from Bobby Flay

This is the second post of a three-part series where we share what we’ve learned from watching cooking shows. In this post, chef Bobby Flay is highlighted. Incredibly talented, Bobby has an impressively diverse and successful career in the food industry with over 25 restaurants, a food product line, and 11 cookbooks. As one of the first stars on the Food Network in 1994, Bobby has hosted many types of cooking shows, from solo hosted how to-cook cooking shows (Grill It! With Bobby Flay; Brunch at Bobby’s; Barbecue Addiction) and competition shows (Iron Chef America; Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Beat Bobby Flay), to coaching and judging on the Next Food Network Star.

Bobby’s signature style is Southwestern-inspired cuisine with spices, chiles, and bold flavors. Ingredients are complex and balanced with blends such as ancho chile powder, honey, and lime. “Crunchburgers” on the menu at Bobby’s Burger Palace (BBP) restaurant chain also represent Bobby’s cooking with contrast in texture. The crunch factor comes from the potato chips layered between the juicy burger and the bun. We can go on, which we do here in this list of 41 tips we learned from Bobby Flay.

41 Tips on Grilling and Cooking Brunch from Bobby Flay

1. Be confident in the kitchen. When making lemon ricotta pancakes, Bobby adds lemon zest to ricotta and says, “if someone asks you why you’re adding lemon to ricotta, just tell them, ‘because it tastes good.'”
2. Use honey to balance out heat. Bobby often adds honey to sauces with chili to balance out the heat—an entire episode of Brunch@Bobby’s called “Buzz Worthy” is dedicated to cooking with honey.
3. Have a drink. Bobby’s brunch show always features a drink, usually a cocktail, as part of the menu. Whether it’s Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee Mocha or White Peach Sangria, Bobby likes to serve a drink to complement the meal.
4. Each ingredient is beautiful on its own, but at the same time, they should go with their friends. A refreshing watercress, cucumber, and cherry tomato salad are plated separately around smoked salmon, but all are lightly dressed with a creamy dijon mustard sauce. Each component has its own place, but also relate to each other.

   

5. You can add sauces from one dish onto another (herbed chimichurri sauce over hash also goes well over an egg tortilla).
6. Sangria tastes better if you let the fruit and alcohol mingle; pour ice into glasses, not the sangria bowl.
7. Gala apples are the best. Gala are good for baking and for eating. Gala, “which I love to eat” and “Gala are pretty good to cook with as well because they are very sturdy, they are tart and their texture holds up well. They don’t have a mealy texture. They have a very crisp and dense texture which I just love.”

   

8. Marinate bacon pieces with spices (cinnamon, cloves, and ground thyme). Maple syrup and dijon mustard also make a good glaze.
9. Bake bacon. There are three advantages to baking bacon instead of frying it: 1) cooks more evenly, 2) oil doesn’t splatter everywhere, and 3) frees up the stove top so you can cook other things (e.g. eggs).
10. Use chiles intentionally. Bobby adds chiles for heat and flavor, not for some show of bravado. Don’t add so much heat that your guests won’t taste anything else. “I believe peppers should be an accent, not an injury.”
11. When there are eggs, there must be potatoes.
12. Parboil potatoes before you grill them or use them as homestyle potatoes or in a frittata.
13. Add texture. Bobby loves chunky peanut butter: “I was the kid who always loved the crunchy peanut butter.”
14. Juicy, flavorful burgers are 80% meat and 20% fat, and 6-7 oz. “Make a little well with your thumb in the middle of the burger, and then when the burger cooks, it will come back to shape. Otherwise you’ll get a little hump in the burger and people want to press it down and all the juices come out.”

    

15. Melt the cheese!
16. Dare to be different. Bobby discovered muenster cheese as a kid, saying “I was the only kid in the lunchroom with muenster cheese sandwiches.”
17. Know your cheese. Havarti tastes like Monterey jack cheese but is sharper. Gouda is nutty. Muenster cheese melts like American cheese. Romano is drier and saltier.
18. Bake biscuits, scones, and muffins. Scones are heavier than biscuits and not so pretty but the bumps and crevices give a unique appeal.
19. Identify your preferences with bread. Bobby’s favorite part of bread is the crust while his daughter’s is the inside, soft center. Grill bruschetta to be crunchy on the outside, but still slightly chewy on the inside.

    

20. Use calabrian chiles from Italy. Calabrian chiles are slightly sweet, spicy, red and found jarred. Bobby uses them in his Gato restaurant.
21. Have pride in local products. A native New Yorker, Bobby lauds New Yorkan bagels and lox
22. Have a mise en place. Have ingredients ready to go, at least some of them, so all you have to do when you’re cooking is add the ingredients.
23. Follow recipes that require measurements. Bobby keeps single page sheets of paper with recipes written with a blue Sharpie for scones, pancakes, waffles, biscuits, “anything that requires measuring, something that’s not my strong suit.”

    

24. Pay homage to regional foods. Go on a “bourbon trail” in Kentucky and explore the bourbon distilleries, but “have a driver that day.” Vermont has traditional, regional American food with good extra sharp cheddar, apples, and maple syrup. Stay at beautiful historical B & Bs. Think flannel shirts, roaring fires, crisp mornings, and you’ve got Vermont.
25. Try pistachios. Add them to a fig compote for a better maple syrup ladle over orange ricotta pancakes.

    

26. Love gelato. Try pistachio and chocolate gelato, and it might become your favorite, like Bobby’s.
27. Serve family favorites, like chocolate chip pancakes, a breakfast preference of his daughter Sophie.
28. Go free form with a cheese board. Grill plums and peaches and place them directly on a wooden cutting board. Add large crumbles of farmer’s cheese, crunchy toasted almonds, and a drizzle of lime honey.
29. Use canned pumpkin, because it is consistent and perfect every time. Try pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin bread pudding, pumpkin ice cream, even pumpkin churros.
30. Scramble eggs low and slow. Stir eggs immediately for small curdles and remove from the heat when eggs are still wet for soft, creamy, tender scrambled eggs.
31. Add salt at the end of scrambling eggs, so they don’t tighten up. “Salt breaks up the creaminess of the eggs, so we’re going to add it at the very end.”

    

32. Use a non-stick pan when making eggs. “There’s no reason to cook scrambled eggs in anything other than a non-stick pan. Don’t be a hero. If you can make an omelette in a stainless steel pan, then you have big time skills. But I don’t think it’s worth a try.”

    

33. Add a pinch of sugar to onions to caramelize faster and draw out the natural sugars even more.
34. Don’t peek on popovers. Popovers get their lift from eggs so don’t open the oven door until they’re ready because the eggs need the hot air to rise.
35. Poach eggs with vinegar. Vinegar helps eggs coagulate when poaching.
36. Enjoy tropical fruit. “To me, papaya is like a tropical melon. It’s a delicate fruit, so cut carefully.”
37. Revive old trends. “Kiwi was trendy in the 90s, still delicious- I like its texture and flavor.”
38. Make cocktails for your mom. “My mother likes wine spritzers- ‘Bobby, bring me a wine spritzer.’ [in an exaggerated New Yorkan accent] Except, I don’t think my mother talks like that.” Wine spritzers are a mixture of fresh juice, wine, and sparkling water.
39. Learn to make good sauces. Hollandaise sauce is basically warm mayonnaise. You don’t want to taste the egg or the butter; it’s about getting just the right balance. Cook the sauce over direct heat, moving the bowl off the heat every few seconds, rather than using the double boiler.
40. Use flavor-intense ingredients. Sockeye salmon is stronger in flavor and more orangey-red than Atlantic salmon.
41. Love competition- with shows like Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Beat Bobby, and Iron Chef, the man loves competition. Bobby thrives under pressure.