Bobby Flay Got His Start with an Easy Bake Oven
Bobby Flay, the celebrity chef, restaurateur and Emmy-winning Food Network star, 58, returns to host the second season of Bobby’s Triple Threat (Aug. 22 on Food Network). Also back in the kitchen are Flay’s handpicked trio of Titans—top-notch chefs Tiffany Derry, Michael Voltaggio and Brooke Williamson—who will take on highly skilled competitors like Iron Chefs Michael Symon and Jose Garces, and Chopped judge Scott Conant in three head-to-head cooking rounds with surprise featured ingredients. The prize? $25,000.
Parade sat down with Flay to discuss the ins and outs of the new show.
Walter Scott: When you were casting the Titans, how did you arrive at Tiffany, Michael and Brooke as the ones to beat?
Bobby Flay: I have a lot of respect for all three of them in terms of their cooking skills. They're all incredibly qualified and I wanted a little bit of differentiation between the way that they cook in terms of their approach to competition, ingredients and cuisines. It's a very well-rounded trio I would say, but the one thing that they all have in common is that they are incredibly competitive.
Since the chance of winning the $25,000 is 50/50 at best, what makes the guest chefs agree to come on?
The money is definitely enticing because it's a lot of money in a bag. I think for people like Michael Symon, Scott Conant, and some of the other chefs, it's really about bragging rights. These guys [the Titans] are very, very hard to beat. There are tons of egos on the network, so they want to show what they’ve got.
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Is there going to be be anything new for Season 2 that you tweaked from Season 1?
The concept is exactly the same. We only did six episodes in the first season. There's 10 in the second season. People really loved it so I would say the only thing that we did was really pump up the competitive side. We really picked some very difficult competitors to come in and try to take the money home.
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In the competition, each chef makes three plates of food for each dish, but only one judge tastes the food. Why do they have to make three plates?
They make two to taste and they make one for beauty. The judges actually taste it twice. They taste it right off the line and they taste it in front of them. Then there's one for beauty. A lot of it has to do with consistency. I want them to be able to make three plates that are consistent. It's part of the competition. When I was in culinary school years and years ago, one of the things that they always wanted us to do on our tests was to make more than one plate that all looked identical, obviously, because that's an important part of your skills.
There are some obscure ingredients that are pulled out of the pantry. Since neither the Titans nor the guest chef knows the two ingredients that you're picking for each competition in advance, how are these ingredients in the pantry?
The Titans get a handful of ingredients—I think it's maybe 10 each—that they can ask for that are always in the pantry. They're like their go-to ingredients and then the competing chef also gets 10 ingredients that they want around. While we want people to feel pressure, we also want them to feel like they can reach for ingredients that are important to them.
With all of your shows, how much cooking do you actually do these days?
I cook on most of the shows. I have BBQ Brawl, which is a show that I cook on. Beat Bobby Flay, which I obviously cook on. Triple Threat is the one that I host, but cooking is the most important part of my life. It’s something I do all the time in my restaurants, and at home.
It was interesting to watch you with your daughter on Bobby and Sophie on the Coast. What did you learn about her from working together that you might not have known otherwise?
Her food preferences have changed. Her palate has gotten so varied and sophisticated. It's fun to watch her grow up through food. She's in her mid-20s now, so as you can imagine, she's constantly evolving her life and also her taste buds.
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Speaking of her taste being more sophisticated, I'm curious if there is any food that you absolutely won't eat? Something that the texture or the taste of is a definite no-go.
No, definitely not.
It all began when you were 8 years old, and you asked for an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas. This story is legendary now but back then did you have any clue that you were interested in a culinary career?
I used to watch The Galloping Gourmet (Graham Kerr) and Julia Child so that's why I was inspired as a young kid. But, of course, I wasn't thinking about it as a career. Cooking really wasn't part of what you thought of [as a job].
Why the Easy-Bake Oven?
I saw commercials for it, and I couldn't believe you could bake a cake with the light bulb, and I wanted to see for myself if it worked.
Did it work?
Absolutely. Crazy.
You mentioned that you used to watch Julia Child and Graham Kerr. Who inspires you these days?
Michael Symon is a good friend of mine and I love watching his shows. I obviously watch the whole network because these are all people that I know and admire. We run the gamut of amazing cooks and chefs on the network now, so it's nice to have it at my fingertips, but I would say that Michael Symon is my one to watch.
A lot of people are good chefs but that doesn't necessarily translate into success. What do you think has been the key to your success?
Just trying to keep it fresh, trying to evolve within what I do, always trying to keep it about food first no matter what, traveling and learning constantly, and being inspired by different cuisines.
The pandemic was really hard on restaurants, but you’re still keen on opening new ones?
I'm opening a new restaurant in Las Vegas in December. It's a French brasserie called Brasserie B at Caesars Palace.
You still have Amalfi?
Yep, it's right next door to the new restaurant.
We can't do this interview without talking about Nacho Flay [Bobby’s Maine Coon]. You still have more Instagram followers than Nacho, but he's catching up. How did he inspire you to create your line of Made by Nacho cat food?
As somebody who helps people get food to their tables every night—and my cats are so important to me—I really didn't know what to feed them. So, having my cats, Nacho and Stella, at home inspired me to do what I usually do when I have a problem to solve, which is I do it myself. So, I started Made by Nacho and it's been really such a fun endeavor. Cats and their cat parents really seem to love it.
What do you think the next big food fad is going to be?
I have no idea. The one thing I can tell you is when people ask me what the food trends are, I'm always wrong so I stopped trying to figure it out. But there will be one.