In Thursday night’s action-packed episode of Food items Network’s Conquer Bobby Flay, Pensacola chef James Briscione proved his location in the culinary scene on nationwide tv by championing a prepare dinner-off concerning movie star Iron chef Bobby Flay.
Briscione, initial launched by the judges for his title of People’s sexiest chefs alive, was paired with 1 of Flay’s intense opponents for the title of Iron Chef, chef Sue Torres out of Vero Seaside, Florida.
“I know you are equally listed here to get to me, of class,” Flay advised the cooks on the present. “But ahead of that takes place, you should go as a result of every other.”
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With guava currently being the solution component of Flay’s deciding on for the 1st round, the chefs acquired to perform creating sweet and savory taste pairings that would showcase the tropical fruit.
Briscione in the long run triumphed over Torres and sophisticated to the next round with praise from the judges for his fried goat cheese salad served with guava bourbon jam and pickled guava vinaigrette, all designed inside in a 20-minute time body. As a reward, Briscione chose the dish to make from highly esteemed Flay.
Briscione has attained himself a standing regionally for his by-hand Italian cooking techniques at Angelena’s Ristorante Italiano, so it was no shock to Pensacola locals that Briscione selected tortellini.
“Bobby’s stepping into my globe now, and I guarantee these fingers have manufactured hundreds of much more hours of pasta than he (Flay) has at any time even believed about,” Briscione mentioned on the demonstrate.
With 45 minutes allotted on the clock for the next round, Flay selected to go with a seafood-forward styling of the ravioli-like pasta, settling on a shrimp tortellini with a shellfish and Calabrian chili sauce with saffron and anchovy breadcrumbs and a filling of shrimp, scallops, crème fraiche, chives and tarragon.
Briscione strayed significantly from the traditional Italian roots of the dish by bringing in the regional flair of the South. He concocted a crawfish tortellini stuffed with andouille sausage bathed in a crawfish sauce, served with charred corn and brown butter.
Even with his challenging competitors, Briscione exuded assurance, enthusiasm and self-confidence hyping up his crowd, even accomplishing the worm dance on the concrete studio floor during filming.
“I’ve done a million matters in the culinary earth,” Briscione mentioned on the present. “I’m the to start with ever two-time winner on Chopped, I’ve penned 4 cookbooks and as a judge on this present….I know what it takes to just take Bobby down.”
The two introduced their vastly distinct tortellini interpretations in a blind style check prior to a fresh new set of judges.
Although the flavors were being there for Flay, it was his development of the noodles that failed to measure up to Briscione. Flay obtained criticism from the judges on the toughness of the pasta and absence of filling, whereas Briscione’s procedure shined in comparison.
The flavors stayed true to the design he arrived in saying to have, mixing Italian cooking with the “comforting, spicy flavors of the American south.”
Briscione was not only able to get paid esteem from his young ones viewing at house, but also a packed viewing social gathering at Angelena’s and viewers all throughout the region.
“My youngsters love watching Bobby Flay,” Briscione explained on the exhibit. “They feel he’s the finest man or woman at any time to stroll the deal with of the Earth. And I keep striving to persuade them their dad’s not negative both.”
The extended road to victory
Briscione claimed he fell in like with building pasta as a teenager soon after participating in close to with a passed down pasta maker from his grandmother.
Now working as an govt chef in an Italian kitchen of his possess, Briscione functions hands-on each individual day, cautiously and promptly forming the night’s entrees concerning his fingertips like muscle mass memory.
Functioning his way up as a teenage dishwasher in Jubilee Oyster Bar & Grille to now a head chef in Pensacola 20 many years afterwards, Briscione has not missing his insatiable starvation for self-improvement and striving for perfection.
It was at Jubilee in which Briscione explained he fell in like with the comradery and tradition of the kitchen area, so a great deal so he abandoned his path in athletics drugs to pursue a occupation in the culinary arts comprehensive-time.
It wasn’t an quick route and essential taking his spare time to master every single additional ability that he could soak in. He picked up large influences of Southern-fashion cooking doing work at some of the most respected dining places in Birmingham, Alabama, training beneath chefs who advocated for his likely to go more.
He recollects demonstrating up early in the morning prior to his change to master how to make pastries and staying up late studying borrowed textbooks from his buddies in culinary school until formally “making it” as a head chef in New York Metropolis.
“I wished to realize everything…it’s my purely natural disposition,” Briscione stated.
Now at the peak of his career, he is unable to sit back again and check out powering the scenes, but is often looking for approaches to training his creativeness in the kitchen and bring new aspects to the menu.
Experimental pasta flavors, these kinds of as these that show up on Angelena’s rotating pasta menu, are a way for him to go back to the drawing board and lean into inspiration.
In addition to the dishes he prepares himself at Angelena’s, he is also regularly education and equipping his crew to develop into masters of their very own stations.
His workforce capabilities like a properly-oiled equipment, a stream and symmetry that he stated is what he is most happy of given that opening Angelena’s in 2019.
“Truly, it is individuals fellas again there,” Briscione mentioned, gesturing toward the Angelena’s kitchen area. “When we initial started, we did not have a cohesive team that’s passionate and talented like they are now. It shows in the visitor experience. The crew we have crafted again there, we have now developed that house.”
Even as Briscione continues to climb the ladder of celebrity chef standing, Briscione stated putting roots down in Pensacola running Angelena’s and increasing his young children together with spouse and wine director Brooke Parkhurst, is far more than sufficient.
If you skipped it, you could however capture period 9, episode 10 of Defeat Bobby Flay titled “Don’t Be Nice” showcasing Briscione on the Food items Network. If seeking to check out to duplicate a Briscione recipe your self, you can also adhere to alongside on his movie tutorials on the Foods Community application.
All through the thirty day period of March, the restaurant’s three-class pasta tasting menu will also aspect a specific recipe influenced by Briscione’s time on the “Conquer Bobby Flay” exhibit. The tasting can be purchased by yourself for $49 or with wine pairings for $79.
Angelena’s is open up from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday as a result of Saturday. Beginning March 21, the restaurant will open up at 4 p.m. Reservations can also be built on the net via the Angelena’s website and Fb web page.
This write-up originally appeared on Pensacola Information Journal: Angelena’s Chef James Briscione wins Tv display Beat Bobby Flay