Bobby Flay Reveals What’s in His Pantry and Shares Some Key Cooking Hacks
Superstar chef Bobby Flay recently opened the door to his prized pantry and is spilling some cooking secrets for foodies to incorporate in their own meals. From Italian specialities (including a jarred sauce – yes, jarred) to a section devoted to his coveted chilies, the Food Network star’s recommendations can help home cooks elevate their daily menus.
Bobby Flay sometimes saves time on the sauce
Flay recently opened the doors to his culinary closet to online grocery service Misfits Market and shared the unveiling in an instagram video. The Food Network star serves as Misfit Market’s chef-in-residence and started the tour with his go-to cuisine: Italian.
“I buy a lot of pasta from Italy because I love the flour that they use there,” Flay said on the video. “This is like, a spaghetti, we have some bucatini of course. I actually have some elbows you can use for a cool version of mac and cheese. This is some squid ink pasta, shells that I use when I’m cooking shell fish and stuff like that. It’s also black pasta so it’s very cool. Good flavor, a little briny. I have some penne, of course.”
In what he called his “Italian section”, Flay revealed that he does dabble in pre-made sauce.
“I have tons of canned tomatoes, you know, good quality, San Marzano, Italian-style tomatoes – you need this for sauce,” he shared, then held up a jar of Simply Sugo. “It’s already made for you and then you can embellish upon it. If I want to eat literally in a few minutes, I throw on a pot of water, fill the pasta in there with a bunch of salt, get some tomato sauce going then I’ll take out some Calabrian chilies or some crushed red peppers, fresh basil, or some oregano — or whatever kind of herbs I have — some Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and you have pasta and it’s perfect.”
Food Network star loves his chilies
Flay then noted his section for chilies, pointing out his beloved Calabrian chilies which heighten the flavors of the dishes he creates.
“People make fun of me for using these so much, especially on Beat Bobby Flay, but in my restaurant in Malfa, we use a ton of these,” Flay said. “It adds great flavor to food.”
He referred to other types of chilies he incorporates in his cooking, such as Guaillo chili powder, chipotle, and a jar of “really cool” roasted, peeled, and seeded red piquillo peppers from Spain.
“Open them up, chop them up, you have roasted peppers,” Flay recommended. “They’re not much different from a sweet bell pepper. It has a little bit of a bite to it but don’t think of them as spicy.”
Other Bobby Flay hacks worth having on hand
Flay’s tour also included his condiments section, baking staples, snack foods, and dried ingredients. The culinary star shared items from his Asian shelf, which included coconut milk, soy sauce, sesame oil, Gochujang – a Korean fermented hot chili paste, and red and green curry paste, which can be used for one of his famous hacks.
“Take some red curry paste, toast it in a pan, throw some coconut-milk over it, and you literally will have a red curry or a green curry sauce literally in 15, 20 minutes,” Flay explained. “You can put it over some chicken or some grilled salmon. It has so much flavor and it’s so easy.”
He also swears by sneaking anchovies in dishes by finely chopping them up, especially in seafood recipes. “Put it in the sauce. It just enhances it so much more,” Flay advised.
The Food Nation star always has chickpeas on hand. By adding a few ingredients like tahini, garlic, olive oil, chili, and lemon, Flay creates homemade hummus.
Flay concluded the video with an area dedicated to his feline friend, Nacho. The celebrity chef launched a cat food company in his pet’s name, Made by Nacho, and keeps plenty of supplies in his pantry.
“It looks like I’m running a cat food store, which we kind of are,” Flay remarked. “I mean, this is Nacho’s company, so he does eat his own food, everybody. And so this is all Nacho’s made by Nacho. He’s taking over the cat food world, one cat at a time.”
Watch the full Instagram video!
