Robby Jester, a chef from Delaware who honed his skills at Piccolina Toscana in Wilmington’s Trolley Square, won Food Network’s Tuscan Cuisine cooking contest.
Jester beat out three chefs on Chopped – Battle Italiano: Tuscany, a show that focuses on the cuisine of Italy’s Tuscan region.
If Jester wins, he will have a chance to compete against three more chefs representing different regions of Italy and win $25,000 in “Battle Italiano: Finale” on May 28th. This episode will air at 8 p.m.
“Are you looking forward to it?” “Chopped” host Ted Allen asked Jester, who won the three-round battle that premiered Tuesday night.
“Well, yeah, let’s go,” said the chef. “It feels amazing to win ‘Chopped.'”
Jester is no stranger to television cooking competitions: He was the winner of Netflix’s “Pressure Cooker” and was a contestant on the Food Network shows “Guy’s Grocery Games” and “Beat Bobby Flay.”
“I’m so grateful for the community that supports me, and I really feel like I’m making the best food of my career right now,” he told Delaware Online/The News Journal in a previous interview.
Jester, who owns Mariana’s pizza shop in Newark and also owns a catering company, recorded the series in December 2023. He said he liked the editing of the show.
“I’m here to pay homage to Tuscan cuisine,” Jester said at the beginning of the hour-long episode, which was judged by chefs Scott Conant, Tiffany Derry and Gabe Bertaccini. He told them that he intended to criticize Tuscan cuisine in particular. He grew up in the Tuscan region, so he is good at cooking.
Jester, who is not Italian, performed for the cameras when he was introduced. He made a fishy face and jokingly brushed his shoulders off, as if to show he wasn’t worried about the other three contestants.
“Tuscan cuisine has a beautiful soul that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world,” said Jester, who spent several years as executive chef at owner Dan Butler’s Piccolina Toscana restaurant in Wilmington. Ta. Jester doesn’t have to be Italian to make delicious Italian food, he said.
“Tuscan cuisine taught me the importance of cooking with love.”
Mr. Jester left the Trolley Square Italian restaurant in 2014 to become general manager and consulting chef at the now-closed Newark restaurant. He hosted a party in Tuscany on Tuesday night to watch the “Chopped” fight in honor of “where I learned how to make Tuscan food.”
“Chopped” challenges contestants to create a dish from a basket of unknown ingredients within a set time. Judges taste the dishes, and chefs who create less appealing dishes are “chopped.”
The first basket given to the chefs contained wild boar, heirloom tomatoes, canned cannellini beans, and celosia or rooster combs. They had 20 minutes to make their appetizers.
“It’s not in my daily repertoire,” Jester said, staring at the crunchy celosia before heading off to gather ingredients for a seared boar medallion with warm cannellini salad and heirloom tomato balsamic drizzle. I hurried to the pantry.
The clown hatches a plan to fry the celosia in the fryer. But when he threw the meat into the hot oil, it spat out and began to burst.
Delee grimaced as hot oil splattered into the air and onto the floor, describing the cooking method as “horrifying.”
“Maybe we went the wrong way,” Jester joked, and Conant asked, “Chef Robbie, how are you doing?”
“It looks cute and it feels cute,” said Jester, who topped the beans with crunchy celosia.
“It feels great,” Jester said, staring at the finished plate.
The judges told the clown that the boar needed more salt, but seemed generally satisfied with the dish.
“His use of the basket is great,” Conant said. Bertaccini agreed, raving, “It feels like you’re having lunch in Tuscany.”
In round two, the remaining two chefs and clowns had to create an entree using porterhouse steak, chicken liver mousse crostini, Tuscan kale, and Negroni gelatin shots.
“I love it. Oh my god,” Jester said, and asked, “Can I take this shot?”
Jester made a compound butter with chicken liver mousse, used crostini in a salad with kale, and turned the gelantine in a Negroni into a vinaigrette. He pan-roasted the filet mignon in the style of bistecca alla Fiorentina, a popular steak dish in Tuscany.
“This round seems to be shaking people up a little bit,” Derry said, and Jester seemed to agree. “I wish I had had a few more seconds,” he said as he plated it.
The judges liked the blended butter but said Jester’s bread was under-toasted and they didn’t like the wilted Tuscan kale, but Bertaccini said “the inspiration is there.”
Jester seemed to think this was the round he was going to lose.
“I don’t feel good right now,” the clown said after the review.
When host Ted Allen lifted the cloche to reveal which dishes were on the cutting board, Jester’s eyes widened, then closed. He moved on to the final dessert round.
The final basket of ingredients included rose petal jam, dried strawberries, lardo di colonnata (pork fat), a sweet known for its gummy texture, and a tray of Italian cookies.
Jester, seemingly upset, said, “I think it’s very rewarding. Super Tuscan for me.”
He said the ingredients, especially the pignoli cookies, immediately reminded him of the strawberry pretzel salad his aunt makes for Jester every year for his birthday. Jester decided to call the dish “Sweet Child of Mine.”
The remaining competing chef, Julia Wieman, chose to make an Italian cookies and cream dessert but got stuck having trouble whipping the mascarpone cream.
“I know she’s going to fight until the last moment,” said Jester, who also used mascarpone along with port wine and fresh strawberries.
When time expired, the Delaware chef waited for the contest to end.
“It’s hot, I’m sweaty, and I’m exhausted. My stress level is at 10 right now,” Jester said, but seemed confident. “Every flavor tastes delicious.”
The judges huddled over the clown dessert.
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“I want to eat this as a parfait. It’s really, really delicious,” Bertaccini said.
The Jester who is declared the winner advances to the finale. Food Network teased the May 28 episode.
According to Food Network, “The basket is not standard, and the appetizer round will feature pizza in a tube.” “He’s one of only three chefs left in the epic tournament, and emotions run high during a dramatic appetizer round. Then, an unfamiliar ingredient in his dessert basket will keep the two finalists on their toes.” .”
Jester said if she wins the final, she plans to use the $25,000 to start a fund for her newborn daughter. stay tuned.
Patricia Talorico can be found on Instagram, X, and Facebook. Please email ptalorico@delawareonline.com. Sign up for her Delaware Eats newsletter.
