Celebrity Chefs Share Their Favorite Dish Inspired By Their Moms

In honor of Mother’s Day, some of the country’s greatest chefs are reflecting on the original inspiration for some of their favorite dishes.

Alex Guarnaschelli, Iron Chef, Chopped judge and host of Supermarket Stakeout on Food Network

The celebrity chef who is also executive chef at New York City’s Butter restaurant was inspired by a dish that is rather, well, cheesy!

“When I was growing up, my mom made a cheese soufflé that is on my short list of favorite recipes of all time. I always say this was one of those foods that made me want to become a chef and cook dishes like this professionally. I love to make this and some new variation of it every Mother’s Day and this year the variation is Tortilla Española. The potatoes and onions are almost like a layer of home fries, the cottage cheese (this year, I’m loving Hood’s Cottage Cheese) and eggs are unctuous (and loaded with protein) and the crunchy chips add a tasty, mischievous note to the dish. Making a variation of my mom’s cheese soufflé is my tribute to all she shared with me about cooking and eating. I guess it’s a way of looking forward and looking back at the same time.”

 Anne Burrell, host of Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition on Food Network

“My mom used to make this yummy stuffed cabbage with meats, sausage, chopped ground beef, rice and braised in tomato sauce. Another dish she made was this amazing caesar salad that was eggless – every night in the summer we would go out to the garden and pick lettuce for it – the salad was so good because it was light and garlicky and lemony – we would beg for it every night!” said the celebrity chef.

This year for Mother’s Day, the menu will be a bit different. “I’ll be making my Balsamic Braised Brisket for Mother’s Day (and it’s also my mom’s birthday on Saturday) along with what we call potato pancakes – it will be for my mom and my sister because we are all sheltering together right now – and the kids are planning to make some type of special dessert!” 

Molly Yeh, host of Girl Meets Farm on Food Network

“Growing up, I’d wake up to fresh coffee cakes and scones every weekend because my mom has a habit of waking up at 5 am and baking. For the longest time, I thought this was a normal thing that everybody’s mom did! My mom definitely passed down a love of baking to me (but not a love of waking up at 5 am!) and I can’t bake any scone or coffee cake without thinking of her. Inspired by my mom, I make a scone loaf that is particularly great because it’s made in loaf form, meaning it stays fresher for longer and you don’t actually have to eat it the day it’s made. So if you want to bake it the night before Mother’s Day and then sleep in, do it!”

Maneet Chauhan, restaurant owner, and judge on Food Network’s Chopped

Known for her role on Food Network’s Chopped, Maneet Chauhan says that Aloo Paratha (or potato-stuffed flatbreads) reminds her of her mother. It used to be a Sunday tradition while growing up in India:  “I’d wake up in the morning to the sound of her rings hitting the wooden handle as she churned fresh butter and think ‘yes, we’re having aloo paratha!'” 

Robert Irvine, host of Restaurant Impossible on Food Network

“When you take the time to put some love into a roast chicken dinner, to me that’s the best meal in the whole world. Chicken is a bit of a culinary blank slate, so if it turns out well, that’s because of the love you poured into the effort. My mom? She poured all her love into us kids. When I can cook her something like this, it’s a modest way of trying to return some of that love.”

Judy Joo, host of Korean Food Made Simple on Food Network

Judy Joo’s sweet memory is that of strawberry sundaes with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.  “My mom would make the best ice cream sundaes and with fresh strawberries just in season now, it was so delectable too,” said Joo. “My mom would vary it and put bananas in it sometimes too, and even soda to make it a float as well. I have memories of my sister and I sharing this dessert, and fighting over the whipped cream, which was always from a can!” 

Says Joo: “My sister and I would wake up at the crack of dawn and wreak havoc in the kitchen. One year, we decided to make our mom mother’s day breakfast and serve her tea. We, for some unknown reason, thought it would be a good idea to put our goldfish in the tea kettle sans water. We killed them all in some kind of sick or amazing mother’s day sacrifice. I have no idea why we did this. Our mom never yelled at us about it though. Maybe she saw the sincere thoughtfulness in the atoning act, who knows!”

Thomas Keller, restaurateur, and cookbook writer

“My mom, Betty Keller, was a creature of habit. She worked very hard at her job managing restaurants while raising five boys and a daughter as a single mother. She loved to have cookies on hand at the end of the day, and she especially loved the Keebler pecan sandie. It was part of my childhood, and it’s a flavor combination, vanilla and pecan, that I associate with her. It was an adult cookie to me. There was always a bag of them in the cupboard.Or almost always. We were six kids, and we were voracious. That was a problem when it came to my mother’s cookies. We had our own cookies, Oreos and Nutter Butters, but when we’d dispatched those, there would be that bag of Mom’s pecan sandies, daring us. It was really hard. Those cookies were sacrosanct, but sometimes, guiltily, we ate her cookies, one by one, until they were gone.Mom had very few things she could call her own. She had no real luxuries. We didn’t have winter family vacations; we didn’t go to a cabin by a lake in the summer. She worked, and she gave us everything we wanted and needed. But we didn’t appreciate it then. How could we know? How could I, youngest of the boys, know? But I do now. Day after day, year after year, Mom set an extraordinary example for me. An example of hard work, attention to detail, and an all-consuming love for our family that I still have today.Food is a powerful connector of who we are to who we were, to our past, to our memories, and, for me, to a different and simpler time. Even the smallest thing—a cookie—can help us understand what we feel now while reminding us of what we once felt and who we’ve become versus who we were then. So much of who I am today is tied to who my mom was, the choices she made, the way she worked, and how she lived her life. What success I have today, I owe to her. All of which is why the pecan sandie is so important to me.”  

The recipe for Bouchon Bakery’s pecan sandies, inspired by Thomas Keller’s mother, is featured in an upcoming e-cookbook, “Serving New York: For All the People Who Make NYC Dining Unforgettable,” created by New York City chefs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 100% of the cookbook proceeds go to the ROAR x Robin Hood Foundation NYC restaurant worker relief fund. 

Devin Alexander, formerly of NBC’s Biggest Loser; former host of Healthy Decadence on Fit Tv & Discovery Health and host of PBS’s America’s Chefs on Tour

“I grew up eating cabbage casserole, one of my mother’s (and our whole family’s) favorite dishes. It’s a much quicker and simpler twist on golumpkis (Polish stuffed cabbage rolls). I’ve always been such a fan, so I lightened it up to include it in the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook.  I called it Stuffed Cabbage Strata since that sounds so much more special!

Donatella Arpaia, Iron Chef, and chef/owner of Prova Pizzabar

“Without question, it is the dish that has garnered me much praise and awards – her famous meatballs. Not only did I win the NYC Meatball Madness 2 years in a row with this meatball recipe, but I also created a successful line for HSN with my award winning meatballs,” said Arpaia. “This dish is so special to me because it is the essence of my childhood. Sundays were sacred in my home because it was the one day that my dad’s restaurants were closed and they didn’t work, so it was very important that we ate as a family and celebrated the Sunday meal. I have vivid memories of waking up to the smell of onions and garlic simmering and her frying the meatballs right before heading to Sunday mass.”

Ming Tsai, host of public television cooking show, Simply Ming, advisor to catering startup HUNGRY

The chef/owner of Blue Dragon and author of five cookbooks is reminded of his mom every time he makes scallion pancakes (made from water dough), having grown up making them with her.

Chef Tsai thinks of those special memories every time he makes it! “Besides rice and noodles growing up, scallion pancakes were my third starch. Both parents and grandparents used to make me not only traditional scallion pancakes, but also ones filled with meat. In my family, my mom has the most deft hands bar none for making scallion pancakes and dumplings. At 85 years old, she still makes better dumpling skins, far better than I will ever achieve. Which subliminally irks me!”

Chef Ming’s Scallion Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups boiling water
• 4-cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 bunches scallions (save a few greens for Tzatziki sauce garnish)
• ¼ cup Grapeseed oil
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

 Instructions:

1. Using a Kitchen Aid with a dough hook attachment, add flour and add 2/3 of boiling water. On medium speed, keep adding water until well mixed and a ball is formed and the dough is not too hot to handle, this will take 3-5 minutes. You may need to sprinkle a little more flour if it gets too wet.
2. On a floured surface, transfer and knead dough until it becomes a smooth elastic ball. Place back in the bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rest for at least 1 hour.
3. Flour a work surface very lightly and roll out hot water dough into a log. Cut log in half. Roll out one half of a log very thinly (1/8-inch thick) into a large rectangle.
4. In a small bowl, combine the grapeseed oil and toasted sesame oil and brush over the pancake.
5. Cover the pancake with half scallions. Starting with the long side nearest you, roll the dough jelly-roll fashion to make a tight log. Twist each end of the log in the opposite direction 4 or 5 times (this will make additional pancake layers), then wrap the log around itself to make a coil, tucking the outside end beneath the coil.  With a rolling pin, flatten the coil to ¼-inch thick.
6. Repeat process.
7. Heat a cast iron or wok over medium heat. Add oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add pancake, cooking one at a time and cook until golden brown and delicious, turning once. Cook the second pancake. Slice each pancake into 4 wedges and serve with dipping sauce.

*Note, if you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a large stainless steel bowl and mix with chopsticks. Once the ball of dough is no longer too hot to handle, knead the dough on a floured work surface until it becomes smooth and elastic, 15-20 minutes. (It takes longer here because the dough hook helps knead a bit.)