Q&A With Chef Molly Brandt

Former Stillwater resident Chef Molly Brandt on Bravo's Top Chef Texas television series Wednesday night. Her second challenge competition will aire on television Nov. 9 at 9 p.m.

Brandt currently lives Hollywood, Fla., and works as the Chef de Cuisine at 150 Central Park aboard Allure of the Seas at Royal Caribbean International, a fine dining venue where she runs two six-course set tasting menus over each voyage. She is also the Founder and Chef at Cook in the Kitchen and a Private Chef at Flavors of Italia.

On Thursday afernoon, Chef Brandt took the time to answer a few of our questions:

Stillwater Patch: What are you up to these days? Can you talk a bit about your work at 150 Central Park? Please, for those of us who don't know, describe the restaurant, the menu, etc. 

Chef Molly Brandt: Currently I'm the Chef de Cuisine of 150 Central Park onboard Royal Caribbean International's Allure of the Seas. Basically, it's a long-winded way of saying that I get to create and write the recipes for my own fine dining restaurant that just happens to be at sea. 
I actually competed for and subsequently won the position last year in the Allure of the Seas Culinary Challenge. As you've probably gathered by now, I like to compete! The prize was a year-long contract to be the creative force behind this beautifully appointed, chef-driven, fine dining venue. Fortunately RCI liked me enough to ask me to stay, and I get to continue to develop and execute menus for 150 Central Park. 
The concept of the restaurant is a degustation menu, or tasting menu. I run two each six-course menus over the course of the ship's seven-day itinerary. It can be whatever I want without limitation, so I'm hugely fortunate for the opportunity.

Stillwater Patch: I see that you recently rolled out a new fall menu at 150 Central Park. Could you talk about what went into creating that menu, how much creativity you are afforded in coming up with it and what some of your favorite items on it are? 

Brandt: Creating a menu is a long process for me. As mentioned before I have carte blanche in what goes on it, but ultimately I'm dictated by what the guests onboard are willing to eat. With that being the case the first thing I do is identify the focus for each dish that I intend to put on the menu. Maybe I want to put rabbit on the menu, but are the guests going to be interested in that? Probably not, so that is a defining factor when determining ingredients. Once I identify the focus for each dish then I put it on a grid and strive to develop a dish that has balance and a tie to a theme. I ask myself what that theme is, and I never limit myself, it could be a scent, a time, a place, a color, another dish, etc. Then I determine what that particular ingredient and how I intend to cook it has in terms of color, flavor, texture, and cooking method. That gives me a starting point to start filling in the blanks to achieve harmony of all of those things and still make sure it relates to my theme. 

Currently some of my favorite items are the Camembert and Lager Soup with Spiced Caramel Corn, (yea beer cheese soup!) and the Pancetta-Wrapped Venison Loin with Sweet Potato Risotto, Chestnut Puree, and Creamed Tuscan Kale. However, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Creme Fraiche Ice Cream, and Cinnamon Cotton Candy. I LOVE that cotton candy! 

Stillwater Patch: Could you talk about what it's like to be a chef aboard a cruise ship? My guess is there are some really exciting parts of the job (namely travel), but also a few culinary challenges (you're on the ocean, so how do you keep ingredients in stock and ideas fresh and new)? 

Brandt: Cooking on the cruise ship isn't as challenging as one would think. After all, an apple is an apple on land or at sea. The biggest challenge is actually inventory. I mean, I can't run to the corner store if I run out of sweet potatoes halfway through the week! Organization is key, and it starts at least a month and a half before a new menu launches, and I change my menus completely every three months. I first need to identify exactly what new specialty ingredients I want, and then pass that information along to our shore-side purchasing team. Then they contact their distributors and identify the pricing for that ingredient whereupon it's then given an identification number and placed in our onboard ordering system. After it's contracted to the Miami market, then the onboard inventory management team can place it on the master order list which must be submitted 2 weeks prior to receiving the product.

As for staying current and creative, I purchase cookbooks like a bad habit, and I research like mad. It's a serious part of my job, and I schedule in at least an hour to do that on a daily basis. 

Stillwater Patch: What is your favorite ingredient to cook with? Why? 

Brandt: I'm not sure I have a favorite ingredient per se. I do however really like to make the supporting elements to the focus of the dish. I care probably more about the vegetables and garnish that surround the protein than the protein itself. Unless we're talking about bacon, because a juicy, thick cut, well-smoked piece of bacon is like pork crack to me. 

Stillwater Patch: Who are a few of your culinary heroes? 

Brandt: Right now I'm a HUGE fan of what Chicago Chef Grant Achatz of Alinea, and Next Restaurant fame is up to. I'm like a teenage schoolgirl on a Justin Bieber bender when it comes to him. I find his creativity, innovation and passion for what he does and the team he supports incredibly inspiring. If supporting myself were no object then I would make it my mission to work on his line as my next job. 
Other than Grant, I have been and will continue to be impressed with the philosophy and brand of cooking that Thomas Keller is doing. He's made an immeasurable impact on the American culinary industry, and I think you would be hard pressed to find any chef out there worth their salt to disagree with that. 

Stillwater Patch: Would you please divulge one cooking tip that would make all of us home cooks a little bit better? 

Brandt: This may sound elementary, but the biggest tip I can give anyone is to taste your food before you serve it. That's it. Seriously. I taste my food all night long throughout service. That's my dinner. I would be horrified if some food was sent out to a table that was, gasp, under-seasoned, among other culinary tragedies that can happen. 

Stillwater Patch: How can people from Stillwater keep up with what you're doing? Could you talk a bit about Cook in the Kitchen? 

Brandt: Before I competed for the position I have now I had a little catering/personal chef business called Cook in the Kitchen that was based out of Stillwater. I loved it! It was such a great time to be able to be so creative and make something different every day. I've obviously since abandoned that business, but I have maintained my Cook in the Kitchen Facebook page, and cookinthekitch Twitter handle. They live on as an extension to what I'm up to now, and I try to post current topics that I'm interested in (you will see many links to Grant Achatz!) as well as photos and videos of what I'm up to at 150 Central Park. 

Stillwater Patch: What are your future dreams or aspirations in the culinary world? 

Brandt: I definitely have a few pipe dreams about where I want to see myself in the culinary industry! Definitely, I want to run my own restaurant(s) someday, and hopefully not too far in the future. On the heels of that I would love to find myself named on of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs one year. I also aspire to cook at the James Beard House in NYC, and maybe even garner a nom from them someday. I probably won't stop competing either and am making it a mission to compete for the USA Bocuse D'Or spot for 2015. We'll see though, sometimes life has a way of presenting opportunities that cannot be passed up, and my goals will always remain flexible for that reason.