Damarr Brown’s High Chef journey started when a producer from the present reached out to him on Instagram and inspired him to use.
“I wasn’t even certain if it was actual at first, truthfully,” says Brown, the Chef de Delicacies at Virtue in Hyde Park.
He wasn’t certain if it was one thing he needed to do, however he talked to his mentor, longtime collaborator, and Virtue proprietor Chef Erick Williams. Williams satisfied him to take the chance, Brown mentioned, and his software was accepted.
Brown made it far into season 19, which wrapped up on June 2 of this yr–only one episode shy of the finale. He mentioned he loved the expertise, calling it “an incubator for speedy artistic development.” Brown was even voted the season’s “Fan Favourite.” That was validating for him.
“Lots of people advised me I ought to smile extra and be extra excitable and speak extra. I am not essentially the most talkative individual… and historically that does not make for good TV,” says Brown. “However I could not actually assist however simply type of be myself, and I feel that resonated with lots of people.”
Earlier than his High Chef success, Brown had years of expertise working within the Chicago restaurant trade. A local of south suburban Harvey, Brown started cooking as a baby, about age 7 or 8. He started by cooking what he known as “easy issues” – pot roast in a crock-pot, collard greens, beans, braised cabbage, or “something that smelled the home up and took a very long time.”
“I used to be raised by a single mom. My grandmother was in the home and I used to be an solely little one,” Brown says. “So I feel they’d me within the kitchen to maintain me out of hassle, keep watch over me. However ultimately I noticed that I did not thoughts it a lot.”
Brown says that whereas he was studying to cook dinner and watching his grandmother wash collard greens or put together beans in a specific method, he was actually studying about historical past.
“I used to be being taught flavors from the South,” he says. “Issues I discovered scrumptious or discover scrumptious right now are literally flavors and substances that individuals had been consuming as a result of that was what was accessible to them … That is all this relative house of why we do issues the way in which we did issues and why we do issues the way in which we do issues, that I feel is enjoyable to attach these dots and get your hands on these timelines.”
After he went to culinary college, Brown had to determine his subsequent steps.
“I used to be, fairly frankly, searching for out to work for a chef that regarded like me,” Brown says. “At the moment, I did not have many choices. Fortunately, [former River North restaurant] mk was very near the college and I knocked on the again door, the sous chef opened it, and I noticed Chef Williams.”
Brown labored beneath Williams for seven years, and ultimately the 2 received again collectively to open Advantage, a Southern American restaurant. The illustration that was vital to Brown in his early days within the trade is one thing they carried over to Advantage. The vast majority of the employees at Advantage are folks of shade.
“We rent throughout the neighborhood, and I feel that there aren’t so much for high-end eating places on the South Aspect. I feel because of redlining, individuals are nonetheless type of divided in Chicago,” Brown says. “I feel that in the event you’re a younger Black cook dinner and also you look contained in the home windows of all these high-end eating places, you do not see lots of your self, which can imply to your thoughts that perhaps you are not as welcome there, perhaps you received’t slot in there, whether or not that is the case or not.”
Brown hopes his work helps to fight that concept and present aspiring younger Black cooks that high-end kitchens generally is a place for them..
“I feel [Virtue] is likely one of the solely eating places like this in Chicago, and I hope that we proceed to construct on this to vary how a few of these eating places appear and feel,” he says.
At Advantage, Brown says he and their employees work to create a eating expertise that’s “artistic in flavors that you simply wouldn’t essentially anticipate.”
“There’s one thing for adventurous eaters, or for individuals who prefer to eat extra wholely and extra cleanly,” he says. “It’s all very intentional, very heat, very nostalgic flavors.”
Nostalgia is an element within the Rooster and Andouille Jambalaya recipe that Brown shared with WTTW Meals. (See beneath.)
“My mother used to make jambalaya once I was a child. And naturally, it was the Zataran’s field model,” Brown says. “I nonetheless keep in mind what that smelled like or what the field appears like. So simply enjoying off that in my head makes me completely satisfied.”
Brown says he has been experimenting with jambalaya ratios for a very long time. It’s at all times a dish good for entertaining, like at events or a pot-luck, he provides, as a result of it’s simply made forward of time, and it could actually sit for some time with out the flavors altering. It’s additionally good for a busy chef.
“I additionally actually like one-pot meals,” Brown says. “I actually do not need to wash a bunch of dishes, so I am going to lots of hassle to consider how one can do every little thing in a single pot.”
Chef Damarr Brown, Advantage Restaurant & Bar
Components:
4 cups medium-diced andouille sausage
4 cups of small-diced onion
2 oz butter
2 cups small-diced celery
2 cups small-diced inexperienced bell pepper
1/2 cup minced fresno peppers
1/2 cup minced garlic
4 cups rinsed brown rice
1/4 cup tomato paste
4 cups medium-diced rooster thighs tossed in cajun spice
8 1/2 cups of rooster inventory
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp of your favourite Cajun spice
2 tsp floor black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup Louisiana Model Scorching Sauce
2 bay leaves
Instructions:
1. Cook dinner andouille in a 6-quart sauce pot till all of the fats renders out. Take away the andouille and add onions and butter to the remaining fats and cook dinner on medium to low warmth, stirring incessantly till onions are deeply caramelized, about one hour.
2. As soon as onions are caramelized, add celery, inexperienced bell pepper, fresno peppers, and garlic, and cook dinner till comfortable and aromatic.
3. Add rinsed rice and tomato paste to the pot and toast on medium warmth for five minutes.
4. Add the diced rooster, the cooked andouille sausage from earlier, the inventory, seasonings, scorching sauce, and bay leaves. Convey to a boil and simmer till the liquid has virtually utterly evaporated and absorbed, round 30-35 minutes.
5. As soon as virtually all of the liquid is gone, style the rice. Regulate salt and spice to style. If the rice is nearly carried out, put a tight-fitting lid on the pot and switch off the warmth. Let sit for 10 minutes. After it rests, it’s best to have scrumptious jambalaya!
Be aware: Proper earlier than you add your lid while you style the rice for doneness, additionally verify your seasoning, you might need to add extra salt or spice. Achieve this earlier than the lid goes on.
