Saturday, March 01, 2025, 7:42PM |  29°
MENU
Advertisement
Vincent Brady with his mother, Janice Brady of Mentor, Ohio.
2
MORE

Chefs cook for Mother's Day: Vincent Brady, winner of ‘Almost Famous Chef’ Signature Dish award

Chefs cook for Mother's Day: Vincent Brady, winner of ‘Almost Famous Chef’ Signature Dish award

Vincent Brady will be busy preparing brunch and dinner this Mother’s Day. It won’t be for his mother, but instead for the scores of mothers who will be dining at The Country Club in Pepper Pike, Ohio.

Yet the line cook isn’t complaining. “At the end of their meal, moms usually come and thank us for what we made for them. It’s nice to get that feedback and get appreciated for our work.”

Winning delights for Mom's day
Pittsburghers, who have showcased their culinary skills on national TV reality shows and food contests, have earned awards and supporters along the way. But their most devout fans have been their moms. For Mother's Day, the up-and-coming chefs are saying, "I heart you, Mom" with special, winning recipes.

Moreover, he says, he will still be able to spend some time with his mother in the morning before heading to work. He might even make her breakfast or her favorite dish, chicken paprikash with spaetzle.

Advertisement

His first taste of life in the kitchen came from his grandmother, Lucy Brady, who emigrated from Sicily. “She didn’t tell me much because she didn’t think boys should be in the kitchen. She was old-school.”

Chef Elise Wims prepares Capellin pomodoro with prawns and scallops in the kitchen at the Holiday Inn in Monroeville.
Arthi Subramaniam
Winning delights for Mother's Day

But she did share one piece of advice: “When you make anything with wine, have a glass to make sure it is of good quality,” she would joke.

Spaghetti sauce with meatballs was her signature dish. “Her recipe was never written down and it always was a dash of this or dash of that. She gave each family member a different recipe,” he says. “Hers was much better than mine even though I’m professionally trained.”

He decided to pursue an education in cooking after making potatoes in a home ec class in high school. His classmates loved what he did, and he was inspired. He enrolled at the Pittsburgh Art Institute and won a $15,000 scholarship that paid for his tuition. He will graduate in June.

Advertisement

In March, he won the S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Signature Dish award for his duck breast with braised duck ravioli and winter root vegetables in Napa, Calif. He battled chefs from the Southeast, Northeast, South and Northwest regions in a three-day competition.

Although he has the national award under his belt and has been cooking for seven years, he doesn’t give any culinary advice to his mother, Janice Brady.

“It’s hard to tell her anything as she has been cooking longer than I have been alive,” he says.

So is his mother his biggest critic?

Sydney Tyner, 12, prepares Chicken Taco Tower for her mom, Amy Reed, the head chef of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.
Arthi Subramaniam
Chefs cook for Mother's Day: Sydney Tyner, Pennsylvania winner of Healthy Lunchtime Challenge in 2015

“Yes and no,” he says. “But she has always been one of my biggest supporters.”

In the not-too-distant future, he hopes to work his way up to a sous chef or executive chef. He realizes that it might mean working every holiday, but says, “I don’t mind it because this is what I always wanted to do.”

Arthi Subramaniam: asubramaniam@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1494 or on Twitter @asub.

Chicken Paprikash

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

3 tablespoons oil

4 chicken thighs

4 chicken legs

3 tablespoons butter

1 onion, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

1 green pepper, sliced

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup paprika

1/2 cup sour cream

Season chicken thighs and legs with salt and pepper.

Heat a large saute pan on medium-high, and add oil. Then add chicken thighs and legs and sear on all sides until golden brown. Remove chicken pieces and set aside.

Turn heat down to medium-low heat and add butter. Once butter melts, add onions and peppers. Saute vegetables until tender to the bite.

Then add flour and stir until flour turns golden brown.

Add chicken stock and paprika to the pan, and stir well.

Add chicken to flour-vegetable mixture, and bring mixture to a boil. Lower heat to simmer and cook the chicken for 5 to 7 minutes or until cooked. Remove chicken again.

Mix in sour cream to the mixture, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Once it’s well combined, add chicken and serve over spaetzle.

Serves 4 to 6.

Spaetzle

6 eggs

5 ounces milk

8 ounces water

1 tablespoon salt, plus more if needed

1 teaspoon ground white pepper, plus more if needed

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons parsley, finely cut

1 pound all-purpose flour

4 ounces butter

Combine eggs, milk and water.

Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add parsley. Work in flour by hand or using wooden spoon beating until smooth. Allow the dough to rest for 1 hour.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. 

Reduce heat, and work the dough through a spaetzle marker or use a strainer with large pencil-thick holes into the simmering water.

When spaetzle comes to the top of the pot, let cook for 2 to 3 more minutes. Remove spaetzel from water and drain well.

In a large saute pan, saute butter over medium-high. Add spaetzle and saute until it turns golden brown. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

— Vincent Brady 

First Published: May 4, 2016, 4:00 a.m.

RELATED
Lauren Kudlawiec learned how to make Blueberry Pound Cake from her mother, Barbara Bucci of Johnstown.
Arthi Subramaniam
Chefs cook for Mother's Day: Lauren Kudlawiec, runner-up on Rachael Ray’s 'Great American Cookbook Contest'
Jacqueline Wardle plates Brioche French Toast in her booth, Josephine's Toast, at Smallman Street Galley in the Strip District. The booth is named after Jacqueline's maternal grandmother who
Arthi Subramaniam
Chefs cook for Mother's Day: Jacqueline Wardle, finalist on 'Cutthroat Kitchen'
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt (90) reacts near teammate linebacker Alex Highsmith (56) after sacking Baltimore Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley during the second half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Baltimore.
1
sports
Steelers position analysis: T.J. Watt open to changing his role, but the Steelers have to help him
President Donald Trump, right, meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office at the White House, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington.
2
news
VP Vance attacks last year's Pa. visit by Zelenskyy in contentious White House meeting
Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (4) against West Virginia in the first half during an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz.
3
sports
Steelers NFL draft big board: Best fits at wide receiver
Law enforcement respond to the scene of a shooting at UPMC Memorial Hospital in York, Pa. on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025.
4
news
UPMC hospital shooting puts focus on violence health care workers see 'at an increased rate'
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard (18) throws a pass over Oregon linebacker Bryce Boettcher (28) during the second half in the quarterfinals of the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif.
5
sports
Regardless of starter, Steelers poring over NFL combine for potential late-round QB
Vincent Brady with his mother, Janice Brady of Mentor, Ohio.
Vincent Brady seasons spaetzle with nutmeg and white pepper, and serves it with chicken paprikash.
Advertisement
LATEST life
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story