Firehouses are known to eat well, with talented cooks stepping up among the ranks to feed their departments. And Bridgeport, it seems, may have one of the most well-fed crews around.
The department was recently in the national spotlight as firefighter Danny Brelsford competed on the third season of ABC’s reality cooking show “The Taste.” As one of 16 contestants mentored by celebrity chefs Anthony Bourdain, Marcus Samuelsson, Nigella Lawson and Ludo Lefebvre, Brelsford exhibited his considerable skill in the kitchen – all while proudly representing the city in a baseball cap with the department’s logo.
The 23-year-old Stratford resident has been with the department for about two years. “I’ve always had a tremendous respect for firefighters,” he said. He was in grade school when the September 11 attacks occurred, and noticed how people viewed firefighters and first responders as lifesaving heroes. In high school, he lost a friend in a house fire. “It was definitely inspiration when things got tough at the fire academy…even inspiration to study,” he said of the tragedies.
In “The Taste,” contestants audition to join one of the four mentors’ teams by preparing a portion small enough to fit into a single serving spoon. Lawson, Samuelsson, Lefebvre and Bourdain then taste that one bit “blind,” not knowing who the cook was or which ingredients went into the recipe. Brelsford’s Dungeness crab cake with fermented garlic aioli was a “no” for Bourdain and Samuelsson, but Lawson and Lefebvre each wanted Brelsford on their four-person team. At that point, the pick was up to Brelsford, and he chose to join Lefebvre, based on the French-born chef and restaurateur’s international success. “I liked his intensity,” he said.
Brelsford then competed in team and individual challenges with weekly themes. Eliminations occurred when a dish was selected as “the worst” among the offerings, and the firefighter met his end when Lefebvre‘s team had the worst showing in the Latin-themed week Jan. 8. In the sendoff, Brelsford patted his mentor’s back in a hug and told him he made the best decision. “He’s the nicest person I see in my life,” Lefebvre said to the camera after Brelsford departed the set.
“It was kind of great to see where I stand with America’s top talent and do so on a national stage,” Brelsford said.
The TV show, taped in California, took Brelsford away from Connecticut and the firehouse for about three weeks, he said. But his colleagues were supportive. He even watched his elimination episode at the firehouse, and despite good-natured ribbing from the other firefighters when he lost – “Oh, are you going to cry?” he mimics, laughing – his buddies were behind him, telling him he shouldn’t have been the contestant to go home.
Though viewers knew him as “the humble firefighter,” Brelsford actually has about 8 years’ experience working in professional kitchens. He started at 15 as a dishwasher for a neighbor’s catering company, and progressed to cooking roles at several restaurants, including Heirloom in New Haven and Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield. On “The Taste,” he said his professional cooking background was downplayed a bit, compared to several other contestants who owned restaurants.
Though he’s no longer in contention for the $100,000 prize, Brelsford says he’ll appear on the season finale Jan. 22 with the rest of the contestants as the finalists battle it out for the win. He says he’s remained in touch with his teammates and hopes to remain in contact with his mentor. “Ludo stressed to me, ‘anything you need, if you ever need anything,'” he said.
Yes, Brelsford cooks for the guys at the firehouse, but he likes to do it his way, he says. That means it can be a challenge to prepare for a crowd within a certain budget. For example, “my chili gets very expensive,” he says. “Your normal chili will run you $5 a man, but mine will be $10…to me it’s sinful to open a thing of chili powder that’s been sitting in a spice cabinet for a year. I have to get my own chilis, toast them, grind them, measure out my spice blend…Sometimes I do overdo it for sure. [But] I don’t really know any other way.”
“The Taste” airs on ABC Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated to correct a misspelling of chef Ludo Lefebvre’s last name.
