L IFESTYLE /C ULTURE
Essen Pastry Chef Tova du Plessis ‘Beat Bobby Flay’
FOOD SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
PASTRY CHEF Tova du Plessis
has kept a secret for more than
two years.

At the end of 2019, du
Plessis, owner of the South
Philadelphia Jewish bakery
Essen and four-time James
Beard Foundation Award
nominee, traveled to New York
and spent a day taping inter-
views, cooking and competing
on Food Network’s “Beat
Bobby Flay,” a competition
series where chefs around the
country go head-to-head with
the former “Iron Chef.”
Since taping the episode —
its airdate delayed due to the
pandemic — du Plessis could
neither confirm nor deny
whether she bested Flay in the
competition, but finally du
Plessis’ secret is out.

28 DECEMBER 2, 2021
On Nov. 23, “Beat Bobby
Flay” episode “It’s a Cakewalk”
premiered, where du Plessis
takes the cake, baking a super-
lative Jewish apple cake to the
show’s titular chef, not only
showing off her culinary chops
but having a great time doing
so. “I would totally do
something like that again,” du
Plessis said.

In the show’s tight
21-minute format, du Plessis
first bested California-based
chef Holden Jagger, crafting a
superior dish in 20 minutes
with the secret ingredient
raspberries. She then faced off
against Flay — who boasted
23andMe results indicating his
25% Jewish ancestry. Her apple
cake with buttermilk sherbet
and rum caramel was deemed
victorious over Flay’s iteration
topped with chopped apples,
walnuts and a pomegranate
creme fraiche.

Du Plessis grew up in South
Africa, where she cooked along-
side her mother in the kitchen,
baking challah almost every
Shabbat. She loves cooking
Ashkenazi favorites, such as
brisket, and her bakery sells
spins on these classics, such as
her cinnamon hazelnuts and
chocolate halvah babka.

But all of those dishes have
one thing in common: They all
take a long time to prepare.

“All my favorite things take
hours to make,” du Plessis said.

“I’m a patient chef.”
And though all dishes she
finds joy in making, their
long braising, proofing and
baking times made them
impossible options with which
to challenge Bobby Flay in a
45-minute competition.

In the months leading to
the competition, du Plessis
memorized ratios for ingre-
dients in simple bakes like
shortbread and prepared
simpler, stripped-down
versions of recipes that
provided a blueprint and could
easily incorporate a mystery
ingredient. It’s how she was
able to throw together a dish
of raspberry mascarpone-filled
blintzes with a raspberry
pomegranate gastrique in just
20 minutes.

“I figured, ‘What could be
the foundation of my dish, and
it wouldn’t matter like what
the secret ingredient was?’”
du Plessis said of how she
prepared for the competition.

“So I started to think, ‘What if
it was a fruit? What about nuts?
What if it was chocolate?’ And
I just kind of played through
my mind how I would use it.”
And despite the show’s
kitschy antics (hosts Damaris
Phillips and Ace of Cakes’
Duff Goldman really, really
want to see Flay’s defeat), the
format of “Beat Bobby Flay”
really requires contestants
to be nimble, working under
steep time constraints with
unknown ingredients.

JEWISH EXPONENT
Tova du Plessis bested chef Bobby Flay in “It’s a Cakewalk,”
on the Nov. 23 episode of Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay.”
Courtesy of Tova du Plessis
“It really is real,” du Plessis
said. “You see the secret ingre-
dient, and then you have to go
into the kitchen and make a
dish. I cannot believe what I
made in 20 minutes, and that’s
so gratifying; it feels so good. It
really brings out your compet-
itive spirit.”
But beyond bragging rights
and the intrinsic reward
of surviving a competition
show, du Plessis’ presence on
a national cooking show —
and one that du Plessis used to
watch in its earlier seasons — is
something she hopes to use to
Essen’s advantage.

“I knew I wanted to be
ready to ship nationwide, and
that was a big motivator to get
nationwide shipping set up,”
du Plessis said.

Last year
around Thanksgiving, du Plessis
began shipping Essen favorites
around the country through
Goldbelly, an online artisanal
food marketplace, expanding
her business beyond her petite
storefront on East Passyunk
Avenue. Though du Plessis has
received national recognition
in the past several years as
a James Beard nominee and
semifinalist, her stint on a Food
Network show can impact
business more, she said.

“Going on at Bobby
Flay’s show reaches a wider
audience,” du Plessis said. “Not
many people know about the
James Beard Foundation ...

Bobby Flay’s show has such
a large audience across the
country that I felt was a really
big deal — amazing exposure.”
And while du Plessis works
on growing businesses across
state lines, she has a commu-
nity at home where she is
thoroughly supported.

When du Plessis announced
she would be competing on
“Beat Bobby Flay,” customers
and community members
assumed du Plessis’ victory
before they had even seen the
episode. “The response I got most
was, ‘Oh, you’re totally gonna
beat him,’” du Plessis said. “That
was the overall sentiment, and
it’s a big compliment.” l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM