Next Food Network Star: Filleting Fish and Food Tastings

Once a show like the Next Food Network Star starts dwindling down its number of contestants, you begin to see quickly who really knows what they are doing.  These last couple of weeks we have finally gotten a good handle on who knows their food, who has the culinary chops and who has the personality to make us all care.

In my eyes it was pretty easy to see that Nipa’s days were numbered, as well as Jennifer’s.  Last week was a great challenge.  The on-camera challenge was perfect to not only see their on-air personas, but also to see who knew their stuff.  I will stick-up for Nipa here, though.  Being handed the squids to prepare was just a bit more difficult then trussing a chicken.  I wonder how many of their Food Network Stars know exactly how to handle raw squid.  The only two chefs who have probably prepared any dishes with Squid are Emeril and Mario…who’s contracts have not been renewed.  Nipa’s failure is that she didn’t just take the bull by the horns and go for it.

The main challenge gave them an Iron Chef twist.  They each had to choose from a fish and some odd ingredient.  I was amazed that Nipa had no idea on how to fillet a fish.  These past couple of weeks led me to the age-old question, “Do any of these people watch this show?”  The show has been around long enough that you can’t necessarily predict the challenges, but these contestants should know to come prepared.  As for myself, my culinary skills are very week.  I chop like a caveman and most of my dishes lack presentation.  I know this…so, if this is an opportunity I would want to attempt then I would maybe take a few classes and most importantly, practice, practice, practice.  Move out of my comfort zone and practice, practice, practice.  I think that sometimes the contestants’ egos may get the better of them.  I think that a lot of people don’t really understand how hard these challenges can be.  In the end, Nipa said good-bye….no surprise….and Kelsey stepped-up her game and won.  She has managed to win two great challenges recently.  Last week, she became fortunate enough to win her way onto the Red Lobster menu and this week, with some help from Shane, she is heading for the cover of Bon Appetit.

This week was, again, filled with challenges for those who know their food and their skills.  Cat Cora was a guest judge.  With this came a little bit of pressure, but also the opportunity to get their recipe in the August issue of Bon Appetit.  Cat Cora is the Executive Chef for the magazine.  The scary part of the challenge though was the added pressure of not only cooking for the judges, but also the staff from the magazine.  These are people who know what they are talking about and it would be the ultimate embarrassment not to be on your game for this one.

Before that though, they had to do an on-camera challenge.  They were given a basket of ingredients and 30 minutes to create a dish to taste and describe on camera.  The twist…..there is always a twist….when they were finished they were told that they had to exchange dishes with another contestant then taste and describe that dish on-camera.  This is waaay harder.  I at first scoffed at this challenge, because really, what Food Network chef will every have to do this.  But as the challenge progressed, I realized that this is what separates the big dogs.  None of the network chefs will ever have to do this, but the point is that they could.  They know their food, flavors and how to appeal to the masses.  It was obvious that Adam and Jennifer didn’t know what they were doing, their knowledge was limited and in Jennifer’s case, very very wrong.  Lisa and Kelsey know their stuff, they just did an extremely bad job relaying the message.  They were thrown a curve ball in the challenge and ended up striking-out.  Shane did a great job won the challenge and has made me wonder if this 20 year-old is emerging into the guy to beat.

Then there was Aaron…poor, poor Aaron.  Last week we learned that his son had run-away from home.  The news is that his son is home and getting the help he needs.  Aaron’s food is great.  Every week there is something he cooks that I would love to try.  His problem is that camera.  He just freezes up.  What bums me out is that he has a great personality which is being lost during the on-camera challenges.  My heart sunk for him during this challenge and during the second challenge.

The next part, they were teamed up and had to take a difficult, classic dish and make it approachable to the home cook.  Their choices…Beef Wellington, Coq a Vin and Turducken.  Shane and Kelsey were teamed up and I was going to be shocked if they didn’t win this challenge.  The reason is because of their skills and because they didn’t have a week link.  Lisa was teamed with Jennifer.  Lisa’s skills far surpass those of Jennifer and Aaron’s those of Adam. 

Aaron made the mistake of not sticking his foot down with Adam and was lucky to get by.  I really fell sorry for Lisa during this challenge, because Jennifer just crashed and burned during this challenge.  Out of the three they had the Turducken, which I think would be the hardest to pull-off.  Jennifer really caused their demise by deciding to open a glass jar by banging it in front of the counter where the food was cooking.  I knew that was going to happen and didn’t understand why she made such a juvenile choice.  I was impressed with how well Lisa handled it.  I don’t know if I could have been that forgiving.  I watched her FN Dish interview and I am glad she is out.  She seemed to not take any real ownership of her downfall and in a passive-aggressive way spoke bad about Lisa.  She thinks that the FN have had her pegged from the beginning that she would be the winner.  She would say some “mildly” negative thing about Lisa and then say, “Oh, but she is a great cook, I wish her the best”.  That interview made me really not like her and made Lisa that more appealing.  Lisa just needs to drop the designer outfits and high-heels.  She can look put together, but just not so la-de-da.  It gives people ammo and reasons not to like her.  Yes, they are stupid reasons, but Lisa won’t win, because in the end, voters won’t vote for her, unless she strips herself of what people think is a fake, beauty queen image.  Lisa has what it takes and I like her, but I don’t think she has mass-appeal.  My money is currently on Shane.

In the end it was Shane and Kelsey’s day.  No one’s food was picture perfect, but they were being time challenged and I think that can be forgiven.

Next week, the contestants hit the Rachael Ray Show and see if they have what it takes to actually have a cooking segment.  If you want to watch the Rachael Ray episode, it is airing this Thursday, July 3.  Check your local listings for time.

So, has anyone been to Red Lobster to try Kelsey’s dish?