It’s hard to believe, the current season of “The Next Food Network Star” is half over. We started out with ten contestants, and now five have been eliminated. In last night’s Episode 5, as usual, the remaining six last night had two challenges. The first was to open a box that had six ingredients, and to make a dish using those ingredients in 45 minutes. Then, they had to talk about the dishes on camera in one minute. But wait, there’s more. The coach in this case was Iron Chef Cat Cora, who told them that instead of talking about their own dish, they had to describe the dish of the person next to them. Talk about a curveball.
The pairings were Shane and Kelsey; Lisa and Jennifer; and Adam and Aaron. These would also be the teams for the second challenge, which was to recreate a dish assigned to them that typically takes a long time to prepare, and transforming that dish to a 45-minute weeknight meal along with two side dishes. Wow, that is some serious pressure. The dishes were Coq Au Vin, Beef Wellington and Turducken. Yikes. And the judges were the usual judges along with the editorial staff of Bon Appetit Magazine. Yikes again.
With that, here is how each contestant fared in both challenges….
Shane did a nice job describing Kelsey’s dish, looking comfortable on camera. He even reminded me a bit of both Guy Fieri and Tyler Florence in his delivery. Since Shane was the winner of the first challenge, he was allowed to choose which dish his team would create in the second challenge, and then also which ones the other team would work with. He chose Beef Wellington for he and Kelsey, and they did a nice job with it….using the meat over puffed pastry with the mushroom topping, and Shane adding some creamed pearl onions.
Kelsey was medicore describing Shane’s beef dish, too often using words like “flavor explosion” and “delicious,” but the two of them really worked well together for the second challenge. The only problem with Kelsey is that she keeps talking about her days in culinary school, making it seem like she is an amateur. But overall she is looking like a contender.
Jennifer had a problem talking about Lisa’s dish. In fact, she was calling the udon noodles Lisa prepared “linguine.” Big mistake. Jenn also didn’t look comfortable on camera. When they worked together preparing the turducken, Jenn also broke a bottle over the flat top where she was grilling squash and Lisa was grilling a piece of duck. So they had to scrap those parts of their dish, which really hurt the team.
Lisa was trying hard to be genuine and not forced, but Cat Cora still didn’t like the way she came across on camera describing Jenn’s pork dish. In the second challenge, she was hampered by a weak teammate in Jenn. The chicken in their turducken was dry and lacked flavor, so Lisa tried to make a sauce to pour on top. But Jenn tinkered with that sauce and wound up running out of time and they were not able to use it. But Lisa did a decent job in the presentation and also is a contender.
Aaron had a problem talking about Adam’s turkey and cabbage salad, and in fact tasted it for a full thirty seconds before speaking. For the second challenge, he and Adam had to re-create Coq Au Vin, a chicken stew dish typically made with red wine that takes about a full day to prepare. They used grilled chicken and tried to flavor it with a red wine sauce, and Aaron also flopped in the presentation, looking way nervous. The judges also didn’t think they did a good enough job re-creating the original dish.
Adam was energetic describing Aaron’s shortcake in the first challenge, and despite a lack of culinary expertise, had a fire in his presentation that impressed the judges. He also made a polenta for the side dish that didn’t impress anyone.
In the judgment room, Shane and Kelsey were told that they won the second challenge, and as a result their dish would be included in the next issue of Bon Appetit. They were also both declared safe. Lisa was granted another week because she really has a lot of expertise in the kitchen. Then Aaron was also safe, but told he really needs to work on his presentation.
That left Adam and Jennifer. Adam is great presenting himself on camera, but lacks cooking skills. In fact, the judges told him he’s only made one dish so far that has impressed them. Meanwhile, Jenn lacks the on-camera flair, and this week also exposed her lack of food knowledge. With that, she was sent home. But before that, Bobby Flay told Adam he’s on “very, very thin ice.”
So we’re left with Adam, Aaron, Lisa, Kelsey and Shane. I think Adam and Aaron will be next to go, and this will be a sprint to the finish between Lisa, Kelsey and Shane. Shane in particular really has improved each week, and it’s amazing that he is only 19.
Things are heating up in the kitchen, literally. See you all next Monday for the Episode 6 recap!
