Category: The Next Food Network Star (Page 9 of 10)

Where is the summer going? “Hell’s Kitchen” wraps up tomorrow, and “The Next Food Network Star” is down to its Final Four as of last night. But before we get there, let’s talk about last night’s episode.

Some of the challenges to date have been very difficult, but I’m guessing last night’s had to be the toughest and most telling of each contestants’ fate on the show. They were asked to show their stuff on Rachel Ray’s network show, but with a twist. Each finalist was paired with a Girl Scout, and had to, with the help of each girl, come up with a healthy meal that a child could assist with in the kitchen, and demonstrate making it on camera in a 4-minute time frame. With that, here is how each performed…

Aaron began by putting himself in a proverbial hole Continue reading »

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 Continue reading »

Are you on board yet? I’m telling you, this show rocks, despite the fact that the Food Network airs it so late at night on a Sunday (10pm ET).

Anyway, last night Episode 4 began with the remaining seven contestants having to perform a 60-second info-mercial for Food Network personality Tyler Florence about a specific task that they were assigned on the spot. For the second and main challenge, they were asked to come up with a fish dish for possible “syndication” on Red Lobster menus nationwide, and then Iron-chef style, had to make a second fish dish with a strange ingredient. They had 45 minutes to prepare their dishes on a Coast Guard ship to serve members of the Coast Guard along with the judges, including Iron Chef Michael Simon. Here is how it all went down, by chef…..

Kelsey had to “french” a rack of lamb for her video shoot Continue reading »

First of all, thanks to Will Harris for filling in last week while I was on vacation, and I am not surprised that you’re now hooked on this show. I still think it’s one of the best reality shows on television.

On to business. Last night the remaining eight contestants had two challenges. The first was a point of view challenge, where they had to show what they could do with a potato, and then present their dish in one minute of camera time. For the second challenge, they had to come up with a packaged product and then present that product to food buyers and to special guest judge Martha Stewart.

To streamline my summary, I’m going to go through each contestant individually Continue reading »