Worst Cooks In America
Food Network debuted a new competition show on the network, a six-part series called “Worst Cooks In America”. Twelve cooks chosen from across America go through a culinary “boot-camp” with chef Anne Burrell, host of Food Network’s show Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, and chef Beau MacMillan, executive chef of Elements restaurant in Phoenix. The premise is to take twelve of the worst cooks from across America and teach them how to cook. The cooks must successfully replicate the chefs recipes each week. The cooks are divided between chef Burrell’s red team and chef MacMillian’s blue team. A cook from each team is eliminated every week until only two cooks are left. The final two cooks must replicate a three course meal that will be served to a panel of culinary critics who think they are being served a meal prepared by chefs Burrell and MacMillan. The cook who wins the contest receives the grand prize of $25,000.
Last night’s show began with twenty four contestants who cooked up their signature dish for chefs Burrell and MacMillan thinking they must cook their best dish. The contestants were nominated by friends, co-workers and family who have tasted their food and can attest they are terrible cooks. Chefs Burrell and MacMillan put a twist on the contest, looking for the worst of the twenty four cooks to select for their teams. Chefs Burrell and MacMillan were allowed to choose the cooks for each other’s teams, making the contest even harder for the chefs. Part of the contest centers on chefs Burrell and MacMillan teaching the worst cooks how to cook. Some of the contestants are eager to learn how to cook with one of the contestants stating her children start to cry whenever she makes a meal. As chefs Burrell and MacMillan tasted the signature dishes they were amazed at how truly bad they were. A few of the cooks resorted to opening cans of soup and heating them up. Other cooks make rock hard vegetables, mushy pasta and one dish where the cheese in the macaroni and cheese dish never melted.
The twelve cooks were chosen for teams and their first task was to replicate a shellfish dish featuring shrimp and clams demonstrated by the chefs. Chef Burrell’s red team members are Eddie, Hamed, Jennifer, Kelly, Rachel and Rebecca. Chef MacMillan blue team members are David, Jennifer, Marque, Sophia, Susie and Wilhelmina. Some of the cooks were able to cook the shrimp and clams successfully since they do not take much time to cook. A few of the cooks overcooked the shellfish, overcooked the vegetables or used too much spice and soy sauce in the broth. Hamed from the red team did not cook his clams enough to open them, forgetting to cover the clams in broth to steam them. Wilhelmina from the blue team specializes in microwave food. Wilhelmina’s signature dish featured uncooked turnips while her shellfish dish was a mess and looked like it was thrown into a bowl. Hamed and Wilhelmina were the first cooks eliminated from the competition. Next week on Worst Cooks In America, the remaining ten cooks face another elimination challenge.
Watch Worst Cooks In America on Food Network Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
