Chatting With the Round-3 Winner of Chopped Champions
by Maria Russo in Shows, January 29th, 2013
In an all-new season of Chopped Champions, 16 chefs, each with a previous Chopped win under his or her belt, are returning to the kitchen to face off for a second time in the ultimate multicourse cook-off. Although they’re no strangers to mystery baskets, these chefs are under more pressure than ever, as they’re competing not just for Chopped glory but also a spot in the finale where they can ultimately claim a $50,000 prize and the coveted title of Grand Champion.
Each week, four chefs will take their places in the kitchen and battle it out in the hopes of outlasting the chopping block once again. While three will crumble beneath the demands of Champions cooking, one will prove his or her culinary chops for a second time. Check in with FN Dish every Tuesday night after the episode to hear from the latest winner.
For Chefs Corwin Kave, Jun Tanaka, Elise Kornack and Lester Walker, the greatest challenge of the appetizer course wasn’t the dwindling time on the clock or the added pressure of Champions, but rather their baskets full of such common ingredients as smoked eel, cream cheese spread, quince paste and haricot verts. “All the ingredients are somewhat familiar,” Judge Scott Conant explained, “and that’s the challenge. How do you bring them together?” While all four chefs rose to the occasion like true champions, Chef Lester was chopped on account of poor presentation and disconnected flavors in his dish of a New York City-inspired toast with cream cheese-quince spread and a haricot vert salad. In their entree baskets, the remaining chefs found frog legs, yuzu marmalade, gin and tofu, and after a quick 30 minutes, they presented the panel with their offerings. Chef Elise wowed the judges with a gin-vegetable broth in her leftovers-inspired plate, and Chef Jun, despite dropping most of his prepped frog legs on the floor, offered an exceptionally tasty — albeit it small — dish of caramelized frog legs with what little product he had left. Chef Corwin, however, was less successful, on account of an offering with “four different elements with absolutely no cohesion,” according to Judge Maneet Chauhan, and he faced the chopping block because of it. Exercising different strategies for success, Chefs Elise and Jun prepped desserts featuring four mandatory ingredients including jackfruit, araucana eggs, coconut macaroons and chocolate-covered pretzels. She took a “creative and playful” approach to her semifreddo, while he stayed true to the classics, preparing a clafoutis, with which he’s very familiar. In the end, Chef Elise’s dish landed on the chopping block on account of a “sour-forward” jackfruit puree, according to Judge Geoffrey Zakarian. Now a two-time Chopped victor, Chef Jun is advancing to the Grand Finale, where he’ll compete for a $50,000 prize.
What does it mean to you to be Britain’s only Chopped champion? Are you feeling more pressure than ever to represent your country well?
JT: It feels incredible to be Britain’s only Chopped champion! The real pressure actually comes from myself. I always want to do well in anything that I set my mind to.
You seem to know your way around eel and frog legs. Is there one dreaded basket ingredient that you think has the potential to throw you off your game, something you just hate working with?
JT: Anything out of a can!
Talk to us about the moment the frog legs fell on the floor. You recovered like a true champion and were able to cook and serve what little you had left. How did you manage to stay focused and motivated in such a stressful situation?
JT: For a split second, I did feel like giving up, but then I focused and everything became very simple. I knew that I had no time to worry about anything but the taste of the dish, so I concentrated on getting as much flavor into that one frog leg as possible.
Did you have a plan-B scenario in the back of your mind, just in case you didn’t have enough to plate?
JT: There was no time for a plan B. I knew that I had to make it work or get chopped!
It seemed that the taste of your dishes is what secured your win this week. Was it your strategy to focus primarily on developing the best possible flavor and think less about utilizing basket ingredients in new, inventive ways?
JT: I think that if a chef can utilize these basket ingredients and make something delicious, that’s something new and inventive in itself. The most important aspect of food is taste, and sometimes — often when we’re trying so hard to be innovative — we forget about that. Don’t get me wrong: as a chef, being creative is vital, but it should always be secondary to flavor.
Looking ahead to the Grand Finale battle, how are you preparing for a showing with the highest level of competition? Will you stick with your classical French approach or introduce something new?
JT: I am passionate about classical French food – especially desserts – but I think it would be a mistake to go into the Grand Finale thinking I’m going to just stick to the classics. I am going in with an open mind and will ultimately let the ingredients decide where I take the dish.
Visit Food Network’s Chopped Champions headquarters for more insider coverage.
-
More posts from Maria Russo.
In an all-new season of Chopped Champions, 16 chefs, each with a previous Chopped win under his or her belt, are returning to the kitchen to face off for a second time in the ultimate multicourse cook-off. Although they’re no strangers to mystery baskets, these chefs are under more pressure than ever, as they’re competing not just for Chopped glory but also a spot in the finale where they can ultimately claim a $50,000 prize and the coveted title of Grand Champion.
Each week, four chefs will take their places in the kitchen and battle it out in the hopes of outlasting the chopping block once again. While three will crumble beneath the demands of Champions cooking, one will prove his or her culinary chops for a second time. Check in with FN Dish every Tuesday night after the episode to hear from the latest winner.
For Chefs Corwin Kave, Jun Tanaka, Elise Kornack and Lester Walker, the greatest challenge of the appetizer course wasn’t the dwindling time on the clock or the added pressure of Champions, but rather their baskets full of such common ingredients as smoked eel, cream cheese spread, quince paste and haricot verts. “All the ingredients are somewhat familiar,” Judge Scott Conant explained, “and that’s the challenge. How do you bring them together?” While all four chefs rose to the occasion like true champions, Chef Lester was chopped on account of poor presentation and disconnected flavors in his dish of a New York City-inspired toast with cream cheese-quince spread and a haricot vert salad. In their entree baskets, the remaining chefs found frog legs, yuzu marmalade, gin and tofu, and after a quick 30 minutes, they presented the panel with their offerings. Chef Elise wowed the judges with a gin-vegetable broth in her leftovers-inspired plate, and Chef Jun, despite dropping most of his prepped frog legs on the floor, offered an exceptionally tasty — albeit it small — dish of caramelized frog legs with what little product he had left. Chef Corwin, however, was less successful, on account of an offering with “four different elements with absolutely no cohesion,” according to Judge Maneet Chauhan, and he faced the chopping block because of it. Exercising different strategies for success, Chefs Elise and Jun prepped desserts featuring four mandatory ingredients including jackfruit, araucana eggs, coconut macaroons and chocolate-covered pretzels. She took a “creative and playful” approach to her semifreddo, while he stayed true to the classics, preparing a clafoutis, with which he’s very familiar. In the end, Chef Elise’s dish landed on the chopping block on account of a “sour-forward” jackfruit puree, according to Judge Geoffrey Zakarian. Now a two-time Chopped victor, Chef Jun is advancing to the Grand Finale, where he’ll compete for a $50,000 prize.
What does it mean to you to be Britain’s only Chopped champion? Are you feeling more pressure than ever to represent your country well?
JT: It feels incredible to be Britain’s only Chopped champion! The real pressure actually comes from myself. I always want to do well in anything that I set my mind to.
You seem to know your way around eel and frog legs. Is there one dreaded basket ingredient that you think has the potential to throw you off your game, something you just hate working with?
JT: Anything out of a can!
Talk to us about the moment the frog legs fell on the floor. You recovered like a true champion and were able to cook and serve what little you had left. How did you manage to stay focused and motivated in such a stressful situation?
JT: For a split second, I did feel like giving up, but then I focused and everything became very simple. I knew that I had no time to worry about anything but the taste of the dish, so I concentrated on getting as much flavor into that one frog leg as possible.
Did you have a plan-B scenario in the back of your mind, just in case you didn’t have enough to plate?
JT: There was no time for a plan B. I knew that I had to make it work or get chopped!
It seemed that the taste of your dishes is what secured your win this week. Was it your strategy to focus primarily on developing the best possible flavor and think less about utilizing basket ingredients in new, inventive ways?
JT: I think that if a chef can utilize these basket ingredients and make something delicious, that’s something new and inventive in itself. The most important aspect of food is taste, and sometimes — often when we’re trying so hard to be innovative — we forget about that. Don’t get me wrong: as a chef, being creative is vital, but it should always be secondary to flavor.
Looking ahead to the Grand Finale battle, how are you preparing for a showing with the highest level of competition? Will you stick with your classical French approach or introduce something new?
JT: I am passionate about classical French food – especially desserts – but I think it would be a mistake to go into the Grand Finale thinking I’m going to just stick to the classics. I am going in with an open mind and will ultimately let the ingredients decide where I take the dish.
Visit Food Network’s Chopped Champions headquarters for more insider coverage.
-
More posts from Maria Russo.
I do NOT understand why women chefs bother to appear Chopped.. This program, much like Top Chef, is so bigoted against women chefs, it's just plain sad.. I believe, right now, the statistics are about 1 woman to every 10 male winners.. That may be a little on the optimistic side, it's probably more like 1 out of 15.. Top Chef, of course, is even worse.. 1 female win out of 13 seasons.. There is still a terrible prejudice against women chefs, has been for decades.. I was really surprised by it at first.. It seemed, since women were always THE main cooks at home, that it would be natural for them to go out into the world and make a living as cooks in top restaurants.. I had no idea until I started watching Top Chef how untrue this was.. I begin trying to find out why by looking it up on the web.. That's when I realized that there is a very real resentment against females in the restaurant industry.. It's one thing to have women wait tables but there is a still a very heavy prejudice against women becoming chefs..
The ONLY programs that I've seen on TV, as far as these cooking contests go, that has never shown any bigotry against women is Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen and Master Chef.. Ramsey has made it very clear, it doesn't matter WHO cooks the food, it HOW the food tastes, period! Both Chopped and Top Chef need to take a page out of Ramsey's book and STOP eliminating women BECAUSE they are women!!
I totally disagree. Bloggers who say the judges are prejudiced against blacks or don't like women to win are just spouting sour grapes. Maybe they chopped her because she is gay.
Maybe they thought her food wasn't that great and Jun's was better. DUH!
If you think they are so unfair-stick to filthy mouth Ramsey and stay away from the Food Channel.
You're very childish.. Everyone is entitled to their opinion in this country and who says I'm a blogger? If you don't like the way I feel then that is YOUR problem, not mine.. Your name says it all, your still pretty much of a Pup..
I know you must be generalizing the whole "eliminating women BECAUSE they are women!!" statement because, you know, she was on Chopped Champions due to winning on a previous show. I've seen a few comments before about the prejudice against women on this show and have thought about it ever since while I watch the show and I disagree. I even think that's why they've tried to do an all women show. I think the message is getting through to the producers tho. So, if you feel that way, don't give up posting the comments and maybe things will change to your liking.:)
I DO realize that, on rare occasions, women do win, though not nearly as often or as much as the men do .. There honestly is a deep-seated prejudice against women in this industry that goes back decades.. I'm not sure what the reason is, you would certainly think that since women were always the 'cooks' in the home that going outside to earn a living as a chef would be completely natural.. But that simply isn't the case.. I suppose it could have had something to do with jobs being scare after WW2 and becoming a chef was something a man could do and make good money at.. Maybe the resentment comes from that, I'm just not sure..
Since my oldest brother was a chef for many years I did once ask him about it but he could never give me a definitive answer because, you guessed it, the only women he ever worked with in his job were female dishwashers and waitresses..
It's something I don't quite understand.. I tell my granddaughters there is nothing they can't do.. From becoming an Astrophysicist to a top-notch Chef.. But I have my doubts about the Chef job!
Seriously..I have never seen a woman get unfairly Chopped on this show. I always listen to what the judges say during tasting and I correctly guess who's dish is on the Chopping Block 99% of the time. It's ALWAYS legitimate complaints that bring them down!
Not to mention, hey…the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Food Network, Susie Fogelson, might have a problem if they were unfairly chopping women on the show, don't you think? Then there's the fact that they have all these women with their own shows like Anne Burrell, Rachael Ray, etc, etc, etc.
I can't speak for Top Chef, because whatever Bravo. Only Food Network and Cooking Channel should be doing these kinds of shows.
It's not bigoted against women! There usually is like 1 woman and 3 men to start with! odds are odds nonetheless! How can it be sexist if the judges most of the time include women!
Totally agree with you SnowTiger. After watching tonights round 3 Elise was robbed a win. Jun did not deserve to win. They need to get new judges the two males are so demeaning to females it unbelievable. Helloooo wake up food network. I love the cooking shows but it's getting old.
Please! Jun won, hands down. Elise was so disrespectful, grow up, is this about the food or her life choices? I would eat @ Jun's Rest in a sec, would be worried about what she's cooking & how.
She lost because she is overconfident to the point of arrogance and thinks everyone should absolutely love every single thing she makes. If they don't then the problem is with them, not her. I'm glad she lost, hopefully that is the last we'll see of her on Food Network.
I'm a woman, and chef / owner. Google "top women chefs" – for a start – and then stop embarrassing yourself. If you don't know what you're talking about it – stick a cracker in it . Find some other subject to foolishly rant about. [polldaddy 6864263 http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/6864263/ polldaddy]
You all misunderstand me.. I never said Jun did not deserve to win, I was not talking about these two chefs in particular, but the overall success rate for women in comparison to the male chefs on the show.. LMM, if you think I'm fabricating the facts then look them up for yourself! How many times have women chefs won Chopped? Do you not think it SHOULD be somewhere close to the number men have won? I mean the show normally starts with 2 males and 2 females, right?? Then, IF all was fair, it should be close to 50-50, right? Well, it's not even near that number but much closer to 20-80 with men holding the higher number of wins by far! IF you are indeed a chef, like you claim, you should be highly insulted by these numbers, period!
Besides enjoying the cooking aspect of the show, I pay close attention to how a person wins/loses. Jun Tanaka, besides being very talented, showed a lot of respect towards all involved. It's disappointing to hear a contestant, Elise, put down another's dish to make themselves look better. Makes them look worse. Jun is a class act.
Word…..
Judges always talking about transforming ingredients.
Jun did nothing with the fruit and the pretzels for the dessert, other than plop them in the bowl
Hardly mentioned by judges.
Appeared, as others are mentioning, that judges were against Elise from the get-go. No way
Jun would lose.
Bruce, are really Elise? You sound just like the sore loser she is.
Saying the judges were disrespectful to Elise because she is a woman is insulting, saying they choped her because she was a rude classless competitor is possible. When she started ripping on Jun's dish it seemed like she gave the judges all the reason they needed to chop her. And saying that she should have won is a ridiculous statement, how could you know? Did you taste the food? Jun was much more professional with how he spoke and carried himself, Elise was a spoiled whiny brat, why is it hard to beleive his food would be way better? People who blame other when they fail never get better, professionals who listen do.
It appeared to me that Ms. Kornack is talented but very young in terms of personality/maturity. She expected to win but said openly that she treated the entree course (this is a paraphrase) as she would foods she put together on a "leftovers' night." She downed Jun Tanaka's dessert and put her own up as artistic, when she'd presumably not tasted his and when hers appeared to be very haphazardly arranged at best and was apparently accompanied by a sour-ish sauce. Ms. Kornack was defensive for a second show re her food and overall projected arrogance, which was very off-putting (although neither her defensiveness nor her arrogance played into the judging, far as I could tell). She was highly dismissive of Jun T.'s efforts in the entree course when his "small plate" — made necessary by a misstep she or any other chef could have made – apparently had big flavor. Again, it's clear she has a terrific talent, but geez, a little humility and actual learning from others wouldn't hurt, either.
Jun deserved to win. He never gave up, even when he dropped those frog legs, perseverance and positive attitude are things that take you a long way. Jun realized that with one bite, everything else wouldn't matter. I do admit, Elise is a gifted chef but, that alone doesn't justify for acting like a whiny brat and being crappy person. Definitely a very tight competition but I am VERY satisfied with the results.
Elise Kornack lost because of her attitude.
Chopped is my favorite show Champuonship kinda dissapointing Elisie attitude ? veryNON professional Grow up Honey :-) & Jun & mayb see you on Top Chef someday ?? Good luck to you both
My impression is that Jun won because he had the skill set and the mindset to work with what he had. He didn't whine or make excuses or dismiss another chefs work the way Elise did. It also seems that in very few cases, the contestants who make dismissive comments about another s dish son not do well either. As a side note, have you noticed how respectful some of the judges have become, since they did a judges chopped (or what ever it was called last year), where Aaron Sanchez, Zakarian competed? they learned some h
umility