When it comes to meal prep, not much can be done in the kitchen without a knife, so it’s no surprise that Chefs Bobby Flay and Anne Burrell devoted an entire week to demonstrating basic knife skills on Sunday’s episode of Worst Cooks in America. Both mentors showed off the whats and hows of various cuts like a fillet, slice, dice, julienne and chiffonade to their team members, some of whom were even unfamiliar with how to hold a knife and admitted to a strong fear of the sharp objects.
In the Skill Drill, the recruits were tasked with filleting whole black sea basses plus chopping oddly shaped produce to practice what they’d learned, and while some proved to be successful, a few contestants managed to cut their fingers and hands on the stainless-steel blades. Perhaps the most difficult test came during the Main Dish Challenge, however, when each recruit lifted a cloche to find an entire chicken with its head and feet still attached. Chefs Bobby and Anne both detailed the proper method for butchering the bird, but Chef Anne treated her team to a spine-ectomy how-to so that they could recreate her dish of chicken chasseur.
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For the 14 recruits competing on Worst Cooks in America, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime to learn kitchen basics and culinary how-tos from Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay — two of New York City’s top restaurant chefs and some of Food Network’s most celebrated stars. It’s up to the contestants to use the tools the chefs provide to learn how to master certain skills on their own and demonstrate progress in the kitchen. Despite their best efforts, however, one recruit from Chef Anne’s Red Team and another from Chef Bobby’s Blue Team will ultimately succumb to the challenges of Boot Camp week after week as they compete for $25,000 and bragging rights for their coach.
Check back with FN Dish every Sunday after the episode for the first interviews with the latest eliminated contestants to read their exclusive reflections on the competition, thoughts on difficult challenges, plans for the future and more.
SPOILER ALERT: Find out who went home
For the 14 recruits competing on Worst Cooks in America, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime to learn kitchen basics and culinary how-tos from Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay — two of New York City’s top restaurant chefs and some of Food Network’s most celebrated stars. It’s up to the contestants to use the tools the chefs provide to learn how to master certain skills on their own and demonstrate progress in the kitchen. Despite their best efforts, however, one recruit from Chef Anne’s Red Team and another from Chef Bobby’s Blue Team will ultimately succumb to the challenges of Boot Camp week after week as they compete for $25,000 and bragging rights for their coach.
Check back with FN Dish every Sunday after the episode for the first interviews with the latest eliminated contestants to read their exclusive reflections on the competition, thoughts on difficult challenges, plans for the future and more.
SPOILER ALERT: Find out who went home
We’re just one week into the fourth season of Worst Cooks in America, and if the first day of Boot Camp was any indication, Chef Anne was correct when she promised the recruits, “This is going to be a brutal seven weeks.” In the premiere episode, the contestants reluctantly said goodbye to their most prized kitchen possession — the microwave — and attempted to embrace from-scratch cooking by tackling a familiar favorite: meat and potatoes. Some finalists rose to the challenge, turning out dishes that were shockingly impressive for their first tries, while others offered plates that proved barely palatable to mentors Bobby and Anne.
For at least a short time on Sunday’s brand-new episode, it seems from the sneak-peek photo above that the recruits are leaving their cares over the kitchen behind and embarking on a hands-on fishing trip. Here, “Primetime 99″ Alex Stein not only poses with his prized catch of the day but lays a few fish kisses on it as well, proving that at least one of the recruits finds success on the high seas. Do you think the other contestants will get as up close and personal with their scaly friends as Alex did, or will some shy away from these underwater creatures?
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Deglazing: you’ve surely heard the term mentioned by your favorite Food Network chefs and stars, but do you know what it means and how to do it? Chef Bobby Flay introduced the idea of deglazing to his team of recruits on last Sunday’s premiere of Worst Cooks in America as he taught them how to make a mushroom-wine sauce for steaks, but for some contestants, the lesson could have used a second explanation. If you’re in need of a refresher course as well, look no further, because we have the how-tos for tackling this can-do cooking technique, plus easy recipes to help you master the process.
To deglaze a pan is to use liquid — be it stock, wine or water — to unstick any bits of food leftover on the bottom of the pan after searing or sauteing. In the case of Chef Bobby’s recipe, he used bold red wine to deglaze the pan in which he cooked his beef tenderloin. Thanks to a quick sear, the meat had taken on a golden-brown crust full of flavor, and after flipping it, remnants of that flavor remained on the pan. With just a splash of wine and a bit of stirring, however, those crispy pieces added a new depth of taste to the sauce without much effort.
Practice deglazing at home
For the 14 recruits competing on Worst Cooks in America, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime to learn kitchen basics and culinary how-tos from Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay — two of New York City’s top restaurant chefs and some of Food Network’s most celebrated stars. It’s up to the contestants to use the tools the chefs provide to learn how to master certain skills on their own and demonstrate progress in the kitchen. Despite their best efforts, however, one recruit from Chef Anne’s Red Team and another from Chef Bobby’s Blue Team will ultimately succumb to the challenges of Boot Camp week after week as they compete for $25,000 and bragging rights for their coach.
Check back with FN Dish every Sunday after the episode for the first interviews with the latest eliminated contestants to read their exclusive reflections on the competition, thoughts on difficult challenges, plans for the future and more.
SPOILER ALERT: Find out who went home
For the 14 recruits competing on Worst Cooks in America, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime to learn kitchen basics and culinary how-tos from Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay — two of New York City’s top restaurant chefs and some of Food Network’s most celebrated stars. It’s up to the contestants to use the tools the chefs provide to learn how to master certain skills on their own and demonstrate progress in the kitchen. Despite their best efforts, however, one recruit from Chef Anne’s Red Team and another from Chef Bobby’s Blue Team will ultimately succumb to the challenges of Boot Camp week after week as they compete for $25,000 and bragging rights for their coach.
Check back with FN Dish every Sunday after the episode for the first interviews with the latest eliminated contestants to read their exclusive reflections on the competition, thoughts on difficult challenges, plans for the future and more.
SPOILER ALERT: Find out who went home
In this all-new fourth season of Worst Cooks in America, 14 culinary recruits are in for the kitchen Boot Camp of their lives, as Chefs Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay work to transform them into capable, confident cooks who can turn out winning meals with ease. But before one can be crowned the best of the worst of the kitchen, they’ll have to endure seven weeks of hands-on training covering even the most elementary culinary know-how.
For many watching the competition unfold at home, it’s easy to think that you’d fare far better than the recruits if tested with the same challenges of Boot Camp. But would you really succeed where others have fallen? FN Dish is giving you the opportunity to assess your critical culinary thinking and the extent of your cooking chops. Take the quiz below to find out how well you’d manage in the kitchen with Chefs Anne and Bobby, then watch this exclusive video to see how the Worst Cooks recruits answered when they were asked quiz questions.
Take the quiz now
A brand-new season of Worst Cooks in America kicks off this Sunday, and just as the 14 culinary recruits are racing to become the best of the worst in the kitchen, team leaders Chefs Bobby Flay and Anne Burrell are facing off in a competition of their own. Each has just seven short weeks of Boot Camp to attempt to mentor the eventual winning recruit and claim lasting bragging rights over the other.
For Chef Anne, a victory this season would simply be another title in a long line of Worst Cooks successes, as she’s claimed consecutive Red Team wins for the past three years. At this stage of the game, she knows the tricks of the competition, has learned how best to instruct her contestants and is sure in her role as the team leader to beat. With only one season of Worst Cooks competition behind him, however, Chef Bobby Flay is still relatively new to what goes down in Boot Camp, but that won’t stop him from pulling out his top cooking and coaching chops this season. After a disappointing loss last year, he’s more determined than ever to finally take the Blue Team to victory and end Chef Anne’s winning streak once and for all.
Vote: Tell us which team will win
A brand-new season of Worst Cooks in America premieres in a few weeks — on Sunday, February 17 at 9pm/8c — and you may be wondering just how disastrous this year’s crop of culinary recruits really is in the kitchen. Do they know how to deglaze a pan, or are they such beginners that they’ve never seen a skillet? Are they familiar with basic kitchen utensils like the mandolin? What’s their understanding of spices?
We were asking ourselves these questions and others, and decided to put the recruits’ kitchen knowledge to the test. Watch the video below to find out how the contestants fared in our exclusive culinary quiz and see them answer — often with hilariously shocking responses —some of the most seemingly basic cooking questions. Click the play button to hear what they had to say, then tell us in the comments: Are you rooting for Team Anne or Team Bobby this season?
Watch the video now
