Many were called, but only a few will be chosen for the final reckoning in the Food Network’s “Ultimate Recipe Showdown.”
The showdown starts on Feb. 17, with 54 amateur chefs in the running with recipes in six categories: burgers, chicken, comfort foods, pasta, cakes and cookies. They were winnowed from thousands of recipe artists who submitted their culinary concepts.
Nine chefs will face off over six weeks under studio lights before an audience in Sunday night prime time (9 p.m. ET).
A panel of three judges, including Katherine Alford, director of the Food Net’s test kitchen; Kerry Simon, chef and partner at Simon LA; and Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times food columnist, will rate each dish on creativity, appearance, ease of execution and taste.
The showdown survivor will take home $25,000 and have his or her recipe featured in T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants nationwide.
The real object of the cable network’s exercise is to engage its fans more directly.
“Food Network is constantly striving to find the best of the best in food, so we thought why not challenge our viewers to show us what they’ve got,” said Bob Tuschman, Food Network senior vice president of programming and production.
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