The Kitchen hosts share classic dishes every home cook should know! Geoffrey Zakarian demonstrates the perfect technique for Braised Short Ribs with Smoked Olives and Pomme Puree, while Katie Lee Biegel prepares a signature Caesar Salad with Crispy Capers and Garlic Bread Crumbs. Marcus Samuelsson from Food Network's "House of Knives" stops by to make a classic Shrimp and Grits. Then, Jeff Mauro cooks up a delicious staple, Pasta Puttanesca, and Sunny Anderson whips up a must-know dessert, Easy Banana Brûlée Fool.
Fifteen of the worst cooks in America enter boot camp with dreams of putting their kitchen nightmares behind them. Chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence want to see what they're dealing with so they begin by asking the recruits to make their signature dishes -- a request with truly disastrous consequences! After being sorted into teams, the recruits must flock together like birds of a feather to make the perfect chicken dish. The recruits whose dishes don't fly will be sent home.
One of the biggest decisions families make every year is which photo they are going to use for their Christmas card! Host Duff Goldman challenges the bakers to help their Scout Elves take an "elfie selfie" by creating an edible diorama with the perfect backdrop for their photos. Then in the Santa Showdown, two teams design an edible holiday outfit which needs to be runway ready for judges Kardea Brown and Ashley Holt's elf fashion show. In the end, one team goes home.
The basic ingredients of bread are well-known: flour, water, salt, and some kind of leavening agent. But for really, really good bread—the kinds of loaves that change your life—you need one thing more. Patience. And that’s something Zachary Golper, the baking mastermind behind Brooklyn’s Bien Cuit, has in spades. It’s a skill he developed from the very beginning of his adult life, when he was 20 years old and working on an Oregon farm–cum–meditation retreat. That’s where the scent of baking bread lured him from his bed one night at 1 a.m. to the kitchen (in a sheep barn) where he first learned to ferment loaves for days. From there (and following an extensive detour through South America), he continued his apprenticeships—in Seattle, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia, where he worked as baker-in-chief to Georges Perrier, the chef at the renowned Le Bec-Fin.Along the way, he developed the skills and the deep knowledge of fermentation that you can taste in the breads he bakes at Bien Cuit, which he opened in 2011. The crusts are crackling, thick, and mahogany dark—in other words, bien cuit, or well-done in French. They’re the kinds of breads you want to slather with really good butter, or dip into a hearty soup, or drape with paper-thin slices of salty ham... if you can keep from nibbling them down to nothing on the way home from the bakery. (We’re speaking from experience here.)They’re also the kinds of breads you can actually bake at home, thanks to Golper’s in-depth, step-by-step instructions. And while, yes, they’ll require a bit of patience (fermentation does take time!), you won’t have to spend 15 years learning how to make them, as Golper did. We’ve broken his best, most important recipes down into 5 fundamental lessons that will show you how to produce sourdoughs, baguettes, rolls, ciabattas, and Pullman loaves that may very well change your life, or at least make you a better, more patient baker.Zachary's Restaurants:Bien Cuit Grand Central (Brooklyn, NY)Bien Cuit (Brooklyn, NY)Zachary's Book:Bien Cuit (2015)
Tom Pizzica travels to San Antonio, Texas, to a self-proclaimed outrageous restaurant, Marianito’s Extreme Tex Mex Grill, where one diner challenges another group of diners to eat a seven-pound burrito in just one hour. Then he heads an hour west of Fort Worth, Texas to help the "outlaw chef" feed a bunch of working cowboys the old-fashioned way, off a chuck wagon with parts of the cow most folks won’t eat. And for a breakfast of champions, he stops in at Shelby’s Kitchen & Deli in Deerfield Beach, Fla., for a two-foot pancake topped with eggs, bacon, home fries, sausage patties, and toast.
The judges seize the opportunity to cook together after hours in the Chopped Kitchen, and in round one they attempt to tame down the sweetness of some sugary kid favorites. Churros are transformed and champagne bottles popped in a goofy round two that has Alex Guarnaschelli and Marc Murphy tackling ingredients from a celebrity tournament finale. Once Scott Conant perfects his hairstyle, he's ready to join in for the final round, featuring a whole suckling pig.
Michael Symon starts the day off right with a special breakfast in the garden. He puts a game-changing twist on a classic with his crispy and custardy World's Greatest French Toast with Praline Bacon Crumble and shares the secrets of making a perfect French Omelette with Fine Herbs. To cool things down and embrace the summer vibes, Liz makes a non-alcoholic Summer Strawberry Sparkler with fresh strawberries, cool cucumber and a zesty lemon twist.
Jeff Mauro is raising the "bar"-b-q with a variety of grilling favorites, including his Rainbow Rubs and Spicy Margarita. Geoffrey Zakarian demonstrates how to grill a whole branzino, and Sunny Anderson cooks up a Grilled Steak Supreme inspired by her favorite pizza recipe. Guest chef Michael Symon duels with Geoffrey as he unveils his Grilled Chicken Thighs with Blackberry BBQ Sauce, and Jeff gets help from his dad to prepare the perfect Grilled Prime Cheesesteak Tacos.