Food Network Star Salvation: Best burgers keep dreams alive

Although eliminated from Food Network Star, four finalists still have a chance at Food Network dreams. Food Network Star Salvation has the remaining four finalists create a burger inspired by their best food memory.

Often food creates lasting memories. I can still recall the taste of my grandmother’s Thanksgiving stuffing. Over the years, everyone has a food memory. From the special occasions to the commonplace, these food memories influence how and what we eat. In this week’s Food Network Star Salvation, the four finalists create a food memory burger.

Four eliminated finalists, Trace, Toya, Blake, and Cao competed in a food memory burger and Snapchat snap challenge. Even though this challenge was a food memory, the memory was meant to reflect the finalist’s culinary point of view. The key was to take something familiar and make it spectacular.

Food Network Star Salvation, photo from Food Network

Of course, creating a delicious dish is just part of the challenge. Each finalist has to create a 10 second snap (for Snapchat). This snippet is meant to entice viewers to swipe up for the recipe.

Trace, last week’s winner, was at the top again. His grandma’s meatloaf bison burger was a huge hit. Not only did the judges find it quite tasty, his snap was impressive. The tag line “Not your grandma’s meatloaf” won over the judges.

Toya had difficulty with her étouffée burger. While her flavors represented her point of view, her burger was rare, almost raw. But, her snap was quite engaging. Her vivacious personality helped her overall performance.

Blake brought another healthy recipe to the table. His paleo version of a jerk chicken hamburger sounded promising. Unfortunately, his meat to fruit ratio was off. Also, his video lacked energy.

Cao, the most recent Food Network Star voted off, had a good concept with her none-ya burger. The Asian flavors worked well with her memory and culinary point of view. But, her video was off-putting. While trying to be cryptic, the tone had the potential to turn off viewers.

Unfortunately, two more finalists have lost their chance at becoming a Food Network Star. Cao and Blake were sent home this week. Both finalists couldn’t balance an engaging persona with fabulous food.

Next: Food Network Star goes glamping

Blake and Toya move on to compete again. It remains to be seen if the winner of Star Salvation will have an advantage when he or she returns to the main competition. Tune in next week to see whose quest for salvation continues.