Food Network Star: Beat Bobby Flay or leave the kitchen

The kitchen is getting heated for the Food Network Star finalists. But, who can beat Bobby Flay?

Six finalists still dream of becoming the next Food Network Star. In this week’s episode finalists must create classic, long cooking meals and attempt to beat Bobby Flay. The two challenges prove too much for yet another want to be cooking star.

The first challenge has finalists reimagine a dish that takes a long time to cook and put it into a portable form. With only 30 minutes, the finalists must find some kitchen hack to develop flavor quickly. Time to separate the leaders from the rest of the pack.

Food Network Star, Matthew, photo from Food Network

A love hate relationship

Matthew is the contestant that viewers love to hate. His abrasive personality and ego can make me want to fast forward through his rants. In this challenge, his know it all persona got deflated. His challenge was to cook a coq au vin hand pie.

Anyone who has been to culinary school, like Matthew, should know this classic French dish. When he didn’t know the basic premise of this classic dish, how can he be a culinary personality? His dish was ok, but it could have used more flavor development. Instead of gloating how he was done early, he should have let the dish cook more slowly to round out the flavors.

Amy is the stay at home mom who struggles with confidence. This challenge had her making chili con carne into a ball. It is somewhat baffling that she couldn’t think of a meatball on her own. She has had some beautiful plates of food, but her lack of confidence often deflates both the food and her presentation. The chili con carne meatball had good flavor, but the ball was quite dense. No one wants to eat dense balls.

Food Network Star, Jason fan favorite, photo from Food Network

Fan favorites coming in hot

The big winner of the first challenge was Jason. Hands down the fan favorite, Jason transformed osco bucco into a wrap. Usually a slow braised veal dish, this portable wrap worked well with his culinary point of view. His presentation, with his tomato paste cooking hack, brought the viewers to his Kentucky lifestyle. He is incredibly endearing and quite watchable. With a stellar dish and knockout presentation, Jason won the opening challenge.

Food Network Star, Jason’s winning dish, photo from Food Network

As the first challenge winner, Jason received an advantage in the elimination challenge. His advantage was becoming team captain and choosing the other team captain for the elimination challenge. Split into two teams of three, the remaining finalists had to enter into culinary battle this week. Mimicking an episode of the popular Food Network show, Beat Bobby Flay, the finalists had to take on the Iron Chef, culinary master, Bobby Flay.

Just like the Bobby Flay show, the two teams had to compete in a head to head single ingredient challenge to determine a winning and losing team. The teams were Jason, Matthew and Rusty against Amy, Cory and David. The winning team would continue on in the competition. The losing team had to cook for their Food Network Star survival. Beating Bobby Flay earned a finalist redemption, but losing put a finalist up for elimination.

Food Network Star, Beat Bobby Flay episode, photo from Food Network

Which team are you?

The first battle had the two teams create tomato dishes where tomato had to be the star of the plate. Team Jason was almost ruined by Matthew. His dominating, know it all personality could have been the team’s downfall. The tomato dish was acceptable, but the additional components took away from the tomato. When tomato was supposed to be the star, you don’t need to add more and more elements.

Luckily, Jason, as team leader, took over the presentation. Although his presentation started like an ingredient list, the Southern gentlemen found his homey voice. With the memorable catchphrases and relatable stories, everyone wanted to join Jason at his table. Also, he was able to work in all of this teammates’ culinary point of views into the story. The presentation was a huge factor in their success.

Food Network Star, battling the Iron Chef, photo from Food Network

The big advantage

Team Amy’s biggest advantage was Cory. The award winning chef could make an expertly prepared dish out of kitchen scraps. Although the chili was a little overpowering, the dish had a big tomato flavor. Overall, the three teammates worked well together, but this team isn’t presentation strong. As team leader, Amy presented. Unfortunately, this decision was a mistake. She fumbled and flubbed her way through the one minute presentation. It was extremely difficult, almost painful to watch. Team Amy was sent to battle Bobby Flay.

Food Network Star, Iron Chef Bobby Flay, photo from Food Network

To determine which of the three finalists went home, the Bobby Flay battle had each finalist create their signature dish. Bobby Flay had to create his own version of each signature dish. The Iron Chef had to make three dishes to each finalist’s one. Still, would one of them be able to beat the master?

If you had to pick a favorite in this battle it was easily Cory. And, as expected Cory won his battle against Bobby Flay. The duck breast with red eye gravy is a difficult dish to complete under pressure, but Cory’s dish was almost perfect. Although slightly salty, the duck was beautifully cooked. Cory was the only finalist to win the battle.

Food Network Star, elimination, photo from Food Network

We can’t all be winners

Amy and David didn’t obtain culinary glory. Both lost their battle against Bobby Flay. Amy had a huge mistake with her filet. After over cooking the first filets, she had to quickly try to re-cook new filets. Unfortunately, the second filets were quite rare. But, her vegetables were full flavored. The mustard on the Brussel sprouts was a strong choice. Even with the faults, Amy survives to cook another day.

David was eliminated this week. His shrimp and grits dish didn’t measure up. While visually stunning, the dish lacked depth of flavor. The grits could have been creamier. Overall, the dish just didn’t measure up to the challenge. He was eliminated.

Still, David’s dreams aren’t completely crushed. David does get another chance in Star Salvation. Whether he can redeem himself remains to be seen.

Next: Star Salvation: Battle bacon

Down to the final five, Food Network Star will soon crown a champion. Will the fan favorite, Jason, prevail or will the insufferable Matthew pull an upset? Tune in next week to seek who continues on the journey to Food Network Star glory.