Cutthroat Kitchen

When judge Antonia Lofaso entered the Cutthroat Kitchen and tasted the chefs’ turkey dinner, French toast and lobster roll dishes, she wasn’t privy to the events that had unfolded and ultimately led to those particular plates of food. Simply critiquing and praising the offerings based solely on taste, she knew not of the thousands of dollars that had been spent to force a competitor to cook with a precooked, processed turkey instead of a fresh bird, to prepare a meal sans utensils, to feature red wine and blue cheese in French toast, and to make bread from scratch in only 30 minutes. On his first-ever Alton’s After-Show, Alton revealed these secrets and others to judge Antonia, who finally realized the making of the meals she had just tasted. “It’s all coming together now,” she told Alton. In perhaps the most telling reveal, she learned that all of these sabotages, seemingly insurmountable given the time constraints and demands of the challenge, had been inflicted on one competitor: Chef Frankie. It was up to him to adapt to these struggles — sometimes multiple ones in a single round — and attempt to turn out passable plates. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/08/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-1/?oc=linkback

To succeed in the Cutthroat Kitchen, it’s not enough for a chef to come equipped with his lucky knife kit and years of experience at the stove. After all, a fellow competitor may prevent his use of that cutlery and make him question the extent of his skills, all with the help of $25,000 in spending money and the will to disrupt. Chefs must take assigned curve balls in stride and turn out quality dishes for a judge, who, without knowledge of the earlier mind games, will decide based on taste alone whose plate is the weakest. On Alton’s After-Show, host Alton Brown will reveal to the judge what’s gone down, and together they’ll dish on how the events unfolded and the food ultimately came to light. In the series premiere, judge Simon Majumdar joined Alton in the Cutthroat Kitchen, and even after learning of some chefs’ use of inferior pork products in Round 1, revealed, “They all produced dishes that were kind of passable with one or two errors, rather than bad dishes with one or two good things about them.” Even though Chef Gianchetti had the most sought-after meat — thick-cut bone-in chops — in that round, his pork was severely overcooked, so much so that Simon admitted that “is actually worse than getting a poor ingredient and making it tasty.” In what may prove true in each episode throughout the series, Simon explained: “Being a great chef is one thing. Being a strategic chef is another. If you can combine those, you can actually end up winning Cutthroat Kitchen without being technically the best chef.” It’s that kind of thinking that would lead chefs to risk wisely and cook intelligently in order to best their rivals and ultimately take home cash. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/08/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-2/?oc=linkback

On last week’s After-Show, judge Simon Majumdar said: “Being a great chef is one thing. Being a strategic chef is another. If you can combine those, you can actually end up winning Cutthroat Kitchen without being technically the best chef.” And tonight Alton may have proved that theory to be true when he told Simon the lengths to which one competitor went to claim the win. The name of the game in Cutthroat Kitchen is indeed sabotage, but with that comes personal advantages for the competitor dealing those devastating blows to his or her rivals. With every big-ticket disruption one chef purchases and assigns to another contestant, he’s essentially buying himself safety from that challenge. Alton told Simon that, in this week’s final auction, one chef — who would ultimately go on to win the battle — spent almost all of his or her money ensuring his or her own smooth finish by assigning someone else the challenge of making crab cakes without a binder, like mayonnaise. This person “bought victory,” Simon said of the outcome, chalking up this reality to the fact that “anything is possible in Cutthroat Kitchen.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/08/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-3/?oc=linkback

When chefs enter Cutthroat Kitchen, they’re likely expecting a bit — or a lot — of sabotage to be dealt upon them by their rivals. After all, it’s this play-or-be-played mentality that makes the competition as fiercely cutthroat at is it. But what they may not expect is that some of their most prominent challenges will likely come not from their dwindling cash supply, another contestant or unexpected ingredient swaps, but rather from themselves and their ideas about how to succeed in Cutthroat Kitchen. On this week’s After-Show, judge Simon Majumdar and host Alton Brown noticed that in almost every round of cooking, chefs faced significant obstacles — some so damaging that they led to eliminations — on account of their own shortcomings. “He wasn’t sabotaged there,” Alton told Simon of Chef Scipione’s absence of bread in his Round 1 cheese steak sandwich. “He just didn’t make it out of the pantry with any bread.” This oversight ultimately cost Chef Scipione his place in the competition, as Simon noted that the chef’s finished dish “wasn’t a Philly cheese steak in any form that I would recognize.” For another competitor, the problem proved to be not mere forgetfulness but an inability to work well under pressure. “I think he got stuck,” Simon said of Chef Zadi in Round 3, in which he was forced to make a pizza using a pie. “I think he just didn’t know where to go to make a really good pizza.” While it’s no surprise that competitors are left with few ideas of how to proceed when faced with last-minute ingredient changes and diminishing time on the clock, Alton explained: “Sometimes the cooking wins and sometimes the game play wins. And today, the game play won.” In the end, he warns, “Confidence can kill, but then not having enough will kill too.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/09/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-4/?oc=linkback

No matter how prepared a chef may be when he walks into Cutthroat Kitchen, or how well-conceived his ideas are for one round’s challenge dish, he can’t say for certain whether he’ll be able to use those skills or his thought-out plan, as a sabotage may ultimately get the better of him. The key to success in this contest is a competitor’s ability to adapt to culinary interferences as he meets them — finding new ways to add flavor to food when salt isn’t an option and learning how to fashion utensils out of foil when traditional devices are prohibited, among them. But what happens when, whether because of strategic game play or simple good fortune, a chef has the opportunity — the time, ingredients and equipment — to make just what he had intended? In the latest installment of Alton’s After-Show, the host and this week’s judge, Antonia Lofaso, dished on the competitors’ seeming need to do more and cook more than they ought to have or needed to simply because they could. Antonia explained that Chef McNutt’s Round-2 tuna burger would have been far more successful had she served it without the bread, which she decided to purchase for $2,200 mid-challenge because she didn’t have any. “I’ve seen this in so many … chefs under the gun,” Antonia explained. “They have a plan and they start to doubt themselves, and all of a sudden, their plan just goes right out the window. And it’s so important for them to just stick with what is good in their gut … and do that first idea.” Similarly, Chef Brian should have realized the need for straightforwardness in his fried chicken dinner, instead of forcing additional components on it just because he had the time do so. “The technique of restraint is what chefs always need to work on,” Antonia noted. “These days, just keep it simple and do it well.” Alton may have said it best when he admitted, “Very often, less is more.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/09/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-5/?oc=linkback

Coming into Cutthroat Kitchen, the chefs know to expect sabotage, backstabbing and true competition. So the only things they can rely on are their skills and experience, but sometimes in the heat of battle those skills and experience go right out the window. After all, the chefs are racing to finish their plates while also maneuvering sabotages they’ve been dealt that often lead their dishes down a disastrous road. In the latest installment of Alton’s After-Show, the host and this week’s judge, Jet Tila, dished on the competitors’ seeming disregard for key basics in cooking, such as taste and texture, and their inability to have a dish live up to some sort of standard of expectation. Taste is No. 1, explained Jet, when talking about Round 1′s spaghetti and meatballs, where one of the sabotages took away the ability to taste from three of the chefs. “You have to have cooked for a phenomenal amount of years to just cook by feel,” says Jet. Alton added that it’s especially true when it comes to making sauce, which often needs many tastings before it’s ready to be served. These chefs were too brash in thinking they didn’t need to taste — and even Chef Davidi who won the auction didn’t manage to put out a flavorful dish. When it came to the wings in Round 2, stuffing them with ingredients that made no sense — like Chef Glick’s celery and carrot batons — just went to show there was no forethought. And the chef’s use of bottled sauce did nothing to show creativity. In Round 3, it all came down to a lack of experience when making the doughnuts. Each chef’s doughnuts turned out to be leaden balls of dough, far from the fluffy, airy confections that anyone would expect. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/09/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-6/?oc=linkback

It’s no surprise that to be successful on Cutthroat Kitchen competitors ought to come equipped with a strategy for how they’ll approach the contest, as Alton’s culinary mind game requires more of contestants than basic kitchen chops and the ability to work under pressure. For a chef to be victorious, he or she will need a strategy, and this week’s champion ultimately claimed the win thanks in part to a method of restrained bidding. After three rounds and only two wins at the auction, the top chef left with $11,800, a grand sum compared to the small wages some rivals have taken home. Alton and judge Jet Tila dished on such an approach to the contest during the latest installment of the host’s After-Show. “You want to walk out of here with your dough,” Alton explained. Jet added, “You’re not here just to spend, spend, spend to sabotage people.” On several past episodes, chefs have gotten caught up in back-and-forth bidding wars only to “spend their way to victory,” as Alton noted. This week’s victor, however, claimed just two wins at the auction, guaranteeing a take-home sum of $11,800, a large figure compared to the small wages some rivals earn after three rounds of seemingly careless spending. What did you think of the spend-less-to-win-more strategy? Is it a riskier maneuver, given that a contestant may find himself saddled with sabotages if he isn’t the one doling them out? Click the play button on the video above to hear more from Alton and Jet, and learn which chef claimed victory, plus more about how he or she managed to secure the win. Then start the conversation with fellow fans in the comments section below. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/09/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-7/?oc=linkback

No matter the competition, judges aren’t shy about their desire to receive thoughtfully plated dishes. After all, the saying goes that we eat with our eyes before our mouths, and it’s important for food to look as appetizing as it tastes. But oftentimes contestants take the notion of inspired plates too far, opting to include edible — or not — garnishes atop their offerings. In a supposed effort to showcase their commitment to elegance and simple visual appeal, they end up self-sabotaging what would have been a fine meal with unnecessary toppings. A frequent judge on Cutthroat Kitchen and Iron Chef America, Simon Majumdar knows what he likes to see on a plate, and superfluous finishes is not on his list of must-haves. In this week’s battle, several chefs learned the hard way that too much of a garnish — or the inclusion of something inedible — could be disastrous, as he explained on Alton’s After-Show. “Putting … what was for all intents and purposes a Christmas tree atop your steak is not a good idea,” Simon said of the oversize sprig of rosemary on one contestant’s steak. “Chefs really need to learn how to garnish when they’re doing a competition like this.” Another competitor failed to remove a piece of plastic from a product and it ultimately landed on Simon’s plate, an unforgiveable offense in the judge’s eye. Such a mistake was enough to eliminate that chef, as Simon explained: “It’s the unforgiveable sin. Never give your customers something that might kill them.” Alton added, “It was a last-minute, careless error made because [the chef] was trying to cover up … [the] food that shouldn’t have been there.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/09/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-8/?oc=linkback

Some weeks on Alton’s After-Show the focus of Alton’s chat with the judge revolves primarily around the finalists’ abilities — or inabilities — to cook within the confines of Cutthroat Kitchen, particularly the sabotages. But other times it’s the sabotages themselves that dominate the conversation, almost too shocking or simply laughable for the judges to believe. That was the case this week as Alton revealed to returning judge Jet Tila the roster of culinary interferences to befall the chefs. Perhaps most appalling to Jet was the ingredient swap-out in Round 2, when the competitors were tasked with preparing a dish of sausage and peppers. Instead of being able to cook with everyday salt, pepper, spices and herbs, the contestant to receive this sabotage would be forced to use jelly beans flavored with tastes like habanero, wasabi, buttered popcorn and bacon. “That’s genius,” Jet admitted after a hearty laugh, before wincing at the thought of incorporating such oddball flavors into a dish. “I would have bid the farm and torpedoed somebody.” He soon realized how the unlucky chef to receive this sabotage ultimately offered a too-sweet plate of sausage and peppers. “The sweet … sticky sweet — it worked,” Jet said, reflecting on the contest. “I almost felt bad offering it. Almost,” Alton told him later. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/10/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-9/?oc=linkback

Although the stipulations of almost every Cutthroat Kitchen sabotage force competitors to reimagine the classic versions of challenge dishes, chefs still should be able to serve plates that are at least reminiscent of the original concept. They may not be able to cook with every seemingly crucial ingredient or prepare plates in the most traditional style, but the final offerings ought to be valid interpretations of assigned dishes; for this week’s competitors, that meant burritos, pie and teriyaki bowls. “It has to come down to what the challenge is,” judge Jet Tila told Alton Brown on the latest installment of Alton’s After-Show. The competitor ousted in the Round 1 burrito challenge presented a deconstructed Vietnamese-style burrito that was, in fact, hardly a burrito at all, according to Jet. “I’m sorry, but it was a ridiculous play on a burrito,” Jet explained of the summer roll-inspired dish. He added, “If she took a few pieces of lettuce and actually made a tight, concise roll, at least I know you’re thinking burrito,” noting how the contestant could have improved. The same proved true in Round 3, when the eventual runner-up was forced to say goodbye, given that the sauce used in the offering strayed too far from the tried-and-true taste of teriyaki. “It was Sriracha, sweet chili sauce and a little bit of soy. That’s my guess because I know these flavors,” Jet told Alton. “That’s not teriyaki. When you think teriyaki, you want this kind of silky, sweet and salty, soy sauce-driven sauce.” Ultimately, what Jet called “fusion confusion” was enough to send home the final competitor. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/10/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-10/?oc=linkback

While the sabotages dealt to chefs on Cutthroat Kitchen may be downright devious and may cause the competitors to rethink their culinary approaches, the dishes they’re tasked to cook are, in fact, straightforward. Common plates like tacos, cupcakes, fried chicken and burritos have made appearances in the past, and all Alton asks of the contestants is that they create these meals for the judge. It sounds easy enough — until he reveals unknown curve balls, like mandatory ingredients and inferior cooking utensils, of course. It’s these challenging sabotages that cause — or, perhaps, force — the chefs to abandon all aspects of simplicity and ultimately reinvent the dishes as next-level versions. Although this week’s battle indeed featured its share of sabotages, judge Antonia Lofaso told Alton Brown on the host’s After-Showthat the chefs’ culinary offerings could have been stronger, if only they had not tried to make the dishes complicated and too unlike the originals. In Round 2, one chef was given leftover fried rice to feature in jambalaya, and rather than merely steam it to outfit it with the proper texture, he or she turned it into rice patties, but the rice wasn’t apparent. “You would have been starting with a product that you can have control over,” Antonia told Alton. “[The chef] could have just resuscitated it, but instead [the competitor] ground it into a paste,” Alton added. “I would have simply just used it.” Similarly, in Round 3′s meatloaf and mashed potatoes challenge, one competitor’s overzealous approach to the comfort food turned disastrous with a too-fancy and too-petite offering. “It’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes,” Antonia told Alton. “At the end of the day, I start pulling points because people are getting … too serious.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/10/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-11/?oc=linkback

Given the unexpected sabotages, limited time on the clock and looming judgment with which they’re forced to adapt, it’s likely that when chefs compete on Cutthroat Kitchen, they’re cooking under a crushing amount of stress and pressure. For some, that anxiety may serve only to better their game, forcing them to work smartly and efficiently, but for others, such a burden may get the better of them. In this week’s competition, a chef’s inability to cope with the competition’s demands ultimately led to his or her exit. Judge Antonia Lofaso told Alton on his After-Show that the contestant’s Round 1 lasagna offering featured such grievous errors that she had no choice but to eliminate him or her on account of these seemingly elementary errors. Although inexperienced with making fresh pasta, this chef was forced to make pasta dough from scratch, but the end result proved “dense,” according to Antonia, and was only one part of an overall unsuccessful plate. “It was just poorly executed, everything on the dish,” she said, “from the cuts of the bell peppers to them not being cooked to pasta that was just completely inadequate.” “I think [the competitor] was so flipped out that [he or she] simply got derailed and never got back,” Alton mused. Antonia agreed, noting, “I have so much sympathy for these guys doing this, because no doubt when that time clock is on you and things are being thrown at you … nerves get to you.” Antonia’s advice to future contestants, however, is simple: “Just make something that’s cooked well, seasoned well.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/10/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-12/?oc=linkback

Cutthroat Kitchen fans knows that when competitors are gifted a sabotage, no matter how treacherous or simple it may seem, it could ultimately mean disaster for them if they don’t know how or do not have the time to remedy it. But what happens when a challenge must incorporate not just one sabotage, but multiple? Will they use the double dose of damage to further fuel their creative energy, or will they succumb to the pressure of the contest and crumble? On this week’s installment of Alton’s After-Show, the host revealed to judge Jet Tila two competitors’ attempts to adapt to multiple challenges after finding themselves victim to an onslaught of sabotages. The first set occurred in the initial round’s sandwich-and-side battle, when a chef was forced to harvest bread from prepared convenience-store sandwiches before learning that he or she would also have to make the dish on a TV-dinner-size tray instead of an oversized workspace. “And I think from there [the contestant] went insane,” Alton joked of the competitor. This chef was ultimately overwhelmed by the tasks at hand, as he or she didn’t make it past the first round of competition. Jet and Alton also chat about another chef who’s left to build a fire in a miniature grill after being forced to scour the contents of a piñata to find the chocolate that would eventually be featured in s’mores. While the piñata sabotage wasn’t seen on television, fans can watch it here to find out what happened. (Because of time, it was cut from the episode, as it ultimately did not impact the results of the round.) Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/11/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-episode-13/?oc=linkback

Having been a judge on the premiere season of Cutthroat Kitchen, Simon Majumdar is no stranger to the tricks and challenges that befall competitors in each round of cooking, but after eating set cheese and soupy ice cream on tonight’s all-new Season 2 premiere, he needed a few clarifications on how the dishes came to be. Host Alton Brown — who’s not only privy to the sabotages, but in charge of auctioning them off as well — filled in Simon during the latest installment of his After-Show. It turns out that the patty melt-inspired dish that Chef Stratton gave Simon was mushroom-heavy on account of the Freeze Dried Meat product he was forced to work with after Chef Wiginton assigned it to him. “There was no patty in the dish, really,” Simon told Alton. “It was mushroom-heavy, and I guess that’s what he did to try and compensate, but it kind of overcompensated a bit.” This ingredient was so unlike fresh meat that it prevented Chef Stratton from turning it into a traditional patty. Simon finally understood why Chef Doruil’s cheese was so oddly clumped together: First he was gifted a plate of nachos from which he had to source the cheese for his patty melt, then he was forced to cook the rest of this dish with an iron. This household item ultimately prevented him from thoroughly melting the cheese. He “was holding the iron over the cheese trying to get the radiant heat from the iron to melt the cheese,” Alton explained. Come Round 3, the eventual winning chef received a hands-on lesson in ice cream making when a sabotage forced her to shake an ice-filled ball with cream until the mixture became frozen. “That probably explains why that ice cream was just a little bit loose,” Simon said, after learning of the mandatory product. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/12/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-201/?oc=linkback

For the first time this season, Antonia Lofaso took her turn judging four competitors in the latest round of evilicious contest on Cutthroat Kitchen, and because no judge is privy to the bidding for sabotages and cooking, she joined Alton Brown on his After-Show to learn what had gone down. The chefs had to create gnocchi during Round 1 of the competition; though a hand masher may have been an appropriate tool for the job, it became an obstacle for Chef Gentile when he was forced to have it duct taped to his arm for the duration of the round. “He was looking for garnish that was going to build a dish,” Antonia told Alton, realizing that this impediment is what prevented Chef Gentile from breaking down ingredients and cooking with more precision. Having been gifted a campfire stove in Round 2′s duck a l’orange challenge, Chef Tzorin was tasked with cooking all components of his dish in a miniature skillet over a small open flame. Although this sabotage likely didn’t help Chef Tzorin avoid eventual elimination in that round, it may not have been what ultimately did him in, according to Antonia. “Choosing papaya and bell peppers and potatoes — these are just not the vision I have when you see duck a l’orange. So I’m going to say he may not have realized what the dish looks like or, like, classically what it’s about,” Antonia noted of Chef Tzorin. “That was also just the worst duck,” Alton told her, further justifying her decision to send home Chef Tzorin in Round 2. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/12/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-203/?oc=linkback

While Cutthroat Kitchen judges are quick to taste the food before them in each round of evilicious competition on the show, they don’t know exactly how that dish came to be, what ingredients were used to prepare it and which methods were undertaken to produce it. For help in clarifying the unknown, host Alton Brown sits down with the judges in his Web-exclusive After-Show to break down the ins and outs of the challenges; this week, he and Antonia Lofaso chatted about the latest contest to unfold. Traditional wonton wrappers may seem like a must-have ingredient for chefs tasked with preparing pot stickers, but in Round 1, three of the four competitors were forced to work with wontons in other forms, like honey-soaked wontons, frozen wontons and wonton soup. Thinking about the offerings she had just tasted, Antonia correctly guessed that Chef Velez was the one fortunate enough to work with the fresh product. Although she was initially hesitant about Chef Miranda’s dish, which was crafted out of frozen wontons and featured cabbage-wrapped bites, Antonia ultimately told the finalist, “I’m not mad at it.” Later she explained to Alton: “When someone says ‘pot sticker,’ you have this idea in your head of exactly what you want. So when I walk over and there’s cabbage, and I’m like, am I going to get that texture on the outside? Am I going to get that little bit of, like, char? And then I really enjoyed it.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2013/12/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-204/?oc=linkback

From prohibited cooking utensils to forced ingredient swaps and mandatory products, Cutthroat Kitchen sabotages are the ultimate in culinary challenges. While these sabotages may send contestants into fits of panic during the competition, most rivals manage to turn out acceptable dishes for the judge of the day. No matter if chefs unapologetically show off or brilliantly hide the obstacles that befell them, it’s up to the judges to taste the plates before them and unknowingly eat sometimes hilariously inferior ingredients. That’s what happened on today’s brand-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen when special guest Giada De Laurentiis stopped by to judge. In Round 2, Chef La Salle presented her with a dish of chicken and waffles, but instead of using fresh chicken, Chef La Salle featured canned chicken. This chicken, which was packed in liquid, was first ground through a food processor and ultimately turned into chicken pate. When Giada finally saw — and smelled — the canned chicken firsthand during Alton’s After-Show, she couldn’t help but look away and hold her nose to avoid the stench. “The whole thing really reeks,” she admitted of the meat before Alton told her, “You put that in your mouth.” Looking back on Chef La Salle’s dish, Giada explained: “When she pureed that whole thing, the texture was very strange. It was so gritty on my tongue.” She added, “I think the seasoning in the end is what would have helped her.” Chef La Salle’s dish, however, was beyond saving, and it cost her the competition. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/01/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-205/?oc=linkback

From competition and available prize money to chefs’ hopes and judges’ expectations, Cutthroat Kitchen isn’t short on anything, least of all sabotage. But tonight the contest took a turn for the pintsize in Round 3, when Chef Midgley found himself cooking strawberry shortcake in a tiny kids’ kitchen, equipped with a miniscule sink, toaster oven and induction range, as well as petite utensils. “If you can only imagine in your mind’s eye big ol’ mitts on that guy using these little-bitty tools,” Alton said to Simon after he revealed the play-size setup to the judge on his After-Show. “I probably would have cried and run off into the corner,” Simon joked of how he may have approached this challenge, as he and Alton crouched down next to it. It turns out, however, that Chef Midgley found success with this sabotage, as he completed the round on time and presented Simon with a dish superior to his rival’s balsamic-soaked plate. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/01/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-202/?oc=linkback

While competitors may not know the dishes they’ll be tasked with cooking on Cutthroat Kitchen, or the specifics of the challenges that will befall them in battle, a few things are certain about the contest: Chefs will sabotage each other and be sabotaged in return. It’s how contestants cope that will ultimately determine the success of their food, and while much of their adaptation involves recipe tweaks and ingredient swap-outs, it also requires strategy in bidding and the assigning of a particular sabotage once it’s been earned. On this week’s episode of Cutthroat Kitchen, Chef Leah wasted no time in gifting a doozy of a challenge to all three of her rivals during Round 1′s quesadilla test. She paid a whopping $6,900 to force the other competitors to use a high-powered work lamp, a kitchen torch and a hair-straightening flat iron as their sole heat sources. “So, at this point, Chef Leah is hated by almost everyone universally. When the mid-challenge item came up, it was almost a fait accompli that somebody would make sure she got it,” Alton revealed to judge Simon Majumdar on the host’s After-Show. Sure enough, as a form of evilicious retribution, she was tasked with making two pitchers of margaritas using a human-powered blender attached to a bicycle, so she ultimately learned the sting of sabotage as she peddled to make the motor run. “But in the end, I don’t know how bad it hurt her,” Alton explained to Simon. Not only did Chef Leah survive the round, but she went on to win the entire competition after outcooking her rivals in rounds of chicken noodle soup and fish fries. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/01/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-206/?oc=linkback

Alton Brown recently told FN Dish his top pieces of advice for Cutthroat Kitchen competitors, and among them was to “always leave the pantry with something that has salt in it.” This strategy for success would have proved especially useful during tonight’s brand-new episode, as three out of the four chefs were prohibited from using any salt in Round 1 after Chef Emily won the exclusive right to it. But while those rivals may have suffered bland food on account of sabotage, Emily, too, offered an improperly seasoned dish to judge Antonia Lofaso, and it ultimately cost her the competition. It turns out that what ultimately did in Chef Emily wasn’t a high prevalence of salt but, ironically enough, the drastic underuse of her high-priced ingredient. “There’s something about when you got it, you’re afraid to use it, I guess,” Alton told Antonia as the two dished on the challenges during the host’s After-Show. According to Antonia, Chef Emily’s sweet potato fries were far too sweet, served with maple syrup and bacon. “There was just no balance of anything ’cause it was like a sweet fry, then a sweet sauce,” Antonia explained. “I think maybe, like, rendering the bacon fat and using that — the fat — and the maple and the crushed bacon would have just given it more balance.”

Surviving a round of Cutthroat Kitchen is no small feat, and for most chefs, each of the 30 minutes on the clock is precious. On this week’s all-new episode, however, one competitor learned what it’s like to attempt a round in half that time — in only 15 quick minutes. In what judge Jet Tila deemed “the worst sabotage I think I’ve heard of,” Alton announced halfway through Round 2′s huevos rancheros challenge that the mid-round sabotage was to begin the entire challenge over again, from scratch. Chef David was gifted this task, and he was ultimately forced to not just start over in cooking, but to also grocery shop and prep his ingredients for a second time. “It totally makes sense why his dish didn’t come together,” Jet noted to Alton during the host’s After-Show. “You can’t hit the reset button,” Alton added. While Chef David was no match for this sabotage and faced elimination because of it, Jet said to Alton, “I think Alton Brown or Jet Tila could have pulled that one off in 15 minutes.” His thoughts on how to succeed? “Build it on the skillet,” he said, explaining that nearly every element could have been made in fry pans.

While some Cutthroat Kitchen sabotages, like mandatory utensils and the exclusive use of salt, are frequently used on the show, some are used far less often. On tonight’s all-new episode, Alton unveiled a never-before-seen sabotage that was enough to turn the kitchen into a party of sorts. In Round 3′s birthday cake challenge, Chef Jessica was gifted what every birthday girl surely wants on her special day: a tower of beautifully wrapped presents. Some boxes were filled with silly toys and games, but Chef Jessica was after the select few containing critical ingredients needed to execute her cake, including flour, eggs and sugar. “Make them unwrap presents until they found [what they needed],” Alton explained to judge Jet Tila of the objective of this particular sabotage. “It was one of my proudest moments,” he joked with a smile during his After-Show. “If you picked incorrectly, this would take 20, 30 minutes,” Jet mused. Despite the novelty of this challenge and the extra work Chef Jessica had to endure in order to find her baking supplies, she ultimately rose to the occasion and turned out a cake plate worthy of her talents as a pastry chef.

“Let nobody ever say that I am not a risk taker,” Simon proclaimed on Alton’s After-Show following this week’s brand-new episode of Cutthroat Kitchen. He and Alton were catching up after the latest rounds of sabotage had unfolded, and they reflected on Simon’s no-holds-barred maneuver of testing the viscosity of Chef Billy New England clam chowder in Round 2. During what Alton deemed “one of the finest moments,” Simon picked up Chef Billy’s bowl of soup and held it upside down directly on top of his head. “Chef, there’s thick,” Simon told the rival of his soup during tasting, “and there’s you-can-hold-it-over-your-head-without-danger-of-it-splashing-on-my-bald-bonce thick.” According to Alton, Chef Billy “had some starch manipulation issues,” which ultimate turned his chowder into a nearly solid soup. “It was just kind of wobbling there rather threateningly for a while,” Simon explained.

Even if a competitor manages to secure a win on Cutthroat Kitchen, it is likely only earned after some of the most-painstakingly fierce cooking in his or her career. From mandatory ingredients to forbidden appliances and inferior tools, Cutthroat sabotages are notoriously grueling, and most chefs will only endure this kind of face-off once. But on tonight’s all-new episode, four previously eliminated competitors returned to the kitchen for a second chance to overcome sabotage. These chefs had fallen in battle before, but with experience on their side, they took their places in front of Alton, ready to attempt to prove themselves once again. “All of these people learned the first time they were on the show that at the end of the day, you got to secure the win, or you don’t win anything at all,” Alton told judge Jet Tila on the host’s After-Show. ”I would rather walk out of here with a grand than walk out of here with nothing.” He didn’t make the chefs’ return to the contest any easier this time around, auctioning off waterlogged buns during a hot dog challenge and the forced use of strainers as mixing bowls during a brownie challenge. Jet deemed the mixing bowl sabotage “amazingly diabolical,” and indeed it ultimately contributed to Chef Zadi’s elimination.

While some challenge dishes on Cutthroat Kitchen are straightforward, like apple pie, a burrito and grilled cheese, the Round 1 plate on tonight’s brand-new episode left some room for interpretation. The task was to create an all-American breakfast in 30 minutes — Alton gave no other instructions and simply let the chefs prepare their own definitions of that morning meal. “Usually it would feature eggs, bread, perhaps a smoked pork product — bacon, ham,” judge Jet Tila said on the latest installment of Alton’s After-Show of his idea of an all-American breakfast. It turns out that nearly all of the competitors held similar beliefs, as three attempted to turn out egg-focused dishes and another offered two takes on toast. Within these plates, however, there existed strong disparities, and each highlighted unique inspirations, including California flair, Southern ingredients and a love of hash.

It’s no secret that success on Cutthroat Kitchen often entails strategy; it’s not enough to show up and cook on this evilicious competition, as at its heart the contest is a game that requires careful manipulation in order to win. While catching up with judge Antonia Lofaso on tonight’s all-new installment of Alton’s After-Show, the host explained that in Round 2′s quiche challenge, two of the remaining chefs could have potentially bettered their own outlooks had they joined forces to sabotage and outcook one rival in particular. “If I’d been playing the game,” Alton said, “and I was Chef Gregory, I would [have] wanted to preserve Chef Bryan, so then I could have killed him in the end.” He mused of Chef Emmanuel, who likely had vast experience in cooking quiche on account of heritage: “Who wants a French guy to be able to fight a quiche battle?” Antonia agreed and suggested later, “They should have all actually ganged up on [Chef Emmanuel].” She added that it was “lights out” once Chef Emmanuel presented a quiche with Gruyere and bacon on account of these naturally rich, flavorful ingredients. ”Everything else could be bad because I put Gruyere and bacon together,” Antonia imagined as Chef Gregory. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/03/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-213/?oc=linkback

While many Cutthroat Kitchen sabotages may be downright evilicious, most are, at least in some way, related to the challenge dish in any given round, and they are often inspired by common ingredients, tools and processes used to make that plate. On tonight’s all-new episode, Alton took that idea one step further during the Round 3 souffle battle when he auctioned off what he deemed “a souffle suit,” an oversize, puffed-up outfit that would force a contestant to match the general qualities of a souffle: rounded and inflated. Chef Millie ultimately found herself victim of the getup, and when judge Simon Majumdar learned of her unfortunate apparel, he told Alton on the host’s After-Show, “The fact that she was able to deliver anything is really remarkable.” Although he was impressed by her ability to cook while dressed up, he couldn’t excuse her dish, which was a sorry attempt at a souffle, as it was wholly without egg whites. “Chef Milly’s was so far away from being a souffle that I just couldn’t make the call any other way,” he explained to Alton of his decision to eliminate Chef Millie. Alton admitted, however, that no matter the outcome, “Chef Millie was an incredible sport” in the face of the sabotage. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/03/dressed-to-souffle-altons-after-show/?oc=linkback

For the first time in Cutthroat Kitchen history, Alton Brown welcomed four of the “wickedest winners” back to the contest to see who among them could uphold their victorious records and outcook their competition yet again. After claiming wins in Season 1, Chefs Brian, Charles, Frankie and Gwen took their places at their workstations, confident that they would be able to keep up with their newest culinary rivals — but ultimately only one proved his or her staying power. After three hard-fought rounds that found him making impromptu drinks for Alton, cooking in bed and deep-frying bread pudding, Chef Brian claimed a second Cutthroat win. Jet told Alton on the host’s After-Show that Chef Brian’s cocktail-concoction sabotage was “a giant time killer,” but it was surely not as wow-worthy as his Round 2 challenge, which forced him to prepare a breakfast burrito in bed atop a small cook station. “Are you kidding me?” Jet asked Alton with a smile when he saw the bed rolled in the kitchen. In true Cutthroat fashion, however, Chef Brian recovered from this doozy of a sabotage and survived to offer a deep-fried bread pudding in Round 3 that Jet said “totally worked.” He told Alton, “I questioned [Chef Brian] on ingredients, and he says, ‘Look, everything that’s in a bread pudding is in there.’ … Even if he fried it, [his dish] still was a bread pudding,” Jet added.

From makeshift potato-masher arms and aluminum foil utensils to flavored jelly beans acting as seasonings, Cutthroat Kitchen sabotages are notoriously trying, so much so that many fans have asked if they’re indeed possible to pull off successfully. After more than two seasons of competition, the word is finally out, and the answer is yes: All Cutthroat challenges have been tested by Food Network’s culinary team and deemed doable within the rounds’ 30 minutes of cooking. Beginning with tonight’s all-new episode, you’ll be able to see how some of those assessments are made in a series of Testing the Sabotage videos, which showcase the decision-making process. Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/03/testing-the-sabotages-309/?oc=linkback

Alton reveals sabotages of pesto pasta and muffins to judge Lofaso

Just last week FN Dish introduced fans to the first in a series of Testing the Sabotage videos that highlight exactly how Cutthroat Kitchen sabotages come to be. So many have questioned whether or not the challenges are indeed possible for competitors to conquer within their time constraints, and with these all-new videos, it’s now clear that the answer is yes; every sabotage Alton auctions off has been vetted by Food Network’s culinary team, and now you have the chance to watch those tests unfold.

Alton reveals sabotages of pea soup, lamb chop dinner and chocolate mousse.

Alton reveals sabotages of cobb salad, enchiladas and layer cake.

With one swift auction and a bit of bad luck, Cutthroat Kitchen competitors could have all of their seemingly necessary tools and food products taken away from them and replaced with inferior items. From salt and knives to the stove and pans, nothing is safe in Cutthroat Kitchen, including the chefs’ workstations. On tonight’s all-new episode, contestants bid on a game-changing sabotage in Round 2′s enchilada challenge that forces one person to abandon his or her standard setup and fashion another one using a stocked toolbox. The catch? The workspace, heat source and cooktop must be built in and confined to a shopping cart. Was this challenge taking the competition too far and asking too much of one person during a 30-minute challenge? It turns out that the answer is no, as Food Network’s culinary team vetted and approved this sabotage prior to air.

Chicken has a storied past on Cutthroat Kitchen: Just last season when Giada De Laurentiis stopped by for a special episode, one rival was gifted a whole chicken in a can, which she was forced to turn into chicken and waffles for the guest judge. And on tonight’s all-new episode, subpar chicken — or something like it — once again appeared on the auction table, this time during a General Tso’s Chicken challenge. After being gifted a sabotage of MREs, which Alton deemed “meals ready to eat,” one chef was forced to pick through the innards of such prepared and packaged dishes as “a chicken stew [and] a chicken fajita,” according to Alton. For Antonia, these products were “mushy,” and on the host’s After-Show, Alton told her with a smile, “It’s the best kind of sick that you could possibly imagine.” It turns out, however, that for the competitor who worked with this sabotage, the inferior meat wasn’t a hindrance at all. “She really didn’t have any choice but to make a fritter,” Alton explained to Antonia. “And it looked just like General Tso’s chicken.”

Since Cutthroat Kitchen judges are sequestered from the kitchen while the chefs are cooking, they’re not privy to the evilicious sabotages that unfold during each round. This means that when they first lay eyes on the dish before them, they have no information other than how it’s presented; then once they’ve tasted it, of course, they can take its flavor and texture into consideration. Tonight’s judge, Simon Majumdar, explained what that feeling is like as he approaches the kitchen and sees contestants’ plates for the first time. “Sometimes as you come down the stairs,” he told Alton Brown on the host’s After-Show, “and you look at the dishes as they’re laid, and you go, ‘Uh, I think I know the way this is going to go.’ And often I’m wrong because they taste great.” It turns out, however, that Simon’s worst suspicions were confirmed when it came to tonight’s Round-2 Reuben sandwich challenge. For this round, one chef was forced to harvest matzo balls out of matzo ball soup to use in place of the bread in the Reuben. Alton revealed that “Chef Sammy gave it to Michael, who ended up serving you a sandwich on sliced matzo balls.” Simon replied, “The moment I saw two good-looking sandwiches and that, I knew.” He added, “It would have [had] to taste like Christmas laced with diamonds for him to have won, and it didn’t.“ Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/04/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-304/?oc=linkback

From ingredient swaps and time-sucks to inferior utensils and makeshift workstations, Cutthroat Kitchen sabotages are notoriously evilicious and designed to keep the competitors guessing at all times. On tonight’s all-new episode, the chefs were wowed when host Alton Brown introduced a never-before-seen challenge, what he deemed the Wheel of Heat. Labeled with multiple heat sources like oven, microwave, stove and broiler, this sabotage would forced the rival who was gifted this challenge to spin the wheel while cooking and switch his or her cooking method to whichever heat source was landed upon. It turns out that the wheel offered no beginner’s luck, as Chef Renae found out when she was forced to work with it during the Round 2 blackened-fish test. “Every time she spun it, it came up ‘microwave,’” Alton explained to judge Simon Majumdar during the After-Show. “This, I think, was the end for Chef Renae because she had to do her entire blackened dish with a microwave,” he added. Simon admitted, “The fish was dry. It lacked that crust, which you expect from blackened fish.” But he noted that had other elements of her dish been executed better, he may have been more likely to excuse her microwave seafood. “There were too many things wrong,” Simon said, “whereas I could have forgiven her if she’d served that fish that wasn’t perfect with a really good accompaniment.” Read more at: http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2014/05/cutthroat-kitchen-altons-after-show-305/?oc=linkback

Cutthroat Kitchen competitors know that when they begin their time in the contest, they’re agreeing to as many as three rounds of unforeseeable problems; chances are high that no matter what dish host Alton Brown asks for, the chefs won’t be able to execute their dream versions of it, be that on account of sabotage, poor planning or simply bad luck. Adapting to challenges is the name of the game on Cutthroat Kitchen, and a contestant’s inability to do that may ultimately do him or her in. That’s precisely what happened on tonight’s all-new episode when Chef Kristina was gifted a can of spiced ham to use in place of fresh meat in her sloppy joes dish. “I think she wasn’t willing to embrace an ingredient,” Alton told judge Jet Tila on the After-Show. “She saw something that she knew came out of a can, and it was, like, checkout,” he added. Instead of sticking with a traditional approach of ground protein in sloppy joes, Chef Kristina simply sliced the canned product, and Jet wasn’t willing to pardon her for that. “It was slop on a plate,” Jet admitted, and Alton reminded fans, “You’ve got to embrace the ingredient, regardless of its origin.”