"throwdown" news and stories

Ted Lee and Matt Lee Photo: The Lee Bros.

So you think you're out playing hooky from work on the promise of a lovely Southern lunch stewed up by your favorite cookbook authors and then all of a sudden, in strides Bobby Flay.

Yup -- "Throwdown."

Matt Lee and Ted Lee and the rest of the assembled had been lured to a barge on the Hudson River -- Matt's preferred canoeing channel -- on the premise that the brothers would be filming a segment for a Food Network special called "Lowcountry Lowdown." They'd filmed the first half in Charleston, S.C., and reportedly, the duel would have gone down on their home turf, had Chef Flay not fallen prey to the vagaries of air travel.

Read more about throwing down with the Country Captain after the jump.

Alanna is traveling for the next couple of weeks, and while you may see a post or two up from her appear on the site while she's away, she isn't near a TV and so can't watch The Next Food Network Star. I'm going to be subbing in for her in the recap department. So let's get started, shall we?

I warn you, after this point, there will be spoilers!

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While the camera work on the show Throwdown with Bobby Flay tries to make all the contestants look shocked when Flay challenges them, I suspect that all of them would accept the challenge even if they knew about it in advance. Some, like this week's contestant, Cindy Reed Wilkins, would definitely take him up because even though Flay is a chef with decades of professional experience under his belt, she has a room full of prestigious trophies that say her chili is one of the best Texas-style chilis in the world. And as she said, you have to be competitive to be great.

The chili cookoff was interesting because it introduced the viewer to the world of cooking competition chilis, which are made according to strict rules (In fact, the rule that contestants aren't allowed to fire guns or use pyrotechnics during the compettitions just seems downright unfair) that would not be known to the average home cook. Wilkins provided some great tips on how to make a competition chili, from what kind of ingredients to use to how big to cut the chunks of beef (3/8-in.).

Cindy faced off against Flay in front of her family and a whole group of friends from the competition chili circuit. And whose chili reigned supreme after the throwdown, which was judged by professional chili judges?

Up and coming chef Ben Sargent had just been given his very own half hour Food Network TV show--all about him and chowder, his specialty. With the sun barely up one morning in May, cameras followed him around the Fulton Fish Market. He stocked up on monkfish, live eels, and giant clams that looked like tubular aliens. The work was scrutinizing, but the last day on camera promised to be easy: a Brooklyn waterfront party where he cooked and his friends gnoshed. Like the cameras weren't even there.

The day arrived. Sargent happily and somewhat drunkenly prepared his chowder. He looked up, and Bobby Flay stood in the audience--the fiery haired Iron Chef, no less. Suddenly, Flay was on him, shaking his hand and challenging him to a chowder cook-off, right then and there.

This wasn't Sargent's show at all. This was Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay and he'd just been had.

Most chefs are very proud of what they do. They are used to working under a lot of pressure and the best chefs are the ones who thrive under it. Pressure and pride make a fiercely competitive person, whether they're competing to prove to themselves that they can do better or they're trying to prove it to others. We've seen aspects of this on Top Chef, but these elements are what make the Food Network's new show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, work.

The premise is this: Bobby Flay goes around and finds someone who is the best (or one of the best) at what they do. He challenges them to "throw down" and compete in a one-on-one culinary competition to see who can make the best product. The competitions are judged by different "experts" in each show.

In all honesty, I didn't expect the show to be any good. But it was.