Filipina wins Food Network’s ‘Chopped’ New Year cook-off
Filipino-American Charleen Caabay won the “New Year’s Bash” episode of the reality-based cooking television game show Chopped on the Food Network.
Image grabbed from shiftlocal
Chef Caabay, owner of “Kainbigan” Restaurant in Oakland, is the first Filipino-American female chef to win on the show. With $10,000 to win, chef Charleen bested three other contestants in the show’s first-ever New Year’s party.
The show is divided into three rounds, each chef is given a basket of several unrelated ingredients and the prepared dish must contain all of them. At the end of each round, the panel of rotating culinary judges decides which chef gets “chopped” based upon presentation, taste and creativity.
The featured judges for this episode were: Alex Guarnaschelli; Aarón Sánchez; Scott Conant.
Chef Caabay, inspired by culinary heritage, showcased the comforting flavors of Filipino cuisine. She started the show off with her appetizer dish, Crab Torta (Filipino-style omelette) with Collard Green Laing and Champagne Butter Sauce. Scott Conant loved the richness from the coconut milk and Aarón Sánchez appreciated the big chunks of crab that were welcoming and brought a sense of comfort when he ate the torta.
Image grabbed from pqmonthly
In the second round, Chef Caabay presented her special entrée dish of Martini-steamed Lobster tail with Barbeque Strip Loin. “There’s some really great cooking here!” I love the meat, it’s deee-licious, when I pull the lobster out of the shell and I get the marinade on it, it’s delicious!” Scott Conant said simply, “It’s good eating!”
In the final round, Chef Caabay topped off the party with a Funnel Cake with Pomegranate Grape Compote.
“When I went into Chopped, I wanted to put down Filipino food from the get-go. That was just something I was comfortable with it. I wanted to show it. This was my chance to show Filipino food to the world,” she said.
Chef Charleen is planning a trip to the Philippines to develop a menu for a new restaurant she plans to open soon along the Bay Area.
The Food Network is scheduled to air re-runs of the Chopped episode starting Thursday, December 29th through New Year’s Eve Saturday, December 31st.
Source: Inquirer, ABS-CBN News
