Food Network’s late-night lineup is filled with cooking competition shows, but the latest, “Beat Bobby Flay,” has something that makes it different: simplicity.
“What makes it unique is that it’s really straight forward,” Flay says. “I feel like a lot of times all kinds of competition, not just food shows, but just competitions in general, they have so many moving parts to them it’s hard to follow.”
“Beat Bobby Flay” is simple: Two chefs compete making a dish using an ingredient chosen by Flay. Then two people who know Flay well decide which chef has a better chance of defeating the Iron Chef in a face off making a dish of the competitor’s choosing.
“It’s really 30 minutes of just high energy,” Flay says.
Being a veteran of “Iron Chef” and other competition shows like “Throwdown with Bobby Flay,” the chef is not afraid of what might happen to his reputation if he does, in fact, get beat.
“Well, listen, you can’t win them all,” he says. “It’s going to happen and I just like competing. I was always an athlete as a kid so I like playing the games. So, listen, if somebody comes in and they take me down, good for them. I mean, I didn’t win every time on ‘Iron Chef,’ that’s for sure. And I think it’s a great opportunity for other chefs to get some attention.”
Not fearful of giving away some hints to his competition, the chef did disclose some tips on how to beat him.
“I would certainly look for people that have techniques that I don’t usually employ,” he says. “Molecular gastronomy maybe. Although that can be a tough thing to do in a short period of time. Things like Asian ingredients [are] not really my go-to. I love to eat it, but I don’t cook it very often.”
That said, the chef best known for cooking with southwestern and Mediterranean ingredients, and grilling, says that the chefs have been challenging him right in his wheelhouse.
“I’ll tell you what, we’ve done eight episodes so far and shockingly people have gone right for me, like things you might think I would be known for,” Flay says. “I kind of love when they just go right for my jugular.”
