Family Food Showdown episode recap: Classic food duos revisited

In this week’s Family Food Showdown episode recap, two families offer their spin on some classic food duos. Did it get too heated in the kitchen?

For this Family Food Showdown episode recap, the kitchen battle was quite spirited. With family pride on the line, only one team would walk away with the $10,000 and the champion title. Which classic food duos were favorites with the judges?

This week’s episode of Family Food Showdown had men versus the women. Brothers versus sisters turned into a fun battle. Which family showed the most creativity in the kitchen?

Like the premiere episode, the showdown is broken into three challenges. For the first challenge, the families took on the classic duo, surf and turf. While many people automatically think of steak and lobster, both teams chose a non-traditional turf, lamb chops.

Looking at the two dishes, the Georges had a more clean combination. The lamb chops with fried sole was a smart duo. The slight heat from the Cajun style fish with the spices on the lamb was delicious. While the potatoes were a little off, the dish still was impressive.

The Cleanthes had a dish that was a little jumbled. With all the seafood and the lamb chops, it was a big plate of food. The biggest problem was that the zucchini was under-cooked. That technical error couldn’t be overlooked by the judges.

Winning the first challenge was the Georges. They received an extra two minutes of cooking time for the second challenge. In this challenge, only two teammates competed in the second challenge. Who would create the best sweet and savory duo featuring bacon?

Looking at the second challenge, the Georges wanted potato redemption. For this food duo, they made two dishes featuring potatoes. It was a smart decision to feature potatoes again because they were showing the judges that they could cook potatoes correctly.

Overall, the Georges offered smart flavor combinations. The Salisbury steak with smashed potatoes was a huge hit. The flavors were on point but also referenced those classic family memories.

For the Cleanthes, their steak was good, but needed a little more balance to the flavors. Their sweet dish, bacon wrapped dates, was superb. The layers of bacon with the dates was a favorite with the judges.

Since they had potato redemption, the Georges won the second round. While winning the first two rounds brings advantages, only the final round can earn the title and $10,000. Sometimes a team is only as good as its last cook.

The final round asked the last cook standing to cook a creative take on traditional mac and cheese. This challenge is interesting because every family seems to have a favorite way of cooking mac and cheese. From cheese choice to toppings, family recipes are steeped in tradition.

This final challenge saw a common theme in the kitchen, recovery. Sometimes the best laid ideas cannot happen given the time frame. In this case, the Georges idea of a mac and cheese ball wasn’t going to happen. The ball wouldn’t come together in the time given.

While the Georges recovered, their dish wasn’t as strong as it could be. Although a riff on shrimp and grits was a creative comeback, the mac and cheese missed a key element, the creaminess. Perfectly cooked shrimp couldn’t make up for that misstep.

The Cleanthes took a carb-overload approach to this challenge. By making a grilled cheese, mac and cheese sandwich, this dish isn’t for the keto friendly. The key to this dish’s success was the combination of cheeses. Adding in goat cheese gave the dish a bright, tang that the judges loved.

Also, this dish had the best parts of both dishes. The creaminess of the mac and cheese was present. Additionally, the richness of a hearty grilled cheese was apparent. Lastly, dish offered some herbs to help balance the robust qualities.

Even though the Georges won the first two challenges, they did not get a clean sweep. The Cleanthes won the final mac and cheese battle and earned the $10,000. The unfortunately mis-step by the Georges proved too much to overcome.

Looking at the challenges as a whole, the Georges probably deserved to win. Plus, something needs to be said for recovering after a kitchen error. If I had to choose which meals to eat, it would have been the Georges.

What did you think of this week’s Family Food Showdown episode recap? Did the judges get it right or wrong?