After the social media chefs secured their spots in the draft, Next Level Chef Season 4 celebrated the home cooks. It is more than tenacity and a willingness to please. Home cooks continually have to impress the harshest critics, their family. Did all that tough love help these home cooks earn high praise from the judges?
For the first challenge, the home cooks had to tackle a concept that is a common occurrence for many people, cooking from pantry ingredients. From boxed products to canned meat, no one could say “there’s nothing to eat.”
The biggest takeaway from the first challenge is that the home cooks are ready to compete. The majority of dishes were creative and full of flavor. From the corn and crab pasta to even the clam ramen, the home cooks proved that they wanted a spot in the competition.
Unfortunately, the two bottom dishes were quite clear. Roma lacked direction from the start of his cook. As Nyesha Arrington encouraged him to strive for an end goal, the plate was just a bunch of ingredients with no common thread. The pile of black beans on a plate was big mis-step.
Jimmy’s dish was unbalanced. While canned meat has tremendous possibilities, the saltiness of that ingredient was overwhelmed by a sweet corn flake cereal. Unfortunately, it was not his intention to make a dessert. It was clearly a miss.
The first home cook sent home was Ruma. With no direction, the judges did not see a way for him to rise to the challenge.
For the second challenge in the middle kitchen, the home cooks needed to cook a dish for a loved one to celebrate a special occasion. Although the home cooks did not get to explain the meaning or purpose behind these dishes, this group was clearly vying for the title. The highs definitely outweighed the lows.
Overall, anyone would be happy to receive one of these dishes as a declaration of endearment. The dishes were thoughtful and well-composed.
The two bottom dishes had plating mistakes. Jimmy’s pasta with bay scallops and green beans needed a bigger bowl and more cook on the green beans. It was ok, but the dish needed some finesse.
Nick’s fish had an error that is seen time and time again in food television competitions. He plated the crispy skin incorrectly.
The soggy skin proved to be the more egregious error. Nick was sent home. The lawyer had no way to argue his way out of this scenario.
For the final challenge to pick the five home cooks for the Next Level Chef Season 4 draft, the home cooks had to create a next level dish. While that statement is broad, the judges wanted to see the best flavor and execution that would compete against a professional chef.
Looking at the dishes, any of these would have been worthy of a spot in the first couple of seasons. Now, the bar is higher. The sauce needs to be perfect and the plate’s composition needs to be on point.
Unfortunately, the two bottom dishes came from Kathy and Jimmy. Kathy’s dish failed due to her sauce. It would have been better if she had just eliminated that component from the dish.
Jimmy struggled again. While he might soar in a Navy aircraft, he hit turbulence in each cook. The lumpy, undercooked potatoes were a miss.
Given his multiple errors across the challenges, Jimmy was eliminated. His time was up.
Overall, the home cooks performed better than the social media chefs. Could it be the season that a home cook earns the title? If Richard Blais can rise from the basement, anything can happen in Next Level Chef.
Next Level Chef Season 4 airs Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Episodes can be streamed the next day on Hulu.