''Throwdown! with Bobby Flay'' is a
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...
television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
in which celebrity chef
Bobby Flay
Robert William Flay (born December 10, 1964), is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality. Flay is the owner and executive chef of several restaurants and franchises, including Bobby's Burger Palace, Bobby's ...
challenges cooks renowned for a specific dish or type of cooking to a cook-off of their signature dish.
At the beginning of each show, Flay receives – via
bicycle messenger – a package detailing the chef he is to compete against as well as the dish. Examples of opponents include a skilled chili maker or a famous wedding cake designer. After practicing and preparing the item in question, Flay shows up for a surprise competition (or "Throwdown"). During the competition, both chefs prepare their particular version of the dish, and both are then evaluated by local judges to determine a winner.
Format
Each show includes a mini-biography about the chef who is to be challenged, shown before the challenge takes place. The content for the biography is actually collected as part of an elaborate
ruse
Ruse may refer to:
Places
*Ruse, Bulgaria, a major city of Bulgaria
**Ruse Municipality
** Ruse Province
** 19th MMC – Ruse, a constituency
*Ruše, a town and municipality in north-eastern Slovenia
* Ruše, Žalec, a small settlement in east-ce ...
or setup, where the chef or cook is told that they are going to be featured on a fictitious Food Network show. As part of the show, the featured chef (and their associated restaurant, if any) hosts a small party, which is then unexpectedly "crashed" by Bobby Flay. Upon Flay's arrival, he reveals the true nature of the show, and the "Throwdown" is initiated.
In the Food Network's test kitchen, Flay and his two
sous-chef
A sous-chef is a chef
A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the ...
s (Stephanie Banyas and Miriam Garron) experiment and prepare the particular dish, often opting for a variant of the dish.
When Flay makes his appearance at a rival's event, he is usually greeted with surprise and confusion, although there has been one occasion where the challenged chef figured out that Flay would be appearing for a throwdown and ended up challenging him. Flay's comment was that he "had been set up." However, the rival usually quickly gets over the initial shock and warms up to the challenge. After the dishes are prepared, the two chefs taste each other's creations and are usually quite complimentary towards one another. Finally, the dishes are evaluated by one or more connoisseurs or notable veterans in that field (via a
blind taste test
In marketing, a blind taste test is often used as a tool for companies to compare their brand to another brand. For example, the Pepsi Challenge is a famous taste test that has been run by Pepsi since 1975. Additionally, taste tests are sometime ...
), with the winner then being announced.
Each episode ends with a challenge from Flay looking directly into the camera and saying, "All you chefs keep doing what you do, but ask yourself this..." Finished by the featured chef saying "are you ready for a Throwdown?"
The format of the show does not edit or disguise Flay's lack of knowledge of technique regarding cooking for the challenge. He often makes use of New York City-area experts to teach him basic techniques. In other instances, he acknowledges the traditional approach to the dish but then explains how he will make it more modern or more his own style of cooking with various added ingredients.
Flay's record is 32 wins, 1 tie, and 68 losses. Flay has a winning record (5 wins and 4 losses) with cake challenges, winning throwdowns for cheesecake and cupcakes in season 2, coconut cake and
red velvet cake
Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, red-brown, crimson, or scarlet-colored layer cake, layered with ermine icing. Traditional recipes do not use food coloring, with the red color due to non- Dutched, anthocyanin-rich cocoa.
Common ingred ...
in season 5, and
German chocolate cake
German chocolate cake, originally German's chocolate cake, is a layered chocolate cake filled and topped with a coconut-pecan frosting. Originating in the United States, it owes its name to an English-American chocolate maker named Samuel Germa ...
in season 6. Flay lost throwdowns for wedding cake in season 1,
Bûche de Noël
A Yule log or bûche de Noël () is a traditional Christmas cake, often served as a dessert near Christmas, especially in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and several former French colonies such as Canada, Vietnam, and Lebanon.
Varia ...
in season 5, and
Carrot cake
Carrot cake (also known as passion cake) is cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter. Most modern carrot cake recipes have a white cream cheese frosting. Sometimes nuts such as walnuts or pecans are added into the cake batter, as wel ...
and
Pineapple Upside-down cake
An upside-down cake is a cake that is baked "upside-down" in a single pan, with its toppings at the bottom of the pan. When removed from the oven, the finished upside-down preparation is flipped over and de-panned onto a serving plate, thus "ri ...
in season 8.
Episodes
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
: Highlights aired on ''
Paula's Party
''Paula's Party'' is a show on the Food Network hosted by Paula Deen. Unlike her other show on the Food Network, '' Paula's Home Cooking, Paula's Party'' was originally taped in front of a small audience at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House in Savannah ...
''
: Jack Serio died soon after this episode aired.
A remembrance graphic appeared at the end of the program.
Season 4
: A special "Rematch on the Grill" episode featuring 3 former Throwdown contestants. Ellis showed up at the Throwdown itself to challenge Flay separately.
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
References
External links
''Throwdown! with Bobby Flay'' at Foodnetwork.comMap of Throwdown restaurants*
{{Food Network series
Food Network original programming
2000s American cooking television series
2010s American cooking television series
2006 American television series debuts
2010 American television series endings