The hot-off-the-presses MasterChef Cookbook is striking the first time you look at it.  It’s satiny metallic cover embossed with the MasterChef logo is almost intimidating.  Looking at it I was left with the impression that it might open up at any moment to reveal a bright red spandex suit that would give me super powers.

The book contains recipes from each of the 14 finalists plus a contributions from hosts Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot Bowles.  Glaringly absent from the book is Chef Gordon Ramsey but honestly if you wanted a cookbook by Gordon he’s already written over a dozen.  However, if you saw a recipe on MasterChef that you just really loved then this is the book for you.

Within its 272 pages you’ll find 75 recipes and a 150 photographs making it first rate food porn.  Additionally you’ll find an essay by Bastianich entitled “Wine Notes.”  The chefs of the MasterChef kitchen have also assembled step by step instructions intended to help you master the basics of cooking called “Master the Basics.”  Now that’s branding.

This torrent of culinary data is masterfully brought together by veteran cookbook author and producer JoAnn Cianciulli.  Cianciulli (chan-chew-lee) is one of the food industry’s top insiders having worked with most of the country’s best chefs.  She has also worked behind the scenes on some of the most popular food shows like Bravo’s Top Chef and numerous Food Network programs.

MasterChef Cookbook is a great companion to the hit series.  It brings together a behind-the-scenes look at the contestants and hosts, recipe made famous on the show and ample bonus material.  If you are a MasterChef fan then you need to get the MasterChef Cookbook published by Rodale Books and available at amazon.com.

I am curious to see what unfolds on the Next Iron Chef 3.

The original was amazing television that was made up of past Food Network stars like Aaron Sanchez and eventual winner Michael Symon and introduced us to some new ones like Chris Cosentino (who now co-hosts Chefs vs. City with Sanchez) and TLC’s John Besh (Inedible to Incredible).

The drama of that first season lay in the fact that every contestant was an established star chef who realized that winning NIC could mean the difference between a six figure salary and a seven figure salary. Also adding to the chemistry was the fact that most of the competitors were old friends. Though there was a little friendly trash talking there was a strong sense of camaraderie among that first group.

Season 2 was not very good. With few exceptions (Amanda Freitag, Eric Greenspan, Nate Appleman and Jose Garces) there were few truly well-known chefs in the contest. What there seemed to be was an over-abundance of was contrived drama and a gaggle of idiotic challenges that did nothing to prove who was best qualified to be an Iron Chef.

There was also Jehangir Mehta, a pastry chef of all things vying to be the Next Iron Chef. Mehta, though talented, seemed to get moved along each week despite a number of tragically failed challenges, cheating and other undesirable behavior. It was clear by season’s end that Mehta was not there because he was a plausible Iron Chef but because the Food Network knew viewers would hate him and tune in just hoping he’d get eliminated.  Adding to the failure of Next Iron Chef 2 was the fact that the eventual winner, Jose Garces shot three battles as an Iron Chef in 2009 and has since been invisible.

Speculation has been rampant: Has Batali finally completed his long, drawn-out exit?  Is Cat Cora stepping away to spend more time with her growing family?  She was on MasterChef you know?  Maybe Flay, Symon or Morimoto is leaving?  The most popular assumption is that there has been some kind of falling out between the Food Network brass and Chef Garces.

Season 1 produced Michael Symon who is the winning-est Iron Chef in the history of the show having taken home victory over 80% of the time he’s gone out. Season 2 produced, well, nothing really. So just what does the third season hold? Will it elevate someone new to a title that signifies the best of the best or will it be another one hit wonder?  I guess we’ll all have to wait until October.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my exclusive interviews with Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Michael Symon.

If Iron Chef America host Alton Brown has said it once he’s said it a dozen times, when it comes to fish you do not want to battle Morimoto.  How true, out of Morimoto son’s thirty some-odd battles he’s has only lost twice when the secret ingredient was fish.  Once was to Seattle chef Tom Douglas in Battle Wild Salmon.  Oddly enough the only other chef to defeat the senior Iron Chef in a fish battle was also from Seattle.

Just recently Titlh chef/owner Maria Hines handed Morimoto his second loss in Battle Pacific Cod.  Judges John T. Edge, Julie White and Sam Haskell felt that Hines prepared the best tasting dishes awarding her 28 points in the “flavor” category to just 23 for the Iron Chef.  But Iron Chef is only the latest accolade for the  Bowling Green, Ohio native.  Chef Hines also won a James Beard Award for Best Chef of the Northwest in 2009 and was named one of Food & Wine Magazine’s 10 Best New Chefs of 2005.  Chef Maria is a founding member of Seattle Restaurant Week.

After studying at Mesa College she soon found herself working in kitchens in New York, France, California, Washington D.C. and of course Seattle, first at Earth & Ocean and now with Tilth.  Hines was also a contestant on the second season of Top Chef: Masters which was won by Marcus Samuelson.

Recently Chef Maria Hines was courteous enough to answer 7 Questions:

1. How old were you when you first started to cook?

8

2. When did you decide that you could make food your career?

16 years old

3. Which chefs have influenced you the most?

Alice Waters

4. If you hadn’t followed this career path, what other career could you see yourself in?

Photography

5. What’s the highlight of your career so far?

Owning Tilth restaurant.

6. Only two chefs have ever bested Iron Chef Morimoto in a battle involving fish, yourself and Tom Douglas.  What is it about Seattle that makes the chefs so proficient with seafood?

We are surrounded by an amazing seafood bounty in the Northwest.

7. What’s next for Chef Maria Hines?

This is it. I love Tilth.

Finally!  It has been 6 years, 213 days, 9 hours and 37 minutes since the last Iron Chef: America.  At least if feels like it anyway.  With Top Chef and Hell’s Kitchen wrapping up their seasons, NFNS hitting it’s stride and the MasterChef premiere it is nice to get back to the TV cooking competition that started it all (sort of) and remains the best.

From the Emerald City comes Maria Hines and her New American cuisine.  Hines insists that the food at her restaurant, Tilth, be prepared with certified-organic or wild ingredients that are locally sourced.  The approach has won the chef/owner a James Beard Award winner for Best Chef of the Northwest in 2009 and saw her named one of Food & Wine Magazine’s 10 Best New Chefs of 2005.  Chef Maria is founding member of Seattle Restaurant Week.

The challenger is a native of Bowling Green, Ohio.  After studying at Mesa College her career has seen her working in kitchens in New York, France, California, Washington D.C. and of course Seattle, first at Earth & Ocean and now with Tilth.  The Top Chef: Masters alum now faces off against the dean of Iron Chefs, the incomparable Morimoto.

The theme ingredient is Pacific cod.  You never want to face Morimoto in a fish challenge.  The judges were John T. Edge, Julie White and Sam Haskell.

Click HERE for the outcome.

“MASTERCHEF” STARTS COOKING TUESDAY, JULY 27, ON FOX

NATIONWIDE SEARCH BRINGS 50 AMATEUR HOME COOKS

TO LOS ANGELES TO VIE FOR FIRST-EVER “MASTERCHEF” TITLE

Top 14 Revealed Tuesday, August 10

Sharpen your knives and fire up your stoves! Famed chef Gordon Ramsay’s newest culinary competition series, MASTERCHEF, based on the smash international hit, is set to start cooking Tuesday, July 27 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. After a nationwide search for the best home cooks in America, the series will turn one of 50 hopefuls into a culinary star and America’s first-ever MASTERCHEF.

In the premiere episode, the hopefuls will have one hour to prepare their signature dishes and present them to the distinguished MASTERCHEF judging panel: Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay; restaurateur and wine maker Joe Bastianich; and the youngest four-star chef in America, Graham Elliot. The judges are looking for passion, creativity and most importantly great flavor and taste. Only the most deserving home cooks who impress the judges will win the coveted white apron and will move on to the next round of the competition.

On Tuesday, Aug. 3 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), the judges will reveal the Top 30, and each week, the stakes will be raised as more hopefuls are eliminated until the Top 14 are announced on Tuesday, Aug. 10 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT). Then, beginning Wednesday, Aug. 18 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), the show moves to a new night and expands to two-hour episodes as the hopefuls dish out their absolute best in an effort to impress the judges and continue in the competition.

Click HERE for a chart listing the hometowns, professions and signature dishes of the 50 home cooks.

Also a good read is Chris Spradley’s blog post about his Casting Call Experience for MasterChef.  Read it HERE.