texasmesquite

Hoping food-fight will make her a TV star

01:00 AM EDT on Monday, June 2, 2008

By Philip Marcelo, Journal Staff Writer
Jennifer Cochrane appeared last night on the season-opener of The Next Food Network Star.The Next Food Network Star.



PROVIDENCE — Jennifer Cochrane learned some valuable lessons one recent day in January.
Given half an hour to cook, she learned that the carrots, prepared in a honey and dill glaze, will come out just fine, but the creamy potatoes au gratin will be raw. The meatloaf will have to be shaped into hamburger-sized patties, briefly baked, then seared on the grill. They will not come out great, but it will be edible.
Unfortunately these lessons were learned on national television before a panel of some of the most famous chefs in America.
“I can’t watch this,” said Cochrane, cringing as the footage from that day played out on a flat-screen television.
Last night, a group of well-wishers gathered at Geppetto’s Pizzeria on Federal Hill, where Cochrane, 32, is a caterer. They drank cocktails on the restaurant’s patio and grabbed freebies provided by the event’s sponsor, the Food Network.
It was all in celebration of Cochrane’s attempt at a dream. Not to be the chef of a world-renowned restaurant (not yet at least). But a chef with a television show.
Cochrane is among 10 finalists on The Next Food Network Star, a reality series that judges amateur and professional cooks on their knowledge of food, their cooking skills and personalities. The winner, as chosen by a panel of Food Network execs and celebrity chef Bobby Flay, will star in a six-episode series.
The series, in its fourth season, premiered last night at 10 and runs weekly until July 27. Last night’s episode introduced Cochrane and the other hopefuls to the TV audience and saw them attempt to cook three dishes in 30 minutes before an elimination round (Cochrane survives for the next episode).
A self-taught cook who grew up in Seattle, Wash., Cochrane has lived in Rhode Island for 11 years. While she’s been instructed to be tightlipped on details (the episodes were filmed earlier this year), Cochrane says the idea she pitched the Food Network was a cooking show for kids.
Cochrane, who has a 4-year-old daughter and is expecting a son in August, said her idea generated some interest from the network reps. “They don’t have a show like that,” she said. “It’s something that would get my daughter interested in something that I’m interested in and that’s important.”
Cochrane is looking to enter a field that’s getting more competitive by the day. Today’s celebrity chef is a blend of knife-wielding cook, world-traveled food expert and outsized personality.
Cochrane says that the show taught her that the demands of the celebrity chef are many. “You have to get there and find out what happens. It is a lot harder than it looks.”
It’s a dream that would have been unthinkable a decade and a half ago.
Back when the Television Food Network debuted on Nov. 23, 1993, it was just a modest basic cable channel (then owned by the Providence Journal Company) showing around-the-clock cooking programs.
Today the channel is seen in more than 90 million households, thanks in large part to the marketability of its personalities. “These food shows are becoming more innovative and they are covering all walks of life,” says Cochrane.
The potential payoff for an aspiring celebrity chef is big. The most popular ones parlay their TV fame into best-selling books, cookware lines, and commercial spots. They become brands onto themselves.
For those who love cooking and food, the job, says Cochrane, means “not having to worry about going into debt opening your own restaurant or working in a kitchen the whole time. And you’re on TV Who doesn’t want that?”
pmarcelo@projo.com