White House Chef Cristeta Comerford Wins The Super Chef Battle

by Yuliya Talmazan | January 4, 2010 at 12:32 pm

1723 views | 12 Recommendations | 0 comments

The season-opening episode of famous cooking show Iron Chef America featured White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, the first White House Chef to compete on the show. But, Comerford was not the only one making history by appearing on Iron Chef. First Lady Michelle Obama made a brief appearance as well, making her the "first" spouse of a U.S. President to ever appear in a reality TV show.

Paired with Iron Chef Bobby Flay, the Filipino-American 48-year-old Chef Comerford stepped out from the White House kitchen to take part in the Super Chef Battle on America's most popular cooking show on Sunday. The two went face to face against Chefs Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali.

The show was hosted by famous chef and author Alton Brown. The judging panel also featured some pretty high profile celebrities -- Natalie Coughlin, a former Olympian swimmer and Dancing with the Stars contestant, as well as celebrity chef Nigella Lawson. They were joined by actress Jane Seymour, who is not new to reality TV either having been a cast member on season five of Dancing with the Stars.

First lady Michelle Obama appeared in the beginning of the show, welcoming the contestants and speaking on the importance of healthy eating and community gardens. The "secret ingredient" that the chefs were supposed to use to cook their dishes also came from the White House garden that the First Lady oversees.

Chef Comerford has been cooking for the White House since Clinton administration was in power. She has been named the Executive Chef in 2005 and has held the post ever since. Chef Comerford became the first woman to be selected for the position and also the first of Filipino descent to take on the role of cooking for the American President.

Comerford and Flay countered with dishes featuring a fennel and apple salad with oyster; garden salad with lobster and crispy squid; a delightful broccoli clam chowder (that Mrs. Comerford said was Filipino-inspired); a 7-vegetable All-American barbecue dish that incorporated grilled pork, collard greens tamale, cauliflower cheese, and pickled watermelon radish.

The Lagasse and Batali dishes comprised of a scallop with radish and fennel salad; an oyster and salad trio featuring several White House greens; sweet potato and ricotta ravioli; a succulent lardo-wrapped quail and turkey wrapped rice and spinach duet; and dessert of sweet corn beignet with an orange liquor-spiked chicory coffee.