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Though her family didn ’ t cook much when she was young , celebrity chef Amanda Freitag recalls seeing amazing food prepared — inamovie . “ My dad used towatch a whodunit called �ho �s �illin� the �reat Chefs of Europe� ,” she says . “ Each chef was murdered by their cooking specialty , like one was murdered by having his head stuck in aduck press . Watching the food scenes in that movie got me into ( cooking ),” she says with alaugh . If the movie were remade today and America ’ s great chefs were being knocked off , it ’ s hard to imagine which meal or preparation method would spell the end for Freitag . She ’ s prepared Southeast Asian , Mediterranean , French , Italian and American farm-to-table cuisine as achef inhigh-end Manhattan restaurants , including �ong , �erbena
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and The Harrison . She ’ s even made a delectable dish using pork chops , rutabaga , a Mexican chocolate drink and �apanese street food .
That last meal was created during a “ Beat the �udge ” episode on Choppe� , one of the many Food Network cooking competitions Freitag has appeared on as a contestant
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, judge orhost since 2008 , when she came within acouple points of defeating Bobby Flay on �ron Chef America� Though her father raised her to “ Say yes to every opportunity ,” she says , that culinary face-off almost didn ’ thappen , because Freitag ’ s initial reaction to her invitation was apolite “ No thank you .”
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