Camden County Technical School teacher wins Food Network’s ‘Chopped’ in second appearance
In the eyes of the Food Network, one local chef has been redeemed.
In the eyes of the Food Network, one local chef has been redeemed.
Camden County Technical School teacher Timothy Witcher took home a win in his appearance on Chopped Tuesday night. Dubbed "Ready for Redemption," the episode saw Witcher beat out fellow Garden State chef Anastacia Song of Porta in Jersey City, as well as New York's Gilbert Delgado and Model Meals Kitchen founder Danika Brysha.
Each contestant had appeared on a previous episode of Chopped, but lost due to minor mistakes — hence the redemption theme. Witcher, for example, neglected to shell his fava beans before including them in a dish in his last appearance on the show.
This time around, however, things went more smoothly. Witcher's first dish — tomato soup with pig snout and fava beans — corrected his previous appearance's mistake right out of the gate. Or, as judge Geoffrey Zakarian put it, "well, you nailed the fava beans."
"Mama's Curry Stew" with fried sweet potatoes, his second dish, didn't go over quite as well. But while judges criticized the dish's dry lamb and smattering yogurt sauce, it wasn't enough to send him home. Brysha, meanwhile, was eliminated.
Witcher beat out Song for a win in the final round with his raspberry doughnut with coconut and cocoa nib mousse. For his trouble, he took home $10,000, as well as a little redemption.
This Chopped appearance is Witcher's seond win on a Food Network show, with the teacher having taken home a victory on the network's Rewrapped in September 2015.
Food Network will re-air Witcher's winning Chopped episode Thursday night, February 25 at 9 p.m.