Marc Murphy is a highly respected executive chef and restaurateur of the popular New York eateries Landmarc and Ditch Plains but chances are, out here in Orange County, you know him best for being one of your favorite judges on Food Network's Chopped. If you think it would be cool to say, hang out with Marc or one of the other judges in the kitchen or maybe turn the tables on them with mystery baskets, the Food Network is doing just that by giving us a brand new webseries called, Chopped After Hours.

This ten episode webseries is being featured on FoodNetwork.com and is on after each on-air episode of Chopped. It has the judges tackling basket ingredients from the episodes they just judged and offers up plenty of behind-the-scenes interaction between some of our favorites including Murphy, Alex Guarnaschelli, Chris Santos, and Aaron Sanchez. Since we wanted to get some insider info about Chopped After Hours, we went straight to the source to ask Marc "Five Totally Chopped Down Questions" about it.

OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): Now I'm not trying to bring up any bad memories BUT, do you think you might have had an unfair advantage on "Chopped All-Stars" because you had a bum hand?

Marc Murphy: All-Stars is always a great time and I agreed to participate with a cast on so, I wouldn't say I was at a disadvantage. Most importantly, I was able to raise awareness for my charity Share Our Strength, and that's really what it's all about.

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Food Network

I was really nervous but I had an absolute blast with it.

Some people know what they want to be when they grow up from a very young age and Scott Conant just happens to be one of those lucky souls. Over the years, through plenty of hard work and dedication, Conant has earned worldwide recognition and awards for being an outstanding chef, but he's not a one-trick pony by any means. Scott has also received various awards for being a successful restaurateur, he's a regular around the Food Network, and is the author of some fabulous cookbooks, with another new one coming out in October.

This Sunday, April 21st on the Food Network, he'll be taking part in the Chopped All-Stars "Chopped Judges" competition. And while Conant's role is always critiquing the food, this time he'll be facing off as a competitor against his fellow judges to win $50,000 to be donated toward his charity of choice, Keep Memory Alive. Before the showdown goes down, we talked to Scott about how it feels to be on the other side of the table, how nerve-racking it is to battle your friends, and to find out why we don't have a Scarpetta here in Orange County.

OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): As we all know, those mystery baskets on Chopped are a real crap shoot. What is the grossest thing you've ever eaten on the show?

Scott Conant: It was the "viewers' choice basket." I have to be honest, I really thought that people liked the show, but it wasn't very nice for us. [Laughs.] This stuff had chicken in a can and durian in it. And that was a kicker. I love when people are like, "well if you can get past the smell of durian, it's actually really good." No. I disagree 100%. The only positive attribute of durian is the texture but I just find it impossible to eat.

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LP Hastings

Roland Rubalcava of Rubalcava's Bakery prefaces this month's demonstration with a truth that, now stated, will hopefully keep a couple of people from commenting, "That's not how my mama does it!" on this article.

"Everybody's gonna have a little different idea how to make the best enchiladas," he says, and ain't that the truth. You can fill them with literally whatever you want, but the most common fillings are shredded chicken, potato, or cheese. The key in making your enchiladas though, regardless of whether your mami does it better, is how you fry them up. Apparently, the whole enchiladas in a casserole dish are a farce, and Roland says it makes restaurants looks lazy. He showed the Weekly how to make the simplest enchiladas, which is the best way to have your key ingredients shine through, and it turned out damn fantastic.More »

Dave Lieberman

Lately, I've had to resort to picky douchebaggery when ordering Old Fashioneds in bars, just as when I order a martini. It's all the fault of the writers and producers of Mad Men, who wouldn't know a good Old Fashioned if it got spilled on their nuts.

We're not going to get into the martini thing again--just go read Caroline On Crack's excellent series on classic cocktails--but we are definitely going to talk about the bastardization of the world's original cocktail.

You see, Don Draper is doing to the Old Fashioned what James Bond did to the martini: ruining it. No one ever specifies the recipe, but you can see it; what Don Draper drinks is not an Old Fashioned. What Don Draper drinks is a fucking fruit salad with bitter whiskey sauce.

I've tried it that way more times than I can count with my shoes on and my fly up, and it sucks.

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Sometimes, there is just that one family you look at and think, "I wish I could be related to them." For a lot of us who watch cooking shows religiously, it's the Deen family. Bobby Deen is lucky enough to be part of that family, and while it seems like they get along so famously while the cameras are rolling, it turns out when the cameras turn off, they still get along famously! Yep, go ahead and be even more jealous.

With age comes wisdom, and when it comes to Bobby (and no, we're not calling him old, so simmer down), he takes pride in living as much of a healthy lifestyle as possible. Sure, he has his vices, but when it comes to his Cooking Channel show Not My Mama's Meals, he has found a way to cut down the calories and still keep the flavor intact. He also has a cookbook, From Mama's Table to Mine, that gives you even more delicious options, all at 350 calories or less. After we had the chance to talk to Bobby and watch him in action on his show, we found that with a little help from his tricked-out recipes, cooking up amazing dishes in a healthy way can be a lot easier and more fun than you think.

OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): First off, I didn't realize you were a man of so many talents and played the drums and guitar! Any thoughts of opening a House of Blues type of venue down the line?

Bobby Deen: You know, I haven't really thought about that, but how cool would that be? That's a great idea, though. I'll have to give you credit if I do it. [Laughs.] The drums are something from when I was kid. We never had any money, so I don't know how they did it, but my parents made sure I had a little set of drums because I was just so crazy about them. I have always had a set. The guitar is a newer thing in the past three or four years. I found that I wanted to learn something, and once you get to a certain age, you don't really have to learn too much if you don't want to. I mean, I'm done with high school. [Laughs.] I wanted to just try to tackle something, so I tried the guitar. It's very challenging, and it's something that takes a lot of dedication and practice, and I like it. I'm one of those people that if I find something I like, I'm all in. I have a sickness for guitars. I collect them way better than I play them, but I hope to live long enough to be a good guitarist one day.

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Ching He-Huang may be a self-taught chef but she was taught by some of the best, her very own family. With a long line of traditional heritage, Taiwanese-born Ching helped out with a lot of the cooking growing up and moves to South Africa and later to London helped mold her tastes and styles but luckily for us (and our taste buds), she came back to her roots which included dishing up delicious Chinese cuisine. These days Ching has a plethora of bestselling cookbooks under her belt, well-loved cooking shows in the UK and the US, a line of utensils and tableware, and even her own mushrooms! Talk about giving Rachel Ray a real run for the money!

Just in time for the big festivities, Ching's Chinese New Year will be premiering February 10th at 5pm on the Cooking Channel offering up simple and tasty recipes, decoration ideas, and backstories on traditions all from beautiful Chinatown in San Francisco. Ching has the scoop on how to accomplish it all and since she is the pro, we had the chance to ask her all about it and then some.

See Also:
*Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos Are Extra Spicy on Their Cooking Channel Show Extra Virgin
*Geeta Bansal Interviews Albert Adria, Pastry Genius
*New Little Saigon Restaurant Serves Rolls And Only Rolls

OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): For those unaware, OK, I'm talking about me, how do the animals come into play with the Chinese calendar?

Ching He-Huang: Well in the Chinese calendar there are twelve animals in the year and they go around in a cycle. None of the animals have a bad meaning so if you are that animal, you take on the characteristics of it. They're all positive traits. Like if you are born in the year of the dragon it means you are powerful and strong, the tiger is one of the luckiest signs, and the rat is very clever and homely and so on. Also right now we are coming into the year of the snake and they have really charming features. They're really social, clever, quick, you know, just like the animal. They're all good things!

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LP Hastings

I admit it. Before meeting with Roland Rubalcava a couple of days ago I had no idea what pozole was, and I actually called it "Po-zol" (the e is silent?) However, after a quick explanation from my extremely Mexican editor, and an hour with Roland, I am no longer in the dark. So, whether you are super gabacha like me, or just want to learn how to make this amazing dish--the Weekly is here to help. Pozole is a very simple, and relatively easy soup to make. It's hearty, but healthy, and when made correctly, can taste incredibly fresh.
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When two artists come together something magic is bound to happen. When you marry the two with the added passion of cooking, sparks are sure to fly in the kitchen. Those sparks are the exact effect that Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos provide that keeps drawing loyal viewers to their Cooking Channel show Extra Virgin on Wednesday's at 6:30pm (PST). Teaching the audience authentic recipes that were passed down from their families while adding modern twists is one of the main ideas behind Extra Virgin but, it is not the only thing the show offers. It turns into a family affair when their adorable daughters get in on the act helping out, the dishes they serve up come out delicious by using traditional ingredients, and it shows that getting into the kitchen and cooking can be fun as well as sexy. We got a chance to chat it up with Gabriele and Debi to find out how they get all of the ideas it takes to have a show like Extra Virgin, what it's like in their home when the cameras stop rolling, and what we can expect from the rest of the season.

See Also:
*Melissa d'Arabian Is Here To Help You Drop 5 Lbs with Good Housekeeping
*Italian Burrito Concept Debuts In Costa Mesa
*This Week In Food: Wild Goose, Grilled Cheese, and the Register's Food Critic

OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): Where do you come up with the arsenal of recipes it takes to have a cooking show?

Debi Mazar: Basically we deal with it season to season. We have a blog called "Under the Tuscan Gun" and for the most part it has been a combination of family recipes, recipes that he and I have created together, and a lot of traditional Tuscan ones that we have our own spin on. As the seasons have progressed, we had to get more and more inventive. Gabriele has been in the kitchen experimenting and obviously when we go to Italy, we've been paying a lot more attention to our friends and the grandparents to pick up new spins on things because there are endless recipes. But for the most part, we have used our stock pile of traditional stuff.

Gabriele Corcos: The thing is that this project started off as playtime for Debi and me. We didn't start it knowing that we would need 300 or more recipes! So we started off with my core recipes and I called my grandma on the phone and got more stuff and eventually, I started developing them. So there is not much of pulling out of a magic hat when it comes to these recipes. We always go back to these traditional ingredients and basics that go into making Tuscan cuisine so fascinating and wonderful. It's not really about showcasing a big recipe, it's more about inviting people to get together and share the experience of cooking together in the kitchen. Bringing back the meaning the kitchen had when you used to spend time in your grandma's house with the smells, aromas, the music, and back ground noises. For me recipes are not about showing off, it's about loving people and feeding them.

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No matter your gender, there really does come a time when you notice a slow crawl in the ol' metabolism and at that point you might ask yourself, what can I do? With a New Year comes new resolutions we try to keep about eating better and living a healthier lifestyle and if you need a little extra help, Melissa d'Arabian is here to save the day. We first "met" Melissa when she won season five of The Next Food Network Star and since then, she has been, as they say, "really cooking." Her helpful show Ten Dollar Dinners (on Food Network) provided amazing recipes on a shoestring budget, and her cookbook Ten Dollar Dinners: 140 Recipes & Tips to Elevate Simple, Fresh Meals Any Night of the Week made The New York Times Best-Seller List in its first week!

Melissa's star is burning brighter than ever with her Cooking Channel show Drop 5 Lbs with Good Housekeeping heading into its second season staring this January 19th. Before the show kicks off its new season, we got the chance to ask Melissa what we can expect from it, how we can save money while feeding the family, and advice on how to stop shoving potato chips into our mouths. Oh yeah right, it's just me huh?

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