Western Chef Chris Salans Goes Asian
By Clover Ng
Chef Merrin Mae Fuentebella was the recent winner of the cooking competition “Cutthroat Kitchen”, organised by the Food Network. Forced to use the skill of improvisation to overcome the hurdles posed by the challenges in each round, it was with remarkable ease that she was able to adapt to the changing circumstances. This skill was honed during her time at Sotto, a Southern Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. While cooking staff meals, the challenge to use leftover ingredients yet make something nice prepared her well for the difficulty of not having the use of a stove in the episode “Kiss My Grits”, where she managed to prepare three dishes of nachos, sausage and peppers, and shrimp grits, in the process winning $25,000. Her advice to chefs-to-be is simple, “Have fun with food. I think people are too cramped by a recipe and I think if you play with food and integrate a little bit of your personality, you feel the soul , you feel the love of where it came from.”
