TV • PAGE 21
THE BULLETIN • JUNE 17 - 23, 2021
tastytv
BY GEORGE DICKIE
Sabin Lomac
Food Network’s ‘Grill of Victory’ puts
barbecuers’ creativity to the test
The gas grill can be one of the
most versatile tools in a cook’s
toolbox, as viewers of an upcoming
Food Network competition series
will soon learn.
In “Grill of Victory,” premiering
Monday, June 21, home cooks with
a passion for food prepared over
flame are tasked with preparing
breakfast, lunch, dinner and even
dessert on their grills over the
course of three rounds. The winner
at the end of the six hourlong
episodes, as determined by a
rotating panel of judges including
Susie Bulloch, Tregaye Fraser,
Darnell Ferguson and Christian
Petroni, wins a custom-built
backyard kitchen.
So not only are standards like
steak, chicken and seafood on the
barbecue menu, but there are also
unlikely items such as pizza, banana
splits and even a Shepherd’s pie
as contestants used their grills for
functions like baking and smoking.
Sabin Lomac (“Seaside Snacks
& Shacks”), the show’s host, was
impressed by the contestants’
outside-the-box thinking.
“We had people putting in wood
chips to create the elements of
smokers,” he explains. “You know,
we obviously had people using their
saute pans on the side of the grill to
make side dishes and really round
out the meal. Some people, the
contestants, their use of the pantry
and just getting outside of their
comfort zone.”
There were nerves all around
as the cooks grappled with the
jitters in the early rounds and
the judges locked horns over the
different dishes, a nacho cheese
hot dog being a particular bone of
contention. But Lomac says the
successful chefs were the ones who
took the judges’ criticism well and
listened to their advice.
“I really remember a couple of
the contestants,” he says, “first
round maybe didn’t go their way,
the second round got a little better,
and by the third round I think the
nerves were gone and they just said,
‘I’m gonna go win this.’ And a lot
of times, we just said, ‘Take your
time. Compose yourself. Think
about what you want to do before
you start running and scrambling.’
And I think they actually did that.
And so in the end, you looked at
a really well-composed, rounded
dish.”
But this being a grilling
competition, the final product
needed to look and taste like it was
prepared on a grill.
“A lot of times,” Lomac says, “we
were also saying, ‘We need to be
reminded that this was cooked on
a barbecue, so don’t forget the char,
don’t forget the smoke. Don’t forget
we kind of like that. You know,
we like having chicken with some
burnt edges. It doesn’t need to be
so pretty all the time.’ ”