'Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend': Meet Marcus Samuelsson, winner of 'Top Chef Masters' and 'Chopped All Stars 2012'
When it comes to proving your worth in the kitchen, one thing is for sure, the chefs and challengers of 'Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend' aren't here to play! With the show getting an interesting makeover, "five new trailblazing Iron Chefs will welcome brave Challenger Chefs to the reimagined Kitchen Stadium, where they'll face off and be pushed to the limits of endurance and creativity, as they cook up extraordinary culinary creations. The competition’s most successful Challenger will return to battle in a grand finale for the chance to be named the first ever "Iron Legend.""
Ready to take on the challengers are none other than 'Iron Chef' alumni and world-renowned chefs Curtis Stone, Marcus Samuelsson, Gabriela Camara, Dominique Crenn and Ming Tsai. Curious to know more about them? Continue reading to find out! In the meantime, if you're on the prowl for culinary reality shows to sink your teeth in, you might want to consider 'MasterChef Junior' and 'MasterChef: Back to Win'.
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Who is Marcus Samuelsson?
Marcus Samuelsson is a celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He was born Kassahun Joar Tsegie was born in Ethiopia. Samuelsson interest in food began thanks to his maternal grandmother -- he later studied at the Culinary Institute in Göteborg in Gothenburg, before coming to the United States in 1994 to be an apprentice at Restaurant Aquavit.
Who inspired Samuelsson?
In a conversation with Mashed, he spoke about how his grandmother and other mentors had a profound impact on him. "I think that goes in stages. In the beginning, it was definitely my grandmother, even before I knew I wanted to be a chef. I would say once I started cooking with some chefs back home in Gothenburg, that they saw something in me ... even earlier than maybe even my parents saw that this was my path," he explained.
"I had a chance to get to Switzerland and Japan very early. And I mean, for me, the whole relationship with mentorship and mentee is something that I've addressed all my career, because I had great mentors to guide me. I still have great mentors to guide me," he added. "There's several mentors. I would say someone like Chef Charlie Trotter that passed away about eight years ago now, in Chicago, and Chef Leah Chase, out of New Orleans that just passed away a couple years ago. People like that really took me under their wing and guided me and coached me," he explained.
His culinary journey
Samuelsson quickly proved his prowess in the kitchen, seeing that at just 24, he became the executive chef of Aquavit and the youngest chef ever to receive a three-star restaurant review from The New York Times. His accolades go beyond this, seeing that his cookbook, 'The Soul of a New Cuisine' received the prize "Best International Cookbook" by the James Beard Foundation. His other books include 'Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine', 'En Smakresa ("A Journey of Flavour")', and 'Street Food'. When it comes to his TV presence, Samuelsson's works include 'The Dylan Ratigan Show', 'Guy's Grocery Games', 'Top Chef', 'Iron Chef USA', 'Iron Chef America', 'Chopped Junior', 'Beat Bobby Flay', 'Cooks vs. Cons' and 'Chopped'.
His net worth
As per Celebrity Networth, Samuelsson has a net worth of $5 million. This comes as no surprise, seeing that between his multiple restaurants, tv appearances and book deals, he had made quite the name for himself. Samuelsson is also a philanthropist, seeing that actively partakes in charity work. He also competed on 'Top Chef Masters' and 'Chopped All Stars 2012: Judges Remix' both of which he won and donated the $115,000 prize to UNICEF's grassroots effort The Tap Project and the $50,000 prize to Careers Through Culinary Arts Program respectively.
'Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend' premieres on June 15, 2022 only on Netflix.