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Neptune native Warren Coleman, a retired flight attendant who now lives in Rio de Janeiro, still cooks on the FOX cooking competition “MasterChef.”
Coleman is one of 20 home cooks competing in the show’s 14th season, which premiered in late May.
He earned his spot with a plate of chicken piccata and survived three episodes before the show took a two-week break from broadcasting during the Olympics.
More: Neptune native Warren Coleman cooks his way through “MasterChef”
“MasterChef” returned on August 14 with a two-hour episode. In the first half, the amateur chefs were tasked with baking “the most incredible birthday cake,” said host and judge Gordon Ramsay.
Luckily, Coleman likes to bake.
“I love making beautiful things,” he said in an earlier interview. “I love baking, I just adore baking.”
For the challenge, Coleman baked a chocolate cake with raspberry topping, which secured his participation in the competition.
“I’d like to share with you a beloved recipe that has been a staple in my kitchen for half a century: the Queen of Sheba Cake,” Coleman told The Asbury Park Press. “This decadent treat holds a special place in my heart because it was one of my mother’s favorites.”
His twist on the classic Julia Child recipe includes a raspberry filling and chocolate mascarpone buttercream.
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This season of “MasterChef” will split contestants into teams based on age – Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers; Coleman, 70, is in the latter. After the cake challenge, the chefs were asked to use “iconic ingredients” of their generation, Ramsay said.
Coleman was originally tasked with creating a four-ingredient meal from a package that included powdered milk, canned meat, bran flakes, iceberg lettuce, white bread, cottage cheese, canned spinach, canned fruit salad and gelatin, among other ingredients. But a twist in the competition gave him Gen-Z ingredients: gluten-free bread, canned tuna, plant-based meat, bagel seasoning mix, almond butter, cashew cheese, matcha, oat milk, almond milk, bone broth, kimchi and jackfruit.
The list of ingredients didn’t bother him.
“I am what the young people say … carefree,” Coleman said on the show.
He then prepared boneless chicken thighs with bone broth, pureed cauliflower and his grandmother’s recipe for fried eggplant – a dish that once again kept him in the competition.
“MasterChef” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on FOX.
Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing about all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to [email protected], Follow us on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to our Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.
