Culinary artist Danielle Caminiti is a lawyer and recipe developer whose site Have U Covered in the Kitchen features a library of great recipes spanning Italian food to Mediterranean cuisine and beyond. She is also a contributor to Appetito and a cherished part of our community. We were delighted when Danielle was selected to be a contestant on Food Network’s 100 Cooks. After the season aired earlier in the summer, our Editor-in-Chief Andrew Cotto sat down with Danielle to get the scoop.
How did this whole thing with 100 Cooks come about?
About a year and a half ago, I was contacted by a casting agent named Cody. He asked if I would be interested in a reality TV show. I’d been contacted a few times before about reality shows, and I’ve always said no. The logistics were bad or it just wasn’t for me, but this one that Cody was calling about was a food-based reality show, which definitely piqued my interest. He told me it would be filmed in the states, probably California, and it would involve home cooks. That was it. There wasn’t even a title yet. We did a quick interview over the phone where we discussed my current situation at home and if I’d be available. I told him I would be.
A year and a half ago goes by, and I didn’t hear from Cody. And then around the end of November, I get a call from him asking if I remembered about the food-based reality show we had discussed. The project had been shelved for a while but it now had the green light. He wanted to know if I was still interested. I asked him a little bit more about the show, and all he could share was that it would involve a large amount of talented home cooks, as opposed to professional chefs, and it's going to be filmed in California over two weeks at the end of January. Sounded good to me.
He asked to fill out an application. He told me soon after that the producers loved it and that I was in the mix of the final applicants. I had no idea if they were going to choose me or not, and Cody kept giving me updates that it was looking better and better, but they were still casting. The problem for me was that I couldn't really plan my life because late January was coming up, and I had some other obligations on the horizon, including being honored by a prominent Italian American organization, but I decided not to rock the boat and just wait and see. Sure enough, right around the holidays, Cody called me and said, "You're in.”
What was your reaction to the news?
Getting that call from Food Network felt like the ultimate Christmas gift. For weeks, I’d been living with all that anticipation and wondering if I was actually going to make the cut, and then I found out I was going. I was so excited. My family and friends were so excited. People I know through social media were reaching out to congratulate me. I mean, so many of us grew up watching Food Network, so this felt like a very big deal.
And then what happened?
I had to talk with their travel coordinator to book my flights. I had to clear my schedule for two weeks. It was a lot of planning. My son is away at college, which made things easier, but I work. I’m a lawyer. I have a family here. It’s not easy to shut everything down for two weeks. I’d also just brought home a new puppy, a Cockapoo named Tortoni that I’d have to leave for a while. That made things a little bittersweet, but still…
What was like once you arrived?
They put us all up at the Marriott in Burbank, but they didn't tell us the other contestants ahead of time. We all met each there for the first time. The show is 100 Cooks, right? So there was all types of people from all walks of life, from all over the country. Different cuisines and ages and background. It was amazing to meet them all. It turns out I knew a couple people from social media, but that was it. The rest were strangers to me, but we got to know each other pretty fast. It was a wonderful experience because we all shared this love of food, and now we're being nationally recognized for it.
How did you find the overall experience?
It was an amazingly positive experience on a lot of different levels, mostly though just taking the leap of faith in myself and stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm comfortable cooking, of course, but cooking on national television for Nick DiGiovanni and Alex Guarnaschelli with Terry Crews as the host is a whole different level of cooking. So, that was the big takeaway for me, but I also learned to get over that impostor syndrome many of us home cooks with fairly significant followers might have. You know, where you wonder, “Am I really good at this?” Clearly somebody's seeing what you're doing and recognizing the work as accomplished. I learned that the other contestants had similar doubts. We were all nervous. We were all in the same boat. It helped me with a sense of validation to be chosen for the show.
What was the filming itself like?
The days were very long. We had to be up really early and plan to spend at least 12 hours on this giant set they had with 30 different cooking stations. We’d get there and have breakfast and then we would be led into the studio, all 100 of us, where we sat in the area normally reserved for the audience, and we’d wait for them to call our number. There were all of these different competitions. Different cuisines. Different amounts of people competing at the same time. Different amounts of time allotted. And, of course, the waiting is hard. You’re watching your new peers compete against one another. You want them to do well, but you also want to win. The grand prize was $250,000 after all. Even sitting there waiting is exhausting because you’re thinking the whole time of what you would do in each situation. You’re also studying what’s going on, so it has this culinary school aspect to it. All of this stimulus while you’re waiting for your number to be called.
What happened when your number was called?
When they called my number, 24, I had to hurry down to the set for a quick tour of the pantry. We’d been through the pantry already, when we did our original tour of the studio, but now I was looking specifically for the things related to the challenge assigned to me and the six others called down at the same time: Sunday Breakfast.
What was your reaction to that category?
Well, let’s just say that it’s not among my specialties. I’m Italian American. On Sunday morning, we’re not making breakfast. We’re getting started on the sauce for an early dinner. Maybe we sneak a meatball or dip some bread in the sauce, but the traditional American Sunday breakfast has never been part of the routine.
How did you respond to this challenge?
It’s funny. I'm a lawyer, and you would think that being practicing litigator and being a cook are two different entities, but the skills that are needed to become a successful lawyer carry over into doing well on a cooking competition show. As a litigator, you have to think on your feet. You have to remain composed. When you're being questioned by a judge about a case, you have to know that case inside out, and you have to anticipate what you're going to be asked and anticipate what the other side is going to be arguing, so I feel like in that sense, I was able to adapt and get my three finished plates complete in the time allowed. That unto itself is a success because not everyone was able to get their plates done in time and be accepted for judging. There was automatic elimination in those cases.
What did you make?
So, I made pesto French toast with a soft-boiled egg and Calabrian chili spread on top. I made pesto from scratch with items from the pantry, and then I made an egg mixture with some heavy cream and blended some of the pesto into that. I soaked Brioche bread in the pesto and egg mixture and let the three slices, one for each judge, rest on a rack while I let the pan get hot. After I put the slices in the pan, I started on the soft-boiled eggs. There’s a sweet spot with soft boiled eggs. You don't want to over boil it. You don't want to under boil it. I took them out after six minutes and got them in an ice bath. All this was going on while the clock's ticking. I only had a half hour to do all of this.
Including making the pesto.
Including making the pesto. So I plated the French toast, added the Calabrian chili spread on top, nestled my eggs on top of that, and garnished it with a little smear of pesto and these little cherry tomatoes from the pantry. I presented one plate each to the two judges and the host.
What did they think?
They had very good things to say about it. Nick said that if all the dishes presented to him were being judged by smell alone, mine would be the winner. Alex, who's from New York, said that it transported her back to childhood when her family would go to Little Italy. They all agreed that the egg was perfectly cooked and that the idea was a good one.
But ultimately…
Yeah. I was eliminated along with four of the other seven participants in that challenge. Nick said he would have used more salt, but I think he said that about almost everybody’s dishes. He also suggested that something sweet would have added more balance and a nice juxtaposition to the savory and spice. I don’t know. I’d never made the dish before, so it was very much an experiment. Funny aside, but I remade it when I got home, and I added some honey. It was really good. Nick was right.
How would you describe the overall experience?
Overall, it was very positive. I made new friends and, obviously, increased my exposure. I learned a lot about cooking and also about how effective social media can be in generating opportunities that previously were unavailable to common people. The critiques from the judges were tough but offered in a very classy way. No regrets.
None?
OK. I do wish they would have told more of my story because it’s unique and relevant. A big part of a cooking competition like this one is the ability to pivot. My whole cooking platform was born from a pivot I made because of COVID, as the title of book implies, From Courtroom to Cucina. That whole story is a pivot, and to just identify me as a lawyer without the broader context left me feeling a little shortchanged, though I’m good.
EDITOR'S NOTE: If you want to see Danielle on 100 Cooks, she appears in Episode 4 of Season 1.
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