Home (Cooking) For The Holidays

Provo’s Kelsey Nixon spreads holiday cheer

with original recipes and a new Food Network show

For a 24-year-old, Kelsey Nixon’s resume reads like a recipe for success — she’s earned culinary arts degrees and a bachelor’s in journalism, she’s worked for Martha Stewart Living, she develops recipes for Utah-based Zupas, and she’s taught her cooking techniques to millions of Food Network viewers. But it wasn’t until recently that Kelsey was asked to contribute to her family’s holiday feast.

“I’ve just barely earned the privilege to start cooking for the family,” she says. “I’m surrounded by fabulous cooks — it’s intimidating!”

But she has those fabulous cooks to thank for her passion for food — the passion that took her from being a BYU student and Cougarette who tested recipes on roommates to becoming the fan-voted favorite contestant on “The Next Food Network Star.”

Here is a portion of our conversation about chocolate and fish, vintage cookbooks, and the perks of being from Utah.

UV: What are the holidays like in a food-centered family?

Kelsey: We don’t feast just on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Leading up to the holidays there are cookie exchanges, dinner parties, Christmas recipe exchanges. In my family we’ll pick a theme for Christmas dinner. One year it was Mexican food, one year just finger foods, one year we made all fresh pastas like homemade tortellini and ravioli and lasagna. One of the things we all look forward to is the food. Even my grandpa gets involved — he makes a baked salmon dish and pesto poppers. We have a really good time.

UV: What role does food play at this time of year?

Kelsey: Every holiday memory I hold near and dear involves food somehow. Whether it’s the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving, food is a central theme — it brings people together. It doesn’t matter how you were raised or where you come from. It’s something you can share with someone you may have nothing in common with or with the people you love most. When you bring something you’ve made to a holiday party, you’re bringing part of yourself.

UV: How did your family’s love for food help mold your career path?

Kelsey: Food was always the thing I looked forward to as a kid. Family dinner was very important to my mom. I can count on my hands the number of times she didn’t cook a homemade meal. My mom is also a great entertainer. She’ll buy dishes over anything else — she probably has 15 different sets of dishes. She’ll create this huge experience where everyone has a place card and a menu. It may stress some people out, but for us it’s so much fun.

UV: So when you came to BYU, you probably weren’t making Ramen and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Kelsey: I think my passion came when I went to college and had to learn to cook on my own. I had fun learning. I decided to make a new recipe every day. The neighbors really benefited from that!

UV: What did you study?

Kelsey: I came to BYU knowing I wanted to apply to the broadcast program. After a semester I realized that lifestyle wasn’t what I wanted. Call me Utah Valley, but I really want to have a family and do the kid thing and throw the big birthday parties. I thought, maybe there’s something in lifestyle television. I found it when I did my first internship at Martha Stewart Living in New York. They film once a year for three weeks and they’re done. They make a good salary in a short amount of time. It opened my eyes to this additional industry. Whether I’m writing or producing or being an art director, it would be fun and exciting. It’s like I’m killing two birds with one stone — I have the innate desire to be a great homemaker and mom, and I’m learning things that will better those skills.

UV: So after you left Martha Stewart Living, you came back to Provo and started your own show.

Kelsey: Yes, and I didn’t really know what I was doing. I had observed all summer, so I took the lessons from my internship and shot six pilot shows of Kelsey’s Kitchen. It was a disaster — I used volunteer students and they got paid in food. Once the shows were edited, iProvo picked them up and it proved to be successful.

UV: Most college students aren’t spending their free nights working for no pay.

Kelsey: I remember leaving the Kelsey’s Kitchen studio at 10 p.m. some nights with huge laundry baskets full of dirty dishes. It became a huge part of my college life. I was always thinking about what I was going to film each week. But I knew that if I was going to have a career it would have to be early on so I could have a family. I knew I’d need to work the hardest in my first five years. I had to put everything into making something happen.

UV: You eventually shot 100 episodes that aired on iProvo. What kept you motivated through all the dirty dishes?

Kelsey: I believe in the concept of teaching young people how to cook. Over the years cooking has become this lost cause where people don’t care to learn. Through the medium of television there’s got to be a way to reach young people, and that’s been my mission behind this whole career.

UV: So how did you transition from starring in “Kelsey’s Kitchen” to starring in “The Next Food Network Star”?

Kelsey: I auditioned for the first season of “The Next Food Network Star” by filming something in my apartment. I don’t think it was even a sanitary recipe. I didn’t hear anything back, but the next season they called and said they’d like to resubmit my video. The third season I filmed something in Kelsey’s Kitchen to audition and didn’t hear anything. By the fourth season I had moved to L.A. to go to culinary school, and it was the first year they had open call auditions. By this time I had a press kit, a hosting reel and a cooking reel. I showed up and waited three hours to be seen in a group of 10. We were given five minutes to make an impression, and they scheduled me for a second audition — cooking and on-camera. On Thanksgiving Day they called and said I’d been selected as a semi-finalist and they’d fly me to New York for one more audition.

UV: What a long process! Were you nervous or excited?

Kelsey: I got really excited! I flew to New York and was there for 48 hours. Luckily I had just graduated from culinary school two weeks before, so I plowed through the 100-question culinary exam. The most stressful part was walking into Studio B, which was full of executives and the culinary staff. They said, “You have the whole kitchen to use and 20 minutes to make us lunch and we’re going to ask you questions the whole time.” Twenty minutes is not even enough time to cook a chicken breast! They asked me, “What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever dealt with?” and I’m like, “Where’s the sauté pan?” I had sweat circles down to my hips. After that was another series of three-hour long interviews. But three weeks later I heard I’d been selected for the show.

UV: How do you prepare to be a contestant on a reality TV cooking show?

Kelsey: They said I needed to have 30 outfits and 65 original recipes and I’d be in New York for six weeks. I was engaged to be married and had just moved from L.A. I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t anticipate how difficult it would be to wake up every day and think about the same thing. You never knew if you were having a cooking challenge that day or a media appearance. That drove me nuts. You knew nothing. I’m a person who likes to prepare for things.

UV: Prepared or not, you won some of the biggest cooking challenges on “The Next Food Network Star.”

Kelsey: For the fresh-catch-of-the-day challenge we had a surprise visit from chef Michael LaDuke, head chef at Red Lobster. Red Lobster belongs to Darden Restaurants, which is the largest restaurant chain in the world, so it was somewhat overwhelming. We had the opportunity to win a challenge where 680 restaurants would serve our signature dish. We each had to pick a type of fish and an iron chef ingredient, like fruit loops, coffee beans, marshmallow fluff, Coke and caramel. I chose tilapia and white chocolate. We had 45 minutes to plate 30 entrees and only 10 or 15 minutes of actual cooking time. I made Macadamia Tilapia with White Chocolate Beurre Blanc, and somehow I ended up winning!

UV: You created something people could order at every Red Lobster nationwide!

Kelsey: They sold 50,000 the first day. My poor family and friends — every Red Lobster they went to was sold out of my dish. It was wonderful exposure. My face was on the menu!

UV: What are other memorable moments from the show?

Kelsey: For another challenge we were given options of traditional dishes that typically take hours to make, like beef Wellington, turducken and coq au vin, and the goal was to prepare it in 45 minutes and make it accessible to the home cook. Shane, who was another contestant on the show, was my partner and we made a No Nightmare Beef Wellington. Our recipe was featured in the August issue of Bon Appetit magazine! To be published in Bon Appetit is unbelievable. It’s one of the things I’d always hoped to accomplish. It’s such an honor when I think of the people who write for that magazine.

UV: And you made it to the final four contestants. Were you disappointed when you left the show?

Kelsey: I really thought I had one more week, but I didn’t think the judges were picturing me as the winner. They were concerned about my youth and my experience and I knew those would be my biggest challenges. I kept getting the same feedback — look older and have more authority. More than anything I was upset because I knew I had so much support and I hated to let people down.

UV: You definitely had support — the public voted you their favorite contestant!

Kelsey: The fan favorite was an online poll people could go on once a day and vote for the contestant they enjoyed most. From the first episode I was in first place. I ended up winning with 37 percent of the vote. I attribute that all to local support — both in Utah Valley and my hometown of Ogden. I think people really got behind me and were voting religiously. And I won a brand new kitchen!

UV: So what comes next? Will there be more food television in your future?

Kelsey: I’ve been approached by so many production companies, but I think Food Network is the route I should go. It’s the brand that most matches who I am. I’m working on a project with them right now — a Web show about teaching cooking basics. They’re launching a Web site called F2, targeted to 20-somethings for food and drink. It’ll be filled with Web-based programs and other applications suitable to quick, healthy, easy meals.

UV: When can we look for you on F2?

Kelsey: It’s launching January of 2009. We filmed 13 episodes in New York last week and the plan is to do 65 episodes by the end of second quarter next year. My co-host on the show is Spike Mendelsohn from “Top Chef” and we have a great time. I’m the one to do the ‘by-the-book’ classic methods, and he uses crazy ingredients from all over the world. Food Network seems really excited about the whole project and it’ll be advertised on Food Network and foodnetwork.com.

UV: Any local cooking endeavors?

Kelsey: My passion is teaching, so that’s why I love the TV thing. But I have started Kelsey’s Kitchen Consulting, where I come into your home and we cook with the appliances and utensils you have on hand. Whether you’re a college student or a mother of five or retired, if you’re trying to eat healthier or learn five meals you can prepare in under 30 minutes, we solve a problem. It’s in an environment people are comfortable in. I also work as a private chef, and I’m doing birthday parties and bridal showers. I recently teamed up with Johnson Mill, where people will come stay at the bed and breakfast and take cooking courses. I’m testing and developing new recipes for Zupas. I’m also teaching at Thanksgiving Point and Orson Gygi. Sometimes I wish I had just one job, but I really love to teach.

UV: What do you love about living in Utah Valley?

Kelsey: The local support has been unbelievable. Utah really gets behind their own. On the show we were assigned a publicist, and my publicist couldn’t believe the amount of local interest from the get-go. In L.A. you’re with millions of people, but you sometimes feel lonely. People here root for you and follow your success and cheer you on. It’s nice to feel support and love from not only family, but the community. I grew up in Utah and thought, “I can’t wait to get out,” but it took getting out and coming back to realize how beautiful it is here.

UV: We’re glad you came back! Best of luck on your holiday season and your future in food television.

VIEW THIS STORY IN THE MAGAZINE