Nyesha Arrington Spills On Her Experience Cooking With Selena Gomez - Exclusive
Do cooking shows often win MTV Movie & TV Awards? No. But in May 2021, "Selena + Chef" did (via Billboard). It's hard to argue with the award; there was something mystical about watching a superstar singer hang out in her kitchen in the middle of a pandemic and drink in cooking tips from the best chefs in the world. In an interview with Mashed, Food Network star Marcela Valladolid called the experience "no-holds-barred." Gourmet food truck wizard Roy Choi told Mashed that, "It was very fluid... she was really good, man!" As for "Top Chef" alum Nyesha Arrington?
"First of all, it's really amazing to be able to cook virtually with her, because, we weren't able to do a lot outside of that," Arrington spilled to Mashed in an exclusive interview. "So to be able to connect with someone during the pandemic was amazing. " In Season 1, Episode 10, Arrington taught Gomez and her roommates how to make dog biscuits for Gomez's two pups, Daisy and Winnie, and how to pan-sear a branzino (via Rotten Tomatoes). "I chose a technique that I thought that she could use at some point, which is basically break down fish, and sauce making." How did the Michelin-trained chef think Selena Gomez did?
Nyesha Arrington says Selena Gomez had 'such a student spirit'
First of all, what Nyesha Arrington taught Selena Gomez on "Selena + Chef" — that's something she thinks you need to know how to do, too. "Because — anyone — you should technically be able to make a good pan sauce," Arrington told Mashed. (Get it? Got it? Good. Moving on.) With Gomez, Arrington focused on teaching her a cooking technique so that the pop star could "mix and match from there."
Like other chefs that Mashed talked to about the experience, Arrington thinks that Gomez and her friends knocked it out of the park. "She has such a student spirit," Arrington said. "She's really like, 'okay, I want to learn this technique and recreate it' ... towards the end of the episode, her and her friends were killing it." Gomez and her roommates got so into the techniques that Arrington taught them that the chef told us that "one of them goes like, 'Oh my gosh, guys, should we open a catering company?'"
It's precisely that kind of mentorship that Nyesha Arrington is passionate about. In fact, that's why she's so excited to be embarking on "Next Level Chef" with Gordon Ramsay, where she'll get to continue taking young chefs under her wing. "I think that there's fear-based leadership and I think there's love leadership," Arrington reflected. "And I think for me in my chef journey, the love leadership is really what inspires people."
To hear more from Nyesha Arrington every day, check out "Happy Mouth," a new podcast she co-hosts with Philip Camino.