National Create Cooking Challenge Winners’ Digital Series Premiering on CreateTV.com

“Adam Lambay’s Indian Inspired” and “Cuban Kitchen with Dennis Perez” begin rollout with Lambay’s series Monday, October 17.

BOSTON, October 17, 2022— American Public Television (APT), the original home to public TV’s lifestyle experts and sponsor of the Create Cooking Challenge: My Family’s Recipe on national public television multicast channel Create®, today announced the premieres of two digital short-form video series focused on recipes developed from the winners’ multi-generational traditional dishes. Create’s Cooking Challenge Grand Prize Winner Adam Lambay and Second Prize Winner Dennis Perez will host their respective series Adam Lambay’s Indian Inspired and Cuban Kitchen with Dennis Perez, with new episodes premiering every Monday and Thursday. The premieres start with the first episode of Lambay’s ten-part series. Seekh Kebabs with Indian Summer Salad and Kebab Sauce will go live on Monday, October 17th at noon Eastern Time. Perez’s three-part series will premiere starting Monday, November 21st. For a preview of their work, see their winning entries here. Both series will live alongside those created by past Create Cooking Challenge winners as video on demand on CreateTV.com.

Lambay’s ten-part digital series on CreateTV.com is part of his Grand Prize. Recipes featured demonstrate a clear familiarity with his family’s Indian heritage, and are designed to engage those curious, but not familiar with Indian dishes. He explains the recipes represent a sort of “fusion with dishes that are more familiar to the standard diner.” He says they will not be overly “hot,” instead using spices and aromatics to make each dish more accessible to the average home cook.

In addition to the video which walks viewers through the recipe preparation, Adam Lambay’s Indian Inspired offers a personal note about every dish, as well as a detailed list of ingredients and recipes for each.

Lambay’s series will premiere the following dishes (in order of presentation): 1)Seekh Kebabs with Indian Summer Salad and Kebab Sauce, 2) Bengali Fish Curry with Southern-Style Basmati Rice, 3) Veggie Pizza with Tomato-Chutney Pizza Sauce, 4) Chicken Curry with Southern-Style Basmati Rice, 5) Rani Chicken Fingers with Red Pepper Ketchup, 6) Indian Caprese Salad with Tamarind-Chutney Dressing, 7) Carrot-Cardamom Chicken Burgers with Aioli Sauce, 8) Crab Cake Pakora with Achari Tartar Sauce, 9) BBQ Chicken, and 10) Indian Pot Roast.

Executive chef at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, Adam is highly regarded with a solid resume of positions at high-end restaurants throughout Greater St. Louis. His vibrant role as a chef and cooking instructor is balanced with his home life as a busy husband and father of two children. Adam’s family has lived in the St. Louis community for more than 50 years. His father’s brothers first emigrated from a fishing village near Mumbai, India. Adam’s dad soon followed, eager to do something new and to be near his brothers. He quickly met and married Adam’s mother, the grand-daughter of first generation German immigrants. Upon arriving in St. Louis between World Wars I and II, Adam’s great-grandparents opened a successful bakery in downtown St. Louis. At home, Adam’s father cooked recipes based on his Indian upbringing, while his maternal grandmother prepared family recipes based on her German heritage.

A fan of his local public television station, NinePBS in St. Louis, Adam says public television played a major role in his desire to become a chef. He grew up watching cooking shows, saying he could never get enough. He credits Julia Child and other culinary hosts as great influences, but says the series “Yan Can Cook!” (40+ years on public television) was a favorite. Martin Yan, a member of this year’s Create Cooking Challenge judges’ panel, commented that he not only thought Adam presented a “good video all around,” but that he also “demonstrated solid technical skills and did an outstanding job in presenting the recipe for his dish.” In fact, several of the judges commented on the great job that Adam did in engaging the viewer in his video entry. The Grand Prize included $4,000 and production equipment valued at $1,000 to finance and produce his digital series of ten, two-minute videos for CreateTV.com.

Second Prize Winner, Dennis Perez
By day, Create Cooking Challenge: My Family’s Recipe Second Prize Winner Dennis Perez of Tampa, Florida, works in IT and manages software development teams. Away from his computer, however, Dennis is in the kitchen tinkering with recipes and recording videos or, in the outdoors pursuing his other passions: hiking and archery. Dennis is also a fan of Tampa’s local public television station, WEDU PBS.

Perez’s three-part digital series Cuban Kitchen with Dennis Perez premieres Monday, November 21, at noon Eastern Time. It centers upon recipes reminiscent of the multi-generational setting in which he was raised. He says that his family spent more time in the kitchen than any other room in the house. Though they first settled in New York after leaving Cuba, they eventually made their way to Tampa, Florida, where they now live. Perez said that in his family, you “grew up in the kitchen” as it was the heart of their home and “love was expressed through food.”

As with Lambay’s Indian Inspired series, Perez offers video shorts to walk viewers through every recipe, sharing a personal note about what makes each special, a comprehensive list of ingredients, and detailed recipe instructions. He selected these recipes for his series (in order of presentation): 1) Pasteles de Guayaba y Queso (a beautiful breakfast pastry), 2) Pollo a la Plancha (a chicken dinner with flair), and 3) Flan (a great dessert recipe).

Whether inside the kitchen, at his computer, or slinging arrows downfield, Dennis is focused on what he loves to do, and sharing these skills is important to him. His winning video entry, Cuban Picadillo, received high praise from the judges. Chef Diane Kochilas said she found Dennis to be “very engaging” and that she learned something from his stories. Chef Nick Stellino was eager to see Dennis host a series. Culinary TV hosts Pati Jinich and Kevin Belton both praised his work in holding viewers’ attention with interesting camera shots and providing tips for substitutions in his recipe. As Second Prize winner, Perez was awarded $1,000 and production equipment valued at $1,000 to finance and produce his web series of three, two-minute videos for CreateTV.com.

Judging the Create Cooking Challenge, which ran March 8–April 5, the panel of some of public television’s most recognized hosts included: Kevin Belton (Kevin Belton’s Cookin’ Louisiana), Pati Jinich (Pati’s Mexican Table), Diane Kochilas (My Greek Table), Nick Stellino (Storytellers in the Kitchen), and Martin Yan (Yan Can Cook!). Entrants’ online submissions included a short (two minutes or less), original video featuring their recipe’s preparation, a brief narrative about the origins of their recipe, the full recipe and a photo of the finished dish. Judging criteria included demonstrated culinary knowledge, presentation skills, telegenic appeal, unique ideas and production values. This year’s more than 100 entrants presented multi-generational recipes originating from more than 25 countries and cultural traditions, as well as American-grown recipes representing nearly 35 regions of the country. The winners’ recipes, as well as many select entries and some shared by the judges may be found in Create’s new Heritage Recipe Collection at CreateTV.com.

APT President and CEO, Cynthia Fenneman also participated in the judging competition. She was impressed with Lambay and Perez, stating that “the competition was filled with incredible talent and fascinating family dishes.”

“We were presented with so many rich family stories and recipes, which made the judging very challenging! Adam and Dennis did a great job in bringing their family’s traditions into their presentations, making them lively, fascinating and accessible,” said Fenneman. “It is a real pleasure welcoming them both to our Create family of chefs. We feel fortunate to have two hosts who bring such strong resumes to CreateTV.com!” Distributed and produced by APT, The WNET Group, and GBH Boston, Create® is a national lifestyle channel carried by 241 local public television stations, featuring food, travel, home and garden, arts & crafts, fitness, and living content.

In addition to the two top prizes, 16 prizes were awarded to entrants from local Create stations and public television markets in New York, New Jersey, California, Wisconsin, Florida, Washington, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, New Hampshire, and Arizona. A full list of the top 18 contest winners, their video entries, hometowns, and local station information may be found at https://CreateTV.com/challenge/winners.

Sponsored by American Public Television. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the fifty United States, the District of Columbia and U. S. Territories. Age 18 years or over. Began 3/8/22 at 12:01 a.m. ET; ended 4/5/22 at 11:59 p.m. ET. For the complete Official Rules, visit www.CreateTV.com/challenge.Void where prohibited by law.

About Create:
Now in its 17th year, Create® is the premier lifestyle channel featuring public television’s most popular how-to series, focused on food, travel, home & garden, arts & crafts, fitness, and lifestyle. Create is produced and distributed by American Public Television (APT); The WNET Group (New York); and GBH Boston, in association with National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) and PBS. Create TV is carried by 241 local public television stations nationwide, reaching more than 83% of USTVHH, and is seen in 21 of the top 25 U.S. television markets. Create’s companion website CreateTV.com features extensive video, the Create TV schedule, program and host information.

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CONTACT: Jamie Haines - jhaines@APTonline.org mobile:617-962-5604