Cook of the Week Challenge contestants film audition for Gordon Ramsay's show

Four suburban cooks who were contestants in the Daily Herald's Cook of the Week Challenge 2016 now hope they can cut the mustard to compete on national television.

Calling themselves The Chi-town Foodies, the foursome of Mike Ek of Bartlett, Craig Brannan of Lake Villa, Martha Garmon of Palatine and Christina Anderson-Heller of Wood Dale filmed their audition this week for celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's new show “The F Word” to air live on Fox premiering in May.

Garmon, 55, said she got a call from the show's casting producer, who read about her Cook of the Week Challenge performance making the final four - a first for the minister of worship and music at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Palatine.

“I have never competed before last year,” Garmon said. She was asked to form a team and immediately reached out to fellow contestants in the Cook of the Week Challenge, where all of them made it into the top eight and Ek, like Garmon, was among the final four who competed in a live cook-off that resulted in John Hampson of Antioch being named the winner.

“If I'm going to put together a rock star team, I thought I'll pick people who were already winning challenges and competing,” Garmon said. “Just the idea of being able to go out to L.A. for four days and meet Gordon Ramsay and cook for him, I think that will be a blast.”

Ramsay's new show pits “foodie families” from across the U.S. in an intense, high-stakes cook-off battle. In each hourlong episode, two teams of four contestants must impress Ramsay and “win over the hearts and taste buds of the diners, celebrities and VIP guests whom they're serving,” according to the show's description. Participation comes with a cash prize incentive, though how much hasn't been disclosed.

The suburban quartet initially won the show's producer over in a Skype interview that lasted an hour and 15 minutes. On Wednesday, they came together to cook a complete meal on camera, creating a 20-minute audition video for the show.

“We had a great time,” said Garmon, who calls herself a recovering cookbook junkie and a “misplaced Texan” whose strength is Southern flavors. “We put together some awesome food. We just hit it off right away.”

Brannan, 47, said each person played to his or her culinary strengths. A firefighter/paramedic for the city of Evanston and an avid fisherman and hunter, Brannan likes to cook fish and wild game.

“We are used to working alone,” said Brannan, who has participated in local cooking events and several competitions. “As a team, it's a little different. We have to figure out what skills each of us has and kind of put the best person for each individual task. We are all very eclectic and diverse as far as what we can do. It was basically to see how we work well together.”

The foursome put their own spin on skirt steak and fish tacos with a gourmet twist.

“I caught the fish right here on the Chain O' Lakes,” Brannan said.

Ek ran the grill. Anderson-Heller, marketing director for Lynfred Winery in Roselle, handled plating and presentation. And Garmon made fresh tortillas using a press.

“It was almost like a family cooking together,” Brannan said.

They filleted, seasoned and grilled the white bass on a Himalayan salt block. The skirt steak was soaked in a citrus marinade and grilled. Accompanying the meal were two kinds of salsa, fresh sweet corn grilled with Mexican-style toppings, and strawberries marinated in Grand Marnier orange liqueur, sugar and water served over ladyfingers and topped off with freshly made whipped cream with cinnamon sugar and sprinkled with finely grated lime zest.

While food is the main ingredient of such shows, “a lot of it comes down to personality,” Brannan said.

“The chemistry between the team is important,” he added. “They want big personalities. They want people that are kind of loud, boisterous, exciting and fun.”

Ek, 55, said the team just gelled together.

“We started talking and we kind of played up each other's strengths,” Ek said. “We had to basically speak to Gordon through the video. The interaction that we had really worked out well. We brought our competitiveness together in a team effort and think we will be strong there.”

Though he has participated in several local cooking contests and won some, Ek said he has never been on TV.

“I love the challenge of it,” said Ek, adding neither cooking live on camera nor Ramsay's abrasive tongue scare him.

“I've been practicing law in Cook County for 30 years,” he said. “I've been yelled at by some of the loudest judges that you can imagine.”