Cody Candelario, like many chefs, had a secret.
But not as a stealthy spice or secret sauce.
The Aspen chef did not want Gordon Ramsay to know about his inability to taste or smell food while filming Hell’s Kitchen’s 19th season – which will premiere at 6 pm tomorrow on Fox.
Although Candelario is generally not as cautious about the most recent loss of his senses, the 28-year-old did not want Ramsay or the production team to use the information against him and create specific challenges after all. After all, the premise of the fiercely competitive culinary training camp is to eliminate chefs struggling to become America’s next culinary star. The rigorous culinary challenges are led by none other than the chef and restaurateur with several Michelin stars Ramsay.
“It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done,” said Candelario of Hell’s Kitchen. “It’s crazy. They try to break you.”
Seasons 19 and 20 were filmed in Las Vegas, at Caesars Entertainment Studios, near the Strip, in spring 2019.
The days started between 5 and 7 am, when the producers turned on the lights, played music and “aggressively removed” competitors from their dorms to challenge number 1 of the day, said Candelario.
Lacking a cup of coffee or adequate food, the then 26-year-old taped cans of Red Bull with tape to the foot of his bed. He remembers cameras that normally run for about 20 hours a day. Spoiler alert: In addition to the eliminations from the program, one competitor immediately gave up, another left midway through the shoot and another was hospitalized.
That said, Candelario said it was one of the most rewarding experiences of his life. “I felt so alive … and ready to work as hard as possible,” he said, adding that Ramsay’s presence was also deeply motivating.
Although Candelario knows that his lack of taste and smell was not addressed openly during competitions, he does not know if it was shared elsewhere during the show, because he has not yet seen the final product.
In other words, whether the local chef’s inability to taste or smell is part of the program’s narrative – or even mentioned – remains a mystery even for Candelario.
Candelario lost his sense of smell and taste after becoming ill (completely unrelated to COVID-19) four years ago, while living and working in Germany.
“The first six months were very crying, not knowing what to do and wanting to give up”, he recalled. “But eventually, I thought, ‘Come on, man, you’re not acting like yourself. You find out everything else, that’s just one more thing. ‘”
Although it is certainly a tragic circumstance for someone whose passion and livelihood revolve around tasting, smelling and preparing food as an art form, Candelario refused to allow his handicapped senses to hinder his skills as a chef.
Still, how exactly does one prepare food without feeling the taste or smell?
“I relearned everything,” said Candelario. Son of a working and single mother who happened to be “a terrible cook”, Candelario started preparing meals at the age of 8.
“I started young and I’m lucky to have gotten to where I did mechanically in the kitchen, because if I wasn’t at the level I was at, I don’t know how I would have continued,” he said. After losing his sense of smell and taste, Candelario changed his perspective and approach: “I created this kind of 3D mapping and modeling way of thinking about food … there are keys and clues to know what it tastes like and has nothing to do with with real taste. “
Candelario continued: “I see things on a mechanical level. I’m planning things I didn’t think of before. Before, it was just about getting flavor. But now, instead of achieving taste as part of a final goal, it is to understand the mechanics of how to get there.
“I would never choose to do that again,” he joked. “But, damn it, it really opened my mind.”
Over time, Candelario hopes to be able to recover those senses, which is already beginning to happen – albeit in a tenuous way. He is still unable to differentiate parsley from coriander, but he can slightly detect the smell of potent chemicals if they are close to him.
Born in California, Candelario moved to Aspen last year to lead a project that is suspended because of COVID-19. The newly created Aspenite is currently working as a private chef, but has many ideas for cooking.