Reality show chef offers taste of ‘Hell’

SALEM – Jennifer Normant has endured “Hell’s Kitchen” chef Gordon Ramsay’s fiery rants and gone head-to-head with fellow competitors on the FOX Broadcasting Company cooking competition show, but she cried after wondering for a few seconds last Monday if Chef Ramsay had tossed her off the show.”Am I going home?” she recalled asking herself after the host ordered her to shed her white chef’s jacket only to hand her a black jacket signifying her status as one of five remaining competitors set to face off in the next episode.”To watch it and re-live it – I cried,” she told an audience of 40 “Hell’s Kitchen” fans who gathered around a table in Salem’s Farmer’s Market on Thursday to watch Normant prepare chicken and clam stew.Merry Ward of Lynn is a Normant admirer and “Hell’s” fan who thinks Normant will be the show’s Season 9 winner.”She’s down to earth and has a lot of sense,” Ward said, noting how Normant recovered during “Hell’s” last episode from an under-cooked lamb that ultimately earned Ramsay’s seal of approval.Normant of Burlington is the Hawthorne Hotel’s chef de cuisine and has cooked in the Salem hotel for more than eight years. She tried out for “Hell’s Kitchen” four times before she was selected this season to be among 18 competitors vying for Ramsay to name them head chef at BLT Steak in New York City.”I thought it was a dream,” she said, recalled the news that she would be on the show.She told Ward and her other admirers on Thursday that some experiences on “Hell’s” have been nightmares. The hyper critical Ramsay made her feel her lowest when he told her in one episode, “‘I need confidence.'”But Normant said that criticism from the cleaver-tongued host chef helped her realize what she is capable of accomplishing. She considers Will Lustberg her toughest competitors. Her Farmer’s Market audience eagerly asked how she feels about arch-rival Elise Wims – now the only woman competitor besides Normant.”Next question,” Normant replied to a woman who asked if she still speaks to Wims.Ward thinks Wims or competitors Tommy Stevens will fall to Ramsay’s wrath next week. She thinks the Scottish-born host is “evil” but does a good job pushing the competitors to do their best cooking on “Hell’s.”Beverly Hospital food nutrition manager Alicia Guerrette also likes the show and she loves Normant.”I think she’s done great and she’s an honest person,” Guerrette said.