Nick DiGiovanni Brings New Meaning To 'Biggest Food Fail'

Young, smart, and extremely talented, MasterChef finalist and Harvard grad Nick DiGiovanni is on the move, set to publish his first cookbook, "Knife Drop: Creative Recipes Anyone Can Cook." An expert in the kitchen, he is remarkably direct and humble, as was apparent in a recent conversation with Tiffani Thiessen for Tasting Table's "Shared Tastes." The two traded notes on their culinary challenges and connected over a preference for savory dishes over sweet. They discussed the difficulties of multitasking and cooking for (and with) family, which prompted DiGiovanni to explain how cooking was one of his designated chores growing up with three younger brothers — until they realized he actually liked doing it and started sticking him with garbage duty. 

And one thing Thiessen really wanted to know: what was DiGiovanni's biggest food fail? Anyone who cooks competitively naturally must face their share of downfalls. DiGiovanni was quick to answer but referred to the failure he went on to describe as his "most recent" one. While he's had many successes, he clearly knows how to flop gracefully as well.

It turns out, it was a truly epic fail. DiGiovanni's team was determined to cook up a giant dumpling in an attempt to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records, only (spoiler alert) they didn't. 

What went wrong? Sounds like just about everything, at least from Nick DiGiovanni's telling. The team had thought out their process, but things sadly didn't go according to plan. Despite having devised a special steaming contraption designed to handle a dumpling of unusual proportions, their intended 50+ pound dumpling didn't happen. DiGiovanni ruefully summed it up, shaking his head and saying, "The dough melted off the dumpling ... it was horrible."

Endearingly, DiGiovanni described it as his "latest" food fail. It's the flip side of his fearlessness: the young chef is trying all sorts of things in front of an increasingly massive audience (he now has over 10 million YouTube subscribers). With great adventures come great failures – Guy Fieri would agree – but win or lose, it makes for entertaining programming, especially when someone as genuinely enthusiastic and competent as DiGiovanni is at the helm.

Static Media owns and operates Mashed and Tasting Table.