BRIAN MALARKEY of ‘THE TASTE’ turns a

BY JACQUELINE CUTLER

ABC launches a cooking competition Tuesday, Jan. 22, and from descriptions, – no screeners were available at this writing – “The Taste” sounds very much like “The Voice.”

Instead of talented singers, chosen sight unseen, now the contestants are chefs presenting food in blind taste tests.

“We are trying to find teams that we can mentor,” says Brian Malarkey, one of the four judges. The others are Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson and Ludo Lefebvre. “We are tasting food that we don’t see how it is presented or who cooked it. It is super hard.

“Your taste buds will go crazy, and you are breaking it down,” he continues. “It got me to focus on flavor again.”