Duff Goldman is among the Food Network stars paying tribute to Anne Burrell after her death.
Burrell, who hosted “Worst Cooks in America” on the cooking channel, died June 17 at her home in Brooklyn. She was 55.
On June 19, Goldman shared a photo on Instagram posing with Burrell, using the caption to share an emotional message about their “complex” friendship over the years
“I’ve written and re-written this post so many times in the past 24 hours and I just don’t know what to say,” Goldman began his touching caption. “Anne and I became friends in probably 2006. She was going through some stuff and I had heard that she was feeling it so on a trip to NYC from Baltimore I had made her a cake that said ‘Don’t let the bastards win.’ She never did.”
The “Ace of Cakes” star said that he and Burrell “had a complex relationship,” adding, “I remember the last conversation we had before our paths drifted was a pretty feisty debate about the merits of catfish. I believe the words ‘trash fish,’ ‘tastes like mud,’ and ‘cake boy’ were used, haha.”
“Anne and I always had a spirited and somewhat acerbic back and forth,” Goldman continued, recalling his conversations with Burrell. “I really never knew why our paths drifted but I always hoped that wherever she was, Anne was doing well and was finding some happiness.”
Goldman recalled that after his friendship with Burrell had drifted, he attended a gala in New York City with his wife and daughter. While he was entertaining his daughter in the lobby, he spotted Burrell, noting “at this point we hadn’t spoken in years.”
He added that he wouldn’t “go into what we talked about but I will say that that conversation left my heart lifted and full of light, for it truly seemed to me that Anne really had found a measure of happiness and love.”
“Life is tough, and we have to be tough to get through it,” he wrote. “Anne was as tough as they come, but when you got past the armor there was a depth of compassion and kindness that was absolutely beautiful. My heart sings when I think of the love and tranquility that it seems Anne had found recently, and her genuine smile for my daughter and me in that lobby are what makes this tragedy just a little more bearable.”
Goldman concluded his caption on a sentimental note addressed to Burrell, adding, “Anne, wherever you are I hope they have slow moving rivers because when I get there, we’ll get a couple of rods, a pint of chicken livers, and a sixer and I’ll teach you how to catch and cook the best catfish you ever had. Rest up, chef.”
