Celebs trade in scripts for aprons in ‘Star Plates’

Cooking isn’t so different from acting, right? Learning a recipe is just like memorizing a script; figuring out how to cut the ingredients properly isn’t so different from perfecting the body language of a scene.

If only it were so easy. Celebrities are about to find out what it really takes to work the line in a high-end restaurant’s kitchen in “Star Plates,” a new Food Network show that gives foodie celebrities a chance to work alongside their favorite chefs — provided they can get the basics down, that is.

The Tuesday, Sept. 27, premiere finds “The Mindy Project” star Mindy Kaling joining renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson at Red Rooster, his Harlem, New York, restaurant, for an experience that she’s been dreaming of.

Her favorite Red Rooster dish is the Fried Chicken Royale, and Samuelsson himself is walking her through the steps necessary to make it perfectly each and every time.As Kaling finds out, there’s a lot more to this fine-dining fried chicken than just dredging it through some flour and throwing it in some hot oil, but she needs to perfect the dish quickly — after all, everyone in the kitchen has a job, and this actress is no exception.

With a dining room full of hungry, paying customers, Kaling works the line, frying chicken with Samuelsson’s watchful gaze making sure that nothing goes out to his guests that doesn’t meet his exceedingly high standards. The real challenge for Kaling, though, is keeping her eyes off of the kitchen’s eye candy and on the hot oil instead.

Other celebrities helping out in the kitchens of their favorite restaurants this season include sportscaster Erin Andrews (“Dancing With the Stars”), actresses Minka Kelly (“Friday Night Lights”) and Busy Philipps (“Cougar Town”), and actor Colin Hanks (“Fargo”).

They cook alongside such culinary legends as Geoffrey Zakarian, Dakota Weiss, Michael Voltaggio and Vinny Dotolo, always in their own restaurants where they serve up food to real paying customers.

Celebrities and chefs come together to bring food to the masses in “Star Plates,” premiering Tuesday, Sept. 27, on Food Network.

Marcus Samuelsson and Mindy Kaling as seen in “Star Plates”