Chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence and recruits from "Worst Cooks in America"

For some people, cooking is just easy. Whether it's the result of years of practice or just a knack for details, there are plenty of home cooks who make whipping up delicious dishes seem like a piece of cake. On the other hand, I think we all know someone who is a total disaster in the kitchen — the sort of person who gets asked to bring something store-bought to potlucks, or whose kids run for the hills when the dinner bell starts ringing.

Well, there's good news for 15 of the nation's biggest culinary dunces: a new season of "Worst Cooks in America" premiered last week on Food Network, and its culinary boot camp continues Sunday, Jan. 13. Chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence serve as both mentors and judges, each taking on a team of culinary recruits that they try to educate in basic cooking techniques.

It's not as easy as it sounds -- these home cooks really are the worst of the worst, and Anne and Tyler don't pull punches when it comes to critiquing their mentees. Tough love is the name of the game here, and at the end of each episode, each chef sends their own worst-performing recruit home.

In this week's episode, the recruits are given a crash course in the wonderful properties of one of the simplest of ingredients -- eggs. After enjoying a game of egg roulette, the aspiring cooks are shown a pancake recipe by their mentors and asked to recreate it. Then they're given a challenge inspired by the classic English breakfast before the chefs are forced to separate the good eggs from the bad and send a pair of their own recruits packing.

In next week's episode, the home cooks go back to basics as they work with deceptively simple meat and potatoes. After having all five of their senses tested in a skill drill, they're tasked with making their own potato hash dishes. Then, the sky's the limit when the recruits are asked to make a meat-based dish that would make any cowboy happy.

"Worst Cooks in America" is all in good fun, but the recruits really do learn how to be better home cooks. Catch the next episode on Sunday, Jan. 13, on Food Network.