American comfort food, to me, is generally defined by being high in fat and cholesterol. Fried chicken, meatloaf with egg and 80% lean beef, tuna with lots of butter and cream...

So taking those crappy dishes and making them crappier by removing all of the fat? Well, it's no wonder it was all so unappetizing.

yeah, i thought for sure they were going to send sara home just so they could keep micah for her bitchyness factor.

it's so easy to predict who will go home on this show, in general. caterers? personal chefs? bubbye! you just do not have the breadth of experience and technique necessary to survive amongst restaurant cooks.

i was glad to see dale do fairly well this time around. and howie as well.

it seems like joey is going to be the "villian" of this season. he's a real jerk. man, i just hate new yorkers like that who just broadcast so much attitude.

i predict the two saras will both be among the next three to go.

gleam wrote:American comfort food, to me, is generally defined by being high in fat and cholesterol. Fried chicken, meatloaf with egg and 80% lean beef, tuna with lots of butter and cream...

So taking those crappy dishes and making them crappier by removing all of the fat? Well, it's no wonder it was all so unappetizing.

I don't think they were required to remove all of the fat, just to lighten them up. While the full-fat dishes will certainly taste better, anyone who's been on a diet over the last 20 years should have some tricks up their sleeves for lightening these dishes. I couldn't believe how bad the results were.

Did they say the food had to be low fat at all? Or just low sodium and low cholesterol? That would be a big difference, except for creamy stuff like chicken a la king. With chops, burgers and meatlof you should be fine.

I still think the gal from JJ in NYC got a raw deal. Conceptually, she was right on the money. Given she undercooked her lentil but that was only half the problem. She was getting reamed for not making her own sausage. C'mon, consult any of the threads here on sausage making and I think that you will find that making sausage from scratch for what appeard to be a fairly large group of folks in 2 hours, not to mention the rest of the dish, just isn't realistic. Really it was one hour, as thats all the time they had for prep. I'd love to see Tom get some whites on and make sausage from scratch for 10 or 20 in an hour. Don't forget the beans!

I'm putting the early money on Hung. So far, he has constantly showed imagination (cruton size? are you joking? that is the best critisim you can muster against what was basically a Thai styled innard "dip" when the other top folks are doing typical upsale resturant presentations and..wait for it...ceviche) and has broken away from streight up nuvo dishes and platings. Howie is Mal Carne. He won because most everyone ellse screwed the pootch. He reinvented a pork chop as...a... pork chop....woo...hoo....

I have to place my bets on Hung. He has this vision which he does a great job executing on the plate. I admire how he thinks outside of the box and doesn't resort to playing things safe like the other contestants...

The critique on the size of his croutons for the dip/soup floored me...ridiculous! Some of the judges' comments just didn't make sense and makes me even question if their thoughts are valid and justified.

I don't think Lia lost because she didn't make the sausages. (Dale used prefab ingredients and he came in second.) She lost because if she was using premade sausages, then she had time to make something else, and all she did was boil the lentils. I was just reading Padma's blog on the Bravo site, and she said she thought the dish would have been nice with cannelinni beans.

Padma also says the problem with Hung's crouton was that it was like a big piece of garlic bread and overwhelmed the other flavors. I have to say, though, that was the only dish of the day that I really wanted to try. He's always making stuff you can't easily find elsewhere.

I'm waiting for when Lee Anne's blog for this week goes live; she's usually got the most in-depth commentary and she doesn't seem to care to justify the judges' decisions.

bibi rose wrote:I don't think Lia lost because she didn't make the sausages. (Dale used prefab ingredients and he came in second.) She lost because if she was using premade sausages, then she had time to make something else, and all she did was boil the lentils.

I think that's right. But what about Lia's plating? Oh, how shall I say this? A halved log of sausage draped over a heap of cooked lentils. I find that cooked lentils don't appear appetizing.

aschie30 wrote:

bibi rose wrote:I don't think Lia lost because she didn't make the sausages. (Dale used prefab ingredients and he came in second.) She lost because if she was using premade sausages, then she had time to make something else, and all she did was boil the lentils.

I think that's right. But what about Lia's plating? Oh, how shall I say this? A halved log of sausage draped over a heap of cooked lentils. I find that cooked lentils don't appear appetizing.

Perhapse.... but how would you make "franks & beans" look much different? No matter what you still have sausages & beans, unless you want to get molecular on dat. Probably not the best idea if history teaches us anything.

Stagger wrote:

aschie30 wrote:

bibi rose wrote:I don't think Lia lost because she didn't make the sausages. (Dale used prefab ingredients and he came in second.) She lost because if she was using premade sausages, then she had time to make something else, and all she did was boil the lentils.

I think that's right. But what about Lia's plating? Oh, how shall I say this? A halved log of sausage draped over a heap of cooked lentils. I find that cooked lentils don't appear appetizing.

Perhapse.... but how would you make "franks & beans" look much different? No matter what you still have sausages & beans, unless you want to get molecular on dat. Probably not the best idea if history teaches us anything.

Setting "history" aside, and thankfully, digestion wasn't a factor in this challenge, the franks are usually cut up and mixed into the beans, which are usually pinto in a brown sugar/molasses/bacon sauce (or however you make it). But placing a pliant sausage over a heap of lentils only looks like something that passes through my dog's body. (Sorry for my frankness, no pun intended. ) Yes, I realize that lentils are "fancier" in some circles and very trendy right now, but I think Padma's right - cannelinis would have been better and a little more color variance in the plating of the franks and beans as well.

I don't think I would have chosen franks and beans just because it inevitably evokes images of Ben Stiller in There's Something About Mary.

aschie30 wrote:I don't think I would have chosen franks and beans just because it inevitably evokes images of Ben Stiller in There's Something About Mary.

True dat!

I never thought I'd hear "How'd ya get the beans above the frank?" as a true culinary critique though.

Stagger wrote: Howie is Mal Carne. He won because most everyone ellse screwed the pootch. He reinvented a pork chop as...a... pork chop....woo...hoo....

No kidding! And, what's so unhealthy about pork chops with applesauce to begin with?

okay kids, who goes next? I vote for Sara Nair, any takers? The dessert trio was hideous, I thought worse than the tuna. Opinions? (What am I asking here, opinions on LTH-never)

I'm having trouble trying to see who is even qualified to be a top chef.[/i]

I couldn't tell who they were going to kick off; was it Dale because he grouped together the dessert trio to avoid working with certain people? But at the same time, you couldn't fault him for that because he'd be crazy not to get off Casey's team. I just think Joey is a hack. It seems like everything he makes is half-baked, no pun intended.

I often find with Top Chef that it's very hard to discern who is the front runner this early in the season.

Camilla made sense. I'd forgotten she was on the show until she climbed on the stove to whisk.

I say buh-bye to Casey. "Oh, the guilt blanket. I failed to see how my immunity might affect the team dynamic and now you wanna lay this on me?"

Boo-hoo. Go taste your food.

Big turn around for Lia this week. That trio of shrimp did look really good, their teamwork really paid off.

While I do enjoy this show, I can't help but get angry with all of the product placement. I'm kind of shocked that they even need commercials for this show, the whole show is a commercial.

gastro gnome wrote:Camilla made sense. I'd forgotten she was on the show until she climbed on the stove to whisk.

I say buh-bye to Casey. "Oh, the guilt blanket. I failed to see how my immunity might affect the team dynamic and now you wanna lay this on me?"

Boo-hoo. Go taste your food.

It's like, hey Casey, you phoned this in and failed to see how it would affect your team? Although her attempt to make the judges feel guilty in the end paid off because neither Howie nor Joey were sent home.

But again this week, another contestant is unfamiliar with classic American food. Camille seemed to have no familiarity as to what a pineapple upside cake should taste like and made a batter from cornmeal. And when she tried to defend herself, she thought that a muffin would be better. Huh? I've never had a pineapple upside down cake with cornmeal or that tasted like a muffin. Last week, it was Micah who knew nothing about meatloaf.

Prediction: next episode has to do with timing dishes, thus howie and his inconsistency gets booted.

Interesting note: Hung may be a jerk but his technique is so far beyond the others it's almost laughable.

jpschust wrote:Prediction: next episode has to do with timing dishes, thus howie and his inconsistency gets booted.

On LeeAnn's blog, she observed that the tuna course was improperly timed, such that it was sitting out about 20 minutes prior to service.(!)

The dark side of my personality chuckles at the thought of the snooty sash- and medal-wearin' gourmand society eating decaying tuna.

Padma was breathier than usual last night.

aschie30 wrote:The dark side of my personality chuckles at the thought of the snooty sash- and medal-wearin' gourmand society eating decaying tuna.

The sashes were... something else.

And people call us pretentious.

Top Chef coming to Chicago next season.

So, what guest chefs will be featured? Definitely Trotter. And Achatz in a session where they ask the chef-contestants to engage in molecular gastronomy. Of course, they'll always insert some NY muckety-mucks in there, because Tom Colicchio has to remind us that NY is the best place on earth.

Trotter? Stoop to the level of Top Chef? I think it very very unlikely.

Aschatz....more likely.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Gale Gand or Rick Tramonto or our other big name Chef, Rick Bayless, on the scene though.

And maybe Paul Virant -- since F&W just named him as a new Chef of the year.

I hope they do some of their outside food challenges though -- that would be fun to participate in.

Dmnkly wrote:The sashes were... something else.

And people call us pretentious.

No kidding.

For those of you who really feel the need to lay it on thick, you too can be given a medal for enjoying to eat.

Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:

Dmnkly wrote:The sashes were... something else.

And people call us pretentious.

No kidding.

For those of you who really feel the need to lay it on thick, you too can be given a medal for enjoying to eat.

Best,
Michael

Michael and Dmnkly,

It's actually the sash that you recieve as a member of the Chaine. The medals come later, from attending conferences, conventions, holding office, etc... I belong to the Chaine des Rotisseurs, (the origin of this group is a society of French roast cooks) and have been a member for years. I have enjoyed the challenge of having prepared a handful of dinners for upwards of a hundred extremely appreciative Chaine members and their guests, as well as the pleasure of attending many dinners and experiencing some of the finest food and wines I've had in my lifetime. Believe me when I tell you that it really is a big deal, as a professional cook, to do a Chaine dinner. And while I'll admit that some members are stuffy/pretentious/whatever, that quality seems to go hand in hand with folks having more money than they know what to do with, so why bash a bunch of well to do people who like to eat great food and drink great wine? Don't those qualities describe exactly some of LTH's most revered posters?

Sash with medals... bowling shirt... whatever?

And shame on Ted Allen, who, of all people, should not be criticizing others for wearing for sashes, until he dishes it out to everyone with a hanky in the back pocket, etc...not that there's anything wrong with that of course.

Just my$0.02.

Ronnie,

Fair enough, thanks for the perspective.

Evil Ronnie wrote:Sash with medals... bowling shirt... whatever?

For the record, I don't wear a bowling shirt to dinners either.

Best,
Michael

Guess that means I just got myself blacklisted

To be clear, Ronnie, I didn't for a moment mean to cast aspersions on the group itself. I don't know these folks from Adam, and for all I know they're all exceptional people. I only meant to comment on the practice of wearing sashes and medals, which I found... remarkable

earthlydesire wrote:Trotter? Stoop to the level of Top Chef? I think it very very unlikely.

Aschatz....more likely.

To be fair, Trotter has done Emeril, and Achatz turned down Iron Chef America, so...who knows?

"Ted Allen...hanky...back pocket"

well...that certainly dishes up new additions to the *hanky code*"

I'll have to dig out my club card.

When, exactly, is red hanky night at Alinea?

I was a member of the Chaine for years while still living in Chicago and enjoyed the meals very much. Most of the dinners were formal, requiring tuxedos for men. Although I would’ve preferred dining in more casual attire, the meals were generally multi-course extravaganzas with terrific wines allowing the chef to show off the best he can offer, which made it all worthwhile. Many of the members were doctors and lawyers who dined out most nights and rarely ate at home. They seemed to just enjoy the spectacle. However, there was a small core of serious and knowledgeable foodies whose company was always delightful. In general, I wouldn’t use this food group for serious food critiquing, and found their appearance on the show humorous.