The dish looked fine, I suspect she just couldn't handle shrimp at 6:37 am.

The live show aspect also made me wonder. Did this air live months ago? Did they have 3 dishes on and pick a winner without showing or naming any of the chefs? That had to be riveting television. I'm curious how that was packaged when it made it to air.

The trial of the three dishes was done as if it were for broadcast (sort of; it was more casual/sloppier than a real broadcast segment) but did not actually air.

Mike G wrote:The dish looked fine, I suspect she just couldn't handle shrimp at 6:37 am.

Not so sure. During Ariane's reward demo on Thursday morning, she revisited the Jeff's shrimp dish, saying "It was really putrid, I'm sorry, it was."

I suppose it's possible Jeff blew the dish for air, but I'm definitely more inclined to think the issue was with Kathie Lee.

Mike G wrote:The trial of the three dishes was done as if it were for broadcast (sort of; it was more casual/sloppier than a real broadcast segment) but did not actually air.

It did actually air. Cookie saw it live.

And I think it was during a much later hour in the broadcast than they made it seem. Cookie never sees the show before 7am Chicago time, so it was at least 8am NY time. Also, according to Cookie, Kathy Lee doesn't show up on the show until 9am Chicago time, but she might have made an earlier appearance.

tonight's episode made me want to vomit. i *hate* gale simmons. this episode was all about showcasing her, her wonderful life, beautiful friends, and how wonderfully beautifully perfect her entire life is.

blarggghhhh!

i hate her so much that i googled "i hate gale simmons" to see if someone is blogging about hating her. no one is. maybe i should start that blog.

not much else to say. the episode was boring and it was clear who was going home.

i did enjoy the quickfire taste-off.

If I can offer some help:

Out of curiosity I looked up Gail in the F&W masthead (not today but in some pique of Gail annoyance like yours). I forgot her exact title/position, but she has nothing to do with the editorial side of the mag; rather it's like in events or promotions.

While I liked the concept of a taste-off, I thought the mechanics were really strange. Basically, if you thought you could identify 6 ingredients and you opponent thought he/she could get 5, the only hting that mattered was whether you got one wrong or not. You opponent could win even if they got 5 of 5 wrong, since they were never tested on their knowledge.

rickster wrote:While I liked the concept of a taste-off, I thought the mechanics were really strange. Basically, if you thought you could identify 6 ingredients and you opponent thought he/she could get 5, the only hting that mattered was whether you got one wrong or not. You opponent could win even if they got 5 of 5 wrong, since they were never tested on their knowledge.

Yeah, but the fun is in the bargaining. It's not just a pure test of knowledge, it's a test of how confident you are in that knowledge. It's Name That Tune with Lee Anne's sauces.

gastro gnome wrote:This week, I read Jeff's restaurant name too quickly and blanched.

lol, me too. i was like, wha--oh.

Jeff's restaurant name is just really bad. I can't believe the people went with it.

Am I the only one who doesn't hate Gail? Maybe it's because I like brunettes...

I'm glad the guy with the stupid beard is gone. Just looking at his face was kind of annoying.

Outside of that, I didn't think much of last nights challenge. I did like the "old" plate just because each person did their own thing and you could see their exact approach to the dish vs everyone working on one persons idea. Four plates of trios might have been a bit much though.

This week's episode was very obviously the sexy episode, and this might turn out to be the "sex season."

Between the clips based on flirting between Hosea and Leah again - and wouldn't you love to be their respective others watching this episode with all your friends - and Stephan sexually harassing Jamie, as well as the hyper-prominent cleavage of Gail and Padma*, was there even any food in this epsode?

*Not that there's anything wrong with that...

y'know...i'm not against cleavage, but this show's supposed to be about food and cooking. and gail's cleavage is all soft and flabby looking, even when she tries to cram it into a pushup bra like she did for last night's episode. you can just tell she's a pampered child of privilege who landed her job because she was in the right sorority and knew the right people and who's never worked a real job for a day in her life. i would wager that she cannot cook even the simplest of things, but she's probably got this pristine manhattan kitchen with a pro-style range that she never even turns on.

the fact that they have her on there judging food is what annoys me. her comments are so freakin' inane. she has zero ability to actually describe what's wrong with a dish, so she compensates by immediately agreeing with every criticism that everyone else says, but then ratcheting it up by exaggerating it beyond belief. if something was undercooked, and tom says it was undercooked, gail will then go on about how it was "raw" and make faces to indicate that she was utterly appalled and offended by being presented with "raw" whatever.

she's a freakin' phony.

elakin wrote:tonight's episode made me want to vomit. i *hate* gale simmons. this episode was all about showcasing her, her wonderful life, beautiful friends, and how wonderfully beautifully perfect her entire life is.

blarggghhhh!

i hate her so much that i googled "i hate gale simmons" to see if someone is blogging about hating her. no one is. maybe i should start that blog.

not much else to say. the episode was boring and it was clear who was going home.

i did enjoy the quickfire taste-off.

If I'm not mistaken Gail was married before. I seem to recall two or three seasons ago she mentioned during the wedding challenge that the guest judge had catered her bridal shower. I just don't remember what season it was. I’m also not a big fan of hers. I think she’s a very pretentious person.

elakin wrote:y'know...i'm not against cleavage, but this show's supposed to be about food and cooking. and gail's cleavage is all soft and flabby looking, even when she tries to cram it into a pushup bra like she did for last night's episode. you can just tell she's a pampered child of privilege who landed her job because she was in the right sorority and knew the right people and who's never worked a real job for a day in her life. i would wager that she cannot cook even the simplest of things, but she's probably got this pristine manhattan kitchen with a pro-style range that she never even turns on.

the fact that they have her on there judging food is what annoys me. her comments are so freakin' inane. she has zero ability to actually describe what's wrong with a dish, so she compensates by immediately agreeing with every criticism that everyone else says, but then ratcheting it up by exaggerating it beyond belief. if something was undercooked, and tom says it was undercooked, gail will then go on about how it was "raw" and make faces to indicate that she was utterly appalled and offended by being presented with "raw" whatever.

she's a freakin' phony.

Maybe you could send her a veal and black bean casserole as a wedding gift

=R=

Whenever they connect challenges to a wedding, I think it seems like bad karma, what with someone getting sent home and just in general what a big deal they make out of failure on the show. Not auspicious.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode. The taste-off was a great idea and fun to watch. The elimination challenge was another, basic "just cook a damn good dish" challenge--no twists, no curveballs, no games, just cook.

Some people may complain about the catering aspect to the challenge, but I don't really see it as much different than preparing an evening's special dish in your restaurant: You're gonna sell 30 or 40 of them. You need them prepped and ready to go in a short amount of time.

Finally, it amuses me how few of these chefs actually watch and retain the information from previous seasons. Eugene and Danny didn't seem to know that if you ever hear yourself say the word "deconstructed" when describing your idea, you need a new idea.

Best,
Michael

Danny was a complete moron...possibly the stupidest chef-testant they've had on any season. He's the classic mook. Can I say that term? Is it offensive?

Anyway, sorry if I'm ranting. I like top chef a lot, but I get annoyed when the hacks and goofballs don't get sent home fast enough. That goofy blonde girl with the ridiculous bangs needs to go ASAP and, despite her two consecutive wins, I think Arianne (sp?) is in over her head.

I was impressed with Stefan's ability to just rattle off ingredients in the sauces, but I guessed that the mole might have thrown him. Mexican food doesn't get that much play in Europe.

It was obvious they were establishing in the last couple of minutes Danny's doom for the sin of defending his indefensible food to Glowering Tom, but I really thought Eugene should have gone-- when a sushi chef totally screws up sushi, why are you there? (That said, he's not the one who gave him a lousy rice cooker.)

I've liked Ariane just for being level-headed and real (tell us your age again!), but really, this needs to be the last week she wins for cooking meat right. I mean, that's a good skill to have, but the show is not called Reliably Competent Line Cook. The flaw in nearly all the challenges so far seems to be that they've rewarded sticking to your one trick and zapped people who tried harder and didn't succeed. Eventually that has to end and they have to make everybody stretch themselves.

Mike G wrote:The flaw in nearly all the challenges so far seems to be that they've rewarded sticking to your one trick and zapped people who tried harder and didn't succeed. Eventually that has to end and they have to make everybody stretch themselves.

Oh, it will. They're definitely in the "cull the herd" mode right now. As it gets closer to the end, the demands on their creativity, skill, and leadership will increase.

but really, this needs to be the last week she wins for cooking meat right. I mean, that's a good skill to have, but the show is not called Reliably Competent Line Cook.

thing is, she got lucky with the lamb. she didn't know how long she needed and really let things go down to the wire, requiring being bailed out by others. she stated the day before that all she needed to do was cook the lamb, and with that as her only task, she should've been able to walk through it confidently. instead, she screwed up, got panicky, and freaked everyone else out. tom watched the whole thing.

the two weeks she's won, i think someone other than the show's main judges has chosen her as the winner--last week it was the today show hostresses and this week i believe that dana cowin (sp?) person made the decision.

there doesn't appear to be anyone with the level of skill and creativity of a few of last season's chefs this year. fabio may win based more on his charisma than his cooking.

elakin wrote:

but really, this needs to be the last week she wins for cooking meat right. I mean, that's a good skill to have, but the show is not called Reliably Competent Line Cook.

the two weeks she's won, i think someone other than the show's main judges has chosen her as the winner--last week it was the today show hostresses and this week i believe that dana cowin (sp?) person made the decision.

Last week was out of the regular judges' hands, but this week wasn't. As is the custom, the guest judge made the announcement, but it was a full panel decision as it always is.

Finally, it amuses me how few of these chefs actually watch and retain the information from previous seasons. Eugene and Danny didn't seem to know that if you ever hear yourself say the word "deconstructed" when describing your idea, you need a new idea.

As soon as I heard 'deconstruction' I knew one of the two was going down, if not Carla while mostly being an innocent bystander. If Danny actually cooked something he would have been fine, but all he did was make a sauce, grill some meat and sabotage Carla's salad with mushrooms which had no place anywhere on that plate. I give that team a tab bit of credit for all owning up to what they did, such as Carla 'not tasting' the mushrooms, but still maybe it does make for better TV if more than one can be eliminated on an episode due to total failure of the concept.

That goofy blonde girl with the ridiculous bangs needs to go ASAP

I could not agree more. Not only is she awful at coming up with anything remotely interesting, she cannot seem to execute on anything and sorry for just being mean, she has a face for radio.

carla didn't even have an opportunity to taste the mushrooms, because she didn't even know about them until he plopped them on the plate and the food started going out.

that one was beyond my understanding. who does that? that little salad thing was her element, and he just takes it upon himself to add something to it without even checking in with her? very strange.

Ok, finally caught up.

The star of this episode, to me, was Jeff. Most of his early coverage centered on his leadership skills, not his cooking. But with last week's top 3 finish (food-spitting notwithstanding) and the tomato sorbet this week, he once again has my respect. He stood up to a browbeating from Stefan in a way that I thought was overly defensive in the face of some thoughtful criticism - perhaps to his detriment. It seemed logical that scooping 45 portions of sorbet while keeping it at the right temperature in the heat and rush of service would indeed be challenging. Well, not only did Jeff pull it off, but it sounded like his component was one of the night's real hits. I see him continuing to bring it.

I was pretty unimpressed with the Quickfire. Not the concept, which was inventive and entertaining, but with the chefs palates. I am sure it is challenging in the heat of the moment to name ingredients that you taste, but what I saw was: taste soup, recite various ingredients for stock. Oh yeah, throw in salt.

Really? Some chefs only volunteered 4 ingredients? It seemed to me that they were identifying the dish and then pulling ingredients out of their memory hats. I thought last year's tasting challenge better demonstrated a contestant's range. And, if I recall, the players identified more than 4 flavors (albeit tasting them separately).

I don't think you should count out Ariane. Turkey in a toaster oven, watermelon/tomato salad, lamb - she has been showing well across varying constraints. And I think there are a bunch of people more lost than her.

Speaking of which, Eugene is living on borrowed time. As soon as I heard surf and turf sushi, I knew I had the losing team. When I saw him cooking the sushi rice the day before, I knew Eugene was going home. Then he screwed up the rice even more. Then he overcooked the tempura shrimp. Then he settled on a deconstructed, make-your-own sushi plate - which he forgot to explain. How is he still here?

I just flat-out don't understand the decision to send Danny home. This was Eugene's dish - his vision, decision-making and technique were all over this thing. This food is what he is paid to cook. And it was bad. Dead man walking.

They showed a clip of Melissa saying she needs to play for keeps, to really compete like this is the competition of her life. Then she cooked what exactly? Yeah, something forgettable, that's all I know. Do something or go home. Same for you Radkhika. Stop whining about how you don't want to be pegged as cooking Indian food and COOK SOMETHING ELSE.

I await the culling to come.


Edited typo

I just flat-out don't understand the decision to send Danny home. This was Eugene's dish - his vision, decision-making and technique were all over this thing. This food is what he is paid to cook. And it was bad. Dead man walking.

I thought it was a toss up between the two of them. I think it was Danny's cluelessness that got him booted, plus Eugene had a better track record in past challenges and makes for better TV

Eugene threw himself on the mercy of the court. Danny insisted he didn't do nothin'. Let that be a lesson to all of you...

whiskeybent wrote:Between the clips based on flirting between Hosea and Leah again - and wouldn't you love to be their respective others watching this episode with all your friends

According to this week's edition of TV Guide, Hosea and Leah end up hooking up on the show and are still a couple today. Consider the source and take it for what it's worth.

I just flat-out don't understand the decision to send Danny home.

the judges place a lot of importance on being able to identify what went wrong and verbalize it. and rightly so. that's what chefs do. stuff goes wrong and you need to be able to objectively be able to do a post-game analysis and figure out what worked and what didn't in order to get better.

elakin wrote:the judges place a lot of importance on being able to identify what went wrong and verbalize it. and rightly so. that's what chefs do. stuff goes wrong and you need to be able to objectively be able to do a post-game analysis and figure out what worked and what didn't in order to get better.

I understand what you're saying, but I still disagree with the logic used to explain a (to me) flawed decision. I have watched since Season 1 and I think that the judges place a lot of importance on cooking good food because that is what chefs do - not using their words to Monday morning quarterback.

If I wanted verbalizations of what went wrong, I would watch Top Contrition. In my mind, the guy who masterminded the dish, ruined multiple components, deconstructed and then underexplained it - that's the guy that goes home. He was principally responsible for their team's failure and that gets you kicked out of a cooking competition whether you fess up or not.

Eugene knew it; he thought he was as good as gone.

gastro gnome wrote:

elakin wrote:the judges place a lot of importance on being able to identify what went wrong and verbalize it. and rightly so. that's what chefs do. stuff goes wrong and you need to be able to objectively be able to do a post-game analysis and figure out what worked and what didn't in order to get better.

I understand what you're saying, but I still disagree with the logic used to explain a (to me) flawed decision. I have watched since Season 1 and I think that the judges place a lot of importance on cooking good food because that is what chefs do - not using their words to Monday morning quarterback.

True, but Danny's food was also awful. A peach BBQ sauce, bad pickled mushrooms and a sorbet that was liquid by the time they were instructed to eat it. The others had the sense to see where the team had gone wrong. But the difference between Danny and everybody else in the room (including his teammates) was he thought that dish was great, and apparently still does. It's bad when you get caught up in a bad idea... but how do you allow a guy to continue who's flat-out delusional?

Remember, the judges would have sent all three home if they could.

I don't think that was hyperbole.