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Taste, Presentation and Creativity [Chopped]

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  • BubbaTBubbaT Registered User regular
    Also, it's absolutely not pronounced Air-rone. It's Ar-rone. Notice the lack of "i". Also he's a douche.
    G-Zak for life.

    This.
    (how the hell do you lime on this thing these days?)

    The first episode I saw him on, there was a Mexican contestant who cooked Asian food. AirRONE ripped into him for not cooking Mexican food, especially since AirRONE is Mexican. As if all Mexicans only cook Mexican food. Have a sope and a smile and shut the fuck up, Aaron.

  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    BubbaT wrote:
    Also, it's absolutely not pronounced Air-rone. It's Ar-rone. Notice the lack of "i". Also he's a douche.
    G-Zak for life.

    This.
    (how the hell do you lime on this thing these days?)

    The first episode I saw him on, there was a Mexican contestant who cooked Asian food. AirRONE ripped into him for not cooking Mexican food, especially since AirRONE is Mexican. As if all Mexicans only cook Mexican food. Have a sope and a smile and shut the fuck up, Aaron.

    Eh, the judges really tend to like it when a chef doesn't just cook what they're classically trained or experienced with, but when they cook meals from the heart/home. AirRONE was probably surprised he didn't do that.

    At least, most of the episodes I've seen, the chef who's not a super-smug executive chef of a big name high-end restaurant, that guy wins if he cooks from the soul. The judges (literally) eat that shit up.

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • Void SlayerVoid Slayer Very Suspicious Registered User regular
    BubbaT wrote:
    Also, it's absolutely not pronounced Air-rone. It's Ar-rone. Notice the lack of "i". Also he's a douche.
    G-Zak for life.

    This.
    (how the hell do you lime on this thing these days?)

    The first episode I saw him on, there was a Mexican contestant who cooked Asian food. AirRONE ripped into him for not cooking Mexican food, especially since AirRONE is Mexican. As if all Mexicans only cook Mexican food. Have a sope and a smile and shut the fuck up, Aaron.

    Use [*color=limegreen]text[/color*] removing the *. regular lime is eye killing on the default background.

    Maybe I have only seen older episodes, but I do not remember this guy. Is he new?

    He's a shy overambitious dog-catcher on the wrong side of the law. She's an orphaned psychic mercenary with the power to bend men's minds. They fight crime!
  • Sea of ThornsSea of Thorns Registered User regular
    edited July 2011
    As a professional chef, I have a love/hate relationship with Chopped. Like someone mentioned previously, one of the fun parts of the show is seeing the mystery ingredients and trying to plan my own menu in my head. Some of the contestants are grating on the nerves, which only makes it sweeter when they get chopped, but the judges are their own brand of crazy. Amanda Freitag is by far my favorite; she walks a fair line between critique and reassurance without being melodramatic and/or bitchfaced like Guarnaschelli.

    Aside from the raw onions = death rule, the one complaint that always bugs me to no end (and seems to pop up on The Next Iron Chef every year, too)? Inedible garnishes. Absolute rage when someone decorates a plate with a whole habanero or cinnamon stick and the judges are all, "Wow my mouth is on fire, why would you do that? Now I can't even taste your food!" If you're going to portray yourself as an accomplished chef with enough experience to judge someone's dish, then don't play the retard card and pretend you don't know that cinnamon sticks are not a crunchy delight. It's insulting to everyone involved, viewers included.

    Sea of Thorns on
  • lonelyahavalonelyahava Call me Ahava ~~She/Her~~ Move to New ZealandRegistered User regular
    Mimsy,

    you totally need to organize a Chopped tournament on the boards.

    Arbitrary Judges (like 3 or 4 of us or something) will pick some ingredients, and then some brave souls will make a dish with said ingredients and then post pictures. And we will all get to be judging.

    it sounds a lot more logical in my head.

  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    Yeah, I'd say my biggest beef is when the judges act like they know less about cuisine than I do. It feels like they're approaching the competition as an amateur affair, when it's very clearly not. Now, if they had an amateur Chopped, that'd be fine. In my opinion, though, if the person presenting you the plate is capable of being introduced as "Chef so-and-so" then you shouldn't treat them like they're a line cook or expediter just taking a crack at this whole "whipping up a full dish" thing.

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • MimMim I prefer my lovers… dead.Registered User regular
    Mimsy,

    you totally need to organize a Chopped tournament on the boards.

    Arbitrary Judges (like 3 or 4 of us or something) will pick some ingredients, and then some brave souls will make a dish with said ingredients and then post pictures. And we will all get to be judging.

    it sounds a lot more logical in my head.

    We'd probably have to make videos of ourselves eating the dishes and describing to the judges what it tastes like, as pictures will probably only cover presentation and creativity.

  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    Tox wrote:
    Yeah, I'd say my biggest beef is when the judges act like they know less about cuisine than I do. It feels like they're approaching the competition as an amateur affair, when it's very clearly not. Now, if they had an amateur Chopped, that'd be fine. In my opinion, though, if the person presenting you the plate is capable of being introduced as "Chef so-and-so" then you shouldn't treat them like they're a line cook or expediter just taking a crack at this whole "whipping up a full dish" thing.

    Eh. It is a TV show so anything said by anybody in front of the camera to somebody else in front of the camera is best taken with a grain of salt. They are saying it that way because you (and all the other TV watchers) need to be able to follow along.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    I want to go on Chopped so I can feed Scott Conant a bowl full of raw onions.

  • RenoreRenore Registered User regular
    the one complaint that always bugs me to no end (and seems to pop up on The Next Iron Chef every year, too)? Inedible garnishes. Absolute rage when someone decorates a plate with a whole habanero or cinnamon stick and the judges are all, "Wow my mouth is on fire, why would you do that? Now I can't even taste your food!" If you're going to portray yourself as an accomplished chef with enough experience to judge someone's dish, then don't play the retard card and pretend you don't know that cinnamon sticks are not a crunchy delight. It's insulting to everyone involved, viewers included.

    This isn't something that accomplished chefs should or ever do, though. It's like using edible flowers for your presentation. You're going to eat them and they're going to add something besides aesthetics. Presenting a plate isn't like painting.

  • Samir Duran DuranSamir Duran Duran Registered User regular
    Whole habanero ain't so bad. I'd garnish with that.

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  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    just cover the dish in 151 and serve it on fire.

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • MimMim I prefer my lovers… dead.Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    So, some of the terms are lost on me. Like, "rustic", what is that? Or "blanching" ?

    Also, what rounds do you guys like the most? I think I like dessert, but I believe I'd excel with the main dish.

    And now they're putting catfish with marshmallows....And what the hell is a rutabaga?

    edit: Also, who the hell gets the fourth plate?

    Mim on
  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    edited August 2011
    I love the appetizer rounds. Everybody's trying to wrap their head around the concept, and deal with the mystery basket ingredients.

    And the fourth plate is the one Ted Allen uses to reveal who has been chopped each round.

    Rustic means "country" or "homey" or something along those lines. A rustic dish is one that mom would cook you. It's generally a compliment, as if to say, "this dish doesn't feel mass-produced, it feels like one you made just for me."

    blanching is a culinary term, it's a cooking process used mostly on vegetables, to take some of the color out of them and make them "whiter" but it also helps to soften crunchier stuff, or to take some of the strength out of the flavor (for things like onions, as opposed to, for instance, serving them raw).

    Tox on
    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • MimMim I prefer my lovers… dead.Registered User regular
    edited August 2011
    Tox wrote:
    I love the appetizer rounds. Everybody's trying to wrap their head around the concept, and deal with the mystery basket ingredients.

    And the fourth plate is the one Ted Allen uses to reveal who has been chopped each round.

    Rustic means "country" or "homey" or something along those lines. A rustic dish is one that mom would cook you. It's generally a compliment, as if to say, "this dish doesn't feel mass-produced, it feels like one you made just for me."

    blanching is a culinary term, it's a cooking process used mostly on vegetables, to take some of the color out of them and make them "whiter" but it also helps to soften crunchier stuff, or to take some of the strength out of the flavor (for things like onions, as opposed to, for instance, serving them raw).

    Ahh, I see. And I saw that! I liked that! :P

    Still, marshmallows and fish. ugh.

    I wonder how I could put a Chopped competition on these boards....

    Has anyone seen Sexy Chefs er, I mean Aaron's new television show?

    Mim on
  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    The trick to cooking "Chopped-style" is basically to not at all know what the hell you're about to make a meal out of, and also to deal with ingredients you don't normally work with.

    That second part is a lot trickier than it sounds, because most people work with what they can afford, and if they've never worked with a given thing before, they're deathly afraid to even try.

    Also you have to either know how to work with stuff that's not cleaned/prepared (like a raw, whole fish), or have it already cleaned when you get it (which makes it more expensive).

    I mean, if you had $100 and gave it to someone who knew about the show and said, "buy me four ingredients, bring them back to me, tell me what course to prepare, and go away for an hour" then yeah, you could totally do home-Chopped.

    It'd be hard as hell, though.

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • ArkadyArkady Registered User regular
    I love this show.
    Mim wrote:
    I'm watching Chopped: Redemption, and I found Yvonne incredibly sexy by cooking still even though she spilled boiling water on her legs. She managed to save her potatoes!

    so sexy.
    edit: Oh my god, that guy gave his $10,000 to the girl. I almost cried.

    I felt so bad for that guy when he was originally on. Any other day on the show and he would have won hands down but there was this other guy, Morgan something who was just ever so slightly better. That was probably the best episode of the show I've seen though. The two of them were just insanely amazing the entire episode.

    The number one thing that makes me roll my eyes from judges is when they complain about food being hard to eat. This one particular episode, this lady made a desert that was essentially 3 tortillas with whipped cream layered in them, and one of the female judges (freitag I think) was all like, "IT'S HARD TO EAT!" as she proceeds to completely rip and tear the thing apart and just fail so utterly at god damn eating. She could have easily picked the dang thing up and eaten it no problem (which is the standard way to eat a tostada). Anything that you can pick up and eat with your hands and not make a giant mess is, by default, not hard to eat. :x

    untitled-1.jpg
    LoL: failboattootoot
  • MimMim I prefer my lovers… dead.Registered User regular
    Tox wrote:
    The trick to cooking "Chopped-style" is basically to not at all know what the hell you're about to make a meal out of, and also to deal with ingredients you don't normally work with.

    That second part is a lot trickier than it sounds, because most people work with what they can afford, and if they've never worked with a given thing before, they're deathly afraid to even try.

    Also you have to either know how to work with stuff that's not cleaned/prepared (like a raw, whole fish), or have it already cleaned when you get it (which makes it more expensive).

    I mean, if you had $100 and gave it to someone who knew about the show and said, "buy me four ingredients, bring them back to me, tell me what course to prepare, and go away for an hour" then yeah, you could totally do home-Chopped.

    It'd be hard as hell, though.

    So, we'd basically have to wait until PAX to even attempt something of a Chopped magnitude. And probably something a bit easier to work with rather than "DE-BONE THIS FISH!" because it'd be unfair to throw that onto amateurs...

  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    Oh yeah, you'd have to buy stuff more or less already cleaned. That's not a big deal, though, because it's the sort of thing that amateurs are going to take way too long and hurt themselves doing.

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    Chopped did totally teach me the best way to cook a steak, though.

    Get the pan nice and hot, cook three minutes each side, then stick it in the oven for another 2-4 (depending on thickness and desired doneness).

    Voila, perfect steak.

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • MimMim I prefer my lovers… dead.Registered User regular
    So I just watched "A is for Apple and U is for Udon" episode. I feel really bad for Debra and may she rest in peace.

  • BagginsesBagginses __BANNED USERS regular
    Mim wrote:
    Tox wrote:
    The trick to cooking "Chopped-style" is basically to not at all know what the hell you're about to make a meal out of, and also to deal with ingredients you don't normally work with.

    That second part is a lot trickier than it sounds, because most people work with what they can afford, and if they've never worked with a given thing before, they're deathly afraid to even try.

    Also you have to either know how to work with stuff that's not cleaned/prepared (like a raw, whole fish), or have it already cleaned when you get it (which makes it more expensive).

    I mean, if you had $100 and gave it to someone who knew about the show and said, "buy me four ingredients, bring them back to me, tell me what course to prepare, and go away for an hour" then yeah, you could totally do home-Chopped.

    It'd be hard as hell, though.

    So, we'd basically have to wait until PAX to even attempt something of a Chopped magnitude. And probably something a bit easier to work with rather than "DE-BONE THIS FISH!" because it'd be unfair to throw that onto amateurs...

    Just cut them horizontally and hope the judges aren't idiots.
    9643471c0bbd71dc9f4c059d1f1326cf.JPG
    Next, grind up the cheese-its and boil down to make cheesy ugali or fry to make polenta or brie.

  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    Only tangentially related to cooking and the like, but last time we went grocery shopping we picked up some of that Philly Cream Cheese Cooking Cream, and OH MY GOD YOU GUYS IT IS SO GOOD!

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • SolandraSolandra Registered User regular
    Mim wrote:
    Solandra wrote:
    My husband has invented, for his own amusement, "$20.00 Chopped". He gets clearance and then goes to Whole Foods Market or one of the local specialty stores, and comes home with 3 items that are exotic or unusual in combination, and presents them to me with a boyish sadistic glee. He learned, though, that he has to be willing to eat all of them after the dried split peas, pineapple and beef heart incident.

    ...How did that work out?

    Teriyaki Beef Heart roasted with Pineapple and... well... split pea soup. As combos go, the beef and pineapple worked out OK - beef heart tastes like very very lean steak. The split pea soup was phenomenal because I had some stock left over from the ham I cooked for Easter, but I just couldn't figure out a way to make them all go together that I was willing to serve to anyone other than the neighbor's dog.

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