S10.E07: Vegas Pool Party

[cooksdelight]

NicSac, it's not you. It's them. :)

The overuse of these mean-nothing terms is beyond ridiculous.

[Intuition]

 

I also agree with the poster that said he got some extra coaching since his elimination. Bet that was the producers idea to do that. I can understand his appeal to Giada besides his looks..... He came to the US from Italy so she has a sort of kinship with him in that way. I'm sure she would want him to succeed because of that. I also think Luca remains to cook another week because Geoffrey Zakarian prepared him to come back and it's saving his face maybe.

 

I think the only coaching Luca got was to dial back the fake "foreign" act a bit and be more "American" (aka "relatable"), and I don't think he needed any lessons to achieve this.  I have been saying since day one (before Star Salvation) that I think he has been exaggerating his Italian accent and mannerisms.  I fully believe that this guy is far more Americanized than he was originally portraying himself to be.  I don't doubt that he was born and raised in Italy, but I think he has been in the US longer than they wanted us to think, and I think his comeback has so far lent more credence to my theory.  I have convinced Mr. Intuition of it, especially when I stop and replay Luca's "micro-expressions" on the DVR.  When he says two words almost under his breath when he is off guard and not doing it for the camera, like "That's right" or "there you go", all of a sudden the Italian accent completely disappears and becomes totally American.  Now that he has eased up on the foreign schtick, he's doing it more often, even to the point of yelling out "Booyah" and doing a high five when everyone was cheering.  Having grown up in an Italian American family with people of varying degrees of Americanization, I am particularly sensitive to this.  Also, remember Fabio from "Top Chef"?  I never thought he was putting on an act.  But Luca?  Yeah.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Intuition

[needschocolate]

The new "terms" I've heard used on FN just drive me nuts. I've figured out that "rustic" and "deconstructed" mean "I couldn't bother to plate it nicely," but I'm still confused on "elevated."  Farm to table I can just barely get... nose to tail no thank you. Maybe I'm not as much of a foodie as I thought I was.

I have noticed on design competition shows that most contestants have a combination of styles, and the styles often disagree - "I would describe myself as modern-traditional"   "My style is rustic-industrial"  "I am known for my Asian inspired early American designs" etc... I am kind of looking forward to when cooking competition contestants latch on to the combined descriptions - "I specialize in coastal farm-to-table recipes"   "My POV is New York style southern comfort food"   "My restaurant serves head-to-tail vegan cuisine"

 

Actually, Sarah may be ahead of her time with her Texan date night baby food POV. 

[leighdear]

While I'm not particularly enamored with Luca, he does have a big advantage in my opinion: While the rest of the wannabe hosts have been prancing around and looking like idiots in contrived and ridiculous "contests" and gyrating in front of a green screen of stupidity, I think Luca's been actually COOKING more than they have.  

And I also agree about additional coaching: I imagine that JZac and Demaris have mentored all the "salvation" kids at the same time.  A lot fewer people, more personal attention and less embarrassment for the contestant.  

[Intuition]

I think Lenny and Loreal seem more and more fake and contrived with every episode.  The only way Lenny can get anyone to pay attention to him is by being a fake, phony, pratfalling buffoon.  Otherwise, I don't see what he has to offer.  Is that what I want to see on a food network?  Hells no!  And I am so over the cowboy/western food theme I can't even stand it. 

 

Say what you want about the former winners of this show, but none of them have been caricatures in the way of Lenny, Pie Style or even Loreal.  I thought it was a sign of hope for the future of mankind when the votes went to Damaris last season.  She is entertaining but definitely GENUINE.  Loreal could be genuine if she stopped hamming it up so much and putting on the fakey southern accent, which seemed even more exaggerated and fakey in this episdoe.  I get it that she's supposedly from New Orleans, but she seems to be able to turn on the accent with a switch.

 

I don't get what the producers love about pageant girl either.  I thought she probably should have gone home.  I felt bad that Chris went home.  He seemed genuine and I would have watched him.  I am NOT going to watch some kind of cartoon character!

[JTMacc99]

While I'm not particularly enamored with Luca, he does have a big advantage in my opinion: While the rest of the wannabe hosts have been prancing around and looking like idiots in contrived and ridiculous "contests" and gyrating in front of a green screen of stupidity, I think Luca's been actually COOKING more than they have.  

And I also agree about additional coaching: I imagine that JZac and Demaris have mentored all the "salvation" kids at the same time.  A lot fewer people, more personal attention and less embarrassment for the contestant.  

 

I agree, and I will throw on another thing he has going for him. Unlike the others, Luca hasn't suffered any brain damage from the YouTube and Green Screen Commercial challenges.

 

He got to do some straightforward things that made sense, so he is MUCH less likely to be second guessing himself at this point. 

 

He just went up to the stage and presented this week.  Look at what the others did and think about whether or not they would have done what they did back in episode 2 when Luca left the competition:

• Loreal talked about boozing it up which felt like a direct result of her getting good feedback from her Dang! commercial. 
• Lenny jumped up on the table and then promised the crowd a belly flop which felt like a direct result of his feedback from the Knotts Berry Farm presentation.
• Nicole essentially said "fuck it, these actors in the crowd aren't even real pool customers, so they won't care what kind of ham I serve them as long as my story makes sense to make them think they're on the coast of Spain", which seems like an overreaction to when Flay scolded her for not remembering to tie her (well received) Mexican style dish to the coast of Mexico at Knotts Berry Farm.
• Sarah, who may have been brain damaged even back in week two to be fair, was a raving lunatic about losing the beef to Chris.

 

I think Luca greatly benefited by simply not having to participate in all of this BS. His mind HAS to be a lot clearer than the other people who are still trying to process how they were supposed to come up with a product, develop packaging, prepare a commercial, but do it like you are standing on the moon!

[cooksdelight]

If Luca winds up winning, and others start putting this theory out there, maybe... maybe they'll stop with this redemption crap! :)

[smiley13]

 

Loreal could be genuine if she stopped hamming it up so much and putting on the fakey southern accent, which seemed even more exaggerated and fakey in this episode.  I get it that she's supposedly from New Orleans, but she seems to be able to turn on the accent with a switch.

I thought she said she was from Lafayette?  (By way of Indianapolis and California according to an article I read)

[phoenix780]

The posts about Luca and his training make me wonder...maybe they should revamp the format and go in two directions.  One group just cooks.  The other learns the value of being clowns in the kitchen.  Let's see who the viewers pick in the end.

[Accidental Martyr]

I thought she said she was from Lafayette?  (By way of Indianapolis and California according to an article I read)

Yes, she introduced herself as being from Lafayette, LA.

[NikSac]

I have noticed on design competition shows that most contestants have a combination of styles, and the styles often disagree - "I would describe myself as modern-traditional"   "My style is rustic-industrial"  "I am known for my Asian inspired early American designs" etc... I am kind of looking forward to when cooking competition contestants latch on to the combined descriptions - "I specialize in coastal farm-to-table recipes"   "My POV is New York style southern comfort food"   "My restaurant serves head-to-tail vegan cuisine"

 

Actually, Sarah may be ahead of her time with her Texan date night baby food POV. 

 

hee... good point on the crossover with the design competitions. Head to tail vegan is hilarious!  I'm picturing some sort of corn on the cob recipe where they pulverize the husk to make a sauce for the corn, and garnish it with fried corn silks.

[needschocolate]

If Luca winds up winning, and others start putting this theory out there, maybe... maybe they'll stop with this redemption crap! :)

 

The returnee won on a season of Top Chef and on a season of Face Off.  They still do the redemption thing on Top Chef, but I don't think they do on Face Off.  And one could easily argue that the winning returnee deserved the win on both of those shows. 

[cooksdelight]

I can't remember which show started the redemption bandwagon. I think it might be Survivor, the granddaddy of all the reality shows. I hate it there too.

Especially dislike it on this show only because we had to watch Sarah's mouth open really, really wide and her eyes open really, really wide. :)

And I agree with you, Kristen deserved the win on TC. She fell so far down on her sword in that season that I thought it might stab Josie in the eye. Pity it missed. *snark*

Edited July 17, 2014 by cooksdelight

[aradia22]

I stopped watching after the first episode. I decided to check the boards to see whether I should jump back in. I'm not surprised they managed to eliminated all the non-white contestants. How the heck are Emma and Lenny still hanging in there? Please tell me they told him to drop the cowboy schtick. I'm picking Luca or Nicole to win. How did I do?

[Kromm]

I'm waiting to pass judgement on Nicole and Hamgate until she posts her next blog entry (she's had one for every episode so far).  Eventually it will appear here: http://toofullforschool.com/

 

She'll win or lose my respect based on how she defends herself, I think.

[Aquarius]

Lenny is like a bad actor with a bad script.  Just painful to watch.  This little lady wouldn't watch a show of his.  No siree!  But I do have a feeling he's going to win.

 

I've liked Nicole since the beginning, but I just don't see her having a chance at this point.  I used to like Emma, but now she's just peppering everything with her grandma and travel stories.  As mentioned upthread, it is like she's turned the key to this competition, but it's coming off as a little ridiculous.  And insulting.  I'm too stooopid to understand "viscous" but somehow Emma relating a taste to her travels in Thailand with her family makes me understand and want to eat the dish?  The hell??  I know that's FN and not Emma but still.  I envy how nice her curls are but that's all I got left for her at this point, because I don't care what her grandma said about cumin during their travels in Nepal.

 

And Sarah has moved into complete and utter idiot territory.  The Republic of Texas was bad enough but then to go all diva about the freaking tenderloin?  And keep bringing it up, ad nauseum.  Did I miss the part where they announced that they could pick any protein, but the tenderloin was Sarah's?  Because she kept insisting it was "hers" somehow.  Maybe it's a law from the nonexistent Republic of Texas, that's the only thing that makes sense.  Ugh.  During the judging when they started Sarah's "we see potential in you" speech, we thought it was the goodbye speech, and we started cheering so loud that we actually missed the whole ending.  So, so disappointed when we realized they were really sending Chris home. 

Edited July 17, 2014 by Aquarius

[JTMacc99]

I'm waiting to pass judgement on Nicole and Hamgate until she posts her next blog entry (she's had one for every episode so far).  Eventually it will appear here: http://toofullforschool.com/

 

She'll win or lose my respect based on how she defends herself, I think.

 

She'll almost definitely say it was a mistake and that she would never do it again, which will echo what she said on the show. I'd be pretty surprised if she said anything different.

 

That last entry, where she shows all of the pictures of her and Emma and their respective significant others and siblings made me think, "Man. remember when my friends and I had no kids, plenty of time, and disposable income? That was great." 

 

I do like that her enthusiasm about food comes through in what she says outside of this show. If she somehow survives long enough on this show to be given a chance in the Food Channel / Cooking Channel universe, that attitude would serve her well. I'd watch her if she could communicate the joy she seems to get from creating the food she talks about in her blog. Well that and because she's nice to look at and doesn't annoy the living shit out of me when she speaks. That's pretty much two of the three things I need from a food TV program. Any actual good ideas she could give me for my own meals would be a plus and could actually make her watchable to a broad audience and not just me.

[CaptainCranky]

I'm not a foodie nor do I pretend to be. My favorite meal is a rare steak, loaded baked potato and a good asparagus on the side.  As you can see by my avatar I think the hamburger is one of the top five discoveries known to mankind.

 

So the food part of this is lost on me. What I love is the competition. In fact Chopped is my show. I DVR it, fast forward through a lot of the cooking and watch the critique and the one on one dialog with each contestant and the judges.

 

What I do like is the short video bio on each contestant at the start. That tells me more about who they are and what they are about than all this POV crap NS is giving us.

Edited July 17, 2014 by CaptainCranky

[JTMacc99]

She'll win or lose my respect based on how she defends herself, I think.

Well, Nicole's blog is updated. What do you think?

[cooksdelight]

it seems that I have not only disappointed my fans, but I lost the trust of many viewers simply because I chose to verbalize a different word for prosciutto

She couldn't tell the difference. Alton and Giada could. Nicole can't tell what's prosciutto and what's serrano? She has no business being there, even I can tell the difference when they are side by side in the deli case.

It's all Giada's fault. Giada told her it's ok to fib, so it's all her fault. Whine me a river. If Giada told me it's OK to lie, I'd ask, "Is that what you do on TV?"

Her dad looks like Lance Armstrong.

[MaryHedwig]

Well, Nicole's blog is updated. What do you think?

 

Giada told Nicole that it was ok to lie and that gave her permission to do so?  Giada has more influence over her than her parents?  If Nicole is willing to put her integrity on the line for this -- what else is she willing to lie about to make herself look good?  I am not interested in watching on TV hosted by her to find out.

 

So I trust Nicole even less after reading her blog.  That being said, I do have compassion for the difficult situation she is in.  Nicole should have hired a public relations person to help her write that blog; trust me, no professional PR person would have approved her rambling post of rationalizations.

 

That being said, I do remember a story from a documentary on early television (late 40's/early 50's) in which a light bulb above a cooking station was changed right before they went on air.  Flies fell out and dropped into the bowl of batter.  The cook just told the viewers at home they were raisins....

 

It actually lowers my respect for Giada to think that she encouraged the contestants to lie.  Of course, she might not have said that.  I need to consider the source.

[Kromm]

It actually DOES sound like something Giada would say.  Maybe not with the intention of telling people to describe foods as other foods, but possibly uncaring of explaining in detail what she DID actually mean--at least until it gave her an opportunity to criticize someone for doing exactly as she asked.

 

I suppose I believe she was trying to please Toothy, but am rolling my eyes at the enormous stupidity of how she did it, and rolling them again that she didn't simply have her blog be a simple mea culpa rather than a novel.

[JTMacc99]

I got two things from it.

 

1. She doesn't belong in a reality show competition. The explanation of why she did what she did is almost exactly what I've been talking about here. It was a combination of when I mentioned that it appears that by this episode, more than half of the remaining contestants have suffered some sort of brain damage that is making them do things they probably wouldn't have done back in episode 1, and what I mentioned about her completely overreacting to what Flay told her about not mentioning Mexico back in the Knotts Berry Farm episode. 

 

A good reality show contestant, as opposed to a normal person who puts him or herself into this situation, would stay focused on the prize and not take all of the ridiculous things that happen to heart as learning experiences. 

 

2. She'll need to deal with people not liking her if she wants to be on TV.  That whole lesson on Serrano Ham vs. Prosciutto Ham was basically a, "SFTU. There is virtually no difference between the two. Telling me that you'll never trust me again seems like a bit of an overreaction people." 

 

Friends, family, average people sitting around eating what was apparently a very tasty dish probably will give you a quick comment letting you know that you just should have told them you substituted a very similar product and moved on.  People watching you on TV will think that you probably should have just told them about the substitute, but will absolutely make a big goddamn deal out of it.  Because you are on TV.

 

It is similar to what both George Carlin (and more recently Louis C.K., but I'll use the Carlin quote here) say about how close you are to somebody in relationship to what you say about them:
 

“The amount of an asshole a person is is directly proportional to the distance they are away from you at the time you discover this fault. Someone on TV is REALLY AN ASSHOLE! Someone in the car next to you is Pretty Much of an Asshole. A guy standing next to you on line: <whispers> ‘this guy’s a real asshole here.”

 

Nicole had better get used to negative feedback if she wants to be a TV star. 

[cooksdelight]

 

Nicole had better get used to negative feedback if she wants to be a TV star.

 

 

Word. She's starting to act like Stacey Poon-whatshername from last season, who'd cry if anyone said anything bad about her or to her.

[Day2Day]

Looks like this pot is really being "stirred".  Is it a case of "she said"  vs. "she said"???  I really don't care if she knowingly, or not, misrepresented the ham.  However... whoever lied about the flies vs. raisins in that old time TV documentary!!!!..... that is really gross.

[mlp]

 

There is virtually no difference between the two. Telling me that you'll never trust me again seems like a bit of an overreaction people."

 

My problem with her is not that she substituted an ingredient.  It's that she made a deliberate decision to misrepresent one ingredient as another.  And seemed to think it was OK to do that.  Which IMO is lying no matter what Giada may have said.

Edited July 18, 2014 by mlp

[smiley13]

It still doesn't matter to me what kind of ham she used.  I like her better than most of those who are left.  And if she had her own show they would actually have the ingredients that she wanted to use on hand so there would be no need to substitute anything.

[jcbrown]

 

Her dad looks like Lance Armstrong

You could see his testicles and he only had one?

 

Sorry.

 

I still like Nicole even with ham-gate, though I agree she was stupid to not mention that she had substituted for serrano ham.

[cooksdelight]

If she hadn't made such a HUGE deal about this on her blog, I might have forgotten all about it by Sunday night. Not now. No way she's getting a show out of this. She pretty much threw Giada under the bus, so no one at FN will touch her with a ten foot pole.

Edited July 19, 2014 by cooksdelight

[Accidental Martyr]

If she hadn't made such a HUGE deal about this on her blog, I might have forgotten all about it by Sunday night. Not now. No way she's getting a show out of this. She pretty much threw Giada under the bus, so no one at FN will touch her with a ten foot pole.

Which may be an indication that she wasn't selected as one of the 3 finalists...or it might be a red herring. ;)

Edited July 19, 2014 by Accidental Martyr

[ari333]

If she hadn't made such a HUGE deal about this on her blog, I might have forgotten all about it by Sunday night. Not now. No way she's getting a show out of this. She pretty much threw Giada under the bus, so no one at FN will touch her with a ten foot pole.

 

Oh man. I must have ff'd through this or I otherwise missed it. I know these folks go gah gah over serrano ham, but I missed the whole debacle dangit. From what I've read here, it seems that if she had just said that she was substituting the other one she'd have been fine. But that solution seems too simple. :) Giada tl dher it was ok to do the fake out aka lying? Is that how she threw LBH under the bus? If so... oh my...

[cooksdelight]

ari333, here is the link to her blog posted earlier, if you missed it:

 

http://toofullforschool.com/

[mlp]

 

http://toofullforschool.com/

 

Apparently, Nicole is the woman who never says in 25 words or less what she can say in 100.  Ye gods.  How tiresome.

[Kromm]

Apparently, Nicole is the woman who never says in 25 words or less what she can say in 100.  Ye gods.  How tiresome.

I'd have been over the whole thing if she'd simply said "it was a stupid idea, and I wasn't thinking straight.  it won't happen again".  That's it.  Saying more than that was the problem.  It transitions from explaining things to sounding like you are making excuses.

[leighdear]

Ok, not only did she lie, she is stupid.

 

She made the ONE mistake that many cooks make that I cannot forgive.  She said this in her blog:

I would sear up some scallops to get them nice and caramelized on the outside

WRONG!  Scallops have NO sugar in them so they do not caramelize.  They BROWN.  Food with NO sugar in it does not caramelize.  It's science. 

 

I didn't even bother reading the rest of her blog.  SO many cooks misuse that term, and it's stupid that they don't know better.  

 

Along with saying MaRscapone cheese, the caramelize thing is unforgivable.

 

Nicole is now dead to me.

Edited July 19, 2014 by leighdear

[Kromm]

Ok, not only did she lie, she is stupid.

 

She made the ONE mistake that many cooks make that I cannot forgive.  She said this in her blog:

WRONG!  Scallops have NO sugar in them so they do not caramelize.  They BROWN.  Food with NO sugar in it does not caramelize.  It's science. 

 

I suppose technically if you cook scallops IN something with sugar (wine, for example), then the sugar adhering to them could caramelize.  

 

But that's probably not what she meant, is it?

[leighdear]

There are recipes all over the Net for Caramelized Scallops, and all the ones I saw use sugar.  It's probably nitpicky, but it just drives me crazy when people who SHOULD know what terms mean, use them incorrectly. 

 

I did a whole rant on the "America's Best Cook" forum about it a few months back...It was prompted by a contestant talking about using "convection" cooking....It was Episode 4....*LOL*

Edited July 20, 2014 by leighdear

[cooksdelight]

I think it's gotten to the point that if any type of protein has brown crusty edges, it's called caramelized. Another of those overused foodie terms that drive me nuts, too. :)

[NikSac]

I too have lost count of how many times I've heard chefs on various shows talk about "caramelized" steaks.  I think I yell at the TV every time...

[Lillybee]

I like Serrano ham, I know what it looks like and proscuitto is not Serrano ham. All she had to say is if you can not find Serrano ham, you can proscuitto and she would have been fine. I thought the worst thing about her presentation was that she thought that the audience and the judges wouldn't have known the difference. It is a huge mistake to underestimate your audience.

[TudorQueen]

It seems to me that it's an especially huge mistake to underestimate your audience when "Professor" Alton Brown is in attendance.

[J-Man]

I can't wait for a crossover episode where Loreal and Lenny go visit the Drummonds and Lenny has to rope and tie a steer, then Loreal butchers it, and then they all get together to grill it up.

[NikSac]

I can't wait for a crossover episode where Loreal and Lenny go visit the Drummonds and Lenny has to rope and tie a steer, then Loreal butchers it, and then they all get together to grill it up.

 

Maybe they'll wrap it in prosciutto (or Serrano ham if they can find it) and caramelize it on the grill.

[SusannahTaylor3]

It seems to me that it's an especially huge mistake to underestimate your audience when "Professor" Alton Brown is in attendance.

I know, right??!! Pretty stupid. I can see the other guests really not knowing the difference but Giada and Alton would know the difference. I don't see the big deal of her just not coming out during her presentation and saying since I don't have prosciutto I'm using Serrano ham. Then just move on. Nicole, or Coley, as her friends call her doesn't think fast on her feet. As a food network star there will be times when you need to do just that.

[cooksdelight]

I wish they'd do that challenge where they put them in front of an audience and screw with them. Remove an item, switch out an item, hecklers, etc. That would show who can carry a show with live demos and who can't. Instead, they opt for the stupid challenges like that candy bar fiasco that have nothing to do with being a cooking show host.

[chessiegal]

Meat browns because of the Maillard reaction, which is the result of the amino acids in the meat reacting with the natural sugars in the meat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction

 

ETA: I first learned this watching America's Test Kitchens.

Edited July 20, 2014 by chessiegal

[Kromm]

Meat browns because of the Maillard reaction, which is the result of the amino acids in the meat reacting with the natural sugars in the meat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction

 

ETA: I first learned this watching America's Test Kitchens.

Food blogger (coincidentally from the same part of the world as Nicole) talking about the effect of the Maillard Reaction on Scallops.

 

Note that this person seems to want to use both phrases interchangeably.

 

It’s All About the Maillard Reaction

Pan searing involves cooking food in a very hot pan quickly which causes the Maillard reaction to take place sealing in the flavors. First described in 1912 by French chemist Jean-Camille Maillard the Maillard reaction is what causes food to brown gaining that delicious crust. Of course Chefs since the dawn of time had done this but it took until 1912 for someone to stamp their name on it.

Quickly searing food in a hot pan causes a wealth of chemical reactions to occur. Sugars caramellize, proteins breakdown, and numerous new flavor compounds are created. Pan searing isn’t the only method that causes this to happen but it’s a good example.

I did check. Apparently although it lists as 0g of Sugar on most things, a scallop ACTUALLY has a whole 0.13g of sugar in it! Which yeah... ain't much.  

 

Basically browning and carmelization are close cousins though, so it's probably a forgiveable mistake.  They're both Nonenzymatic chemical changes involving sugars, the only difference is the presence of amino acids.

[blubld43]

 

 

 

Anyone ever been poolside at Caesar's Palace? There is a lotta stuff going on out there with the younger crowd which would make them uber hungry, if you get my drift. :) Lenny had it made in the shade with those munchie-hungry burgers.

Yes, I was there a couple of months ago and that was exactly what I was thinking!

Calamari without breading, ugh, might as well substitute rubber bands.