Season 19: Last Chance Kitchen

[carrps]

I don't mind Sarah. I think she's just very serious and not all smiley-smiley. I can appreciate that.

Plus Monique seems to specialize in bland dishes. I don't like salt licks, but bland is a worse sin in my book.

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

So, since Restaurant Wars is next week, I'm guessing LCK will keep going until the week after?   

Jo looked so over all of this in the regular episode, and then looked very tired and done with LCK too.     Sarah, is doing very well, but I wonder if she can keep going and get back in the contest?   

[dleighg]

I would have chosen Sarah as well, even though I couldn't taste it, and it didn't look that pretty. It was just more inventive.

Is glutinous rice flour different than rice flour? I cook glutinous rice every so often (my husband loves it), but am not familiar with anything other than "rice flour."

Jo said "I'm taking a major risk here, doing something so simple." After earlier saying "I'm going to play it safe and do something I know I can execute."

Which is it, Jo? I think it was clear she doesn't have staying power in this season.

[The Solution]

I've been kind of lukewarm on Sarah to this point, but I would have eaten the EFF out of that dish!

I wondered about someone who would say "rih-cawtta" rather than "reegott" making Italian food. And if bell peppers were one of the elements of your dish, and you only had 30 minutes and a pantry full of interesting things, why the HELL wouldn't you have stuffed the peppers? B'bye, Jo.

[caitmcg]

  On 4/15/2022 at 3:14 PM, The Solution said:

I wondered about someone who would say "rih-cawtta" rather than "reegott" making Italian food.

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I don’t think those exaggerated Sicilian-American pronunciations are a prerequisite for cooking Italian food well. I doubt Tom Colicchio pronounces it that way. 

  On 4/15/2022 at 12:14 PM, dleighg said:

Is glutinous rice flour different than rice flour? I

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Yes.

[dleighg]

  On 4/15/2022 at 8:27 PM, caitmcg said:

I don’t think those exaggerated Sicilian-American pronunciations are a prerequisite for cooking Italian food well.

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Yeah AFAIK that's not an Italian thing. It's an Italian-American thing (mostly from the east coast; i.e. New Jersey and New York)

[Totale]

So I guess they sent the first half of the losing LCK chefs to the firing squad.

I don't know what was in the pantry, but my first thought for stuffing would be something like lobstah or shrimp.

 

[dleighg]

  On 4/16/2022 at 5:33 PM, Totale said:

So I guess they sent the first half of the losing LCK chefs to the firing squad

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I think maybe it was a timing thing; like they did the first half of LCK (along with the peanut gallery) just before they sent Ashleigh back in; then the second half was filmed just before the end, so they didn't make the peanut gallery hang around during the gap.

[ProudMary]

  On 4/16/2022 at 5:33 PM, Totale said:

I don't know what was in the pantry, but my first thought for stuffing would be something like lobstah or shrimp.

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Agreed, stuffing either of those would have been yummy and quicker. 

My mind went directly to stuffed cabbage or peppers.

[The Solution]

Well, I thought Jackson would win this one hands down, but that wasn't the case. Sarah made dishes that played to her strengths, were what she know how to do, and looked effing AMAZING!

Jackson's dishes looked okay, but he'd have to be a train on fire to beat Sarah in this one. Everyone has a bad day and this was clearly Jackson's.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I wonder if Tom knew about Jackson serving as a taster for his team, and having very little sense of taste, before this was filmed?   I'm glad Sarah won, her dishes looked amazing.  

[Fukui San]

Sarah's dishes looked amazingly well thought out for her wacky half and half theme for the amount of time she had to come up with them. By now I'm hoping she goes all the way and rejoins the competition.

For Jackson, if you were to ask my which foods would travel well, pasta and fondue would be near the bottom of my rankings. That said his dishes looked fine. If Tom and Gail didn't complain about cold mystery cheese sauce, that's good enough for me, I guess.

[dleighg]

I totally did not get that whole lime water thing that Sarah was talking about. Did anyone understand the concept there?

[Totale]

  On 4/22/2022 at 2:36 AM, CrazyInAlabama said:

I wonder if Tom knew about Jackson serving as a taster for his team, and having very little sense of taste, before this was filmed?   I'm glad Sarah won, her dishes looked amazing.  

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He mentioned it in the voiceover at the top of the episode but not in the filmed parts - I don't think the judges had been told yet.

[caitmcg]

  On 4/22/2022 at 3:42 PM, dleighg said:

I totally did not get that whole lime water thing that Sarah was talking about. Did anyone understand the concept there?

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Here is a good explanation. Limewater is also used to nixtamalize corn, e.g. for the masa used to make tortillas and tamales.

[Fukui San]

  On 4/22/2022 at 5:30 PM, caitmcg said:

Here is a good explanation. Limewater is also used to nixtamalize corn, e.g. for the masa used to make tortillas and tamales.

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That's a new one for me, too! I might have to try it. Crispier fried food sounds intriguing.

[SailorGirl]

  On 4/15/2022 at 3:14 PM, The Solution said:

I've been kind of lukewarm on Sarah to this point, but I would have eaten the EFF out of that dish!

I wondered about someone who would say "rih-cawtta" rather than "reegott" making Italian food. And if bell peppers were one of the elements of your dish, and you only had 30 minutes and a pantry full of interesting things, why the HELL wouldn't you have stuffed the peppers? B'bye, Jo.

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My grandmother was first-generation Italian from Perugia and an amazing cook. She lived in Little Italy in Baltimore, so I was around a LOT of first-generation Italian cooks. I never once heard any of them call it "reegott." The first time I ever heard it was on the Sopranos and I thought it was an intentional take to somehow make the characters seem like "real" Italians, despite few (to my knowledge), if any, "real" Italians pronouncing it that way.

From my direct experience with first-generation Italians and Italian cooking, the majority of Italians pronounce it "ree-CAWT-tah," with a rolling "r" and a hard "tah."  I think the pronunciation of "reegott" is tv-driven, and now everyone uses it because they think that's how Italians pronounce it. Same with prosciutto. We never abbreviated it -- the first time I heard it abbreviated was on the Sopranos, and then all of sudden everyone was saying it. 

[dleighg]

  On 4/24/2022 at 2:33 AM, SailorGirl said:

I think the pronunciation of "reegott" is tv-driven, and now everyone uses it because they think that's how Italians pronounce it. Same with prosciutto. We never abbreviated it -- the first time I heard it abbreviated was on the Sopranos, and then all of sudden everyone was saying it. 

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I think it's a New Jersey thing. Though it could also be mostly TV style New Jersey.

[marybennet]

  On 4/24/2022 at 9:11 AM, dleighg said:

  On 4/24/2022 at 2:33 AM, SailorGirl said:

I think the pronunciation of "reegott" is tv-driven, and now everyone uses it because they think that's how Italians pronounce it. Same with prosciutto. We never abbreviated it -- the first time I heard it abbreviated was on the Sopranos, and then all of sudden everyone was saying it. 

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I think it's a New Jersey thing. Though it could also be mostly TV style New Jersey.

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It is; it’s NY/ NJ Italian-American accent, which comes from and is a slightly hardened version of the southern Italian pronunciation. But most of Italy doesn’t chop off the last syllable in that way. TV definitely institutionalized it, but members of my family definitely say reeGOTT, too. 

Edited April 24, 2022 by marybennet

[rhofmovalley]

My upstate New York born Italian MIL says "regott".  She also calls pasta "macaroni".

[SailorGirl]

  On 4/24/2022 at 5:24 PM, rhofmovalley said:

My upstate New York born Italian MIL says "regott".  She also calls pasta "macaroni".

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We use macaroni too, but not as a catch-all for every type of pasta. Macaroni is a specific kind of noodle. Just like spaghetti, ravioli, lasagna noodle, angel hair, etc. 

When we made noodles, we made some of every kind, including macaroni. It is a two-day process. None of this machine noodle maker nonsense. I still have the massive knife my grandmother used to cut noodles. My grandmother did transition away from the knife to the noodle roller that attached to the counter, but there is nothing mechanical involved in true noodle-making!

Its why I love to see the cheftestants hand-kneading the dough. If they could chill it overnight and then roll it, it would REALLY be something special, but sadly, they never have the time for that. Yes, fresh noodles are great, etc., but chilling the dough overnight allows everything to bind together and the taste to develop. That's how you get the truly authentic chewy, hearty noodles. 

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by SailorGirl

[CrazyInAlabama]

I watched this, and Tom said that whoever wins LCK next week goes back into the TC show.   Sara vs. Luke, Tom always finds some new way to torture the chefs.   

I find it ironic that Luke was eliminated for over salting, when it was Tom "Salt Lick" Colicchio judging. 

Edited April 29, 2022 by CrazyInAlabama

[Nordly Beaumont]

When I saw Jackson in the peanut gallery, for a split second I thought "who's that?" Man, my memory is short!

[emmawoodhouse]

Jackson's damn lucky that he didn't compete this week with the blind taste test. 😂

[PhoneCop]

Man, next week's gonna suck. I hate to see any of the remaining six chefs go, but it'd also be cool if Sarah battled back after a streak like this. I basically have to hope somebody pulls a Jackson, suddenly crashing and burning in some spectacularly unlikable fashion. 

[Fukui San]

  On 4/29/2022 at 2:22 AM, emmawoodhouse said:

Jackson's damn lucky that he didn't compete this week with the blind taste test. 😂

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Darn it show! You deprived us of Jackson doing a blind taste test!

[dleighg]

seems that the blind taste test used dried herbs, but they obviously were able to use fresh herbs in the cooking. They can be fairly different in flavor (especially basil).

[ProudMary]

I have to wonder if Luke had watched ANY past episodes of Top Chef. When Tom talks about seasoning the food, he's talking about salt, even in a challenge based around herbs and spices! When Sarah and Luke finished the blind taste test, my first thought was, "Salt wasn't part of the test so they'll have to grab that from the pantry." How did Luke not think about salt when he was blending the other spices? I'm just a home cook and I pretty much season everything with salt and freshly ground black pepper early in the cooking process, unless it's something like mushrooms, where you want the product to release its own juices before salting.

Three rules of cooking for Tom Colicchio:

3. He doesn't like okra. (Although some contestants seem to take that as a challenge and a few have been successful.)

2. Avoid risotto. It's just too risky and if it's mediocre, you're going home.

1. Season (that means SALT!) your dish liberally.

 

I have very mixed feelings about where everything stands right now with LCK. Sarah's run has been quite amazing and it's hard not to root for her to get back into the main competition next week. OTOH, every single one of the six chefs still in the main competition have proved themselves worthy of making it to the top four, at least, so Sarah making it back would have to be at the expense of one of them. I think next week will prove disappointing no matter what happens. 😔

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by ProudMary

[Fukui San]

Just remembering the first season of LCK, and all the challenges were totally random. It was like "Today you have to make a meal out of canned tarantula for no reason," with Tom the least enthusiastic of all of them. It's much better now with all of the challenges tied into the eliminations thematically.

[Totale]

Sarah vs Ashleigh rematch FTW

[ProudMary]

  On 4/30/2022 at 3:05 PM, Totale said:

Sarah vs Ashleigh rematch FTW

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I think that's the one and only LCK final where I could accept it if Sarah won and returned to the main competition. I like Ashleigh and her cooking style, but of the six chefs still standing, she's the only one I can't see winning the entire thing. Edited to add: And of course, Ashleigh's already been PYKAGd once.

If any other chef enters LCK, I'd have to root against Sarah returning. It'll be interesting to see this week's Judges' Table, especially as to whom Tom thinks should be eliminated. 

Edited April 30, 2022 by ProudMary
See above.

[Straycat80]

Good thing Jackson didn’t have to do the blind taste test. He would have had no herbs or spices in his dish. 

[emmawoodhouse]

Congrats to Sarah. That was a helluva run, tying a LCK record. 

[The Solution]

I would have considered myself the luckiest man on the planet to eat either of those dishes. Congrats to Sarah! Not that Jae's dish looked at all bad. Damn.

[emmawoodhouse]

I thought Jae had it. I was really surprised to hear Sarah's name called.

[The Solution]

I gotta admit. I don't give a shit about Sarah (or Tom) calling it rih-cawtta anymore as long as they cook like that. And I pronounce it ree-cgotta when I'm actually speaking Italian, which I do.

[mlp]

I'm glad Sarah made it back in after what had to be a grueling run of cooking in LCK.  I imagine that winning all five votes in the first round had some weight even if it wasn't "official."  Jae's fish looked good but I suspect there was some problem with the squash that they didn't mention or didn't show us.  

[hendersonrocks]

SHOTA! I mean, a true highlight right there. It was also touching to see Evelyn's struggle - plain as day on her face when she had to vote and then reveal her vote - that she knew she was voting against her friend, but she still went with the better dish.

I was honestly a little worried Sarah was going to lose after that meat grinder of a double challenge AND sweeping the first one. I'm glad she didn't. Impressive AF.

[caitmcg]

I kind of came into the LCK finale rooting for Sarah, just because, except for her one loss to Ashleigh, she’s been killing it. Once they both outlined their creamy, crispy, chewy dishes I had a feeling she’d take it. Besides, every time she goes to one of her signature menu items, it’s a winner. You had to love how surprised the final five were to see her, of all people, still there. She didn’t make much of an impression in the main competition, but she clearly can cook.

[Yeah No]

  On 4/24/2022 at 3:31 PM, marybennet said:

It is; it’s NY/ NJ Italian-American accent, which comes from and is a slightly hardened version of the southern Italian pronunciation. But most of Italy doesn’t chop off the last syllable in that way. TV definitely institutionalized it, but members of my family definitely say reeGOTT, too. 

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Just to clarify, it's not universal among NY/NJ Italian Americans.  My Sicilian American family in NYC did not pronounce it "reeGOTT".  They wouldn't have said "maniGOTT" or "gabagool" or whatever other pronunciations were common either.  They thought those were slang words coming out of a neighborhood culture they didn't want to identify themselves with.  I'm just recounting how they felt about it, no offense to anyone whose family or friends pronounce those words that way. 

I'm amazed at Sarah, good for her!

[bosawks]

That was impressive.

No matter what happens I consider Sarah a winner.

"A metric shit ton of herbs" should be in more cook books.

Edited May 6, 2022 by bosawks

[sugarbaker design]

The episode of LCK I saw (on demand Xfinity), the episode ended with the judges currently in contention placing their votes, for either Sarah's or Jae's dish, face down on the table.  Then it abruptly ended.  Am I missing something?  Am I watching on the wrong platform?

Edited May 6, 2022 by sugarbaker design

[Seelouis]

  On 5/6/2022 at 1:27 PM, sugarbaker design said:

The episode of LCK I saw (on demand Xfinity), the episode ended with the judges currently in contention placing their votes, for either Sarah's or Jae's dish, face down on the table.  Then it abruptly ended.  Am I missing something?  Am I watching on the wrong platform?

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There’s a second part in a separate video. 

[Crs97]

I think Sara needs to go straight from Top Chef to Chopped.

[seltzer3]

Yeah, I'm glad that Sarah won both.  Because it would have been terrible if Sarah won the time battle, and then lost to the one when it really counts (especially when both of them thought the time was the actual battle).

[Fukui San]

In addition to her awesome cooking in LCK, I also appreciated her delightful talking heads throughout. She’s been a great narrator for this season. 

[Straycat80]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I thought it was cruel to not let Sarah win the first part of the challenge when all five chefs voted for her to win and Jai got no votes at all. And then they both had to cook AGAIN.  Good thing she won the second part. I felt sorry for her, she looked so stressed out. 

[Sd601]

  On 5/7/2022 at 1:39 AM, Fukui San said:

In addition to her awesome cooking in LCK, I also appreciated her delightful talking heads throughout. She’s been a great narrator for this season. 

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Yes! Seriously, Sarah makes me laugh. Remember the last episodes talking head about her “relationship” with tom? That’s all that matters? 😆
 

I haven’t watched the 2nd part yet. Somehow my platform YouTubeTV didn’t air it, so I appreciate the spoilers. I felt bad that everyone else seemed to be rooting for Jai. I think sarah is awkward and sarcastic. I usually enjoy watching calm, methodical cooking, but I surprisingly really enjoy her funny, messy, chaotic cooking. She’s at times nervous & reserved but more often blurts out really funny quips. She made no impression on me during the regular competition, but from just two episodes of last chance kitchen, I’ve been rooting for her. 

[Souris]

I really enjoyed watching both chefs this season — they have both cooked some excellent dishes and also serve up terrific talking heads. They both make me laugh! I had to root for Sarah because it would have been brutal to sweep the first part when they both thought that was it, only to have to cook again, win more time, then ultimately lose. So I’m glad she didn’t come up :this short: again. I would love to try both dishes (except for the olive relish, because olives are the most vile flavor in the universe to me. Impressive run for Sarah! 

Also: SHOTA! You know they just want to pretend he won last season. I know I do.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Souris

[HawaiiTVGuy]

  On 5/6/2022 at 2:44 AM, emmawoodhouse said:

I thought Jae had it. I was really surprised to hear Sarah's name called.

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They did a nice job with the fake out in having it make it sound like Shota was talking about one dish seemingly more creative while the other one being the one he remembered when he closed his eyes (paraphrasing) and Tom being much more reserved in his compliment of Sarah's gnocchi during the tasting.  Especially compared to the chef judges who all clearly voted for Sarah and were like super sad when they realized it.