S19.E03: Noodles and Rice and Everything Nice

[FormerMod-a1]

Quote

The chefs are surprised in the kitchen by "Top Chef Miami" winner, Hung Huynh, and challenged to make a dish inspired by five of the larger Asian communities in Houston; along with Hung, the judges and Kiran Verma, they'll be serving 100 guests

Original air date: March 17, 2022

[Bastet]

I laughed at Luke having to tell Padma he has no clue about Indian food.

I understand even a chef having never cooked a particular cuisine, but I’m puzzled when they’re so unfamiliar with the flavor profiles I wonder if they’ve even eaten it (not that they have to like everything just because they’re chefs, of course; I just figure they’d have a curiosity about food and try at least as many things as I do).

Jo talking about how conditioned they are as Filipino chefs not to see their cuisine as fine dining, and how she got made fun of for the food her mom made, is something so important for them to keep including when Asian chefs talk about it. 

I would have been in heaven at this episode’s event – some of my favorite cuisines, and almost everything looked like something I would have absolutely loved.

Ashleigh’s “I’m thinking I should, based on the faces you’re making” when Hung asked her if she was going to use a technique cracked me up. 

As did everyone’s reaction to Sam’s potato show.  But did he really never say, Yeah, okay, I left my boiled potatoes on the stove? 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Bastet

[rhofmovalley]

Aww, Sam!  I like Sam.  But he seems like a cheerful, positive person so he'll be fine.

[Straycat80]

Oh darn, I liked Sam. He was so funny and positive. Buddha or the other chef (still don’t know names) should have gone, they didn’t listen to advice from Tom and the Guest judge. 
I love India and East Asian food so this was interesting to me to see the differences in cuisines. I learned there is something called banana catsup. 
I’m surprised Jackson without his sense of taste and smell is still hanging in there. 
 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Straycat80

[bosawks]

Those samosas sounded not good.

The lack of conversation when eating the udon had me nervous because it looked and sounded delicious.

And I always love it when there is such a practical response to a monetary win, “I’m paying rent!”

 

[joanne3482]

I came specifically to spoil myself because Sam is one of my favorites.  Now I'm bummed. 

Monique looks completely different hair up vs hair down. During her hair down talking head I had no idea who she was. 

This Asian night market sounded so delicious.  

[susannot]

Chef Christine Ha, winner of MasterChef, was one of the Houston chefs.

[The Solution]

Wow! These chefs all seem so talented and not asshole-ish. I would have eaten, and probably loved, everything presented. Glad to see Jackson do well and great to see Jae win. Hated to see Sam lose - such a positive, humorous and adventurous chef. It would have been a difficult decision but I would easily have eliminated either of the other two in the bottom.

[hula-la]

2 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

Oh darn, I liked Sam. He was so funny and positive. Buddha or the other chef (still don’t know names) should have gone, they didn’t listen to advice from Tom and the Guest judge. 
I love India and East Asian food so this was interesting to me to see the differences in cuisines. I learned there is something called banana catsup. 
I’m surprised Jackson without his sense of taste and smell is still hanging in there. 
 

Banana catsup is really good. I don’t own tomato catsup, but do have banana. Some interesting history on the woman who developed it.  https://food52.com/blog/24700-maria-orosa-profile

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I love, love, love this show.  I loved the theme of this episode.  

That being said.

Gail's cleavage is so distracting.

I really like Sam, I like Buddha.  So this was a tough, sad episode.

Last week was Chickpea-Gate.  This week was Potato-Gate.  Shows you how ignorant I am, the judges (Tom) went absolutely psycho over the grilled potatoes and I didn't really get it.  And I love potatoes. And I love curry.  And I love Indian food.

Oh nooooooooooooo I love Sam's personality.  

Edited March 18, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Leeds]

36 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I love, love, love this show.  I loved the theme of this episode.  

That being said.

Gail's cleavage is so distracting.

  

Thank you for mentioning Gail's cleavage - I crossed it off my list of things to comment on because I didn't want to be called names by other commenters.

And whoever was so proud of staging for a day?  Sorry, but a meaningful professional stage is 6 months to a year, not "A day with a chef" that you bought in an auction.

How can you be "allergic to shellfish but only the shell"?  Where do they find these people?

Edited March 18, 2022 by Leeds

[Nordly Beaumont]

I liked Sam okay. I think his "I'm so positive!!" act would have become annoying to me eventually (having said that, I think he's a perfect person to teach kids and I love that for him!). But I think Ashleigh and Buddha are better chefs, so I was okay with the decision. And I think potatoes that are not cooked through is a good reason to pack your knives.

I wonder if Sam had remembered to pack up his boiled potatoes if that would have been enough to save him?

 

[Fukui San]

Sam was fun to watch on TV but if I had to do a group project with him I might strangle him. He was a space cadet who couldn’t focus. 

No taste guy can’t get through the entire competition without revealing his secret, right? It’s getting genuinely suspenseful. 

Hard to say what I would have wanted to cook for this. Making this bite sized like they did would be a challenge. Evelyn’s served on the sesame crisp was a good rearrangement. Hmm...

I can make a scallion pancake from scratch. Maybe make that then use it to wrap some meat like cha siu and scallions. I’d have real time concerns though. 

[SemiCharmedLife]

1 hour ago, hula-la said:

Banana catsup is really good. I don’t own tomato catsup, but do have banana. Some interesting history on the woman who developed it.  https://food52.com/blog/24700-maria-orosa-profile

 

Thank you so much for sharing this article.  It was great and I learned so much!

This episode made me want to travel to Houston and experience the Night Market.  It was so appealing visually and can only imagine how it would spark the others senses, as well- particularly smell and taste!  One of the things I love about Top Chef is the effort they put into highlighting the hosting cities, allowing us to get a glimpse of their cuisine and culture.  

[Fukui San]

Also I need them to do the blindfold taste test Quickfire ASAP just to see what happens with Jackson. 

Edit: Or even better! The team "Recreate the dish located in the completely dark room" challenge! He must not be eliminated before this!

Edited March 18, 2022 by Fukui San

[chabelisaywow]

4 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

Oh darn, I liked Sam. He was so funny and positive. Buddha or the other chef (still don’t know names) should have gone, they didn’t listen to advice from Tom and the Guest judge. 
I love India and East Asian food so this was interesting to me to see the differences in cuisines. I learned there is something called banana catsup. 
I’m surprised Jackson without his sense of taste and smell is still hanging in there. 
 

Did Buddha not say he or his mom is half Indian?!

[LennieBriscoe]

5 hours ago, The Solution said:

Wow! These chefs all seem so talented and not asshole-ish. I would have eaten, and probably loved, everything presented. Glad to see Jackson do well and great to see Jae win. Hated to see Sam lose - such a positive, humorous and adventurous chef. It would have been a difficult decision but I would easily have eliminated either of the other two in the bottom.

Ditto to all the above!

[oldCJ]

Last week, my roommate and I were saying Sam is not long for this competition. We expected others to go before him, like Luke, though. Sam’s “positive” act felt very fake, especially when he made his snide Is this time for a group hug “joke” after Damarr’s heartfelt comment about making friends. 

Agree about Monique being unrecognizable with her hair down. 

I am enjoying this group of cheftestants overall more than the past few seasons. 

[vb68]

So this recurring narrative of Jackson having had Covid has to be leading to some "shocking" reveal where everyone finds out about it or something. Otherwise I don't see the point in it him reminding us about it every week. I have a visual image in my head of Padma freaking, and I'm not saying she would be wrong. 

I think Sam was probably finished as soon as he forgot about his boiled potatoes. I'm not sure how he could had fixed it after that that would had deemed satisfactory.

I think Damarr winning last week maybe prevented him from being top three here. They were raving again about his dish.

Edited March 18, 2022 by vb68

[Mountainair]

6 hours ago, Leeds said:

How can you be "allergic to shellfish but only the shell"?  Where do they find these people?

I actually found that rather interesting. I’ve never been to an allergist but I have a self diagnosed peanut allergy. Only to the shells. I can eat peanuts and peanut butter all day long but if I touch the shell I break out into hives and get a major rash all over and have uncontrollable sneezing. Oddly enough Screwball (peanut butter whiskey)does the same thing to me so they must process that differently than regular peanut butter. 

[MsMalin]

I am not allergic to tomatoes but when I pick them off the vine my hands itch like crazy.

Toms face when Sam said he grilled the potatoes was hilarious. 

[rlc]

Looks like I’m the only person who was counting the seconds until Sam was off my tv. I can’t imagine working with him in a professional kitchen.

Really liking the majority of contestants this season, though I’m not certain why COVID guy is hiding his inability to taste/smell. I’m sure the others would be sympathetic to his plight and taste his food for seasoning for him.

[PhoneCop]

9 minutes ago, rlc said:

Looks like I’m the only person who was counting the seconds until Sam was off my tv. I can’t imagine working with him in a professional kitchen.

Table for two, please. Last week, he was kind of precious. This week, he pushed into the same territory as Maryanne on Survivor and I don't need two doses of that a week. Buddha and Ashleigh appear to be more talented anyway—even though the latter hasn't finished in the money, the judges raved about both of her prior dishes. I think they can recover. Sam, OTOH, will forever be grilled potatoes and a personality that doubles down when he should really be dialing it back several notches.

[Lassus]

2 hours ago, PhoneCop said:

2 hours ago, rlc said:

Looks like I’m the only person who was counting the seconds until Sam was off my tv. I can’t imagine working with him in a professional kitchen.

Table for two, please. Last week, he was kind of precious.

For three.  My wife: "Go back to goddamned Park Slope, urban hippie!"

We were kind of over him.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Lassus

[Lassus]

In other news, I mostly so far really like Buddha and he looks like he's going to have a hell of a career; but FFS if one of the judges tells you DIRECTLY what not to do, maybe actually pick one of a few dozen other things to do instead of the exact thing you were told to not to.  

[joanne3482]

2 hours ago, MsMalin said:

Toms face when Sam said he grilled the potatoes was hilarious. 

Why are grilled potatoes the devil? I slice them thinly and grill them after coating with a little bit of olive oil. Was it just because they weren't done enough? Because the way he was acting it was like it was something he'd never seen before in his entire life. 

[Ellee]

Were all of Sam’s dishes potatoes?

[Yeah No]

20 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

Why are grilled potatoes the devil? I slice them thinly and grill them after coating with a little bit of olive oil. Was it just because they weren't done enough? Because the way he was acting it was like it was something he'd never seen before in his entire life. 

I don't think they were sliced thin enough to cook through in the amount of time they had for the challenge.

Set a 4th place at the down on Sam table here.  I thought he was nice in the beginning but seeing him sling the BS about his potatoes so obviously at judges table turned me right off.  I think he would have done better to admit that grilling them was his backup plan rather than keep trying to act like that was his intention all along.  I kind of think the judges were onto that too, and that's one reason he was picked to go home over the others.

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, vb68 said:

So this recurring narrative of Jackson having had Covid has to be leading to some "shocking" reveal where everyone finds out about it or something. Otherwise I don't see the point in it him reminding us about it every week. I have a visual image in my head of Padma freaking, and I'm not saying she would be wrong. 

I agree, it's leading up to some kind of reckoning at some point with the judges.  I'm wondering if she won't be freaking in awe of him rather than disapproval.  Also, it looks like he might be getting his taste back.  He mentioned in his talking head that he felt his taste buds were back but his sense of smell was still not functioning (and you need both to taste) so at least he is going in a positive direction.  It has to suck to be in his position but I knew he had the cooking chops to last for a respectable amount of time without his sense of taste.  Should he have told them?  Probably, but you can't argue with results.

[dleighg]

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

But did he really never say, Yeah, okay, I left my boiled potatoes on the stove? 

yeah he seemed to decide he was going to try and sell it as "innovative." That seems dumb to me. And another part of the criticism (besides them being underdone) was that it really didn't work with the vindaloo sauce, as the sauce should have seeped into the potatoes. PLUS the vindaloo wasn't spicy-- I mean at least in the Indian restaurants I've been to, vindaloo has the maximum number of "hot peppers" designation! I think he was screwed three ways.

 

13 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

I’m surprised Jackson without his sense of taste and smell is still hanging in there

I had him picked for the bottom just the way they edited it-- that he had zero clue what he was doing.

[Ms Blue Jay]

3 hours ago, MsMalin said:

I am not allergic to tomatoes but when I pick them off the vine my hands itch like crazy.

If certain foods drop on my skin I get hives but I can eat them fine.  That hasn't happened to me in ages but I definitely noticed it happening before.

[Lassus]

The whole thing with Jackson is annoying, honestly.  You can definitely see the producers trying to go somewhere with it, and even hear them talking through it amongst production about how cool and interesting it would be, but just subjectively I'm not caring, and the setup is getting a little repetitive and ham-handed.  

[Straycat80]

3 hours ago, MsMalin said:

I am not allergic to tomatoes but when I pick them off the vine my hands itch like crazy.

I just developed an allergy to vine tomato’s last summer, my lips burn like crazy, but I can eat the grocery store or canned tomato’s. Weird. 

[jrzy]

14 hours ago, Bastet said:

I laughed at Luke having to tell Padma he has no clue about Indian food.

I understand even a chef having never cooked a particular cuisine, but I’m puzzled when they’re so unfamiliar with the flavor profiles I wonder if they’ve even eaten it (not that they have to like everything just because they’re chefs, of course; I just figure they’d have a curiosity about food and try at least as many things as I do).

Jo talking about how conditioned they are as Filipino chefs not to see their cuisine as fine dining, and how she got made fun of for the food her mom made, is something so important for them to keep including when Asian chefs talk about it. 

I would have been in heaven at this episode’s event – some of my favorite cuisines, and almost everything looked like something I would have absolutely loved.

Ashleigh’s “I’m thinking I should, based on the faces you’re making” when Hung asked her if she was going to use a technique cracked me up. 

As did everyone’s reaction to Sam’s potato show.  But did he really never say, Yeah, okay, I left my boiled potatoes on the stove? 

Why didn't he say anything?  I was so puzzled by that.  I really liked him, he seemed so zen about everything, sorry to see him go so early.

[amarante]

I had no idea that Vindaloo was a "potato" centric dish. When I have eaten at Indian restaurants the "vindaloo" option was always the hottest of the curry choices and "lamb vindaloo" was the classic presentation - obviously not the vegetarian choice as the restaurant I frequent has tofu vindaloo and paneer vindaloo but I have never seen just plain "potato vindaloo". Potato was an ingredient of course but not the sole ingredient.

I think the issue was that the idea of having a vindaloo essentially be a "sauce" that is not integrated into the dish completely negates the essence of a vindaloo. It would be like have coq au vin with grilled chicken and then just pouring some kind of separate sauce over the chicken. 

And then of course the issue was that vindaloo is hot and not sweet and the potato itself wasn't cooked. I guess he could have placed in the middle if he did some kind of fusion dish with Indian flavors. I have eaten at a Korean "bar" type of restaurant that does fries with Korean inspired dipping sauces (like ketchup or disco fries) and they obviously aren't authentically Korean but they are delicious bar food. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by amarante

[Totale]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

I don't think they were sliced thin enough to cook through in the amount of time they had for the challenge.

It looked like he had plenty of time to cut up the potatoes and boil them on site to replace the ones he left on the stove.  That takes what, 20-30 minutes?

[tvfanatic13]

I too was wondering why Sam didn't tell the truth. He got cocky and it did him no favors. 

[HurricaneVal]

I know that folks that have a rubber allergy (my mom in fact, among others) cannot handle mango skin, because of the distant relation between rubber trees and mango trees.  However, once liberated from the skin and the pit, they can eat the mango flesh with no issues.  My mom takes it to the extreme, and she refuses to eat any kind of what she considers "tropical" fruit for fear that she will have a reaction.  No pineapple, no kiwi, no papaya, no mango, etc. but she will eat a banana, and skin it, no problem.  She really likes bananas.

[rlc]

2 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

Why are grilled potatoes the devil? I slice them thinly and grill them after coating with a little bit of olive oil. Was it just because they weren't done enough? Because the way he was acting it was like it was something he'd never seen before in his entire life. 

I don't think it was grilled potatoes, per se, but the fact that the were undercooked and unseasoned. Had he parboiled the potatoes in salted water and then marinated them, they could have had flavor and an interesting texture. He served them bland and partially raw potatoes cooked on a grill pan- they didn't even get the benefit of flavor from an actual grill.

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, Lassus said:

The whole thing with Jackson is annoying, honestly.  You can definitely see the producers trying to go somewhere with it, and even hear them talking through it amongst production about how cool and interesting it would be, but just subjectively I'm not caring, and the setup is getting a little repetitive and ham-handed.  

You never know, the set up may be because he will be asked point blank by Tom or someone at judging whether he tasted his food and feel forced into a confession, and that may not go over big with them, especially if he's up for elimination.  

OR he's going to make it to the finale or close, confess it then and everyone's jaw will drop in awe.

OR the show already knows about it and like you say are thinking how cool it would be to make a thing out of it and acting like it's a secret is all for drama.

I have a feeling, though, that he wouldn't be talking about it in his talking heads if he confessed it before he was eliminated, or if he did, did so after he made it to the finale or close.  I somehow doubt he would have admitted it to anyone if the outcome was bad for him.  They can't argue with success!

Edited March 18, 2022 by Yeah No

[SemiCharmedLife]

5 hours ago, rlc said:

Really liking the majority of contestants this season, though I’m not certain why COVID guy is hiding his inability to taste/smell. I’m sure the others would be sympathetic to his plight and taste his food for seasoning for him.

I'm sure he decided not to tell the others about his lack of smell/taste, since it is a competition and he didn't know any of these chefs prior to this.  In a group challenge, everyone will work together to taste each other's dishes and give feedback. But, in solo competitions, he wouldn't know if someone would try to sabotage him or not want to give him pointers.  

[questionfear]

13 hours ago, Leeds said:

Thank you for mentioning Gail's cleavage - I crossed it off my list of things to comment on because I didn't want to be called names by other commenters.

And whoever was so proud of staging for a day?  Sorry, but a meaningful professional stage is 6 months to a year, not "A day with a chef" that you bought in an auction.

How can you be "allergic to shellfish but only the shell"?  Where do they find these people?

I assumed the allergy was specifically if she had, say, seafood broth. So if any of the foods were made with broths or sauces that came from cooking the shells (like you would bones for chicken or beef broth) she could have a reaction. 

[sharifa70]

43 minutes ago, SemiCharmedLife said:

I'm sure he decided not to tell the others about his lack of smell/taste, since it is a competition and he didn't know any of these chefs prior to this.  In a group challenge, everyone will work together to taste each other's dishes and give feedback. But, in solo competitions, he wouldn't know if someone would try to sabotage him or not want to give him pointers.  

I agree with this, though I haven’t seen the chefs doing things like that in previous seasons. Granted, I haven’t watched since the beginning so it’s possible there were saboteurs; I just haven’t seen it. I’ve been more impressed by how often they do help each other out (one challenge that stands out was a shellfish challenge where one of the chefs was allergic and had to wear gloves to even prepare her dish, and one chef (who I think was the eventual winner) did all of the tasting for her. I think she even received high praise for her dish.

I was on the fence about Sam, but I think Buddha should have gone home for frying his puff pastry after being told specifically that it wasn’t a good idea and why. But I don’t fault the judges for their decision, either. Potatoes are super easy but can also be temperamental, and throwing them on the grill, raw, in those jojo-sized wedges wasn’t going to succeed. It looks like they had access to ovens: If he couldn’t boil or steam them he should have diced them in bite-sized chunks and roasted them with the curry seasoning. That would have taken far less time and would have helped flavor the potatoes (one of Kiran’s complaints). 

I like charm, but his seat-of-his pants cooking style would have stressed me out over time.

[carrps]

Ugh, Sam was delusional. There's being positive, and there's putting a dishonest spin on it. Why didn't he just say he forgot his potatoes on the stove? That was his plan. I don't think I could ever hire him if I were in the position to, because I couldn't trust him. Always an excuse. And no honest ones. Yeah, dude, you're so cutting edge you like serving raw potatoes. Glad he's gone.

Buddha was also a bit delusional, but he wasn't so over-the-top about it.

Jae's dish sounded really good. I love noodles. Actually, most of the dishes I would have loved. Was trying to think if I'd ever had a fried samosa, and I couldn't think of one.

[ProudMary]

7 hours ago, rlc said:

Looks like I’m the only person who was counting the seconds until Sam was off my tv. I can’t imagine working with him in a professional kitchen.

Really liking the majority of contestants this season, though I’m not certain why COVID guy is hiding his inability to taste/smell. I’m sure the others would be sympathetic to his plight and taste his food for seasoning for him.

He probably decided right at the beginning not to tell his competitors about his lack of taste/smell. No matter how pleasant all of these cheftestants seem to be, you never know who might be a snake in the grass and tell Jackson a properly seasoned dish needs more salt, especially if he starts winning multiple challenges. Top Chef is still a game, after all and you really don't want to give your competition an edge if you don't have to. 

3 hours ago, Totale said:

It looked like he had plenty of time to cut up the potatoes and boil them on site to replace the ones he left on the stove.  That takes what, 20-30 minutes?

The "kitchens" at the Night Market seemed quite limited. Perhaps they didn't have large saucepans available to them and even if they did, would Sam have been able to bring water to the boiling point to cook the potatoes and then integrate them into his dish? I believe they had only an hour prior to the Market opening to guests.

Edited March 18, 2022 by ProudMary

[seltzer3]

So I would like some Indian experts to weigh in, if I am wrong. 

But it seems like Sam is got confused.  Yes aloo means potato.  But vindaloo is a compound word, and not two words.  Its not say like Aloo Gobi (which is a cauliflower potato curry).  So vindaloo (or the ones I've had) do not have potato.  The most common vindaloo is beef vindaloo.  Which is more vinegar, and less creamy looking.  Its also super spicy.  Sam's did not look like a vindaloo at all.  It looked like a generic potato curry.  So it seemed like Sam, went the whole aloo=potato, and just went completely off the rails.

Surprised that Jackson made the top 3.  Spring rolls have a terrible track record.  I think this was the only spring roll the judges ever liked.

I'm also surprised that Jae won as well?  I like Jae a lot, but main parts a lot of her dish is premade (udon, chinese sausage, crushed dried ramen).  Thought the judges would ding her on that.  It did look really tasty though.

Monique's dish looks really good (I love a good braised pork belly).

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, SemiCharmedLife said:

I'm sure he decided not to tell the others about his lack of smell/taste, since it is a competition and he didn't know any of these chefs prior to this.  In a group challenge, everyone will work together to taste each other's dishes and give feedback. But, in solo competitions, he wouldn't know if someone would try to sabotage him or not want to give him pointers.  

 

31 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

He probably decided right at the beginning not to tell his competitors about his lack of taste/smell. No matter how pleasant all of these cheftestants seem to be, you never know who might be a snake in the grass and tell Jackson a properly seasoned dish needs more salt, especially if he starts winning multiple challenges. Top Chef is still a game, after all and you really don't want to give your competition an edge if you don't have to.

Yeah, but he's already asking others for their opinion in solo competitions so if they wanted to sabotage him they could still lie about their opinion whether they thought he could taste or not.  They don't have to know about it to sabotage him.

[hacman00]

Interesting that Jackson, who can't taste or smell, was being mentored in Vietnamese Cuisine by Christine Ha, a blind chef.

[MsMalin]

Sam said the compound word meant wine potato and then ran with it and said he was inventing a new dish called Sam potato. Samaloo. What I understood from the chefs was that a boiled potato would stew in the other ingredients and the potato would take on all of the flavors. The grilled potatoes were not fully cooked and took on none of the other ingredients.  I thought Sam was practically manic and as someone else here said, Maryanne on Survivor is already enough for me.

[dleighg]

aloo means (as many of us know) "potato."

Quote

The word vindaloo is a garbled pronunciation of the popular Portuguese dish carne de vinha d'alhos (meat marinated in wine-vinegar and garlic), which made its way to India in the 15th century along with Portuguese explorers.

So as someone mentioned above, the "aloo" in "vindaloo" doesn't really mean it is a potato dish.

So he's "right" that the "vin" comes from wine, but it is *not* wine potato. I guess "sam potato" can still work, but it ain't vindaloo.

Edited March 18, 2022 by dleighg