S20.E08: Street Food Fight

[candall]

I didn't think it was a successful exercise to EC the mise-en-place challenge.  It made for a frenetic production, the cooking time and the commentary from both judges and chefs were too abbreviated, that stupid whistle was irritating.  Mainly, though, I was confused about the rules, and I believe the losing team chefs were as well.

 

This is pretty much my first complaint about the season, though.  The locations, the challenges, the camaraderie and respect among the whole bunch of confident, talented chefs--outstanding.  

[snarktini]

On 4/28/2023 at 10:19 AM, caitmcg said:

Honestly, I’d rather a dumb movie tie-in on TC than their being forced to cook with some brand of mediocre prepared food.

The teams' strategy of focusing on claiming proteins showed how much they’re all stuck in that flesh-as-centerpiece mindset, whereas the all-vegetables yellow team had to be more intentional, and it paid off. All three of those dishes looked and sounded delicious.

To your first point: definitely!

To your second, for sure the veggies pushed their creativity and they did a fantastic job. Proves something about veggies as the star. But worth noting those were decent ingredients -- peas, red peppers, and avocado can all be the center of a savory dish. Not to mention they are vegetables! Getting stuck with prickly pear and orange is a disadvantage. Dessert or salad is about it? Sweet, watery fruit is not very versatile and they didn't have access to something like fish or chicken.