S21.E01: Chef's Test

[Yeah No]

13 minutes ago, dgpolo said:

Maybe not because just a cursory search of the forums brought up many examples for me. 'Padma remains insufferable' 'show would be vastly improved if Padma and Tom were replaced' 'Padma is just a fashion plate' etc. I'm not saying I agree, I had no strong feelings either way about her, but I definitely remember seeing anti-Padma feelings throughout the years.

I think I'll be liking Kristen as a host, she does know what the contestants are going through.

I think my reaction was based more on who it was coming from rather than the comments themselves.  I probably don't register those comments so much with posters I don't recognize.

[stewedsquash]

7 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I was specifically responding to these and other similar comments:

And other than seeing numerous discussions about her cleavage and choice of wardrobe I have not been aware of seeing comments like the ones above when she was on the show.  I would normally remember that.  In fact, I was surprised that the specific posters that made those comments actually had those opinions because I'd never known that about them before.  YMMV.

I don't mind a discussion about the pros and cons of the new and old host but I just feel like there's a fascination for Kristin that makes people want to find more fault with Padma just to justify it.  That's of course my suspicion, no one has to agree with  me on that.

To the first part, yeah I understood that was what you meant, several posts right after each other. I thought it was more organic than bashing. To the last sentence in the last paragraph, I apologize if you felt like you needed to defend your position, that was not my intent.

While there is a fascination with Kristin to some extent, I think she got as much talk from this episode about her demeanor as Padma. Don’t hold me to exactly “as much”, ha! For me, moving to the upcoming episodes I don’t see myself bringing Padma into the episode discussions. 

[bravofan27]

It will be interesting to see the Emmy's-- my first thought was that it was strange that Padma would leave a show that has had so many Emmy nominations. She herself has had a dozen, either as a host or as a producer (granted, there are a lot of producers). But I see Taste the Nation was also nominated in 2023, and a MUCH shorter list, so maybe she thinks she is more likely to get the Emmy win with Taste the Nation. I don't think Top Chef has won an Emmy since the creative design team received one for Last Chance Kitchen. 

It would be wild is Kristin was nominated and won an emmy for hosting Top Chef. I bet Padma would be so furious. I bet she didn't think a show set in Wisconsin would be special enough to get nominated for anything. Or maybe that is what I would think. Hehe. In any case, I bet she will be back at some point. That is of course, if it really was her decision to leave (or her decision to come back). 

Kristin is a beast! She's just so killing it. She is donning the sleeveless shirts just like Padma did. I don't think Kristin can bring the same elegance that Padma did, which I think Tom and Gail appreciated, because it's the high class crowd that caters to fine dining-- people that look and act like Padma. But in some of the clips for the rest of the season I see a very glamorous looking Kristin. She is a model so she can pull it off. I just think she is the perfect replacement. 

[Suzn]

I don't think people are suddenly changed toward Padma, but more that there wasn't any point to bring up those criticisms regularly.  Padma was a fixture of the show that some loved, some disliked and some were lukewarm about her.  Now we have a new host and that sort of prompts comparison. 

I never was particularly fond of Padma and didn't like the display of miles of cleavage and some other things.  There was never anything egregious enough to hurt the show or to get very excited about.  Now we have someone new and she brings some freshness and for me hopefulness of some good changes.

[HyeChaps]

Did they show the cheftestants' living quarters?  Someone said to Manny that he has to make that soup at home for all of them.

[Oddly Enough]

What did you think of the “curveball” in Last Chance Kitchen?

[Salacious Kitty]

3 minutes ago, Oddly Enough said:

What did you think of the “curveball” in Last Chance Kitchen?

There's a thread for that. 😀

[Bastet]

28 minutes ago, Oddly Enough said:

What did you think of the “curveball” in Last Chance Kitchen?

Here's the thread for discussing this season's LCK.

[Fukui San]

Late thought about Tom’s chicken challenge. All of the chefs served the roasted chicken carved, not carving them table side. I wonder if there was a rule which prevented them from breaking down the whole birds before roasting to get them more control over cooking times.  I think they were all roasted whole. 

[stewedsquash]

@Oddly Enough To elaborate more, there is no discussion of Last Chance Kitchen in the episode threads or really anywhere except the LCK thread. The reason for that is many posters prefer to not watch LCK in order to be surprised/unspoiled when the final winner of LCK comes back to the main competition. 
There are articles in the TC media thread about LCK but posters can choose not to go to them and usually there are not spoilers in the link titles.

[stewedsquash]

1 hour ago, Fukui San said:

Late thought about Tom’s chicken challenge. All of the chefs served the roasted chicken carved, not carving them table side. I wonder if there was a rule which prevented them from breaking down the whole birds before roasting to get them more control over cooking times.  I think they were all roasted whole. 

Since  this was a technical challenge I think it was meant that they were to roast whole and not cut up or butterflied. Tom was critiquing correct levels of temperature, moistness, and texture of different parts of the meat being cooked at the same time together. 
Also I think they were told to cook them whole off screen. I remember back when Tom, Gail, possibly Padma (not for sure of her but I think not), some guest judges (I remember Bourdain but blanking on others), would do  write ups after the episodes on the Bravo site detailing what happened from their views. During one episode write up Tom wrote that while the episodes show them racing to start quick fires and immediately starting plans for elimination challenges as soon as Padma ( and now Kristen) says Go!, what really happens is filming stops, crew people come out with written parameters of the challenges and those are given to and explained to each contestant what is expected. From going to the store, what is allowed to happen, missed items, every detail is gone over. Then filming starts again and the racing begins. I think Tom wrote about it because something happened, there was a misunderstanding of sorts on an elimination and he had to verify that the contestant was aware of what was expected. 

Edited March 29 by stewedsquash
clarity, a bit

[Fukui San]

Sure, but also in this episode 3 of 5 chefs arguably did not make filled pasta, opting for workarounds in gnocchi and dumplings.  Sometimes chefs can find unanticipated loopholes 

[stewedsquash]

^^^^^^^^True, very true. @Fukui San 

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Actually, I'm not disappointed to see the last of David.

I'm sure he thought his remarks about Tom's hats, and to Kristen about him being her first eliminated chef were supposed to be funny, but I didn't find them cute or funny.  Since I'm sure they cut out a lot of film, I'm wondering what else David said that was edited out.    

I loved the energy and camaraderie of all of the cheftestants.    I love seeing new places, and all of the interesting places they show in each city.   I'm looking forward to seeing Wisconsin. 

[paramitch]

I'm so happy this show is back, and think Kristin is doing a great job overall. She's warm and comfortable, and her work on other shows has really paid off, I think, in giving her that comfort before the camera.

I did get a little tired of her getting "goosebumps," which I think occurred at least twice, but she's new and enthusiastic, so it's all good. I also think her status as a Top Chef winner really gives her an added panache as host -- she is confident in discussing what she tastes, likes, doesn't like -- and what she expects.

I will personally still miss Padma -- I thought she was a smart and elegant presence on the show, and increasingly warm and likable as the years went on. 

It's early times, but I really like Michelle, Dan, Rasika, Manny, Kevin, and Valentine. I did not like David -- beyond the fact that he just appeared sort of greasy and unkempt (including his workspaces), I really disliked his passive-aggressive nastiness, and he did made quiet little digs at people and situations 3-4 times this episode.

It's always good to see everyone back -- so good to see Tom and Gail again, too.

[CrazyInAlabama]

56 minutes ago, paramitch said:

It's early times, but I really like Michelle, Dan, Rasika, Manny, Kevin, and Valentine. I did not like David -- beyond the fact that he just appeared sort of greasy and unkempt (including his workspaces), I really disliked his passive-aggressive nastiness, and he did made quiet little digs at people and situations 3-4 times this episode.

I wonder how many other nasty digs were edited out of David's time on screen?   I'm betting the producers only showed a few, and how many other nasty remarks did he babble through the filming we didn't see?     

[buttersister]

Enough that he “opted out” of LCK.

[snarktini]

On 3/21/2024 at 9:25 AM, dleighg said:

His idea of stuffing gnocchi made no sense; I couldn't believe TWO PEOPLE thought that was a good idea.

I realize we don't see all the rules -- and this clearly was in-bounds since the judges didn't say anything -- but how in the world is gnocchi considered pasta?

On 3/23/2024 at 6:29 PM, marybennet said:

I thought a great moment was when Tom asked how long pasta team had been working and Kristen, intuiting what he meant, asked if that was because hat guy should have been long finished rolling out his pasta.

Gnocchi bafflement, take two. He was rolling it hard, and you don't roll gnocchi flat like that! You kind of gently make snakes out of it, to keep it light and fluffy. Smashing it with a rolling pin is presumably how how made it "filled" but the texture must have been terrible.

They had nothing positive to say about his dish and the other two were overall good but with a massive flaw. He deserved to go home without the cook-off.

On 3/24/2024 at 6:56 PM, stewedsquash said:

One more confusion and then I am done. French guy. How is it that he has done the French version and now the American version? I get that last year was international contestants. But for the countries that have their own version can others compete? If French guy lives in France could he have gone to Brazil this year to compete there? Or does he live in the US now and that’s why he can compete in the US version this year? Dual citizenship? Could Kwame decide to go to France and compete in the French version? I don’t have a problem with it I just don’t recall it happening before.

I don't know the rules but it has happened before at least once -- Claudette competed in TC Mexico and TC US Season 15. She did them pretty much back to back, according to her bio, both in 2017-18.

[SemiCharmedLife]

On 3/24/2024 at 8:58 AM, meep.meep said:

I think it's difficult to know what to practice.  In a season set in Wisconsin, wouldn't you expect challenges based on cheese, bratwurst, certain ethnic cuisines - but not stuffed pasta, soup, or roast chicken?  In Top Chef France they don't have to shop for themselves, so Kevin is at a disadvantage there.

No, I would say he has the advantage, having competed in Top Chef before.  He may not have shopped for ingredients in Top Chef France, but the other cheftestants haven't done that OR any of the challenges before. From reading these posts, apparently some of the chefs have appeared in other shows featuring cooking contests.  But, Kevin has the advantage of having done Top Chef before.  I'm sure there are other things that will be different, besides the shopping.

[carrps]

12 hours ago, SemiCharmedLife said:

But, Kevin has the advantage of having done Top Chef before.  I'm sure there are other things that will be different, besides the shopping.

He did say, in this last episode, that it was so much harder than TC France, but he didn't elaborate. I'd be interested in how it's different.

[SaltyMacaron]

Top Chef France is really different than the American version. It's like they threw the Voice and Top Chef into a blender, and centered the entire competition on executing French technique.

They're organized into teams/brigades, with coaches/mentors who are all distinguished Michelin starred chefs. In the most recent season there were only 2 brigades and they had 3 mentors per brigade. Also a "short" challenge is 1.5 hours. 

So Kevin's "advantage" isn't much of one, really, except for maybe being used to be filmed while cooking, unless they drag out one of the challenges from TC France like they did on World All Stars.

If anything, having Chopped experience is more applicable to Top Chef America, as would GGG/Tournament of Champions, and/or Triple Threat since they're all more or less Quickfires.