The Shows of 2015: More Indecipherable Seasonings

[cooksdelight]

speaking of which - are beef tendon balls actually a thing?   and who would buy them?  they sound disgusting.

Yes, most commonly used in Vietnamese dishes. Not always in a ball form, but you'll find a ton of recipes using the beef tendon. Sometimes mixed with ground meat for a meatball. I've even read where some people like it crunchy. *shudder*

[Drogo]

So how do you handle the commercial they keep running during Chopped for a product for sex after menopause? That makes me cringe and I live alone. If one of my adult children was here, I'd be embarrassed. If a child was watching with me, I'd be livid. Chopped (and all shows on FN) should be safe for family viewing IMO.

We DVR so commercials are a non-issue. ;)

[JessDVD]

Commercials? I'm not familiar with this concept. ;) And my kids (6 & under) have seen nearly no commercials in their lives (ah, young'uns), which is kind of weird.

 

So I looked up beef tendon balls and they're not actually made from any part of a cow's reproductive organs, right? They still looked really gross.

 

I thought runner-up's food looked delicious in every round, especially those glazed tendon balls. I would have actually tried them in his dish, as opposed to the other three. And I agree that winner's schtick of I have nooooo self-confidence got really old about the 4000th or so time she mentioned it. I also thought it was interesting that she fried stuff in every round, and nobody commented on it, only that the fryer was getting used a lot by everyone in the first round.  Although, I didn't watch the judges deliberate before the final reveal (I am probably the only one here who doesn't miss the judges repeating all the same things they said to the contestants while they ate the food), so maybe they mentioned it there. I felt like it showed a lack of creativity on I Have Confidence In Me's part, that in basically every round, she breaded stuff somehow and put it in the fryer. And I really agree with whoever upthread said that it seemed like I Have Confidence was edited to be the plucky overcomer, while Four Seasons Chef was attempted to be edited as the snooty privilege sort, when he really didn't come off like that at all. Aside from mentioning how he's started restaurants in every corner of the earth. Although it's not bragging if it's fact and an answer to a question. Right?

[susannot]

https://www.facebook.com/250310661688504/photos/pb.250310661688504.-2207520000.1436491754./761352387250993/?type=1&theater

Emmanuel: I remember this guy. He was on a show with a French chef a few years ago. He lost, and the winning chef, an older woman, got to use him as her semi-naked waiter in her final dinner and squeeze his buns whenever he walked by. I like the fact that he really is a serious chef.

The show was Chef Academy, starring Jean-Christophe Novelli. The show was hoky and stupid but I did learn a beautiful technique for tomato sauce.

Chef Emmanuel is chopped.

Edited July 10, 2015 by susannot

[nutella fitzgerald]

You guys can say she was on Hell's Kitchen, but in my heart I know I recognize Robyn as a tweaker extra from Breaking Bad.

[Bella]

I just saw a preview for a Chopped Grilling episode and it has one of the most annoying chefs ever on it. I don't remember her name, but she's blonde and from Canada. She is rude and hateful to everyone around her, and has a bad case of being able to dish it but not take it. I'm hoping she has calmed down for this one, or I'll be pulling my hair out and cursing the television while hoping she gets chopped first.

 

Danushka?!!!? Please let it be Danushka! I flove Danushka and want her to have her own show.

[cooksdelight]

Danushka?!!!? Please let it be Danushka! I flove Danushka and want her to have her own show.

She knows you and I are pushing for her to have a show. :) I've not heard her mention anything about being on it, and I would have recognized her in a commercial. I think it's someone else.

[SpottedCoachDog]

The competitors are up at the Food Network Chopped page. Lots of women, but no Danushka.

Edited July 11, 2015 by SpottedCoachDog

[Totale]

The competitors are up at the Food Network Chopped page. Lots of women, but no Danushka.

 

Can't say I see her as the grillin' cowgirl type.  I'd expect her to whine because her face is falling apart and it's windy and shit.

[NikSac]

Thank goodness for no Danushka! I know some people like her, but I am definitely not among them. She drives me insane and causes me to lunge for the remote so I can turn the TV off or change the channel.

[Christina]

I googled Danuska and it definitely isn't her. This woman is just mean, butts into other people's conversations, and when they ask her something, she gets bitchy. She's super competitive but in a over-the-top, suck all the fun out of it way, and I don't enjoy watching her.

 

From the Chopped page, it looks like her name is Danielle Dimovski. If I remember correctly, she can actually cook, she's just a poor sport. Maybe she will have calmed down since the last time I saw her. She'll be on this Tuesday's episode (Round 1).

[cooksdelight]

She has her own show on the Travel Channel... Diva Q is her nickname....good gawd.....

http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/bbq-crawl

[jcbrown]

I just watched the episode with Robyn. The only good thing about it was I was able to get through it quickly because by the end, whenever Robyn started to talk I fast forwarded. Just watching her was infuriating and exhausting. I can't imagine how heinous it would have been to have to film with her. Just. shut. up. already. And yes, Four Seasons chef was totally robbed.

[cooksdelight]

Remember for a moment.....and say a silent prayer for those other three guys.... filming usually lasts from 7 am until midnight. They are stuck in the stew room for hours on end, with nothing but COFFEE and water to drink.

[Drogo]

They are stuck in the stew room for hours on end, with nothing but COFFEE and water to drink.

And a total lack of self confidence.

[xaxat]

It could be worse. A friend of a friend knows someone who produces reality TV shows, and his favorite tool is alcohol. 

 

Imagine the carnage we would see from a bunch of boozy, tired chefs wielding knives.

[Totale]

It could be worse. A friend of a friend knows someone who produces reality TV shows, and his favorite tool is alcohol. 

 

Imagine the carnage we would see from a bunch of boozy, tired chefs wielding knives.

 

I've already seen the Top Chef Stew Room, thanks.

[SpottedCoachDog]

So the BBQ Nerd and Diva Q had an annoy off. Despite leaving a lonely tub of ricotta off the plate, the Nerd took the win by virtue of the Diva serving up a steak so raw it could have been healed with penicillin and sent back out to graze. And don't even get me started on the cherry pie "gravy" the fireman made. That was a crime against food. Lord have mercy!

[GaT]

I want a double cut pork chop & a cowboy steak, right now.

[novhappy]

What happened? That grilling competition featured not the worst baskets, fabulous proteins and a bunch of yuck was produced?? Maybe the time constraints got to our "prize-wininn' grillers"? Don't want to cut up a double cut pork chop? so serve raw! Same with cowboy steak! Put no effort into sides! It's a grillin' competition!

[cooksdelight]

For starters, I am glad Diva got bounced. I did not want to see her in the finals. But they were given easy baskets. And no creativity on anyone's part. Take me back to Kent Rollins making a vinaigrette from speculous.

[AZChristian]

I liked Diva.  Not so much Nerd.

 

And I thought Cherry guy was nice . . . but he deserved to be chopped for what he did to those cowboy steaks.

[cee]

Seeing Ted Allen with a beard shocked me for no good reason. I spent more time thinking about Ted than watching the appetizer round fly by me. Then, Chris had no criticism of the appetizer.

 

The competition itself was less interesting.

[ZoqFotPik]

I hope the next rounds have more talented chefs, otherwise this is going to be a very boring tournament. Either way, I don't see Chris making very far in the finals.

[xaxat]

I see they ditched the high desert setting from last season. I felt so bad for the judges (especially Amanda). It looked like they were freezing. 

[cooksdelight]

I guess they didn't want to get sandblasted so they went for a fake western town setting.

[NikSac]

At least they were probably warmer, and they could tell if any grittiness in the food was the contestant's fault or the wind?  It did seem kind of odd though.

[JessDVD]

Diva's doppelganger (in looks and in temperament) is a reasonably friendly acquaintance of mine so I was inclined to root for her. But yeah, that steak. I love me some rare steak but that was still moo-ing. I was surprised the judges even ate it. Lots of raw pork too. I can't imagine those giant chops cooking in 20 minutes.

 

What makes a cowboy steak not, some other kind of steak or something? They looked delicious, minus the let the cow look at the grill in terror then bring it to me one, but I couldn't see anything particularly distinguishing from any other steak I've ever seen.

[MajorWoody]

This was a strange show. It appeared that they were going to push those 2 contestants who became finalists even if they served a plate of alpo. The nerd guy served blatantly raw pork in the first round, yet they ignored it while trashing the southern gal for the same thing, even though hers didn't appear to be as bad. The guys pork was completely raw in the center, it was very obvious on our TV, yet they never even mentioned it. The DivaQ girl, besides being obnoxious,,served uncooked steak in a grilling competition, which to me would seem to be a bigger faux pas than the cherry goop on the perfectly cooked steak the fireman served, but then again, he was not the DivaQ, winner of 400 competitions and famous personality, so he had to go.

Then the finale. Holy cow, those were probably two of the worst desserts I have seen in one episode of this show. DivaQ totally burnt the bottom part of her monstrosity, but they only barely mentioned the burnt bits of ham. Nerdster served a putrid bowl of liquid slop, forgot an ingredient, and they handed him the trophy.

This episode seemed as rigged as an Ann Burrel Worst Cooks season.

All in all, I can't recall seeing three rounds of such poorly prepared food. This should have been one episode where they decide nobody won.

Did they ever mention where they filmed this episode? My guess is somewhere upstate NY, but I can't be sure.

As to Ted and his beard, he should have went with the lumberjack red flannel shirt to complete the picture.

Edited July 18, 2015 by MajorWoody

[MajorWoody]

Finally, this episode had what appeared to be the easiest basket ingredients ever used on the show, yet the plates presented were almost all awful.

I can only hope the competition level improves on the rest of this competition.

They might as well have taken four drunken slobs at a local park and asked them to grill frozen burgers and dogs, it couldn't have been much worse.

[nitrofishblue]

This was one show where I felt I could have done better in all three rounds than the competitors. Their food looked UGH. Hope the quality goes up from here because right now it is at rock bottom.

[Psychobunny]

Here's an idea- since they have made it clear that grilling and BBQ are two very different things, why not have some contestants who are NOT BBQ champions in their grilling series.  Maybe have people who know how to grill?

 

Also-wasn't Chef Emmanuel the one from Kitchen Academy who had also been a porn star?  I seem to remember the other contestants finding that out.

[DeLurker]

At least they moved the location from the windy dust bowl.  I imagine that the last grilling championship had sand and grit as a seasoning on every dish.

[HappyDancex2]

I don't think that Leigh Ann woman should open up a german asian banh mi sandwich store...just sayin.  And pretty much you knew she was going to get chopped early with her snotty (paraphrasing) "it drives me crazy when I watch Chopped and people don't do things the right way.  If you can't do it the right way, you shouldn't even be there." 

 

I also think she left herself a self sabotaging "out" per se.  Anyone who won't put out perfectly prepared polenta fries...on CHOPPED and takes a chance on getting chopped because you are missing an ingredient isn't really trying to win.  I would say she hasn't seen the show before with her Cheffy Integrity speech but since her opener was snarking on other cheftestants on Chopped, she has no excuse. 

[novhappy]

So the grilling competition went from sad to pathetic. Burgers and dogs for Petes sake! Raw meat again! Horrible looking uninspired food. Pickle a zucchini! Was rice wine vinegar the only vinegar available?? Completely Unre-purposed ingredients! Teds beard is the best thing about Chopped Grilling Championship. Also, Alex's one liners "I am expecting some real backyard excitement from these burgers and dogs!" "These zucchini ribbons are really elegant!"

Have they ever put out a call for tailgaters? They would probably do better than these Pitmasters. Cuz the grilling episodes have been the pits!

Edited July 22, 2015 by novhappy

[cooksdelight]

I'm starting to wonder if they couldn't find real grillmasters. I know they recently put out a call for tailgaters so that's in our future.

Where's the speculous? The dragon fruit? Hog brains?

[nitrofishblue]

Wow, three more baskets of UGH food and even worse results. I have never seen so many messy uninspired plates as I did for this episode. Sure hope things look up for the remaining two shows. Right now there isn't a person that can "grill" in the group. The first winner was terrible.

[cstad]

Is it really that hard to grill meat (elk?)? I'm not a "grill master" by any means, but I think that even I could grill better than these shlubs. Ok, maybe not in a competition setting, but still, how hard is it to not burn the hot dogs?

At least the one guy didn't try to sell his dish as "very rare" and admitted that he didn't cook the meat long enough (unlike the Diva from the first grill masters episode.).

[ZoqFotPik]

It's really looking like the finals are going to be "Who sucks the least?" rather than "Who is the best?"

[xaxat]

So the grilling competition went from sad to pathetic. Burgers and dogs for Petes sake! Raw meat again! 

 

I can't cook at all, yet even I know a) how not to burn hot dogs on the grill, and b) you can't cook a whole rack in the time allotted. 

[cooksdelight]

I've talked to a couple of former Chopped competitors. They think it's some kind of joke, a fake setup. Seriously. They cannot believe FN aired this.

[GaT]

It's really looking like the finals are going to be "Who sucks the least?" rather than "Who is the best?"

That pretty much describes what Chopped has become. I don't know after being on for so long if they've run out of competent chefs & maybe only attract famewhores now, or if it's because they keep focusing on the drama, or maybe it's just because the show has gotten stale, but the show is just background noise. Also, it's incestuous with the judges, we keep seeing these same people with their food prejudices all over FN, I'm sick of them all.

[cattykit]

That pretty much describes what Chopped has become. I don't know after being on for so long if they've run out of competent chefs & maybe only attract famewhores now, or if it's because they keep focusing on the drama, or maybe it's just because the show has gotten stale, but the show is just background noise. Also, it's incestuous with the judges, we keep seeing these same people with their food prejudices all over FN, I'm sick of them all.

It's been background noise for me for some time now.  I never watch it live, only on DVR so I can skip past what I don't want.  I swear I finish in 20 minutes, just like the appetizers.  I long since stopped listening to the intros because I don't care about the sob stories or the reasons for competing or whatever.  They've eliminated the judging discussions which had always put context to the decisions because we can't taste what we see.  I have Chopped on while I'm on the computer and only very occasionally do I even feel compelled to look up.  I used to know who was who and now I don't bother to learn the cheftestants' names.  And I don't watch any of the reruns any more.

 

As far as the judges, I've never liked Alex as a judge on Chopped but she's knocking it out of the park right now on TNFNS Star Salvation, so if they ever promote her to the varsity team over there, I'd be all for it.  I don't like Tim Love on any show he's been on and I thought he was an ass on this episode.  Scott Conant will never change.  Some people may like that.

[cooksdelight]

Scott has good hair. I'll give him that.

[xaxat]

And a good smile. There are shots when it looks like something out of a toothpaste ad. With a "ping" sound and a little animated sparkle added.

[NikSac]

I'm starting to wonder if they couldn't find real grillmasters. I know they recently put out a call for tailgaters so that's in our future.

Where's the speculous? The dragon fruit? Hog brains?

 

Considering they're apparently screwing up steak and hot dogs, I'm sort of glad if they're changing directions. I do kinda miss the crazy ingredients, but let's get the somewhat normal ones down first?

[DeLurker]

Watched round 2 and at least some of the contestants had the good grace and common sense to be embarassed by their dishes.  Chef Matty though?  Trying to say his raw elk was shocked by the cold?  Come on man...the judges have proven they are trying desperately to find some redeeming aspect of each dish - don't give a lame ass explanation that no one could buy!

 

This is pretty sad.

[backformore]

I've talked to a couple of former Chopped competitors. They think it's some kind of joke, a fake setup. Seriously. They cannot believe FN aired this.

Yeah.  I am now ashamed of how I have criticized my husband for serving us steaks that are too grey , burgers that are too rare. 

  I guess if the "grill masters"  on a TV show can't even fuckin' grill a HOT DOG or toast a BUN, then my husband is some sort of King of the Weber Grill.

[NikSac]

The Grill "Masters" have been a MESS this time around, haven't they?  I mean come on, you can't cook a hot dog???  I can even kinda see burning the buns if you're under time pressure, but I don't understand the rest of the stuff they are screwing up.  I feel like they should be asking the judges "would you prefer raw, or burnt?" before each round.

[cooksdelight]

Were they perhaps afraid these people couldn't cook? The ingredients in the basket remind me of what they gave the nice older ladies who were grannies or school lunch ladies.