S08.E04: WCIA: Taking It to the Streets

[Drogo]

Chef Anne Burrell and Chef Tyler Florence give the recruits a hard lesson in kitchen multi-tasking, as they must cook four eggs, each in a different style — leaving some of them scrambling for time, and others cracking under the pressure! Then, the kitchen gets even hotter when the recruits make four different Asian street food dishes.

[TimetoShine]

I'm surprised but very happy that Donna is gone. She was a mess.

 

I did enjoy this episode. But I do have to say that Tyler's calling all the females "honey" or "honey pie" was annoying.

Also, parkour has a very strong sense of smell apparently.

[GaT]

I won't miss Donna at all, she shouldn't have been on the show to begin with.

[candall]

Well, I have a measure of sympathy to spare for Donna, with Anne constantly barking her name in the middle of her concentration, then scolding her like a five-year old--"you watch your tone of voice [young lady]"--and then totally losing her own cool and screaming in Donna's face.  Maybe Donna's never great under pressure, but a different mentoring style might not have tautened her into a violin string. 

 

And again, difficult challenge.  Finishing any meal with everything hot and ready at the same time involves multi-tasking.  Bacon bao banh mi with glazed bacon and daikon garnish pickled in fermented fish sauce "for an extra flavor bump"?  Yeah, these people need to become adept with Japanese mandolins and steam baskets.  For when they make Asian street food at home.

[chessiegal]

I forgot to record this last, but caught it On Demand this morning. I'm rooting for my homegirl Ginny on Tyler's team. She finally made it out of the bottom this week. I don't think she'll win - I'm thinking the last guy on the Blue team will win his team.

[toolazy]

My biggest gripe with this show is that the challenges are too hard for people who really are as bad at cooking as we're told they are.  Last night's street food thing made me so nervous I stopped watching - that would have been very difficult for experienced cooks, much less knuckleheads like these people.

[cattykit]

Based on the color of the yolk, I would have considered Tyler's hard boiled egg to be seriously underdone.  Ten minutes is not long enough for a hard boiled egg.  And I have to agree with manbun that runny eggs are disgusting, despite their endless popularity.

 

What exactly is gained in this type of competition to force them to cook under Top Chef-type time constraints?  These are, at best, if all the stars are in alignment, middling home cooks.  Speed at the cost of quality?

 

What does smiling have to do with relaxing?  I don't remember Anne ever, ever smiling when she was competing on TNIC or celebrity Chopped.

Edited January 26, 2016 by cattykit

[MajorWoody]

That conversation about eggs that Anne and 4eyes went on and on about (comparing it to body fluids) was disgusting. For adults, it seemed like they were trying to act like 12 years olds in a gross out contest. Also, Donna keeps her second set of specs in her boob holster? Good riddance to her, she was the most annoying contestant this season, and a total phony. Someone who works in a school lunch room, is a 60 year old Italian woman, and claimed not to understand how a measuring cup works was total BS.

Edited January 26, 2016 by MajorWoody

[NikSac]

Based on the color of the yolk, I would have considered Tyler's hard boiled egg to be seriously underdone.  Ten minutes is not long enough for a hard boiled egg.  And I have to agree with manbun that runny eggs are disgusting, despite their endless popularity.

 

I was thinking the same thing about Tyler's hard boiled eggs!  If I cooked them like that I'd probably eat them but make a mental note to add at least 5 minutes next time.

 

I like semi-runny eggs depending on what they're being used for (i.e. over-easy to sop up with a piece of toast), but I'm also not a fan of runny scrambled eggs. It seemed like in general the chefs wanted the eggs really under cooked (ETA - for my tastes).

Edited January 26, 2016 by NikSac

[Snarklepuss]

Hah, I didn't mind Donna even if she was more about entertainment than reality.  At least she was funny, and Anne clearly liked her.  Oh, and no way was she ever 60 - She looks a lot like a worker in my company cafeteria who's 70.  Sure, she was a disaster, but isn't that what this show is supposed to be about?  I was sorry she could never turn it around.

 

And speaking of age, no way Ginny is 50, she's more like 60.  Skin just doesn't crinkle that much at 50, not even if she sat under a sun lamp for 20 years straight.  Hoagie does look her age, though.  I'm glad they had some older women on this season.

[Grommet]

That challenge was crazy difficult. I couldn't have done it in twice the time.

 

I hated the way Anne kept shouting Donna's name. It just seemed mean.

 

I've always used an egg poacher pan but this weekend I'm going freestyle! It sounds so easy but I'm skeptical.

[NikSac]

That challenge was crazy difficult. I couldn't have done it in twice the time.

 

I hated the way Anne kept shouting Donna's name. It just seemed mean.

 

I've always used an egg poacher pan but this weekend I'm going freestyle! It sounds so easy but I'm skeptical.

 

I know, that one was pretty tough.  As far as the egg poaching it's really not that bad but don't keep stirring it as soon as you drop the egg in.  That pretty much turns it into a mess. One thing I've heard works well is stirring to get the water "spinning" and then drop the egg into the middle, but stirring while the raw egg's in there doesn't work at all.

[chessiegal]

I know, that one was pretty tough.  As far as the egg poaching it's really not that bad but don't keep stirring it as soon as you drop the egg in.  That pretty much turns it into a mess. One thing I've heard works well is stirring to get the water "spinning" and then drop the egg into the middle, but stirring while the raw egg's in there doesn't work at all.

That's exactly what Tyler told them to do, in addition to cracking the egg into a small bowl, and pouring it into the swirling water from the small bowl - in fact, he emphasized that part. The young woman was just cracking the egg on the side of the pan and dumping it in, which is why her egg turned out to be a mess.

[needschocolate]

I know, that one was pretty tough.  As far as the egg poaching it's really not that bad but don't keep stirring it as soon as you drop the egg in.  That pretty much turns it into a mess. One thing I've heard works well is stirring to get the water "spinning" and then drop the egg into the middle, but stirring while the raw egg's in there doesn't work at all.

 

That is my Poached Egg Catch 22 - I stir the water and put in the first egg.  It looks good.  But now I want to put in the second egg.  I should put the second egg into swirling water, but I shouldn't swirl the water if there is an egg in there cooking already.  Plus, if I do swirl the water, the first egg ends up in the middle of the swirl, where the second egg should be.  

 

The choice then becomes cook one egg at a time or eat/serve messy poached eggs.  Fortunately, there are no picky chefs eating breakfast at my house.  

Edited January 28, 2016 by needschocolate

[Drogo]

That is my Poached Egg Catch 22 - I stir the water and put in the first egg.  It looks good.  But now I want to put in the second egg.  I should put the second egg into swirling water, but I shouldn't swirl the water if there is an egg in there cooking already.  Plus, if I do swirl the water, the first egg ends up in the middle of the swirl, where the second egg should be.  

 

The choice then becomes cook one egg at a time or eat/serve messy poached eggs.  Fortunately, there are no picky chefs eating breakfast at my house.  

 

Everyone likes their eggs poached at the Drogo house.  (Except me-- drop those puppies in some bacon fat and don't let them escape until the edges are crispy.)

 

For poaching more than one egg, you'd use a deep saute pan (10+") and don't stir.  The most important thing to use a little cup and lower the entire front of the cup into the water to coax the egg in gently.  You can get the "boogers" (Classy, Anne...) in check with a slotted spoon- recommend a silicone one.  We do 3 at a time, eggs in and leave it on simmer uncovered for 4 minutes.  No Oscar-worthy stirring required for Gooey Yolky Goodness. 

[Totale]

I'm down with Rachel on the one side and big guy (Nick?) on the other, eggs are pretty disgusting to begin with and when they are all gooey and shit they're even worse.  Doesn't mean I wouldn't try to follow instructions but I'd pass on tasting the demos or my own if that's how they want them done.  Ick.