S13.E12: Wok This Way

[joanne3482]

It isn't like Kwame couldn't have changed his concept, either. I FINALLY got through the whole episode last night. Editing made it seem like Isaac was still thinking about his concept at Whole Foods. I was intrigued by his gluten free waffles to go with chicken and waffles because I kind of want to try chicken and waffles, but wonder if he realized he'd also have to do gluten free fried chicken cooked in different cooking oil than the regular fried chicken. (I know it was just a restaurant concept and not a reality, but a gluten free waffle does those of us with Celiac no good if the rest isn't GF, and honestly for the most part, in my experience, gluten free waffles aren't that great).

[DarkRaichu]

Kwame, Kwame, Kwame!!!  Why!  Why go frozen.  You were done the moment you made that choice.  Even though it saved Taco Bro Jeremy for yet another week.  Another classic case of the two guys who peaked early crashing before finals.

...

I had a good laugh over "anyone but Philip" over and over.  And he actually did do right by doing everything Kwame wanted, it was just a bad vision.  DId they temporarily trade brains?

 

 

Even PHILIP questioned Kwame's decision to use frozen waffle :P

 

 

My theory is that Kwame lost heart for the competition after the 10 years ago challenge and bowed out on purpose with the great waffle debacle of 2016. Such a great young man--I wish good things for his future. Don't remember the last time I've seen Tom with tears in his eyes.

In LCK 

Kwame said he did not have a waffle recipe at the time which lead him to buy frozen.   Not sure why he did not ask for pointers from other cheftestants, though

 

Padma was almost in tears when she announced Kwame's PYKAG

Edited March 1, 2016 by DarkRaichu

[innocuouspuff]

The confusing thing to me about Marjorie's complaints about Isaac's unrefined, folksy food or saying he can't win, is that this show is still judged and I can't remember the judges ever really caring about that. We just want you to make delicious food, as Tom says. As mentioned Carla Hall's wheelhouse was pretty similar and the judges loved her. Trying to incorporate "fancy" European ideas is part of what killed her game in that finale. Same for Sheldon and his Filipino-American cooking in Kristin's season.

No reason Isaac can't impress through to the end with his Creole cooking, but now I wonder if the edit is leading up to his making a Sheldon-type mistake.

[cooksdelight]

Even PHILIP questioned Kwame's decision to use frozen waffle :P

 

 

In LCK 

Kwame said he did not have a waffle recipe at the time which lead him to buy frozen.   Not sure why he did not ask for pointers from other cheftestants, though

 

Padma was almost in tears when she announced Kwame's PYKAG

Phillip offered him a recipe, said he could make them from scratch. His response that he didn't have a recipe is his stupid way of trying to cover up he goofed. Period, in my opinion.

[RCharter]

Phillip offered him a recipe, said he could make them from scratch. His response that he didn't have a recipe is his stupid way of trying to cover up he goofed. Period, in my opinion.

Sadly, CD I totally agree with you.  I don't blame him for it, I mean if I were him I would be grasping at straws too.  But its life, sometimes in life you just make a stupid ass mistake and it FUBARs everything.  I would still make it a point to eat at whatever restaurant he opens.

Edited March 1, 2016 by RCharter

[Bastet]

Kwame said he did not have a waffle recipe at the time which lead him to buy frozen.   Not sure why he did not ask for pointers from other cheftestants, though

 

(Although he said it in LCK, it doesn't spoil who he competed against or who won, so I'm not putting it behind tags.)

 

As soon as he mentioned his chicken and waffles concept, Philip said he had a good waffle recipe.  Kwame said he was going to use frozen.  

 

I don't remember there being any discussion in the episode of him looking for and not finding a waffle iron. 

 

So it seems he just decided from jump to do this with frozen waffles, not that he'd intended to make waffles and circumstances prevented him from doing so.

 

Which is an astoundingly stupid decision.  Like deciding your concept is going to be fish and chips, so you're going to pick up a bunch of frozen fish sticks and make the fries (or vice versa).

[biakbiak]

It was just a bad concept for the challenge, even if he had a waffle iron making 150 of them would have been problematic and time consuming.

[RCharter]

^^My waffle iron made 4 waffles at a time.  150/4 = 38 presses with the waffle iron.  Its time consuming, but I don't think it would have been fatal.

[biakbiak]

For a challenge like this, it's a lot of time and he would have definitely gotten dinged since it would have taken so long to serve people. He also would have had to change the size of his chicken or spend even more time plating. If you look at everyone else they were turning out the dishes very quickly. Marjorie for instance was making several servings at a time, Amar had already dealt with his chicken, Isaac and Carl had main component was already cooked, and Jeremy's was also quick to plate.

[RCharter]

It doesn't seem like it is anymore time than you would need to create and cook fresh noodles.  I would imagine his best bet would be  quarter each waffle.  He initially wanted to do mini waffles and it cuts down the time considerably.

 

150 waffles/16 waffles made in each press is about 10 waffle iron presses.  The mini waffles I've seen are about 1/4 the size of a regular waffle.

 

So, he ends up with 150 mini waffles with 10 waffle iron presses, and can use the same amount of chicken he was originally planning to use.

Edited March 1, 2016 by RCharter

[biakbiak]

His portion was three mini waffles.

Majorie made all the pasta and cut most of it the night before.

He literally could have chosen to do anything which is why I said it was ill conceived from the start and since his first decision was to go with frozen waffles he also realized that executing his vision was going to be problematic. One his main stated reasons for using frozen waffles, other than they were his "jam" was that it would cut down his prep time. Using a frozen product for one of the two main componates indicates to me that the concept is a failure for the challenge.

Edited March 1, 2016 by biakbiak

[Calamity Jane]

Kwame, Kwame, Kwame!!!  Why!  Why go frozen.  You were done the moment you made that choice.  Even though it saved Taco Bro Jeremy for yet another week.  Another classic case of the two guys who peaked early crashing before finals.

 

And then we have Amar and Carl, who are breaking late.   I think a Marjorie/Amar/Carl F3 is very possible.

 

I had a good laugh over "anyone but Philip" over and over.  And he actually did do right by doing everything Kwame wanted, it was just a bad vision.  DId they temporarily trade brains?

 

To whomever said upthread about questioning Carl's options all going together, I believe Tom pointed out that all the possible combos sounded great and likely contributed to his win.

I have to give Philip credit for questioning, however softly, the decision to use frozen waffles.  He tried, he really did, but Kwame wasn't having it.  

[kittykat]

Exactly. For once Phillip was helping for the better. It was just a bad concept and with 6 strong competitors there is no room for error.

[sourpickles]

Since Phillip was out of the competition, he seemed more bearable. Almost too much so, since he went right along with whatever Kwame wanted, which is the mark of a good helper, but not so much if you want your designated chef to win. Not that it is his fault in any way, but it did strike me as odd. But, however you slice and dice it (no pun intended) canned and frozen (remember the shrimp?) are about the worst thing you can do. Waiting for jarred to be another knife packer.

[Julia]

He literally could have chosen to do anything which is why I said it was ill conceived from the start and since his first decision was to go with frozen waffles he also realized that executing his vision was going to be problematic. One his main stated reasons for using frozen waffles, other than they were his "jam" was that it would cut down his prep time. Using a frozen product for one of the two main componates indicates to me that the concept is a failure for the challenge.

 

This is pretty much what I've been thinking. If this were an actual mall kiosk or whatever they're planning these things to be, they could have gotten a few of the waffle machines from a Garden Inn lobby and served quarters, and it would have been less fairly easy to serve that many portions. There was just no way with the resources he had that he could have pulled it off, and I don't understand why he didn't adjust.

[Calamity Jane]

This is pretty much what I've been thinking. If this were an actual mall kiosk or whatever they're planning these things to be, they could have gotten a few of the waffle machines from a Garden Inn lobby and served quarters, and it would have been less fairly easy to serve that many portions. There was just no way with the resources he had that he could have pulled it off, and I don't understand why he didn't adjust.

To me, the inability to fix the problem looked like a function of his age and relative lack of long experience coping with things going wrong.  He's got a restaurant opening in DC right now, apparently, so I wish him the best and wish I weren't 3,000 miles away - would love to go there!

[bitchin camaro]

To me, the inability to fix the problem looked like a function of his age and relative lack of long experience coping with things going wrong.  He's got a restaurant opening in DC right now, apparently, so I wish him the best and wish I weren't 3,000 miles away - would love to go there!

I think this is the key - as he was leaving he said he'd been working so hard for 5 years. And I'm sure he has, but 5 years does not a Top Chef (or Top Anything) make. He's young and has a great future ahead of him - this just wasn't his jam. Yet.

[Kromm]

(Although he said it in LCK, it doesn't spoil who he competed against or who won, so I'm not putting it behind tags.)

 

As soon as he mentioned his chicken and waffles concept, Philip said he had a good waffle recipe.  Kwame said he was going to use frozen.  

 

I don't remember there being any discussion in the episode of him looking for and not finding a waffle iron. 

 

So it seems he just decided from jump to do this with frozen waffles, not that he'd intended to make waffles and circumstances prevented him from doing so.

 

Which is an astoundingly stupid decision.  Like deciding your concept is going to be fish and chips, so you're going to pick up a bunch of frozen fish sticks and make the fries (or vice versa).

Even if Kwame were telling the truth and didn't have a recipe, and he didn't want to use Phillip's (because Phillip is a weirdo with a bad palate), do the show rules forbid using the Internet, or calling someone outside the show up for recipes? I wouldn't be surprised if it does, but I'm curious if anyone knows if it's the case.

 

I mean the chef still has to implement. It's not like getting a recipe from some third party changes much, since that's basically exactly what they're likely doing pre-show anyway (getting a whole range of them). 

[bitchin camaro]

Seems like if you don't have a recipe for waffles, you don't center your recipe on waffles. It's not rocket surgery. 

[biakbiak]

do the show rules forbid using the Internet, or calling someone outside the show up for recipes?

Yes, they are not allowed to bring recipes of any kind. Tom even mentioned this during this seasons restaurant wars when he was complementing Majorie's bread course. They can bring blank notebook and jot down recipes/ideas once they get there (caused controversy durong All-Stars when Blais felt Isabella ripped off a recipe he saw in his notebook.

Getting to go to the library last week was the closest the show has ever allowed them to use recipes.

Edited March 2, 2016 by biakbiak

[rho]

Yes, they are not allowed to bring recipes of any kind. Tom even mentioned this during this seasons restaurant wars when he was complementing Majorie's bread course. They can bring blank notebook and jot down recipes/ideas once they get there (caused controversy durong All-Stars when Blais felt Isabella ripped off a recipe he saw in his notebook.

Getting to go to the library last week was the closest the show has ever allowed them to use recipes.

 

In season 9, the winner of a quickfire got a copy of Modernist Cuisine and they all got to look at it for one night. I remember it being a big deal because they aren't allowed any resources and they were literally handed an encyclopedia. Of course it's impossible to get all the necessary info in a few hours of reading. It's like trying to cram the night before a final. But they did make a big deal of it because it's such a rarity.

[Corgi-ears]

Or Kwame could have grabbed a box of waffle mix when shopping, and looked at the back to see if he could have figured out the ingredients/instructions. Other chefs have done something similar in the past, I'm sure.

 

 

Edited March 2, 2016 by Corgi-ears

[joanne3482]

Or Kwame could have grabbed a box of waffle mix when shopping, and looked at the back to see if he could have figured out the ingredients/instructions. Other chefs have done something similar in the past, I'm sure.

Admittedly I watch a ridiculous number of competitive food shows but I think I recall at least one cheftestant in the past who was given a dish whose flavor profiles they were unfamiliar with (I want to say Indian maybe) and they stood in that food section of the grocery store and read ingredients to see what would work well together and went from there.

 

When I was growing up my dad made the same pancake/waffle recipe many weekends so he knew it down pat because it was such a simple recipe. 

[chiaros]

Admittedly I watch a ridiculous number of competitive food shows but I think I recall at least one cheftestant in the past who was given a dish whose flavor profiles they were unfamiliar with (I want to say Indian maybe) and they stood in that food section of the grocery store and read ingredients to see what would work well together and went from there.

 

That was Kelly Liken. She read the ingredients off a jar of Chinese-type sauce in the WF they shopped in to derive her own recreation of the sauce which she did not have any familiarity with.

 

ETA: Specifically, in Season 7 episode 10 ("Covert Cuisine") in the EC when they went to the CIA (that's Central Intelligence Agency) to cook, charged with taking a classic dish and disguising it while still retaining the flavors/flavor profile. Kelly got Kung Pao Shrimp. She had never made it and wasn't sure what went into it - so when they went shopping she got hold of a jar of ready-made Kung Pao sauce and read the ingredients off the label, then got (most) of the ingredients needed for it. She turned the dish into a "Kung Pao Soup" and IIRC was complimented for getting the flavor profile right and recognizable.

Edited March 3, 2016 by chiaros

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Or Kwame could have grabbed a box of waffle mix when shopping, and looked at the back to see if he could have figured out the ingredients/instructions

It certainly would have been fun watching him run around WF looking for thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, soy lecithin and calcium carbonate.

 

:)

 

On the other hand he might have looked at the ingredients list of a different, less preservative laden mix, like this one:

 

http://www.bobsredmill.com/shop/mixes/buckwheat-pancake-mix.html

 

which would all be easy enough to find in WF.  But how could he not know how to make pancake/waffle batter from scratch anyway?  It just seems like he thought making the waffles on site wasn't going to work for whatever reason.

Edited March 4, 2016 by ratgirlagogo

[Julia]

The waffle recipe I use involves folding whipped egg whites into the batter (I assume the air is injected into the machine batter). There is just no way, even if he had the recipe.

[meep.meep]

Yes, they are not allowed to bring recipes of any kind. Tom even mentioned this during this seasons restaurant wars when he was complementing Majorie's bread course. They can bring blank notebook and jot down recipes/ideas once they get there (caused controversy durong All-Stars when Blais felt Isabella ripped off a recipe he saw in his notebook.

Getting to go to the library last week was the closest the show has ever allowed them to use recipes.

 

The first season they were allowed to look up recipes on-line, I remember Stephen looking up wedding cake recipes for the wedding episode.

[biakbiak]

The first season they were allowed to look up recipes on-line, I remember Stephen looking up wedding cake recipes for the wedding episode.

I haven't seen that episode in awhile but I dont remember that and he wasn't even involved with the cake stating he wanted nothing to do with it after Harold, Lee Ann, and Tiffani decided they would go with Betty Crocker.

Edited March 5, 2016 by biakbiak

[Wings]

Marjorie had to put water in the deep fat fryer to make the pasta so the likely hood of there being a waffle iron on site was nil.  He should have changed his plan.  He was not familiar enough with the show, apparently.  Too bad.

 

Had Kwame used Bisquick and added his seasonings he might have been able to pull it off but again, was there a waffle iron?   

Edited March 5, 2016 by wings707