The Kitchen - General Discussion

[Deskisamess]

I don't get the way they are dressing Marcela now. Low cut-bronzer in the hollow-divot cleavage? It's not attractive, and just odd. And seems totally out of place on a cooking show..

At least they stopped putting horrid lipstick on Sunny. But man, mute her mic when she eats. Gah, can't stand Sunny.

Sometimes Katie looks like she is wearing a little girl's clothes.

I love Jeff, he cracks me up. He just yelled at the audience because they clapped before he had garnished his dish. Hysterical.

[Mammalou]

Yes major Marcela cleavage last two weeks!!! Sunny's lip smacking is just gross.. they need to turn the mic down! 

So last week johsonville sausage product placement.. this week boars  head.. wonder what's in store for next week 

[Westiepeach]

1 minute ago, Mammalou said:

Yes major Marcela cleavage last two weeks!!! Sunny's lip smacking is just gross.. they need to turn the mic down! 

So last week johsonville sausage product placement.. this week boars  head.. wonder what's in store for next week 

Husband and I have a game where we guess the product placement of the week. Yes, apparently, we have no life. *sigh*

[butterbody]

I seem to remember this is not the first time they have tried to pimp out the teriyaki boars head. I can't remember what they did with it before but that flavor sounds very out of place in a pot pie.

And now I sheepishly admit, I made the rice pot... I DID cut my sausage on the bias, whew! But I swapped out the white rice for that yellow Mahatma stuff. 79 cents a bag and made with saffron. It was great for a fast meal that liberated my fridge of a bunch of veggies before they went bad. 

[Mondrianyone]

57 minutes ago, Mammalou said:

So last week johsonville sausage product placement.. this week boars  head.. wonder what's in store for next week 

Based on products the hosts do commercials for?

I'm guessing Subway S'mores!

[Deskisamess]

GZ is doing Boar's Head commercials. We don't buy deli stuff often, it's loaded with salt, but Boar's Head is very good. We used to be able to get it where I live. Their white American cheese is amazing, and the BBQ chicken deli meat is terrific.

[Spunkygal]

I record Lidia's Kitchen shown on my PBS station every Saturday afternoon. She wears the same shirt, different colors, all the time, just like Ina. And I love Lidia because she usually gets a few specks of stuff that flies up and stains her shirt while cooking. All this to say to Marcela, please, stop with the cleavage. Yes, you look great after after the most recent baby. But save it for social functions and for baby daddy. I don't want to see your cleavage in the kitchen, mamacita! And I would say this about anyone's cleavage in the kitchen! (I just channeled Julia and she is rolling in her grave with all these FN shenanigans.)

54 minutes ago, Deskisamess said:

GZ is doing Boar's Head commercials. We don't buy deli stuff often, it's loaded with salt, but Boar's Head is very good. We used to be able to get it where I live. Their white American cheese is amazing, and the BBQ chicken deli meat is terrific.

Their horseradish sauce is the very best!

Edited September 17, 2017 by Spunkygal

[MerBearHou]

I saw the rerun of the meatball episode when Marcella was in the very low cut, cleavage super highlighted, black and white off the shoulder dress.  She looked ridiculous!!  Cute dress but not for this setting.  Everyone else was in normal, comfy kitchen clothing and here she is looking like she's off to a summer cocktail party.  This is twice recently that FN has dressed her in tight, low cut outfits.   Is FN trying to make her into Giada?  If so, bad decision.  I will admit that I merely tolerate Marcella when I'm watching so combining that out-of-place vavavoom look with her annoying voice, I had to turn the show off today, especially once Tregaye showed up.  MAJOR UGH.  

[Mondrianyone]

Do you think the producers choose/supply their wardrobe?  Honest question--I have no idea, but my instinct would be they dress themselves.  I don't know how else to account for Sunny's lipstick colors and wigs.  That doesn't seem like something someone else would impose on you (unless that someone really hated you).  It would be interesting to know how it really works.

That dark-contouring trick to give you cleavage has been around forever.  It just ends up looking like you have dark contouring between your boobs.  Or you haven't showered in months.  Not a good look.  If you want people to think you have major cleavage, put those chicken-cutlet thingies in your bra--perfect for a cooking show!  Better yet, wear appropriate clothes for your job and save the cleavage.  Marcella's been looking ridiculous, and she usually dresses pretty nicely.

[Mammalou]

Marcela has a stylist that she posts about on Instagram.,, so those outfits are things she chooses to wear 

[Irlandesa]

A couple of thoughts about today's show.  I think I had three things.  Let's see if I can remember more than two.

1)  It wasn't planned but, aside from Marcella, all of the secret shame ingredients would go really well together.  GZ with his soup basics.  Adding Jeff's rice would give it a little more body--as long as it's not fried rice. And as much as I hate the expression "flavor bomb" adding pesto to soup is one of my favorite ways to add flavor to soup.  So yummy. 

2) I didn't have a problem with what Marcella was wearing. I was expecting worse.  Way worse when I read this thread.  But the divit view didn't bother me.

3) Oh goodness, what is the third thing? I don't remember.  Oh well, I do like Boar's Head. 

[Mammalou]

Today's episode was brought to you by Red Lobster AND Classico lol

i thought it was a minor miracle Katie's bell sleeves didn't catch fire while frying fish! Also I thought it was odd Marcela was asking Katie the steps in how to coat fish before frying.. I would image an experienced chef who graduated from culinary school could do that without checking with a home cook first

btw give Jet his own show.. nice personality, food looked delicious and I learned something!!!

[Spunkygal]

I agree, @Mammalou, Chef Jet was delightful. I would definitely watch his show. And his broccoli beef looked delish.

i am surprised the others have not seen the lightly dried chopped herbs in the little plastic container in the produce section that Sunny presented. That is all I buy because the fresh herbs still on the stems ruin before I can use them all. And I disagree with Sunny, they last longer than 2-3 weeks in the fridge. Just make sure the lid is snapped on properly. I have some parsley and some chives that I've had for about 2 months and they are perfectly fine. Used them on scrambled eggs this morning. 

Marcela once again looked pretty in her party dress but I wonder if she'll be strapless next week!

[Mondrianyone]

I thought that pizza with figs and prosciutto Jeff made today looked to die for, so I went hunting for the recipe on FoodNetwork.com.  (I hate that site--it is so freakin' hard to navigate, even when you know exactly what you're searching for.  Especially when you know.)  Eventually I had to Google it and get there that way.  I mention this because a few hits down on Google was a recipe for the same thing by Ree Drummond.  So I clicked on that one as well, and the two were very similar--hers used fig jam or preserves instead of fresh figs (which I guess would be good when you can't get fresh figs) and no Classico sauce.  Also piled with arugula before serving.

Both Katie and Marcela sure were dressed for frying in hot oil, weren't they?

[StatisticalOutlier]

Apple fritter ice cream sandwich--a quicker treat is to put the apple fritter in the freezer.  When you want some, pull off one of the sticking-out parts and pop it in your mouth and it's wonderful.

But a warning--don't try it with Tim Hortons apple fritters.  They're too doughy.  It's the frozen outside crispy part that makes it so good, and the ribbon of apple.  I've done it with grocery store fritters and other bakery fritters (including ones from Old Fashioned Donuts on the south side of Chicago, which are enormous but not doughy), and so far, only the Tim Hortons ones don't work right.

[Maya]

I don't know if sloppy joes made with 7,000 ingredients qualifies as "simple" but OK. They did look tasty. 

[bichonblitz]

18 hours ago, Maya said:

I don't know if sloppy joes made with 7,000 ingredients qualifies as "simple" but OK. They did look tasty. 

Well, GZ is an Iron Chef, after all. So any common thing he makes is going to get ohhhhhhh's and ahhhhhhh's from Sunny, and Marcela (not so much Jeff and Katie). Geoffrey will always complicate it up a bit cause he's well, you know, an Iron Chef!

[Kathcart]

I watch this thing only to hate-watch anymore. It's just so stupid. They act like simpletons. Loud shrieking mugging simpletons exclaiming with delight over every stupid little thing.

Also, what in the name of Aunt Rhody was Katie wearing during that game segment? Something new from the Dowdy Sister Wives collection?

[bad things are bad]

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i am surprised the others have not seen the lightly dried chopped herbs in the little plastic container in the produce section that Sunny presented.

Quote

Also I thought it was odd Marcela was asking Katie the steps in how to coat fish before frying.. I would image an experienced chef who graduated from culinary school could do that without checking with a home cook first

I would bet $1000 that neither of these revelations were news to the other hosts. It's for the benefit of the uneducated viewers. 

[Mammalou]

On 9/26/2017 at 9:54 AM, Kathcart said:

I watch this thing only to hate-watch anymore. It's just so stupid. They act like simpletons. Loud shrieking mugging simpletons exclaiming with delight over every stupid little thing.

Also, what in the name of Aunt Rhody was Katie wearing during that game segment? Something new from the Dowdy Sister Wives collection?

What in the name of Aunt Rhody is officially my new favorite expression!!! Lol

[Mondrianyone]

On 9/23/2017 at 9:11 PM, Maya said:

I don't know if sloppy joes made with 7,000 ingredients qualifies as "simple" but OK. They did look tasty. 

That reminds me of one of my main pet peeves with cooking shows in general.  They make a dish and say, "See how easy and quick that was?!  I made it from start to finish in the five minutes you've been watching!"  Well, yeah.  You had eighteen different little bowls filled with already chopped tomatoes, peppers, chilies, parsley, already grated ginger, premeasured oregano and rosemary and salt and pepper and flour, and on and on.  Add the time for that into your five minutes and let's see where that takes us.

[WritinMan]

Yeah, that is extremely painful to watch. SyFy Channel monster-movie-level acting. A little surprising he agreed to do a commercial for them since his entire Food Channel persona is based on making your own sandwiches. Money talks, though.

[LazyToaster]

I agree - the commercial is just SO bad.  I always liked Jeff and feel like he knows his stuff.  But, he seems determined to be a caricature of himself and I find it sad.  I wish I could hit a reset button for his career.  One where he would take himself seriously at least part of the time - then, maybe we could do the same.  

[MerBearHou]

11 minutes ago, LazyToaster said:

I agree - the commercial is just SO bad.  I always liked Jeff and feel like he knows his stuff.  But, he seems determined to be a caricature of himself and I find it sad.  I wish I could hit a reset button for his career.  One where he would take himself seriously at least part of the time - then, maybe we could do the same.  

Totally agree.  Jeff is very smart and funny, but he can't seem to shake the class clown that probably served him well when he was younger.  He absolutely knows his stuff and should mature just a bit.  Always let his humor, intelligence and warmth show, but tone down the too-frequent "look at me" stuff.  And this is coming from a fan!  Obviously that commercial was meant to be total parody and goofy and that's fine, but I think Jeff has moved beyond needing to do that type of commercial.  I'm sure the paycheck was nice!

[Mnemosyne]

Oh, looky, more hot dog recipes. Cream cheese on a hot dog? Christ, no. I like all the flavors that were in Katie's nachos, but that looked kinda gross, too. I did think Jeff's Greek bread pizza looked good.

Sunny's bangs would drive me nuts.

[bichonblitz]

1 hour ago, Mnemosyne said:

Oh, looky, more hot dog recipes

For the love of god, NO. MORE. HOT DOGS. Food Network please just stop it. I have a feeling it's going to be at least a month of tailgating food. Oh, yay. As if that's not bad enough, Rhee Drummond and Trisha Yearwood are doing it, too.  

[Aliconehead]

1 hour ago, Mnemosyne said:

Oh, looky, more hot dog recipes. Cream cheese on a hot dog? Christ, no. I like all the flavors that were in Katie's nachos, but that looked kinda gross, too. I did think Jeff's Greek bread pizza looked good.

Sunny's bangs would drive me nuts.

its a Seattle thing from what i understand  its actually pretty good.

 

Geoffrey seemed more annoyed than normal

Edited September 30, 2017 by Aliconehead

[Mammalou]

Scrambled eggs on a hot dog?!?! NO!!!!! 

[UniqueHandle]

6 minutes ago, Aliconehead said:

its a Seattle thing from what i understand  its actually pretty good.

 

Geoffrey seemed more annoyed than normal

Seattle Hot Dogs are pretty tasty (cream cheese, sweet onions, brown mustard, and sometimes kraut). Personally, I like a weird hot dog but I live in Chicago where we put neon colored relish on our dogs... so, I am a bit odd to begin with. 

GZ has seemed a bit annoyed the past couple episodes. He seems okay with Katie (who looks so similar to his wife) and with Jeff but he seems awfully annoyed with Sunny and distant with Marcella.

I don't know if someone dresses Sunny or if the wigs she wears are her own, but they are awful. She is awful. Her clothes never fit correctly, she is always talking over everyone... however, I love a girl that will eat and she will eat. Out of all of them, I would do a restaurant tour with her as she would not judge me if I ordered a soup, salad, an appetizer, main AND a dessert. 

8 minutes ago, Mammalou said:

Scrambled eggs on a hot dog?!?! NO!!!!! 

I agree! That seems weird on so many levels.

[Westiepeach]

To me, it seems like Sunny's been pissed off the last few episodes. When the camera pans to her, she looks ready to hurt people.

But as far as the food goes, she is first in, always!

[Maya]

These comments are funny because I always feel like everyone (except maybe Sunny) hates Katie. 

[Spunkygal]

6 hours ago, Mammalou said:

Scrambled eggs on a hot dog?!?! NO!!!!! 

The hens should go on strike and refuse to lay. This is ridiculous, but to be fair, it was a viewer's idea, not the show's. 

That splat you heard was my colon and arteries holding hands as they jumped off the cliff during the hot dog segment. IMHO, if you have a good quality dog, you don't need a ton of crap to trick it up. No bread crumbs on the bun (WTF?), no cream cheese, not even any bacon crumbs. Just a good wiener, minimal bun and a few toppings. No one I know would want anything other than regular, standard toppings. Trick out nachos all you want but don't do too much to dogs or burgers. If you are lucky enough to live near a fabulous meat market like I am, all this crap overtakes the meat.

It may be my imagination but it seems that the hosts are wearing a bit thin on each other. Goodness knows, they are wearing thin on me. 

[bichonblitz]

7 hours ago, UniqueHandle said:

GZ has seemed a bit annoyed the past couple episodes

He has reason to be. Look at the garbage they are making him do. Time to leave, GZ.

[Maverick]

 This is the man shilling deli turnkey and and acts like an utter buffoon on Cooks vs. Cons so I really don't think there's any justifications for him to be annoyed.  

[butterbody]

I am not a sports person and all these tailgate shows are getting on my nerves. I watch this show for ideas for dinner that don't require much effort, not the endless hot dog monstrosities. Sunny's hot dog was 90% bun. The last thing it needed was bread crumbs!

[Mammalou]

Marcela announced on her Instagram that this weeks ep of the show is her last.. I liked her recipes. Wonder if they'll replace her?

[Uncle Benzene]

43 minutes ago, Mammalou said:

Marcela announced on her Instagram that this weeks ep of the show is her last.. I liked her recipes. Wonder if they'll replace her?

This is not going to end well.

Current Vegas odds:

3/1 On Fleek with Tregaye Fraser

5/1 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LEARN TO LIKE MATTHEW GRUNWALD! PLEEEEEASE!

10/1 Justin Warner's Weekly Quest to one-up the Iron Chef

50/1 The Lenny McNab Redemption Tour

Edited October 5, 2017 by Uncle Benzene

[butterbody]

20 minutes ago, Uncle Benzene said:

This is not going to end well.

Current Vegas odds:

3/1 On Fleek with Tregaye Fraser

5/1 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LEARN TO LIKE MATTHEW GRUNWALD! PLEEEEEASE!

10/1 Justin Warner's Weekly Quest to one-up the Iron Chef

50/1 The Lenny McNab Redemption Tour

This post just killed my "Marcella is leaving" buzz.

Please not Tregaye. Although she was less annoying last time. Who was the guy with the easy Asian food cookbook? He made that beef with broccoli and explained techniques without talking down to people. I really enjoyed him but he's too civilized for these yahoos.

[Mammalou]

1 hour ago, butterbody said:

This post just killed my "Marcella is leaving" buzz.

Please not Tregaye. Although she was less annoying last time. Who was the guy with the easy Asian food cookbook? He made that beef with broccoli and explained techniques without talking down to people. I really enjoyed him but he's too civilized for these yahoos.

Forgot about tregaye! You may be right.. Food Network seems to be trying to make her happen.. I would love to see Jet Tila, the chef who made the beef and broc a few weeks back.. his cookbook is great and I thought he had a good personality! 

[Maya]

2 hours ago, Mammalou said:

Marcela announced on her Instagram that this weeks ep of the show is her last.. I liked her recipes. Wonder if they'll replace her?

I hope she grabs Katie on her way out the door. 

[Irlandesa]

Interesting.  The Chew didn't replace Daphne when she left.  (Guess they could hire her.) 

I think 4 people is enough.   They could have guest hosts.

[Spunkygal]

1 hour ago, Maya said:

I hope she grabs Katie on her way out the door. 

....and if they have room for Sunny in their suitcase....

[bosawks]

17 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

....and if they have room for Sunny in their suitcase....

I will shamefully admit to DVR'ing this just for the "WTF did Sunny do to piss of her stylist this week", so I would miss her.

[WritinMan]

That waffle...thing Sunny made at the start of today's show looked god awful.

[Mammalou]

1 hour ago, WritinMan said:

That waffle...thing Sunny made at the start of today's show looked god awful.

I agree!! Plus using frozen waffles and frozen pancakes is a little lazy.  Also those 'pacos' were gross. I mean this a brunch episode.. the sky's the limit in terms of what they could have come up with.   I was surprised there was no mention of this being Marcelas last ep! 

Edited October 7, 2017 by Mammalou

[Spunkygal]

GZ's face during Sunny's waffle demonstration was so funny. He in no way wanted a bite of that mess. And going back to a comment I made last week about the stuff they heap on hot dogs, etc., c'mon Kitchen, LESS IS MORE. Sunny heaped tons of sugary crap on her waffle pudding then Katie ruined a pretty good idea of putting fresh fruit on "pacos" by adding maple syrup, chocolate chips, coconut, yogurt, more coconut. Just put fresh fruit and lightly sprinkle some powdered sugar and be done with it. How can anyone actually appreciate all these ingredients?

Regarding why no mention was made of Marcela's departure, maybe this was taped before she decided not to renegotiate her contract? 

I enjoyed the guest host. Please come again! 

[Irlandesa]

Huh.  I wonder if they'll mention that she left next week. 

It's possible they didn't mention it was her last day in order to preserve the ability to move the episodes around.  From what I understand, they film the episodes in chunks.  By not being specific about the filming order, they free up the ability to decide the order in which they'll air.  For instance, they obviously had a tailgate theme last week for their shows airing in the fall.  (Or was it two weeks ago?)  They clearly told their shows to film a tailgate themed episode. So if Valerie did it as her first episode filmed and The Kitchen as the last episode filmed, it wouldn't matter.  However, if they had decided to have this weekend be that theme, it would have looked odd to air Marcela's last episode, with all the goodbyes, before her last episode aired. 

There was not much appealing in this episode. 

[Mnemosyne]

A couple of years ago I came across a tip in Cooks Illustrated that recommended putting hard boiled eggs in a container with a bit of water and shaking them gently to peel them. I had pretty much the same results as Katie and Marcela. What a mess. All of those tools were awful.

Not much else to say about this one that hasn't been said above, but I did giggle at Sunny gesticulating wildly with a huge knife in her hand and Marcela gritting her teeth and taking it away from her.

[Mondrianyone]

46 minutes ago, Mnemosyne said:

A couple of years ago I came across a tip in Cooks Illustrated that recommended putting hard boiled eggs in a container with a bit of water and shaking them gently to peel them. I had pretty much the same results as Katie and Marcela. What a mess. All of those tools were awful.

Not much else to say about this one that hasn't been said above, but I did giggle at Sunny gesticulating wildly with a huge knife in her hand and Marcela gritting her teeth and taking it away from her.

I tried that egg-peeling thing with the water and the mason jar a few months ago.  Mine didn't turn into the mess they ended up with--the eggs stayed whole, they just weren't peeled very effectively.  I find I get the best results by putting a teaspoonful or so of baking soda into the boiling water.  The eggs almost always peel perfectly.

I was watching Marcela's expression while Sunny was waving around that giant chef's knife inches from Marcela's face, and I felt I could read her thoughts.  I wondered whether she'd step away, say something, or take the knife.  She made the bravest of the three choices.  But Sunny was back to using the knife as a gesturing tool when the guest cook came on.  Marcela might be increasing her life expectancy by leaving this show.  Anybody who's spent more than a minute in a kitchen shows more respect for knives than that.

[UniqueHandle]

So weird that they made no mention of Marcela leaving. I get that the episode could have been taped previous to her announcement on Insta, but it was so weird. It is also very odd that none of the other hosts mentioned it on their instagram accounts today.

Did anyone else notice Sunny cut herself during the guests chef segment? She did a very good/bad job of hiding her hand during the rest of his segment... even cracking the eggs one handed.

Bring on Chef Tila. Yum!