Season 14 Last Chance Kitchen

[BlackberryJam]

I predict Jamie is coming through LCK to reward him for giving up immunity.

[cooksdelight]

I agree, unless he really flubs up.

[ProudMary]

19 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

I predict Jamie is coming through LCK to reward him for giving up immunity.

I like the idea but I'm not sure he will.  At the end of this episode of LCK, Tom said that Jamie had to beat four more chefs to get back into the competition.  Seven chefs remain.  Assuming that the next three to go will be Emily, John, Casey (in whatever order), that would mean Jamie will need to beat each of them and then one of Sylva, Shirley, Sheldon or Brooke to get back into the competition.  I'm not seeing it.

Along those lines, I was somewhat surprised to hear say Tom say that he had to beat four more chefs to make it back.  In the last couple of seasons, didn't four chefs remain standing and the LCK winner came back as a fifth contestant who had to overcome some extra obstacle to make it back to the final four?  I guess they've played with the re-entry process a couple of times.

[dleighg]

8 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Along those lines, I was somewhat surprised to hear say Tom say that he had to beat four more chefs to make it back.  In the last couple of seasons, didn't four chefs remain standing and the LCK winner came back as a fifth contestant who had to overcome some extra obstacle to make it back to the final four?  I guess they've played with the re-entry process a couple of times.

I'm doing Top Chef seasons in order on my elliptical lately and am currently on Season 10 (finale). Kristen came in with only two left (Brooke and Sheldon); she just had to beat the most recently eliminated (Lizzie) to enter the finale as an "equal". I can't recall how they did it in 11, 12, and 13. 

Edited January 23, 2017 by dleighg

[Spaceman Spiff]

Maybe it's just me, but I feel that Jamie fell on his sword on purpose. He was struggling in the regular competition and I get the feeling he knew LCK meant 1 on 1 quick fire type challenges, which would get him to the end easier. He doesn't have to deal with the crazy stress of the regular challenges.

[RealReality]

47 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

Maybe it's just me, but I feel that Jamie fell on his sword on purpose. He was struggling in the regular competition and I get the feeling he knew LCK meant 1 on 1 quick fire type challenges, which would get him to the end easier. He doesn't have to deal with the crazy stress of the regular challenges.

Thats a pretty big risk.  I think its better to get there later, so you don't have to face so many competitors.  I mean, for LCK you have to win.  For TC, you simply have to not lose.  But, there may be some merit to your argument since he seemed to do much, much better at QF than he did in regular competition.

[hendersonrocks]

A NAMBLA joke, Sam? Seriously? Be better than that.

Glad to see Jamie coming through on the other side of that mess.

[ProudMary]

Well, Katsuji is certainly consistent.  He brought his douchebaggery with him to the LCK peanut gallery.  
I'm glad that Jamie won.  He did an excellent job finding other ways than salt to bring out flavors.  He deserved the win.
Warm vinaigrette on gorgeous heirloom tomatoes?  No Emily, just no.  

What a stupid challenge though; only 45 seconds in the pantry?  

[pastafarian]

Jamie, regardless of how much farther he goes in the competition has already won both as a chef and a person.  Emily OTH would have been better served if she had bowed out earlier before she demonstrated her poor decision making and palate.  I don't know what can be done about the palate, but she appeared too young and unseasoned for this show.  For Jamie, things have gotten a whole lot tougher.  There's no weakness left and he will be facing chefs that are much stronger than the ones he has defeated in LCK moving forward.

[cooksdelight]

Is Emily a smoker? John mentioned something about that when it was announced the test would be a blind tasting. Smoking kills the tastebuds.

[Court]

I would love to see Jamie beat John in LCK. I'm rooting for John to go home next.

[Calamity Jane]

2 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Is Emily a smoker? John mentioned something about that when it was announced the test would be a blind tasting. Smoking kills the tastebuds.

Which is why I'm puzzled that so many chefs you see on these shows actually do smoke.  More on Hell's Kitchen, to be fair, than on Top Chef, but it seems counterproductive for a chef ever to undermine one of his/her most important abilities.  

[Jobiska]

19 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

A NAMBLA joke, Sam? Seriously? Be better than that.

I was just disgusted and shot right back to Sam being quite pleased by the bullying in Season 2.  And I thought that was terrible, but in some ways this was worse.  Katsuji may be a jerk a lot of the time, but implying that about someone as a joke is just terrible. 

Can't wait for good local tomatoes again.

[hkit]

3 hours ago, Jobiska said:

I was just disgusted and shot right back to Sam being quite pleased by the bullying in Season 2.  And I thought that was terrible, but in some ways this was worse.  Katsuji may be a jerk a lot of the time, but implying that about someone as a joke is just terrible. 

Can't wait for good local tomatoes again.

This. Sam is gross, on so many levels. 

[racked]

23 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Well, Katsuji is certainly consistent.  He brought his douchebaggery with him to the LCK peanut gallery.  
I'm glad that Jamie won.  He did an excellent job finding other ways than salt to bring out flavors.  He deserved the win.
Warm vinaigrette on gorgeous heirloom tomatoes?  No Emily, just no.  

What a stupid challenge though; only 45 seconds in the pantry?  

Katsuji did show more caring moments in this episode than his whole run on the show though. He suggested the rind to Jamie, he reminded Emily to make a plate for herself to taste.  There may be a decent human in there somewhere! 

I like Jamie's streak so far I hope it continues. At least until one of my faves is against him. 

I didn't watch LCK when Kristen had her amazing run - are her episodes online somewhere?

[spiderpig]

A lot of people have commented how things are so much looser and good-humored on LCK than TC.  It even worked on Emily.  She seemed miles removed from the Gloomy Gussie of the regular series.

Both presentations were odd though and not particularly tempting.

[riverheightsnancy]

Personally, I HATE cold tomatoes-right out of the frig that is. I think it absolutely ruins their flavor and meatiness. However, the produce could have been room temp (or at least warmer than directly out of frig), and with hot studio lights, how much of a temp difference could there have been? I think that I would like a warm vinaigrette. I felt bad for Emily. She seems demoralized and submissive at this point and the other chefs seemed to be pulling for Jamie more and that must sting to constantly fail. 

[Wings]

That was not an enjoyable QF.  The pantry must have been very limited if they both chose the same ingredients.  No salt and oil at their stations was a nasty trick.  Did anyone think that Emily would win even with salt?  :^)

[chiaros]

10 minutes ago, wings707 said:

That was not an enjoyable QF.  The pantry must have been very limited if they both chose the same ingredients.  No salt and oil at their stations was a nasty trick.  Did anyone think that Emily would win even with salt?  :^)

You mean LCK.

The "oil and salt" thing I don't really regard as a "trick" - it *is* part of the ingredients list of anything one cooks - and many times I cook something without any added oil (like starting with some form of meat with sufficient fat on it, so I "brown" it and render out the fat); or salt, when I know something I am adding will be quite salty on its own --- and so on and so forth.

As for cooking something with just a few ingredients – that is not so difficult a proposition. Y'know, one of the most glorious of tomato sauces for pasta is Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce - it's just tomatoes (The original instructions say CANNED, at that, although it says San Marzano, if possible), butter, onion, salt. That's it. I've done it with ripe in-season tomatoes rather than the canned San Marzano stuff, and it is just as glorious if not even better.

[cooksdelight]

You never, ever in a thousand years put tomatoes in the 'fridge. I'm making caprese salad tonight and they are on the counter.... after being in my kitchen window for a few days to totally ripen. It's almost as if production was trying to get them to either screw up or become a wizard with canned stuff.

[Wings]

26 minutes ago, chiaros said:

You mean LCK.

The "oil and salt" thing I don't really regard as a "trick" - it *is* part of the ingredients list of anything one cooks - and many times I cook something without any added oil (like starting with some form of meat with sufficient fat on it, so I "brown" it and render out the fat); or salt, when I know something I am adding will be quite salty on its own --- and so on and so forth.

As for cooking something with just a few ingredients – that is not so difficult a proposition. Y'know, one of the most glorious of tomato sauces for pasta is Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce - it's just tomatoes (The original instructions say CANNED, at that, although it says San Marzano, if possible), butter, onion, salt. That's it. I've done it with ripe in-season tomatoes rather than the canned San Marzano stuff, and it is just as glorious if not even better.

The trick was they had to carry everything.  Box of salt and bottle of oil takes up a lot of arm space.  

I am familiar with the San Marzano tomatoes and yes, @cooksdelight fresh tomatoes must always be room temp, never cold!  

[cooksdelight]

7 minutes ago, wings707 said:

Box of salt and bottle of oil takes up a lot of arm space.  

HA! It's my mission to get all 25 lbs of my grocery bags into the house in one trip. :) I can juggle with the best of them.

[Wings]

Just now, cooksdelight said:

HA! It's my mission to get all 25 lbs of my grocery bags into the house in one trip. :) I can juggle with the best of them.

Oh yes, one trip from the car is essential.   

I have a bunch of the large blue Ikea bags in my trunk.  I bet I can get more groceries in one trip that you can.  Na na na na na

[Bastet]

Quote

You never, ever in a thousand years put tomatoes in the 'fridge.

Oh, I do.  I don't store them there (blech), and I don't put the one I want to eat in there for long (also blech), but when I want to just slice a tomato and sprinkle it with some salt and pepper or basil, I want it a little chilled.

[spiderpig]

What put me off Jamie this ep was the perpetual sweat dripping from the end of his nose.  He even commented about it to Tom.

[pastafarian]

Quote

On 1/27/2017 at 5:03 PM, Calamity Jane said:

Which is why I'm puzzled that so many chefs you see on these shows actually do smoke.  More on Hell's Kitchen, to be fair, than on Top Chef, but it seems counterproductive for a chef ever to undermine one of his/her most important abilities.  

 

 

 

Chefs and their staff have a whole lot of vices.  It's explained in 'Kitchen Confidential' and in knowing more than a few people in the industry, confirmed by my own experience.  Drugs, alcohol abuse, smoking and general thievery are very common.  Heck, they tattoo and pierce more than sailors and hipsters combined.   It comes with the territory and is also why they're so much fun to hang out with.  Want to know why a good steak house meal costs so much?  Half the steak goes out the back door regardless of how much security ownership puts in place.  It's a good reason right there to befriend a chef!

17 hours ago, spiderpig said:

What put me off Jamie this ep was the perpetual sweat dripping from the end of his nose.  He even commented about it to Tom.

Particularly in a raw preparation!

[Jesse]

Serious Eats did a thing about tomatoes and refrigeration, and I think the upshot was that putting them in the fridge keeps them good longer, and if you warm them up before eating, they are just as good. FYI.

I wonder if Tom hadn't heard Emily dithering about what she was going to make, if he would have been more positive about her final dish. 

[Wings]

1 hour ago, Jesse said:

Serious Eats did a thing about tomatoes and refrigeration, and I think the upshot was that putting them in the fridge keeps them good longer, and if you warm them up before eating, they are just as good. FYI.

I wonder if Tom hadn't heard Emily dithering about what she was going to make, if he would have been more positive about her final dish. 

That is exactly what I do.  They are refrigerated during shipping anyway. Even when I had a garden I would have to put some in when the yield was too large to eat right away. 

[ratgirlagogo]

On 1/28/2017 at 1:47 PM, chiaros said:

As for cooking something with just a few ingredients – that is not so difficult a proposition. Y'know, one of the most glorious of tomato sauces for pasta is Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce - it's just tomatoes (The original instructions say CANNED, at that, although it says San Marzano, if possible), butter, onion, salt. That's it. I've done it with ripe in-season tomatoes rather than the canned San Marzano stuff, and it is just as glorious if not even better.

I agree - but it's crucial that those few ingredients be glorious themselves - the tomatoes obviously, but IMO the butter also.  If you read these old Chowhound threads (there are many more but these are representative):

http://www.chowhound.com/post/hazans-tomato-sauce-onion-butter-421367

http://www.chowhound.com/post/marcella-hazans-tomato-butter-sauce-931565

while most people adore it, it's interesting just how many people do NOT like it and describe it as "meh."   I realized some years back partly as a result of reading the bad reviews for it on CH that this sauce is a quintessential summer tomato sauce - made with great tomatoes as close to right off the vine as possible and the higher quality butter you get in the summer.  With really great ripe in-season tomatoes as you said this is, yes, a glorious sauce.  I think Marcella suggested canned partly because she was trying to make it more accessible to an international audience - and of course canned are great, if the tomatoes were wonderful pre-canning.  But fresh are always going to be better for a simple sauce like this one in which they are the primary flavor.

Edited January 29, 2017 by ratgirlagogo

[The Solution]

On 1/29/2017 at 10:11 AM, pastafarian said:

Chefs and their staff have a whole lot of vices.  It's explained in 'Kitchen Confidential' and in knowing more than a few people in the industry, confirmed by my own experience.  Drugs, alcohol abuse, smoking and general thievery are very common.   Want to know why a good steak house meal costs so much?  Half the steak goes out the back door regardless of how much security ownership puts in place.  It's a good reason right there to befriend a chef!

 

Tell me about it! I worked for a while as a Comptroller for an somewhat upscale restaurant business with several holdings (because I wanted to open my own restaurant at the time and I thought it would be good experience). I couldn't believe how much stuff grew legs and walked away! Even some of the money from the till. All of the anti-theft measures were directed at the employees rather than the customers. I thought I was a half-a-wise-guy who could cook, but I only lasted a year before I went back to working in Finance in a regular corporation again.

During that year I learned (1.) how hard restaurant work really is, and (2.) that everything that isn't nailed down is going to walk out the back door. I am no longer under any delusions that I could run my own restaurant successfully, but it still fascinates me.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Jamie is a bit delusional. In his talking head at the end of episode he said something (I forget what it was exactly, been a while since I watched it), but he made it sound like he was cooking like a champ in LCK. He barely eked out against Emily. He forgot main ingredients and his dish sucked, it just didn't suck as much as Emily's, which not hard to do Jamie. I really hope he doesn't go all the way. I would rather any one of the remaining contestants to beat him out.

[bobbobbob199]

I get the impression Jamie is being set up to win LCK because Tom stopped letting the cheftestants taste each other's dishes in LCK after Jamie arrived. Before, usually each chef could taste the others' dishes so they would be able to understand the result potentially.

[Ms.Lulu]

Casey's cheese puff chicken tenders put her through.  I thought none of these looked particularly good but I was holding out hope that Sylva would make it through.  

[Sew Sumi]

So, I guess Tom has to ax two next week? 

[JES004]

On 2/1/2017 at 4:44 PM, bobbobbob199 said:

I get the impression Jamie is being set up to win LCK because Tom stopped letting the cheftestants taste each other's dishes in LCK after Jamie arrived. Before, usually each chef could taste the others' dishes so they would be able to understand the result potentially.

Or that part is cut.  We don't know that he doesn't still do it. 

[cooksdelight]

Was I hearing things during the commercial about Fan Favorite, when it said "they win $10,000 and their way into the finals" or something like that??

[JeanneH]

Who dresses Katsuji? And could someone please cut his rubber band so he wasn't so uptight? Ye gawds, none of the other peanut gallery denizens want to be there either, but at least they're having a little fun with it. (talking about the snack food LCK episode)

"Shut up, I'm trying to cook here!" - Casey    (yes, I can see where the peanut gallery is distracting too)

Edited February 3, 2017 by JeanneH

[HunterHunted]

On 1/30/2017 at 11:26 AM, The Solution said:

Tell me about it! I worked for a while as a Comptroller for an somewhat upscale restaurant business with several holdings (because I wanted to open my own restaurant at the time and I thought it would be good experience). I couldn't believe how much stuff grew legs and walked away! Even some of the money from the till. All of the anti-theft measures were directed at the employees rather than the customers. I thought I was a half-a-wise-guy who could cook, but I only lasted a year before I went back to working in Finance in a regular corporation again.

During that year I learned (1.) how hard restaurant work really is, and (2.) that everything that isn't nailed down is going to walk out the back door. I am no longer under any delusions that I could run my own restaurant successfully, but it still fascinates me.

Off topic: I know someone who was doing some efficiency and cost containment work for a conflict free diamond mine. The mine had a similar problem. Miners were stealing a ton of diamonds. The solution they came up with is that the company would mark diamonds and the miners could buy as many of the marked diamonds at true cost (as if the cartel did not exist) as they wanted provided they never sold them. They could gift them. Everyone in town looked like they lived in a rap video in less than a year, just covered in diamonds.

On topic: Sylva's sounded terrible. Casey's did sound like the best of the three.

[Jezebel97]

On 1/28/2017 at 1:21 PM, riverheightsnancy said:

Personally, I HATE cold tomatoes-right out of the frig that is. I think it absolutely ruins their flavor and meatiness. However, the produce could have been room temp (or at least warmer than directly out of frig), and with hot studio lights, how much of a temp difference could there have been? I think that I would like a warm vinaigrette. I felt bad for Emily. She seems demoralized and submissive at this point and the other chefs seemed to be pulling for Jamie more and that must sting to constantly fail. 

I agree & even more is I love that you have Adam as your avatar 

[awaken]

On 1/27/2017 at 1:18 PM, pastafarian said:

  I don't know what can be done about the palate, but she appeared too young and unseasoned for this show.  

She strikes me as a deeply insecure person.  From the self doubt, to the twitchy movements, she seems like someone who is very uncomfortable with herself, and tries to cover it with bravado and "attitude".  It makes me sad to wonder why that is!

10 hours ago, JeanneH said:

"Shut up, I'm trying to cook here!" - Casey    (yes, I can see where the peanut gallery is distracting too)

I was so glad someone said it!  I always think the same thing!  Let them cook!!  

I'm a big fan of Sylva's and wish he could have gone through, but his dish looked and sounded gross.  A honey graham cracker sandwich with pork belly in cilantro lime ranch, and kimchi strawberry jam.  

[spiderpig]

I've always had an adverse reaction to Casey and finally pinpointed the source.  She looks and acts like Heather Mills, Paul McCartney's obnoxious poseur ex-wife.

 

[7-Zark-7]

I always thought Casey had a Jennifer Aniston vibe. Although, she did pull that unfortunate facial expression (above) several times this season.

12 hours ago, JeanneH said:

Ye gawds, none of the other peanut gallery denizens want to be there either, but at least they're having a little fun with it. (talking about the snack food LCK episode)

Katsuji was definitely not feeling the cheering section. But, considering he demoralized others throughout the competition, he had this coming.

Poor Silva. I knew he'd be at a disadvantage making an American snack food. Looks like Jaime was lucky that two got to go through to the next round, or his streak would have ended.

Edited February 3, 2017 by 7-Zark-7

[JeanneH]

14 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Was I hearing things during the commercial about Fan Favorite, when it said "they win $10,000 and their way into the finals" or something like that??

I saw this at the end of the Shrimp Boats episode:

Quote

In the fan favorite competition these chefs need more than kitchen skills. They need your votes to win 10 grand. (a big "$10,000 sponsored by S. Pellegrino" appears on screen). Here's who's in the lead so far. (the leaderboard, 1-16, appears on screen). Only the chefs with the most votes will move on.

The announcer clearly said chefs (plural) will move on. I wonder what that's about.

[dleighg]

15 minutes ago, JeanneH said:

The announcer clearly said chefs (plural) will move on. I wonder what that's about.

I thought that just meant there's culling of the "fan favorite" competition. Sort of like playoffs.

[Jobiska]

4 hours ago, dleighg said:

I thought that just meant there's culling of the "fan favorite" competition. Sort of like playoffs.

That was my interpretation as well--that it will be down to 8, or 4, or something next.

[chiaros]

5 hours ago, dleighg said:

I thought that just meant there's culling of the "fan favorite" competition. Sort of like playoffs.

 

1 hour ago, Jobiska said:

That was my interpretation as well--that it will be down to 8, or 4, or something next.

Yes. In past seasons those who got the most votes in a certain time period (I'm not sure what exactly these were) then "went on" and the rest (the low-scorers) were dropped from the "Table of Candidates". The weeded-out panel then were voted on, and so on. I can't remember if their previous votes were carried forward or not.

[stanleyk]

19 hours ago, 7-Zark-7 said:

Poor Silva. I knew he'd be at a disadvantage making an American snack food.

 

21 hours ago, awaken said:

I'm a big fan of Sylva's and wish he could have gone through, but his dish looked and sounded gross.  A honey graham cracker sandwich with pork belly in cilantro lime ranch, and kimchi strawberry jam.  

I thought it was possible that Sylva confused the crackers he was using. At one pointI think he was talking about Triscuits. A couple people (including Tom) gave him raised-eyebrow "Graham crackers? Really?" reactions and Sylva's apparent non-understanding of their reaction made me think he thought they were savory crackers. That dish on a Triscuit may not have been great, but it certainly would have been better than a graham cracker.

[bobbobbob199]

17 hours ago, stanleyk said:

 

I thought it was possible that Sylva confused the crackers he was using. At one pointI think he was talking about Triscuits. A couple people (including Tom) gave him raised-eyebrow "Graham crackers? Really?" reactions and Sylva's apparent non-understanding of their reaction made me think he thought they were savory crackers. That dish on a Triscuit may not have been great, but it certainly would have been better than a graham cracker.

Sylva should have tasted his dish, but I agree he probably confused the crackers because I think he's smarter than putting pork belly on cloyingly sweet graham crackers and strawberry jam. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

On ‎2‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 0:20 PM, 7-Zark-7 said:

 Looks like Jaime was lucky that two got to go through to the next round, or his streak would have ended.

Yes, and this really bugged me and makes me think that he is returning. Why was it done this way. The prior double elimination faced the LCK chef one at a time no?  Jim faced Jamie, then Sylvia. (unless I am misremembering) .Casey did verify my theory though, her talking head said Jamie is good at the quick fire, which is why he fell on his sword. I think he would have done poorly in the most recent elimination challenges.

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

Yes, and this really bugged me and makes me think that he is returning. Why was it done this way. The prior double elimination faced the LCK chef one at a time no?  Jim faced Jamie, then Sylvia. (unless I am misremembering) .Casey did verify my theory though, her talking head said Jamie is good at the quick fire, which is why he fell on his sword. I think he would have done poorly in the most recent elimination challenges.

No double elimination people have done LCK at the same time. And last year's final three people LCK (there were two) also advanced two people, Amar and Carl. In season 12 LCK was always three people with two people advancing until the last wo competitions.