S14.E05: Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

The chefs are baffled to enter a dark, empty kitchen, with all signs pointing to a biscuit challenge. Later, they must work through the night to prepare a whole hog and three side dishes for 150 barbecue fans, including music star Darius Rucker. Appearing: foodie John Currence and barbecue master Rodney Scott.

[Michichick]

What the hell was the point of having them figure out the quickfire like that? That was just dumb.

it was pretty telegraphed that Sylvia was going home. Sorry to see her go, though. Wouldn't have minded saying goodbye to Katsuji because his shtick is getting old.

[The Solution]

Sylvia's potato salad must have been horrible to be worse than whatever it was that Katsuji did with unintentional glands and whatnot. I was sure gunning for him to go.

I have never had a biscuit that I thought was edible and I spent part of my childhood in Savannah. With Italian restaurateurs, but Savannah nonetheless. However, I will kill for a good hushpuppy.

[archer1267]

That QF was pointless, like TC's attempt to be "edgy" by doing their version of Punk'd. Yet another redemption arc for Brooke. I agree that Katsuji seemed to have the grosser dish... Sylvia's sin seemed to be more in not adhering to tradition, rather than not handling a particular ingredient properly.

Edited December 30, 2016 by archer1267

[hendersonrocks]

This episode hit a little too close to home. Biscuits are my favorite food, Darius Rucker melts me (I'd have been belting out that song by heart), and I was at an orthopedic surgeon's office today for a herniated disk. 

Silvia's Italian potato salad looked awful. I get what she was going for, but ooof - no. Silva showed a little assiness that we hadn't previously seen, which is interesting. Amanda's death glare when he mansplained cabbage slicing was every bit deserved. Katsuji is a hot mess (second week in a row I've typed that sentence, for the record).

Sheldon, TAKE CARE OF YOU.

[Maverick]

 Sylvia's sins were:  1) not being a "vet"  2) having a birthday during this challenge and 3) not being a shit-stirring drama queen like Katsuji.   That's why she got knifed.  The birthday thing alone was probably enough to get them to pick her over someone else in a (semi-) close call, but going up against someone who gives good TV was the nail in her coffin.

 Jim's cute, but WTF with the biscuit challenge?  An embarrassment to Southern boys.  

[jackjill89]

I really liked Sylvia, but her potato salad looked yucky. I thought she was going for a vinegar and oil salad with some crisp veggies and Italian herbs -- that's what I would have done. It was too heavy looking. 

Katsuji can go any time now. 

[HunterHunted]

26 minutes ago, Michichick said:

What the hell was the point of having them figure out the quickfire like that? That was just dumb.

it was pretty telegraphed that Sylvia was going home. Sorry to see her go, though. Wouldn't have minded saying goodbye to Katsuji because his shtick is getting old.

That quickfire was really stupid. But for the fact that the judges have been all "biscuit, biscuit, biscuit!" this season, they really could have ended up with really different results.

I liked Sylva until he decided to be a bossy mansplainer. I'm going to be a little bit harder on Amanda and Katsuji because both of them as vets should have caught all of the ways they were going wrong. They cooked the pig too hot. Amanda knew that Sylva's sauce didn't adhere to the challenge, but said nothing. It also seemed like they barely tasted each other's food. We saw more scenes of Katsuji tasting other teams' food than his own. I feel badly for Sylvia, but her potato salad looked heavy and sad. I expected her to be in the competition longer.

I hope Sheldon takes care of himself.

[AttackTurtle]

Katsuji's stupid mind games can go.   

I love Sheldon & it was clear he was in some major pain.   That was hard to watch, but I loved how he got the new girl with the attitude to shrug off Katsuji's comments.

i can't help but think that this is Brooke's season.   She's kind of killing it.

and I know I'm in the minority but I like John.  I know he hit rock bottom and I like seeing him do well.  

[laffytaffy997]

Oh boy, I just realized there's a Sylvia and Sylva on this show and I know I'm going to get so confused this week. Luckily one of them got eliminated this episode so I won't have this issue in future threads lol

[Bastet]

I don't hate biscuits, but they do absolutely nothing for me and I'll only ever eat one to be polite or help fill myself up if I'm equally un-enthused about the rest of the meal.  I don't eat potato salad or beans (I hate potatoes and beans), so this was a decidedly un-droolworthy episode.

This was another episode I couldn't pay full attention to, so I don't know who wound up on the bottom in the QF, but it was two people who'd never made a biscuit and one person who'd been making biscuits since he came out of the womb, so I'd have thrown whatever "we judge only on the food, and this challenge's food only" fiction they hide behind and declared Jim the loser.

All the backstory meant Sylvia wasn't long for this competition, but I was hoping for a while it was a red herring because I like her food more than several people remaining.

"Yours just seemed too murky, like you put too many things in it."  Isn't that what he always does?  Katsuji can pack his knives and go any time.  I don't give a shit whether he is an asshole or he's acting like an asshole in order to garner more camera time; both are, well, asshole moves I don't respect. 

That was a glaringly white crowd production assembled.

[LotusFlower]

2 hours ago, Maverick said:

 Sylvia's sins were:  1) not being a "vet"  2) having a birthday during this challenge and 3) not being a shit-stirring drama queen like Katsuji.   That's why she got knifed.  The birthday thing alone was probably enough to get them to pick her over someone else in a (semi-) close call, but going up against someone who gives good TV was the nail in her coffin.

She also had another strike against her.  I'll spoiler tag it because it's about Last Chance Kitchen:

Spoiler

Sam is the current LCK champ, and I'm pretty sure Sylvia said she had a crush on him in ep. 1, so I'm sure the show liked the idea of pitting them against each other in LCK. 

[Lillybee]

I just watched Anthony Bourdain's Beyond Borders Charleston's episode. It was very informative about Charleston's food including trash fish. I recommend it.

[Happytobehere]

I thought Katsuji was on Emily's team because of his comments on her beans until I saw the different colors they were wearing and his assholery became all I could see about him.  

Emily got saved by being on the winning team cause her beans sucked, but she must have secrectly loved Katsuji being clobbered on his crappy beans after his shit comments to her about her beans.  

IMO Katsuji should have gone because of the beans because it was a fail in terms of both orchestration and execution.  I am unclear what his thought process was since he is kosher and doesn't cook with pork, his concept of a pork laden bean made no sense if he didn't have someone tasting as he went along.  His attempts to remedy the disaster by adding sugar only made matters worse.  It just seemed like the green team was doomed by every member of the team being out of their element and so uncomfortable by their own inadequacy at the challenge that they said nothing when their teammates were clearly making mistakes, Sliva calling her dish potato salad and no-one telling her that her dish should not be called that because wrong perception sets you up for disappointment (I don't know of anywhere in America where what she did would be considered or called potato salad); the dish was still a fail, but I think it was made more of a fail by being called potato salad.  Subtle nuances such as this should be explained to someone not from this country.  Sylvia and the sauce that clearly didn't fit the requirements of the challenge is another example of this.  How could no one explain that the challenge was to replicate a NC sauce with either a mustard or a vinegar base.  That alone could have doomed the team since the pork was supposed to be the focal point of the meal.  Or was the issue that the team was comprised of chefs so self-absorbed and self-centered that they didn't get that the challenge was to work as a functional team and not just focus on their own crappy dishes?

I think Katsuji, Emily and Amanda can all go as I am over each of them and their barely good cooking.

This season is reminding me that I do not like Casey.  She just comes across as smug and entitled and I had forgotten that.  The more I see of her, the more I remember that I never liked her even in her season and why I felt the way I did.  I remember tuning out when I saw her paired with Carla because I thought her attitude and cooking style was going to be the downfall of Carla who was my fav and I didn't need to see my fear come to fruition; as I knew I would here it (recorded in case I was wrong, but alas, that was not the case and I deleted the episode).

[GaT]

4 hours ago, The Solution said:

Sylvia's potato salad must have been horrible to be worse than whatever it was that Katsuji did with unintentional glands and whatnot. I was sure gunning for him to go.

 

This is my thinking too, Katsuji had pig gland in his beans. PIG GLAND. How is that not worse than potato salad that isn't made with mayonnaise?

[CaliCheeseSucks]

I'm honestly not sure why they didn't just go with the All Star season this round. It sure seems like the rookies are absolutely at a disadvantage here and we're barreling towards an all-veterans finale. Disappointing set-up to the season to say the least. Silvia was one of my favorites I hoped to see make it to the end. 

[hkit]

A couple of thoughts.....

Why on earth would John volunteer to Tom that he used xanthan gum in lieu of flour to thicken his bechemel for the mac and cheese? If it works (which it apparently did), say nothing and let people ask. Brag about your work around at judges table after it was a success. 

Count me in as one who believes Sylvia's biggest sin was calling her salad a potato salad. If she called it something different, I don't know if it would have saved her, as it sounds like it was really bad. But pedantics are an underlying theme on this show. 

For the salad, I grew up in a household with 2 parents who disliked mayo, so we always had a hot, vinegar based potato salad. My mom called it "German potato salad". No idea if it was German or not, but I had a lot of childhood flashbacks during this episode.

[SuzWhat]

Oh, Emily. She says "no one is comforting me as much as they comforted Brooke".  This after she just got done saying to Brooke "I hope you don't blame me for the failure".  Brooke then said "no it was all my fault".  Of course, people are going to provide encouraging words to Brooke.  This tells me a lot about Emily and I don't like it much.  

This is was the first thing on my recording so I don't know if it was the start of this episode or end of the last.  

Edited December 30, 2016 by SuzWhat

[archer1267]

2 hours ago, hkit said:

Why on earth would John volunteer to Tom that he used xanthan gum in lieu of flour to thicken his bechemel for the mac and cheese? If it works (which it apparently did), say nothing and let people ask. Brag about your work around at judges table after it was a success. 

I thought the same thing! No matter how good it is, if someone told me I would be eating a Mac and cheese with xanthan gum, my mind would be predisposed to find the taste or the consistency somewhat off.

I grew up with German potato salad, dressed with vinegar and served warm. I think the salsa verde doomed Sylvia.

[Primetimer]

A barbecue challenge produces a herniated disc, funky beans, and Hootie?

View the full article

[spiderpig]

Emily sure is getting the meanie edit on this series.  When the chefs were forming their Elimination teams, it was made clear nobody wanted her on their squad (not that I blame them).

When everybody was gathered outside one of the barbecue places, most if not all were pulling pieces out the communal tray with their fingers.  Emily was shown eating a sample, sucking on her fingers, and sticking them right back in the tray. I'm sure that goes on a lot, but it is not appetizing to watch.

I don't know - so far this season is pretty lackluster IMHO.

[Pickles]

I did not pay much attention to how they split up into teams for the BBQ challenge, but is Emily trying to attach herself to Brooke because she knows she is a better chef and Emily could just be carried along? It just seemed that way to me, but maybe I am wrong. I just do not like Emily at all. How could her beans not have been cooked, when they had hours and hours to prepare the meal? Wouldn't any chef know how to cook beans?? I wonder if the others on her team were doing an eye roll.

[StevieRocks]

5 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

Emily sure is getting the meanie edit on this series.  When the chefs were forming their Elimination teams, it was made clear nobody wanted her on their squad (not that I blame them).

When everybody was gathered outside one of the barbecue places, most if not all were pulling pieces out the communal tray with their fingers.  Emily was shown eating a sample, sucking on her fingers, and sticking them right back in the tray. I'm sure that goes on a lot, but it is not appetizing to watch.

I don't know - so far this season is pretty lackluster IMHO.

I noticed this, too. I have a weak stomach. It almost made me hurl. You're right; it probably does happen a lot, but it was sickening.

On a good note, {{{{{{{Gail!}}}}}}}

[HunterHunted]

3 hours ago, hkit said:

For the salad, I grew up in a household with 2 parents who disliked mayo, so we always had a hot, vinegar based potato salad. My mom called it "German potato salad". No idea if it was German or not, but I had a lot of childhood flashbacks during this episode.

German potato salad typically has bacon, vinegar, and mustard. It is usually served hot. It probably would have worked for this challenge. However, sad team green seemed to be really unfamiliar with American style barbecue. 

[spiderpig]

1 minute ago, HunterHunted said:

German potato salad typically has bacon, vinegar, and mustard. It is usually served hot. It probably would have worked for this challenge. However, sad team green seemed to be really unfamiliar with American style barbecue. 

Yeah, German potato salad was always a staple when I was growing up.  When Silvia talked about "salsa verde" it seemed to ring the For Whom The Bell Tolls chimes for her from the judges' point of view.

I don't think this season focuses very well on the expectations from the chefs - at least not from what they show us.  Sometimes they're supposed to put their own spin on a dish, sometimes not. That QF with the chefs kept in the dark about everything while Padma & crew giggled in the control room was completely idiotic (again, IMHO).  Top Chef has always been a cut above other gimmicky cooking shows, but they are blurring the line this year.

[chiaros]

13 hours ago, archer1267 said:

That QF was pointless, like TC's attempt to be "edgy" by doing their version of Punk'd. Yet another redemption arc for Brooke. I agree that Katsuji seemed to have the grosser dish... Sylvia's sin seemed to be more in not adhering to tradition, rather than not handling a particular ingredient properly.

^^^^^^ THIS.

That QF was stupid. 

From what I could see, I quite agree with Archer1267's comment about Silvia's dish.  Others here pointed out that it wasn't "traditional" = "what you expected to see and taste if you wanted a mayo-based thing to go with your traditional southern-USA BBQ". Others mentioned it might have been better NOT to call it "potato salad".  But then we didn't get to actually taste the dish.

Katsuji continues to be the asshole he is being shown to be on the show. Remember, the editors can't "use" whatever you don't give them to use.

Otherwise, I found the episode not interesting. I couldn't be bothered (and felt no interest) to rewind and re-watch segments of it as I almost always do with episodes of TC that capture my attention. 

Edited December 30, 2016 by chiaros
Corrected spelling of Silvia's name (from Sylvia)

[Tarasme]

9 hours ago, AttackTurtle said:

Katsuji's stupid mind games can go.   

I love Sheldon & it was clear he was in some major pain....  

and I know I'm in the minority but I like John.  I know he hit rock bottom and I like seeing him do well.  

Amen. I think half of the Top Chef viewership is ready for Katsuji to be off of their screens.

<3 Sheldon

I too like John Tesar. I think I give him significantly more latitude, and did in his first season in Seattle, because he made his friggin' bones. I'm rapidly approaching his age and, like him, while I have some sympathy for stupidity, I have less time for it. Maybe I'm a jackass too? Oh well- I like him.

[sugarbaker design]

9 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

I liked Sylva until he decided to be a bossy mansplainer.

Watch your fingers!  :)

6 hours ago, Happytobehere said:

Emily got saved by being on the winning team cause her beans sucked, but she must have secrectly loved Katsuji being clobbered on his crappy beans after his shit comments to her about her beans.  

Especially when Padma said she would go back to Emily's beans.

 

6 hours ago, Happytobehere said:

I think Katsuji, Emily and Amanda can all go as I am over each of them and their barely good cooking.

When I read this first I saw 'barely good looking'.

 

4 hours ago, hkit said:

Why on earth would John volunteer to Tom that he used xanthan gum in lieu of flour to thicken his bechemel for the mac and cheese?

To show that he's resourceful and can deal with monkey wrenches?

[jackjill89]

7 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

To show that he's resourceful and can deal with monkey wrenches?

Good point, except that it invites the judges to taste your dish wondering if they can detect something different. 

[Constantinople]

I missed the bit about it being Silvia's birthday, but I figured she was a goner when started talking about all the opportunities she had in America that she wouldn't have had back in Italy.

[Wings]

The outcome for the entire team was telegraphed, starting with the potato salad and ending with hoisin sauce!  Oh my.  Sylvia's birthday told me she was a goner.  

I like John Tesar a lot.  

I agree with everyone, katsuji has to go soon and should have last night.  Casey and Shirley can follow him out the door. 

Calling her dish potato salad was not the only problem, they said the vegetables in it were mushy and tasted terrible.   Her team failed her by not getting it that sticking with tradition was written all over this challenge. "Give us your interpretation" was never said.  

They even said there are two traditional sauces and they only sauce it once.  That said, don't fuck with this.  The losing team did not listen at all. 

Edited December 30, 2016 by wings707

[snarktini]

22 minutes ago, wings707 said:

Calling her dish potato salad was not the only problem, they said the vegetables in it were mushy and tasted terrible.  

Yes. Several judges noted the consistency and vegetables were terrible and no one had anything positive to say. When then recurring words are gloopy / murky / mushy, you're in trouble. It sounded like a good idea -- I imagined a niçoise type treatment with the brightness, acidity, and herb of a salsa verde. But I had a Mexican salsa verde in mind. What she served looked really gross. I liked her & thought she would go the distance.

That team really tanked. All 4 dishes got lousy reviews for their flavors, well beyond not being "traditional" southern barbecue. They didn't support each other at all.

Edited December 30, 2016 by snarktini

[Uncle Benzene]

The Luscious Gail Simmons™ in what appeared to be some kind of denim sundress? Yes please, and thank you very much. I'll be in my bunk.

[Thumper]

Didn't they get to choose their teams this time?  I prefer when the teams are chose by knife-pick or whatever.  Seems more fair that way.

[hkit]

2 minutes ago, Thumper said:

Didn't they get to choose their teams this time?  I prefer when the teams are chose by knife-pick or whatever.  Seems more fair that way.

I'm sure the producers were hoping for more drama than they got. 

[biakbiak]

8 hours ago, Happytobehere said:

I am unclear what his thought process was since he is kosher and doesn't cook with pork, his concept of a pork laden bean made no sense if he didn't have someone tasting as he went along

Katsujin doesn't keep kosher, you can see him eat the pig at the bbq, so he could taste his beans. He seems to think kosher equals simply no pork because on both of his seasons hardly any of dishes are kosher he uses shellfish at the drop of a hat and other issues.

[Wings]

Katsuji has a Kosher restaurant but he does not eat that way.  There must have been a need in his community.  Odd to limit yourself in a business where many fail. 

http://www.mexikosher.com/

Run of the mill Mexican fare, with a gourmet spin.  I don't understand why kosher.  Maybe @cooksdelight can answer that.

Edited December 30, 2016 by wings707

[movingtargetgal]

I think Emily must not have boiled her beans before she baked them.  The first time I made baked beans I used my grandmother's recipe.  She forgot to tell me to soak them overnight and then  boil them until the skin on the beans cracked.  Because of this they turned out really hard but they were still delicious. I called grandma for help and she instantly realized our mistake. :)

[Rai]

I think Tom was intrigued by the salsa verde spin on potato salad when he did his walk-through, and had it been good, they would've been on board. Apparently, it was not good.

I also grew up with German potato salad and pretty much hate mayo-based ones, so I was with Sylvia. Too bad she didn't do a German one -- it might've balanced the plates a little better.

Amanda's always been a lackluster chef to me (I actually do remember her from her season. She was not a great cook and always quite loud. So. The same), but I don't blame her for one minute getting annoyed at Sylva. Being concerned about seasoning in a group challenge can be a reasonable thing. Telling her to watch her fingers is straight up mansplaining. This seems to be a theme this season, as BJ did it to Sylvia as well. And then she outlasted him. Anyway, Amanda's death glare to Sylva was fully cheered by me.

[chiaros]

53 minutes ago, movingtargetgal said:

I think Emily must not have boiled her beans before she baked them.  The first time I made baked beans I used my grandmother's recipe.  She forgot to tell me to soak them overnight and then  boil them until the skin on the beans cracked.  Because of this they turned out really hard but they were still delicious. I called grandma for help and she instantly realized our mistake. :)

I don't feel like looking at the episode again (on my DVR) but - since this would not be a spoiler anymore as the episode has aired - Emily Hahn in a "Talking Head" on the trailer for this episode (I posted about it here) said she was surprised that adding vinegar (she also added salt) to the beans "somehow made them 'seize up' ".

Edited December 30, 2016 by chiaros

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, Uncle Benzene said:

The Luscious Gail Simmons™ in what appeared to be some kind of denim sundress? Yes please, and thank you very much. I'll be in my bunk.

she looked seriously lovely. Especially her hair.

[biakbiak]

27 minutes ago, Rai said:

 

Amanda's always been a lackluster chef to me (I actually do remember her from her season. She was not a great cook and always quite loud. So. The same), but I don't blame her for one minute getting annoyed at Sylva. Being concerned about seasoning in a group challenge can be a reasonable thing. Telling her to watch her fingers is straight up mansplaining. This seems to be a theme this season, as BJ did it to Sylvia as well. And then she outlasted him. Anyway, Amanda's death glare to Sylva was fully cheered by me.

The salt thing they were discussing wasn't even about seasoning it was about draining some of the water out of the cabbage so it stays crisp which she stated she was planning on doing she was just doing it in a different way than he was doing it.

Edited December 30, 2016 by biakbiak

[Calamity Jane]

Unlike many, if not most, I still like Katsuji, I guess because he reminds me of people I have worked with who had that sharp, wry humor and were really nice people underneath it, and I appreciated that he owned up to all his mis-steps, at least in his TH if not to his teammates. (Don't like his psych-out the competition stuff, though.)  I think that whole team was at a disadvantage because Southern barbecue was unknown to them, so they made a series of bad, really bad, decisions.  Katsuji, as he himself admitted, should never have been in charge of the pig.  Sylva should have paid better attention to the barbecue lessons and to the directions for the challenge.  And I don't think Silvia's idea about potato salad was ever going to fly, even if the vegetables weren't mushy and unpleasant, because there was discussion about how potato salad balances the barbecue sauce, and I think that's straight-up due to the mayonnaise, not the potatoes.  I grew up just Southern enough (Ozarks background) to know that certain things are required with certain other things when it comes to barbecue.  

I have to say, though, just the description of Katsuji's bean dish made my stomach churn.  "Sour" and "funky" are two adjectives that would cause me never to let that food pass my lips!  As always, we don't get to taste the food, but if Sylvia's potato salad was worse than sour and funky, I can't even imagine how awful it was.  

[GaT]

8 hours ago, hkit said:

Why on earth would John volunteer to Tom that he used xanthan gum in lieu of flour to thicken his bechemel for the mac and cheese? If it works (which it apparently did), say nothing and let people ask. Brag about your work around at judges table after it was a success. 

 

5 hours ago, archer1267 said:

I thought the same thing! No matter how good it is, if someone told me I would be eating a Mac and cheese with xanthan gum, my mind would be predisposed to find the taste or the consistency somewhat off.

 

4 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

To show that he's resourceful and can deal with monkey wrenches?

Exactly what @Sugarbaker said. The Quickfire Challenge was all about thinking on your feet & figuring out what needs to be done without a lot of directions. It was completely logical for him to point out how he had successfully gotten around an obstacle that came up IMO.

[Randomosity]

2 hours ago, wings707 said:

They even said there are two traditional sauces and they only sauce it once.  That said, don't fuck with this.  The losing team did not listen at all. 

To be fair, it was shown that at least one other team was dumping another round of sauce onto individual plates as diners took them.

I'm a potato fan and largely anti-bean, so there's no way in hell mushy potatoes would ever have been ranked below rank, funky beans in my book.

Uh, hi, Emily. No one comforted you because it appears they don't like you. I can't say that I blame them.

Even though the emphasis on Sylvia foreshadowed her ousting, I did enjoy the "I feel very America today!"  Totally reminded me of the Cool Runnings movie, when Sanka says he's "feeling very Olympic today" :)

Edited December 30, 2016 by Randomosity

[biakbiak]

3 minutes ago, Randomosity said:

To be fair, it was shown that at least one other team was dumping another round of sauce onto individual plates as diners took them.

That's different than doing it when cooking, most BBQ do that and/or provide sauce at additional sauce at the tables for the person to add. Multiple basting when cooking changes the texture of the meat. Of course their hog was going to suck given the temp it was cooked at so that also didn't help the situation.

[Randomosity]

12 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

That's different than doing it when cooking, most BBQ do that and/or provide sauce at additional sauce at the tables for the person to add. Multiple basting when cooking changes the texture of the meat. Of course their hog was going to suck given the temp it was cooked at so that also didn't help the situation.

If they basted multiple times, I missed that. I knew the temperature was off, but not extra bastings. Even if they did, it wasn't the only sauce problem, as Katsuji owned up to knowing there was a problem when repeat customers asked for no sauce to be added the second time around.

[cooksdelight]

Regarding Katsuji's Mexikosher restaurant, the food is great (what I had was, at least) and I'm guessing it's the meat that is prepared in a kosher manner, and all equipment used is handled in a kosher way. I really don't know, but I can ask. 

Emily doesn't know how to cook. I'm convinced of it now, she didn't now how to cook beans. Every bag contains directions on the back. You soak them overnight, discard the water and slow cook them the next day. I soak mine for 12 hours. Maybe Emily was a line cook with someone telling her exactly what to do. And when she talked back, she kept getting fired. I'm not sure why she's on this show, she's not doing much to redeem herself.

Edited December 30, 2016 by cooksdelight

[biakbiak]

25 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

Regarding Katsuji's Mexikosher restaurant, the food is great (what I had was, at least) and I'm guessing it's the meat that is prepared in a kosher manner, and all equipment used is handled in a kosher way. I really don't know, but I can ask. 

I wasn't suggesting his restaurant wasn't kosher he just frequently mentions he is a kosher chef and then never makes kosher dishes even when  the challenge doesn't require him to use non-kosher ingredients. Many people seem to think that being Kosher limits you so if he is going to keep mentioning that he is a kosher chef it would be nice if he showed off those skills.

Edited December 30, 2016 by biakbiak

[LuciaMia]

Quote

 like TC's attempt to be "edgy" by doing their version of Punk'd.

I was a little perplexed when the judges complained about the losing teams dishes; not so much for their flavor but because they weren't like the traditional bbq side dishes. In so many of their other challenges, they've been exerted to do their own spin on something. 

*******************

The lack of basic flour seems bizarre. More tampering?

*********************

Also bizarre that so many chefs complaining that they've never made biscuits.  They've never been taught the basics of quick breads?