S14.E10: Shrimp Boats and Hat Ladies

[dleighg]

4 minutes ago, Texasmom1970 said:

Especially happy to see Sheldon win the quickfire after she mentioned him doing that again. Ha Casey, STFU!

I'm pretty sure that was Brooke. They shared the same season and were together in Alaska.

[Primetimer]

A shrimp battle and a brunch battle whittle the field from six to four.

View the full article

[FormerMod-a1]

I didn't think John's glasses were full of sweat, more like steamed up from the temperature different between him and the dining room.  I'm sure it's hot in the kitchen, too, at least hotter than the dining room, and he was obviously running hot, what with all the sweating, so the literally steamed up when he walked out to the dining room.

[Court]

Didn't Elia win a challenge with frozen waffles? They had to cook on a beach. I think Sam got all bent out of shape about it

[DavidJSnyder]

I'm enjoying the season, but it's just been totally unfair for the rookies to have to compete against so many players who have done this before and generally finished so well.  I don't understand why they just didn't do another All-Star Season.

[walnutqueen]

9 hours ago, bobbobbob199 said:

I probably would have done an egg souffle with crab and egg yolk sauce.

Ooh, I want some of that!

 

7 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

And now I feel the need to go out tomorrow and get a can of Hormel corned beef hash and have it nice and crispy with a couple of fried eggs on top.

Great minds, QF, great minds.  ;-)

 

Can John just go away already?

Edited February 3, 2017 by walnutqueen

[Blonde Gator]

11 hours ago, Court said:

I'm surprised Shirley is still there. I guess she had been flying under the radar for me. I truly thought there would be one new chef and that it would be Brooke, Sheldon,and Sylva.

But clearly, I was wrong.

Don't forget, Jamie in Last Chance Kitchen.  And he can really cook.  I always thought he was a sleeper, and was surprised to see him go so early. 

Spoiler

But he's done a great job in LCK, and may be another Kristen Kisch, honing skills in LCK and returning to take it all.  It wouldn't hurt my feelings at all for him to the the nOOb who wins it all, although I absolutely loved Silva. 

I'm sure he'll be back on TC, as he is surely THE fan favorite this year.  Just reading the comments here assures me of that fact.

[pbutler111]

"Double elimination makes for a fun hour of Top Chef. The sad part about this stage of the competition is that all of the remaining chefs are so good, you don't want to see any of them go home."

I'll have to disagree with that. I could watch an entire series devoted to John getting the boot.

[Blonde Gator]

12 hours ago, jackjill89 said:

I'm so sad Sylva left. The bottom three sure didn't understand the challenge at all, did they? Shirley and Sheldon got it. I think sometimes they get so far in their heads they forget how to be creative. They could have started with a sweet breakfast dish and savoried it up. Or flip-flopped a concept like Sheldon did. Hash is hash unless you totally flip it on its ear. Octopus? Not really. A parfait is a parfait is a parfait. Now, if she had Rachel Greened it and made a Shepherd's Pie Trifle... :)  I don't know what Sylva was trying to do, but I'm sad he's gone. 

I took your meaning of "mashup", too, rather than what we got on screen.  "Shepherd's Pie Trifle", and I don't think any of the cheftestants did that.  Even Sheldon, who merely turned Chicken & Waffles upside down, rather than combining two things in a unique way, and making a "mashup" out of the name....i.e. Croi-nuts, combining croissants & doughnuts.    It was a really difficult concept, and they were all shorted on time, no wonder the results were not fantastic. 

I hate to see ill-conceived challenges so late in the season.  A challenge like this often eliminates good chefs for the wrong reasons.  I'm eager to see next week's "blind instructions to have someone else make a dish" which is straight out of Top Chef Masters.  I don't mind seeing repeats on the challenges, as long as they're good ones.  I hope to never see the "Mash-up" again!

[Booger666]

I agree this challenge was ill conceived. It took a long time to create the cronut because of the complications with frying layered dough. I wish they would have told them the challenge and it started the next day. Maybe I f Brooke had time to try it once or brainstorm prep options she would've figured out to use nitrogen and it would've been a success.  Same for Silva, he would've realized he couldn't get it done in the timeframe and done something else that could've won.  I want the winner to truly be the top chef, not the luckiest 2 minute idea meal plan generator. 

John sucks. Last time he took all the crab. And didn't he take ingredients off of another chef's table on a previous season?  But he goes ballistic when someone takes limes ahead of him. Does he really expect the others chefs to stand around and wait until he gets first pick of the ingredients?  I hope he doesn't get on another season. At best he's boring to watch and at worst he's an irritant. 

[awaken]

8 hours ago, Machiabelly said:

Was it just me or was Padma wearing pair of mom jeans....backwards?

That was some outfit!  

[xaxat]

I knew Sylva was gone when I saw, in the first talking head, that he had shaved his mustache. 

[spiderpig]

Nothing grosses me out more around food than dripping sweat.  Even blood!  At least you can see it.

I didn't get the EC either.  How do you reconceptualize brunch, which is a hybrid concept in itself?

I really like Sylva, but since they bumped him in favor of equally substandard dishes, that leaves me free to route for Sheldon wholeheartedly.  Have you ever seen a group of happier, smiling kids than his?

[cooksdelight]

I make quick doughnuts for my grand-nephews by stretching a canned biscuit into a doughnut shape and deep frying it. Easy way to turn a breakfast or dinner item into a dessert. I think they had time to come up with something unusual, but every single one of them overthought the challenge.

Except Brooke, who throws the parameters out the window and does what she wants.

[racked]

1 hour ago, Blonde Gator said:

I took your meaning of "mashup", too, rather than what we got on screen.  "Shepherd's Pie Trifle", and I don't think any of the cheftestants did that.  Even Sheldon, who merely turned Chicken & Waffles upside down, rather than combining two things in a unique way, and making a "mashup" out of the name....i.e. Croi-nuts, combining croissants & doughnuts.    It was a really difficult concept, and they were all shorted on time, no wonder the results were not fantastic. 

I hate to see ill-conceived challenges so late in the season.  A challenge like this often eliminates good chefs for the wrong reasons.  I'm eager to see next week's "blind instructions to have someone else make a dish" which is straight out of Top Chef Masters.  I don't mind seeing repeats on the challenges, as long as they're good ones.  I hope to never see the "Mash-up" again!

It was pretty ill-conceived, even now I'm not quite sure if they were asking for a new brunch food, a combo of two foods (like the cronut) or a combo of a typical breakfast food and a typical lunch food.  If it was the combo of two types of food, everything has pretty much been done? I was expecting someone to try mashing up bagel with lox and french toast or something, but even that has been done. This was a hard one. 

[SuburbanHangSuite]

9 hours ago, Muffyn said:

Yogurt turds and hibiscus sauce, not so much.

Yum!  And LOL

So happy Casey is gone.  I've never liked her and every time they bring her back, I can't wait for her to pack her knives.  I'm sure Top Chef has given her a complex about her seasoning abilities. Jen is the only chef I think I dislike more.

Sheldon's family is too cute for words and Sylva is such a class act.

[bobbobbob199]

Sylva is really an amazing chef and great person, but I think he isn't the most versatile when it comes to cooking casual food or quickfires when there isn't much time. He's definitely the best fine dining chef of the bunch, and if he thinks about his dishes they can be really amazing. Sad to see him go though, I really didn't think they would eliminate all the rookies...

[Schlinkaboo]

The Gold Hatted lady behind Dominique had the BEST faces during service. I want more of her.

[yourmomiseasy]

In a season that has had so many good challenges with amazing food, it's irritating to see a bad one this late in the game.  

[sourpickles]

I'm glad Sheldon finally got his little boy.  I remember on his first season he was outnumbered by girls in his household and seemed a bit thrown off by that LOL.  His love for his family is a great thing to watch. 

I'm really over the excuses/apologist attitude John is throwing.  And I had a very creepy thought this morning.  All this time, I was worried about Sam, about this being Sam's Redemption Arc, etc.  What if it is a bait and switch and we get JOHN'S Redemption season?  If he wins this whole thing on pimento cheese I will..........I'm not quite sure, but it won't be fun.

[meep.meep]

I hate sudden death quick fires.  Really not fair to whoever goes home.

Sylva was classy to the end.  He didn't even blame the ovens.  I'd love to try his food when he gets his place up and running.

And I too thought that Sheldon had won.  Enunciation judges!  It's important.

[FormerMod-a1]

Knowing an eliminated chef is in Last Chance Kitchen is not a spoiler.  Knowing how they did/are doing is.  You can mention someone is in LCK and has the possibility of coming back, but if you post specifics about it you need to spoiler tag it, or better yet, discuss it in that thread.

[sourpickles]

That's a cute bunny?

[The Solution]

I still love Brooke. Her food always looks good and she's like Donna Reed with tattoos. Or the Homecoming Queen on the Jolly Roger.

[Blonde Gator]

19 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

Knowing an eliminated chef is in Last Chance Kitchen is not a spoiler.  Knowing how they did/are doing is.  You can mention someone is in LCK and has the possibility of coming back, but if you post specifics about it you need to spoiler tag it, or better yet, discuss it in that thread.

I hope that wasn't aimed at me.  I'm new to the site and not quite sure, if what I wrote was too much, apologies.  I didn't think I spoiled anything by my comments about Jamie & LCK.  Obviously, he's been there for a while.

Since you're a fan of bunnies, hope this makes up for any whoops on my part:

[spiderpig]

2 hours ago, Schlinkaboo said:

The Gold Hatted lady behind Dominique had the BEST faces during service. I want more of her.

 I love rerunning an ep to see this kind of stuff!

[candall]

I just leave this episode annoyed at the producers.  TWO HOURS?   One chef was bemoaning the seconds he had to spend clawing at the wrapping on his ingredients.  Unpacking the groceries, opening the packaging, fetching spices/staples/plates from the larder, organizing your station--all these things would eat up a critical amount of time in a two-hour countdown clock. 

Yes, Brooke's dish from last week would have suited the challenge perfectly . . . but she would never have been able to stir up the batter, cook the individual crepes, separate the eggs, sous vide the yolks (plus whatever else went into the final dish) and assemble the whole blini-pocket in that amount of time, for that number of people.  Just as well she won with that dish last week.

Did the producers decide to take a tip from Project Runway?  "Hey, let's cut the time so short they don't have time to design or produce to the best of their abilities and then pick apart everything they make for being sub-par!"

 

I don't understand how Shirley takes the win by substituting ground beef & cheese for the standard ground meat filling in a fried dumpling.  Sheldon's idea to make the chicken BE the waffle was pretty creative, plus he cooked each piece of chicken seven ways from Sunday:  battered, fried, twice-fried, dipped, waffle-ironed, sauced/topped/garnished . . .

If it came down to a homemade dumpling versus a pre-fab waffle, then let's hear them say that. 

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

Sidenote:  I've seen Bonine do magic.  It's about a hundred times better than Dramamine to prevent or alleviate nausea--it works fast and doesn't knock you out.   Ha, seriously, I used to carry it around in my purse just in case I saw some rando about to urp.  (Now I carry aspirin--no heart attacks on my watch, baby.  o,o )

But back to my endorsement:  I always forced my guests to chew up some Bonine before snorkel trips and MANY times my group would be the only people not lying on the deck, pale green and barfing.  It's also effective on the, ahem, overserved.

[bluepiano]

13 hours ago, rho said:

I was only half watching this episode but when the judges were all torn up about their regret to send this person home, I was positive Brooke was getting the boot. I was shocked! She served yogurt and berries. A three year old could probably produce a better dish.

I took Gail's comment to mean it was Sylva going home, because he was the last of the "newbies" and because of the sad story about losing his restaurant to arson.

There seems to be a different standard of judging for Brooke than everyone else, and the judges (particularly Tom) were jumping through hoops to try to explain why she shouldn't be sent home for serving something as basic as yogurt and fruit, which didn't even meet the criteria of the challenge. With anyone other than Brooke, elimination would've been a no-brainer.

Over the years I don't think there have been too many of these "chosen ones" who get special treatment. But when it happens, it does damage the integrity of the show.

I'm guessing that one of the first time contestants will make the finals through LCK. Otherwise it becomes another alumni season.

And camera person and editor - nice close-up of Padma's breasts. In case anyone missed the point.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

39 minutes ago, candall said:

Did the producers decide to take a tip from Project Runway?  "Hey, let's cut the time so short they don't have time to design or produce to the best of their abilities and then pick apart everything they make for being sub-par!"

Totally agree.  And I'm no Brooke fan but she even pointed out that Guest Judge's concoctions weren't created in a day on the fly.  So to expect the chefs to come up with all kinds of amazing creativity AND first rate execution is all kinds of wrong.  But my man Sheldon did manage to do both.  He really was robbed.  

[AriAu]

Quote

There seems to be a different standard of judging for Brooke than everyone else, and the judges (particularly Tom) were jumping through hoops to try to explain why she shouldn't be sent home for serving something as basic as yogurt and fruit, which didn't even meet the criteria of the challenge. With anyone other than Brooke, elimination would've been a no-brainer.

I did not taste the dishes, but it may not have been as egregious it seems to some. Nothing in the past seemed preferential to me, since doing something about cooking for her child is really not that far from her childhood memories.

By the way, do you think that the judges knew that Silva did not serve 20 of the guests and was it somehow held against him? Weird that there was no mention of it. Maybe Padma only cares when SHE doesn't get served!

While I think Casey is a very good chef, it is clear, after 3 tries, that she is above middle of the pack, but clearly does not have the total package of skills needed to win this game. And as to why they keep asking her back, maybe it is because she always does fairly well, seems to be popular with the other cheftestants, has a job that lets her go AND is attractive, along with the fact that she says "yes".

John was pretty sweaty, but I think the glasses were fogging up, which is what happened to me when I walked into my building today from the 12 degree weather!

Quote

And camera person and editor - nice close-up of Padma's breasts. In case anyone missed the point.

The points were hard to miss!

[essexjan]

I bet Brooke wished she'd saved that crepe brunch dish she made last week for this week's challenge. She was busted this week for not making a mash-up dish. I think, though, out of all the food, hers is the one I'd have enjoyed eating most - for breakfast. I love fruit and yoghurt in the morning.

For creativity Sheldon should have won, although Shirley's description of her mix of pot stickers and cheeseburgers was canny and played exactly into the brief. John struggled because, in my opinion, he's a competent chef, but he lacks creativity and imagination.  His best dishes in the competition have been simple ones that are packed with flavour.  He's probably great at executing a fairly standard high-end restaurant menu, and even coming up with dishes for that menu - but within the parameters of catering for a certain type of clientele who like fancy, but not concept, food.  So when he had to conceptualise a new kind of brunch dish, it wasn't in his wheelhouse.

Every week when I saw Casey I'd have to remember who she is, she is so unmemorable to me. She was never going to win anyway. But Sylva - nooo! As someone upthread said, once Gail said it was a sad decision, I knew it was him.

Also, the pedant in me has to point out that Gail and Padma were wearing fascinators, not hats.

[cooksdelight]

1 hour ago, bluepiano said:

 

There seems to be a different standard of judging for Brooke than everyone else, and the judges (particularly Tom) were jumping through hoops to try to explain why she shouldn't be sent home for serving something as basic as yogurt and fruit, which didn't even meet the criteria of the challenge. With anyone other than Brooke, elimination would've been a no-brainer.

 

Her melting yogurt and runny sauce was worse than Emily's cake, in my opinion just from looks alone. But she's Brooke. She's untouchable.

[spiderpig]

7 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

Her melting yogurt and runny sauce was worse than Emily's cake, in my opinion just from looks alone. But she's Brooke. She's untouchable.

I have a pretty decent hi-res flatscreen, and her presentation looked like a bunch of icky blobs.

[PepperMonkey]

Kk, I'm out. Haven't even watched: came over here to see what was going on and saw that Sylva is out. So yeah, I'm with the rest of you lot: why didn't they just do an All-Star season?

And I'm so tired of some of these people who keep coming back and coming back: I'm looking at you, Casey.

I'll probably pop in here to see who eventually wins, but I'm sure it will be no surprise at all. Here's hoping TC will have a regular competition with new chefs for their next season.

[dleighg]

11 minutes ago, PepperMonkey said:

Kk, I'm out. Haven't even watched: came over here to see what was going on and saw that Sylva is out. So yeah, I'm with the rest of you lot: why didn't they just do an All-Star season?

 

I don't think they'll ever do this again. First of all, these people have been through the wringer on how intense Top Chef is. Plus, most of the returnees were already near-finalists or finalists (Brooke, Sheldon, Shirley???? Weren't they all in the finale? Not to mention Casey?). So they were already the best of the best.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

They could always have a Top Chef Champions season.  Don't we all want to see Ilan again? 

Bueller?  Bueller?  Anyone?

[Jobiska]

Since the only other thing I have heard about Ansel other than that he invented the Cronut was that (apologies in advance) his place was closed down briefly due to a mouse infestation, I mentioned to the menfolk that he "had mice" and my son was momentarily under the misapprehension that he was even more inventive with small mammal protein than he was with donuts.  

I am puzzled about them tasting Shirley's potstickers.  I could have sworn that Gail and Padma both said the word "dry," and someone upthread references that as well, but at judges' table one of them even said something like how juicy they were, so...what did they say?  I didn't think to rewind before I'd already deleted.  

Poor Shirley re the motion sickness meds.  She and Sheldon are my favorites.  

I do agree with John that having someone point at you and say "be creative!" is the one thing guaranteed to make me feel very uncreative!

Edited to add:  As someone who hears her mom's voice ringing in her head all too often, I sympathized with Shirley's imagining what her mom would say if she saw her putting cheese inside a potsticker! 

Edited February 4, 2017 by Jobiska

[Canada]

I really liked Shirley's idea of brunch dim sum, but then she mentioned burgers and it fell flat for me.  That's not brunch.  Shove some eggs and bacon in those dim sum and it would have made a lot more sense.  Although, she won anyway, so what do I know?

I don't know why, but I can't stand Brooke this season, even though I quite liked her in her first Top Chef season.  I think it's because I hate it when it's obvious from the start that someone is the favoured child and likely to be allowed to win.  And she's had a pretty stank attitude at times, too.

Bye Silva!  I really was hoping you'd win!!  Sad to see you go.

[dleighg]

30 minutes ago, Jobiska said:

I do agree with John that having someone point at you and say "be creative!" is the one thing guaranteed to make me feel very uncreative!

yes

[chiaros]

2 hours ago, essexjan said:

For creativity Sheldon should have won, although Shirley's description of her mix of pot stickers and cheeseburgers was canny and played exactly into the brief.

Shirley tends to bullshit the judges a lot of the time IMO. Or suck up to Tom's ideas of "heart". In any case, her cheeseburger dumplings are neither creative nor new; it has been done before and in miscellaneous variations. I mentioned this in a previous post. (Three examples - just three... http://noteatingoutinny.com/2010/01/04/cheeseburger-dumplings/ ; http://fox13now.com/2015/08/04/philly-cheesesteak-pot-stickers-with-cheese-sauce-08-04-15/ ; https://www.tysonfoodservice.com/recipes/beef-and-gorgonzola-potstickers) In any case standard minced beef dumplings with or without various add-ins are well-known in E Asian cuisine, and it was odd in that sense that the judges made a big deal of her dumplings.

ETA: Here's another quick search... https://www.google.com/search?q=chinese+"beef+and+cheese"+dumplings

Even Sheldon's dish has similarities (as others have also said) with existing concoctions - including Chicken Waffle Tenders.

There's very little in cookery nowadays that is truly innovative or really creative, and "parallel evolution" of similar/identical dishes or techniques no longer holds true as it might have in previous centuries when the instant-media-internet world did not yet exist. And to come up with a new, creative dish in the time it took to drive to Whole Foods, as others have also said, is not feasible.

Edited February 4, 2017 by chiaros

[chiaros]

Dim sum is Chinese brunch, especially on weekends, but it is often served daily at specialized restaurants straddling the wee early morning hours to just after (or just before) lunchtime.

[Canada]

35 minutes ago, chiaros said:

Dim sum is Chinese brunch, especially on weekends, but it is often served daily at specialized restaurants straddling the wee early morning hours to just after (or just before) lunchtime.

I didn't know that.  I thought they were more of a lunch/dinnertime food.

[Blonde Gator]

10 minutes ago, Canada said:

I didn't know that.  I thought they were more of a lunch/dinnertime food.

Actually, it is considered to be quite inappropriate to eat dim sum much after noon, it is truly a breakfast/brunch dish.  Also mostly sweet selections, which are not my favorite.

[carrps]

18 hours ago, Richness said:

... the lady behind the guest judge. She was totally staring at the camera and eavesdropping for the best gossip. You can see her a couple of times while the guest judge is talking about the food with the chefs.

Argh. She looked like all the nasty neighborhood gossip bitches combined!

What a dumb challenge. Brunch is just gross. Mostly half drunk people eating too much mediocre food. Not good.

Loved that long lingering closeup of Padma's boobs. <rolly eyes/>

[JeanneH]

2 hours ago, dleighg said:

most of the returnees were already near-finalists or finalists (Brooke, Sheldon, Shirley???? Weren't they all in the finale? Not to mention Casey?). So they were already the best of the best.

I dug this up because I was curious. Season 10 (Seattle) had Sheldon, Brooke and Kristen as finalists. Sheldon finshed 3rd in a "regular" elimination, and Brooke was runner-up to Kristen in that Iron Chef elimination. Shirley Chung was top 4 in season 11 (New Orleans). They cut from 4 to 2 in a double elimination. Casey Thompson finished top 3 in season 3 (Miami). They had 3 finalists and went directly to the winner. Casey was also eliminated in episode 5 in season 8 (All-Stars)

[carrps]

48 minutes ago, Blonde Gator said:

Actually, it is considered to be quite inappropriate to eat dim sum much after noon, it is truly a breakfast/brunch dish.  Also mostly sweet selections, which are not my favorite.

Really? All the dim sum places I've been to (and I've been to a LOT) serve mostly savory dishes. Mmmm, sticky rice and sausage in lotus leaves.

[Grandma Saracen]

I tend to like Brooke's persona & much of her food, but I just have the feeling (not only because of the family clips) that this is Sheldon's to lose. He's been cooking from a deep place, it seems, and I wouldn't be the least bit mad if he ended up victorious. 

[DarkRaichu]

21 hours ago, Machiabelly said:

Was it just me or was Padma wearing pair of mom jeans....backwards?

Whatever it was, I did not mind it 1 bit :P  I paid more attention to... how do I say it.. how breezy that day was as supposed to the actual Quick Challenge ;) ;) ;)

 

This episode showed just how bias Tom was and how hard he fought for his favorite chef *cough*BROOKE*cough* to stay in the competition.  I have to agree with Padma and Gail that conceptually Brooke's dish was the least creative among the bottom 3.  Had it been ANY other cheftestant, Tom would not hesitate to PYKAG him/her solely based on failed concept...

I thought Sheldon was going to win over Shirley too.  Maybe for winner, they put more emphasis on concept over execution taste, just to contrast with how PYKAG chef was chosen

 

2 hours ago, carrps said:

Really? All the dim sum places I've been to (and I've been to a LOT) serve mostly savory dishes. Mmmm, sticky rice and sausage in lotus leaves.

Yes. I have been to several dim sum places all over bigger Chinatowns in US and they serve mostly savory dishes.  ETA: the better places would offer sweet selections too (mostly dessert) but there are still more savory dishes than sweet
Also, you guys can check out Anthony Bourdain shows when he went to HongKong and ate at DimSum places there.  The Dim Sum dishes were mostly savory there as well.
 

Edited February 4, 2017 by DarkRaichu

[Auntie Anxiety]

On 2/2/2017 at 10:21 PM, Pickles said:

John was sweating on his dishes. Ick. 

I know! What the hell? Years ago a friend was cutting a roast before serving it and, just like John, the drops of sweat were falling onto the meat. I was so grossed out. 

[spiderpig]

I hesitate to pay a compliment immediate following our sweat discussion (yuk)...but Gail looked absolutely fresh and lovely during that hat event.