S15.E04: Little Tools, Big Challenge

[Fiero425]

59 minutes ago, Caseysgirl said:

Tyler lost me with his parting words.  I realize that in order to compete at this level you have to have a pretty strong ego and confidence, but some humility ( at least for the cameras) goes a long way. Those "f.......'s" didn't defeat him; his lousy performance did.

Amen & hallelujah to that! He won't be missed! ;-)

[sweetandsour]

7 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

But this is my point exactly. They only have an inferiority complex about their food or culture because it's the default. It's considered standard here in America. These people think there isn't anything unique or interesting about it because they are so used to it being the default. Go to Japan, China, Brazil, or Nigeria. Those places have successful American "white bread" restaurants. And you know what isn't exotic there? Japanese, Chinese, Brazilian, and Nigerian food. It's like thinking you don't have an accent. You have an accent.

It's like Chandler said in an episode of "Friends" about Chinese food. In China, it's just food!

[HunterHunted]

7 minutes ago, sweetandsour said:

It's like Chandler said in an episode of "Friends" about Chinese food. In China, it's just food!

Exactly. Fatima made dal chawal and shami kabab, which the judges thought was good, but not exceptional. Carrie is unfamiliar with her heritage, but is from Idaho so she made a pierogi. She wound up safe. Chris made fried chicken, biscuits, and greens--a meal of which 2/3rds of it is available at Popeyes, KFC, Church's, and Bojangles. The challenge wasn't to come up with exotic dishes. It was to come up with a dish that represented your heritage whatever that may be. Tyler and Bruce were so busy manufacturing ersatz exoticism that they completely missed that other chefs were making completely common American food and being successful doing it.

[annewithaneee]

26 minutes ago, HunterHunted said:

Exactly. Fatima made dal chawal and shami kabab, which the judges thought was good, but not exceptional. Carrie is unfamiliar with her heritage, but is from Idaho so she made a pierogi. She wound up safe. Chris made fried chicken, biscuits, and greens--a meal of which 2/3rds of it is available at Popeyes, KFC, Church's, and Bojangles. The challenge wasn't to come up with exotic dishes. It was to come up with a dish that represented your heritage whatever that may be. Tyler and Bruce were so busy manufacturing ersatz exoticism that they completely missed that other chefs were making completely common American food and being successful doing it.

To some degree, I got the pitfall that at least Tyler fell into. Chris, while his food was homey, came from generations of tradition in his family who all sounded like cooks. Tyler's mom wasn't a cook, and he was only vaguely aware of his roots. Me and my mom watch this show together over text, and we were both stumped over what we'd make. Midwest, no extraordinary roots (really, on both sides of my family tree are a lot of question marks that nobody's cared enough to resolve), no strong cooks either. Food is just food. It frequently came from a box or a TV dinner. I think I'd eventually go the Carrie route and punt to something hearty and "midwesterny", but some contestants had better natural inspiration than others. Tyler overthought it and ultimately deserved to fail. His personality grated me a bit, but I do kinda see why he tried to force inspiration that just wasn't there.

[novhappy]

Hello Padma! Your striped, skintight pantsuit is very attention seeking! You look um , hungry!

[Kickboxer]

10 minutes ago, novhappy said:

Hello Padma! Your striped, skintight pantsuit is very attention seeking! You look um , hungry!

I feel like she wears a version of that every season but not inspired enough to look for it now.

[dleighg]

1 minute ago, Kickboxer said:

I feel like she wears a version of that every season but not inspired enough to look for it now.

I had exactly that thought as well.

[mlp]

Quote

So I see why this challenge would be hard for those chefs who are 4 or 5 (or more) generations removed from their immigrant roots. 

Yeah, I thought that was almost unfair to someone like Tyler who had nothing to fall back on.  All my ancestors came from northern Europe in the late 1800s.  I can't think of a thing I grew up with or learned to cook that had anything to do with my heritage.  

I liked Bruce Kalman when he was on Chopped.  Then I saw him on that Best New Restaurant show Tom C. had and I didn't like his ego or the way he behaved in the kitchen with other competitors.  And he always looks dirty because he doesn't bother to comb his hair.  I was hoping he'd be the one to go.

So far my favorite is Chris.  He seems intelligent and articulate in addition to being a very good chef.  

[dleighg]

16 minutes ago, mlp said:

Yeah, I thought that was almost unfair to someone like Tyler who had nothing to fall back on. 

Even though on my mother's side I'm half-Latvian, she came to the US as a child and her parents were not "cooks". and on the other side it's farm born and bred "Americans." So mac and cheese, stuffed cabbage, pot roast are the family heirlooms! I'm not sure what I would do with that. My mom made pierogies, but they were seriously non-authentic, just something she made up. I guess the stuffed cabbage with onions cooked in a ton of butter would have to be my starting point.

[lh25]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

Yeah, I thought that was almost unfair to someone like Tyler who had nothing to fall back on.  All my ancestors came from northern Europe in the late 1800s.  I can't think of a thing I grew up with or learned to cook that had anything to do with my heritage.  

Kind of the same here, along with being adopted so I'm not sure of my genetic heritage.  I would have some something that I think of as middle-American like a good riff on Meatloaf or something like that I guess.  Or some noodle casserole.  Which is why I won't ever be on Top Chef!

[hkit]

1 minute ago, PoshSprinkles said:

I think the challenge would have been better if they had framed it as either A) Here is everyone's genealogical history, either collected before the show or from one of those ancestry sites likes 23&Me, make a dish that highlights any aspect of your heritage (I think they did something like this in the first All-Stars where Antonia and Mike Isabella found out they were cousins) or B) Create a dish inspired from a family recipe or a dish you ate a lot of growing up.

I did the Ancestory DNA test a couple of years ago. I was no fewer than 20 different heritages, none of which accounted for more than 10% of my make up. I am a true, Heinz 57 American mutt!

I would have struggled with this challenge. I  grew up in a meat and potatoes household where my mom cycled through the same half dozen recipes. Nothing she made even is a good enough base to elevate for a challenge like this. When I got out on my own, I bought a Jacque Pepin cookbook on a whim, and it changed my life. So I would have gone French, but would have struggled on how to spin it as my heritage (incidentally, French is one of the few heritages not in my DNA).  I wonder how the judges would've responded to an obviously bullshit story. 

[HunterHunted]

10 minutes ago, PoshSprinkles said:

The way the challenge was presented (to me, anyway) made it seem like you had to pull from your actual genealogical heritage, which not everyone had knowledge of, and it wasn't until Tom said at judging that Tyler could have made a dish highlighting his heritage from Southern California that I even realized they didn't have to pull from their literal genealogical heritage. They should have made that clearer from the beginning. 

But Carrie figured out that it wasn't purely about genealogy. She didn't know hers and made a potato dish because she's from Idaho. When they've had some similar challenges in the past, they've had chefs make dishes based on events or dishes that inspired them. Limiting it to genetics or genealogy ignores adoptees experiences. It was never intended to be just genealogy, but that's part of the game play aspect of the show. They gave the cheftestants an instruction to make a dish based on their heritage. It was up to the contestants to figure out how to hack the challenge to best suit themselves.

[susannot]

2 hours ago, dleighg said:

Stuffed cabbage, pot roast are the family heirlooms! I'm not sure what I would do with that. My mom made pierogies, but they were seriously non-authentic, just something she made up. I guess the stuffed cabbage with onions cooked in a ton of butter would have to be my starting point.

Same here. Generic white Midwesterner with generic N. European roots.  Mother cooked from the Betty Crocker cookbook.  Most ethnic thing she ever made was stuffed cabbage and stuffed peppers, which is why I taught myself to cook beginning at age 14.  I craved flavor in my food.  On the other hand, thinking about my "heritage," we were always blessed with an abundance of local fresh produce and my parents always planted vegetable gardens, so a Midwestern fresh produce dish would have been my choice.

[jackjill89]

I wonder how the judges would have responded to a big ol' bowl of my mom's tuna casserole with crushed potato chips on top? 

[biakbiak]

52 minutes ago, jackjill89 said:

I wonder how the judges would have responded to a big ol' bowl of my mom's tuna casserole with crushed potato chips on top? 

The challenge was not to recreate a dish it was to use your heritage as inspiration. You could most definitely use that dish and elevate it. I think it might have even been done pn the show before in a challenge.

[susannot]

Elevate it!  Sashimi grade tuna with potato scales and a side of hand rolled noodles, of course!

[meep.meep]

4 hours ago, mlp said:

Yeah, I thought that was almost unfair to someone like Tyler who had nothing to fall back on.  All my ancestors came from northern Europe in the late 1800s.  I can't think of a thing I grew up with or learned to cook that had anything to do with my heritage.  

 

It wasn't unfair to Tyler.  He just couldn't think his way out of that box.  He could have riffed on food from southern California (fish tacos, Korean barbeque, etc.).  He could have gone with something his family made regularly, and elevated it.  He could have made what ever he wanted to make, and backed it up with a story.  "Swedes eat a lot of salmon, so today I made a little play on salmon croquettes....."  If it's good, they'll forgive it not exactly meeting their criteria.  Like Carrie's.

I loved Bruce trying the biscuits and immediately throwing in the towel.  They must be really good.

[MortysCleaningLady]

Like everyone else, I NEED the fried chicken and biscuits, now.  That said, was it truly elevated? Same with young bear Joe's pasta.  I was also itching to try the Hungarian dish (I am 15/16ths Irish and 1/16th German) but I love goulash.  Bruce, I need that lamb med rare though.

[HunterHunted]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

The challenge was not to recreate a dish it was to use your heritage as inspiration. You could most definitely use that dish and elevate it. I think it might have even been done on the show before in a challenge.

It was done on All Stars in the Ellis Island episode:

• Antonia prepared braised veal with risotto--Italian heritage
• Mike made a pork ragout with potato gnocchi--Italian heritage 
• Carla cooked a braised pork shoulder with liquid nitrogen grits and cheddar biscuits--African American and southern heritage
• Richard braised short ribs with fried bone marrow, pickled glasswort, and corn puree--Irish and English heritage
• Tiffany braised short ribs with mustard greens, pigs feet, and oxtail marmalade--African American and Lousianan heritage

They've done multiple "elevate a dish" challenges throughout the years. In California, Las Vegas, and maybe Boston. I'm sure I'm missing another season.

Tyler failed because his imagination and creativity failed.

[biakbiak]

23 minutes ago, HunterHunted said:

was done on All Stars in the Ellis Island episode:

I meant specifically tuna cassarole, it was an episode from TC Miami where the had to update and make healthier versions of "family favorites" that they were assigned CJ got tuna casserole and replaced the potato chips with flaxseed chips which were the only good thing on his dish. 

I agree that Tyler just completely missed the spirit of the challenge, its not like the judges knew any of their actual heritages he could have made anything.

Edited December 30, 2017 by biakbiak

[speac]

I think so many people got caught up with heritage as country you come from when it could have meant place you come from as well  I am a Midwesterner, that white bread all American who have lost a lot of touch with the foods of the country of origin because it was either so long ago or pounded out of existance by the pressures of society to be "American."   However, midwestern cooking can be as unique as southern cooking, California or any other regional food in this country.

[MaggieG]

There was definitely some dust in the room when Brother was talking about his dad. I think he's my new favorite. 

Sign me up for those biscuits as well. 

[mlp]

Quote

The challenge was not to recreate a dish it was to use your heritage as inspiration.

I realized that after reading all the comments but what I thought they meant while I watched was ethnic background.  My mother, not a great cook and not even a smidgen Hispanic, used to make something she called Spanish Rice for some reason.  It involved browning some ground beef and mixing it into Minute Rice with a couple cans of tomato sauce.  Even I could elevate that.  :)

[susannot]

1 hour ago, HunterHunted said:

It was done on All Stars in the Ellis Island episode:

• Antonia prepared braised veal with risotto--Italian heritage
• Mike made a pork ragout with potato gnocchi--Italian heritage 
• Carla cooked a braised pork shoulder with liquid nitrogen grits and cheddar biscuits--African American and southern heritage
• Richard braised short ribs with fried bone marrow, pickled glasswort, and corn puree--Irish and English heritage
• Tiffany braised short ribs with mustard greens, pigs feet, and oxtail marmalade--African American and Lousianan heritage

They've done multiple "elevate a dish" challenges throughout the years. In California, Las Vegas, and maybe Boston. I'm sure I'm missing another season.

Tyler failed because his imagination and creativity failed.

You have a great memory!  I also remember that Richard talked about his love for Worcestershire sauce and he related it to his ancestry from Worcester, England.  Of course, in that episode each contestant had their ancestry traced by Ancestry. com or one of those websites.  

Not that I think it would have helped Tyler to have his ancestry traced through DNA.

[FormerMod-a1]

FYI, we now have a How Would You Handle the Challenge thread.  

[Jextella]

I'm really enjoying this season because of the diversity of cooking styles.  I want to try every single thing they've shown. 

I thought Tyler would go further.  I'm guessing in a room with people who cook the same kind of food he does, he would have done better.  In this kitchen, with such diverse cooking and flavors, what he produces might seem a little boring or "old school". 

[staphdude]

Why do they need to fall back on gimmicks! Heritage may be of importance to some and not others and that has nothing to do with whether or not you are steeped in its details. Moreover if you are going to ask someone to cook something from their heritage you better be damn familiar with it yourself before you step up to judge. I refuse to be told a dish I know is too anything by someone who is not intimately aware of how it shoul be seasoned/prepared/presented.

[HunterHunted]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

I realized that after reading all the comments but what I thought they meant while I watched was ethnic background.  My mother, not a great cook and not even a smidgen Hispanic, used to make something she called Spanish Rice for some reason.  It involved browning some ground beef and mixing it into Minute Rice with a couple cans of tomato sauce.  Even I could elevate that.  :)

That's the thing about when America truly is a melting pot, you get this blending of culture. I've mentioned that my family is Nigerian, but my mother makes my father paella for his birthday because that's his favorite dish. She makes a pretty authentic paella too. Her Nigerian food is good too. It's why when I make Nigerian coconut rice, my version more closely resembles a paella.

On another note, I wish Top Chef would go back to posting recipes. I suspect that they've stopped doing it because they are too busy trying to monetize every last aspect of this show with cookbooks, alcohol tie ins, cruises, frozen meals, and I'm sure special Top Chef inspired Blue Apron meal kits.

[burner]

Oh man, that bottom 3 consisted of the fat white guys I wasn't feeling anyways. Glad to see one of them go.

Chris has a great voice. During all of his talking heads I kept thinking how wonderful his voice is. I'm liking this season so far!

[Snarklepuss]

20 hours ago, biakbiak said:

When at the table Tom said Tyler should have just done the swedish mearball and pancake then at Judges table he said he should have scraped them and just done the tri tip and pico de gallo so I am still sort of confused why Bruce who's dish seemed a real mess with poorly cooked lamb stayed.

You and me both, which has left a bad taste in my mouth about this season as a result.  I've been biting my tongue not to say some unpopular things about this because I don't want to get myself in trouble, but last week I said that I thought the advantages this season was being given to young, non-classically trained chefs cooking ethnic food and that the challenges so far seemed to be slanted in their favor.  So it was absolutely no surprise to me that chefs as accomplished as Tyler and Bruce were in the bottom after having been tripped up by this.  And I think Tyler's obviously pissed off attitude upon departing is because he felt that way about it too.  I'm sure if I even noticed it before this week, it's no wonder he had a complex about it.  I think he might have been feeling that way going into this challenge which made him overthink his dish and try too hard.  He knew what they were looking for and that he wasn't it.  That's why he tried to stick to his own ethnicity, because he knew they were looking for food that came from family traditions.  Obviously everyone else was able to do that in some way, being closer to their family's ethnic culinary traditions than he was.  Tom said Tyler could have done California cuisine.  I don't agree with that.  That would not have been close to Tyler any more than Swedish meatballs were close to Tyler.  Most of the other chefs had the advantage of being close to their ethnic culinary traditions.  Tyler was definitely at a disadvantage there.  And I say that as a 3rd generation Sicilian American who learned my family's ethnic culinary traditions at my grandmother's knee.  I KNOW I would have even had the advantage over Tyler in that competition.  You can't reproduce the love that goes into that kind of cooking when you just don't have that kind of background.  So IMHO he was just screwed there.

And I still don't get why Tyler went home over Bruce.  None of the complaints about his food were specific as to the taste or quality, just on the composition.  Meanwhile the comments about Bruce's dish were negative in just about every way.  I used to think this show was above favoring some chefs over others but I am rethinking that now.  Tyler is a 4 time James Beard Award nominee.  Many of the chefs this season are at least 10-15 years his junior with a lot less experience and training and can't even cook an omelet.  I'm sure it wasn't lost on Tyler that some of the challenges seemed juvenile, like making them cook with kiddie tools for kids and college kids in challenges more reminiscent of the trivial side of Food Network than this show.  In fact, I'm a bit surprised that there aren't more people on the board complaining about that stuff.  This show should be above "Cutthroat Kitchen" or "Guy's Grocery Games" gimmicks, IMHO.  In fact I think that TPTB knew just what kind of challenges would be more uncomfortable for the better chefs on the show than for some of the lesser talented competition.  To me it's obvious that the show engaged in strategy to put the more accomplished and experienced chefs at a disadvantage.  Bruce and Tyler are some of the "old men" this season.  Older and perhaps a little too "white bread", how "uncool" from a millennial perspective can you get?  And somehow the show has managed to make them look like much less than they really are.  I blame the show for that, not the chefs or their "egos".  They're entitled to their freaking egos at their level!  They've earned their accomplishments, it wasn't just handed to them because they were "cool" and trendy.  Why should they be cut down in any way or be talked down about for having an ego about their work?  They don't need some show making them look like they're "less than" chefs younger and/or obviously less talented than they are.  Seriously.  IMHO this show used to show respect to chefs who were on their level.  Obviously, not anymore.  And I think it's because the show now wants to appeal to an audience that doesn't care to see them being respected or even actively would like to see other younger more ethnic chefs do better than them.  That's my opinion on it, as unpopular as it may be, I don't care.

54 minutes ago, burner said:

Oh man, that bottom 3 consisted of the fat white guys I wasn't feeling anyways. Glad to see one of them go.

Yeah and this is exactly what I am talking about!  I would never say I would rather see one of the younger more ethnic chefs go. And then they say white people have a complex - maybe there's a good reason for that.  Just sayin'.

Edited December 30, 2017 by Snarklepuss

[Snarklepuss]

13 hours ago, Caseysgirl said:

Tyler lost me with his parting words.  I realize that in order to compete at this level you have to have a pretty strong ego and confidence, but some humility ( at least for the cameras) goes a long way. Those "f.......'s" didn't defeat him;his lousy performance did.

I think Tyler felt that the cards were deliberately being stacked against him, and from what I saw even before this episode I thought that myself so I can't fault him for having that perception even if it wasn't true.  I doubt that this would have been the outcome if he had been on Top Chef several years ago.

[Snarklepuss]

2 hours ago, mlp said:

I realized that after reading all the comments but what I thought they meant while I watched was ethnic background.  My mother, not a great cook and not even a smidgen Hispanic, used to make something she called Spanish Rice for some reason.  It involved browning some ground beef and mixing it into Minute Rice with a couple cans of tomato sauce.  Even I could elevate that.  :)

I heard Tyler say that food was not a "thing" in his family so he drew a big blank with that challenge.  I am realizing that this is yet another reason why he identifies so much with Julia Child because she too was from California from a very "white bread" family that was not into food.  Julia actually engaged in foodie "cultural appropriation" when she adopted French cuisine as her specialty.  I think Julia would have struggled with that challenge too.

Interestingly, I read an interview with Bruce Kallman after his elimination in which he said he did not agree with the judges' criticism of his dish.  He said the meat was definitely done enough and he could hardly believe they were talking about the same dish!  So I really wonder about this season.  I'm not prone to buying into conspiracy theories but this is not looking fair to me.

[biakbiak]

13 minutes ago, Snarklepuss said:

I read an interview with Bruce Kallman after his elimination in which he said he did not agree with the judges' criticism of his dish.

He wasn't eliminated, here is the interview and the quote:

Quote

Maybe the pieces I was tasting were tender, and those weren’t, I don’t know,”

So he conscedes that it is possible that they could have had an issue and since they showed it and didn't look great not sure I am buying that he thought it was properly cooked.

[pennben]

2 hours ago, Snarklepuss said:

This show should be above "Cutthroat Kitchen" or "Guy's Grocery Games" gimmicks, IMHO. 

This show had a vending machine challenge in its first season.  They've always thrown different things at the contestants that aren't necessarily traditional challenges.  For better or worse, it is what the show does.

[CrazyDog]

12 hours ago, mlp said:

So far my favorite is Chris.  He seems intelligent and articulate in addition to being a very good chef.  

Same here. I actually like most of the chefs so far, which is refreshing, but Chris is a standout. I love Brother, Tanya and Fatima as well. I'm not sure about Mustache Joe yet but he can cook. I'm guessing all of these will go far, but I'm rooting for Chris to win. Great season so far! 

I'm sorry to see Tyler go. 

[Snarklepuss]

6 hours ago, biakbiak said:

He wasn't eliminated, here is the interview and the quote:

Sorry I meant to say after Tyler's elimination.

4 hours ago, pennben said:

This show had a vending machine challenge in its first season.  They've always thrown different things at the contestants that aren't necessarily traditional challenges.  For better or worse, it is what the show does.

One or two gimmicky challenges a season is one thing but it looks to me like they're putting every single one in one season this time.  It's starting to feel more like "Food Network Star" than "Top Chef".  YMMV.

Edited December 30, 2017 by Snarklepuss

[staphdude]

6 hours ago, pennben said:

This show had a vending machine challenge in its first season.  They've always thrown different things at the contestants that aren't necessarily traditional challenges.  For better or worse, it is what the show does.

The thing is it seems as though they were trying to draw out a story (uplifting or sob) to go along with the dish and drive a narrative. This is unnecessary. I realize that some viewers thrive on this sort of thing but to me it detracts from the issue at hand. Moreover to me these stories come across as a way to try and guilt the judges into a positive review (which won't happen) and draw the audience to their side ( which unfortunately happens too often).

Pull knives with regional food styles and have them go at it. Less gimmicky and demonstrates that they are well rounded chefs.

[Happytobehere]

18 hours ago, mlp said:

Yeah, I thought that was almost unfair to someone like Tyler who had nothing to fall back on.  

I don’t think it was unfair at all.  If your heritage is growing up in California eating corned beef and cabbage, then you cook corned beef and cabbage.  Heritage is a historical connection.  The perogie(sp?) was a representation of that.  The cook wasn’t criticized because the dish wasn’t a generations old recipe, the criticism was it was not that great a dish.  So saying the challenge was unfair to someone like Tyler is a cop-out.

[NowVoyager]

So much kid-cuteness this episode! Tyler's kids are adorable & I just wanted to squeeze the littlest one. I thought the QF guest judges were hilarious--- they were nice, polite little kids, but if they didn't like something, they would let you know, lol! I sure hope we get to see some footage of Bruce's baby boy...

I'm a straight woman and I thought Padma looked hot in both her looks. I'm not mad! She's talked about how she struggles to get her weight down after each season, but her weight's in all the right places, honey. I think she wore a similar look to the striped pantsuit in a previous season but it was overalls.

I was surprised to learn Brother was half Black. For some reason I thought he was Latino or Native American. Meh! It makes no difference to me, just interesting. His story about his father was really moving & I really want his recipe for dirty rice.

When Chris said he used to be embarrassed to cook the food of Black people--- I was like--- Excuse Me?!?  But, then I got what he meant & I was impressed that he said something so raw & true to his feelings. My favorite scene the whole episode was watching the other cheftestants fall all over his biscuits. My late stepfather used to make homemade biscuits; he would cut them out of the dough with a can. You have not lived until you've had good, hot, fluffy, Southern-style biscuits! AND Chris had a brown suger top?! AND a spicy dip?! Whaat!?! His meal was spicy & tart & sweet & crunchy & buttery & moist--- just engaging every part of the tongue... Are you trying to hurt me, show?

Tyler's exit was a little less than graceful. When he said he was one of the best chefs there, it was kind of a put down to the other chefs who beat him fair & square. You should always try to have a little class when you lose.

[Snarklepuss]

35 minutes ago, Happytobehere said:

I don’t think it was unfair at all.  If your heritage is growing up in California eating corned beef and cabbage, then you cook corned beef and cabbage.  Heritage is a historical connection.  The perogie(sp?) was a representation of that.  The cook wasn’t criticized because the dish wasn’t a generations old recipe, the criticism was it was not that great a dish.  So saying the challenge was unfair to someone like Tyler is a cop-out.

I hear what you're saying but I also heard Tyler mention that he had no historical connection with food because it wasn't a thing in his family.  I know people that grew up eating nothing but overcooked tasteless meat or Chef Boyardee and Kraft macaroni and cheese and it was thrown on the table just to fill the void so they didn't love the food and would not want to make something wonderful to pay homage to it.  Mr. Snarkle is a case in point.  He is a foodie but the rest of his family growing up had horrible taste in food and didn't really care for food at all on top of being WASPs with no real culinary heritage to speak of whatsoever.  He always complained that his family could turn a piece of meat to rubber and overcook bland vegetables to death and that he never really learned to love food until he met me and my Sicilian family.   Aside from Mrs. Paul's fish sticks, he had never even eaten any seafood until he met me!
 

15 minutes ago, NowVoyager said:

Tyler's exit was a little less than graceful. When he said he was one of the best chefs there, it was kind of a put down to the other chefs who beat him fair & square. You should always try to have a little class when you lose.

I agree with you there, but I can only imagine that something left a bad taste in his mouth about the competition and the fairness of the challenges, and it had to be pretty bad for him to say something like that.  Given that I had a similar feeling all along I'm giving him some slack for that.

[FormerMod-a1]

1 minute ago, Snarklepuss said:

I hear what you're saying but I also heard Tyler mention that he had no historical connection with food because it wasn't a thing in his family. 

But that doesn't really matter.  He could have cooked something regional, from where he grew up.  He could have cooked something from his family's lineage even if it's not something his family made.  He could have cooked a mud pie and say it reminded him of childhood.  The options are quite literally limitless.  And he kind of tried to do both of the first 2 things, but even though Tom's comments seem contradictory, they really aren't.  If he had stuck to one - either SoCal or Swedish? (I'm drawing a blank but remembering a meatball) it probably would have been fine.  He could have focused on that and prepared to excellence.  But he got muddled trying to incorporate both.  Basically, he got in his head and it showed.

[raven]

26 minutes ago, Snarklepuss said:

I hear what you're saying but I also heard Tyler mention that he had no historical connection with food because it wasn't a thing in his family. 

I understand this but I also think that, having seen this type of thing on TC before, chefs should be prepared to have the "heritage dish" bonus with sob story.  It's been a fixture on the show, cooking with your soul, blah blah.  So even if you have to make up some kind of story, like having a basic dessert, competitors should expect it by now. 

I don't judge the chefs too much by how they fare on the show - not everyone is cut out for competition, living in the same house, the silly obstacles they give them, etc.  They may think they are but then realize it's much different when there.

48 minutes ago, NowVoyager said:

as spicy & tart & sweet & crunchy & buttery & moist--- just engaging every part of the tongue... Are you trying to hurt me, show?

I was practically drooling over that chicken and biscuits and from the reaction of the other chefs to the biscuits, the win was well deserved.   I like that this group has been supportive of each other, a nice change from past seasons.  

As for Tom snarking on okra, he hates okra, which has been mentioned on the show before, though not in this episode.

[Snarklepuss]

1 hour ago, aquarian1 said:

He could have cooked something from his family's lineage even if it's not something his family made.  He could have cooked a mud pie and say it reminded him of childhood.  The options are quite literally limitless.  And he kind of tried to do both of the first 2 things, but even though Tom's comments seem contradictory, they really aren't.  If he had stuck to one - either SoCal or Swedish? (I'm drawing a blank but remembering a meatball) it probably would have been fine.  He could have focused on that and prepared to excellence.  But he got muddled trying to incorporate both.  Basically, he got in his head and it showed.

For sure he did get into his head too much, but my point is that the reason he got into his head that much is that he knew he had no real emotional connection to the food of either his place of birth or his background, and that he was competing with a lot of people that did, which put him at a disadvantage  Coming from a Sicilian family full of wonderful home cooks I feel first hand the love and emotional connection with the food I grew up with and that others would have if they came from that kind of culinary tradition.  Tyler did not have that emotional connection at all through no fault of his own and he anticipated being outclassed because of that no matter what he did.  Of course it turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

P.S.  On thinking it over, I think he should have done French cooking since Julia Child was his idol as a kid.  He certainly has plenty of emotional connection with her cooking going back to childhood.

Edited December 30, 2017 by Snarklepuss

[FormerMod-a1]

And I'm saying you don't need an emotional connection from your food-past to make good food that represents your region or heritage.  You really don't.  Make something you now love that represents that region or heritage.  Who cares if it's not something you had or loved as a kid?  He's a chef, he obviously got inspiration from somewhere along the way.  Use whatever inspires him now.  It's not different than being an Italian chef and needing to complete a BBQ challenge.  You still make something good.  It's not that hard.  Don't overthink it.

[Snarklepuss]

Just now, aquarian1 said:

And I'm saying you don't need an emotional connection from your food-past to make good food that represents your region or heritage.  You really don't.  Make something you now love that represents that region or heritage.  Who cares if it's not something you had or loved as a kid?  He's a chef, he obviously got inspiration from somewhere along the way.  Use whatever inspires him now.  It's not different than being an Italian chef and needing to complete a BBQ challenge.  You still make something good.  It's not that hard.  Don't overthink it.

See my edit which crossed in the mail with your post.  I agree with you that he could have done that but under the circumstances and given the amount of chefs that had a strong culinary background from childhood, I think it's understandable that he got in his head over the stiff competition in that challenge.

[Blonde Gator]

55 minutes ago, raven said:

I understand this but I also think that, having seen this type of thing on TC before, chefs should be prepared to have the "heritage dish" bonus with sob story.  It's been a fixture on the show, cooking with your soul, blah blah.  So even if you have to make up some kind of story, like having a basic dessert, competitors should expect it by now. 

I don't judge the chefs too much by how they fare on the show - not everyone is cut out for competition, living in the same house, the silly obstacles they give them, etc.  They may think they are but then realize it's much different when there.

I was practically drooling over that chicken and biscuits and from the reaction of the other chefs to the biscuits, the win was well deserved.   I like that this group has been supportive of each other, a nice change from past seasons.  

As for Tom snarking on okra, he hates okra, which has been mentioned on the show before, though not in this episode.

And more power to Tanya for putting it on her dish anyway.   Gumbo has okra. 

I suppose it would have been taken as insulting to put it on the side for Tom only.  To put a point on it, as it were.

[Joe Blow]

I understood what Tyler was saying - I don't remember the exact wording of the challenge, but if it was family based, I would have had to make either crock pot pinto beans or a bag full of charcoal grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.  If it's based on where you're from, I wouldn't have time for traditional Kansas City style BBQ.  I'm a slight majority Scottish, but I would have no idea how to incorporate that into my cooking.

He basically failed by not realizing, on a show like this, you just make some story up and try to sell it.

[hendersonrocks]

Quote

He basically failed by not realizing, on a show like this, you just make some story up and try to sell it.

Exactly. If the food is good and the story is shit, the food will still almost always get you through - especially at this point in the competition. 

Has there ever been a case where judges loved a dish but sent someone home for a weak story? I've seen all the seasons and don't remember it, but it's entirely possible it's happened and I'd love to know.

[Blonde Gator]

9 minutes ago, Snarklepuss said:

See my edit which crossed in the mail with your post.  I agree with you that he could have done that but under the circumstances and given the amount of chefs that had a strong culinary background from childhood, I think it's understandable that he got in his head over the stiff competition in that challenge.

Your long post got me to thinking, Snarkle, so I went to Wiki and reviewed the episodes.  While I think your observations about the season as a whole appearing to marginalize "old white chefs" have some merit, I also think that the guys representing this demographic are so far and away from the rest at being on a different plane of existence, career wise, that THAT is the problem with what they cooked in this particular challenge.  We'll have to see how the rest of the season goes and revisit your hypothesis later, you may be on to something.  Tyler won the first EC for the classic American "meat and potatoes".   He did well in the food truck challenge, even with a non-food-truck item (soup & croutons), which he did being true to himself.  I really believe he just couldn't wrap his head around the concept and then edit it down....I wonder if he'd seen all seasons of Top Chef in preparation for his appearance?  I agree with the poster who said he should have gone French, inspired by Julia Child as a kid.  I was sorry to see him go so soon. 

[seacliffsal]

It seems to me that Padma very clearly referenced heritage as the main focus of the challenge.  I think that one of the hardest aspects of food competitions shows is to follow the instructions and twists while turning out the best food possible all while being exhausted by the time-frame.  

I also think that the existence of last chance kitchen helps balance out the opportunity for a chef who had one bad dish to redeem his/her self.  

Many generations of immigrants sought to assimilate and thus lessened the influence of their original cultures and heritages on their daily lives.  Karrie thought quickly on her feet as did those who connected their heritages to the regions of the U.S. in which they grew up.  Tyler seemed to overthink and therefore over-complicate his dish.