S15.E06: That's a Lot of Schnitzel

[FormerMod-a1]

Quote

Padma and Richard Blais challenge the chefs to transform the most laborious dishes from their own menus into dishes for home cooks; chef Keegan Gerhard tasks the chefs with creating German-inspired dishes.

[Bastet]

When Tanya got the call home edit, I was afraid she was done for, so I was hoping it was misdirect and very happy to be right.

Making a 30-minute version of your most-complicated dish is a cool QF challenge.  I wouldn’t have wanted it to be something one could go home for, but for immunity and some Buzz Feed honor?  I dig it.  Well, other than the presence of Blais, of course.  In the same episode with Graham Elliot?  That’s just asking too much of me.

Chris’s shrimp looked delicious, and I loved him shutting down Blais’s “too spicy for home cooks?” crap.  I thought his original dish was going to be the easiest to do a quick version of, so I’m not surprised to see him get the win, but it was also the one I most wanted to eat, so good for him.

(I think I saw Lee Ann’s dish on the board, but didn’t get a look at what it was she’d have had to tackle had she been there.)

German is a big part of my ancestry, but it’s pretty far down my list of favorite cuisines (but the sausage from my mom’s line of Germans from Russia is one of my favorite things; I really ought to learn how to make it before the last person dies); I’d have liked to see more of the dishes they were served by the guest judge.  Brother’s “Big Guy Heaven” line about pretzels, sausage and beer was funny. 

For the top contenders:

Bruce’s looked like my least-favorite of the top three.  I know we don’t taste it, but he was as clear third for me.

Claudette’s sounded great with the little bit of heat she added to comfort food.

Tanya’s looked great and sounded like a great pairing.  Good for her winning!  I liked her statement on the importance of seeing women who look like her succeed.

For the bottom:

Mustache’s Joe’s looked dry, so I can’t imagine how dry it tasted.  His drink sounded bad, too.

Adrienne was one of the “you need more salt” victims, and I always feel sorry for them, as I think these judges – especially Tom, whose restaurants’ food is hideously over-salted to my palate – have an expectation that is out of bounds with what the average diner wants, so for a challenge like this – serve a bunch of random people at a festival - I’m glad she was safe if that was the big criticism.

Brother’s roll just was not at all German, and I knew it was a mistake from jump; add your own twist, sure, but that was ridiculous.  I can’t see the decision having gone any other way.  That was just dumb.

Chris picks up pre-made Italian sausage and pretzel rolls to make his sliders?  Thank his stars for immunity, and I hope he shakes off the bad head space he got into at the bar.

Tom’s reaction to Carrie’s David Hasselhoff weirdness was wonderful.

[MerBearStare]

I think it was really shitty of Top Chef to put a recovering alcoholic in that situation with all the beer. Chris was lucky he had immunity; he was at a really unfair disadvantage. And had Leann been there, what was she supposed to do? I don't know...that whole thing just left me with a really bad taste in my mouth.

Carrie's Hasselhoff jokes weren't as clever as she thought. I was with Tom. 

I'm really shocked Brother was eliminated this early. I thought maybe after Leann left they would do a "No one is going home" thing. 

[Kaiju Ballet]

Oh noooo!!! When Brother chose to do an egg roll his fate was sealed. The son of exotic dancers? I also hoped that they wouldn't eliminate anyone with Leann's departure.

Hooray for Tanya. I thought it was odd at the time when she said that thing about being reminded of her gender and skin color in the States while shopping at Whole Foods, but it came together with what she said at the end of the show, being inspirational to other people who look like she does.

It was funny how they made a point of showing Adrienne next to two chefs she worked with-- Eric Ripert and-- I want to say Marcus Samuelsson? So now I'm guessing which chef gave her that advice to undersalt. I also enjoyed the fact that "the team" helped Chris figure out his radler, since he was upfront about being an alcoholic.

I also thought that Quickfire was great! What they showed of Chris's video made it look tasty and easy to make. It was inspirational when he said something like "Yesterday I was on the bottom. Today I'm on the top. That's why I don't carry baggage. Every day's a new day."

The Quickfire was also fun to see with all the standout eyeglass fashion on display--Tanya's, Claudette's and Blais's.

[Bastet]

Just now, MerBearStare said:

I'm really shocked Brother was eliminated this early. I thought maybe after Leann left they would do a "No one is going home" thing. 

Well, it's pretty convenient that Tom supposedly decided on the spot to let two, not one, people from LCK into the competition, and then someone decides to go home.  So even if that all happened completely organically, there would be no reason to do a "no one is going home" thing, because that would have kept them in the position of having one more cheftestant than expected at this point in the competition.

2 minutes ago, MerBearStare said:

I think it was really shitty of Top Chef to put a recovering alcoholic in that situation with all the beer. Chris was lucky he had immunity; he was at a really unfair disadvantage. And had Leann been there, what was she supposed to do? I don't know...that whole thing just left me with a really bad taste in my mouth.

But that's always an issue in cooking competitions - challenges arises in which a contestant, because of medical condition or personal choice, cannot taste an integral ingredient, and they have to work around it.  Especially for a full-season challenge like this, if you cast a group of contestants, and wind up with one who's an alcoholic, one who's a vegetarian, one who's allergic to wheat, one who's X, one who's Y, etc., do you structure the entire series of challenges so that none of them will disadvantage a given contestant if they happen to still be there at the time?

[bobbobbob199]

I think the whole Lee Anne reentering thing was a total gimmick. It just seems too coincidental that TWO competitors were selected (the first time in my recollection there is such a tie like that on Top Chef) to rejoin and then Lee Anne immediately withdraws. And lo and behold this puts the episode count back in line to what it was planned to be in the first place. I think Lee Anne probably told Tom that she couldn't last filming the show like that...

[MerBearStare]

13 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Especially for a full-season challenge like this, if you cast a group of contestants, and wind up with one who's an alcoholic, one who's a vegetarian, one who's allergic to wheat, one who's X, one who's Y, etc., do you structure the entire series of challenges so that none of them will disadvantage a given contestant if they happen to still be there at the time?

Alcoholism is a whole different beast than vegetarianism though and relapses are no joke. I don't think it would be a huge burden for the show to think of an alternate way to do this challenge without having to put an alcoholic in a room with a ton of different beer that he then has to make a mixed beer drink with (whatever that was called). Aside from the fact that it's, again, shitty to do that to an alcoholic, I would think it would be a liability issue for Bravo as well.

Edited January 12, 2018 by MerBearStare

[Kimmykun]

Lee Anne leaving bummed me out for the whole episode, tbh. 

That aside, the right person was cut. The challenge was German food, and you do an egg roll? What? 

[Fiero425]

2 minutes ago, Kimmykun said:

Lee Anne leaving bummed me out for the whole episode, tbh. 

That aside, the right person was cut. The challenge was German food, and you do an egg roll? What? 

That was crazy to put her thru that camping challenge in her condition! They could have waited to send her back to the main competition or plan that camping trip earlier! WTF is wrong with her? I'm not preggers, but wouldn't have done it! Even in the summer it's rough sleeping outside! I was chilled to the bone! ;-)

[biakbiak]

22 minutes ago, MerBearStare said:

Alcoholism is a whole different beast than vegetarianism though and relapses are no joke. I don't think it would be a huge burden for the show to think of an alternate way to do this challenge without having to put an alcoholic in a room with a ton of different beer that he then has to make a mixed beer drink with (whatever that was called). Aside from the fact that it's, again, shitty to do that to an alcoholic, I would think it would be a liability issue for Bravo as well.

Stephanie Cmar is deathly allergic to shellfish she still managed to cook shrimp that was well received, also as a chef/restauranter Chris is literally around alcohol all the time being in its presence doesn't make one fall of the wagon. I imagine being in the house would be much more of an issue than this challenge.

Edited January 12, 2018 by biakbiak

[Blonde Gator]

9 minutes ago, MerBearStare said:

Alcoholism is a whole different beast than vegetarianism though and relapses are no joke. I don't think it would be a huge burden for the show to think of an alternate way to do this challenge without having to put an alcoholic in a room with a ton of different beer that he then has to make a mixed beer drink with (whatever that was called). Aside from the fact that it's, again, shitty to do that to an alcoholic, I would think it would be a liability issue for Bravo as well.

I have to respectfully disagree.  Top Chef has done wine pairings, cocktail pairings, etc. many times before, and Chris should have been prepared for a challenge that included alcohol as a mandatory ingredient.  He's been hanging out with all of these chefs who routinely drink in the chef house.  It's a common story in this profession, and also a common chef story on Top Chef.

I was also extremely disappointed that Chris just seemed to phone it in because he had immunity.  He worked at the beer thing (Rambler?) with the help of the others, but threw up his hands with his dish. That made me lose a lot of respect for him, maybe it was the edit, but seriously.....buying pre-made sausage for sliders on pre-made pretzel buns?? (funny....we were just discussing pretzel buns on the recipe thread earlier today....even I can make them without too much thought).   I don't recall ever seeing a chef with immunity just phone it in like that....usually they try to win the challenge anyway, or knowingly take the fall for a team challenge....like Jaime in SC who REALLY took the fall (gave up immunity) because Tesar foisted off all of the absurd ingredients on him during that tropical storm scavenger hunt challenge.

The chefs mooning over their "cozy" bunk beds was hilarious, but I can certainly understand!  We live in SoFla, but last January took the grandson camping w/the cubbies, and a cold front came through, it was 41 degrees the morning we had to get up and leave, a cold front that moved far faster than forecast, and NO ONE had either warm clothes or long pants!  We spent a miserable two hours breaking down the campsite in the cold rain in shorts & flip flops.......so no wonder those poor people were in love with their tiny beds!  Another lesson learned on Top Chef, I guess, appreciate what you have....for tomorrow you may not have it!

I'm not at all surprised to see the top dishes were mostly pork.  German cuisine, after all.  It seemed to me that the crowd was fairly conversant with German food, too.   Adrienne needs to salt her dishes twice for Tom.  Maybe 3 times.  I'm a salt lover, but even I can only imagine what a salt lick Tom craves.

Sorry to see Lee Anne go....I hope she comes back in the future.  

[catrice2]

I fast forwarded through.  Did she leave the competition or just decide not to compete in this challenge?  That sucks for whomever she beat in LCK to come back. 

[Blonde Gator]

17 minutes ago, catrice2 said:

I fast forwarded through.  Did she leave the competition or just decide not to compete in this challenge?  That sucks for whomever she beat in LCK to come back. 

She left for the episode, and while at the hospital, pretty much decided she was leaving the competition for good.  It was sad, but the right thing to do.

[Irlandesa]

22 minutes ago, catrice2 said:

I fast forwarded through.  Did she leave the competition or just decide not to compete in this challenge?  That sucks for whomever she beat in LCK to come back. 

The combination of the cold and altitude left her weak, dehydrated and with altitude sickness.  She voluntarily missed the QuickFire challenge and missed the prep the next day for the main challenge.  The doctor recommended that she get back to regular altitude--so basically leave Denver. 

The thing about LCK is that both she and Claudette came back in even though it was only supposed to be one person.  So even if she hadn't made it in, it would have just been Claudette coming back.  Kwame would have been out either way.

I was disappointed that Chris basically shut down with the challenge, especially after negotiating the taste test so well.  However, I did respect that he acknowledge he knew that he was not putting his best foot forward in this challenge.

[hendersonrocks]

I would definitely watch a documentary about Brother’s parents. Mandingo!

Do you think the chef who gave Adrienne that advice about salt was Eric Ripert? Isn’t that who she was with for many years, as shown in the photo? I saw her with Marcus Samuelsson too,  but all my context clues say Ripert. Say that to his face, Tom!

I love a good radler, and some of those sounded amazing. Sign me up for the next Top Chef German Fest, especially if Fatima and her cake can make another appearance.

[bravofan27]

I will give my Chris heart the benefit of the doubt on this one. He won the quickfire fair and square, so the pressure wasn't on him to perform for the elimination challenge. For someone that runs on adrenaline, and not really being in the competition, it was probably hard to create that adrenaline without the competition that usually precedes it. When I'm at work and people are around, I always work better than when I'm just there by myself. Feeling the need to stay and keep up with others is motivating.

That said, I think Chris was too hard on himself and punished himself for being allowed a bit of a break. That said, the drinking challenge could have legitimately bummed his out, and he does work at a restaurant that doesn't sell alcohol. There might be another purpose to this. In any case, I love and forgive him.

Brother is gone, I'm sad, but the bizarre story about being inspired for the German food and beer challenge by his exotic dancing parents in Asia made me think he might not be in the right head space. His reason for the egg roll being German because of the cabbage was a stretch. 

I was BEYOND thrilled that Tonja won. I'm so happy for her, and she is just such a great person. I love the way she speaks and how articulate she is as well. She really puts you in the story.

Personally, I thought the mustache guy should have gone, but I know the German fan-judge wanted Brother gone, so Padma's defense of Brother fell on deaf ears. 

The best news is that icky Tyler is forever gone, ,and Brother has a chance to come back. Yea!

[Blonde Gator]

5 minutes ago, hendersonrocks said:

I would definitely watch a documentary about Brother’s parents. Mandingo!

Do you think the chef who gave Adrienne that advice about salt was Eric Ripert? Isn’t that who she was with for many years, as shown in the photo? I saw her with Marcus Samuelsson too,  but all my context clues say Ripert. Say that to his face, Tom!

I love a good radler, and some of those sounded amazing. Sign me up for the next Top Chef German Fest, especially if Fatima and her cake can make another appearance.

Oh yeah, Fatima!  Frankly, I was rather shocked not to see her in the Top 3 with her cake. 

Her hero worship of Padma is so sweet and genuine.  I hope she's doing well....I don't follow Social Media like instagram, etc., so would appreciate any updates and will continue to check the TC/Media thread.

[HappyDancex2]

I find it hard to believe Adrienne worked at Le Bernardin or Red Rooster.  Either that or she just isn’t built for these competition shows.  That whole salt thing was weird coming from a professional chef cooking for professional chefs.  Even if she believed that for her guests then she could finish salt for the judges.  But the whole thing sounded like an odd excuse to me.

I recently ate at Fuscos (Scott Conant) and while delicious it was salted to the edge of salty oblivion.  It made me scared to ever go on Chopped!

the radlers sounded amazing.  I’m inspired to make my own now this summer.  

Brother came so close to winning the quickfire for immunity with that paella.  Game of inches.

I made a stink face when Blaise talked about Chris winning hot pot being “too spicy for the home cook.” I know his job is to throw softballs for comments but not sure what the correlation is between home cooks and spicy food tolerance? Ditto that for spicy food and kids, which seems to be a western sentimnt.  Plenty of kids in Asia and well, lots of other cuisines of the world whose children eat spicy food.  

[Bastet]

21 minutes ago, hendersonrocks said:

Sign me up for the next Top Chef German Fest, especially if Fatima and her cake can make another appearance.

Hers was an impressive entry, because I do not like black forest cake - I hate cherries, and while I love chocolate, I don't like chocolate cake - but watching her making it and seeing the final result, I nonetheless thought, "If I liked that, I bet it would be really good."

[HappyDancex2]

I really wish someone would have made a homemade pretzel bread!

I liked the sound of Bruce’s dish.  Sour cherry mostarda?  Yes please.

Man dingo.  Snort.

[Blonde Gator]

1 minute ago, HappyDancex2 said:

I really wish someone would have made a homemade pretzel bread!

I liked the sound of Bruce’s dish.  Sour cherry mostarda?  Yes please.

Man dingo.  Snort.

"Exotic Dancers".

Double Snort!  I forgot that until you mentioned his dad's stage name.  As annoyed as I am with Brother, I have to give him credit for embracing it.

[Quilt Fairy]

Of all the chefs there, I would have thought that Chris, with his Amish/soul food fusion restaurant, would have had at least some familiarity with German flavors. 

[Yeah No]

38 minutes ago, hendersonrocks said:

Do you think the chef who gave Adrienne that advice about salt was Eric Ripert? Isn’t that who she was with for many years, as shown in the photo? I saw her with Marcus Samuelsson too,  but all my context clues say Ripert. Say that to his face, Tom!

I thought the same thing.  The food at Red Rooster doesn't lack for salt.  Eric's food is spectacular but the saltiness is restrained.  He probably gives that advice because chefs in general tend to like things saltier than the average customer.  She was probably overcompensating based on that advice.

[NowVoyager]

It hurt me that the octopus didn't make it on the plate in the QF. I wanted somebody to taste it even if it couldn't be judged.

I was glad to see Adrienne go back & taste her food after the judges critique. Not that it helped.

Padma calling out Fatima tho! Lol, girl you better represent for South Asia.

Um, nobody helped Lee Ann down the stairs with her luggage??

The idea of a radler doesn't sound good to me at all. Then again, I don't really like fruity sodas & I rarely drink beer.

I can't believe Chris wasn't in the bottom 3 with pre-fab sausages & buns. 

[GaT]

I hope Lee Anne is a lesson to the show about creating these stupid stunts for useless drama. She’s lucky that nothing happened to the baby. It also sounded like everyone was feeling sick afterward, I hope there’s some kind of consequence for whoever thought this stunt up.

[spiderpig]

Not much to say about this ep.  It was nice to see them do German cuisine (something different), although I'm not a big fan, and beer makes me burp.

[biakbiak]

4 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

think the chef who gave Adrienne that advice about salt was Eric Ripert? I

I know Top Scallop Jaime is a joke but one of the things about the dish she had to recreate and blew on all levels during the Le Bernadin challenge she thought the sample dish lacked seasoning.  

Edited January 12, 2018 by biakbiak

[bobbobbob199]

21 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

I know Top Scallop Jaime is a joke but one of the things about the dish she had to recreate and blew on all levels during the Le Bernadin challenge she thought the sample dish lacked seasoning.  

I've been to Le Bernardin--when you have flavors as nuanced as those, too much salt can hurt the natural flavors of the fish. The same can't be said about the food at Craft--it's not as refined, and most likely needs "salt" to taste.

Edited January 12, 2018 by bobbobbob199

[biakbiak]

11 minutes ago, bobbobbob199 said:

I've been to Le Bernardin--when you have flavors as nuanced as those, too much salt can hurt the natural flavors of the fish. The same can't be said about the food at Craft--it's not as refined, and most likely needs "salt" to taste.

Same and agree, I knew she wasn't going anywhere because they all thought her fish was cooked to perfection. Tom occasionally had this same issues in Jen Carroll's first season, also a Ripert protege.

[LennieBriscoe]

Apparently Brother isn't the only person who thinks "German" and "egg roll" go together. Check out the "Rouladen Rolls":

http://www.hessenhaus.com/

[Wings]

@Bastet.  Lol at Blais and Graham, in same episode, is asking too much of you.   Love your wording there and I agree. 

Blais, oh good god.  Yes, we use hot sauce and cayenne, you moron. 

They never put the chef who has immunity in the bottom 3 but Tom usually says, if you did t have immunity you would be out. Maybe the egg roll was worse. 

Lee Ann had altitude sickness.  That has nothing to do with camping, cold or pregnancy.  My son got it on a vacation. The only cure is to travel to a lower place.  

[Chicago Redshirt]

It's easy for me to say sitting in my armchair eating my easy-to-make pasta, but I don't think there was any other way to go than to eliminate Brother when he made egg rolls for an "elevate German food" challenge. 

Sad to see him go. 

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, bobbobbob199 said:

I've been to Le Bernardin--when you have flavors as nuanced as those, too much salt can hurt the natural flavors of the fish. The same can't be said about the food at Craft--it's not as refined, and most likely needs "salt" to taste.

Yup.  I've been to Craft too and agree although it's hard to be as refined as Le Bernardin.  You don't really miss the extra salt with Eric's food.  As he has been known to say in his characteristic French accent, "You have to elevate dee feesh".

[AriAu]

Quote

 hope Lee Anne is a lesson to the show about creating these stupid stunts for useless drama. She’s lucky that nothing happened to the baby. It also sounded like everyone was feeling sick afterward, I hope there’s some kind of consequence for whoever thought this stunt up.

I have felt that way about other challenges, like the BBQ and Chili ones in Texas that sent Sarah to the hospital. This one had a whole different problem that I had not considered...and apparently neither did the Dancing Elves. Altitude sickness is real and can affect people for many days after they arrive, especially when they go in and out of the mountains. My wife and daughter both suffer the first few days of every ski trip with headaches and stomach "issues" and I am always dehydrated. I can only imagine how bad it would be for a pregnant person.

I would have hoped that they would have taken that into account in setting up challenges, but I guess not. They had no problem running the Texas crew around in the heat so why not drag these guys up and back from Denver. By the way, Denver has high altitude, but the altitude sickness really kicks in as you go up towards the Continental Divide.

My opinion, and YMMV, but I don't think they need to set up the challenges to meet the cheftestants situations.  Chris is around alcohol all the time and he was smart to ask people for basic flavor profiles. If a kosher chef (Katsuji doesn't count since he wasn't kosher, he only cooked kosher...some of the time) or a vegan came on the show, they would still have to meet the same challenges and figure out how to adapt. Let's face it, they would not win, but it would be kinda interesting to see how they tried.

[Eulipian 5k]

10 hours ago, Bastet said:

  10 hours ago, MerBearStare said:

I think it was really shitty of Top Chef to put a recovering alcoholic in that situation with all the beer. Chris was lucky he had immunity; he was at a really unfair disadvantage. And had Leann been there, what was she supposed to do? I don't know...that whole thing just left me with a really bad taste in my mouth.

Agreed. But, we had Sam(?) season 2, who was diabetic doing a sweets challenge and Jewish cooks handling pork challenges, so...

 

This Elim Challenge is timely given the "heritage challenge" that eliminated Tyler. You don't have to be German to be expected to be able to cook German cuisine. Fatima can thank Pakistan's curious "thing" for Black Forest Cakes!

(Do they bind and gag Tom to prevent him from ranting about "You won't win TC with a cake"?)

[Eulipian 5k]

9 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

I would definitely watch a documentary about Brother’s parents. Mandingo!

What does an exotic dancer from the US do in Asia? Square dance? The Twist? The Funky Chicken? (I'm assuming it was the 60's) maybe the (70's), Time Warp! .

[hkit]

I've also been to both Craft and Le Bernadin with the same experience as others in the thread. One was salted past the edge of reason and the other was an absolutely perfect meal. Tom has obviously forgotten more about food than I'll ever know, but I've sort of side eyed a lot of seasoning criticisms over the years due to my experience at his restaurant. His palate for seasoning is not representative of most of us. 

[spiderpig]

1 minute ago, hkit said:

I've also been to both Craft and Le Bernadin with the same experience as others in the thread. One was salted past the edge of reason and the other was an absolutely perfect meal. Tom has obviously forgotten more about food than I'll ever know, but I've sort of side eyed a lot of seasoning criticisms over the years due to my experience at his restaurant. His palate for seasoning is not representative of most of us. 

Coming from a long line of heart attacks (everybody in the family tree), I've been conditioned to restrict salt intake.  Is this outdated medical advice?

[Wings]

27 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

Coming from a long line of heart attacks (everybody in the family tree), I've been conditioned to restrict salt intake.  Is this outdated medical advice?

No, salt raises blood pressure.  

[Lovecat]

11 hours ago, Kaiju Ballet said:

Oh noooo!!! When Brother chose to do an egg roll his fate was sealed. The son of exotic dancers? I also hoped that they wouldn't eliminate anyone with Leann's departure.

 

11 hours ago, Kimmykun said:

Lee Anne leaving bummed me out for the whole episode, tbh. 

That aside, the right person was cut. The challenge was German food, and you do an egg roll? What? 

 

10 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

I would definitely watch a documentary about Brother’s parents. Mandingo!

Do you think the chef who gave Adrienne that advice about salt was Eric Ripert? Isn’t that who she was with for many years, as shown in the photo? I saw her with Marcus Samuelsson too,  but all my context clues say Ripert. Say that to his face, Tom!

 

9 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Of all the chefs there, I would have thought that Chris, with his Amish/soul food fusion restaurant, would have had at least some familiarity with German flavors. 

 

2 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Apparently Brother isn't the only person who thinks "German" and "egg roll" go together. Check out the "Rouladen Rolls":

http://www.hessenhaus.com/

1) Re: Brother's egg rolls:  I think he could have made a knockout of a German-inspired egg roll (pork, sauerkraut and apples, in a crispy fried wonton, with some sort of fancy-schmancy cheffy dipping sauce?  yes, please!)...his mistake was making a jump from white cabbage to Asian cabbage, then staying in the Asian flavor lane.  Not enough German influence there, bud.

2) OTOH, I *really* wanted more information about his parents' colorful life.  Mandingo?  C'mon, Top Chef, that's GOLD right there!

3) Oh, Chris, as a native Pennsylvanian, you wounded me with that sad dish.  I mean, really, if the dude markets himself as an "Amish Soul Food" chef, he *has* to have spent some time in Amish country and have been exposed to really good German food.  Dig deeper, my friend!

4) So sad that LeeAnne had to leave so soon, but that altitude change from Hawaii to Denver and then even higher up in the mountains, all while growing a new human, had to be a killer.  I will miss her.

5) Re: Adrienne and the salt issue:  When Tom was all dismissive like, "Well I don't know what chef gave you that advice, but you should erase it from your memory!" I *so* wanted Adrienne to pop an eyebrow and say, "I'll tell Eric Ripert you said so." just to see the look on Tom's face. That would have been priceless.  She has more restraint than I do, fo' sho'.

[Blonde Gator]

41 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

Coming from a long line of heart attacks (everybody in the family tree), I've been conditioned to restrict salt intake.  Is this outdated medical advice?

Apparently not.  Mr. BG went to the doc's yesterday, and was told to restrict his salt intake.  Personally, I stay away from packaged food as much as possible to eliminate extra salt, and then I cook with salt the way I think it tastes good.  I like salt (lots on something like steak), but try to use restraint on most everything else.

[chiaros]

53 minutes ago, hkit said:

I've also been to both Craft and Le Bernadin with the same experience as others in the thread. One was salted past the edge of reason and the other was an absolutely perfect meal. Tom has obviously forgotten more about food than I'll ever know, but I've sort of side eyed a lot of seasoning criticisms over the years due to my experience at his restaurant. His palate for seasoning is not representative of most of us. 

 

15 minutes ago, Lovecat said:

5) Re: Adrienne and the salt issue:  When Tom was all dismissive like, "Well I don't know what chef gave you that advice, but you should erase it from your memory!" I *so* wanted Adrienne to pop an eyebrow and say, "I'll tell Eric Ripert you said so." just to see the look on Tom's face. That would have been priceless.  She has more restraint than I do, fo' sho'.

 

5 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Same and agree, I knew she wasn't going anywhere because they all thought her fish was cooked to perfection. Tom occasionally had this same issues in Jen Carroll's first season, also a Ripert protege.

 

6 hours ago, bobbobbob199 said:

I've been to Le Bernardin--when you have flavors as nuanced as those, too much salt can hurt the natural flavors of the fish. The same can't be said about the food at Craft--it's not as refined, and most likely needs "salt" to taste.

Yes.

We have talked before about Tom C's NEED for vast amounts of salt, ditto "his friends" on TC.  When he made that eyebrow-raising comment about ignoring what Adrienne's chef-mentor had said about salting levels, it only added to my sense that this person has completely lost touch with what most people outside of his cheffie-friends circuit subscribe to. For quite a while now I have disregarded whatever he had to say about "seasoning".**  Oh, his pronouncements about "ethnic food" have also fallen into this same category of being suspect and possibly erroneous statements, if not to be disregarded outright.

Many people, and not just on this forum – it extends to many posters on food-centric forums – have commented on how professional chefs GROSSLY OVERSALT their food.

 

** And I would repeat what I had said before - that this reality teevee game show should really be called "Who Wants To Cook For Tom Collichio And Friends".

Edited January 12, 2018 by chiaros

[chiaros]

26 minutes ago, Lovecat said:

1) Re: Brother's egg rolls:  I think he could have made a knockout of a German-inspired egg roll (pork, sauerkraut and apples, in a crispy fried wonton, with some sort of fancy-schmancy cheffy dipping sauce?  yes, please!)...his mistake was making a jump from white cabbage to Asian cabbage, then staying in the Asian flavor lane.  Not enough German influence there, bud.

 

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

It's easy for me to say sitting in my armchair eating my easy-to-make pasta, but I don't think there was any other way to go than to eliminate Brother when he made egg rolls for an "elevate German food" challenge. 

 

3 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Apparently Brother isn't the only person who thinks "German" and "egg roll" go together. Check out the "Rouladen Rolls":

http://www.hessenhaus.com/

 

12 hours ago, Kimmykun said:

That aside, the right person was cut. The challenge was German food, and you do an egg roll? What? 

 

12 hours ago, Bastet said:

Brother’s roll just was not at all German, and I knew it was a mistake from jump; add your own twist, sure, but that was ridiculous.  I can’t see the decision having gone any other way.  That was just dumb.

 

Hmm.

https://www.google.com/search?q="german+egg+rolls"

I believe his idea was to "be himself" and do this egg roll but with German flavors. Maybe the Napa cabbage threw the flavoring off. maybe the rest of the stuff wasn't "German" enough. But to summarily dismiss the idea, as Tom C and the guest judge did, overriding the concept that a flavorful and tasty dish was a saving factor***, was...another nail in the coffin of this reality tv show.

*** So many people have pointed out that a cheftestant doesn't need to follow exactly the parameters of a "challenge" so long as they prepare a tasty dish. MANY have pointed that out in almost all of the iterations of the discussions on this reality tv show. Yet here we are, where an admittedly TASTY dish was thrown to the dogs because it wasn't GERMAN enough, according to two of the judges (Tom C and the guest judge). 

Hmm, where are the defenses of Brother's dish on this forum for his dish being TASTY?

[Wings]

44 minutes ago, chiaros said:

Hmm, where are the defenses of Brother's dish on this forum for his dish being TASTY?

We watched LCK before posting here. 

Edited January 12, 2018 by Wings

[hendersonrocks]

Quote

Hmm, where are the defenses of Brother's dish on this forum for his dish being TASTY?

My impression was that it was the tastiest of the three on the bottom, not necessarily tasty overall. They also hated his radler, which was part of the challenge too.

I would have been fine with him or Joe leaving - I'm definitely not up in arms about it.

[carrps]

14 hours ago, Fiero425 said:

That was crazy to put her thru that camping challenge in her condition! They could have waited to send her back to the main competition or plan that camping trip earlier! WTF is wrong with her? I'm not preggers, but wouldn't have done it! Even in the summer it's rough sleeping outside! I was chilled to the bone! ;-)

I've had altitude sickness, and it's no joke!  I was at twice the altitude she was, but still.....

[meep.meep]

6 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Apparently Brother isn't the only person who thinks "German" and "egg roll" go together. Check out the "Rouladen Rolls":

http://www.hessenhaus.com/

That's just wrong.  Rouladen is not a spring roll.  It is rolled veal, often with a pickle at the center, but there is no wrapper.

I liked Bruce giving support to the gal who didn't finish her QF dish.  To bad she can't seem to figure out that there are lots of folks who she could "bond" with.

[nitrofishblue]

I really enjoyed watching Keegan as a judge. Blais can take a hike. Never have liked him. Overall, not a bad episode.

[akr]

41 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

That's just wrong.  Rouladen is not a spring roll.  It is rolled veal, often with a pickle at the center, but there is no wrapper.

I liked Bruce giving support to the gal who didn't finish her QF dish.  To bad she can't seem to figure out that there are lots of folks who she could "bond" with.

The whole menu sounds wrong - Bavarian nachos being tortilla chips with brats, cheese, and pico de gallo, for example - but at least their spring roll has more or less German roulanden-ish stuff inside it, I guess. Roast beef, bacon, mustard, onions, and a pickle, which is exactly what I see rouladen being described as containing when I look it up.  

[talktalk]

It is a pity that Lee Ann had to leave, she seems to be an excellent chef, I would love to see her in more episodes, but I think she made the right decision for herself and her baby. 

I just wished the show had timed the winter camping challenge before Lee Ann's possible re-entry, considering she is pregnant.  

By the way, were Brother's parents exotic dancers or erotic dances? what is the difference?