Masterchef (US) - General Discussion

[Samwise979]

Renee takes her pasta out of the garbage and uses it because it was sitting on top and not dirty. Who is she, George Costanza?!

The guest chef really put the three judges on their best behavior. There was no temper tantrums or swearing or throwing food. They were all helpful with advice and their critiques. 

[spaceytraci1208]

Was anyone else confused about the criticism of one of the cooks using "too much crab"? Was he just supposed to use a claw and waste the rest?

[adhoc]

So that's what $100 worth of crab looks like.

Holy moly.

ETA:  Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the point about "putting too much crab" on the plate was that you can't do that because the cost of the dish will be too prohibitive for most diners.

Edited July 25, 2019 by adhoc

[preeya]

1 hour ago, Samwise979 said:

Renee takes her pasta out of the garbage and uses it because it was sitting on top and not dirty. Who is she, George Costanza?!

And Joe went along with that . . . . . . . WTF.

[preeya]

1 hour ago, Samwise979 said:

Renee takes her pasta out of the garbage and uses it because it was sitting on top and not dirty. Who is she, George Costanza?! 

The guest chef really put the three judges on their best behavior. There was no temper tantrums or swearing or throwing food. They were all helpful with advice and their critiques. 

[Such A Flirt]

Yum, garbage pasta!

[mlp]

I don't know if it was Comcast or something else but my picture and sound weren't synced exactly so peoples' mouth movements didn't match right with their voices.  Very annoying.  

Aaron is such a pretentious jerk when he judges.  He always tries to say something profound but he can't quite pull it off convincingly.

It was great to see Morimoto.  I wish they had let him prepare a dish with the crab.  I used to love to watch him work on ICA.  I noticed that Gordon didn't mention Iron Chef as one of his credentials.  🙂

It looks like the whole season is going to be two hours per episode.  It reminds me of all the "to be continued" episodes of Hell's Kitchen.  I guess Gordon liked maximum screen time.

[preeya]

19 minutes ago, mlp said:

I guess Gordon liked maximum screen time.

Liked?? Gordan is a screen whore.

[Aerobicidal]

Giving these people five hundred dollar king crabs is like giving a Stradivarius violin to a tone-deaf fifth grader struggling to play the first three measures of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Season Ten Stunning Star.” Morimoto clearly hasn’t seen any of this amazing season, because, if he had, he would stay farther away from it than Noah stays away from the Pants that Are Only Pants section at Old Septic Navy.

As much as Renee is clearly similarly skilled compared to most of the contestants, when she says everyone is going to enjoy her special pasta, I don’t believe her. It’s like when Gordon says this is the most exciting season ever, or when Noah says he’s speechless, or when Sandra Lee says everyone on the block will think I'm brilliant if I put Corn Nuts and giant taper candles on a store-bought cake and present it on a Kwanzaa tablescape. Call my cynical, but there are stunning limits to what I am willing to believe.

I hardly recognize Nick without his Harvard gear. “Sushi burger failure” just doesn’t have the same impact as “sushi burger failure by guy who may or may not have dropped out of Harvard to stunningly embarrass himself in this debacle.” Incidentally, when I audition for season eleven, I will wear a National American University hoodie and claim I dropped out in addition to recently losing my pet goldfish, my pet rock, and my left pinky toenail in a series of amazingly unfortunate events.

When Renee said she’s a perfectionist, her hair rolled its eyes so far back in its head that it may be stunningly blind until the end of season ten. (Gordon said we’re halfway there, so I guess April 2022 is coming sooner than I imagine.)

Apparently Aaron is trying to make “all facets of deliciousness” his catchphrase. Don’t get me wrong; I would love to have that embroidered on a throw pillow or hoodie. And I find it more stunning than “bam” or “yummo” or “lord honey.” Actually, I genuinely approve of this phrase and will begin incorporating it into my everyday vocabulary.

Now we get lovely figurative language comparing risotto-making to sex. As much as I appreciate how stunningly random this is, I feel like the show should go all in (no pun intended) with this strategy.

“You boned that fish like . . .” Actually, I won’t finish that sentence.

“You worked those expensive knuckles like . . .” Actually, I wouldn’t finish that sentence.

“I haven’t been so stunned by a flawless spatchcock since . . .”

Maybe they should just stick with facets of deliciousness.

[Brookside]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

Aaron is such a pretentious jerk when he judges.  He always tries to say something profound but he can't quite pull it off convincingly.

During the cooking too.  "Extract that crab everyone!"  So helpful.

Edited July 25, 2019 by Brookside

[Such A Flirt]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

I don't know if it was Comcast or something else but my picture and sound weren't synced exactly so peoples' mouth movements didn't match right with their voices.  Very annoying. 

I had the same problem at times, and I'm not on Comcast.

Yeah, what the heck was that about making love to the risotto?!? Even Aaron and Joe were like, WTF?!?

[leocadia]

I must be a bad person because I enjoyed Noah being shut out of the Morimoto judging a little too much.  He had a bad night, his dish wasn't picked and Micah stole his shellfish allergy!  Oh, the humanity.

On the bright side, it was nice to see previously under-shown contenders like Shari and Micah safe, while front-runners Sarah and Noah will have to cook for their lives.

[GaT]

4 hours ago, Samwise979 said:

Renee takes her pasta out of the garbage and uses it because it was sitting on top and not dirty. Who is she, George Costanza?!

2 hours ago, preeya said:

And Joe went along with that . . . . . . . WTF.

I don't even want to think about what the kitchens in his restaurants are like, are the chefs digging food out of the garbage?

I would like about $300.00 worth of king crab right now.

[Gramto6]

2 hours ago, mlp said:

It was great to see Morimoto.  I wish they had let him prepare a dish with the crab.  I used to love to watch him work on ICA.  I noticed that Gordon didn't mention Iron Chef as one of his credentials.  🙂

Yes, I noticed that too!  Ramsey said "Two Master Chefs breaking down crab", bringing Morimoto down to his level. Ramsey will never be an Iron Chef and I think it kills him someone is really better in the kitchen than he is.

[mertensia]

Season Ten: The season they killed a contestant. Seriously, you have two severe fish/shellfish allergies, maybe you should knock off the fish/shellfish challenges.

 The medics must have had ulcers by the time the season ended.

[Pathetica]

On 7/13/2019 at 5:19 AM, mertensia said:

Except his samosa was deemed excellent. Plus they got a fuck-ton of stuff plated. Including the mystery 7th item. They just played up how incompetent he was looking. 

Will be win? Not unless he goes all ax-happy on the remaining contestants, no. But he isn't as bad as Dorian made out. 

I thought Dorian handled it horribly, but for some reason, I found myself intensely disliking Nick for putting the two POC together. And saying sticking her with him or whatever nasty thing it was he said.

[adhoc]

Quote

ill think I'm brilliant if I put Corn Nuts and giant taper candles on a store-bought cake and present it on a Kwanzaa tablescape

Crikey, the infamous Kwanzaa cake. Never have I laughed so hard.    

[cameron]

I thought the judges take on the fried green tomatoes was wrong.  They should be on the thicker side so that they hold their shape during the frying process.

[xcrayon2215x]

Glad to see Fred do so well, seeing Chef Morimoto was awesome.

[Yeah No]

How many of these cooks either won't or can't eat shellfish?  Seriously, the show should get a clue that the audience is not wowed and impressed by cooks that can't taste their food doing well in a challenge.  In fact, it makes their success look like nothing but luck or producer BS.

And it's seriously underwhelming (especially on season TEN 🙄) when more than half of the "most" successful dishes consist of nothing but either a starch or some vegetable thing topped like an afterthought with an undressed or under-dressed piece of crab that otherwise is completely disconnected from the rest of the dish.  But the judges were like "hush Morimoto" when he complained about that.  

Not my favorite episode.

Edited July 25, 2019 by Yeah No

[preeya]

Just found this:

Whole Alaskan Red King Crab

Most whole Alaskan Red King Crabs get broken down into legs, claws, and lump meat. We offer all of these options as well in our online shop, but there is nothing like getting the whole thing. The whole crab can make for an eye-catching centerpiece or give you more variety when making your favorite recipes. We stocked up on as many as possible, but right after harvesting season these whole crabs tend to go fast, so don’t miss out. Get yours today!

Whole Alaskan Red King Crab - 5 lb for $300.

Edited July 25, 2019 by preeya

[Samwise979]

I think the allergies thing is being over-exaggerated. They ban peanut butter in schools because some kids are so allergic they'll have a reaction just by smelling it. I'm sure Micah and Noah are allergic (or are they? Lol) but I'm also sure they are not deathly allergic. 

Edited July 25, 2019 by Samwise979

[NowVoyager]

Mmm.... king crab. Yummy!

We're only halfway through this season?! Feels like forever.

Impressed GRrr could pull Morimoto. Less impressed with Morimoto's hair plugs/wig situation.

Rooting for Fred. Hm! Never heard of fennel pollen. His dish looked so pretty. 

How many scarves did Septic Grandma guy pack? He should free his five-head.

Garbage. Pasta. I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Loved Morimoto's comments. He was kind, but informative.

I wanted to eat Fred's, Shari's and Dorian's dishes.

Special guest at any Morimoto restaurant in the world?! Yasss!

Season 10. Too much crab. Too little crab. Needs acid. Stunning. Stunning. Stunning.

[DoctorK]

48 minutes ago, Samwise979 said:

I'm sure Micah and Noah are allergic

I noticed that Micah had no problem handling the crab (when he first picked it up) without gloves while talking about how he could get stuck by a spine and possibly die. I can sympathize with significant but non life threatening allergies, for me it is crab meat. No problem handling it, but if I eat it (even accidentally, found out later), the result is what we can discretely refer to as severe digestive upset.

ETA: I liked Morimoto's subtitles (or captioning?). I could probably have worked it out without that but it helped. Wonder how he felt about it?

Edited July 25, 2019 by DoctorK

[ML89]

Maybe I had junk Alaskan king crab when I've had it but...it's crab meat. Plus they seemed to have wasted all those $500 crabs by the contestants using this small small amount to actually cook. I guess the crabs were already cooked because no one seemed to be cooking them? Why not have, say, six, and let them duke it out for which pieces to use. 

I was sort of baffled too - first it was "showcase the crab and don't do anything to it like make crab cakes!" but then they were okay with putting it in ravioli? Then when judging started, it was "you didn't incorporate the crab, you just put it on top." Okay, y'know, guys, pick a direction and go with it, maybe?

When Renee and Joe took that pasta OUT OF THE TRASH - ugh. 

[joanne3482]

1 hour ago, DoctorK said:

ETA: I liked Morimoto's subtitles (or captioning?). I could probably have worked it out without that but it helped. Wonder how he felt about it?

When he was still on Iron Chef they always subtitled him. 

I'm choosing to believe that Renee had thrown nothing else in that bag and so technically the bag was 'clean' (being a new trash bag) and therefore her pasta was still "clean." I don't know how different a brand new trash bag is from a new sandwich or quart sized bag is. 

[cameron]

Did anyone notice that Renee was magically able to cut her fettuccine with the cutter that was attached to her pasta roller.  It was their all the time when she was lamenting her inability to cut her first pasta.  More tv drama.

[Samwise979]

I mean realistically any and all germs would be gone as soon as it hits the boiling water but that doesn't change the mental image of eating something from the trash. 

[DoctorK]

2 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

I don't know how different a brand new trash bag is from a new sandwich or quart sized bag is. 

The sandwich or other food bag is supposed to be food-safe. I doubt that that is required for plastic trash and garbage bags; it is not just germs etc., but non food-safe plastics may contain some unhealthy to ingest materials that may transfer to any food that contacts it.

Edited July 25, 2019 by DoctorK

[MaryHedwig]

14 hours ago, mertensia said:

Season Ten: The season they killed a contestant. Seriously, you have two severe fish/shellfish allergies, maybe you should knock off the fish/shellfish challenges

Or at least wear gloves so the shells do not prick you.

[adhoc]

Hey, for those of you who did not get the "Kwanzaa cake" reference, click this link to see the actual show clip.   I noticed there are also a couple of other youtube clips from viewers who tried to make that stunning cake!

[preeya]

S10E13 Someone's Toast

Summary:  In another mystery box challenge, the home cooks will be forced to rise to the occasion. The contestants are surprised with a secret ingredient that they must re-invent in two unique dishes: one dish will be savory and the other sweet. With elimination on the line, one home cook will be sliced out of the competition.

[preeya]

toast, rise, sliced and GR mentioned dough last night.

Sounds as if they'll be making some sort of bread product. . . . .

[adhoc]

OMG, Bri looks just like the original Barbie doll--the one with blonde hair pulled back in a pony tail and wearing the black and white striped one-piece swimsuit. I had that doll, and she (Bri) is it.

[NowVoyager]

Juust waiting for somebody to say they're allergic to bread....

Garbage Pasta is making meatloaf? See. No. Don't ever eat meatloaf from someone with questionable hygiene.

Dorian's truffle bread pudding got a spoon drop.

Barbie Bri cried & not from joy. Soup in a bread bowl with no soup. How dreadful. 

Shrugging Subha's mulligatawny in a bread bowl looked pretty dry to me, too. But they loved it. I only remember it from Seinfeld's Soup Nazi. (Googled recipe sounds delicious! Chicken soup with curry, coconut milk, ginger, apples, tomatoes. Yum!)

Edited July 26, 2019 by NowVoyager

[spaceytraci1208]

OMG these rude bitches (judges included) laughing at Subha's dessert critique! I'm disgusted...

[NowVoyager]

^^^It was totally mean. I laughed. 

Not looking forward to sweets next week. I'm a savory person. But, Fred should do well! So that's something.

[shelen]

Whaaaa?  Barbie should have gone home.

[adhoc]

I'm so glad they didn't get rid of Renee but keep Malibu Barbie.  That would have ticked me off.  They made the right choice, IMHO.

[DoctorK]

2 hours ago, NowVoyager said:

Don't ever eat meatloaf from someone with questionable hygiene.

I have commented on this before, watching her lick her fingers and the way she has 1/3 of her hair flopping around loose over the food she is fixing turn me off. I don't think she understands professional restaurant standard food hygiene. Not that real restaurant kitchens are perfect, but a good kitchen manager really watches his people for sloppiness.

[cooksdelight]

Who was eliminated? I fell asleep....

[DoctorK]

16 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

Who was eliminated? I fell asleep....

Sam. I thought that Bri had a worse product but I didn't have a chance to taste anything. I agree this was not an exciting and dynamic episode.

[cooksdelight]

I was hoping Bri was a goner, she irks me for some reason. 

[NowVoyager]

57 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

Who was eliminated? I fell asleep....

You missed nothing. 

Sourdough bread roll challenge. Breadcrumb crusted proteins & bread puddings.

Stressed out Sam, the lawyer from Philly was graceful in his exit.

Season 10. Stunning. Zzzzzz....

Edited July 26, 2019 by NowVoyager

[preeya]

20 minutes ago, NowVoyager said:

You missed nothing. 

Sourdough bread roll challenge. Breadcrumb crusted proteins & bread puddings.

Stressed out Sam, the lawyer from Philly was graceful in his exit.

Season 10. Stunning. 

And a meatloaf that looked as if it came out of a can of Ken-L-Ration.

[Aerobicidal]

It’s time for a stunning celebration of amazing bread-related puns. I want to say that’s the yeast problematic aspect of this show’s desecration of English, but I still wonder rye it’s necessary.

Apparently I knead to try bread gnocchi. It sounds like it crust be tricky to make if even Nick doesn’t have it in the baguette.

This whole (wheat) “Nick might be stunningly eliminated” narrative arc is crumby, but at least we don’t have to hear Noah talking about how his septic loaves make people challah and he’s focaccia this in the bag.

“Bread two ways” - Is that a euphemism for ryesexual, Gordon?

Micah’s reaction to Bri’s soupless soup was as over the top as if Dorian had pumpernickled her fists after getting rave reviews for her grain attractions.

The amount of bread boule soups here is making my grain explode. If the upper crust of stunning home cooking is Panera 2003, I refuse to roll with it. I’ll collapse on top of my crouton.

My reaction to the amazing elimination, in the stunning words of Homer Simpson: “Dough!”

[Such A Flirt]

Did I really see Renee wiping her nose?

Thought for sure Barbie did a lot worse than Sam, but I guess Sam was too boring and they wanted to keep Barbie around.

[Samwise979]

I can't believe how many of the cooks did soup in a bread bowl and bread pudding... Where's the imagination??  I mean, that's probably what I would have done but I'm not one of the top 12 home cooks in America on the ground breaking season 10 of Master Chef. 

[zillabreeze]

2 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

I was hoping Bri was a goner, she irks me for some reason. 

She seems like a prissy little princess that has always been fawned over for her "pretty".   Probably hasn't heard "no" very many times.

It's always fun to see those types knocked down a peg or two.

[displayname]

1 hour ago, Such A Flirt said:

they wanted to keep Barbie around.

Barbri*