Masterchef (US) - General Discussion

[Emkat]

Paula's cackling is so annoying and contrived.  I can't believe they had her on. Her fawning all over the POC was disgusting. Is this supposed to be some sort of comeback for her?  I thought she was canceled. 

[fishcakes]

12 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Paula Deen episode.  This is disgusting.  I am disgusted.  

I wasn't going to watch (partly) because of her (and partly because handing out aprons is so boring), but then I did, and I was sorry. She makes my skin crawl.

 

10 hours ago, tinkerbell said:

Paula Deen tells a muscular young guy "Can I get your body under my husband's head?" 

How is this OK?  I cannot understand the idea that we stop sexualizing women who are just trying to do a job, or perform, yet it's somehow "cute" for a woman to sexualize a man like this.   If Emeril, or any of the male judges had said to a young woman, "Can I get YOUR body under my wife's head,"   they would have some serious problems with their careers.  

Knowing Paula Deen's history, I really felt for any Black contestants having to endure her judging their food. Food Network cancelled her, but I guess Fox is OK with her. 

There's this wrong-headed idea that when older women sexualize younger men, it's somehow empowering for the women and therefore okay, but it's actually just as gross as when men do it to women. And knowing what a terrible person Deen is and how she's treated people who work for her makes it horrifying to watch. Maybe she figures that predatory old broad is a better image for her than racist sack of shit, not realizing that we can see her as both simultaneously. It was interesting that they brought her out to talk to a couple of the Black contestants as they were cooking, and I am 100% certain that those contestants were told they had to flatter her and call her the Queen. It was a bad, "See! Black people like her so she couldn't possibly be racist!" skit. The only person who seemed genuinely impressed with her was the older lady (who'll "bless your heart" and "kick your ass"), so I already don't like her on that basis, although I'm willing to have my mind changed if she turns out not to be heinous.

 

1 hour ago, cameron said:

I thought it was a really nice gesture on Aaron's part to give that young contestant a scholarship to cooking school.

That was really nice, but I got the impression it wasn't a surprise to the kid or his family. When he walked out and told them they were going to New York, they were like, "oh that's great!" and not, "wait, what does that mean? We can't just move to New York!"

[eel21788]

17 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Paula Deen episode.  This is disgusting.  I am disgusted.  

Did she say, "If you want to be a racist, then be a racist?" Because that is what I heard!

[mlp]

Yes to your entire comment, fishcakes.  I can't begin to imagine why Gordon Ramsay opted to resurrect Paula Deen.  It seemed pretty clear that the contestants were told to act as if she was their idol.  Disgusting.  It was also obvious that the editing made a point of showing black people clapping for her and interacting with her in a positive way.  I'll bet some of them were put in the uncomfortable position of feeling that they had to go with the charade or lose out and some of them had no idea who she is.  

I also thought that the Mexican kid knew before his bit was filmed that he would be offered the "scholarship."  He didn't seem a bit surprised.  I'm inclined to think that he was never a serious contestant and was brought on the show just to make Aaron look like a prince.

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

I also thought that the Mexican kid knew before his bit was filmed that he would be offered the "scholarship."  He didn't seem a bit surprised.  I'm inclined to think that he was never a serious contestant and was brought on the show just to make Aaron look like a prince.

What? Is Arrrrrrroooooon the Gordon Ramsey of Masterchef this season? That is, this is the second person he's offered to help out. Something that Gordon does over on Hell's Kitchen to some contestants who get cut loose.

First that ass Mike Tyson on Hell's Kitchen, and now the racist pig Deen? WTF, Gordon?!!!

[leighdear]

Put me in the minority, I don't give a happy crap about what any of the chef's do outside the kitchen or their cookbooks.  I live in the South and everything Paula's said, many people say here without a second thought.   I use a lot of her recipes, and not a single one tastes racist.  

I think Joe is hilarious.  He's the culinary Simon Cowell.  He's not a chef, but he can promote, push and propel a good one to the top, just like Simon did with all his proteges' and make them and him HUGE amounts of cash.  And I think his little pin head is cute.

I've always liked Aaron just fine too.  He's brought his mom out on a lot of shows he's been on, and she's always seemed so lovely and gracious.  

These shows for me have NEVER been about the hosts.  I pay almost no attention to their blathering anyway, I just watch the cooks and how they prep, season, garnish and serve.  I can watch on mute just fine.  

I don't get involved with TV show hosts and their "personalities".   

Edited June 17, 2021 by leighdear

[Chyromaniac]

9 hours ago, fishcakes said:

The only person who seemed genuinely impressed with her was the older lady (who'll "bless your heart" and "kick your ass"), so I already don't like her on that basis, although I'm willing to have my mind changed if she turns out not to be heinous.

You mean the woman who made a “Song of the South” quip that Paula laughed at?  I’m not holding my breath.

[eel21788]

3 hours ago, mlp said:

I also thought that the Mexican kid knew before his bit was filmed that he would be offered the "scholarship."  He didn't seem a bit surprised.  I'm inclined to think that he was never a serious contestant and was brought on the show just to make Aaron look like a prince.

https://masterchefcasting.com/how-to-apply/

APPLICANT RESTRICTIONS

You must be 18 years or older on January 10, 2020.

You must be a citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States.

You cannot currently work as a professional chef and you cannot have ever worked as a professional chef.

Your main source of income cannot come from preparing and cooking fresh food in a professional environment (restaurants, hotels, canteens, catering, etc).

 

From his backstory, he is most likely only in the US legally because of DACA, which means he isn't even eligible to apply to the show. That was probably done as a publicity stunt for Aaron and to make a political statement, as well.

[Dena0033]

On 6/10/2021 at 7:28 AM, preeya said:

He needs to take a lesson in geography, as he tells her Atlanta is close to New Orleans. Google maps shows the distance as 470 miles. That's a big commute Aarrrrrron.

No joke, my husband has been bringing this comment up for over a week now. ha!

[Dena0033]

On 6/10/2021 at 2:11 PM, preeya said:

He is a total ASS and then some. Why he's even on the show is beyond belief as he's not a chef. His official title is "restaurateur."

I ate at one of Joe's restaurants in NYC... it was admittedly delicious. 

[fishcakes]

15 hours ago, Chyromaniac said:

You mean the woman who made a “Song of the South” quip that Paula laughed at?  I’m not holding my breath.

Ohhhh. I completely missed that. Yeah, that's not a good sign.

Edited June 18, 2021 by fishcakes

[iwantcookies]

16 hours ago, Chyromaniac said:

You mean the woman who made a “Song of the South” quip that Paula laughed at?  I’m not holding my breath.

Mary Jayne?

[GaT]

As soon as the Southern woman who made the key lime pie used the phrase "tangy wangy" I wanted her gone. I bet she's there until the very end just to annoy me.

[Diana Berry]

On 6/17/2021 at 6:22 PM, leighdear said:

Put me in the minority, I don't give a happy crap about what any of the chef's do outside the kitchen or their cookbooks.  I live in the South and everything Paula's said, many people say here without a second thought.   I use a lot of her recipes, and not a single one tastes racist.  

I think Joe is hilarious.  He's the culinary Simon Cowell.  He's not a chef, but he can promote, push and propel a good one to the top, just like Simon did with all his proteges' and make them and him HUGE amounts of cash.  And I think his little pin head is cute.

I've always liked Aaron just fine too.  He's brought his mom out on a lot of shows he's been on, and she's always seemed so lovely and gracious.  

These shows for me have NEVER been about the hosts.  I pay almost no attention to their blathering anyway, I just watch the cooks and how they prep, season, garnish and serve.  I can watch on mute just fine.  

I don't get involved with TV show hosts and their "personalities".   

 

Im from the South too and agree about Paula’s comments.  The woman can cook/bake. So tired of cancel culture.

Joe aka Simon cracks me up.

[OoogleEyes]

Ok, I'm still behind. I am watching S18E2

I don't think that I'm sorry 

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 6/17/2021 at 3:19 AM, displayname said:

Don't think I can recognize a single person from the Top 15 if my life depended on it. Nice, legendary beginning!

A couple from last week's episode let a mark in that I am actively dreading their characters ongoing participation in the show: vegan Jersey Boy and Paula Dean mini-me. I imagine that at least one is going to make it to like the top 5, and that while each is around, they will get an abundance of talking heads where they play up to their annoying stereotypes.

"Well if that dish don't taste better than a frog sunning itself on a fencepost!"

"Ey, try my vegan proscuitt! It's as strong as this bicep right here!"

[tinkerbell]

On 6/17/2021 at 5:22 PM, leighdear said:

Put me in the minority, I don't give a happy crap about what any of the chef's do outside the kitchen or their cookbooks.  I live in the South and everything Paula's said, many people say here without a second thought.   I use a lot of her recipes, and not a single one tastes racist.  

To each his own, I guess. Paula deen once was planning a wedding at a plantation, and wanted black servers, to go along with the civil war theme. For me, that says enough about her character that i can't stand her. But that's me.

[Zahdii]

I remember way back when Kate Gossellin reportedly had the hots for Paula's son, who was 39 and unmarried at the time.

I always wondered if that's the real reason Paula suddenly dropped Kate from co-hosting the mom-centric talk show she was putting together at that time (a show that never got off the ground).

Anyway, wouldn't that have been something if Bobby Dean got together with Kate Gossellin?  I bet Paula and Kate would end up loathing each other, and I know Kate would have spilled the all the tea.

[DougJones]

Thank god we are done with the auditions ! (We are, right ?) 

Aaron really annoys me with his over enunciations (he’s worse than Giada at thus point ). Shame because he was always less objectionable on Chopped. Guess we’ll find out pretty quickly which contestants are more annoying

[CrazyInAlabama]

I was so thrilled to see Morimoto.   No matter how awful the plate of food is, Morimoto always still has something nice to say. 

 

Edited June 24, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[johnmiller]

It is great to have these guest chefs on this season. Ramsay is always interesting with his temper and cussing, plus he is sharp about food and cooking. Sanchez is just there. He could not be there, and I wouldn't even notice. Bastianich is a businessman who starts restaurants. His schtick is being an endless crab, which is truly boring. So we definitely need these guest chefs to change things up.

[DB in CMH]

How much of this did they film pre-pandemic. Last episode I noticed Aron mention ”last year's winners," so at some point production must have shut down.

 

According to this, 10.

https://deadline.com/2020/10/masterchef-fox-reality-competition-series-resumes-production-covid-19-season-11-1234606056/

Edited June 24, 2021 by DB in CMH

[tinkerbell]

4 hours ago, DougJones said:

Guess we’ll find out pretty quickly which contestants are more annoying

Mary Jane.

[mertensia]

Elyce made zero impression on me so I'm not going to miss her.

[Chicago Redshirt]

There were a bunch of people in the top 15 I had no memory of seeing, even though I slogged through the audition episodes. And most of the ones I sort of remembered, it wasn't really for their food.

Like I remembered Annai because I kept misreading her name...

The black radio DJ...

Autumn because she had the Boston accent going on that grates. 

Biracial lady

That was about it.

Chelsey (sp?) started to annoy a little. 

Obviously, the judges actually got to taste the dishes and I didn't, but I would probably prefer a badly executed fish taco over whatever the heck Alejandro's dish was supposed to be. 

When they announced that one of the dishes in the bottom three was from a chef from the South, I hoped it was Mary Jane. It was pretty cruel of the editors to be like, "Face it, Tiger. You missed the jackpot!"

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

30 minutes before the first plated dish???????????????  This might not be my type of show.  I don't care at all about the process hardly and I only start to look up when they present the dishes!  Will every episode be like that?

[Emkat]

Morimoto can afford a much better hairpiece than what is going on here. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

8 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

30 minutes before the first plated dish???????????????  This might not be my type of show.  I don't care at all about the process hardly and I only start to look up when they present the dishes!  Will every episode be like that?

In past seasons, there usually were two types of episodes.

When there were even number of contestants, they would be split into teams and do a team challenge to cook for cops, firefighters, teachers, students, newlyweds, military servicemembers, customers of a fancy restaurant or fill in the blank. GR and the others would come around and berate certain people/teams for not communicating, for being disorganized, for not caring about the fill-in-the-blankers. One team wins, and all its members are safe. The other team gets sent to the Dreaded Pressure Test, where usually one (but sometimes two) people will get eliminated. Also, the judges usually give the losing team captain the option to save one or two team members to stir up drama on whether they will do the smart but douchey thing of saving themselves and whether they will stir up resentment over not saving someone who thinks they deserve salvation. 

In episodes with an odd number of contestants, they typically are given a Mystery Box of ingredients and are told to make their best dish from that. There is usually a second cook-off for the worst Mystery performers. 

This season may be shaking things up some because they have to devote more time to sucking up to the guest-judges than they might typically have done. By Masterchef Legends law, there has to be at least one reaction shot, one talking head, one statement from the guest judge about the contestant etc. per contestant. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

13 hours ago, johnmiller said:

It is great to have these guest chefs on this season. Ramsay is always interesting with his temper and cussing, plus he is sharp about food and cooking. Sanchez is just there. He could not be there, and I wouldn't even notice. Bastianich is a businessman who starts restaurants. His schtick is being an endless crab, which is truly boring. So we definitely need these guest chefs to change things up.

I noticed that Gordon always gives constructive, useful advice to the chefs with the worst dishes.  He's respectful about it.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[fishcakes]

They telegraphed that Kelsey was winning the monkfish challenge when they had her do all those talking heads about the common mistakes people make in a challenge like this intercut with shots of the other contestants making those mistakes. If you didn't know better, based on the authoritative way she was talking, you'd have thought she was one of the judges. Nothing against Kelsey, but I was kind of hoping for a twist ending with them tasting her dish and throwing it in the trash.

When Autumn said she was doing a teriyaki monkfish, I immediately thought she'd be bottom 3. In Japan, teriyaki is more a home-cooked easy dinner and in the US it's pretty much fast food, although you can get it in the more homey sit-down restaurants here too. But then she talked about her many trips to Japan and busted out at least a passing ability to speak Japanese, and I thought maybe she had enough familiarity with Japanese food to elevate a teriyaki and would be okay. But I did not expect top 3 at all. Her plate did look good, though.

I wonder if there would have been a way to save the sandwich Tay started out with. Like if there was a way to cook the fish so that it wouldn't still be losing water when done. It seems like if you could put it in a taco, you could put it in a sandwich. Then again, both tacos were bottom 3, so maybe watery fish was a factor and they didn't mention it because of all the other issues. Either way, I thought fish banh mi sounded better than what he ended up making, and his final plate didn't look all that great, but I think they're partially judged on how well they take instruction from the judges, so he probably got points for listening to Gordon when he told him to regroup, whereas Alejandro and his insistence that they eat burned cucumber knocked him down a few. I loved Morimoto's understated, "I ate the cucumber. I didn't understand it."

So far, I'm liking Suu, Autumn, Tay, and maybe Michael (the vegan). Pretty neutral on everyone else, most of whom I couldn't pick out of a line-up.

10 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

30 minutes before the first plated dish???????????????  This might not be my type of show.  I don't care at all about the process hardly and I only start to look up when they present the dishes!  Will every episode be like that?

I haven't watched in a few years, but I remember it being the way @Chicago Redshirt described. Last night would have been only half the show, and the bottom 3 would have had to compete in a pressure test, so you would see less of the preparation. Could be the first competition episode is always this drawn out and I've just forgotten.

[eel21788]

1 hour ago, fishcakes said:

They telegraphed that Kelsey was winning the monkfish challenge when they had her do all those talking heads about the common mistakes people make in a challenge like this intercut with shots of the other contestants making those mistakes. If you didn't know better, based on the authoritative way she was talking, you'd have thought she was one of the judges. Nothing against Kelsey, but I was kind of hoping for a twist ending with them tasting her dish and throwing it in the trash.

After the auditions, she was my choice to go home first. You can probably imagine my disappointment last night. 

[eel21788]

1 hour ago, fishcakes said:

I wonder if there would have been a way to save the sandwich Tay started out with. Like if there was a way to cook the fish so that it wouldn't still be losing water when done. It seems like if you could put it in a taco, you could put it in a sandwich. Then again, both tacos were bottom 3, so maybe watery fish was a factor and they didn't mention it because of all the other issues.

I think the issue was breading and frying it. It just isn't the right kind of fish for that treatment. For either the taco or the sandwich, it probably would have been okay if they had left the fish naked, cooked the moisture out of it, then put it in the taco shell or bread.

Edited June 24, 2021 by eel21788

[cameron]

18 hours ago, johnmiller said:

It is great to have these guest chefs on this season. Ramsay is always interesting with his temper and cussing, plus he is sharp about food and cooking. Sanchez is just there. He could not be there, and I wouldn't even notice. Bastianich is a businessman who starts restaurants. His schtick is being an endless crab, which is truly boring. So we definitely need these guest chefs to change things up.

Gordon looks a lot older or worn out 

 on Master Chef compared to how he looks on Hells Kitchen.

[preeya]

Arrrrrrrron"s words of wisdom:

"general rule of thumb........ no matter how long you cook something, you allow it to rest for the same amount [of time]"

Where is this "rule" written?" I never heard of anything so dumb. I cook a roast beef for an hour and let it rest for an hour. I don't think so. 

 

[mlp]

21 minutes ago, preeya said:

Where is this "rule" written?" I never heard of anything so dumb. I cook a roast beef for an hour and let it rest for an hour. I don't think so. 

Yeah, LOL.  I wondered how long he rests his Thanksgiving turkey.

[iwantcookies]

Aron  is bothering me so much. I can’t stand his pompous attitude he is even more unlikable than Joe. 
 

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

I’m watching now and…

Tay: “I’m a Black Redneck from the Midwest”

Me: “I’m sorry, come again????!!!”

[iwantcookies]

56 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I’m watching now and…

Tay: “I’m a Black Redneck from the Midwest”

Me: “I’m sorry, come again????!!!”

I laughed so hard!

That’s the role he got assigned by the producers?

[Yeah No]

I'm just glad the show is back.  I wouldn't care if the Grinch that stole Christmas was the host at this point.  I've been watching the show since day one.  I was watching Joe a zillion years ago when he was fat and appeared on his mother's PBS shows.  At this point he's like my long lost asshole cousin or something.  Same for Aaron.  I actually think Joe is a little less offensive now than he was years ago when he broke plates and gave people the "stink eye".   There are a lot of quirky and eccentric people in the culinary world.  I suppose after all these years I've just come to accept that it comes with the territory.

After the year I had these people are a welcome sight.  I know, we all had a bad year but mine was really bad....I was truly surprised to see Paula Deen, but then I remembered this is Fox so then it made sense.  I have never liked her.  She puts her foot in her mouth every time she appears on TV, like now with the comment about some guy's body under her husband's head.  I do hate cancel culture, though.  I think some of the things she was accused of were a very long time ago in a place where such things were unfortunately more common.  That doesn't make them OK or excuse her, but I think seeing them in that context might be more appropriate.  

[leighdear]

Lord, I am SO tired of FREAKIN.FISH.TACOS. 

There is nothing new, unique or revolutionary about them.  They've been a standard for so many years, it's ridiculous.  

And to keep that kind of thick, meaty fish from getting watery, you cut it in thin strips, bread the strips then fry them quickly and pile them on the sandwich.  It is that simple.  You don't use big filets or thick chunks.  

Most of these people seem to have extremely narrow culinary knowledge bases.

Edited June 25, 2021 by leighdear

[GaT]

All of could think of when the judges all ate off of the same plate.....COVID

[ljr]

The man tonight put garlic in a choclate cake!!Noone would do that. Gross.

I can believe the woman who served the cheesecake with the base on. Embarrssing.

[mertensia]

Not sad Annai is gone. No cook cheesecake? Really? 

[Grrarrggh]

I realise they only have 15 cooks this season but the editor needs to pick up the pace. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

To take a dip in the shallow pool, I will miss Annai from an eye candy perspective. I bet all the home cooks who didn't get an apron are probably like, "Man I could have done better than that chick."

When you play the Mexican flavors card and Aaron doesn't have your back, it does not bode well for you. 

I think Tay (sp?) has rapidly assumed the place of most annoying contestant. He's just so loud and extra. 

[tinkerbell]

Lexy reminds me SO MUCH of Alicia Keys when she was on The Voice - hair pulled back in a scarf, bright smile, glowing skin, no makeup. 

[mlp]

12 minutes ago, mertensia said:

Not sad Annai is gone. No cook cheesecake? Really? 

Isn't she the one who said she gave up her job to be on the show?  I wasn't sorry to see her leave.  There was nothing right with her dish.

The lava cake the judges all raved about didn't look like it had the usual runny center it should have.  I found it hard to believe that the contestant started from scratch and plated an attractive dessert when she had something like 15 minutes on the clock when she began.

Sherry Yard looks great.  She's lost weight since I saw her on a show last and her hair-style suits her.  She looks 10 years younger.

[iwantcookies]

Yep Annai is the one who quit her job.

She wasn’t a court supreme judge haha. She is a legal assistant she will find another job. 

[Leeds]

On 6/23/2021 at 9:48 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

 

Autumn because she had the Boston accent going on that grates. 

 

 

 

I'm just imagining the scene when Autumn's watching at home with her family and friends.

Autumn's mum:  "Why are you talking like that?"

Autumn: "The producers made me."

On 6/24/2021 at 6:21 AM, Emkat said:

Morimoto can afford a much better hairpiece than what is going on here. 

I couldn't get over the shorts.

[Leeds]

On 6/17/2021 at 3:22 PM, leighdear said:

Put me in the minority, I don't give a happy crap about what any of the chef's do outside the kitchen or their cookbooks.  I live in the South and everything Paula's said, many people say here without a second thought.   I use a lot of her recipes, and not a single one tastes racist.  

 

Sorry, just because a lot of people make racist comments doesn't make it okay.