Kevin72

Umbria in the fall, what could be better? Isn't it amazing how not sick of pasta you can be when you're in Italy? I'm having a lot of fun reading about your exploits and can't wait to see what sort of trouble Judith had in store for you!

I agree. Next week's season wrapup will be neat and I hope they do a "where are they now" for each member. I think most will benefit from their time on the show, most especially any of the top three, winner or not.

Bwahaha! Yes, it did look a little BBC Playhouse, didn't it? Entertainment Weekly's blog on the finale is solid and funny again, particularly about Brian as a judge. And I'm furiously refreshing Bourdain's blog page for his summary as well.

Not much new to add here. It would've been nice to see Casey win, and it was sad to see her fall apart like that. Totally didn't see that coming. It must've really been hard on her 'cause she clearly knew from the cooking competition that she didn't have it, and had to go through the motions the past month or so. Hung did deserve to win. He was in control from the get go last night and actually seemed to take the feedback he was given to heart, which I thought he was too arrogant to do and then that would be his undoing. So I guess having 3 chefs go on did, in the end, make for better viewing since if it had just been Hung and Casey it would've made for boring viewing. Both Hung and Dale came around in the latter half of the season. Hung got a lot goofier and started having fun, and Dale started really distinguishing himself as well. I'd say the only thing I didn't like last night was the last minute add on of a 4th dish (loved Dale's remark about having to stop in the middle of prep) and then pulling some, ah, less distinguished cast offs back into the fold for the final wrap up. How cool would it have been for Tre and Hung to team up instead? Casey and Lia? Though Dale and CJ were fun together.

Cent'erbe (sp?) a bright green liquer made from "a hundred herbs" from neighboring Abruzzo. I scoured Roman shops for it with no luck, and I've never seen it stateside.

I've started vaguely researching this one. Lots of sweets and pastries but not much in the way of savory. And I went to three separate sources looking for them, including a well-stocked Asian market, with no luck.

Solid idea. Although I may struggle with persimmons since I don't like 'em. ETA: But I'll look around and see. I also like the idea of keeping the challenges seasonal and off the beaten track for Italian cuisine: a tomato challenge, for instance, might be kinda boring.

Elsewhere on the web, Bourdain's blog on this episode is finally up. One of his gems is ripping the show for wasting Ripert on "a Scout jamboree" and having the finest seafood chef in America judge an elk cookoff at a ranch in the mountains. He also delves into the whole "soul" thing. EW's blog this week brings up an interesting point that I kind of agree with: Although I disagree on the CJ and Tre part. Much as I'd like Tre to be around still (and win) you just couldn't argue with the fact that he screwed up a dish, was given a second chance, and then went back and made the same thing again with similar results. But, as for letting contestants go based on their total experience, I did say similar things when Lia was dismissed. But I think that's a fair point about Dale: I've grown to like and respect him, but clearly Hung and Casey have consistently distinguished themselves. Going in Casey's favor is that Hung has finished bottom as much if not more than he won competitions. She's shown definite growth, she's consistently impressed as the stakes have gotten higher, and she's probably better suited for the PR aspects of the "Top Chef" role than Hung is.

He's mentioned it a couple times: during that grocey aisle quick challenge a couple weeks ago he went on a tear about being from a family of immigrants and that everyone in his family is in the restaurant biz. I did forget to mention that Hung was pretty much blowing smoke on the judge's panel, though. They asked him what he thought of the challenge and he'd made it pretty clear he didn't care about it or the clientele earlier. And the impassioned speech about soul seems to be him trying to spin around the refrain on him about his cooking lacking depth.

Not much to say about this one; seemed like more or less and excuse to get rid of Brian before moving on to the finale. Twice the judges mentioned how good the quality of the chefs has been this season, but it's certainly not anything the judges have bothered to say previously in the in the past, oh, 4-5 episodes. It would seem pretty evident that Casey's got it locked up (uh-oh). The ongoing meme this season has been that Hung is techinically proficient but his dishes lack heart and it was really piled on him last night. I thought for a second he was going to be going home in a true late season twist. But I've kinda grown to like the guy; he is what he is and doesn't seem as passive-aggressive as Marcel last season. And Dale's become increasingly reliable for a funny quip each episode as well. I thought his speech about why he should stay was touching.

Aww, I miss having us all together on these threads! Don't the Dutch or the Germans use cast iron skillets, or some sort of cookware at least with cast iron? Though Lodge, the biggest manufacturer of Cast Iron, is in the US . . .

Huh. I dunno, I liked this episode. He did seem alot more enthusiastic this time and gushed about the food the way he's done in his Asian travels or in France. As to all the contrived stuff, I just took it as another thematic experimentation like they seem to have done each episode this season. Although, if Tony were feeling sheepish, still, about doing the "Tuscany thing" and showcasing a part of Italy everyone's beaten him to, I'd suggest his next Italy jaunt cover Puglia, Basilicata, or Calabria. I'd throw Sardinia in there but Tara Reid did go there on her show, and I can only imagine how he'd feel following her.

So, going back a couple years ago when I made this meal, you'll recall that I have ongoing problems with the chicken "sticking" to the grill losing much of its precious skin and marinade in the process and then winding up tasting "metallic". At the time I speculated on shaking it up and trying a different method. Well, after a two-year break, and again jonesing for all these "transition dishes" I love this time of year, I delved back into pollo alla diavola once more. I really had to talk myself out of my comfort zone this time and trying something new instead of just sticking to the grill one more time and inevitably ending up disappointed. After waaaay too much fretting and worrying, I decided to get a cast iron skillet shrieking hot on the burner attachment of my grill, douse it in olive oil, dump the split chicken in, back-down, and then toss the whole pan atop a preheated grill. Rewinding a bit: I marinate the chicken in a combination of mustard, olive oil, rosemary, black pepper, and chilies overnight. A few hours before grilling, I take it out of the fridge but leave it in its marinade bag and place several iron skillets atop it to flatten it out. I do the whole maneuver above and put it in the pan and then over the grill. I also toss like half a rosemary tree over the flames to get a good smoke going. The split, flattened chicken cooks remarkably fast and gets brown quickly. It's done in 20-25 minutes, tops. The pan comes off the grill sizzling and sputtering and doesn't quiet down for 5-10 more minutes. So the chicken obviously continues to cook. Oh. My. God. The skin is perfectly crisp this time, no loss on the grill, no metallic taste. It's soooo juicy and smokey, too. I was extremely, extremely pleased with myself. Oh, and a double triumph meal: going a few pages back, you'll see I was also frustrated with the pasta with arugula pesto I'd been making. Recently, a small boutique produce market that caters to Dallas's top restaurants has opened its doors to the public and it's now a weekly obsession of mine. So one week they were selling wild arugula. I bought a bunch and pureed it down into the pesto. Sure enough, as Pontormo had suggested, the differences in variety shone very clear and the whole dish was redolent of that earthy, peppery goodness that is arugula.

Fall is my favorite full-on season of the year but I've really taken a shine to the "transition seasons" where it's not quite one or the other yet. So naturally a favorite of those is the summer-fall transition, when there's a last burst of summer produce combined with the first hints of the cooler weather to come. In English, we call this special season "September". I've been a grilling fiend, too, of late. One dish I usually make this time of year is some variation of grilled squid, served over a bed of cannellini beans and peperonata. Tuscan-ish, I guess. This version was the stuffed squid tubes (the filling is the chopped tentacles, breadcrumbs, garlic, rosemary, and anchovies). Fresh arugula wilts in over the top as well.

This episode aired last night on Travel Channel and was, predictably, quite fun. Dario is pretty much what I imagined him to be. I love that Tony admitted being intimidated and Cesare's advice to just talk louder than Dario. Further discussion in ongoing on the No Reservations topic on Food on Television and Radio boards . . .

Hello- I have two questions: Bourdain claimed that Italians/Tuscans? on the show prefered pasta dressed with olive oil and cheese. Is that correct? He also said that meatballs are served on the side with pasta. Is this also correct? I do not want to accept this fact simply because Tony Bourdain says so, I woul like some confermation(sp?) from the experts. ← Yes, it is more commonplace in Italy to see meatballs served separate from the pasta course, with the pasta dressed in the sauce that the meatballs cooked in. Puglia, however, does have a "pasta and meatballs" traditional dish, as desribed by Nancy Harmon Jenkins in her cookbook Flavors of Puglia. Pasta dressed only with olive oil and cheese is a common dish not just in Tuscany but all over Italy. Actually, I was a little shocked that Jamie Oliver would have that kind of recipe in one of his books. It just looked gross. But Tony isn't holding back lately, between the broadside on RR last week and Oliver this week . . .

Excellent episode! That cheese! THough I'd love the behind the scenes story on that director.

Oh, yeah. I totally fell for that one. My wife even signed off on him after that comment.

Yep, both Quickfire and Elimination challenges were exactly what this show should be about. I did think, and still kinda do, that Dale should have been the one going home. First, I fall into the "failed conception" camp as the worst error. But also, there was some failed execution in his dish, as well: the chicken was dry and he forgot the sauce!

Here's a hint of it. You may want to dig around further; this is from page 20 of this thread. ETA: I liked the episode too. It just sucks that for various reasons, he didn't look back well on the experience in a place where I think it'd be impossible not to have a good time.

Maybe it was in Nasty Bits, but somewhere Tony wrote that he didn't have a good time filming that episode and that he didn't gel with their handler. It may even be somewhere in this thread after it aired.

Yes, it sucks that all that stuff piled up on his first televised Italy visit. I was too blinded by the scenery to catch anything amiss, so I was sad to find out all that later on. Though it did give us the nice "fixing the tire" segment (and delicious, nasty rants) used on his Leftovers episode!

It already looks like it makes up for his subdued outing to Sicily.

I think this is their best season yet. Each episode has its own distinct narrative and perspective. The Big Nasty last night looked pretty appetizing. Next week: Tuscany!!!!!

Jimmy's has, or had as of Saturday, in stock several packages of Niman Ranch Guanciale (cured pig's jowl and the best way to make bucatini all'amatriciani or carobonara sauce). It's a couple pounds and in two pieces. I've bought one before and split each piece in half then tossed them all in the freezer. Fairly cheap, too: I think in the neighborhood of $20.