Top Chef Season 5

[annabelle]

I too love Stefan. Ariane gets on my nerves. She always sounds so exhausted and, I may be wrong, but I think she's a tad lazy.

[gfweb]

If anyone in this crowd is close to the beloved Bourdain it is Stefan.

Something to ponder...

BTW I apologise for mispelling douche-boy in an earlier post.

Edited December 12, 2008 by gfweb (log)

[chappie]

I can't imagine some of the other contestants, like Fabio for example, moaning and groaning about not winning the way Jamie does. I really am hoping she gets some comeuppance.

Gene has been someone I liked -- especially the quick-thinking charcoal pit move -- but I don't think he's built to last. Got way too testy and rattled talking to Stefan at the apartment, and his entire concept for that dish was ridiculous. Can't believe he didn't simply re-cook the rice, for one.

Top contenders right now appear to be Stefan, Fabio, perhaps Rick. I would throw Jamie in there sometimes but I'm not rooting for her.

[tsquare]

And her lamb won because she was experienced enough to known how long it needed to be cooked.

I don't think she has the flash to make the finish line, but it goes to show how many people mess up because they're young and inexperienced. Certainly some kids learn quickly, but Ariane is proving the value of experience. The kids could learn something from her.

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We're still at the part of the season where all you have to do to stay in is to not screw up: slow and steady will get you pretty far right now, and taking risks in not really rewarded. There are enough remaining contestants right now that you can be relatively certain that someone is going to make something that is downright bad. Ariane has enough experience under her belt to get her through this part of the season, but I too question whether she has the chops to make it to the finale.

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Re-watched the lamb cooking. Ariane put it in late, she apologized for it, and did not insist that they wait - just said she needed two more minutes. Her team mates said they didn't want to serve raw lamb, Stefan said they could do an assembly line to get it plated and make it - and Jamie said, okay, two more minutes.

Edited December 12, 2008 by tsquare (log)

[Batard]

The folks at Whole Foods must be annoyed that the editors left that comment in by Gail about Sea Bass not being very politically correct, as they advertise theirs as sustainable and have a little book all about it.

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Tom also laments the ethical horrors of serving Chilean Sea Bass on his FoodTV blog. I'm sure most places don't really care very much about whether they are getting their product from a sustainable source or not, so maybe Tom and Gail are speaking in general?

Quickfire: no one named water!

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I only though of 'water' after salt and pepper were the ingredients. Overall, most of the chefs were way too conservative/under-confident when guessing the total number of ingredients they could name; some said they could only name four, when salt, water, and pepper already add up to three. I think they let the "duh" ingredients in there are purpose: the ones who thought about them were thinking outside the box. I have to agree with weinoo's post.

Edited December 12, 2008 by Batard (log)

[RAHiggins1]

Hell's Kitchen did a "Name that ingredient" challenge this last season too. This episode reminded me of it. At least TC used sauces that can be more vague than the new england clam chowder in HK. I don't think that they named the sauces for the chef's though. When they said the last was a Mole, I immediately thought ""Chocolate" and Stefan identified that ingredient first. I'm surprised that Padma didn't ask him to be more specific than just chocolate.

Edited December 12, 2008 by RAHiggins1 (log)

[mjc]

The folks at Whole Foods must be annoyed that the editors left that comment in by Gail about Sea Bass not being very politically correct, as they advertise theirs as sustainable and have a little book all about it.

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Tom also laments the ethical horrors of serving Chilean Sea Bass on his FoodTV blog. I'm sure most places don't really care very much about whether they are getting their product from a sustainable source or not, so maybe Tom and Gail are speaking in general?

I agree, I think they are speaking in general terms and probably don't even know anything about what whole foods is selling. This would have been a great opportunity to plug the sustainable whole foods version and help them get their money's worth for their sponsorship. Instead they make it seem like whole foods is selling an unethical product, both on the show and now the blog. As had been discussed this show is so heavily influenced by its corporate sponsors that I'm surprised by this and am curious to see if anything is going to be done about it.

[Kevin72]

Gene has been someone I liked -- especially the quick-thinking charcoal pit move -- but I don't think he's built to last. Got way too testy and rattled talking to Stefan at the apartment, and his entire concept for that dish was ridiculous. Can't believe he didn't simply re-cook the rice, for one.

Top contenders right now appear to be Stefan, Fabio, perhaps Rick. I would throw Jamie in there sometimes but I'm not rooting for her.

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I'm blanking on which one's Rick . . . ?

I totally agree on Gene. I've been (and still am) pulling for him as a dark horse but he's pretty rough around the edges. He seems like a great soldier but hasn't quite made that leap into being a leader yet. And he does seem to have pretty thin skin. There's been a couple instances where someone hugs him or gives him a head rub and you can see this momentary "don't touch me, man" flash in his eyes.

[rickster]

The list of ingredients for the Quickfire, from the Top Chef website. Water is not an "official" ingredient:

The Bouillabase: olive oil, chicken bones, lobster bodies, shrimp, carrot, yellow onion, celery, leeks, garlic, shallots, fennel, tomato, parsley, thyme, coriander seed, dried red chile, black pepper, white pepper, salt, sugar, bay leaf, juniper berries, orange peel, saffron, brandy, white wine, Pernod, sherry vinegar, heavy cream, lemon juice

The Green Curry: vegetable oil, chicken bones, yellow onion, carrot, celery, Thai green chilies, ginger, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, turmeric, thyme, bay leaf, cilantro, Thai basil, shrimp paste, fish sauce, coconut milk, rice vinegar, salt, black pepper, granulated sugar, brown sugar

The Mole: Vegetable oil, chicken bones, yellow onion, celery, carrot, garlic, ginger, jalapeno peppers, serrano peppers, dried pasilla chilies, dried guajillo chilies, tomatoes, orange zest, lime zest, epazote, cilantro, thyme, black and white sesame seeds, dried oregano, cloves, coriander, cumin, allspice, cinnamon, salt, black pepper, bay leaf, brown sugar, vanilla bean,

[chappie]

Hah -- When I said "Rick" I mean Jeff. I kept thinking of him as Rick because he looks like the character Rick Stratton on Silver Spoons as I mentioned before. Anyway, Jeff seems pretty professional.

[wkl]

The list of ingredients  for the Quickfire, from the Top Chef website. Water is not an "official" ingredient:

The Bouillabase: olive oil, chicken bones, lobster bodies, shrimp, carrot, yellow onion, celery, leeks, garlic, shallots, fennel, tomato, parsley, thyme, coriander seed, dried red chile, black pepper, white pepper, salt, sugar, bay leaf, juniper berries, orange peel, saffron, brandy, white wine, Pernod, sherry vinegar, heavy cream, lemon juice

The Green Curry: vegetable oil, chicken bones, yellow onion, carrot, celery, Thai green chilies, ginger, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, turmeric, thyme, bay leaf, cilantro, Thai basil, shrimp paste, fish sauce, coconut milk, rice vinegar, salt, black pepper, granulated sugar, brown sugar

The Mole: Vegetable oil, chicken bones, yellow onion, celery, carrot, garlic, ginger, jalapeno peppers, serrano peppers, dried pasilla chilies, dried guajillo chilies, tomatoes, orange zest, lime zest, epazote, cilantro, thyme, black and white sesame seeds, dried oregano, cloves, coriander, cumin, allspice, cinnamon, salt, black pepper, bay leaf, brown sugar, vanilla bean,

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doesn't the mole have chocolate in it?

[Reignking]

And Eugene guessed fish sauce in the curry, and got it wrong, so something's up.

[chappie]

I thought he guessed fish sauce in the bouillabase?

[Chris Hennes]

I thought he guessed fish sauce in the bouillabase?

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Phew, I'm glad someone else saw that, too. I was starting to worry about my memory! I think you're right, I think that was the bouillabase.

[rickster]

My mistake, the mole recipe ran onto a second page. Here's the rest of the ingredients:

Mexican chocolate, peanuts, almonds, pumpkin seed, golden and red raisins

[KensethFan]

I totally agree Jaime was robbed.

I loved the Quickfire but was also disappointed they were allowed to name salt and pepper since they're "duh" ingredients.

Even if the ingredients were cooked properly I would not have liked the "roll your own sushi".

Daniel said he would still be there if he threw someone under the bus. Who would he throw? He's the one who put the bad mushrooms under the salad and defended all the dishes. Gene admitted his mistakes. Carla had regrests.

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I'm not so sure that Jamie was robbed. They like the lamb and they also liked Jeff's dish. I think it really came down to those two. I don't think Jamie was ever "in the running." It really doesn't make any difference though. Jamie needs to keep focusing on the food and less on the "prizes" along the way. She needs to focus on the "big prize."

[GordonCooks]

I think Jamie is talented but I have another opinion regarding chefs whose food is "Sooooooo much better" think they are blowing away the competition.

[hsm]

Jamie may be getting the ego/insecure edit, but she's fueling it. Best she get over herself and stay focused before some silly mistake sends her packing. Before her time. Because the show is so heavily edited with judging table going on forever, reportedly, it's a little hard to imagine Tom & Co. chalking up the taste of the lamb to Arianna/not asking who else played a part in that dish. Otoh, a marinade rarely wins.

The s&p answers reminded me of cooking safe to stay in the middle. It's not wrong, in the short term, it's just lame.

[gingerbeer]

i don't think ariane deserved to win since all she did was cook the meat, but why is everyone assuming that jamie should've won? it was radhika who made the marinade for the lamb, and that was the flavour that they liked.

i can't believe danny could be so dumb...

my favourites to get to the finals are stefan, jeff, jamie and radhika. i think ariane will lose out sooner or later when things get especially creative.

[scubadoo97]

Just a comment on the QUICK FIRE challenge. I was perplexed that some had difficulties in naming ingredients. Even as a home cook I was struck by the fact that one would not have to use their palates to correctly identify the ingredients. If you know it's a mole' or a Thai curry you should be easily be able to identify at least 6 ingredients that make up that dish without tasting it. Especially if salt and pepper are ingredients.

Doing a making your own sushi for a bridal shower was a lame as it gets. It was like dumb and dumber working together. I like Gene but thought he really went south on his thinking on this. Danny, well what can you say. I think he deserved to go home.

[Tri2Cook]

My biggest surprise of this round was that they couldn't come up with something more interesting for "something blue". There are plenty of references to blue in the food world. Borage flowers are blue and edible. There's bluefin tuna, blueberry, blue corn, blue cheese, blue potato, blue kale, blue mussels, blue mountain coffee, blue basil, several beans and squash with blue in the name... this is starting to sound like the shrimp scene in Forest Gump so I'll stop now.

[gfweb]

Instead they made a dish that blew.

Edited December 13, 2008 by gfweb (log)

[daisy17]

Instead they made a dish that blew.

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Heh.

Watching a rerun now. Jeff reminds me of Brian from season 3 - he does way too much at once, there are a million things going on on his plates at once. Needs to edit his ideas.

I was surprised at the quickfire tasting challenge. I agree with scubadoo97 - I can name multiple ingredients in a mole and a green curry without tasting them, and I don't cook very much at all. I'm not sure what that proves, but I didn't find it as interesting as the tasting challenges in the past.

[wkl]

My biggest surprise of this round was that they couldn't come up with something more interesting for "something blue". There are plenty of references to blue in the food world. Borage flowers are blue and edible. There's bluefin tuna, blueberry, blue corn, blue cheese, blue potato, blue kale, blue mussels, blue mountain coffee, blue basil, several beans and squash with blue in the name... this is starting to sound like the shrimp scene in Forest Gump so I'll stop now.

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and blue foot chicken........

[rickster]

My biggest surprise of this round was that they couldn't come up with something more interesting for "something blue". There are plenty of references to blue in the food world. Borage flowers are blue and edible. There's bluefin tuna, blueberry, blue corn, blue cheese, blue potato, blue kale, blue mussels, blue mountain coffee, blue basil, several beans and squash with blue in the name... this is starting to sound like the shrimp scene in Forest Gump so I'll stop now.

I agree, but remember they were limited to what Whole Foods had in stock on that particular day.