MasterChef US on Fox

[Jaymes]

Anyone watching the kids on Masterchef Junior?

Love the little dude in the Hawiian shirts. That clip of him chopping like a maniac cracks me up!

[annabelle]

I haven't seen it yet. Are Ramsey and company judging it too? What night is it on?

[Jaymes]

I haven't seen it yet. Are Ramsey and company judging it too? What night is it on?

It's on Friday nights, but I'm sure you can find lots of reruns so you can tune in from the getgo.

Yep, Ramsey & Company judging.

One really cute episode had their kids joining in the judging.

I think it's adorable. Really have my favorites. Love the pudgy Asian girl with the big red plastic bow. OMG what a cutie, with such a zest for life. Hope she never loses that. I'm thinking of getting a big red plastic bow for myself.

And Alexander, a chubby big kid that is the clear front-runner. It's certainly possible that with his terrific personality he's one of the most popular students at his school, but I think it's more likely that he's not. And it is so wonderful that he's got this love and appreciation for cooking as his "thing." Like the dweeby violinist in the school band, you know? Somebody that's so very good at something else that you know that no matter what the other schoolkids throw his way, it ain't gonna affect him one bit. Usually, I root for the underdog, and not for the obvious front-runner. But in "Big Al" (his nickname), I'm totally on his side.

Then there's little Sarah, at only nine years old. Everybody keeps expecting her to fail because she's the youngest. But thus far, she's stuck it to 'em every time.

Here's a link to the Fox website. You can see that the judges are covered in something white. It's whipping cream. to determine the final winner from one challenge, the top three finishers had to whip cream by hand. They had to whip it to stiff peaks, stiff enough that it wouldn't fall out of the bowl when they turned it upside down. So to judge, each one of the three kids went up to stand behind one of the judges and turn the bowl over to see if the cream was whipped enough to not fall out.

As you can see, not everybody was so successful!

http://www.fox.com/masterchef-junior/

[annabelle]

Thanks! It sounds great and I meant to watch it and forgot all about it. I got soured on kids and cooking by making the mistake of watching Rachael Ray and Spiky Fierri and their kids cooking show.

Those two are cringe-worthy in themselves, but the editing made it totally obvious who was going to win from the git-go.

[Jaymes]

Can't believe there wasn't more comment regarding Junior Masterchef.

One of my favorite TV bits ever took place during the cream-whipping contest (that I mentioned above).

Little 9-yr-old Sarah had a crush on Gavin, one of the three whipping contestants.

In this clip, with the three finalists whipping furiously, the other kids are rooting them on from the sidelines. You can see Little Sarah down at the end of the line, jumping up and down, and cheering on Gavin: "Come on, Gavin. Whip it! Whip like a man! I don't wanna see that arm stop moving! Whip like a man!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnxiu3DJgtI

.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Jaymes (log)

[scubadoo97]

There is something very wrong here

[annabelle]

I love Masterchef Junior. Tonight is the finale and I bet Dara takes it home!

[Jaymes]

I love Masterchef Junior. Tonight is the finale and I bet Dara takes it home!

I'd sure love to have the recipe for those chicken wings about which the judges were waxing so rhapsodic.

[Jaymes]

And overcooked shrimp dooms another hopeful.

Kind of sad.

But understandable.

[eugenep]

On 7/28/2010 at 9:52 AM, Crouton said:

I'd love to hear your (bad) experience with Joe Bastianich... he seems a bit dismissive in nature, on Lidia's PBS shows and from gathered readings.

 

 

[too incendiary / emotional etc. so I deleted it] 

Edited August 19, 2019 by eugenep (log)

[Duvel]

2 hours ago, eugenep said:

What a mean loser nobody and I hope somebody or life gives him his comeuppance. 

 

 

Well ... Joe owns and operates some 30 restaurants in the US and abroad. It might be that he has some idea about what he is talking. 

[gfweb]

5 hours ago, Duvel said:

 

Well ... Joe owns and operates some 30 restaurants in the US and abroad. It might be that he has some idea about what he is talking. 

Son of Lidia, ex partner of Batali.

 

But yeah, I read his book years ago and he seems like a creep.

[Duvel]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

Son of Lidia, ex partner of Batali.

 

But yeah, I read his book years ago and he seems like a creep.

I don’t feel qualified to judge his character, but I do object to the assessment of “loser nobody”, given his vita ...

[MelissaH]

4 hours ago, gfweb said:

Son of Lidia, ex partner of Batali.

 

But yeah, I read his book years ago and he seems like a creep.

I also read his book. I'm curious what he might want to add or change, during this #MeToo era.

 

That said, he obviously knows how to run restaurants, although I'd like to know how he's doing sans Batali.

[liuzhou]

I think this belongs here. One of my Chinese friends has stumbled across Masterchef US videos and wanted to me to watch a couple as she had some questions. I'm not a fan, mainly because I find Joe Bastardanich an unbearable, ignorant, arrogant bully.

 

Anyway, the first sample was from the first season - part four. In the early part of the episode a contestant had won an advantage by being allowed to choose one of three ingredients for everyone to make a Chinese dish.

 

She was offered a range of Chinese mushrooms (some of which Ramsay listed using their Japanese names), mandarin oranges or duck. The contestant said she didn't know of any Chinese dishes using duck! Peking Duck is probably the most famous Chinese dish!

But she chose the mandarin oranges, something I have never, ever seen in any Chinese cooking - domestic or professional.

The fourteen contestants then cooked a range of 'Chinese dishes' none of which anyone in China would recognise. They used ingredients unknown in China - allspice, for example. And all the 'wrong' cooking techniques. But every cliché in the book. My friend asked "What are they doing?

Using his best American English, Ramsay asks one contestant if her dish is a starter or my least favourite word, an 'entreé'. There are no such concepts in Chinese cuisine.

 

My friend, an Americanophile, was utterly baffled. "Ramsay claims that no one knows more about food than he does. How can he get this so wrong?"

Then we moved on to Series 8 Episode 1 for some comedy. One would-be contestant at the audition stage stated:

"I spent a lot of time in China. I have studied the culture and the food."

Three minutes later she said "I lived in China for two months."

As my friend reminded me, I have lived in China for 25 years and am nowhere near an expert in Chinese food or culture. No one is. Two months barely gives you time to work out where the nearest restaurant is! And she didn't speak Chinese.

Her audition dish was, according to her, a 'Beijing Duck Taco'. The duck component was nowhere near a Beijing duck. And it didn't even look like a taco.

She failed the audition and was sent packing.

 

Now I'm trying to find a Chinese video of people trying to cook western food and getting it totally wrong.

Edited July 19, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[heidih]

That is appalling but as you have seen not surprising. I don't watch those competition shows but occasionally watch you tube video that shows street food in other countries. The hosts I've seen most are US born but have lived in Asia for many years (Wiens - Bangkok, Shine - Korea > Vietnam). Watching the cooks is fun but listening to the hosts can be cringe-worthy. I mean these folks have editing staff, usually local talent. And yet they misidentify things, especially herbs and spices. Perplexing.

[rotuts]

MasterXXX  is a comercial enterprise.

 

it is designed for Institutional  Profit. 

 

minimal costs,  cast hired for ' effect '

 

it is not an educational effort

 

in any way .

 

PBS used to be educational with its cooking shows 

 

some more insightful  than others .

 

they are mostly now designed for the profit of the Franchise .

 

cookbooks , churn , etc  to varying degrees.

 

from time to time the better productions  have 

 

interesting ideas and demonstrate a new technique .

 

The days of Julia Child  ' The French Chef "

 

" Brought to you by Polaroid "

 

15 second early commercial at most most ! ( the message was from a Cambridge company )

 

are long over .

 

Mrs Child did indeed benefit 

 

I have all her cookbooks

 

in HardBack.

 

20 years ago , I had cable installed in the house i grew up in

 

' free installation '  and free for a few months .

 

I did this as I was involved in selling the house 

 

I lived there for this time and thus took the opportunity 

 

to use the cable connection to learn how to move some of the

 

FoodNetwork content   into my computer 

 

and then manipulate it and save ( some of it )

 

this was  2000 or so.

 

FoodNetwork, after editing had more content than PBS

 

at that time .

 

( PBS  had their ads , the cooking show ads , then donation ads.)

 

FN :  Emeril , Sara Moulton , Wolfgang Puck and the like.

 

the intent is profit

 

same as FB  ( its free , isn't it ? )

 

if you think MasterXXX reflects any thing else 

 

other than carefully crafted profit 

 

to the venue 

 

cultivating dumb these days is very profitable .

 

FB banks on this .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by rotuts (log)