Cooking for our Queen

[June Pickering]

Blackiston won. AWT burnt his oxtail, and that was keenly noted by the judges.

[Mrs Foodie]

Thanks for letting me know - I thought AWT's pudding looked far better....

[JudyB]

Blackiston won. AWT burnt his oxtail, and that was keenly noted by the judges.

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I'm sure that the coincidence was completely accidental, but the episode of Masterchef Goes Large shown in the middle of Saturday Kitchen (with AWT) this morning contained some scathing comments about a contestant who was foolish enough to serve burnt food during a cookery competition...

[Matthew Grant]

Weak main courses last night, I don;t think the vegetarian option looked good and although it may have been lovely The hotpot was copied from an elderly Lancastrian woman and looked sloppy.

[kutsu]

Missed it all this week as I'm out viewing houses, are these up for download from the BBC? I'd heard they were trialing a bit-torrent type service.

[June Pickering]

I was very, very disappointed with those main courses last night. The Hotpot wasn't a bad idea considering the premise, but the presentation was terrible. I think we'll see a different one tomorrow from what they showed of the judge's table for Friday. Couldn't these people do better??

[Andy Lynes]

I think Simon Rmmer is trying his hardest.

[Mark Donnelly]

Was browsing through the book that accompanies the series and discovered that Angela Hartnet, who is representing Wales, was born in Kent and her mother is Italian. How Welsh is that?

Still I'm glade that risible TWA got unanimously thumped last week. Same for SR this week. I mean a pancake for Mains.

[Laibach]

I agree Simon is doing his best and I am sure Wareing would not have done Hotpot had he been up against someone like Philip Howard (not that he would enter).

Then again, I am sure the Ramsay PR machine would not have been so keen to have their No.2, Wareing, compete...

[Champagne Sadie]

I think Simon Rmmer is trying his hardest.

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I agree. To be fair, Rimmer, a self trained chef, pretty much knows that he is not on the same level as Wareing (who is coming across as a bloody nice bloke). He's going for the plan of cooking in a different style to try and win on "uniqueness".

Rimmers main last night looked and sounded very grim, Wareing's dish was great in that it was very representative of the region, but would the Queen, or anyone for that matter, really want to eat Hotpot in June???

Rhodsie to win.

[tomcbell]

I think Simon Rmmer is trying his hardest.

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I agree. To be fair, Rimmer, a self trained chef, pretty much knows that he is not on the same level as Wareing (who is coming across as a bloody nice bloke). He's going for the plan of cooking in a different style to try and win on "uniqueness".

Rimmers main last night looked and sounded very grim, Wareing's dish was great in that it was very representative of the region, but would the Queen, or anyone for that matter, really want to eat Hotpot in June???

Rhodsie to win.

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I agree to an extent with Rimmer's decision (oh memories of Red Dwarf!) to be distinctive, as opposed to trying to compete by cooking Michelin-style food against someone he knows is more accomplished on that front. However, choosing a vegetarian main course, especially one which has no link whatsoever with the North, let alone Britain, seems ludicrous. I for one would not be happy if I were dining at the Queen's 80th birthday banquet not having meat in the 'meat' course.

It will be interesting to see what the judges make of Wareing's hotpot.

[Pweaver1984]

Surely when the South East heat of Gary Rhodes Vs Atul Kochhar is on the Judges will easily be able to tell which chef is cooking what menu; thus influencing their decision?

[Champagne Sadie]

Surely when the South East heat of Gary Rhodes Vs Atul Kochhar is on the Judges will easily be able to tell which chef is cooking what menu; thus influencing their decision?

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True.

Edited May 4, 2006 by Champagne Sadie (log)

[Mandarin]

Considering the combined years of experience and talent of (most of these) chefs, and the huge repetoire they have to work from , don't really think that any of them have come up with a really suitable July meal to serve 300. I mean, how summery is Lancashire Hot Pot.

[Bapi]

Only caught part of the programme today, but I did see the bit where Simon Rimmer went to Cartmel to try Sticky Toffee Pudding at the famous village shop. We bought a couple when we popped in after lunch at L'Enclume. Jesus they are rich, but utterly fabulous. They also sell a sticky toffee sauce to go with it- which is equally as rich. Not the sort of dish one would mention to one's Cardiologist.

[Matthew Tomkinson]

Surely when the South East heat of Gary Rhodes Vs Atul Kochhar is on the Judges will easily be able to tell which chef is cooking what menu; thus influencing their decision?

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I think a critic of Matthew Fort's experience would be able to tell most of the contestant's food apart especially the stuff from Marcus Wareing (apart from the hotpot which certainly doesnt look like the Food from Petrus but does from The Savoy Grill but also isnt vegetarian) I think if you have eaten in the various restaurants you can see who cooked what (apart from the odd dish).

[JudyB]

I think a critic of Matthew Fort's experience would be able to tell most of the contestant's food apart especially the stuff from Marcus Wareing (apart from the hotpot which certainly doesnt look like the Food from Petrus but does from The Savoy Grill but also isnt vegetarian) I think if you have eaten in the various restaurants you can see who cooked what (apart from the odd dish).

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It certainly sounded like they knew which menu was from the "classically trained" chef.

It was interesting tonight to see the judges coming to blows for a change instead of the chefs!

[JudyB]

Was browsing through the book that accompanies the series and discovered that Angela Hartnet, who is representing Wales, was born in Kent and her mother is Italian.  How Welsh is that?

According to the BBC North-East Wales website her family moved to Wales from Italy.

Edited May 6, 2006 by JudyB (log)

[Mrs Foodie]

Nobody seems to be commenting on this programme any more - is it a foregone conclusion that Gary will win the whole thing?

Having watched a few episodes recently I think his food is by far the most likely to appeal to Her Maj. What is really annoying is the fact that they keep repeating bits, again, and again......

Is this week the last week of the heats does anyone know?

[Mike Hunt]

Nobody seems to be commenting on this programme any more - is it a foregone conclusion that Gary will win the whole thing?

Having watched a few episodes recently I think his food is by far the most likely to appeal to Her Maj. What is really annoying is the fact that they keep repeating bits, again, and again......

Is this week the last week of the heats does anyone know?

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Last of the heats I think.

The problem with this dross is they've tried to make a little content go a long, long way.

If you just watch the program broadcast on a Friday you've virtually missed nothing at all.

Who gives a damn about where they 'source' ingredients as most individuals with more than 2 braincells will know anyway.

BTW - That bloke Rimmer who used vegetarian black pudding needs a good kicking for that alone.

[Tim Hayward]

Nobody seems to be commenting on this programme any more - is it a foregone conclusion that Gary will win the whole thing?

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Was at a press event today with a chef/contestant and one of the food stylists from the show who ruefully confirmed that Gary will indeed win, by royal command, as predicted by Popbitch (and our own ChampagneSadie) over a month a ago.

Makes you wonder why they bother really.

Who cares what the wrinkly, scrotal old parasite gets for her tea anyway?

Surely the only thing more supremely irrelevant that the monarchy is Gary Rhodes.

In fact, I'm racking my brains to think of a single one of our 'celebrity' chefs who's come out of this with any distinction at all.

Frankly, the entire thing might as well have been planned to show them up as the grasping, dead-eyed media whores they truly are.

Maybe I shouldn't have had that last Margherita.

[Matthew Grant]

What I don't understand is why the Queen would feel quite so strongly that Gary Rhodes would have to win? None of them are cooking anything particularly outrageous.

Overall I have given up on the show, as Mike says you can simply watch Fridays show to get away from the repetitive dross. Do we really have to be introduced to the judges everyday, have the format of the show explained, have the judging system explained, have a look back everyday on what happened the previous day, have a look forward everyday to what is going ot happen later in the week....blah blah blah. It would be interesting to see how much of a show was left if you edited all that stuff out. My guess would be around 15 minutes a day.

[Adam Balic]

Yes, the show format is far too "reality TV" driven and a bit pointless really.

What I thought has been interesting is that although the format of the contest is in some way "regional", most of the pairs have really struggled to pull together a regional menu and in some cases, have almost certainly produced a dud dish in the attempt. The Scots made the best attempt at this I think.

Obviously, "regional" can be interpreted in different ways, but surely it can't be that difficult to put something together for chefs of this level?

[Matthew Grant]

I think it would have made more sense to have regional heats but allow them to use produce from all over Britain.

[Tim Hayward]

Don't get me started on the BBC's patronising insistence on involving 'The Regions'.

Admitedly anything that includes regionalism, the Royal family, an element of reality show and hour upon hour of infinitely repeatable dross is an absolute shoe-in for the BBC commissioners but I'd question, in many cases, the chefs' own commitments to their areas.

There are few chefs with any profile in national media who are committed to serving their local community when they could be 'up London' and gurning onto screens nationwide.

Sure, they all bang on about locally 'sourced' ingredients but only to the extent that it adds some gloss of authenticity to their schtick. 'Local ingredients' has become the knee-jerk touretting of a chef with bugger all to say and air to fill. It's only a notch more intelligent than the ever useful 'The lemon really cut's through the richness'.

With, yet again, the noble exception of the Scots, there's not one of them who you don't feel would move straight to Notting Hill with the rest of the B List TV presenters if they got another show commissioned.

A pox on the lot of them.

I'm convinced that this show has marked the absolute nadir of the 'Chefs on Telly' craze. It's difficult to image how the whole business can do anything now but subside like an enormous, ruptured, guff-filled bladder.