Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Living in the Philippines, we get older shows, not the current stuff. That said, they are still lots of fun. I loved Hell's Kitchen with Ramsey. Now we have Top Chef Season 8 and Top Chef Masters 2 playing. Plus Marco P White's The Chopping Block, but Marco is problematic since the cable channel ran the first 5 episodes and instead of continuing on to finish the last 3, they restarted episode 1 again in place of episode 6. Filipinos have the word "bitin" (pronounced bih - teen) for something left suspended, dangling or a sense of frustration due to a premature ending. We are quite "bitin" after watching Marco kick a way too obnoxious mother and daughter pair from the competition in episode 5. Sadly for me, the remaining episodes aren't available even via torrents.

Yeah, we can look up episode synopsis and competition results over at wikipedia, but it is much more satisfying to see the show unfold, argue about the chefs, their dishes, and enjoy it all.

So I really enjoy watching Top Chef the most these days. The Masters competition really puts out some good dishes. The All Stars or Top Chef 8 is more fun due to the personalities involved. My wife enjoys watching the egos bouncing against each other.

Boundain shows up regularly and I like his style and some of the places he visits are amazing. Zimmern is okay, but only just for me. The bizzare foods are amusing but somehow the show leaves me kind of bored. Jamie O is on with various themes, sometimes school lunches, sometimes 30 minute meals. I really enjoy him even if I don't always find his menus all that interesting. I miss the New Zealand born Bobby Chinn who is based in Vietnam and does a pretty good Asian exploration of ethnic and street foods. I'd love to visit his restaurant someday but it is in Hanoi, not the more interesting Ho Chi Minh City.

Well, not so much interest in these among serious food lovers and professional in the culinary world, I take it. We have watched a couple different seasons of Top Chef, the first two seasons of Top Chef Masters, and we just started watching Top Chef Just Desserts but are only 2 episodes into them. Sadly the food is the least interesting in this series so far, but my wife is enjoying the personal conflict aspect rampant in the series.

These are not "cooking" shows, but entertainment based on competition and conflict. Still the food is an obvious component and watching folks under pressure rise (or fall) to the occasion is something I and my wife enjoy. Sometimes it is the sheer inventiveness, other times it is revelation of individual personalities. And watching over a few seasons, we find individuals that were initially annoying to grow (or maybe we simply accommodate?) and become favorites.

Watching Marco Pierre White's "Chopping Block" series was fun too. Not as well developed, for us, but still interesting to see people competing, ignoring the obvious, overcoming failure, and hanging in there.

My first taste of this stuff was from Hell's Kitchen with Gordon Ramsay. Season 1 was kind of interesting, but season 2 had an amazing woman who worked through an accident and was simply awe inspiring to watch, in terms of personal courage and dedication. I guess that sort of hooked me.

So these competitions are far from the Blumenthal "In Search of Perfection" or a Bayless "Mexico One Plate at a Time" instructional, yet they have some interesting aspects, though for someone that spends their day in a working kitchen, I could see that the genre might not be all that enticing.

Tatoosh

My wife, who is working on her Masters degree in Special Education, got to ask Rick Moonen five questions about his ADHD experience growing up and becoming a chef. They were going to chat via phone, but the time difference between the USA and the Philippines was problematic. Anyway, one of the things he mentioned was when he got to work in a professional kitchen, with so many things going on, all the sights, sounds, and smells were beckoning him, he loved it and knew he'd found a home.

I hope my wife and I will have a chance to enjoy his cuisine at one of his restaurants when we visit the USA in the future. He was a very nice guy and made time in his schedule just to help her. Thoughtful!

Adreneline -- It's like Ritalin your body makes for you.

Did anybody see the latest Top Chef with the Raw Turkey? I can't believe they even aired this part of the show. What chef wouldn't check the temperature of the Turkey before serving it to a customer. Just ridiculous.

Yeah, sometimes you just have to wonder. But then again, I've had food served to me by so-called chefs that has been undercooked, overcooked, and downright unappealing.

Unfortunately I can't watch Top Chef since Bravo doesn't stream the episodes on their site, and I'm too cheap to pay for Netflix or Hulu plus. I only watch things I can see for free.* I miss Top Chef since getting rid of the TV.




*by free I mean included in the exorbitant cost of my cable internet.

Do you use a Mac or a PC?