Any time!

Spike did cook things people enjoyed eating. Did he screw other contestants over? Maybe but if they chose to not play the game,they screwed themselves too.

My jaw dropped when I read this. Can anyone find anything to add?!?

I could not agree more, and actually I made a very long post about it which no one seemed to notice. :-(

I did caveat it however with, I would not feel the same way about Lisa being in the finale (that its ok b/c she adds drama) if she had beat out either Stephanie or Richard for the final spot, since they are obviously the 2 best by far. For example, in Season 2 I was so disgusted that Marcel was in the finale because they snubbed Sam, the obviously best chef there, for him to get in because him and Ilan hated each other the most, so in their opinion it made for better TV.

Which leads me to this point, which I would love to hear people's thoughts on:

Do you think its possible that Top Chef went from having a Top 2 in the finale to having a Top 3 so they could keep the sucky villain chef no one likes in the finale for pure entertainment value without having to snub a much better chef and risk pissing people off or making it completely obvious that the decision was not made by the judges? I think this show made a lot of skeptics during Season 2 with that Marcel move and this might have been a good way, in their mind, to remedy that problem. THOUGHTS?

That is one hall of Fame gripefest there. Congratulations!

Your commemerative plaque is on the way!

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!
That was a little funny

Correct me if I am wrong, but last season wasn't the justification for having 3 chefs in the finale the talent level?

There is absolutely no way they can use that critera this season.

Today in the LA Times there was an ad that showed all the chefs except Stephanie and Lisa. I'm trying not to read anything into it ... like the fact that perhaps in the end it's Lisa and Stephanie and Richard is out?

Oy veh!

1 pound scales from a large carp (you want real texture and "mouth feel", fish removed and discarded
1 large tub Sav-a-Lot peanut butter, melted
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

of course they are going to justify in some other way - do you really think hung and dale were that talented??? last season was the biggest disappointment. i think the fact that it was changed after season 2 says something telling!!

I would like to see a Top Chef special in which previous TC winners and/or runners up compete against the judges. I think that would be pretty interesting.

I like that, too. Same premise, I think, as applying cold cream before make up to keep it from clogging one's pores (a theatre thing) .

You should share your meds with the rest of us.

1 pound scales from a large carp (you want real texture and "mouth feel", fish removed and discarded
1 large tub Sav-a-Lot peanut butter, melted
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 brown, overripe avocado

Please add some pooshrooms and maybe a little polish sausage and rice???

And a little more on the incredulousness that many find regarding the difficulty that some find cooking rice - that's it's so simple to cook rice and even the most rudementary cook should be able to do it, I give you something from today's Tennessean:


Hideyuki Watanabe Sushi Chef Wave Sushi Bar
1008 Woodland St.

226-9283

Before he learned to make maki, Hideyuki Watanabe found his way to Nashville at age 18 from Kobe, Japan, with his five-string banjo and a plan to play music. Now 30, his main concern is sushi as the chef of Wave Sushi Bar in East Nashville. But even with the differences in career, Watanabe finds creativity in both."It's pretty much the same thing as playing music — when people come up and say the food was good," he said. "When I was playing music, it was usually someone else's music, but here it's something that I created."


Sushi studies
Watanabe learned to make sushi on the job at Ichiban Japanese Restaurant in downtown Nashville where he worked for six years. While the rolling technique and precision slicing might seem tricky, Watanabe said making perfect rice can be most difficult. Too much water can cause rice to break, but too little water leaves rice hard. Even after nearly 10 years, it's a practice Watanabe continues to master.

"I feel like I'm still learning how to cook rice," he said.

<snip>

So there.

Having said that, every future contestant for Top Chef should practice making 5 or more cups of rice using the proper technique for the proper rice. Here are the categories of cooking and the types of rice appropriate for each one:

Rinsing should be done for most types of rice except for arborio and other risotto appropriate rices.

Soaking is necessary for glutinous rice and optional for everything other than risotto rices (and jasmine rice doesn't benefit from it so much).

These are the two most common methods to cook rice:

Boiling rice is appropriate for almost any kind of rice except for jasmine rice (and of course risotto - in fact, we'll just leave risotto out of the rest of the discussion as it has its own requirements). Approximate ratio is 5 to 1 cups of water to rice. Add salt. Bring to boil, then lower heat and uncover. Cook until rice is just tender. Strain rice through strainer and rinse with lots of hot water. Take strainer and cover with lid or towel while sitting over the cooking pan (off heat). Let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

Absorption method for basmati or jasmine rice (and also short grain rices and glutinous rice, although the latter needs to be soaked for at least an hour or two, up to 4 hours or longer). Put rice in a pan. Pour in enough water to cover rice by about an inch (some use the first knuckle of the index finger to measure). Add a dollop of vegetable oil or ghee. Add a little salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce to lowest setting. Cover and continue to cook at lowest setting. For two cups or less, this will only take about 12 -15 minutes. Larger batches will take longer. Resist opening the top to check for at least 12 minutes, regardless. You are essentially steaming the rice once most of the water is gone. If you check it too often, you lose the effect of the steam. Don't stir the rice ever. The best way to ckeck it is to use a chopstick and move a little of the rice from the middle and see if there's still any standing water. If so, keep cooking but check every 2 or 3 minutes until the bottom of the pan is dry. You can also remove the rice from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes still covered. One indication that cooking is about over is the presence of steam holes in the top of the rice.

The problem with cooking rice is that you can't always predict how long a given amount of water will take to finish cooking a batch of rice. It's not exactly cut 'n dried and a good result comes only from repeated experience and the knowledge of how the rice should look at various stages of cooking. I personally like the absorption method when cooking basmati and jasmine rice because I'm pretty good at it, but it takes some faith and self-discipline not to peek too soon. As I have never cooked more than 2 cups of it at a time, I would definitely have to practice before making more, just to know when to arrest the cooking.

You can also cook using the oven method and the steaming method but I'm not going to go into detail about them. Also, brown rice always takes longer to cook than white rice, even if you soak it.

Most of this info comes from the book Rice & Risotto by Christine Ingram. ISBN 1-84309-574-2 Hermes House.

His grace must have surprised the producers. “Yeah,” he says. “During our confessional interviews, they were getting pissed off at me because I wasn’t, you know … ”


Would have loved to be a fly on the wall for Harolds stuff.

I've never found rice all that hard to cook. It can be a pain though. But so is toast.

OMG!!! I remember that! I was puzzled by that call. You have a point, Sam should've had a place in the finals. Poor Sam.....




I loved that moment in Hawaii when Tom C. said, "he didn't cook anything!" I laughed hard and long especially with Padma saying "so!" That was like Cheney being questioned about the lead up to Iraq where he said "so" about people debating about the truthfullness and the necessity to go in there and overthrow their government! Reminds me of someone being hit over the head about doing something wrong and they say "AND..." Just being totally oblivious to facts it seems! I don't think Sam should have even made it with some of his clunkers; toad in the hole (yuck) among others! He was better at QF's since he really didn't use heat most of the time; spices, flavors, etc were his stock in trade! I could be biased since I lost all respect for him when his ranting at Marcel then allowing that mugging to go on unchecked! He really should have been auf'd right then and there along with Cliff and Ilan! That would have been justice for the season!

Please, please, please..can someone explain to me how Lisa can be in the final 3??!!! I do not know which is more foul: her personality or her cooking! I mean, seriously, she just comes across as a really unpleasant person. When she boasts about her cooking, does she remember she has never won a quick-fire and is 1/13 in the elimination challenges?? I almost fainted when Dale was sent home during the restaurant wars...the only dishes the judges found edilble were his! I cannot believe they sent Antonia home instead of Lisa. I thought she would finally be gone! It seems the only way she is saved each week is because someone just happens to make a more serious error in that particular challenge. If it had anything to do with the whole body of work, she should have been out weeks ago. And what about her pissy little comments to Richard and Stephanie at the end of last weeks' episode??

2oz. polish sausage (or chorizo)

- you said "equanimity" - vocabulary is SOOO hot!

Even Bourdain pointed out that she had a horrible attitude, that she was unable to receive criticism however constructive from the judges.

I still say she looks constipated in judging with her arms crossed and her turkey waddle on display. That was so mean. Sorry.

If I come off a little 'eh' I just had a baby 2 and a half months ago and sleeping is a thing of the past.

Quickfire 1: Made a pan pizza. Was put in the top group by Rocco but was not selected as one of the best.
Elimination 1: Made Eggs Benedict head-to-head against Lisa, and lost.

Quickfire 2: Dogged it on the 5-ingredient challenge, then realized once he got back to the kitchen that the meat he selected wasn't what he wanted. Was called out as one of the worst dishes in the quickfire.
Elimination 2: First time on the chopping block. Made a salmon plancha that wasn't what put his team on the block, but wasn't praised by the judges (unlike Antonia's dish, which, even though her team was on the block as well, was praised by the judges as one of the better dishes of the evening).

Quickfire 3: Made a good taco. Highlighted as one of the best.
Elimination 3: Second time on the chopping block, but not singled out for specific criticism for his dish. First time we saw that he's more concerned with gamesmanship than cooking. Faked Antonia out to keep her from hitting a house he'd already hit, but his team's entire menu called out by the judges as less than impressive.

Quickfire 4: Created a salad. Daniel Boulud doesn't comment on way or the other on his technique, which is what the challenge was about.
Elimination 4: Created a generic spring roll and was put on the chopping block for it. Third time on the block.

Quickfire 5: Blind taste test challenge, no cooking involved.
Elimination 5: Fourth time on the chopping block. Helped with a bland, terrible beef carpaccio.

Quickfire 6: Called out for creating a terrible charcuterie and clam dish to go with beer.
Elimination 6: Made buffalo wings. Middle of the pack.

Quickfire 7: Called out as one of the worst quickfires for his pineapple rum raisin soufflé.
Elimination 7: Made a terrific butternut squash soup.

Quickfire 8: Stuffed tomatoes with rice and veal. Not called out one way or the other.
Elimination 8: Made a not-really-puttanesca sauce. Middle of the pack.

Quickfire 9: Relay race. No cooking required.
Elimination 9: Made a mediocre sea bass. Returned to the chopping block after a long absence.

Quickfire 10: Made a beef salad. Won the quickfire.
Elimination 10: Made a chicken salad. Almost eliminated. Again showed himself more concerned with gamesmanship than cooking--picked ingredients specifically to screw over his competitors, and then did absolutely nothing with them.

Quickfire 11: Worked an egg station. Didn't do so well, but wasn't singled out for criticism.
Elimination 11: Restaurant Wars. Did as little as possible, and landed on the chopping block.

Quickfire 12: Made a good tomahawk chop. Won the quickfire.
Elimination 12: Made appalling scallops that anyone with eyes would have known not to use. Finally tossed like a bad salad.

Take a look, Brill. There's a lot more red there than green.

AMEN!! I am so disgusted by Lisa I signed up just to post something before my head exploded!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, they love advancing someone who should have been auf'd so when it comes down to the "crunch," they have someone they can get rid of and no one would be unhappy; Tiffani in S1, Elia in S2, Brian in S3, now Lisa this season! On SG no way should Ben have been a finalist, Carisa on TD was horrible most of the season, and how in the world did Christian make the final when he had so many disasters? It's all in the timing I guess; someone else is worse or the producers decide to keep ya for drama's sake! Watched Hell's Kitchen last night and Jenn survived again even though she was a mess at the fish station; cold, raw, and just plain bad cooking that night! Someone else got cancelled off the show even though all she does is talk about how much better she is! Sounds a lot like Lisa doesn't it? lol!!

Agree 100% - that is the show I want to watch!

I don't hate her she's just an easier target than everyone else. She has no redeemable qualities from what I've seen on the show so far.

Check your PM for a possible solution

KK...I don't think anyone really HATES Lisa. I don't like her...she is mean...but, I certainly don't HATE her. I don't hate anyone...except maybe my ex son-in-law.

There was only one time where Tiffani should have been offed--the kids challenge in week 3, when she had immunity. She won the next 2 challenges and was in the top group for the 2 after those.

It's this simple: LISA IS IN THE FINAL 3 BECAUSE THE PRODUCERS TOLD THE JUDGES TO KEEP HER THERE.

The integrity of this show went downhill big time after season 2 with placing Marcel in the finale even after cooking one shitful foamy dish after another. It slipped a little more when Hung, who was never more than mediocre through the entire season, won (I didn't think there were any real stars that season except Tre, but he got slammed by the "we don't take past performance into account" rule).

Now, this season you have 2 obviously very talented chefs and a turd thrown in there just to make you on the edge of your seat. Since Stephanie and Richard are both so good I don't think most people care either way who wins, they have to throw Lisa in there to make sure people actually watch since she's the apparent "villain". This tactic obviously works on people like me, see my last 2 posts.

This is why they changed the formula after season 2 to have 3 chefs in the finals - so they could have their best chefs and the villain too!

What I find funny though is that the villain is never really a super great chef or a super ass (with the exception of Marcel - honestly I don't think Lisa is that bad, she's just kind of not super likeable). It's like they make a villain out of someone who is not that good by keeping them in the runnings, and making that person think they have a reason to be there, thus furthering their ego so they then get pissed at the others around them who don't think they should be there, because they think, "I'm still here, I deserve to be here." As evidenced by Lisa's reaction at the end of Part 1. And the audience ends up hating them for that too, when it's really the judges and the producers they should be hating.

Tiffani was an a$&hole, but she did cook well.

I dunno I have a soft spot for Marcel. He reminds me of a bush baby.

If you've got it, flaunt it! Especially since I've got more of that than a lot of other things!

However, my idol, W. S. Gilbert, actually managed to use it in a lyric, as follows, in Act 2 of Iolanthe:

When all night long a chap remains
On sentry-go, to chase monotony,
He exercises of his brains,
That is, assuming that he's got any.
Though never nurtured in the lap
Of luxury, yet I admonish you,
I am an intellectual chap,
And think of things that would astonish you.
I often think it's comical – Fal, lal, la!
How Nature always does contrive – Fal, lal, la la la!
That every boy and every gal
That's born into the world alive
Is either a little Liberal
Or else a little Conservative!
Fal, lal, la!

When in that House M.P.s divide,
If they've a brain and cerebellum, too,
They've got to leave that brain outside,
And vote just as their leaders tell 'em to.
But then, the prospect of a lot
Of dull M.P.s in close proximity
All thinking for themselves, is what
No man can face with equanimity.
Then let's rejoice with loud Fal la – Fal lal la!
That Nature always does contrive – Fal lal la! la! la!
That every boy and every gal
That's born into the world alive
Is either a little Liberal
Or else a little Conservative!
Fal lal la!

I definitely bow to his blessed memory.

You know I lurve you, honey! I have no idea how my request has ANYTHING to do with frogs!!???!!!

I'm just sayin'...

I'll agree to that Rady, as long as it's that famous "dessert rice."

Lmao,that actually made me laugh so hard a bit of tea flew out my nose.

Don't ask, he just does. I hate his hair though.

Um,Im missing something here because Im not sure why you posted this to me.

I know! Wasnt that rant just too good? I thought it was very well done.

SecondTry,

Can you do a list for Lisa? How did you do that anyway? From memory?

In addition to the "dessert rice" and chorizo, don't forget... undercooked rutabaga!

WTF is a bush baby?

When I see "testy" I think "testicular", as a friend battled testicular cancer a few years back. Therefore, as a writer, a former English teacher, and a man, I always think it's a lazy word ; used when one can't think of a better term, and I kind of zone out.

Always remember how powerful language can be. It is key.

Add a half-dozen butterscotch scallops to the fish scales for me!

LOL That was funny!

Well I'd like to see Lisa win too, but for purely apocolyptical reasons.