Top Chef Masters - random thoughts

[sevenswells]

FINALLY!! FINALLY, it's back! With a gay Ken doll host, Christina Hendricks kyaaaaah (<3 <3 <3) and Ruth Reichl; Susur Lee will be making an appearance too, also INSECTS! I am excite!


-Good lord the quickfire challenge from hell! Sardines and dragon fruit! Corned beef and marshmallows! Liquorice and peanut butter! I don't even know how they made any of these work, all of it sounds pretty disgusting!

-Holy crap restaurant wars right on the first episode?! That's brutal! Those guys are totally not kidding!

-HAHAHA Traci Des Jardins as front of the house! I'm sure she's an outstanding chef, but she looks like a witch from a Disney movie! She said it wasn't her comfort zone, and I'm being uncharitable, but I can understand why O___o It looked like it literally hurt when she smiled to the judges -- must be facial muscles she doesn't use that often. I like her, though, she reminds me a bit of Stéphanie Le Quéllec, my favourite candidate in Top Chef France: social skills of a deaf rhino, but in the kitchen she becomes a goddess. I love the bromance (I can't call it any other way, I mean those ladies have travelled through friggin' Mongolia together! How badass is that?) she has with her friend Mary-Sue, too. I hope we'll get more of it in the weeks to come!

-Suvir Saran with his "good looks and eloquence" line won me over, and I find him kind of cute rambling all day about "masters do this" and "masters do that". He's awkward, and I'm all for awkward!

-No French chefs this time? Aw, shame. é___è I'm gonna miss that, and Jay Rayner's presence at the judging table, definitely. I'm sure Jay would have acted like a total fanboy around Ruth! Good thing that they finally got Indian cuisine chefs, though. It also fills the "funny accents" quota, I suppose XD

-HAHAHA the guy with the single eyebrow made me die of laughter with his "unusually large scallops". I know, I have to get my mind out of the gutter sometimes, but it has so much fun in there!
And the comments of the judges! "OMG it's a MONSTER SCALLOP!" "Hugh's scallop is intensely salty"
It figured he would get eliminated; dishes that are too salty on Top Chef, never mind TCM, are like a major offence, there's no coming back from it.

-OMG did I really see INSECTS in the preview?? FANTASTIC! I've ALWAYS wanted to eat dishes based on insects' protein; I love weird food, so this intrigues me a lot.

-I've just finished watching the episode and I already want MOAR!!! Why is next Friday not here already?? Come ooooooon I need my fix!

-Finally:




Wheeee!!! \o/ *on crack*

By the way, the most recent episode of South Park has KILLED ME DEAD (here's a streaming link: http://loombo.com/sr/dg0pognmw8vb ). THIS IS THE STORY OF MY LIFE, RIGHT THERE (well, not the shakeweights part, though, for the simple reason they don't sell those in France XD)

Comments

[sevenswells.livejournal.com]

Or possibly it's because I was. . . working at GAY.COM UK, so I really was surrounded gay men.)

HAHAHAHA you're awesome! I approve of this.

Isn't everyone in France obsessed with food?

They are! Food is deadly serious business here; you know the carbonara recipe I used for the Sherlock fic? I originally found it on a French food blog which is quite famous, because the guy who writes it is a comicker, he illustrates all his recipes and the blog is hosted on the website of the most famous French newspaper. So anyway, as soon as his post about doing carbonara the right way was up, he got a GAZILLION comments and a wild debate among his readers: EVERYBODY had an opinion about carbonara. This is just a small example, but yeah, it's not a cliché, the French really *are* obsessed with food. Top Chef this year also was something of a religion; every monday I had friends for dinner so we could watch it like a football match, not to mention debates on Facebook and acquaintances (people with whom I don't have a lot of conversations with otherwise, which is quite funny) who regularly sent me texts to tell me this or that about my favourite candidate or the ones I hated XD

But yeah, I meant it's good to be flailing with you on Top Chef US and Top Chef Masters (there is no version of TCM in France) because there aren't many people in France who would watch untranslated US reality-TV shows, no matter how obsessed with food they might be, and if there are, they aren't on my flist unfortunately. ^^

[coloredink.livejournal.com]

This is especially fascinating to me because. . . isn't carbonara an Italian dish?? I didn't think French people would have such strong opinions on another culture's cuisine!

My family is actually Chinese (I'm Chinese-American), so I always had a proper reverence for food growing up. It's funny, now, to see Americans finally catching up to where my family already was. For instance, my family's always been really into organic meat--not because they're concerned about ethics or sustainability, but because it just tastes better. They hate American chicken because it's tasteless. I had no idea what they were talking about until I started eating (super expensive) organic free-range chicken, and then one day I ate some chicken from a bad chain restaurant and it was like, omg, do people really think chicken is supposed to taste like this? This is just. . . sad.

So yeah, hahaha, I really don't know what people do when they get together besides eat??? When people come to visit from out of town I basically plan their itinerary around restaurants. Who cares what we do between meals? WE CAN WATCH TOP CHEF. Or we can go to a museum, I guess. That's fine, as long as we still make our reservation.

BUT YES HOORAY. \o/ I suspect you're a bit more of a foodie than I am, but you have a head start due to, like, being French.

Oh! Actually, maybe you're a good person to ask: I picked up a beef tongue at the farmers market the other day, but I have never cooked tongue before. Do you have any recommendations?

[sevenswells.livejournal.com]

This is especially fascinating to me because. . . isn't carbonara an Italian dish?? I didn't think French people would have such strong opinions on another culture's cuisine!

Well Italy's not very far from France, so the cultures are mixed I think, there are a lot of Italians or people of Italian descent -- France is a bit like the crossroads of western Europe. I'm not sure, but my hypothesis is that the carbonara recipe I knew, the one with crème fraîche, comes from the Alps, near the Italian border -- it's like a bastardized version of the original carbonara, mixed with French culture (they actually use a lot of crème fraîche in cuisine from the French Alps.
But anyway, the one thing you have to know about the French isn't that they're rude or smelly or whatever, it's that they're opinionated. They can form an opinion about absolutely anything, even about stuff they don't know, and make it known as loud as possible. I swear it's a cultural trait XD

So yeah, hahaha, I really don't know what people do when they get together besides eat???

HAHAHAHA, yes! That reminds me of another anecdote about food-obsessed French people: last year I was at a barbecue with an American friend. It was one of the simplest but also one of the best meals I've ever had, with a scrumptious slow-roasted ham and sauce madère to accompany it (homemade sauce madère isn't something you get everyday, since it takes about three hours to be ready, and you have to watch it constantly too; it was a real treat that the cook who prepared it gave us that day). So anyway, we were eating, there were heaps of food all around, and at some point my friend interrupts our conversation at the table and says: "Do you know how I know I'm in France right now? We're eating delicious food in gigantic proportions, and all you guys are talking about is MORE FOOD and the other good meals you've had in your life!" We weren't even aware of it. I love talking about food, and I think it doubles the pleasure when you do it as you're eating a good meal; it's like... a food loop or something. XD

Oh! Actually, maybe you're a good person to ask: I picked up a beef tongue at the farmers market the other day, but I have never cooked tongue before. Do you have any recommendations?

I do (I loooove beef tongue)!! But I have to ask my gourmet friend his recipe; just let me contact him and I'll get back to you right away, no problem! ^^

[coloredink.livejournal.com]

I love talking about food, and I think it doubles the pleasure when you do it as you're eating a good meal; it's like... a food loop or something. XD

HAHAHA INORITE? So my roommate and I are both similarly food-obsessed (we watch Top Chef and shout at the screen together), and we usually cook and share meals. Whenever we eat, silence usually descends for the first few minutes as we taste the food, and then. . . we start talking about the food. Mmm, oh my, these oyster mushrooms; oh, the red wine vinegar really brightened this up; next time, let's add some fresh parsley, I think that would really make this, etc. etc. etc. Well, we do that slightly less these days, probably because we've both just gotten so accustomed to good food that we take it for granted, hahaha. But it really unnerves our third housemate, who's more typically American and eats a lot of processed food and possibly doesn't even know good food when she tastes it, her palate is so poisoned. "Is this what you do?" she asked once. "Sit around and make yummy noises at each other?" Well. . . yes? And why shouldn't we? Our food is AWESOME. XD

I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT YOUR BEEF TONGUE RECOMMENDATION(S). I have a well-stocked pantry and access to plenty more good stuff, although if you tell me to, like, buy a quarter cup of saffron or something I will just look at you like you are crazy. But YAY! I AM EXCITE.

[sevenswells.livejournal.com]

Tssssk, he hasn't replied to my mail yet, which means he must be lost somewhere in the north of France this week, but don't worry, I'll keep pestering him until I get what I want è____é *iz determined*

[coloredink.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, the tongue is safely in the freezer, so no rush. :3 (Gosh, I wish I could be lost in the north of France. . .)

[sevenswells.livejournal.com]

Finally! He's back! I'm translating the recipe for you tonight. I hope you'll like it. Do you have a pressure cooker though? (I don't think it's compulsory, but it sure helps a lot)

[coloredink.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I don't have a pressure cooker. I do, however, have a lot of patience!

OH MY GOSH I AM EXCITE.

EEEEEEE

[sevenswells.livejournal.com]

I've posted the recipe in the comment just below!