Thursday, May 13, 2010

D'oh!

Normally on a Thursday evening I gather all my pictures and thoughts to review the first half of latest episode of TC Masters. I rather enjoy the Quickfires. They force chefs to be quick and creative on the fly. That is if they have the right inspiration. Sometimes Quickfires go bad. It could be an annoying product pimpage (Bombay Sapphire) or it may not be as well thought out as it could be (ice cream mix ins). Or it's just plain stupid.


This was just plain stupid. Make a dish you think your knife draw Simpson character would enjoy eating. The Simpson characters being cartoons. Maybe I'm alone in the belief that this was a stupid challenge. To me it's like Dan Quayle wondering what sort of baby gift to get Murphy Brown's baby.


This is Susur's entry. Susur is apparently under the impression that Marge would like to eat a Dali version of herself.

Susur did not win. Rick did. Any more commentary than that is just piling stupid on top of stupid. Onto the Elimination Round.

They brought back a great challenge from Season Three of Top Chef, the Exotic Surf and Turf. Before I dig into that part of the episode, I want to hear from you. Which of the following have you eaten out in a restaurant and which ingredients, if any, have you cooked with?






Bonus Points if any one can tell me how many shots this little guy found himself in?


12 comments:

Sharon Rudd said...

Dear Shamy Cranky Pants: 0, 0, and too many to count, although I'm sure you've reviewed the footage enough to determine the precise number. The next question is: How many times did Bravo repeat the exact same shot of the little guy?

And what are your theories on why they decided to "supersize" this episode? All I'm coming up with is so they could air Hank Azaria voicing as many of his Simpsons characters as possible. They devoted half an hour to this Quickfire, even though they've left out some of the food in some episodes. And what was up with Zimmern being so laudatory of all the dishes in the EC?

Eggy is a little cranky pants over this one too.

Big Shamu said...

Eggy I have no idea. I spent the first 15 minutes in a stupor of WTF. Really, cooking for cartoons? That's where we are?

Making Space said...

Ew. I was trying to eat while I read that.

Big Shamu said...

Don't you have kidlets? Do kids do gross things? At dinner? This challenge was MADE for them.

Making Space said...

Talk to the hand, shamy, talk to the hand.

Dani said...

I've never had or made any of those dishes.
But as a bonus, I do have Ms. Silky Fluff-n-Nutter, and she is the only breed of chicken that has black skin.
I'll be sure not to show her that picture, could be her long lost relatives.

LaDivaCucina said...

Dat is one saaaaaaad looin' 'roo. Sheesh!

Naturally, I've cooked kangaroo! Because of it's low fat content, it tends to get tough so treat it like you would when preparing venison.

I would take Hank Azaria, Matt Groening and the Simpsons over those dimwit shrew housewives any day and thought the challenge was fun.

And I beat out Sham as I'm on day 12 of super crabbiness. Grrrr.....

moi said...

Like you, I thought the challenge was über stupid, however, with the exception of Susur's purple potatoed mess, I thought the dishes were interesting in and of themselves.

As for the exotic stuff, I've had everything except black chicken, duck tongue (although I'm a regular eater of beef tongue), and, I think, sea cucumber, although I'm not sure. Maybe.

I kept screaming at the screen: pick the kangaroo, pick the kangaroo! It's mighty tasty . . .

Big Shamu said...

I have no problem with them cooking for more celebs (although it gets boring) but they weren't cooking for celebs they were cooking for cartoons. However now that I think about it, they were cooking for cartoons when they were cooking for the Housewives. I still think the challenge was stupid, trying to think up a dish for gross characterizations of human beings. I know they were trying to be funny I just didn't think it scored on that front.

Is giant squid somehow different than regular squid?

Making Space said...

Giant squid facts: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/invertebrates/giant-squid/


Jumbo (or Humboldt) squid facts:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Invertebrates/Facts/cephalopods/FactSheets/Humboldtsquid.cfm

More on the Humboldt squid: http://www.squid-world.com/humboldt-squid.html

General squid info, apparently the California market squid is the one we are all most familiar with, used for calamari etc. http://www.squid-world.com/squid-species.html

California market squid, INCLUDING RECIPES: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/market_squid.htm

Yes. Taking another do-nothing day well, morning and afternoon, punctuated by various unsavory appointments.

I'm guessing the squid they cooked were the Humboldt variety. Actively fished unlike the giant variety. Now that I read more about it I think they should have gone with the vampire variety.

I ain't googlin' those clams.

Unknown said...

Even though I think of myself as an adventurous eater, I have had none of these culinary delights. I started watching Zimmern when he first came on the air, but can't stand him, his overblown ego, or the show now.

I join everyone else that thought this quickfire was really annoying.

So what other Top Chef challenges will the Masters try next?

LaDivaCucina said...

By the way, does Dani realize that a sea cucumber is a GIANT SLUG?!!!!