I'm calling shenanigans, Chopped
Jan. 11th, 2018 08:50 pmI get so frustrated with these cooking competition shows.
First, I think it's absolute BS that the judges watch the cooking. Especially on a show like Iron Chef, the judges are biased in favor ofBobby Flay the Iron Chefs, and I don't think they can objectively judge the dishes when they know who made them. The dishes ought to be anonymous on all these shows to eliminate bias.
Second, the performative rage when someone puts some sides on the plate is ridiculous. The judges don't always do it on Chopped, but sometimes they get pissy when a chef serves up the kind of plate of food that many people normally describe as dinner; you know, a protein + some sides. (That's not the only way to eat dinner. We eat tons of one-pot wonders or salads in this household.) But sometimes when they don't get a tiny cube of meat in an artful swirl of carefully spackled on sauce surrounded by a tiny hedge of microgreens, the judges throw such a shit fit. On an episode I watched tonight, they lit into a chef for putting a piece of bread on the plate to sop up his saucy dish. They told him he didn't need the bread. The bread was unnecessary. When they chopped him, they mentioned the bread as an offense that led to his elmination.
And I just imagine these people at home eating a steak the size of a deck of cards and silently weeping into their linen napkins because they wish they could have a scant mouthful of potatoes to go along. Or regretfully dumping the broth from a pot of moules marinieres down the sink because there's just no good way to eat it. Oh, how they wish some mechanism for sopping up the glorious wine and butter and yummy existed. What could it be? WE JUST DON'T KNOW!
I mean, my PawPaw, who admittedly probably never encountered any food more adventurous than a fruit salad with coconut sprinkles, never ate a meal without bread. No such thing as dinner without bread to go along in his universe.
IT'S NOT WEIRD TO EAT BREAD WITH A MEAL. OMG, THIS SHOW IS DRIVING ME BONKERS!
First, I think it's absolute BS that the judges watch the cooking. Especially on a show like Iron Chef, the judges are biased in favor of
Second, the performative rage when someone puts some sides on the plate is ridiculous. The judges don't always do it on Chopped, but sometimes they get pissy when a chef serves up the kind of plate of food that many people normally describe as dinner; you know, a protein + some sides. (That's not the only way to eat dinner. We eat tons of one-pot wonders or salads in this household.) But sometimes when they don't get a tiny cube of meat in an artful swirl of carefully spackled on sauce surrounded by a tiny hedge of microgreens, the judges throw such a shit fit. On an episode I watched tonight, they lit into a chef for putting a piece of bread on the plate to sop up his saucy dish. They told him he didn't need the bread. The bread was unnecessary. When they chopped him, they mentioned the bread as an offense that led to his elmination.
And I just imagine these people at home eating a steak the size of a deck of cards and silently weeping into their linen napkins because they wish they could have a scant mouthful of potatoes to go along. Or regretfully dumping the broth from a pot of moules marinieres down the sink because there's just no good way to eat it. Oh, how they wish some mechanism for sopping up the glorious wine and butter and yummy existed. What could it be? WE JUST DON'T KNOW!
I mean, my PawPaw, who admittedly probably never encountered any food more adventurous than a fruit salad with coconut sprinkles, never ate a meal without bread. No such thing as dinner without bread to go along in his universe.
IT'S NOT WEIRD TO EAT BREAD WITH A MEAL. OMG, THIS SHOW IS DRIVING ME BONKERS!