Top Chef Masters - S3E1 Postmortem

One comment, huh? Yeah, that's about how I feel. "Postmortem" never seemed more appropriate.

Fears realized. This definitely isn't the same show as the previous two seasons of Masters. Instead, it's the show I just watched for the past four and a half months, with more-established chefs. Except based on the previews, it looks like your prize for paying your dues is even stupider challenges.

My heart's not in this, guys. I was feeling a little burned out as it was, and I was really looking forward to the more deliberate, soulful, food-focused vibe of Masters to kind of kick back and enjoy, but it doesn't look like that's happening. Top Chef is a competition. Masters was a celebration. But it kind of looks like the powers that be have decided that celebrations don't sell. And they could be right, I don't know, but I'm out. Maybe I'll come around in a few weeks, but at least for now, I'm going to bail on the Masters postmortems. Time to refocus on some serious food.

Comments

[HF]

From that Times article you linked... "It seems a safe bet that this was the problem the makeover was intended to fix, and in the season premiere there’s no lack of backbiting and second-guessing, much of it swirling around the gushing Naomi Pomeroy (of Beast in Portland, Ore.) and the more reserved Celina Tio (Julian in Kansas City, Mo.)."

Zuh? No lack? I must have been asleep with my eyes open, I missed it.

The big thing for me that might stimulate discussion was that the diners picked one team and the critics chose the other, I thought that was interesting. I'm always curious about the, I don't know, elitist(?) tastes of "the educated" artist/art critic v. the sensibilities of the better-than-the-average-bear layman. I sometimes wonder if being immersed in a field numbs you to it. Example, maybe a poor one... you're a violinist, you learn a Bach partita. One professor says "More vibrato!", one says "Vibrato only as an embellishment.", one says "Stricter rhythm.", one says "Take your time here!". Finally, you say "Screw it, this is how I play it." Did the one who said "more vibrato" say that because that was how he was taught and after so many years of playing it like that he can't hear it any other way?

[JoeS]

Seconded across the board.

[EdT.]

Dom - I wonder if one of the reasons for the lack of commentary was how late the show started (10PM Central), esp. coming right off of the All-Stars reunion (where someone suggested they send MARCEL to Masters? SRSLY!?)

To be honest, I fell asleep during the first 15 min of the show - and not because it was boring, but because I have to get up at 4AM and needed to get some sleep!

~EdT.

[paula]

I skipped Masters (and not only--but partly--because it's on past my bedtime), and now I'm glad I did. The TCAS reunion was actually sort of interesting for once, though--the Tom/Elia debate was ballsy, and I admire her for sticking to her guns and for Dale L. for sticking up for her and clarifying her position. I'm curious about Tom's claim that if you didn't sell corn-fed beef, you couldn't run a steakhouse without going out of business. Anyone want to chime in on why that might be? Cost? Taste? I always thought grass-fed beef was widely acknowledged to taste better.

[aaalex]

just watched and, for my money, i agree this is just not TCM. it's season 9 of TC and i felt a sense of desperation (on the part of the producers), here. you open with restaurant wars? isn't that a rather big weapon gone from your arsenal? not to mention that it's so TC. the loss of jay rayner is huge. curtis stone isn't a critic. he's a chef. oseland is just drearily emotive and ruth reichl, a step sideways from gael greene, doesn't make up for rayner's loss. so, the show begins one step down conceptually and critically.

i liked the restaurant wars. the fact that the diners preferred the "cafeteria style" experience of leela is interesting and, maybe, instructive. this was the most aggressive front of house performance we've seen in 9 years. stone mentioning that he would have fired his front of house manager for having all the diners come in at once, because of the extreme pressure it puts on the line chefs ... a fair comment that put naomi pomeroy's decision to go "cafeteria" in clear perspective. pomeroy's decision was hard on the chefs but, as pomeroy guessed: this was about pleasing the diners, not the the critics, because the diners were the ones voting, and she chose communal atmosphere over "intimacy" (i think it's two forms of intimacy, actually). brilliant choice on her part. but ... it's still just restaurant wars and, in terms of the food ... i'd choose to eat at volt, if given the choice. (an inedibly salty scallop? really? and it's salty because he used Maldon Sea Salt? really? this is a "master"?)

(hf: i liked the violin analogy, especially as i have a daugther who's been playing violin since she was "ow! my frickin' ears!" years old... i know all about vi-frickin'-brato)

the thing is ... if you accept that this is simply another season of TC, that the TCM feeling is, for whatever reason, gone, it wasn't a lousy opening though nowhere near as great as the opening of the season we just saw. (it was wonderful to KNOW all the chefs involved) All-Stars was great and with chefs like jen carroll and richard blais on board, it's difficult to see what makes this crop of chefs "masters" superior. (i wonder if, in the end, the show simply ran out of people at the susur, bayless, moonen level?)

hard for me to know if i'll watch this season or not. i don't think so (though ... i really liked suvir saran and wanted to try his dessert right away.) i'm a little top chef-ed out and the canadian version starts this week. i was thinking: it's my patriotic duty to watch it to see how it compares to the original. and i'm just not sure i want to watch two top chefs a week for the next 12 weeks. i wonder if this franchise hasn't simply spread itself too thin?

don't know what your plans are, dominic, but it would be great, even if you're not doing postmortems (and i don't think there's any pressing reason you should), to put up a kind of generic place for TCM3 watchers to yack. if the word on the show gets better, i might tune in again.

[Anon man]

Dom: Hockey playoffs. Its ok. Focus on that.

[Independent George]

I didn't watch; I'm also a little burned out by All-Stars, and the only reason for me to watch Masters immediately afterwards would be to watch, to borrow Dom's terms, a celebration.

(i wonder if, in the end, the show simply ran out of people at the susur, bayless, moonen level?)

Interstingly enough, I can think of one chef at that level who, like several of the all-stars contestants, seems intent on rehabilitating his reputation as a talented, but temperamental chef. Someone who is very closely tied to a charity that could use the exposure TCM brings.

While I don't know that he would even be interested, the more relaxed atmosphere of the old format sounds like a perfect match for Charlie Trotter.

[Bill G]

I decided to give it a try because I'm curious to see how well Mary Sue Milliken will do. As it turned out she was almost the first one eliminated. I was definitely feeling some TC burnout but I did enjoy the episode and will continue to watch but probably not with total commitment.

[Skillet Doux]

Paula... grass-fed vs. corn-fed is, frankly, a religious debate. They're certainly different. Proponents on either side often believe their preferred beef is superior with dogmatic conviction. If you prefer the other, it's because you obviously haven't had the best of mine. As with most things in the food universe, I fail to see why both can't be enjoyed for what they are. When Colicchio refers to needing corn-fed to stay in business, I'm assuming he's referencing the fact that we're a nation raised on corn-fed, and for most of us, grass-fed just doesn't taste right. Many people knowingly insist on corn-fed, and many more would eat grass-fed and simply conclude that Craftsteak doesn't have very good beef (because it doesn't meet their expectations). Elia's approach seems to be the dogmatic one, while Colicchio's seems to be the, shall we say, pluralistic one.

Anon Man... thankfully, it appears that my interest in playoff hockey will survive the week, if only barely.

Independent George... clearly, you've been hanging around LTH :-) And I agree, you're absolutely right. He's a perfect fit for the old Masters. But can you even picture him on this new Masters? A perfect illustration of the change, right there.

[Independent George]

Dom - of course I can picture him on the new masters... I see him trying to shave Homaru Cantu's head while Graham Elliot Bowles sits on a couch laughing. Which, I guess, is kind of the problem.

[Independent George]

And yes, I've been procrastinating at LTH and the Trotter thread did indeed put him in my head. (though, as an expat New Yorker, about a half-dozen people had already forwarded me the article asking if I'd been there; I plan on going in July).

[Joanna]

Haven't watched TCM yet, and after reading these comments I might not bother. I too am feeling a little burned out, and if the only real difference between this show and TC is that the chefs are playing for charities instead of for themselves, well... that is not enough of a difference to induce me to watch.

On the grass-fed vs. corn-fed debate, there is a butcher shop near me that focuses on meat that is local, "natural", sustainable, etc. and here is what they have to say on the issue:
http://dicksonsfarmstand.com/facts/

The takeaway is that this idea of grass fed = good and corn-fed = bad is an oversimplification at best. But Elia didn't seem particularly inclined to focus on subtleties last night...

[Independent George]

Ack! This is my last comment spam, I promise.

RE: Grass vs corn fed, anyone in the Chicago area in May can attend a Steak 101 event at Harry Caray's. It consists of a five-course, side-by-side comparison of various steaks (grass vs corn fed, dry vs wet aged, prime vs choice, etc).

BryanD, if you have the opportunity to fly in for a visit, the steaks are donated by Allen Brothers, infamous for the scallopgate scandal of '08.

[Sweet Sue]

Top Chef Masters? Too little, too late.
Everytime I saw a promo featuring worms and bugs, I thought who's producing this shindig: Andy Cohen or Andy Zimmen? No thanks.
I hate to see Top Chef go the way of " The Real Housewives of Wilkes-Barre, Pa."
Oh, but, I never liked Padma more then when she told Elia, "you don't have to answer that."

[peterme]

Wow. I'm surprised at all the whingeing here. This is definitely more engaging television than the first two TCMs. It's a real competition, whereas the first two seasons seemed more like a lark -- a perfectly pleasant lark, but a lark.

Why is it so wrong to expect these chefs to roll up their sleeves and get in the s*** the way the TC cheftestants do? Why not expose them as the humans they are, instead of simply exalt them. I felt that earlier seasons of TCM were far too accommodating for the chefs -- they were never really allowed to *fail*. They were given extreme amounts of time on challenges, and lavish budgets. The 20 minute QF to start things off really showed a change of pace here, and I think it's a good one.

Also, Restaurant Wars was a great way to start, because there are fewer chefs than in TC, and it allows us to very quickly get a sense of each of them.

Why not accept this show for what it is -- an engaging food competition with super talented chefs making great meals and being pushed to their limits?

[Skillet Doux]

peterme... I think you've completely missed the point.

There's nothing wrong with Masters v2.0, except that we've already been watching it for four and a half months. With Top Chef and Masters, you used to have two shows that were both fabulous for completely different reasons. Now what they've done is homogenized the brand, so instead of getting two different shows that are both great, we're getting multiple versions of the same show. I'm not saying I think Masters v1.0 was a better show, empirically. I'm saying it was a different show that I loved just as much for very different reasons, and it sucks that much if not most of those differences have been eliminated. It goes both ways. I wouldn't want both shows to be like Masters v1.0 any more than I like the two shows being Top Chef (a) and Top Chef (b). I loved having an apple one season and an orange the next. Now it looks like we're going to get a steady diet of apples, and I think that sucks.

I'm not saying I don't love apples. I'm saying I love oranges too, and I hate, hate, hate that the folks in charge have decided we don't get to have both anymore.

[bryanD]

I liked last night's TCM. Not a single complaint. As usual food prep is visually and narratively non-existant. It's chefs being personable and then voila! Food! Same as it's ever been. I'll continue watching.

TC All-Stars Reunion show was actually good for once. (And I just KNEW there was something to that Dale Levitski vs Tom C rumor! Dale was NOT going quietly into that good night.)

Grass vs grain: I'm no expert but cows are made to eat grass and things that are green and moist, not grain. It's why they have those extra stomachs: to wring away water slowly out of their food while preserving the nutrients. (Cattle are basically designed to eat weak food.) If you notice the happy cattle in spring when the grass is lush its funny to watch the non-stop river of green soup coming out of their rear ends even as they feed their front ends. That's a happy cow!

Grain is simply to turn cow into a behemoth so the rancher can get more money per unit. The cattle must be starved off grass in a dirt pen. The classic beef flavor is simply a by-product of this fattening process, not a goal. And I've eaten true grass-fed beef. It's not gamey like venison. It has a mild grassy undertaste after several bites akin to the finish on colby cheese. Pleasant.

Kudos to Elia and Dale for making Tom's progressive angel sweat. Tom kept trying to take his kitchen out of the discussion and onto Farmer Blank.

PS. Did I mention here before that I actually own 2 of Tom's cook books (bought used, of course)? They're excellent. Fair's fair. Tom's a businessman. Sometimes practice and ideals collide.

@peterme: I agree.

@Independent George: When I see "dry-aged" I forget all about the corn v. grass controversy. As for a visit? It would be too sad to visit since the very public and corrupt 1st Ward of "Pat Marcy" has been broken up. Now I hear the cops are actually pretending to be cops and f%%%ing with people...especially towing cars. Blah!

[HF]

Yay, I'm not quite a thread killer.

aaalex wrote "i wonder if, in the end, the show simply ran out of people at the susur, bayless, moonen level?"

Maybe, but the word on the net is that chefs of that caliber could only commit themselves a few days at a time, which works in the round robin format but not the 3-weeks-from-hell format.

I want to keep watching just to see if they come up with any new ideas. Although the chefs' refrain from the previews (and the 3 unfinished plates in the QF) was "hard Hard HARD!", so far we've seen tried-and-true Res Wars, a QF straight from Chopped and a preview of Fear Factor.

@Dom, my sudden flurry of posts stems from a sinus infection that has me at home and very uncomfortable. Sorry, I'm trying not to spam.

[rab01]

The change in format might've been worth trying but the elves messed up the execution.

1) Kelli was dull as dishwater and looked like she never finished a plate of food in her life so any replacement is a step up. But they never should have ditched Jay Rayner.

2) Restaurant Wars should've been saved for later - when we have a sense of the personalities at play. Think how much better the first episode would've been if we had a "represent yourself in one bite" amuse bouche quickfire followed by Season 4's opener of head-to-head do your spin of a selected classic dish. Food-centered and drama-filled pecking order establishment in one episode.

One comment on the food itself - would the ousted chef have ever made the centerpiece of the signature dish at his own restaurant something that came out of a can?

[Independent George]

Quick question for those who've seen it - does RW make sense for established chefs who have already opened one or more successful restaurants? A big part of the appeal in TC is that for most of the contestants, the chance to open a place of their own is the primary motivating force for even appearing on the show (and for a few, RW will probably be the closest they ever get to opening their own place). Was there a different context where RW would make sense here?

[rab01]

IG -- I was sleepy when I watched so I may have missed some hidden awesomeness but ... none of these chefs seemed thrilled by RW.

Also, the dynamics of the "winning" team seemed to be off but we don't know the chefs well enough to know why all the other chefs were allowing the front-of-house person to seat everyone at once. I suspect they were planning to use her as a sacrificial lamb if they lost but I couldn't tell from the interviews.

If they had done a quickfire where the chefs knew that the two winners would be the ECs of competing restaurants, that would've been much more interesting.

[bryanD]

"One comment on the food itself - would the ousted chef have ever made the centerpiece of the signature dish at his own restaurant something that came out of a can?"---rab01

found art: "Scallops in Paint Can"

According to Chris Kimball's America's Test Kitchen field trip to the bay, wet scallops aren't "fresh". The dry ones are the best choice. In the same spirit as feeding grazers "corn", wet scallops are *managed* to add net weight. (Injection? Capillary action? Can't remember.)
So yeah, viz. the show, I thought that, too: slime-in-a-can? Add to that: "never cooked this particular dish before??"
And of course, "Maldon salt". Now, I'm agnostic on the exotics of salt, but I must cite Jay Raynor's monotonous book (I'm 95% sure its from his book): He, Jay Raynor says (to his surprise and chagrin/blind taste test) that salt is salt.

[Skillet Doux]

rab01 and bryanD... Fresh, dry pack scallops often arrive in cans. That's not at all a sign of inferior quality. I mean, obviously it isn't like getting them in the shell on the seashore, but excellent quality scallops are often packed that way for shipping.

[KA]

Dom -

If you are going to remove any comments for being inappropriate and juvenile how about any comment that questions if food should be packed in a can.

KA

[Skillet Doux]

Loyal readers, my father... third generation tin manufacturer :-)

[ZRD]

I'd be grateful if you decided to put up a recap thread every week, even if you choose to not bother doing the Power Rankings; I think the discussion in this thread has been very interesting, and well worth maintaining. (I'm a constant lurker who seldom bothers to comment)

[Mahalo]

I didn't plan to watch TCM last night - I surprised myself and stayed up late to see the premiere. I thought it was pretty good -- however, since most of these Masters were not too familiar to me, it would have been nice to get a little background info on them before they jumped into Restaurant Wars.

Traci Des Jardin is a renowned chef here in SF -- I think I'll have to watch to root for the hometown favorite. So far, her cooking looks good, and she seems as tough as nails.

Dom, I too, hope you'll keep an open Post-Mortem thread for TCM. I enjoy reading the comments and posts here.

[Anon man]

Serious question for you or your father the Tin Can Man. (So named with affection), aren't there some foods (perhaps those with high acid) which react badly to being packed in metal as opposed to say glass or plastic or frozen?

[bryanD]

"If you are going to remove any comments for being inappropriate and juvenile how about any comment that questions if food should be packed in a can."----KA

All presently-deployed scallop paint cans in NYC? Thrown out, sold as scrap?

Another Chinese submarine off Coney Island.

===============================

Re: TCAS Reunion: Almost forgot. Blais stiffed Mike on the money thing. Even a lousy C note from his wallet.(Seeeeee?) And Mean Mike(tm) sloughed it off with class. (Seeeeeeee?) WINNING!

[KA]

Anon man -

With modern coatings and manufacturing techniques (particularly seamless cans) there is not any problem with holding any foods including high acid foods like tomatoes. In fact food products are relatively easy to package compared to industrial products which have long been packed in cans – lacquers, paint thinners, turpentine, etc. There is always the canmaker’s option to further go to aluminum as the base metal which is totally non-reactive. Aluminum as an example is used extensively in the perfume industry in the development of fragrances where the product is particularly sensitive to reaction. Further information can be had at the Can Manufacturers Institute website - http://www.cancentral.com/

KA

[Independent George]

Just to add to KA's comment, remember that cooking vessels are not coated like the metals used in canning; so while a can won't react, an aluminum pan full of acidic food is basically a battery.

[mcm]

Someone above mentioned the comment made to Elia at the reunion: "you don't have to answer that" regarding whether she regretted her statements about Craft.

Someone above said it was Padma. I thought it was Casey that said that to Elia. It was said while the camera was on Elia, so I could be wrong but it changes the context quite a bit. Can anyone confirm either way?

[bryanD]

@mcm: That did sound ALOT like Casey, didn't it? Whoever it was was sick of Andy Cohen's leading questions I think (which is why it COULD be Padma): (a) his putting the phrase "sell-out" in Elia's mouth, and (b) his trying to rigidify his own juiced meme by daring Elia to recant her more subtle opinions in toto. Andy Cohen as Johann Eck. Free dinner with play.

Re: cans. Cans are good. Never opened a sour beer from a can. And tin? Kippers in hot sauce. Nuff said.

[Anon Man]

Dom's dad, et al,

Thanks. I was curious about that.

But, BryanD, I still prefer my beer from a bottle or a keg (which is also metal...)

[JJ]

Totally agree with Dom's response to peterme. I myself was not crazy about TCM, but I did like the change of pace and whether I chose to watch it intently or not did not impact on the next season of TC. Now, Bravo is attempting to do to TC what they've done with Real Housewives: make it a virtually non-stop franchise so that Top Chef is followed by Top Chef Masters is followed by Top Chef Just Deserts, each a carbon copy of the other but with a slight modification (one features up-and-coming chefs, one features established chefs, one features pastry chefs). They seem committed to running the franchise to the ground. At some point, one just stops watching, out of exhaustion or indifference or boredom. That's the problem.

[Independent George]

Anon Man - brown glass vs green actually makes a difference for beer bottles. Brown blocks a wider spectrum of light, and therefore preserves it better. Of course, this begs the question of why they don't just just paint the outside black...

[Skillet Doux]

Independent George... Incidentally, this is often how I choose olive oil when I can't taste. I figure producers who pack in tins or opaque glass are more concerned with the preservation of their product than looking pretty on the shelf.

[Cousin Sam]

@mcm: not that I could confirm either way but I thought it was Padma also. speaking of Padma, anyone else find her comment about motorboating Antonia a little odd? terms I've learned from TC: mise en place, souv vide, motorboat.

hi Uncle KA! :)

[paula]

I thought it was Casey who said that, too. And I'll bet you 5 bucks Padma was drunk. She was WAY too animated and cheeky. I liked it!

As for the grain- vs. corn-fed debate, yeah, BryanD, I was thinking about the whole Omnivore's Dilemma side of it as I watched. So I was curious as to how Tom feels about that. He didn't really address it at all, and frankly, I don't have any problem with Elia pushing that point if she feels strongly about it. What DID bug me, though, was Tom's barely veiled threat in response. He took her argument solely as sour grapes for having been the first one ousted and then essentially told her, "Listen, missy, do you know who you're dealing with? You're finished in this town." (At least that's how it came across to me.)

[Pepperjack]

Beer in a can is the new thing. You can get a 21st Amendment Back in Black, or any number of Oskar Blues craft brews that way. Even here in Baltimore the top local brew Resurrection is in can form and kinda awesome.

[HF]

@Pepperjack, Resurrection Ale? From The Brewer's Art restaurant? If Volger's selling his beer off-sight, that's great!

I was downstairs almost every day at happy hour for 5 years when James was bartender, before he opened his own bar. Man I miss Smalltimore...

http://www.thebrewersart.com/housebeer.html

[ally]

sez IG: "Just to add to KA's comment, remember that cooking vessels are not coated like the metals used in canning; so while a can won't react, an aluminum pan full of acidic food is basically a battery."

No idea what you are going for here IG. Do you mean that pans can be reactive? A battery is e.g a container that has two chambers connected, through which electricity can be generated, not a big pan with stuff in it. Just sayin.

[rab01]

quick question for anyone who's eaten at one of Robuchon's restaurants -- do you know whether he serves corn-fed beef, grass-fed or a mix? Also, how do grass-fed purists feel about the diet served to wagyu cattle?

[Anon Man]

Yeah, I know about brown glass. But, it isn't just about taste, its partly that beer in cans is too NASCAR for me. I'm a snob, I know. Its my problem, I'll deal with it.

[aaalex]

rab01: with Kobe beef, i can't get over the beer the cows get in their feed AND the fact the cows are frickin' massaged daily. kobe beef is grain fed. the beef is among the most delicious things i've ever eaten anywhere but if you're gonna give the cows daily massages (and there are people whose job it is to massage the cows), it just feels weird to eat them afterwards. i mean, seems more appropriate to take the poor cows to a movie ... wait, no ... that would be wrong, considering you're getting them drunk first. nevermind. i don't like where this post is heading.

[dan_boston]

I know there are a lot of points to the corn-fed vs. grass-fed debate, and I'm only going to address a small aspect of one of those points: sustainability

Mass-produced corn fed beef is not sustainable by any stretch, under any variation. But...neither is artisan-produced grass-fed beef, again under any variation. The simple truth is that when you properly account for resources used and calories produced, there are only varying degrees of unsustainability.

Although many producers will claim that they are truly 'sustainable', this is pretty much only true when you ignore large inputs of various resources. And of course, the more 'sustainable' (or more accurately, less 'unsustainable') a producer is, the less output she produces, and therefore the worse the scaling and the higher the price if their model were expanded to service the larger population.

At a basic level, animal protein is never going to be truly sustainable when serving the needs of the larger population. And perhaps I'm merely getting worked up over semantics, but I don't think so. I instead think that a lot of time, energy, and resources are being diverted to promoting and producing protein that is just as if not more unsustainable (though probably a lot more delicious) as the current mass-market model. I'd rather see these small operations promoted for the host of benefits they *do* offer rather than the illusion of sustainability.

[paula]

But Dan, I don't think the sustainability issue is the main one when talking abut corn-fed vs. grass-fed beef. That conversation is much more likely to be around humane practices, sanitary issues, and the overuse of antibiotics, and those things are what tend to get people (myself included) upset.

[nomnomnom]

Grass-fed beef is sustainable in some parts of the country. Trying to do it in upstate new york is not. Certain regions of the south require just ranch land to pull it off. From there it is just a matter of taste, and to me it's only worth doing as ground 95% of the time.

The better question is why Beef at all? It's hard to care for, hard to feed and transport. Virtually every other domestic animal eaten can be tended to at a much lower short and long term cost. I think those costs are starting to show as beef prices have been trending up more than other animals.

[bryanD]

"The better question is why Beef at all?"---nomnomnom

Oh, that's easy (and forget the farmer). Because with some cheap "ground beef", a large pot, some flavoring packets, and a can of liquid of some sort---even get fancy with an onion---a large family of kids can be fed economically by a person who hates to cook. Depending on the flavoring packet, the non-cook can send her family to...Mexico! Italy! Hungary! Frito Pie Land! Maybe for a week!
And this just symbolizes the fact that a bovine product "ground beef" rated LOW on the qualitative totem pole of bovine products garners HIGH _retail_ demand. That's golden. At least silver.

Also: pet theory: Even a monotonous beef diet is much less likely to make finicky eaters (kids) balk due to the satiating effect of beef's high protein content on the brain. Chicken get's "old" (not enough protein?). Pork is basically unhealthy. The rest is too expensive or advanced to be a staple food in USA at this time.

@aaalex: I'd rather be a rudely surprised suddenly un-spoiled Japanese cow than a waiting-to-die-please(!) pre-plucked Korean chicken.

[Anon Man]

So, since there is nowhere else to vent here, I thought I would post in this thread which no one will probably see. So, for the first time in awhile I watched this show, thanks to the NHL's inconsiderate scheduling of NO GAMES last night. I watched two episodes: the fast food one and the Maroon 5 one. zzzzzzzz. In theory a fast food/street food challenge would be cool, but with the element of having to do the service it was terrible. And the cooking in an RV was beyond idiotic. At least give them a food truck or something. Sheeesh.

[mcbrgss]

I may be mistaken, but my understanding is that cattle are raised on grass and hay until they reach a market weight. After the sale, the cattle are shipped to another ranch and are fed corn to reach a finished weight of 1000 lbs plus. I believe that the corn quickly adds weight and makes the beef a more homogeneous product. Cows finished on grass in one pasture may taste totally different from cows finished on grass in another pasture.

On TCM: I think the show would be better if the chefs are judged by their peers.

[Kilgore Trout]

Way too many gimmicky challenges in this years Top Chef Masters. The week before the finals, and they have a catering challenge where "Master Chefs" are relegated to cooking meatloaf. It is great that they used one of the shows to honor our soldiers, but don't do it at the expense of the food. And yes, I am bitter that Naomi got sent home.

[redpoint]

Maybe I am the only one but I am enjoying Top Chef Masters--Naomi's PYKAG aside--and wish Skillet Doux was discussing it. And a belated thanks to the poster above who led me to Daily Motion and all the episodes of Top Chef Canada. From there one can access ALL EPISODES from ALL SEASONS of Top Chef. My daughter and I are now rewatching season 4 and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. PS--Watching again, I see Lisa got a really, really bad, unfair rap. She was actually quite talented and deserved to be there, though she had some bad days like everyone else did.

[Skillet Doux]

"My daughter and I are now rewatching season 4 and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. PS--Watching again, I see Lisa got a really, really bad, unfair rap. She was actually quite talented and deserved to be there, though she had some bad days like everyone else did."

By any chance, are you only halfway through the season? She did fine in the first half of the season, but dropped off sharply thereafter. Going into the finale, Lisa was on the chopping block for SEVEN CONSECUTIVE WEEKS. And though the edit implied otherwise, statements from the judges (or perhaps just Ted?) afterwards indicated that she cooked her best food of the season in the finale, and still wasn't remotely in the same league as Stephanie and Richard, even with Richard's weak performance.

I think the reputation is well-deserved :-)

[redpoint]

I did not mean to suggest she's in the same league as Stephanie and Richard, or Antonia and Dale. But she did do respectably in the first half of the season, and while her personality could be abrasive it's really no more so than many other competitors, and she can actually be quite funny. I just think she got an unduly bad rap as a villain, and watching it again, I feel bad for her because she didn't deserve it. And plenty of other competitors did well in the first half and bombed in the second, most likely due to the wear and tear of the competition. And look how Mike Isabella picked up in the finale.

Spike is the one who sucked most of the time season 4, much more than Lisa, except for a few notable quick fire wins. Chicken salad with olives and grapes for an elimination challenge! He's lucky Andrew forgot his grain and Tom has no patience for that kind of food.

My all-time favorite top chef expression: Dale's face when Nikki complains about making mayonnaise in the relay race (a bit before he pounds the locker). I rewound over and over again. I adore Dale, but re-watching these episodes he seemed so truly miserable all the time.

Top Chef Canada has been pretty lame, but is worth watching to get a Top Chef fix in. It's funny how the judges are so consistent about sending a lesser chef packing even when a better chef does a worse dish.