Top Chef Season 5

[Trippy]

Mirin, which he used to glaze the top of the salmon, is the key ingredient (along with soy sauce of course) in teriyaki sauce.

[schild]

Mirin, which he used to glaze the top of the salmon, is the key ingredient (along with soy sauce of course) in teriyaki sauce.

I can put soysauce in my spaghetti, doesn't make it asian.

Just like cooking the fish the way he did, putting it on asian noodles and covering it with mirin didn't make it asian.

He failed so hard.

[Trippy]

Mirin, which he used to glaze the top of the salmon, is the key ingredient (along with soy sauce of course) in teriyaki sauce.

I can put soysauce in my spaghetti, doesn't make it asian.

If you are cooking with Asian ingedients and using Asian cooking techniques it's Asian, by definition. Also we're talking about *Chinese* food here. His dish was Asian, even if it wasn't particularly inspired, it just wasn't Chinese.

Edit: basically to me he made a bad Japanese dish which is why I would consider it an Asian dish. The broiled mirin-glazed salmon is just like you would make broiled salmon teriyaki minus the soy sauce and sugar.

[schild]

See, to me a food is of a certain country if that's how a person of that country would make it. I would buy that he made an Asian-American fusion dish. But instead of the "American" part of "Asian-American" it was "Uneducated and Disgusting."

[Trippy]

See, to me a food is of a certain country if that's how a person of that country would make it.

That assumes you actually know how people cook in that country and that all cooking in that country is of that one style.

[HaemishM]

The student and the cute one, though? They had to go. I mean, shit, she tosses together a salad with absolutely no thought in it, and he tries to cook Asian food badly. Yeah, salmon is not Asian food no matter how well you cook the noodles underneath it.

Japan eats tons of salmon -- it's just not a Chinese thing.

Right, but as schild says, they don't eat it like that. And the black rice noodles seemed more of a Chinese thing than a Japanese anyway. That was a very muddled dish conceptually.

[Numtini]

He got caught on "Asian" not "Chinese." Too bad, so sad. He wasn't going to stick around for long anyway. Chinese is so common, I can think of three or four styles of it I have a handle on. How you could not come up with that. Oi.

My partner read somewhere that the quickfire was quick to the tune of a full 9 hour day filming  in the sun. I'm actually not big on the immediate ejections, but I think of the various tests they've done, that was one of the most fair ones. With that many apples it really was skill and not just a lucky break on pealing say two. I've always thought they should do four tests over two episodes and then eject four at a time to cull the useless.

I'm all about team rainbow. Jamie's really cute.

My fan backups would be Hawaii guy and Mary Feldman eyes.

[Johny Cee]

Sigh....

Somehow my cable provider got rid of Bravo from the cable package I have. 

[schild]

I'd be all for team rainbow if it wasn't the sort of thing you make up for tv to parody actual non-flagrant homosexuals.

At that point it just comes off as Team Stereotype.

[Numtini]

I'd be all for team rainbow if it wasn't the sort of thing you make up for tv to parody actual non-flagrant homosexuals.

At that point it just comes off as Team Stereotype.

I might agree, but there have been so many gay people, particularly lesbians on TC tho. The special before the last season was like 1/3rd lesbian? And Tom has been a bear icon since the first season. It really seems just natural.

[Trippy]

I'd be all for team rainbow if it wasn't the sort of thing you make up for tv to parody actual non-flagrant homosexuals.

At that point it just comes off as Team Stereotype.

I might agree, but there have been so many gay people, particularly lesbians on TC tho. The special before the last season was like 1/3rd lesbian? And Tom has been a bear icon since the first season. It really seems just natural.

That's the thing, though, there have been so many including that lesbian couple (Jennifer and Zoi) why bring special attention to it?

[HaemishM]

My early favorite (though maybe not to win it) is the Hawaiian. He just seems like a cool guy. As for who is talented enough to win it? I haven't got enough of a feel for this cast yet. The 40-year old chick who almost lost it on the faro risotto? Yeah, it won't be her. She'll be gone by week 4. Crazy Jill Cosby Eyes? Week 6.

[Signe]

The Hawaiian guy is my favourite so far, too.  And Righ's!  He does seem cool.  Sort of tough and soft at the same time.  I hope the personality I've seen so far endures.  He seems to have skills, too, which is always nice. 

[Numtini]

I am mandated by the lesbian solidarity act of 1972 to root for Jamie, but Gene (the Hawaiian) is definitely the favorite outside of that. He's not full of himself and seems to have skills, plus he's someone who worked his way up, which I always appreciate. I'm always reluctant to pick favorites too early though in case someone buys it from some kind of foolish trick elimination.

On that, I said I wasn't a fan of early elimination. I'd rather see them do the first two or three shows without eliminations and eliminate the bottom four based on cumulative performance, just to avoid the silly stuff.

On the why so long to get to NYC, I'm not surprised they took their time. It's one thing to move from SF to Chicago or Miami, but I have to wonder where they go from here.

[Trippy]

On the why so long to get to NYC, I'm not surprised they took their time. It's one thing to move from SF to Chicago or Miami, but I have to wonder where they go from here.

Los Angeles of course

[Nebu]

On the why so long to get to NYC, I'm not surprised they took their time. It's one thing to move from SF to Chicago or Miami, but I have to wonder where they go from here.

I think Vegas may be a reasonable choice. 

[Abagadro]

Paris.

[Trippy]

Can't do Paris unless it's like the final season for the show.

[Nebu]

I'm going to bet that they do the next season in Seattle, New Orleans, Atlanta, or Las Vegas.  It just makes sense. 

[Numtini]

Does Vegas have any sort of local food culture? I always got the impression it was mostly celebrity chefs opening add on restaurants.

[Azaroth]

Battle Shrimp Cocktail.

[Nebu]

Padma spits your food out and you don't go home.

What the fuck?

[Abagadro]

Producer's choice there. The ostrich egg chick was duller than dirt. The sugar queen is at least an entertaining train wreck.

[Trippy]

Producer's choice there. The ostrich egg chick was duller than dirt. The sugar queen is at least an entertaining train wreck.

Except Sugar Queen was in the bottom last week too. I can't believe she actually has a supposed 4-star restaurant given her willness to serve crap food to the judges. And she used the same fucking "it's hard to tell what it tastes like after tasting so many times" excuse *again*.

Jill, however, was in way over her head, as the hot dog challenge proved, so I can understand why she was let go even though I would've voted for Ariane.

[Azaroth]

The fuck does it even matter. Both of them will be gone soon enough.

[schild]

Just completely lackluster.

[Trippy]

The fuck does it even matter. Both of them will be gone soon enough.

Cause I'm afraid she's going to be one of those contestants that's always in the bottom but never gets eliminated till near the end cause somebody else always fucks up slightly worse than she does.

[Abagadro]

I presict she is this season's Lisa.  Always in thr bottom but kept around for the sake of the drama.  She's not bitchy though, just pathetic.

[Azaroth]

Cause I'm afraid she's going to be one of those contestants that's always in the bottom but never gets eliminated till near the end cause somebody else always fucks up slightly worse than she does.

Isn't that all of them this season?

[HaemishM]

I presict she is this season's Lisa.  Always in thr bottom but kept around for the sake of the drama.  She's not bitchy though, just pathetic.

She makes me stabby. Nothing like someone who claims to be a chef, can't seem to cook even basic shit worth a damn, and then mopes about all the fucking time. She's annoying as hell. However, I knew the minute that stoner chick Jill picked the ostrich egg, she was fucked.

[Bandit]

Missed the first part of the series *smacks head*, I should know just to get all my information from F13.

That frickin' Italian dude is lulz. When he started defending himself right away, I stared thinking what the hell? Comedic value for sure.  Those olives did look very interesting, I would like to try them.

Otherwise, looks like I am in the same boat rooting for the Hawaiian.

[Signe]

Those olives looked awesome!  Did you see then shiver on the fork?

[Nebu]

Is there going to be a new episode tomorrow for Thanksgiving?

Just wondered.

[Trippy]

Yes there is.

[Azaroth]

Episode Highlight: Gail Simmons' hard nips.