This thread is for non-fiction TV, including but not limited to reality television (So You Think You Can Dance, Top Chef: Masters, Project Runway), documentaries (The History Channel, The Discovery Channel), and sundry (Expedition Africa, Mythbusters), et al. [NAFDA]
I loved Anne Burrell's show and I have to say that after it I decided that she is to salt what Paula Deen is to butter.
WTF with Food Network recasting the hosts on their shows and acting like their brand new? (Road Tasted with the Neeleys, the new show that is essentially Follow That Food with Sunny whatserface.) You can really tell who is in favor at FN.
Well, I think that the challenge was not that wacky - there are things you could do to reference the original dish in the dish you made. (People do that all the time.) The problem happens when you have NO IDEA what the original dish was - like Aaron and Adam. I don't get why Jennifer was hitting the glass jar on the side of the stove - that was just asking for trouble. Also, I think that they missed the essence of that dish: they should have somehow plated the three types of poultry together. My feeling was that you get the duck, the chicken and the turkey - cook them separatey but plate them so you can get a bit of all three together. Layer them maybe.
Is it so difficult to make a quick chicken dish with a wine sauce and some veg - all served in the sauce?
Yeah, the time limits are insane. Other than Iron Chef and 30 Minute Meals, all the shows use swap-outs anyway, so who cares if a dish takes longer than the length of a TV show to create? (And even on Iron Chef, they cheat - the chefs only have to complete one of each course during the 60 minute competition and then cook/plate the rest over the 45-minute judging period.)
sumi, you raise good points, but 45 minutes to plan and prep 12 dishes? I still say that's a bad challenge.
I barely can cook a meal for my honey and me in 45 minutes and I'm not under some insane turducken restriction.
Who was kicked off? I missed the very end.
The mother/chef - Jennifer?
They picked better camera presence over better cooking ability.
Ah. She was sweet, but she was really kind of a disaster.
(Road Tasted with the Neeleys, the new show that is essentially Follow That Food with Sunny whatserface.)
yeah, they are really pushing the Neelys. Which is unfortunate because I find them very annoying.
sumi, you raise good points, but 45 minutes to plan and prep 12 dishes? I still say that's a bad challenge.
Yeah, that's a good point -- I was going to say that the quick version of slow things is the Rachael Ray mission statement, but she only makes one plate. And, of course, has more time to plan out what she's doing, I'm sure!
And, of course, has more time to plan out what she's doing, I'm sure!
She rehearses every step of every show over and over and over to get it to time - I've never made anything of hers the first time in less than 45 minutes, simply because I don't have a full-time staff in my kitchen making sure that all the mise-en-place I need for dinner are right in the front of the fridge when I need them!
they should have somehow plated the three types of poultry together. My feeling was that you get the duck, the chicken and the turkey - cook them separatey but plate them so you can get a bit of all three together. Layer them maybe.
If they'd done a roulade with the same stuffing wrapped in the turkey breast, I bet they'dve had a better reception. It's not just the ingredients - they needed to make at least a nod to the original construction, which is after all the entire point of the thing.
But that's where they run into problems - at 45 minutes, you barely have time for the actual cooking process let alone the construction. I'm betting that with even an hour or 90 minutes they would have seen substantially better dishes.
