The Skill Drill was to show confidence and fearlessness.  The task was to make a dish from scratch using their own hand made sausage.

Chef Robert showed them how to make Herb Sausage and Chef Anne showed them how to make a Fennel Sausage.

It occurred to me that I had a meat grinder and could make my own sausage too but alas I don’t have the other attachment to put the sausage in the casings.  Did you know that the casings are hog intestines?  Gross!  They had 30 minutes to re-create the sausage their Chef showed them how to make.

Some of the recruits had a little trouble.  Ty didn’t measure as he didn’t want to over think it and Kat’s machine kept coming apart.  But most did well and didn’t seem intimidated by the task.

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Next they had to incorporate the sausage into a meal.  This was the Technique Challenge.

For Chef Roberts team they made Red Pepper Spaetzle in Mustard Cream Sauce with Sausage.

Chef Anne’s team made Polenta Cakes with Quick Sausage Sauce.

They were allowed 45 minutes to create this dish.

For the Skill Drill they walked into the room with a TV instead of the Chefs to great them.  They were informed that they were going to follow a recipe without help.  The recipe steps were on a board in pieces which they had to first put in the correct order.  My 16 year old commented that she was pretty sure even she could do that.  They had 30 minutes to put that together, prep and each make their own dish.

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Chef Anne for the red team made Roasted Pork Loin with Cider and Chunky Applesauce.

Chef Robert for the blue team made Veal Paillard with Lemon Sauce, Haricot Verts Salad, and Mashed Red Potatoes.

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The recruits split up doing different parts of the recipe. Some didn’t read the complete direction.  The pieces were small and simple on their own, a few sentences, not very difficult.

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Ty sliced his potatoes instead of cutting into chunks and used a huge pot of water.  They aren’t going to mash well let alone cook.

Kelsey and George realized they were burning the veal and started over.  Exactly what they should have done.

Jen and Joshey didn’t rest their pork.  With 5 minutes left they had plenty of time.  All the juice just ran out of the pork.

There wasn’t much to this portion of the show.

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The Main Dish Challenge was a game day party for football season.  The NY Jets Kris Jenkins, who claims to be a good cook, and his wife were throwing a party with 30 guests.

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The chefs taught them how to make a basic potato pancake appetizer.  They each had to come up with a topping on their own and not use the topping the chefs showed them.

Chef Robert made: Avocado-Bacon Relish and Cheddar Fondue (The potato pancake recipe is in this)

Chef Anne made: Marinated Lamb Shoulder Chops with Tzatziki, Arugula, and Feta

They asked Kris Jenkins who’s was better.  He said they were equally as good but then pointed to Chef Robert.

You can watch the video.

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They were then able to leave for the night so they had all night to think about what they wanted to do.

When they arrived the next day the kitchen was all set up for the party.

Uh oh, a surprise!  They are also going to be assigned another appetizer.

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For Blue:

Kelly – Black Bean Taco Fritters with Spicy Mayo

Ty – Blue Cheese Chicken Meatballs

George – Cheeseburger Roulades

Kelsey – Crab Cakes with Grilled Corn Relish

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For Red:

Carlos – Mini Grilled Gruyere and Ham Sammies with Cornichons

Kat – Chorizo and Manchego Puffs

Jen – Mini Corn Cakes with Avocado and Tomatoes

Joshey – Shrimp Balls with Water Chestnuts and Spicy Soy Dipping Sauce

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Joshey hates shrimp.  Chef Anne told him to taste it and he loved it.

They had to do 35 pieces of the above plus 35 potato pancakes with their own topping in 75 minutes.

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Kat re-read the recipe over and over to make sure she was getting it right.   She was giving up and Chef Anne was getting pissed.  Chef Anne saying something to her helped kicked her into high gear but it doesn’t look good once you do give up.  In the end she was told her own topping of cheddar and prosciutto was bland, not enough salt.

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Ty burt his pancakes so they were sticking to the pan.  For his other appetizer he cooked in a deep dish pot instead of a pan so his meatballs were deep fried.  His topping of Spicy Chicken and Mayo they said had too much mayo and pepper however the guests really liked his food.

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Kelsey’s crab cakes were burning and falling apart.  She started over and did a better job. For her topping she did a Dijon steak that they told her was too spicy.

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Jen said she was in pancake hell since she had two recipes that called for making pancakes.  Jen’s topping was Buffalo Spice.  She forgot the chicken and the Chefs told her they felt like they were missing meat.  Also her Avocado was turning color on her mini corn cakes.

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Kelly got screwed.  That black bean taco fritter looked gross.  It just didn’t look appetizing at all. Kris Jenkins told her that her fritters looked scary and her topping on the pancakes was cheese and tomato.

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Carlos used grated cheese instead of slicing and Chef Anne told him that it was great he was thinking like a cook.  His topping was Steak with red pepper.

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George still has no confidence in herself even though she was doing well.   They said her cheeseburger appetizer was seasoned properly and they liked the texture of her shrimp, tomato and onion pancake topping.

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Joshey did a BBQ Burger as his topping. They told him that his pancakes were floury and not cooked enough.

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I noticed some recruits were not done topping and plating their stuff when time was up but somehow that never made much of an impact.  I guess they were allowed to finish as the tasting went on since no one complained there wasn’t enough food.

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This is who went home this week:

Red team – Chef Anne – Jen eliminated

Blue team – Chef Robert – Kelly eliminated

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See you next week! I am off to make a shopping list for some of the recipes featured in this episode

Obviously they are going to be grilling something here.  At first I thought they might make them go primitive but I was wrong.  They made it pretty easy.

The task was creativity by putting their own spin on a burger.  They said they wanted to see how much they learned so far and who has the creativity in the end.  I don’t care what you add to it, it is still a burger to me and while it is possible to get somewhat creative with a burger I don’t find it all that daring.

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They started off with the chefs showing their own burgers.

Chef Anne made Big Fat Burger with Gruyere, Ham, Pickled Onions, Arugula, and Garlic Mayo.

Chef Robert made Cheese and Onion-Stuffed Burger with Grilled Tomato Chutney and
Marinated Vegetables.

They informed the recruits to cook 2-3 minutes on either side to start and left them to make their burgers on their own without their watchful eyes.  The winning dish gets an advantage for their team.  The recruits act all dumb like they have no idea whats at stake.  Let me guess… the winning team gets to choose for the switcharoo.  Who really wins in that scenario?  It’s the chef not the recruits of the winning team.

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They have 45 mintues and a plethora of ingredients to choose from.

Ty made what he called a man burger.  OMG they were huge.  Cooking them will be difficult.

Two people used pineapples however one used canned and the other used fresh.

Kelsy admits to blowing up a gas grill before and burning the hair off her face.  Get this woman away from fire!

Erika made what she called fancy sauce made with kethcup and mayo.  O lordy.  Yeah, that’s fancy.  It’s not unique either you will see many people put that on a burger.

So many of them made patties that were way too big and didn’t cook enough. A couple of them had burgers falling apart because they used egg whites only instead of the whole egg.

These people are brilliant.

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I was right about what was at stake, duh.  Here are the results from the worst to the best burger.

Kat (blue) – cooked her burger to death.

Joshey (red) – Anne said it was freaking disgusting.

Erika (red) – burger was raw and sauce was not unique.  she tried using the excuse that it was her first time cooking all this stuff.  Chef Anne told her it was everyone else’s too and that was no excuse.

Jen (red) – too small.

Carlos (red) – he used canned pineapple.

Kelly (blue) – nothing special about it.

Anna (blue) – liked the use of avacado.

Ty (blue) – too big to bite but good seasoning.

Kelsey (red) – use of english muffin as buns was different.

George (blue) – use of two different cheeses.

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The blue team wins so Chef Robert gets to pick for the trade.  He choose to take Kelsey from the Red because she has potential.  She got pretty pissed cause she knows how Chef Anne works.  Chef Robert said that Kat was not progressing enough so he gave her to the red team.

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For the main dish challenge they were to make a fancier meal.

Chef Anne made Seared Rack of Lamb with Pistachio Tapenade and Pommes.

I defenitly made a note of the Pommes recipe and can’t wait to make it!  I can’t believe she used a mandolin with these people though I was expecting them all to cut themselves.

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Chef Robert made Duck Breast with Apple-Pomegranate Sauce and a Grilled Veggie Salad.

I’ve personally never had duck before and also have never julienned anything.  Looks like another possibility for people to cut themselves.  It all looked delicious.

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Their task was to make two sets of their meal in 45 minutes.  That’s alot of work!

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Joshey didn’t cut his lamb eavenly so he has a hard time cooking it evenly and had a hard time using the food processor.

Kelly almost burned the oil but surprisingly saved herself by taking it off the heat to cool off and then added more oil to it.  Smart girl.

Erika didn’t use a non stick pan for her potato dish so they stuck to the pan.

Jen’s potatoes didn’t even fully cook.

Anna cooked her sauce in a cold pan so that’s not going to cook right and burned her chops.

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For the tasting they had the pleasure of eating with the Chef at a table set up as if they were at a nice resteraunt.

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For the Blue Team:

Kellly – she had no sauce but her meat was good.

George – her meat was rare but her seasoning and vegatables were good.

Ty – his meat was cooked nicely and seasoned well.  The vegtables were cut badly.

Anna – her duck was rare, too salty, sauce was thin and vegtables burned.  train wreck.

Kelsey – she had no sauce, needed salt and Chef Robert said he was disapointed in her.

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For the Red Team:

Joshey – he said on camera that dining with Chef Anne was between a dream date and a nightmare.  Oh Joshey what will we do with you?  His meat was cooked unevenly but tasted good.

Erika – too spicey with the red pepper.

Jen – potatoes weren’t browned but the meat was good.

Carlos – she told him to amp up the seasoning but otherwise good.

Kat – barely rare meat, no seasoning and her fennel was chopped like crap.

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So the verdict was in and here are the loosers who went home:

Red team – Chef Anne – Erika eliminated

Blue team – Chef Robert – Anna eliminated

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To me anyone who can’t give you cooked meat should go home.  That is unforgivable when it’s so rare it’s not edible.

So I don’t agree with Chef Annes choice, I think Kat should have gone home.

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See you next week!

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The first challenge was a Skill Drill about Flavor.  If you ask me flavor is pretty damn important.  This was a team challenge to replicate 3 sauces just on taste.  Yeah their palate is ready to just pick up what is inside something hell I don’t know that I could do that, well not every ingredient.

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They had to replicate salsa cruda, remesco and petso in 45 minutes.  I’ve heard of and made my own pesto but other than the word salsa i’ve never heard of either of the other two.

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So the blue team split into 3 teams of 2 people each choosing a sauce to work on.  I was thinking that was pretty smart.  The red team didn’t have much of a plan.  I would much rather work with one person on one dish for 45 minutes than figure out 3 with everyone.  The chefs tasted them all not knowing which team did which sauces.  Red won the pesto and salsa cruda and blue won the remsco. The blue would have won had she not chopped her salsa like crap cause she was in a hurry.

Whatever, not like they get anything for winning.

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Next was the Technique Challenge.  They had 30 minutes to complete.

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The red team made Seared Halibut with Sauteed Swiss Chard and Salsa Cruda.  Chef Anne taught them that fish will stick and win, you have to let it cook enough and it will unstick itself. Dumbass Joshi tasted his food and put the spoon he tasted with back into the bowl.  I don’t even do that at home and I bet my family would eat my germs.  So Chef Anne wouldn’t eat the salsa.  What did she do?  She pushed it off the Halibut and ate the rest.  Ummmmmm wasn’t that salsa on top of the fish?

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The blue team made Pan Seared Shrimp with Romesco Sauce, Grits and Greens. Chef Robert showed them how to remove the intestine from the shrimp.  Would someone please show chinese restaraunts how to do this?  Most of them fail miserably.  The girls on Chef Roberts team were grossed out by ripping the heads off the shrimp and de-pooping them  There was a guy on the team who didn’t have enough time to get his sauce on the plate before time was up.  Chef Robert wanted to taste it anyway and loved it but it didn’t count.  Not that the challenge actually counted towards anything other than the chefs know what they missed.

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The Main Dish Challenge was what really counted.  They could get sent home for their mistakes now.  They walked into the room and saw a table with TV Dinners and ice.  The Chefs put their own spin on typical TV Dinners and they had to replicate it in 60 mintues.

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You notice that the recipe is on the chalkboard but they all are taking notes.  Probably a good idea as you never know when they might erase that board.  In this challenge multi tasking was key.  Even I have a hard time with getting everything done at the same time doing multiple things at once.

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The red team made Dry Rubbed Rib Eye with Mushroom Sauce.

Erika had a problem with touching her hair while working.  She is just a hot mess if you ask me. Chef Anne said something to her so she kept washing her hands.  In the mean time her carrots were dark as could be.  If you would focus on cooking and not your pretty hair you would do better. Oh yeah, Chef Anne eats her food even tho she touched her hair and touched food before being scolded.

Kelsey burned her meat and carrots.  I swear this chick is gonna burn the place down.

With 10 minutes to go Priscilla the retired school teacher hadn’t even cooked her meat yet!  OMG get that shit cooked.  No one wants to eat meat that still looks alive.  The meat is the main portion of your meal and that should be done more than anything else on that plate.

I don’t know what Chef is thinking but them red dishes didn’t look pretty to me.  They had a ginourmous piece of meat that hides everything underneath it. But hey Chef Anne showed them that way.

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The blue team made Herbed Turkey Breast in Gravy with Creamed English Peas and Cranberry Compote.

Kelly kept whining that she feels like a step sister because Anna can do no wrong in Chef Roberts eyes.  Wah, cry me a river.   Kelly plopped her meat down on the plate and looked around at everyone else who sliced theirs and was all, “I noticed others slicing, and I didn’t.”  She just stood there.  Then she blames the fact that she doesn’t eat meat on why it didn’t occur to her.  I am pretty sure Chef Robert instructed them to slice that meat.  Ummmm didn’t you write it down on your lovely note pad there?

Chef Robert told Matt he was over thinking everything.  He admitted that he thinks like it’s science.  Who does he think he is Alton Brown?

Chef Robert told George that all her plates looked nice but the meat was over cooked.  She just kept saying “Oh, really?” to everything like she was in dis belief.

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I couldn’t believe we went an entire show without hearing the words mis en place!  Made me happy.  It just became one of those annoying phrases that she over used.  Thank you for editing it out if she did say it alot.

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So the verdict was in and here are the loosers who went home:

Red team – Chef Anne – Priscilla eliminated

Blue team – Chef Robert – Matt eliminated

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I am not surprised and do think Priscilla lasted longer than she should have.

See you next week!

I made my notes on the show while watching it, but we had company over so I just emailed them to myself.  Well when you have a zillion emails every day it’s hard to remember that you emailed yourself a blog post to put up.

One of these days I will get the hang of blogging from my cell phone now that I can.

Anyway onto the show!

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The first challenge was to cook an omelet on a farm.  I think there would have been a better point had they made them milk a cow or race to get their own chicken eggs or something.  Otherwise why have them there?

The one lady was ready to run with a knife man she is a retired teacher don’t they teach kids not to run with scissors?
The one guy was trying to chop watermelon and I was scared he was gonna cut himself he was shaking like he was having a seizure in his hand.

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The main dish challenge. They had no recipe on the board.  Really if it’s too difficult and too many steps how do you expect these people to remember? Oh they took notes. Ha guess they learned from watching the first season that it would come up.

Chef Roberts dish was pretty easy and I may try to duplicate some of it. The butter looked great.

Chef Anne’s seemed somewhat simple but not as appetizing. Oh funny they lost their notes halfway through.

Chef Roberts recruits were good at helping each other. Each helped with a step when learning so they told others what they did.

Chef annes were a bit more flustered. They are so worried about her mis en place.  Dude I had to look that up cause even though I have heard her say it before I still don’t get it and sure as shit couldn’t spell it.  It’s one of those words that gets on my nerves when I hear it.

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I consider myself a pretty good cook, but I think I might fail based on chef standards. Especially because I overcook my meat and eggs. I like it that way though. I too would be nervous as all hell to cook for one of these chefs.

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Chef Anne was less happy with her recruits main dishes. She had more complaints than chef Robert. Do u think that makes her the worst teacher or maybe she is too picky? They are still learning and it’s very early in the show to expect so much.  They don’t have long though to get up to chef standards. It’s crazy.

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Red team – Chef Anne -  Anthony eliminated
Blue team - Chef Robert -  Jeff eliminated

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In searching for something about the show I ran into a website that calls itself Food Network Humor.  It’s not exactly humor as it is a bashing site.  I’m not sure I understand why if you dislike something so much do you continue to watch/read it.  Obviously someone is wasting time reading the Food Network website and getting info on shows that they don’t even like.   Anywho.  Was something to look at for a few minutes.

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See you next week!

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16 Recruits.

The Prize $25,000.

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The two celebrity chefs hoping to whip the 16 recruits into shape are Chef Robert Irvine for the Blue Team & Chef Anne Burrell for the Red Team.
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I know who Chef Robert Irvine is, anyone who watches food network I’m sure does.   On his show Dinner Impossible his goal is to get it done fast.  It will be interesting to see how he does here.
Chef Anne Burrell however I never heard of outside this show.  I’ve seen a commercial for her show Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, but I’ve never watched it so I don’t know her style outside this show.

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The recruits are a bunch of kitchen misfits.  I feel bad for the people who have had to eat their food back home.  Though you have to wonder can people really be that bad?  Is it for real or for ratings?

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The first challenge was to create their own dish from the pantry.  I thought they knew their food was bad already but I guess they did it to pick teams for each other after watching them work in the kitchen.  I hope I am not that bad when I create stuff out the blue like that.   It was like a school play yard.  Chef Robert tells Chef Anne she get’s one of the recruits and as they walk over Chef Anne is shaking her head saying “Awwwww.”  They all suck do you have to make them feel any worse than they already do.

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The second challenge the Chefs taught them a dish and they had 60 mintues to re-create it.

Chef Robert doesn’t seem to be teaching with as much information in this episode.  These are the worst cooks, they  need more than just a look watch how it’s done.  It could be that they just aren’t showing more of Chef Robert though.  Chef Anne explained small details like how to tell it’s the breast on a whole chicken.  If you don’t know which part is the breast, just wow.
The dish Chef Irvine was teaching looked more appetizing to me than Chef Annes.  I wanted to reach into the screen and try it myself.

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There is a recruit that is a vegetarian. Really she should have thought about it before going on the show. She whined so much in the begining about cutting meat.  She finally did cut it and I have nothing against vegetarians but I hope she finds another angle to whine about or how about not whine at all?
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You would think they would teach them before the show how to put out a fire considering these ppl don’t know how to cook. Two peoples dishes caught fire and the one girl was all, “I don’t know how to put out a fire.”  I think they need a pre-requisite class before boot camp or on the first day of how to not kill yourself while cooking.  Things to include would be how to put out a fire (obviously) and how to use a knife since some people just rip things apart with their hands.  Let’s not forget to add in how to wash your hands after touching meat.
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I thought Chef Robert gave constructive criticism to them. He told them where they went wrong which is exactly how they will learn.
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Chef Ann was stuck on messy plates and her criticism wasn’t as direct. “Your chicken cooked alot.”  ”The green beans greasy.”
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Red team – Chef Anne – Lena eliminated
Blue team – Chef Robert – Eric eliminated

It’s too early for me to feel bad for anyone who leaves.

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Not a bad first show.  Entertaining and the preview for next week left me wanting to watch more.

You can watch it on Food Network, Sundays at 9pm EST.

Look for my thoughts the day after each show here

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I find the judges on most of these types of shows extremely picky.  When I hear that a dish just didn’t come together I have to ask if they expect it to give them an orgasm or something.  The dishes look beautiful and ingredients don’t seem outrageous.

Often you hear about seasoning issues in chef’s dishes.  Often salt is the culprit.  I want to see one of these chefs have the balls to put a bottle of salt on the table with their dish and tell them to season it there damn selves.  I can understand not enough other seasonings, but salt &/or pepper I mean come on!  Every persons tolerance for salt & pepper are different.  I think thats why a restaurant has them on the table for you.

I think some of these chef judges really need a home cooked meal.  A real one.  One where there are little kids running around with boogers coming out of their noses.

Many of the chefs claim they are not bakers and make excuses when expected to make a desert.  Do you people watch tv?  Do you bother to watch the show your apply for, if it already exists?

Newsflash: learn how to bake at least enough to save your own ass.

I feel for the chefs tho.  It has to be tough to have their job in real life and even tougher to be in these competitions.  They bust their asses, some receiving nothing in the end.  The time they are given half the time adds so much more pressure.  If I had to cook under that much pressure to make dinner I would throw out my pots & pans and refuse to cook.  I guess that’s what makes them professionals and me just a home cook.   I can take some criticism but more often than not I think I would run away into a corner and cry like a big baby.

Every now and then I go through On Demand to the section with TV shows.  Occasionally you find new shows in there you may not have otherwise heard of.  Within the past year I can recall finding two.  One of coarse is a reality show called Work of Art, the next great artist. The other is Parenthood. Most sitcoms and Dramas don’t last long these days unless you count the insane amount of spin offs of CSI and the like. I hate when I find a new show, get hooked, and it’s gone within the first few years.  One of those was Everwood. I doubt Parenthood will have many years in the making but I will enjoy it while I can.

The other day I found myself looking for something new to get hooked on. Yeah, that didn’t happen. I found Mall Cops. OMG Really?  Mall Cops??? I know the movie was funny but a TV show?  It apparently takes place at the Mall Of America.  I didn’t even last through the entire episode before just turning the TV off.  At that point I didn’t think there was a point.

Is there anything left in life not taped and used as a reality show?  If not it probably will be soon enough.  Are the writers out there lacking that much creativity that they can’t come up with anything anymore? Or are we just hopelessly addicted to being nebby and watching other people screw up to make ourselves feel better?

TV has changed so much.  I wonder what my thoughts will be in another 10 years.

We all know they know ahead of time what possible secret ingredients they may have coming and have time to prepare dishes for each possibility.  But it seems they have lists of ingredients at the very least.  I’m not sure if they are that good at hiding it normally or I just never noticed before……

* I wanted Curtis Stone of Take Home Chef to find me when I was shopping and come cook dinner for me!  I so badly would have loved to have been told what store and what day.  I would be sure to pretend to be buying expensive items in Whole Foods and wear something sexy.  Too bad the show isn’t on anymore but he is welcome to still come cook for me!

* I miss Roseanne.  I will watch re-run after re-run.  It was the one true sit com that was more like real life.  You could relate to the characters.  Boy was I disapointed in the last show though.  Finding out that so much of it wasn’t true like them winning all that money and Darlen’s and Becky’s men where actually with the other sister.  Supposidly all those years was her writing her book and telling that story.

I apparently love Reality TV.  Not all, but alot.  And I love cooking shows!
I’m sure I’ll have more…….
Anything you watch to add to this list?