Thoughts on "Chopped"
Activities such as cooking don't first strike one as competitions, perhaps. But on the Food Network and other channels as well, various ways to pit chefs against one another have become common. Chopped is one of my favorites, for several reasons. First it reminds me of Lynn Rosetto Kaspar's Fridge challenge. This is on her NPR show Splendid Table and involves a caller listing ingredients in their fridge, and Lynn coming up with a plausible meal using them, on the spot. Combinations are often pretty strange: calamari, beets, soba noodles and kiwis is an example. Lynn is quite good at making cooking magic happen. Her skill in blending seemingly impossible combinations in believable ways is amazing.
Sadly this is not always so among the chefs on Chopped. Many are young, egotistical and borderline annoying. The music of their self esteem plays so loudly in their heads that they can not take in the appropriate criticisms offered by the judges. Taste is always the bottom line- and arguing with the judges when they have just informed the chef that his/her dish has a problem is a waste of the chance to have feedback that is conceiveably useful.It is futile indeed to tell Scott Connant that he 'should' like raw onions when he has just informed you that he does not.I am no longer stunned by the arrogance of a few chefs who then procede to serve him raw onions again in the next course. Bub-eye.
The basic set up of Chopped involves covered baskets which contain mandatory ingredients for each course. They are opened by the cheftestants and then the clock starts- 20 minutes for the appetizer, 30 for the entree and 20 for dessert. Rare ingredients, ethnic items and messy/hard to deal with things are common. When someone has never seen a geoduck clam and is faced with preparing one on national television-comic. When a chef discovers that the lid on all blenders does not work the same way and sprays the ceiling-comic. When chefs who are used to a multitude of minions to order around find themselves humbled by the short time allowedis is both comic and charming.
I love to cook and I have learned a great deal from this show about improvisation. I play my own version of Chopped by looking in the fridge and cupboard for random ingredients and then I put together a meal using all fo them in some fashion.
The goal is always the same: That every biteful be delightful. Am not there yet...but the process is the joy...and in real life I get to pick my ingredients myself. Nice.
Sadly this is not always so among the chefs on Chopped. Many are young, egotistical and borderline annoying. The music of their self esteem plays so loudly in their heads that they can not take in the appropriate criticisms offered by the judges. Taste is always the bottom line- and arguing with the judges when they have just informed the chef that his/her dish has a problem is a waste of the chance to have feedback that is conceiveably useful.It is futile indeed to tell Scott Connant that he 'should' like raw onions when he has just informed you that he does not.I am no longer stunned by the arrogance of a few chefs who then procede to serve him raw onions again in the next course. Bub-eye.
The basic set up of Chopped involves covered baskets which contain mandatory ingredients for each course. They are opened by the cheftestants and then the clock starts- 20 minutes for the appetizer, 30 for the entree and 20 for dessert. Rare ingredients, ethnic items and messy/hard to deal with things are common. When someone has never seen a geoduck clam and is faced with preparing one on national television-comic. When a chef discovers that the lid on all blenders does not work the same way and sprays the ceiling-comic. When chefs who are used to a multitude of minions to order around find themselves humbled by the short time allowedis is both comic and charming.
I love to cook and I have learned a great deal from this show about improvisation. I play my own version of Chopped by looking in the fridge and cupboard for random ingredients and then I put together a meal using all fo them in some fashion.
The goal is always the same: That every biteful be delightful. Am not there yet...but the process is the joy...and in real life I get to pick my ingredients myself. Nice.