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Yummy Links: From Ted Allen to Heart-Shaped Watermelons

partysugar — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:30:08 -0700

Ted Allen chats about Chopped. - Endless Simmer
Check out photographer Dominic Episcipo United States of Meat series. - Eat Me Daily
What to do when a party starts to die. - Chow
Anthony Bourdain admits he is a bad New Yorker. - Grub Street
Shake Shack - the beloved New York City burger joint, has plans to expand in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. - Eater
How to impress guests with squash. - The Atlantic
Do you enjoy chicken on pizza? - The Epi-Log
In Japan, you can now purchase heart-shaped watermelon. - Serious Eats

How Well Do You Know the Top Chef Judges & Contestants?

partysugar — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:50:24 -0700

Hey Top Chef fans, get excited: the new season debuts this Wednesday night at 9 p.m.! To get everyone in the mood for the next round in Las Vegas, I put together a fun quiz that tests your knowledge of the judges and past contestants. I'll list a judge's quote, and you have to guess which cheftestant it's about. So, what are you waiting for? Play away!

Question 1 of 10

"In the end, she realized her strength. She's a chef who needs to roll something over in her brain, try it out 15 different ways, refine it, and then she'll nail it."

Will You Watch Food Network's Chopped?

YumSugar — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:30:17 -0800

Tonight is the series premiere of Chopped, Food Network's new culinary competition series hosted by Ted Allen. The show, which airs on 10 p.m./9 p.m. (CST), bears a striking resemblance to Bravo's hit series, Top Chef. Will you tune in?

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Is Food Network's Chopped a Ripoff of Top Chef?

partysugar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:15:09 -0800

If you watch Food Network on a regular basis, you must know - by the bombardment of promotional commercials - about its new culinary competition, Chopped.

The show, which is described as a series that "challenges four up-and-coming chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal. After each course, a contestant gets 'chopped' until the last man or woman left standing claims victory," is hosted by former Top Chef judge, Ted Allen. Although Chopped does not air until Tuesday, Jan. 13 (at 10 p.m.), many feel the show is a complete ripoff of Top Chef.

After watching the promo video, Eat Me Daily declared that "Food Network is totally trying to mimic Top Chef's more professional veneer, especially in the light of the more amateurish low-budget feel of the Next Food Network Star."

Spurred by the Internet's backlash against Chopped, Ted Allen has taken to his blog to defend the series. To find out what he had to say, read more.

Following a long, detailed description of each episode Allen states:

There also is a culinary straightforwardness about this show that I find really satisfying, and particularly appropriate for a company called Food Network. There is no sleep deprivation, no "Big Brother" house full of bunk beds and cameras, no booze-fueled personal drama (as much as we all love the brainwashing and catfights on that certain show I used to judge). There are no team or catering challenges. Best of all, there is no product placement, so you never see passionate lovers of good food being forced to use packaged convenience junk thanks to Kraft/Altria/Exxon's sponsorship.

I'll admit when I first heard about the show, I wondered if it would be too similar to Top Chef. What do you think about the competition's resemblance? Is Chopped a cheap, made-for-the-masses knockoff?

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At the Table With Anthony Bourdain

partysugar — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:00:56 -0700

Tonight a special featuring everyone's favorite bad-boy celebrity chef, Anthony Bourdain, airs on the Travel Channel (at 10 p.m. ET). The show's called At the Table with Anthony Bourdain and is a no-holds-barred dinner with four interesting guests. The No Reservations host will be dining with writer Bill Buford, bar owner Amy Sacco, Ted Allen, and magazine editor Chris Wilson. The dinner was cooked by Wylie Dufresne, in his New York City restaurant's kitchen wd-50.

I'm excited to check out what happens when these five impressionarios sit down to dine and wonder what Dufresne will cook up! How about you? Will you watch?

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Ted Allen to Join Food Network

partysugar — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:15:12 -0700

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the Food Network is overhauling its programing schedule. It seems like every week a new series debuts. It started back in February with the introduction of Pat and Gina Neely followed swiftly by Danny Boome. Other recent newcomers include Sunny Anderson and Mary Nolan.

Although I find it overwhelming - new chefs, new concepts, new shows, how can I get to know them all? - I'm looking forward to checking out Ted Allen! The Network announced today that they've nabbed the Top Chef judge to host a new primetime program called Food Detectives. Good Eats meets Myth Busters in the show, with Allen answering popular food questions like: Can an apple a day keep the doctor away?

The show sounds informative and interesting, and I look forward to checking it out when it debuts on July 29. What do you think, will you watch? How do you feel about all the new shows on Food Network?

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Who Do You Want To Win Top Chef?

YumSugar — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:25:07 -0700

This season of "Top Chef" is finally coming to a close. We've had fantastic judges - including Ted Allen, whose favorite cast member was Howie - some wild characters, shocking results and droolworthy dishes. We're down to the final three, and at this point I'm not sure who I'm rooting for. How about you? Who do you want to win?

Oh and if you can't wait for tonight, here's a quick clip to whet your palate.

Top Chef 3.4 - Cooking By Numbers Recap

YumSugar — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:07:42 -0700

Did you watch Top Chef last night? If so what did you think? I think it's starting to get interesting, but there are still a few too many characters for me to keep straight. After a two week hiatus, it was almost difficult to get back into as I kept having to say, "Who's that?" or "Wait, who's that girl?" However, once things got "cooking" (sorry I couldn't resist), I got back into the groove and was ready for a visual feast.

Things start off with an interesting quickfire challenge. Padma and Jamie Walker - guest judge and "global master mixologist for Bombay Sapphire Gin" - presents them with 12 mixed drinks and asks them to create proper food pairings. Immediately we cut to Hung who, having drawn a Raspberry Mint Martini, is ~~bitching~~ pouting about how his food is too good for hard alcohol. He then goes on and on about sweetness always going good with creaminess. To find out who wins the quickfire and who gets sent home at the end, read more

After tasting all the dishes, Walker puts Joey's "little bit clumsy" dish and Hung's in the bottom two. Hung questions him and asks for Walker to say that sweetness and creaminess don't always go hand in hand. Walker easily obliges. The top three dishes ended up belonging to Tre, Dale and Casey. I thought Dale was going to win, as he had previous experience pairing food and mixed drinks, however it was Casey who took home the immunity. Congrats to her, but can I just ask, did anyone else say, "Who?" when Casey won? She hadn't exactly gotten much screen time prior to this...

Once the quickfire is settled the cheftestants are told to divide themselves into four groups of three for a team challenge. Each team will be responsible for a portion of a 4-course meal and have 2 hours to cook, 30 minutes to shop and $150 to spend. The first thing I noticed was, unlike previous team challenges, the contestants get to break themselves into teams. I was immediately impressed with how diplomatic they were by doing a random name draw for teams. However, the diplomacy was too good to last and the contestants immediately start arguing and the teams reshuffle. In the end we are left with:

Team 1 - Brian, Hung and Lia with a trio of shrimp
Team 2 - Casey, Joey and Howie with a trio of tuna
Team 3 - CJ, Tre and Sara N. with a trio of beef
Team 4 - Sara M., Camille and Dale with a trio of pineapple

It's interesting to note that 1) Joey and Howie are on a team together even though they didn't have to be. 2) Even though no one said there must be a dessert course, Dale has decided they should do a dessert and even goes as far as to decide his team should do a tropical one. 3) Brian, the seafood chef, is once again doing a seafood dish.

When the food is served (they feed the judges, guest judge/restauranteur Barton G. Weiss, and culinary eating club extraordinaire Chaine des Rotisseurs), the shrimp is very successful, the tuna is weak/strong/muddy, the beef is beautiful (although Sara N.'s beef is compared to Denny's roast beef), and the pineapple dessert is a disaster.

The shrimp team is called out as the winners and the best dish goes to Lia with her Poached Shrimp with Lime Syrup. I'm glad to see a lady finally win an Elimination Challenge, but I feel like I hardly know her - hopefully we'll hear more from her soon.

When it comes to the losing team, both the tuna team and the dessert team are called out. Casey's dish is declared the worst, but she has immunity, so it doesn't really matter. Joey & Howie - former foes and current BFFs - are chastised for not tasting Casey's food and for not having a cohesive theme. However the dessert team was far worse, they took a risk and it failed and when all was said and done, Camille (again, "who?") is asked to pack her knives and go.

So what did you guys think? Do you think Brian can skate by on his seafood for much longer? How about Dale's demand for a dessert course, do you think he should have gone? What about Sara M.'s poor use of gelatin? Tell us your thoughts below!

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Top Chef 3.3 - Family Favorites Recap

YumSugar — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:11:02 -0700

*Zzzzzz* Oh sorry about that. Last night's Top Chef sorta knocked me out there. Did you guys watch it? What did you think? Although Ted Allen was finally there, and the guest judge - Alfred Portale - had the potential to make it all work, I have to admit, I was utterly bored. Even the challenge - update old school American classics - seemed recycled. I know I'm being a bit hypocritical, first I complain that it's too dramatic and not focused on the food, and now I'm complaining that there's not enough drama. Can't I have my cake and eat it too? Or should that be, have my conch and eat it too? If you're still curious to see what happened, and there is actually one small off-air controversy, read more

The show begins with Padma unveiling a large tank full of shellfish. Each contestant then steps up to the tank and fills the net as full as they can. They each can only take what they get in one scoop. Hung is up first and immediately begins fishing around for the best bits. His fellow cheftestants seem a bit upset by this and Sara N. even declares, "Jesus Hung, save some for the rest of us."

Once he's done with his haul - he actually drops one and disrespectfully says he doesn't need it - the rest of the folks get theirs. Tre ends up getting a small amount, while others get things they've never worked with. In the end the bottom 3 quickfire dishes are Micah's (girl really needed some help getting the conch out of its shell), Camille's (who?) and Tre's (looks like my current fave is really slipping). The top 3 are: Howie (who's back from the chopping block), CJ (who's dish actually looked unappetizing to me) and Brian (who works with seafood on a regular basis). The overall winner is Brian who receives immunity from the elimination.

After the quickfire, the chefs now select "traditional family favorites" to update. Only there's one small catch, instead of just updating them, they have to update them into modern low cholesterol meals. Hung, who the editors have started to make out as the "bad guy" declares to the camera, "All those dishes look disgusting to me." Unfortunately for him, since he got to choose shellfish first, he had to choose his traditional dish last (fried chicken). Once dishes are selected they have $75 to shop, 30 minutes to prep and two hours to cook on location at the Miami Elk's Club Lodge.

We keep getting info about Dale's pre-cooked chicken and instant mashed potatoes, making us believe he's going to be ousted, but woah ho! That's just fancy editing! Dale actually ended up in the top 2 - that's right they only chose 2 top dishes - along with Howie. In the end Howie wins with his Fennel Crusted Pork Chops. However I think it was only because Dale's chicken & dumplings were partially store bought.

So now that you know the winners, how about the losers? Oh my there were actually quite a few disasters. In fact 5 people are called into judge's panel: Micah, CJ, Lia, Sara and Brian. Since Brian has immunity they can't kick him off, however they bring him in to yell at him for serving a high-cholesterol lobster and for playing it safe with seafood.

Once Brian leaves, the judges then start ripping into the other dishes. Sara M.'s chicken a la king was more like (as Tom said) "chicken don king" as it bore absolutely no resemblance to its dish. Lia didn't do enough cooking on her franks & beans - to which she retorted, "I guess I really didn't understand how complex franks & beans are." CJ's tuna casserole was too green, too muddy and too frightening - although they did give him props for cholesterol-reducing flax seed chips and the fact that he took a risk. However it is Micah, with a terrible meatloaf - Alfred said it was, "Bad. Really Bad." - who is asked to leave.

Now's when I'd like to mention something about Micah. When she served her dish, she made a mention of how "Us Americans" eat it with ketchup. I thought it was condescending, as did the judges. She also makes several references to her not knowing anything about American food - she did this last week too. Now, I'm not one to judge, if she says she's from South Africa, then she's from South Africa. However, there's been a few things uncovered to suggest that she's not really from South Africa after all. Either way, she sounded happy to get off of the show before things turn ugly.

Whether or not it gets uglier, I just hope it gets more interesting. Now back to that nap...

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Top Chef 4 Star All Stars Recap

YumSugar — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 12:20:59 -0700

Last night Top Chef kicked off its new season with an All Star battle that pitted season one chefs against season two. On the season one team we had Harold, Stephen (oh how I missed his condescending smug attitude), Tiffani and Dave - surprisingly absent was Leanne, but she couldn't participate because she is now Bravo TV's food producer). The season two team consisted of fan favorite Sam, Elia, Marcel and Ilan. The two teams were going head to head and the team with the most wins contributed $20,000 to their favorite charity.

Overall it was a bit lackluster - there was no drama unfolding, as no one was getting kicked off, and all the food looked delicious - however it was fun to see my favorite contestants back in the kitchen. It was definitely a great tease (or should I say amuse-bouche) to lead into season three. There were a few good quotes and I'm sure you guys want to know about the food, and see some pictures. So let's get started, just read more

First of all, I can't get on with any of the recapping without pointing out three things. (1) Marcel rapped, again... (2) was that the Brooklyn bridge carved into Ilan's hair? I'm pretty sure it was and (3) the immersion blender in Ilan's mouth looked a bit... wrong? Oh my, now on to the recap!

The challenge started off with Padma and Chef Tom telling the former contestants that each team needed a team captain. Initially I thought it would be the two winners, but I should have known better! Instead of having the teams pick captains, the captains were chosen by a quickfire challenge! They were presented with two eggs and a large oven mitt. The oven mitt was for them to wear, because Padma tells them that they will be cooking eggs with one hand behind their back. They then cut to Stephen who says, "If you can't cook eggs, you're probably better off not being in the kitchen." I guess no one told those folks in Hell's Kitchen that.

In the end, Stephen wins with a "perfect omelette" and is chosen captain of season one - competing for the Susan G. Komen foundation. And even though his dish was topped with a dollop of saffron foam, Marcel is the runner-up and is chosen as captain for season two - competing for Share Our Strength.

The teams are then told that they're making a four course meal consisting of scallops, lobster, duck and kobe beef. Each team member chooses an ingredient and they will go head-to-head against the other season's chef. The team with the most winning dishes will be the victors.

Up first: Dave vs Elia with scallops - Elia produces two versions both paired with a marmalade, Dave produces a smoked scallop with a tapenade. In the end Elia's wins, although I must admit, I was rooting for Dave.

Next up: Stephen vs Marcel with lobster - Marcel's dish includes both a gelee and a foam (served tableside even!), both of which begin to deflate in the hot Miami heat. Stephen's is immaculately plated and consisted of beautiful saffron tones. Winner? Stephen.

Third course: Harold vs. Ilan with duck - The showdown is on! Season one winner vs season two winner, should be impressive, no? Actually turned out that the judges didn't really love either of them. Harold's was "incomplete" and Ilan's was a mess. In the end incomplete wins over a mess, and I say hurray, because well it's no secret, I heart Harold.

Last up: Tiffani vs Sam with kobe beef: Both dishes looked great, but Tiffani's was the winner. Chef Tom even mentions how nice it is to have her food again.

With a vote of 3-1, season 1 is declared the victor!

If you missed the show, you can check it out later this week (check the Bravo schedule) or stream it over the internet. Also, for a few hysterical comments on last night's show, visit our pals at We Cook, They Dish.

Now for a few of my favorite quotes:

"If the bitch can cook, let him cook!" - Dave about Marcel

"I have way too many people at home watching, I can't go home against this guy." - Harold about Marcel

"I'm so weeded right now." - Marcel

"I don't want to prove myself to these guys anymore." - Dave

"He's KIND OF cute?!?" - Ted Allen about Sam

"Don't read the blogs because you'll find shit on there that you don't want to know about yourself. Stuff that you probably didn't even know about yourself." - Sam

Oh Sam, was it something we said?

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