Hell’s Kitchen (Spoilers if you didn’t see it last night)
I missed most of the first hour of Hell’s Kitchen last night, between my “diplomatic mission” and cooking supper (which itself wouldn’t have been so bad, but I was also turning almost 5 lbs of excellent 93% ground beef, from BJ’s, into freezer fodder). However, it was an interesting couple of episodes. Poor Jimmy. As soon as he won the challenge, making the flambé, I figured he was a goner. Especially after he made the political choice of that weasel Michael to join him in the reward, rather than making the correct choice of Elsie.
The blind taste challenge was a great idea. At least they didn’t get their noses blocked too. Some of the food items were just bizarre. Ox tongue? Ugh.
It was interesting when one of them said parsnip for radish. Radishes are one of those rare things I dislike, though they were fun to grow when I was a kid, going from seed to product faster than any vegetable I know. I don’t know as I have ever had white radish. Maybe that tastes more like parsnip, but otherwise it strikes me funny to confuse the two.
I thought spinach leaf was a no brainer. No idea how Ralph confused it with romaine lettuce. In terms of texture, I’d think it would be easier to confuse with bibb or Boston lettuce, and romaine would be more like mature swiss chard (something I don’t like, even though I love spinach, and beet greens).
In the first episode, Ralph seriously dodged a bullet when Andrew talked his way from being safe into being the one selected. I missed a lot of it, but it seemed that a big part of the challenge for the episode was menu planning, and Ralph was the one who blew it and made the team’s work harder. However, you don’t say you did a lousy job cooking something because it was someone else’s idea. In a restaurant, you’re going to cook things you never chose to have on the menu, or that are not from your own secret recipe. Ralph seemed to have been humbled by the near miss.
The customers were funny in the second episode. “I don’t think she ever made a salad before. Yummy.” Despite her disappointment, I think Elsie dodged the mess that was the kitchen by making salads and flambés in the dining room. Once she got into the swing of it, she cruised along nicely, and she handled Mr. I-Can’t-Cut-My-Own-Lettuce nicely.
We’re rooting for Elsie to win.
We’re hoping Michael won’t. At least he didn’t manage to cause Jessica to get thrown off. Feel bad for him or not, it was time for Jimmy to go.
Ox tongue is more commonly eaten in Europe. The taste test is actually done in culinary school a lot. Chefs need to know how things taste, even if it’s something they won’t or don’t normally eat. No sense in putting something on the menu when you have no idea what it tastes like.
I was cracking up when Elsie was trying to do the first real tableside flambe - with no burner. Somewhere she figured out what was missing; I would have loved to see her face when that lightbulb clicked on in her head.
It’s going to be between Michael and Ralph, sadly. I predict Michael as the winner.
Posted by jen on 07/12 at 10:48 AM
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