Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

I find this one of the more entertaining cooking reality shows. Four chefs are pitted against each other in a timed competition. They must cook an appetizer, a main, and a dessert, and for each course they are given a basket of very odd ingredients that must be used in their creations. Their dishes are then judged by a panel of experts, and they are eliminated one by one.

Not only do I find the incongruent-ingredients aspect intriguing and fun, but this show has actually had a surprising amount of tension and overt animosity for a show that, at first blush, appears formal and effete. Some of the competitors are very cocky and take exception to criticism.

I really enjoy this show. Anybody else watching it?

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

I watch it every week; I'm a sucker for these Food Network competitions.

When a contestant gets cocky, it's almost always a sure sign they'll get chopped - I love it. :lol:

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

I watch it every week, but there isn't much to comment on. I think the best judging panel is that Zakarian guy, that Scott guy (the italian one who hates red onions) and either Aron Sanchez or the bald guy. I hate it when that Alex chick is on there. she just puts off this air of superiority.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

Thankfully that's almost always the case. Sometimes the camera will show one of the arrogant chefs smirking as one of the others is taken to task for bad elements in a dish.
I don't like the Alex woman either. She does seem overly pleased with herself.
It's true that there isn't necessarily much to comment on, hence perhaps no reason for an ongoing thread, but the contentiousness is worth a mention. For instance, this past week, I don't know if it was a new show or a rerun, but that Zakarian very harshly reproached that British lesbian chef for being loud and talkative and disrespectful to the "import" of the competition. Sure, she was annoying as hell with her prattling, but I thought he was more than a bit harsh and humourless with her.
And last week or the week before, I don't remember the circumstances, but there was that black guy who stormed out and threw his apron aside in disgust when he was chopped in the last round.
A couple of months ago, there was a guy who insisted one of the judges was picking on him personally. Again, I don't remember specifics, but they were all dramatic and interesting moments of genuine controversy and rancour, not the concocted and manipulated bullshit in the Fox Ramsey shows.
I also like the moments when the chefs display camaraderie and help and praise each other.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

I watch it, but it annoys the hell out of me. The show just takes itself way too seriously. Ted Allen is dull and, with one or two exceptions, the judges seem to go out of their way to be complete assholes. I'd like to see what they could do when given completely ridiculous ingredients and very tight time constraints. How would Scott Conant handle a basket with red onions, or a basket containing some kind of seafood along with cheese? And then every episode has to have one contestant with a "story" for why the $10,000 is so important and another contestant who's a total dick.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

It's much more of a reality show than a cooking show. It seems as if the contestants and the judges go out of their way to cause drama. I also find the judges comments very confusing. When discussing a particular dish, they will say that they liked it for various reasons. However when that chef is chopped, that same judge knocks the dish that he/she praised earlier. So which one is it? Also, that red onion guy can't be serious.

With that said, I do tend to watch the show whenever I run across it. I enjoy seeing what the chefs create out of the random ingredients. I just try to ignore the drama part of it.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

[Sliver] I like to watch. [/Sliver]

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

Yeah. :lol: Use red onion or combine fish & cheese and you will be chopped.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

Agree on all points.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

My problem with the show is that its too much of a game. In what professional kitchen will you not know what other ingredients are available to you or where to locate them? And then have to run around wasting time trying to find something as simple as corn starch? 30 min is not enough time for all that.

These basic items should be a given for each chef, or at least they should be able to see what is available in the pantry area for them to use/get familiar with before the competition.

Having the unknown items is enough of a challenge, but watching them run around trying to find basic ingredients is just silly given the time constraints.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

I love so many of the shows on Food Network. Chopped is fun. I don't seek it out, but I enjoy it when I catch an episode.

The judges are the weakest part of the show IMO. I think the drama levels are appropriate considering those wacky ingredients and the limited time available to come up with a dish, which is what I like most about the show. I certainly view it as a reality game show and I don't think it's pretending to be something other than Iron Chef-lite.

One of my favorite bits is when a female chef cut her finger, bled all over the food and wondered why the judges were turned off by the dish!!!

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

Somebody should make a dish using raw red onions, fish and cheese and watch his head explode Scanners style.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

Not my favorite Food show.

I don't really like the weird ingredients, and it seems like the best cook usually doesn't win because they screwed up somewhere.

Ted Allen, however, is loaded with charisma compared to the host of Food Network Challenge.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

He's loaded with charisma, but it's completely wasted on Chopped. It's almost as if the show's producers told him to be as restrained as possible to go along with the show's over-the-top sense of seriousness.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

I just got tired of it after a while. It would be one thing if the contestants were encouraged to fully embrace the wacky ingredients and create some off the wall dishes but instead they're almost pushed into reducing them to the bare minimum and then using them within the confines of already established dishes. What's the point of having to use sardines for the dessert dish if all you do is reduce a teaspoon of the oil for use as a salt substitute. And the rare chef who does try to go crazy invariably gets smacked down by the judges.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

I like to call it, "The Next Iron Chef Jr".. it is an ok show, but the ingredient combinations are offputting to me. :shrug:

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

This week's episode was hilarious. Scott Conant is a prick. His comments on pasta are a joke. First the onions and then the pasta. My god man, STFU.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

i love it and tune in every week! only thing i really hate about it is when all of the contestants seem to do poorly in a given round. i like seeing at least one of them come up with something great.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

We're apparently a week behind up here, as the pasta episode only aired this week. Yeah, the Conant guy should keep his particular pet peeves to himself, or at least not make such an issue of them. There's no need to be a drama queen and actually get angry when the pasta isn't cooked to your liking or there are raw onions in your salad. It's important for the judges to realize that the contestants are not only under tremendous time constraints, but must come up with viable dishes using outlandish ingredients.

I was so happy to see the asshole guy chopped first this week. And what little grace or tact he showed on the way out the door.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

just a bump up. chopped champions starts tonight. on DirecTV it's got it's own guide name so if you have a season pass to chopped, it won't record. you will have go and set it to record. not sure about other providers.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

:up: Thanks for the reminder.

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

sweet

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

:up:

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

Rocky Mountain Oysters!

"I love oysters!" -- Chef Poppy :lol:

Re: Doesn't anyone here watch Chopped?
 

Did anyone see the Halloween special? Those baskets were brutal: lamb heart, grasshoppers, black chicken, gummy teeth, corn smut? :wacko:

I'm surprised they made anything halfway decent.