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PostNouveau posted:Is there any frozen food Ramsey tolerates? I just don't understand how restaurants work I guess. Does a decent restaurant purchase materials every day? Four of Ramsay's own restaurants came under fire for having meals prepared at a central distributor and then transported to them in reheatable bags. Although Ramsay defended this, saying it was for the benefit of the gastropubs that had limited kitchen space and that they was a daily occurrence, so the meals would still technically be fresh. When it comes to frozen food, it's mainly the idea of buying items in bulk that are already finished and leaving them for as long as they last in the freezer. The idea that if you order chicken strips, they should be breaded and cooked to order, or at least prepped that day, rather than being bought from the freezer section and put in the microwave once ordered.
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May 17, 2014 20:23
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PostNouveau posted:Is there any frozen food Ramsey tolerates? I just don't understand how restaurants work I guess. Does a decent restaurant purchase materials every day? Ice Cream. No, wait, you make that poo poo from scratch, every day!
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May 17, 2014 20:40
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OmegaBR posted:Four of Ramsay's own restaurants came under fire for having meals prepared at a central distributor and then transported to them in reheatable bags. Although Ramsay defended this, saying it was for the benefit of the gastropubs that had limited kitchen space and that they was a daily occurrence, so the meals would still technically be fresh. The prepped meals for Ramsay's were never frozen though. The big thing in the restuarant business is that prepared food can keep for 2-3 days in a fridge and still be good to eat. However when the fridge is full of rotting food those spores go airborne and contaminant everything around them. The biggest problem in every US restaurant on KN is inventory management. Either you get micromanaging owners like Zeke's that demand everything be cooked and portioned in plastic bags, or no one involved cares and the kitchen is a festering mess. One family restaurant where the lazy brother was the chef had 3+ months worth of frozen meat products packed into the freezer and his excuse was "Well I didn't want to run out".
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May 18, 2014 00:01
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OmegaBR posted:Four of Ramsay's own restaurants came under fire for having meals prepared at a central distributor and then transported to them in reheatable bags. Although Ramsay defended this, saying it was for the benefit of the gastropubs that had limited kitchen space and that they was a daily occurrence, so the meals would still technically be fresh. The central kitchen was preparing stuff to be sous vide at the restaurants. So really no where near what was reported by the tabloids.
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May 18, 2014 00:13
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Asiina posted:That's a shame. I just started watching season 1 since I figured going through the backlog would be good summer watching, but I immediately hate a lot of these people and was hoping there'd be an active thread where I could talk about back seasons. In all fairness, season 1 of Top Chef has a talent level closer to Hell's Kitchen, so it's kinda thread appropriate  I envy you! I think you'll find that the series has a consistent upward momentum through season 6. After that it becomes very up and down (like, All Stars is predictably excellent, where the Texas season is horrible). If you posted your reactions in here, I'm sure people would mind a break from talking about IT'S RAW 
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May 18, 2014 00:37
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I ended up starting with Season 5 of HK and watching it to the Season running now. I finally went back and started at Season 1 and was shocked how different it was. Shots lingered and didn't have super quick cuts, they didn't ADR every line of dialogue or add that drat stock sound effect they use all the time of a plat being set down. Though when they did add dialogue in post it was very obvious cause they seemed to be pretty bad at level matching. Also it was a blast to see all the baby versions of the stock challenges they do every season.
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May 18, 2014 02:43
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Propaganda Machine posted:In all fairness, season 1 of Top Chef has a talent level closer to Hell's Kitchen, so it's kinda thread appropriate Well maybe I'll make one post when I finish up a season, so it's not too obnoxious. Also since my opinions change throughout the season. There are people I disliked who I think may be alright now. However the prevailing opinion on a lot of these contestants is that the challenges they are doing or the people they're cooking for are beneath them and I hate that attitude so drat much. Stephen, for example, is so goddamn awful and I hate his stupid smug face.
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May 18, 2014 02:50
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The problem I have with Top Chef is that it should be called Top Caterer. 90% of the elimination challenges involve going to a location with minimal kitchen equipment.
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May 18, 2014 05:57
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I think that's more true in recent seasons. I might be wrong, but I think earlier on catering made up one or two challenges every year, which is entirely reasonable. But, oh god. That stupid loving overnight BBQ challenge. It was some okay schadenfreude with Sarah, but overall it was just horrible and inexcusable. Top Insomniac.
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May 18, 2014 09:01
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Propaganda Machine posted:I think that's more true in recent seasons. I might be wrong, but I think earlier on catering made up one or two challenges every year, which is entirely reasonable. The Texas season was really bad for having too many catering challenges (a Quinceanera, a chili cook-off, a steak dinner, the overnight BBQ challenge, a block party) and gimmick challenges (progressive dinner, bike race, and the biathlon/gondola/ice block triple crown). The judges always seem shocked in the handful of times they get relatively straightforward challenges (make something inspired by your mentor, the "Evil Queen" challenge) that they seem to do so much better when they're not having to jump through hoops of bullshit.
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May 18, 2014 17:51
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Mad Dragon posted:"Nicole is a moron." Am I alone in thinking that she had to at least be an ex-meth head? That shot of them sitting at the town hall or whatever was hilarious because she is staring off vacantly into space.
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May 18, 2014 18:33
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Not enough ticks for amphetamines, kinda reminded me of my old philosophy teacher though. Guy had done waaaaaay too much lsd back in the day. Though after the angry meth cook who knows anymore
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May 18, 2014 20:14
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Several years ago there was a Punisher comic called "Up is Down, Black is White" which introduced the character of Teresa Gazzera That's all I could think of every time they showed that restaurant manager.
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May 18, 2014 23:56
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Alright so I just finished Season 1 of Top Chef so a summary post of what I thought. It was definitely a cookie cutter reality show. There were a lot of "characters" on the show: the inexperienced student, the talented but eventually outpaced mom, the clowny guy, the stuck up douchebag, the ice queen, the insane dude who goes home first, etc etc. This is still true today on these kinds of shows, but I find these really pronounced stereotypes aren't there. You can't tell immediately who fits what character and if they'll stay that way the entire time. I also noticed that, maybe again because it's early for these kinds of shows, that the whole thing felt really casual and more honest than a lot of shows now. Both the contestants and the editing. They showed a lot of random candid moments and sort of nonsense discussions that didn't have anything to do with the storyline of the episode. They also showed a lot of drinking both on the job and off, which you don't see in other cooking shows. Everyone seems to know that drinking and drugs are part of this profession, but it's never even mentioned nevermind showing the two sous chefs for the finalist showing up still drunk from the night before and drinking through her final service. But then also the contestants really just said the complete honest truth all the time to the judges and to each other. When they messed up they didn't try to play it off like they meant to do that or that the thing they're missing was never part of the dish at all, they say "hi here is my dish and here is what's wrong with it" which is so weird to me that I don't get it at all. Yes they'll be able to tell if something isn't cooked well, but I'm sure if you didn't go out of your way to point out flaws they might not miss it. Just present what you did, not what you planned to do. So thoughts on the actual contestants, I hated Stephen the entire time he was on the show. I hated him the most. He was so smug and arrogant, he was absolutely useless in every team challenge, and he really put presentation over everything. As someone who doesn't drink wine I thoguht about how he'd probably fall over and die at the thought of someone having a meal without wine. That said, I actually was really surprised at his self-awareness during the pre-finale reunion show (which I'll return to in a moment). It's rare that you have someone completely realize what a tool they're being and actually go out of their way to both apologize for it and do better. He didn't blame it on the edit at all, so I actually really liked him by the end of the show because he was a completely different person. For the three finalists, which I guess I'll spoiler even though it's old, because people in the Ramsay's thread shouldn't be spoiled on completely unrelated shows Dave was an emotional mess and I have no idea how he made it to the end. He always looked like he was on the verge of tears and would just twitch all the time. He just freaks out at the slightest provocation into either crying or yelling. There's no sense of proportion with him and how do you work with someone like that in a normal environment I have no idea. They praised him for having the strength to show emotion, but dude, you're an adult, reel it in. Harold I suppose deserved it on talent but he was just such a non-entity. He wasn't really part of anything. If something went wrong he'd go "yeah, I messed up my bad" and if the judges directly asked his opinion he'd say the obvious thing they'd want to hear, but he just seemed so laid back compared to everyone else it was really weird. Every time the judges tasted his food or he'd be at the judges table he'd be sitting back, arms folded, just so casual about it all. Like, it became obvious he was going to win if only because he was so aloof? Tiffani, man, I don't even know. I could never quite put my finger on her. She thought that cooking for children and weddings was beneath her because they have no sense of fine dining, but then she had no problem at all with microwave cooking and thought corndogs were awesome. Sometimes she really was stuck up and bitchy and sometimes she seemed really low key. It was so weird and I didn't hate her nearly as much as everyone else did. Which brings to the weird as hell pre-finale reunion show where they brought in Ken, the goddamn lunatic who kept making comments trying to start fights and then everyone hated on Tiffani for reasons I couldn't really figure out. Like, maybe she was stuck up or cold, but every single person just went off on her like she was purposefully cruel and evil. It seemed way out of proportion for how she acted, since yeah she was the ice queen but it didn't seem so infuriating to the point where multiple people are screaming at her while she's in tears. It was really difficult to actually watch this. Maybe it's because I was expecting usual reunion show afair where people are all "yeah we fought a lot but it was a stressful situation and we've worked it out. We're not best friends but we are professional" and everyone is smiling. Maybe it's because it was all still happening, but there was almost none of that except for Stephen and Candice, and it all came from Stephen seeing how much of a tool he was. Everyone else seemed to be right in the moment still and hyper aggressive to each other and it felt like the judges and production had absolutely no control over that entire thing. Anyway those are my thoughts on season 1, moving on to season 2.
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May 20, 2014 04:37
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Ah, the Marcel season. Be prepared for a lot of drama. Top Chef starts to get really good at around Season 3 and stays good for a few years. I've started to get bored with it recently. I've got the latest season DVR'd and can't work up the effort to watch the last half.
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May 20, 2014 04:56
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pentyne posted:The prepped meals for Ramsay's were never frozen though. The big thing in the restuarant business is that prepared food can keep for 2-3 days in a fridge and still be good to eat. However when the fridge is full of rotting food those spores go airborne and contaminant everything around them. Yea the frozen food is often just a symptom of the larger issue of laziness and overall just not giving a poo poo. If you have everything else going for you, if you have a prime location, immaculately clean facilities and equipment, hard working staff, and a business savvy owner/general manager, you could get a way with serving frozen food. Such a place almost never actually exists though, since the frozen food is a major indicator that the people running the restaurant are looking to cut corners any way they can. I think the way Ramsay looks at it is the food is the best starting point because the other stuff can be improved slowly over time. If you have amazing food, and the community knows it, they'll put up with mediocre service or lovely décor. You'll stay in business if the food stands out.
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May 22, 2014 15:13
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Top Chef All-Stars was legitimately the best cooking reality show i've seen.
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May 22, 2014 15:17
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Grin and Tonic posted:Top Chef All-Stars was legitimately the best cooking reality show i've seen. Master Chef Junior was better.
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May 22, 2014 15:31
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10 donkeys down, 9 to go. Halfway through and I still don't know who the frontrunners are. Sad.
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May 23, 2014 01:02
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How does anyone think that "trotter" is anything other than the feet?
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May 23, 2014 01:07
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Anton: "For me that's still a win." But it wasn't, Anton. You lost. You lost a point for your team.
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May 23, 2014 01:12
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It was a moral victory. 
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May 23, 2014 01:13
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Just say the ladies won again and be done with it. I don't need a commercial break for it.
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May 23, 2014 01:14
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I havent been able to get thru more then 15 minutes of any episode this season. They used to cast at least a few somewhat likable "chefs".
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May 23, 2014 01:15
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There are a couple on the red team I like, but the blue team is a disaster.
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May 23, 2014 01:17
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Ok, which one of you goons is Jason?liltimshady posted:Just say the ladies won again and be done with it. I don't need a commercial break for it. 
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May 23, 2014 01:17
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liltimshady posted:Just say the ladies won again and be done with it. I don't need a commercial break for it. Yeah, about that...  Mad Dragon posted:Ok, which one of you goons is Jason? All of them. He's all the goons.
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May 23, 2014 01:18
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Holy crap, the blue team won.  Silly me.
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May 23, 2014 01:18
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WonderfulWino posted:I havent been able to get thru more then 15 minutes of any episode this season. They used to cast at least a few somewhat likable "chefs". In every past season, I've had some idea who the really talented chefs are by this point. But this season, it's like every single chef left at this point remain wildly uneven.
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May 23, 2014 01:19
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"It's been a long time since I played with nuts." No comment.
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May 23, 2014 01:20
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Now that is a  moment
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May 23, 2014 01:20
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JP! Oh man, the flesh is going to fly in this reward. 
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May 23, 2014 01:20
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liltimshady posted:10 donkeys down, 9 to go. Anton always confuses the poo poo out of me because his voice is the same as old Chef Scott's. I miss him 
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May 23, 2014 01:22
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i like nice words
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Kammat posted:Now that is a No poo poo, that was great. That looks like the most fun thing ever. Also, Chef Andi is really depressing and Rochelle seems like she's pushing 50, although she's probably barely 35 or whatever.
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May 23, 2014 01:23
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Good luck starting a family when you're working 15 hours a day. "I don't care about you until you're in the final 2." Wow, Andi. 
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May 23, 2014 01:23
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poo poo, Andi is younger than me. Not by much, but I always figured her for older.
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May 23, 2014 01:24
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liltimshady posted:"I don't care about you until you're in the final 2." Wow, Andi.  "not kidding"
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May 23, 2014 01:25
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I'll marry you, chef Andi!
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May 23, 2014 01:25
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Ghostpilot posted:poo poo, Andi is younger than me. Not by much, but I always figured her for older. Wait...how old is she?
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May 23, 2014 01:28
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33, or so she says!
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May 23, 2014 01:29
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