Top Chef Masters

[mushroom]

I thoroughly enjoyed an episode of Top Chef Masters on TV the other night. The contestants were Hubert Keller (French Laundry and Fleur de Lys), Michael Chiarello (Italian, Napa Valley), Anita Lo (Asian fusion, New York), Rick Bayless (renowned for his Mexican cuisine) and Art Smith (hadn't heard of him before). Each chef was asssigned a course to prepare for a singer whom I was also not familiar with who is vegan, and who brought along four friends, one of whom was celiac and another intolerant of soy. Meaning the chefs could not use meat, wheat, dairy, eggs, soy in their dishes. The dinner party included three food critics.

Hubert Keller did the starter, a gazpacho of rice milk and cucumber, together with an avocado and beet salad. with a cashew puree He received a combined score of 19 from the critics and diners.

Anita Lo did a grilled eggplant half (which they said was too oily ), a lentil salad and pistachio crepe (everything on her plate was brown!!!) She received a score of 13.

Michael Chiarello used quinoa pasta, with gremolata, roasted baby tomatoes, and salad greens. His initial comment, "I'm used to this, my wife was into this gluten stuff" , followed by "This pasta is acting really weird" as he tried to separate the spaghetti strands and extracted them one by one from the pot!! "One could almost call them hand-made", he said. He scored a 22.

Rich Bayless did corn tomales with a black bean sauce, sweet corn, and chipotle sauce of some kind, with a salad of frisee and water cress. Score: 19

Art Smith got stuck with dessert. He bought a prepared Rice Ice Milk and mixed it with a strawberry puree and refroze, served with a strawberry champagne soup and brittle made without butter. He was marked down for using the store-bought ice milk and his plate didn't look very appetising, nor was it greeted with much enthusiasm from the diners. Score: 12-1/2, so he was eliminated. Everyone agreed he ought to have made a sorbet.

It was really fun to watch these top chefs tackle gluten free fine dining and I got a few good laughs from it.

[Darn210]

I saw that episode, Neroli, and I loved it!! But I think they should really be challenged and have all those restrictions . . . PLUS . . . an 8-year old would eat it!!!

By the way, Art Smith was (a probably still is) Oprah Winfrey's personal chef. I would love to know how he made dairy free brittle.

[kenlove]

alm ost enough to make me wish I had a TV here!

I sent an email to George Burns who is Oprah's photographer and used to with me. I'm also curious about the brittle.

I saw that episode, Neroli, and I loved it!! But I think they should really be challenged and have all those restrictions . . . PLUS . . . an 8-year old would eat it!!!

By the way, Art Smith was (a probably still is) Oprah Winfrey's personal chef. I would love to know how he made dairy free brittle.

[mushroom]

But I think they should really be challenged and have all those restrictions . . . PLUS . . . an 8-year old would eat it!!!

I am pretty sure I would not be able to do that either

[Lisa16]

In fact there was some question about whether or not he used the butter the recipe called for. General consensus at that time was that he did and that he really should have been eliminated. But because of who he is and what the show does, they just ranked him last to avoid embarassment :-)

You can make the peanut brittle using walnut oil instead of butter.

[kenlove]

Happy New Year, hope you've been behaving...

SO who is art smith?

In fact there was some question about whether or not he used the butter the recipe called for. General consensus at that time was that he did and that he really should have been eliminated. But because of who he is and what the show does, they just ranked him last to avoid embarassment :-)

You can make the peanut brittle using walnut oil instead of butter.

[Lisa16]

Happy New Year, hope you've been behaving...

SO who is art smith?

Happy New Year to you too! I followed the e-chatter about this episode, and that's where I saw this come up.

Art got a LOT of press with Oprah, but it has more to do with the "persona" they gave him on the show. He was portrayed as the sympathetic chef-- a little bumbling, but the guy who produced great traditional Southern food. They didn't want to alienate his following and they didn't want to offend him because they will use him again on a later show. This is one of those instances where you can see how tv manipulates the viewers' perception of the people on the show.

There was a reunion show where you saw the same thing with Marcel. He really didn't want to "play along" and Fabio got mad at him and actually said something along the lines of 'you know how this works. Cooperate with me/ play the game and don't make me look like an ***.'

But I still love the show and I will faithfully watch the next season :-) I learn something from every episode.