Author Topic: Hell's Kitchen 8  (Read 37504 times)

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Offline apskip

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Hell's Kitchen 8
« on: August 26, 2010, 03:01:19 PM »
While HK7, Top Chef 7 and Master Chef are over or will soon be, few know that the new season of Hell's Kitchen 8 is starting in less than 4 weeks on Sept. 22. Here are examples of tasks the chefs competing will face:

including baking in the all-new pizza ovens
catering a high school prom
introducing sushi to the Hell's Kitchen menu
serving breakfast to hard-working EMTs
celebrating the series’ milestone 100th episode with a black-tie dinner service  
 
The goal of HK8 participation is to  win a head chef position at LA Market at the JW Marriott Hotel Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE and the opportunity to be the official spokesperson for Rosemount Estate Wines.  

Here are the chefs:

Melissa Doney
Age: 31
Occupation: Executive Sous Chef
Currently Resides: Glens Falls, NY
Hometown: Albany, NY  

Nona Sivley
Age: 29
Occupation: Sous Chef
Currently Resides:Loganville, GA
Hometown: Fort Worth, TX  

Raj Brandston
Age: 49
Occupation: Personal Chef
Currently Resides: Los Angeles, CA
Hometown: Queens, NY  

Louis Repucci
Age: 28
Occupation: Children’s Camp Chef
Currently Resides: Felton, CA
Hometown: Diamond Bar, CA  

Antonia Boregman
Age: 40
Occupation: Line Cook
Currently Resides:Lake Station, IN
Hometown: Chicago, IL  

Lisa LaFranca
Age: 48
Occupation: Corporate Food Director
Currently Resides: Fort Mills, SC
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY  

Lewis Curtis (aka Curtis since there is another Louis)
Age: 26
Occupation: Executive Chef
Currently Resides: Cabot, AR
Hometown: Beebe, AR  

Vinny Accardi Jr.
Age: 29
Occupation: Line Cook
Currently Resides: Las Vegas, NV
Hometown: Queens, NY  

Sabrina Brimhall
Age: 22
Occupation: Prep Chef
Currently Resides: El Cajon, CA
Hometown: Moreno Valley, CA  

Trev McGrath
Age: 30
Occupation: Line Cook / Bartender
Currently Resides: Chicago, IL
Hometown: Chicago, IL  

Russell Kook II
Age: 29
Occupation: Sous Chef
Currently Resides: Chicago, IL
Hometown: Madison, WI  

Gail Novenario
Age: 28
Occupation: Executive Chef
Currently Resides: Wantagh, NY
Hometown: Wantagh, NY  

Rob McCue
Age: 36
Occupation: Law Firm Chef
Currently Resides: Brooklyn, NY
Hometown: Massapequa, NY  

Emily Kutchins
Age: 29
Occupation: Executive Chef, Senior Home
Currently Resides: Chicago, IL
Hometown: Chicago, IL  

Boris Poleschuk
Age: 38
Occupation: Catering Chef
Currently Resides: Manalapan, NJ
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY  

Jillian Flathers
Age: 28
Occupation: Sous Chef
Currently Resides:Pagosa Springs, CO
Hometown: Pagosa Springs, CO  


« Last Edit: September 24, 2010, 10:48:46 AM by apskip »

Offline TexasLady

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2010, 03:37:26 PM »
Oh my gosh! Thanks apskip, I didn't know it would be back so soon!  :hearts:
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Offline cocina del infierno

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2010, 08:18:40 PM »
Hey all!  I've read along here for the past few seasons of HK and decided it might be time to join in the fun with Season 8 coming. 

Not sure if this qualifies as a spoiler in any way, so am only posting the link, but I'd love to hear your opinions on one major change I just learned about here: http://www.buddytv.com/slideshows/hells-kitchen/hells-kitchen-season-8-meet-the-chefs-37120.aspx    :duno: 

Offline apskip

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2010, 10:47:41 PM »
It's obvious that that one major change is that Jean-Philippe has departed after the first 7 seasons with Hell's Kitchen and was replaced by James. The list of challenges all seem pretty consistent with the past to me. Thanks, cocina del inferno, for the extra information and pictures of the chefs.

Offline cocina del infierno

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2010, 09:10:13 AM »
You're welcome, apskip.  I am looking for more information on what may have led to this and will post here if I find any.  I'm sure going to miss him!

Chef Scott will be back, as will Chef Andi.  Also, one of the contestants hails from a nearby town, Lake Station, Indiana, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for any local press on her.  (I don't know her personally.)


Offline apskip

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2010, 10:29:13 AM »
HK8, ep.1- 16 teams Compete

It's a new season of Hell's Kitchen. There is an opening scene with Ramsay as Gulliver being attacked by the chef-Lilliputians who had him tied up. 16 new chefs were ready to be fired from the cannons when shown receiving the letters inviting them to Hell’s Kitchen as competitors. There were 10,000 applicants for those slots. It could be expected to be competitive, combative, frustrating, intense, emotional and draining. The chefs arrived and new Maitre d’ James arranged for them to be blindfolded and driven to what turned out to be the site of the new L.A. Market in the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles. Ramsay announced that the salary for the winner is $250,000 and the responsibility also includes being spokesperson for Rosemount Vineyards. The chefs were then returned to Hell’s Kitchen for their first task/test.

The first test was the signature dish competition, with 45 minutes to cook something that the chef regards as the core dish they can do well. The apparent head-to-head competition between a Red team and Blue team dish was not real because each team can earn a point irrespective of what the other team does, but the team competition is real. Sabrina said “whenever I walk into a kitchen people don’t take me seriously.” Perhaps it is because attempting to cook in stiletto heels is a bit ludicrous, Sabrina. IN the middle of the judging of signature dishes, Sabrina was noticed by Ramsay yawning, which he castigated her for before offering her a chair.

Challenge

Emily - Duck Breast, grape/walnut compote vs. Russell grilled calamari                       1-1                               

Nona- Fried chicken w/ asparagus        vs. Vinny grilled poached halibut w/ lots of oil 0-1                                                                               

Antonia- gumbo(he forced all to eat it; she had not tasted it) vs. Curtis pepper chicken 0-0       

Jillian- herb/vegetable stuffed chicken w/ herb cream sauce vs. Rob pistachio crusted Carlyle rack of lamb                                           1-0

Gail vs. Trev                                                                                                                     0-0                                                                                                                                           

 Lisa vs. Loouis                                                                                                                 1-0                                                                   

Melissa                                                       vs. Boris                                                         0-1

Sabrina bachetta fish w/endive, brown butter, blood orange fennel vs. Raj seafood/vegetable pancake                                                                                               1-0

The totals are Red 3, Blue 3 with only 30% of dishes hitting Ramsay’s acceptable mark.   
The tie-breaker was the worst dish, which was “the biggest insult”, Antonia’s gumbo. Blue won this Challenge and got to enjoy masseuses brought in to Hell’s Kitchen plus fine win and caviar.  Punishment for the women was to clean both kitchens. Antonia passed out during this and was sent to the hospital, leaving her Red team one short for dinner service.

For dinner service, Emily and Raj were put in the dinning room to serve one of 3 mini-pizzas. Lisa had the pasta station; Melissa was an amuse bouche pizza maker as is Boris. Trev’s first salad was overdressed. Boris and Raj were placed together to work on pizza for the Blue team, but this was the blind leading the blind. Making sushi was the next challenge .After 2 hours, diners were fed up and left the Hell’s Kitchen dining room. Ramsay declared no team the winner, with both teams to nominate 2 individuals for elimination. The blue team nominated Raj and Trev. The Red team nominated Lisa and Sabrina. Ramsay allowed Sabrina to beg for mercy, since Lisa was in her late 40s in age. Lisa was asked to take off her jacket and leave.


HK8, ep. 2- 14 Teams Compete

Most episodes of Hell’s Kitchen open with a recap of the prior week’s episode. The chefs got a view of the L.A. Market restaurant. The signature dish challenge performance was mixed. Antonia had a mysterious illness and left HK for good. Sabrina was slow. Raj was closed. It was the worst opening night in HK history. Nona, Lisa and  Sabrina were considered for elimination, with Lisa the one to go.

Both teams are awakened in the wee hours by Japanese drums to get them up and moving to the kitchen. Ramsay brought in Matsuhiro Morimoto, an expert on sushi with a Michelin star to demonstrate to the HK chefs how to do a salmon/cucumber/avocado roll and tuna negeri. Attention to detail is critical. For the tuna negeri they must form the rice and cut the tuna into perfectly even slices, then add wasabi. For the roll, they need to make it inside out by rolling the salmon, peeling the cucumber and rolling it out evenly.  When he had done so, the challenge was to make 9 perfect pieces of sushi in 10 minutes. Here are the results:

Red Team
Monica and Gail 0 pieces good out of 8 presented
Nona and Jillian 8 pieces food out of 9
Emily and Sabrina 7 pieces out of 9
TOTAL Red 15

Blue Team
Louis and Rob 4 (they missed several for no wasabi)
Russell and Raj 4 (Raj missed wasabi on 4)
Boris and Vinny 8 of 9 presented
TOTAL Blue 16

Blue won and got to keep their Henckel Myabi Morimoto sushi knives and went to San Francisco by private jet to the Circle 360 Restaurant with Ramsay, including tasting of Rosemount wines (which were getting good product placement by having cases on display). Matt Lane led a wine tasting to educate the palates of all the chefs. This is particularly important since the winner of HK8. Ramsay also provided back in Los Angeles for a stunning sunset dinner at the Water Bar Restaurant. Punishment for the women was prepping all sushi for both kitchens plus unloading all delivery trucks and stowing the incoming material where it belonged. They also were forced to try each of the “delicacies from around the world” which looks dicey but really are delicacies in different cultures. Some of the women barfed in appreciation, but Gail from the Philippines stated that that food is eaten by all there.

Ramsay announced that salmon roll was being added to the Hell’s Kitchen menu. He also stated that Antonia would not be back, as she was medically unable to return to Hell’s Kitchen. Raj is expected by his teammates to be capable of accomplishing absolutely nothing. He nominated Vinny and Jillian to serve pizza amuse bouche in the dining room as Assistant Maitre D’s under James. Hell’s Kitchen was opened and diners arrived. Nothing let the blue kitchen in the first 30 minutes. Red has Emily on the meat station, Nona on the fish station, Jillian on Appetizers and Sabrina on sushi. Gail’s first risotto was “very nice.” Curtis had not figured out how to make sushi, so nothing could go out of the Blue kitchen until he overcame that. Nona cooked a halibut rare instead of medium well done. Vinny had no confidence in Raj’s abilities to get side dishes out, so he recommended to customers that they order meals without side dishes so that would receive them much earlier. James found this out, reported it to Ramsay and Vinny was in deep trouble. Ramsay stated that he was the only individual that would decide what left Hell’s Kitchen and what did not. What Ramsay was really saying was that he had major doubts about Raj’s ability too, but Raj had to be given the opportunity to fail and pay the price for that. The Blue team was struggling with Meat and their team confidence. Boris attempted to “help” Trev on the Fish station, but that went over like a lead balloon. Melissa on the Garnish station was having some problems too. It got bad enough that Ramsay had her swap places with Jillian, who came in from pizza duty to take over the Red Garnish station and quickly solved its problems. Raj now had about 10 different Garnishes out with no apparent orders ready for any of them. This looked like there was going to be a major waste of money as they would have to be trashed to meet Ramsay’s exacting standards. Boris stated that Raj was a “waste of time.” Red completed their dinner service while Blue was a long way from doing that.  The men clearly lost and had to nominate 2.

It looked like those 2 were going to be Raj and Curtis, but at the last moment somebody decided that Boris was worse than Curtis for commandeering the scallops from Trev when that was not necessary. All 3 were at risk, but I think the most incompetent member of the blue team in his assigned role was Vinny. He apparently caught a big break on this one, but Ramsay decided to have him in the mix too. Ramsay’s decision was to eliminate Curtis because of incompetence at cooking. That sounded fair to me, but it could have been any of those 4.


Offline ugot2bekidinmeny

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2010, 08:19:41 PM »
Raj is gonna give me a heart atttack with just his breathing!  I have to make sure i dont watch this :hellkitchen show before i go to bed. or i will have nigthmares!!

seems like this is one fiesty group!! :flipper    on both sides :lol3:
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Offline KitKat

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2010, 07:11:29 PM »
Raj is gonna give me a heart atttack with just his breathing!  I have to make sure i dont watch this :hellkitchen show before i go to bed. or i will have nigthmares!!

seems like this is one fiesty group!! :flipper    on both sides :lol3:

I agree, and it looks as though this is gonna be a good season even without the beautiful Jean Phillipe......(sp?)
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Offline TexasLady

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #8 on: September 26, 2010, 07:37:25 PM »
You're welcome, apskip.  I am looking for more information on what may have led to this and will post here if I find any.  I'm sure going to miss him!

Chef Scott will be back, as will Chef Andi.  Also, one of the contestants hails from a nearby town, Lake Station, Indiana, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for any local press on her.  (I don't know her personally.)

Welcome to RFF cocina!   I MISS Jean Phillipe!

I love Raj! The look of bewilderment and defiance on his face is priceless.



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Offline TexasLady

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2010, 07:38:10 PM »
Thanks for your always excellent recap apskip.
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Offline apskip

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2010, 02:49:26 PM »
You're welcome, apskip.  I am looking for more information on what may have led to this and will post here if I find any.  I'm sure going to miss him!

Chef Scott will be back, as will Chef Andi.  Also, one of the contestants hails from a nearby town, Lake Station, Indiana, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for any local press on her.  (I don't know her personally.)

Welcome to RFF cocina!   I MISS Jean Phillipe!

I love Raj! The look of bewilderment and defiance on his face is priceless.





Texas Lady,

Enjoy Raj while you can. My guesstimate of relative talent levels shows Raj near the bottom of the stack. He will be eliminated in one of the early episodes.

Offline TexasLady

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2010, 03:37:14 PM »
I know, I know.. but honestly he is hilarious to watch, like his utter lack of comprehension when he is being yelled at or going into some ninja warrior kick for emphasis makes me laugh.  He really is a loose cannon but unlike any other cheftestant we've ever seen on HK.

Other than Raj who will NOT win, did anyone spot a potential winner yet? Maybe it is too soon. ???
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Offline apskip

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #12 on: September 28, 2010, 09:15:13 AM »
No chance to do so yet, but I think Sabrina is worth keeping a close eye on. As we see more episodes I will address your question.

Offline TexasLady

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #13 on: September 28, 2010, 05:51:38 PM »
No chance to do so yet, but I think Sabrina is worth keeping a close eye on. As we see more episodes I will address your question.

Will do.  I'm wondering why the ambulances and police entering Hell's Kitchen in the preview for this week's episode.  ???
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Offline ugot2bekidinmeny

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #14 on: September 30, 2010, 04:41:55 PM »
ha ha ha I think Sabrina was at the wrong auditions.. she should be on the bad girls club!! :lol3: ..

 and bye bye crazy man raj!! :boot:  i knew he was leaving no matter who went up.. chef just wnated to have the drama of course!!

 I see both groups having meltdowns weeks after week! :yess:
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Offline TexasLady

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #15 on: September 30, 2010, 05:04:44 PM »
No chance to do so yet, but I think Sabrina is worth keeping a close eye on. As we see more episodes I will address your question.

Will do.  I'm wondering why the ambulances and police entering Hell's Kitchen in the preview for this week's episode.  ???

WHY! WHY do I keep falling for the ploys?  :groan:

It's hard to avoid watching Sabrina. She's a master at throwing people under the bus, the train, and anything else that is handy. I agree with ugot, she is on the wrong show.  :lol3:

Is this the worst bunch ever seen on Hell's Kitchen? I do believe it is.  :jam:
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Offline ugot2bekidinmeny

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #16 on: September 30, 2010, 05:33:07 PM »
I think this IS the weakest bunch of cooks ever on this show.  in the past there was always a few that can really cook.. now they are just going for the drama. :meow:

 From what i know, read, watched, all of ramsey's other shows have been cancelled.. here and abroad. so i think this is just the captian going down with his ship in this season.
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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #17 on: September 30, 2010, 06:28:31 PM »
I don't really get why Boris was thrown out for washing a pan. Maybe he needed a clean pan. I'm beginning to think Ramsay needs anger management classes.  :hellkitchen

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Offline apskip

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #18 on: September 30, 2010, 08:20:39 PM »
It's great to see all the comments starting to appear on this thread.

HK8, ep. 3

The reprise of the prior episode was a sushi challenge involving Mitsohiro Morimoto. The Men won, led by Boris. Nona, Emily and Melissa had major problems during dinner service in the Red kitchen. Raj alienated all the rest of the Blue team. The women won dinner service. The men nominated Boris and Raj, but Ramsay had his own ideas and eliminated Curtis.


All was noisy in the HK dorm at 218am, but by 507am the arrival of numerous paramedics forced all HK chefs to rise quickly and get to the kitchen. Ramsay introduced their next challenge, which was to cook breakfast for these personnel ASAP. The standard meal was 2 links sausage and either French toast or an omelet or scrambled eggs on individual plates plus fresh fruit in a bowl served before any plates could be and glasses of orange juice. This looked like a substantial and hearty meal most would be pleased to eat. Raj was eating the food intended for the teams, so he was severely criticized by Ramsay for that, with the word “donkey” prominent in the verbiage. The Red team won this challenge by finishing before the Blue team had served a single table. That’s domination! Their reward was a pool-side lunch in a luxury hotel but there is a secret additional one, a trip to the Santa Monica Pier to take trapeze lessons at the Trapeze School there, followed by a nice lunch with Ramsay. The punishment for the Blue team was to clean all the glassware in HK, an exacting job under the supervision of Maitre d’ James, plus clean both kitchens. Ramsay made a plea for all chefs who smoke (about half) to stop it in order to improve their palette over the next 48 hours, at which time it will obviously be needed for another challenge. The prep work started for both teams and Sabrina considered it beneath her since she is a prep chef and has been there and done that. This won her the enmity of her teammates, who do not want a prima donna putting herself above the rest of them. Ramsay told the men that they had just had 2 of the worst dinner services ever on HK, so Ramsay was looking for them to have a comeback night. . Ramsay stated that special cocktails will be offered to all diners and he selected Trev ( a part-time bartender) and Sabrina to prepare and serve them on the newly-minted Mixologist station. It was now time to open HK.

Boris criticized Raj for being useless and incompetent. Vinny was on the Appetizers station and Raj on the Fish station. Raj cooked his scallops too soon and had to refire them. Jillian and Emily were on Appetizers for the Red team and Emily was pretty hapless and hopeless there by grossly oversalting her dishes. Raj had grilled a salmon and added his own touch, sauce where one was called for. That drew Ramsay’s ire. Nona asked Emily if she could help out by cooking some grains, but when they were actually needed there is no polenta. Raj was acting the prima donna in the kitchen and in the Confessional. He had this incredibly high and unwarranted view of his own skill level whereas in reality he just had no talent whatsoever and was a huge blowhard. His teammates were unto him and Ramsay was too. Trev decided to confront Raj and they had a bitter verbal battle and almost came to physical blows. Melissa’s Dover sole was grossly overcooked, so she had to start over.  Ramsay commented about Raj: What a ? loser. At 90 minutes into dinner service, Raj was caught eating returned items, which he thought were delicious. Ramsay told him to “shut your fat face and cook.”  Boris’ first attempt at a Beef Wellington turned out raw, which messed up an entire table’s order. Gail was having problems cooking beef and allowing her pan to go on fire. Ramsay’s
response: Your pan’s too hot. She looked like she was ready to quit. Ramsay accused her of losing the will to compete, but she responded that it was still alive. Her next one was OK. Raj ruined 3 consecutive Dover soles, then told Ramsay that there was no more sole for the Dover sole special. Raj now understood the degree of emnity that Ramsay and his teammates have toward him. He stated that “he needed to figure something out quickly.” I hoped and expected that Ramsay would eliminate him in the kitchen, but that did not happen.

The determination of which team won dinner service was left up to the feedback from diner comment cards. The Blue team was rated 54% positive while the Red Team got 54%. Blue won and got to not be picking two for elimination. Red considered who was the worst and, after changing their minds about Gail, nominated Emily and Sabrina. Sabrina stated boldly that she had more balls than anyone else on the Red team and deserved that she had the biggest target on her back but she could hold her own. She wanted Melissa to be on the chopping block in her place in spite of the fact that Melissa had given her crucial help and guidance during the dinner service. Ramsay asked Sabrina and Emily to come forward and state why they should stay. Neither gave a very good answer in my opinion. However, as usual it did not matter because Ramsay had his own ideas of justice. He eliminated Raj due to overt reason of eating customer food during dinner service, but also because Raj had shown no qualifications whatsoever.


HK8, ep. 4

The prior episode Raj was in conflict. EMTs arrived with friends for breakfast. The women won the Breakfast challenge. Raj screwed up by overcooking scallops and undercooking scallops but the men won anyway. The women nominated Sabrina and Melissa but  Raj was the chef eliminated.

Ramsay started this episode by demonstrating how to make ravioli properly. The steps are:
1.   Roll out fresh dough, made form flour, egg, water and salt.
2.   Press the roll of fresh pasta through a pasta machine to thin to a uniform thickness 
3.   Place fillings and seasoning inside a ravioli shape
4.   Close up that shape and seal, then drop gently into boiling water
5.   Time or otherwise monitor the cooking of ravioli so that it isn’t too soft or firm

The challenge was, surprise, to make fresh ravioli out of a huge variety of interesting possibilities for fillings. They had 30 minutes to do it. Each of the 7 team members would be rank ordered by the team as a whole and would face-off against their counterpart from the other team. The results of this were these ravioli:

1. Melissa (chicken, pancetta, walnut cream cause)vs. Vinny (swiss chard, bacon,
     mushrooms, fontina cream)
             1                                                                            0 although quite good
2. Jillian (eggplant, spinach, garlic, ricotta in shells) vs. Rob (curry shrimp mousse, lemon zest and chives)                                       
              1                                                                           1
3. Nona (prosciutto, quail eggs)                              vs. Russell (ricotta, chile)
              0                         1
4. Emily (duck confit)                                              vs. Louis (salmon mousse pine nuts)
     1                         0   
5. Sabrina (shrimp, oregano)                                    vs. Boris (feta, spinach)
              0                                                                           1
6. Gail   (shot ribs with sunripe tomato paste)         vs. Trev (duck, arugula , mozzarella)        
     0  (lost due only to overseasoning)                      1

The Blue team won, 4 to 3. Red was blaming Sabrina and Gail for losing their chances. And overlooking the fact the Nona had also lost.

Ramsay stated that there would be Italian Night the next evening. Red team had to prep both kitchens by making an ample supply of fresh pasta white the Blue team went on helicopters to Palos Verde, a southwestern elite suburb of Los Angeles for some golf practice, closest to the pin tournament and team-building with togetherness. Sabrina again put herself above the prep, which infuriated the rest of the Red team. Trev was also feeling persecuted, as his ravioli had been ranked last by his teammates yet he had won the crucial point for victory. Both teams were hungry to score in the dinner service. The Red team had had to fulfill Ramsay’s requirement that fresh mozzarella be served on Italian Night by having an extra-fresh supply of milk, by milking multiple cows that were placed outside Hell’s Kitchen to provide that milk. I think it was Lewis who termed the coming Blue team effort as “fast and furious; stay tuned.” The special menu included rock shrimp pizza, veal scallopini, grilled pork chop and Vinny’s ravioli item from the challenge. Melissa and Russell were assigned to the Appetizer stations.

HK was opened. Lewis had a stone-cold salmon appetizer to start off. Ramsay noted that Melissa’s first appetizer attempt was inadequate. Louis and Emily were on the Grill station, handling a combination of Fish and the pork chops. Lewis is on the Pasta station. Sabrina on the Meat station did not know how to cook this or that and had to ask her teammates until Melissa gave her special instructions on what to do. Sabrina admitted that she was a verifiable bitch and would try to disrupt her teammates. Ramsay accused Gail of having too-crunchy pasta. Rob had a burned pizza and was sent out of HK to eat it at the bar before he could return (that’s punishment?). Louis tried to do a roast pork dish, but failed due to it coming out raw. He took it in his hand to Sous Chef Scott for guidance. Scott lambasted him for lack of cleanliness.  Boris for no apparent reason decided in the heat of battle to wash pans. Ramsay was incredibly pissed by this and banned him from the kitchen to wash post and pans in the back. Louis was also banned from the Blue kitchen. Vinny was put on the Meat station. The Red team finished up and was invited to help in the Blue kitchen, but with 7 orders left Ramsay had had enough. He sent both teams out of the kitchen and he, Andi and Scott finished dinner service. A couple was there for the purpose of the male proposing to the female and this happened without disruption.

You would think that the Blue team was the clear loser, but Ramsay indicated both teams failed to live up to his expectations. Both teams had to nominate 2. Nona nominated for Red Melissa and Sabrina (although she screwed up and said Gail by mistake first). The Blue team nominated Louis and Boris. I believe that Sabrina’s bitchiness and controversial behavior was so over the top that FOX and Arthur Smith intervened and prevented her from being eliminated as deserved. Ramsay decided that Louis was eliminated and the other 3 sent back into their lines. He stated “Louis dreamed of greatness, but the only thing I would trust him to do was toast marshmallows back at camp.”  Nona could not believe that Sabrina had survived again, asking where the justice was in that?

Offline ugot2bekidinmeny

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #19 on: September 30, 2010, 09:02:39 PM »
well i did a little research and apparently Eric rupirt and some other chefs have something to say about how ramsey conducts himself with the contestants.. not only here on hells kitchen but  with the current death of a former kitchen nightmares suicide.( this is the second person in regards to ramsey shows that has commited suicide)

I also read that ramsey owes out a ton of money to meat suppliers, wine suppliers,  laundry services and has lost several of his consultant jobs and restaurants.

I hope that if ramsey does get another season of hells kitchen that it will be met with better chefs with a  taste of real competition.

 so far it's the wackos that are making me watch.. not the competitiveness

I don't really get why Boris was thrown out for washing a pan. Maybe he needed a clean pan. I'm beginning to think Ramsay needs anger management classes.  :hellkitchen


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Offline apskip

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #20 on: October 01, 2010, 06:48:50 AM »
ugot2bekidnymeny,
I would not put much credence in the belief that Ramsay's bad behavior is in any way linked to the death of restaurant owners featured on Kitchen Nightmares. The facts are that the restaurant business is highly competitive and about 85% of all restaurants fail within the first 5 years. Think of the enormous stress that process unfolding would have on those owners for an extended period of time. What could be more depressing than having your life savings invested in a failing enterprise? That condition exists before Ramsay ever gets involved with a restaurant owner in Kitchen Nightmares.

I believe that Ramsay's contract with FOX gives him free rein on expressing himself however he sees fit. After all, FOX knew before signing him what kind of behavior to expect. They are getting what they paid for in high ratings partially due to Ramsay's bad behavior.

On the issue of Ramsay owing a lot of money to purveyors in the New York city area, I believe that is true. The London restaurant has been hemorrhaging cash since it opened in 2007 with the U.S. recession affected high end dining. Manhattan diners are resisting the 3 course prix fixe price of $80 which would assure a profitable operation with sufficient volume. Ramsay has had to support it with cash from his British operations

Offline ugot2bekidinmeny

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #21 on: October 01, 2010, 09:00:44 AM »
Ramsey is devestated that this man commited suicide.. this man's business improved once on the kitchen night mares.. i have friends that not only go there but knew him and his family.. the man started doing drugs.. or continued  and then his wallls started coming apart..  seperation from family, cheating on his wife.. all this information is 3rd/4th hand to me.

 at any rate..  Repirt and some other  high ranking chefs have  several controversial twitter statements that have mentioned thier dislike with how he works on this one particualr show.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/30/eric-ripert-vs-gordon-ramsay-twitter_n_742340.html

In all of the other shows i have seen.. The F Word in particualr(4 seasons of it i have seen, need to catch season 5) he's super nice.. super geniune.. and caring.. along with compasionate.

http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/159/index.jsp

http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/f-word/series-5/

 I think  his hell's kitchen performances are over the top just for the ratings..
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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #22 on: October 01, 2010, 01:54:16 PM »
ugot2bekidnmeny,
You are right that Ramsay is over the top in his zeal for ratings and that he is really a peach of a guy when not on camera. However, his preference for the "F" word was developed during his difficult childhood. I have bought a lightly used copy of the book Humble Pie, Ramsay's autobiography, and you can too for about 1 cent plus $3.99 from BN.com used books (it ships from England). You can read pages 9 to 78 to get a flavor for what Ramsay's first 21 years were like that created the character that he is today.

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #23 on: October 07, 2010, 06:04:24 PM »
HK8, ep. 5

In the prior episode, the Challenge was won by the Blue team in a close contest with Trev’s dish providing the margin of victory, but Trev coming away with the belief that his teammates had little regard for his talents. During dinner service, Melissa and Jillian were major under-performers for the Red team. Boris got himself exiled from the kitchen. When the Red team finished when Blue had 7 more tables left to go, Ramsay ordered the Red team to help the Blue team out, but this worked so poorly that he closed the kitchen to all competitors and he, Scott and Andi finished the last meals. The nominees for elimination were Sabrina, Melissa, Boris and Louis. Ramsay eliminated Louis.

The challenge was to design menus for the Beverly Hills High School prom. A committee of 3 students running the prom was linked by video connection to provide input about what they personally liked (fusion, seafood, steak and chicken) and disliked. My impression was that no coherent menu could be developed from that. Ramsay asked each team to create a menu of one appetizer and two entrees and then serve it to a panel of judges who would decide the winner of the challenge. The judge turned out to be the prom committee. The presented dishes and judging results were:

Sabrina (Dungennes crab w/ sautéed shrimp) vs. Vinny (crusted tuna)           Red 1 Blue 0
Red (Pan-seared ribeye w/minor raw tuna) vs. Trev (halibut over light broth) Red 1 Blue0
Emily (pot stickers) vs. Rob (pan-seared rib-eye)                                            Red 1 Blue 0

For the first time I can remember, a challenge (with Ramsay not involved, which makes a huge difference) had resulted in a clearcut 3-0 decision. The Red team won the special reward of a visit to Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park for the day. The Blue team had to setup tables, fold linens, and then cater to the whims of the prom committee on setting up decorations. This caused a lot of friction and conflict between the prom committee and the Blue team.

Ramsay stressed the need for teamwork as he opened Hell’s Kitchen. Vinny and Nona were asked to help Ramsay at the hot plate to plate dishes as they arrived from the teams. Emily on Fish had trouble with soggy crabcakes until Gail helped her out. Boris on Fish was cooking scallops way ahead of the need for them, which meant they would be wasted and there could be raw material consequences later. Ramsay told him unequivocally that he must cook to order, not batch them ahead: “it’s not an option; one table at a time.” This also applied to Melissa, who had pre-cooked 21 steaks ahead of time when there should be no pre-cooking at all. Sabrina’s appetizers were getting accolades from Ramsay. Boris was having trouble with halibut, but then he gelled and worked in concert with Russell on Meat to get the halibut and meat required synchronized. Nona observed that Emily could not consistently deliver Fish on time. Russell got on a roll and was singled out by Ramsay for exceptional performance. Melissa made a mistake slicing meat at the wrong time, before it was tested for doneness. Ramsay started to direct the entire group how to handle this situation, but he was interrupted by Nona. He asked Nona to give the speech that he was going to, but she declined and let him get back into his accustomed role. She reflected on her role in this with “Open Mouth, Insert Foot.” The Red team rebounded. The Blue team continued their teamwork through the completion of dinner service.

Blue had clearly won and Russell was giving the deserved accolades. Sabrina was named “Best of the worst” by Ramsay and that was resented by Nona, who can see nothing positive whatsoever about Sabrina. The obvious nominations are Melissa and Emily. Ramsay eliminated Emily. However, that was not all. Ramsay placed Melissa on the Blue team to give her a chance to recover. He took Trev from the Blue team and designated him as the new leader of the Red team. With the prima donnas on the Red team to manage (Nona and Sabrina in particular since Gail and Jillian are notorious for their low profiles so far in the competition), Trev has a huge challenge to get Red to be productive through teamwork. .


HK8, ep. 6

The challenge was to create an entrée salad good enough to be featured in Bon Appétit magazine. Senior editor Sarah Tenaglia is present to judge the challenge. The pairings of Red against blue and dishes are:

Gail (?, scallops)   vs.  Boris (grilled ?)                                                            Red 1 Blue 0

Nona (2 quail on bed of wilted greens) vs. Rob (pan-seared scallop, vinaigrette)                                        Red 0 Blue 1

Jillian (fruit) vs. Vinny ( ? )                                                                              Red 0 Blue 0                                             

Sabrina (applesauce and pork) vs. Russell (?)                                                  Red 0 Blue 1

Trev (apples, pears, pork, strawberry vinaigrette) vs. Melissa (duck, rocquefort cheese) Red 1 Blue 0

Total is Red 2, Blue 2 so Ramsay used the best dishes head-to-head as the tie-breaker. Those were Gail’s scallops and Rob’s scallops. Rob’s were judged superior and he got the win for Blue. The reward was a special meal at the incredible Getty Villa in Malibu, which is one of the finest museums in the world (and one everyone should visit if they can get reservations when they visit the Los Angeles area) with Rob getting makeup to prepare for his photo shoot with Bon Appetit that afternoon. The punishment for Red was cleaning and prepping both kitchens.

Dinner service started with VIP Tables set up in the Red kitchen and the Blue kitchen. The VIPs were the parties of TV stars (Kelli Williams of Lie to Me for Blue and Mo Gaffney and General Hospital star Nancy Lee Grahn for Red). Those VIPs got exposed to the usual range of Ramsay tactics to elicit good performance from the under-performing teams, but they did have the Salad station people (rob and Jillian as their waiters). Russell had nice meat ready to go, but it needed to be combined with Boris’ shrimp to be allowed to be served. Rob and Trev were on the Salad station for each respective team. Rob needed Melissa to deliver scallops for combinations to get other meals out. Nona did raw scallops and had to refire them multiple times without success. Trev was ordered by Ramsay to get it done fast and right and Trev delivered. Melissa ended up wasting 10 pounds of scallops that she had not been able to cook properly.  That meant blue ran out of scallops, so Ramsay ordered the menu to switch to raw shrimp in its place. I believe James was sent out to notify affected diners. Gnocchi was a problem for the Red kitchen. Ramsay initially focused negative attention on someone else, but it was Sabrina’s responsibility on the Garnish station. Boris on the Garnish station barely got mashed potatoes ready in time to not screw up a large order. Vinny got accolades form Ramsay for perfectly cooked lamb. Trev got the same for his perfectly cooked Wellingtons. Ramsay told Sabrina to keep her head down and shut her mouth when Sabrina was mouthing off.

Ramsay’s conclusion was that neither team won. Each had to nominate one individual. Due to political factors rather than actual performance, Boris and Sabrina were the nominees. Ramsay was having none of that. He insisted that Nona and Melissa also deserved to be there (even though he had insisted on one nominee from each team, not 2). Melissa was selected by Ramsay for elimination. Ramsay’s summary of her time in Hell’s Kitchen was “red jacket, blue jacket, no jacket.”

Offline ugot2bekidinmeny

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Re: Hell's Kitchen 8
« Reply #24 on: October 08, 2010, 09:27:51 AM »
OH BOY! Sabrina may just win this one with the way she fights fights fights!  I dont trust nexts weeks coming attractions.. they are awlays miss leading!

I really hope that if this is on for another season he gets some really talented chefs like we had in the past.

The rewards used to be something that the chefs can use for  thier future now its amusement park rides? :groan:

Please please let this show pick up to a better level! :lol3:
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