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Offline apskip

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The Taste
« on: January 23, 2013, 08:53:06 AM »
The first episode of this new series was last night. The format of this show in 2 Preliminary Round episodes (and beyond) is a copy of how The Voice does it. A mix of home cooks and professionals was invited to come and prepare a taste of their their food on a one-bite spoon (quite a bit larger than a tablespoon). Each of 4 judges then votes yes or no after tasting it. The contestant then confronts the jury, talks and bit and hers what their votes were. They need at least one yes vote to stay alive. If they get 4 Nos they are out. Most contestants did get 4 Nos. Each judge verbally rationalized their decisions.

The judges are a distinguished group:
Anthony Bourdain - TV celebrity, world traveler and former chef
Brain Malarkey - chef noted for his seafood
Nigella Lawson - English food writer, journalist and broadcaster
Ludo Ludovic - noteworthy chef

Here are the contestants going though to the first regular episode in 2 weeks (after another Preliminary Round episode next week):

Anthony's Kitchen: Ninamarie Bojekian, 28, caterer, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey; Diane DiMeo, 45, chef consultant, Astoria, New York; Mia Morgenstern, 26, yoga instructor, San Francisco, California; TBA

Nigella's Kitchen: Renatta Lindsey, 32, program monitor, Houston, Texas; Lauren Scott, 23, administrative assistant, Laurel, Mississipi; TBA; TBA

Ludo's Kitchen: Shawn Davis, 43, executive chef, Los Angeles, California; Sarah Schiear, 27, food blogger, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Paul; TBA

Brian's Kitchen: Micah Kasman, 31, design director, San Francisco, California; Khristianne Uy, 30, private chef, West Hollywood, California; TBA; TBA

Offline Polaroid

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2013, 10:34:39 PM »
So happy Nigella Lawson is on this. :hearts:


Offline apskip

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2013, 10:13:35 AM »
Part 2 of the Preliminary round was completed with the selection of 2 chefs/cooks by Ludo Ludovic, 2 by Nigella Lawson, 2 by Brian Malarkey and 1 by Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain was very complimentary to all the competitors, but he only picked the last one. Brian went after 3 chefs/cooks for his team and all 3 elected to go with Ludo, which also picked them, for various reasons.

One interesting tidbit is that it was confirmed that the Yes/No buttons in front of the competitors are purely ornamental. The decisions have been made on taste alone before the competitor is brought out. Next week 's episode will be an elimination within each of the teams.

Here are the additions each team director made:
Anthony Bourdain - Uno Immanivong, 35, Mortgage Consultant, Dallas, TX

Nigella Lawson - Huda Mu'min, 31, Caterer, Washington, DC
                             Erika Monroe Williams, 42, Broadcaster, Paradise Valley, AZ

Brian Malarkey – Micah Kasman, 31 Design Director, San Francisco, CA
                             Khristianne Uy, 30, Private Chef, West Hollywood, CA
Ludo Ludovic -    PaulCaravelli, 30, Executive Chef, Libertyville, IL
                             Sarah Shiear,  27, Food Blogger, Fort Lauderdale, FL      
« Last Edit: January 31, 2013, 10:45:34 AM by apskip »

Offline apskip

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2013, 01:49:42 PM »
The first challenge had the theme of Comfort Food.  The 4 mentors worked with their teams in the Team Taste Test.  Each member of the team created one spoon based on the theme, and then each mentor selected one spoon representing the team to put forward for judging by the guest judge.

The guest judge this week was Gabrielle Hamilton, the chef and owner of Prune in New York City. Gabrielle selected one winner out of the four competing spoons in the Team Taste Test; the winning chef gained immunity in the Blind Taste Test, the second part of this week’s challenge.

The four spoons that were selected to compete belonged to: Ninamarie from Team Anthony, Lauren from Team Nigella, Sarah from Team Ludo, and Jeff from Team Malarkey. Gabrielle selected Lauren’s Chicken Stew as the winning dish of the Team Taste Test. Lauren won immunity, and Gabrielle joined Nigella’s winning kitchen to advise the chefs on their dishes for the Blind Taste Test to assist that team of chefs as they prepared for the Blind Taste Test for the mentors. In the Blind Taste Test, the mentors tasted each of the dishes without knowing who prepared the dish or what they are tasting. Each mentor then selected their best taste, followed by their worst taste to determine which chefs will be sent home this week.


The Blind Taste Test

The mentors sent home Micah from Team Malarkey and Renatta from Team Nigella.

The mentors awarded gold stars to the following recipes:

Khristianne from Team Malarkey: Uni Seafood Chowder

Sarah from Team Ludo: Bourbon BBQ Shrimp and Grits

Diane from Team Anthony: BiBimBap


It looks like the non-culinary competitors are getting weeded out by this process. There are only 5 of them (Lauren, Uno, Mia, Erika, Sarah) left.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2013, 01:14:52 PM by apskip »

Offline apskip

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2013, 09:35:05 PM »
Chef David Kinch and sommelier Andre Mack appeared as guest judges to determine the winner of the Team Taste Test, and then to assist the chefs of the winning team with their dishes for the Blind Taste Test judged by the four mentors.

The Team Taste Test

The four spoons that were selected to compete in The Team Taste Test belonged to: Uno from Team Anthony(Thai Beet Salad), Erika from Team Nigella (lamb w/ goat cheese), Gregg from Team Ludo (ribs), and Adam from Team Malarkey (Squab w/ wine reduction).

David and Andre selected Gregg’s Five Spice Short Ribs as the winning dish of the Team Taste Test. Gregg won immunity, and David and Andre joined Ludo’s winning kitchen to advise the chefs on their dishes for the Blind Taste Test.

The Blind Taste Test

4 wines were available for pairing with an appropriate dish:

Italian Barolo
California Chardonnnay
French Cotes de Rhone
German Riesling

The mentors sent home Sean from Team Ludo and Erika from Team Nigella. Huda and Sarah survived. Anthony Bourdain gloated that none of his team had been touched so far.

The mentors awarded gold stars to the following chef’s recipes:

Khristianne from Team Malarkey: Duck Two Ways (Khristianne earned two stars -- one from Ludo and one from Malarkey)

Ninamarie from Team Anthony: Lemon Cream Pork Shoulder (Ninamarie earned two stars -- one from Anthony and one from Nigella)


Offline Polaroid

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2013, 02:14:35 AM »
Still pulling for team Nigella! Love Lauren. Hope she wins. :)

Offline apskip

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2013, 01:13:36 PM »
The "gold stars" have gone to:

Sarah
Diane
Khristiane
Ninamarie

Lauren is not on that list. She is a non-culinary professional competing against culinary professionals. I believe she has no chance and will be eliminated very soon.  Uno and Mia will join her soon. Only Sarah from the non-professionals has shined.

Offline Polaroid

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #7 on: February 20, 2013, 12:10:49 AM »
The best is left on team Nigella! Lauren's gold star was well deserved! :luvya:

Offline apskip

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #8 on: February 20, 2013, 02:45:06 PM »
The theme of the third challenge is Sandwiches, in which the chefs must go back to the basics to prepare a winning sandwich. The teams must create one of the following classic sandwiches: the club, peanut butter and jelly, or a salad sandwich, using either tuna, chicken, or egg.  Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone, owners and chefs of Torrisi Italian Specialties, appear as guest judges to determine the winner of the Team Taste Test, and then to assist the chefs of the winning team with their dishes for the Blind Taste Test judged by the four mentors.

The Team Taste Test

The four sandwiches that were selected to compete in The Team Taste Test belonged to: Diane (Club Pork) from Team Anthony, Huda (Tangy chicken Salad) from Team Nigella, Gregg (Tuna and Bone Marrow) from Team Ludo, and Khristianne (Liver and chicken Salad) from Team Malarkey.

Rich and Mario selected Gregg’s Tuna and Bone Marrow Sandwich as the winning dish of the Team Taste Test. Gregg won immunity and Rich and Mario joined Ludo’s winning kitchen to advise the chefs on their dishes for the Blind Taste Test.

The Blind Taste Test

The mentors sent home Huda from Team Nigella and Mia from Team Anthony. In Huda's case several prior low placements were probably contributing factors despite her victory within her team in the Team Taste Test. That meant that Diane, who had excellent prior placements, survived.  Gregg was warned that he would not have survived without the immunity.

The mentors awarded gold stars to the following chef’s recipes:

Lauren from Team Nigella: Lulu Kebab

Ninamarie from Team Anthony: Beef Carpaccio Tartar

Jeff from Team Malarkey: Jeff earned two stars this week – one from Ludo and one from Malarkey

Offline Polaroid

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2013, 11:04:00 PM »
Holy cows. Lauren is so lucky she has Nigella. :) Gregg is lucky he has immunity. I feel like Ludo is channelling his inner Gordon Ramsay... I really don't like him. While he's yelling at his team members, there's Nigella being calm and helping Lauren. Nigella is great.

Totally biased, but I'm still rooting for Lauren to win.

& lol at the sexual tension between Ludo and Sarah... awkwardddd


Offline apskip

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #10 on: February 27, 2013, 02:45:15 PM »
There are ten chefs left after last week’s Sandwich challenge. The theme of the fourth challenge is Head to Tail, in which the chefs are venturing into unfamiliar territory to create a dish using offal. The teams will have two hours to prepare a dish using one of the four secret ingredients selected by their respective mentors. Frederic Morin and David McMillan, owners and chefs of Joe Beef in Montreal, appear as guest judges to determine the winner of the Team Taste Test, and then to assist the chefs of the winning team with their dishes for the Blind Taste Test judged by the four mentors.

The Team Taste Test

The four spoons that were selected to compete in The Team Taste Test belonged to: Uno (tongue au jus) from Team Anthony, Lauren (testile fritters) from Team Nigella, Gregg (see below) from Team Ludo, and Khristianne (pork tongue) from Team Malarkey.

Frederic and David selected Gregg’s North Carolina Head Cheese as the winning dish of the Team Taste Test. Gregg won immunity for the third episode in a row and Frederic and David joined Ludo’s winning kitchen to advise the chefs on their dishes for the Blind Taste Test, which also had a 2 hour cooking time.

The Blind Taste Test

The mentors sent home Adam (Thai style sweetbreads w/ pork rinds) from Team Malarkey,
Ninamarie (veal liver) from Team Anthony and
Uno (pork dumpling soup w/ fried shrimp heads) from Team Anthony.
They saved Lauren, the last chef remaining from Team Nigella. It appeared to me to be a political decision to help Nigella out. Gregg was lucky he had immunity because otherwise he would have been in big trouble. I think the judges made a mistake by keeping Lauren, a fairly weak chef, and ditching Uno, who had real potential.

The mentors awarded gold stars to the following chefs:

Jeff from Team Malarkey - pho w/ calf tongue
Uno from Team Anthony - pork dumpling soup with fried shrimp heads
Khristianne from Team Malarkey: Fried Pig Eggs
Khristianne earned two stars this week, one from Nigella and one from Malarkey.

Note that the assistance of the 2 guest judges once again did not seem to mean any better performance from Team Ludo. Ludo's chefs seem to have an "I know better" attitude and reject the advice from the guest judges. Also there are major battles going on between Ludo and Gregg.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2013, 04:14:25 PM by apskip »

Offline apskip

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2013, 01:36:54 PM »
The Taste, Semifinals

There are a total of 7 chefs and home cooks entering this round and only 4 will advance to the finals. The challenge is seductive food. Guest judge is Ingrid Hoffman, restauranteur and TV personality. She is the taster of the preliminary competition to win “a mountain” (literally) of cookware based on the most seductive taste. The chefs/cooks had to use at least one of 5 seductive ingredients their team mentor selected.  The individuals chosen by their team mentor to represent each team in the Team Taste Test were:
Team Nigella – Lauren cooked Italian kisses w/ blackberry + chocolate sauce
Team Anthony – Diane cooked grilled prawns w/ butter bisque + caviar
Team Brian – Jeff cooked oyster w/ passionfriut + caviar
Team Ludo – Sarah cooked Jalapeno and Vanilla Infused Panna Cotta w/ caviar

Ms. Hoffman selected the winner by blind tasting the spoon from Sarah of Team Ludo, which had won 4 straight. Sarah won the mountain of cookware. It looked like Ingrid Hoffman assisted all of the final 7 chefs/cooks and not just those from Team Ludo in the elimination challenge.

That challenge was to pair a cocktail with the cooking of a highly seductive food. It started with a trip to a local farmer’s market, but the proteins were all available in the Taste kitchen.

Lauren (Team Nigella) – octopi w/ bagel chips (a bad idea) w/ Tequila
Diane (Team Anthony) - chocolate
Jeff (Team Brian) – uni w/ sashimi
Sarah (Team Ludo) – mussels/ leeks
Khristianne (Team Brian) – uni, crab, egg 63
Gregg (Team Ludo) – uni pasta
Paul (Team Ludo) – king crab, artichoke, lemongrass + ginger beurre blanc

The blind tasting of all 7 spoons was done by the team mentors and they made choices of Best and Worst based on that. 3 mentors chose Khristiane Best and 1 chose Jeff. Worst choices were spread among Jeff, Paul, Diane and Sarah. Khristianne made it with her win and 3 total gold stars. I do not know how Gregg made it, as it was not explained. Sarah also made it, possibly because of her win in the preliminary competition. The 4 Worst contenders were being considered for the one spot left. It was easy to dismiss Paul, whose opinion of his own cooking exceeded the ratings he got from the mentors. It was also easy to dismiss Lauren, who had the weakest culinary skills of the remaining chefs/cooks. That left Diane versus Jeff and Jeff was sent home, leaving Diane in the finals.


Offline Polaroid

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2013, 10:34:58 PM »
Aw, Lauren. :(

Khristianne has dominated all season. I think she'll have the win.

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #13 on: March 07, 2013, 12:59:24 PM »
I agree that Khristianne is the most probable chef to win.
I don't see Sarah as being competitive; she is the only non-professional chef still in the competition.
Gregg has won several of the Team competition but done poorly enough in the elimination challenges that he would be gone if not saved several times by his immunity.
The only chef I see as being competitive with Khristianne is Diane.

We'll see who wins.

Offline Bwils927

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #14 on: March 12, 2013, 09:25:41 PM »
I watched the finale and I like this show. Hopefully it's renewed.
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Re: The Taste
« Reply #15 on: March 12, 2013, 10:19:35 PM »
Gosh. The editing and just the comments in general were so misleading! :lol3:

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #16 on: March 13, 2013, 10:59:36 AM »
The Taste, Finale

This episode began with 3 professional chefs and one home cook, but one was to be eliminated before the final cooking project happened. Restauranteur Jose Andres was the Guest Judge. His specialty is tapas, so the 4 had one hour to cook their best 3 spoons of tapas using the ingredients mozzarella cheese, spot prawns and Spanish jambon. The offerings were:

Diane 1 – spot prawn with basil puree and tomato caviar
Diane 2 – mozzarella with mint and walnut accents
Diane 3 – Iberico ham with quail egg and caviar

Khristianne 1 - mozzarella with balsamic grapes, almonds and fried basil
Khristianne 2 - Iberico ham with caviar, quail egg, tomato sauce and crispy bread
Khristianne 3 - spot prawn with chimichurri sauce, tomato and blood orange

Sarah 1 - mozzarella mousse with tomato confit & pesto bread
Sarah 2 - Iberico ham with a cheese stuffed date
Sarah 3 - spot prawn with chorizo and orange cream sauce

Gregg 1 - mozzarella with roasted red peppers, preserved lemon, and almonds
Gregg 2 - spot prawn with caviar and potato chip
Gregg 3 - Iberico ham with poached quail egg and ham chip

During the cooking Ludo basically took over preparation of Sarah’s dishes and Gregg kept him at arm’s length. Andres tastes all the spoons blind (without knowing who made them) and decided that Gregg was the 4th place finisher and out of the competition. Andres then became the consultant to each of the other 3 finalists as they cooked anything they chose for 2 hours:

Diane 1 – Sea urchin with butter mousse, lobster and caviar
Diane 2 – Seared scallops with quail egg and daikon salad
Diane 3 – Halibut with mushrooms, bok choy, lobster sauce

Khristianne 1 – Peking duck with chive pancake, pear and radish slaw
Khristianne 2 – Seafood bouillabaisse with sea bass
Khristianne 3 – Braised short ribs with bok choy, mushrooms, squash puree

Sarah 1 – Arctic char with fingerling potatoes, mushrooms and jalapeno salad
Sarah 2 – Seared duck breast with braised fennel and red wine sauce
Sarah 3 - Beef tenderloin with creamy shallot confit

Sarah admitted that her food style was much simpler than her competitors, but she hoped that the better execution this permitted might win.  Note that all 3 of Diane’s dishes were seafood. Also note that Khristianne offered a balanced menu of fowl, seafood and meat.

The 4 mentors blind tasted and voted for their best and least favored. Those votes determined the finishing places of the 3 competitors. They were:

Sarah - #3
Diane - #2
Khristianne - #1 and winning the $100,000 prize, FORD C-max hybrid and Taste trophy

Khristianne was the front-runner throughout the earlier episodes of The Taste, so I thought that was fair. I believe that the mentors could easily deduce whose food they were tasting by the style and they wanted to reward Khristianne for her excellent season.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2013, 11:09:18 AM by apskip »

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #17 on: March 13, 2013, 11:11:26 AM »
I have watched the first season of The Taste. It leaves me hungry for more, as Anthony Bourdain would say. It's not as classy as Top Chef, but it's more classy than Master Chef and Hell's Kitchen. I will watch The Taste when a second season occurs and recommend it to you.

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #18 on: March 15, 2013, 08:31:04 AM »
I happened to watch last night's Millionaire Matchmaker preview of next week's show. It features chef Khristianne as a lesbian on the market for another lesbian.  It's quite a jump from winning $100,000 on the Taste to being a millionairess.

Offline Bwils927

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #19 on: March 16, 2013, 02:34:38 PM »
Gosh. The editing and just the comments in general were so misleading! :lol3:
ikr. i had absolutely no thought in my mind that Greg would be knocked out in the final 4. that was shocking
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Re: The Taste
« Reply #20 on: March 17, 2013, 07:02:45 AM »
Gosh. The editing and just the comments in general were so misleading! :lol3:
Polaroid,
Have you ever watched the Judges Table part of Top Chef episodes? Those are designed to mislead you into thinking that a chef who is safe will be eliminated that episode. It apparently is a standard technique for chef-related reality shows.

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Re: The Taste
« Reply #21 on: April 13, 2013, 01:04:08 PM »
Weeks later Khristianne turned up as Chef K, a lesbian seeking a lesbian mate on Millionaire Matchmaker.