Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I'm doing an ep-by-ep blog on http://www.annienewman.typepad.com--my blog, Annie's New York Eats.

Lisa impressed me with her "saucy" presentation, too. Kelsey was the clear winner of the night.

I think in a few weeks we'll be left with Aaron, Kelsey, Lisa and Shane, and things will get interesting.

I was very happy to see Nipa go last night! She has been saying throughout that she'll only cook real Indian food, and she acted as if there was no fish or seafood in all of the cuisine of the sub-continent. That can't be true, can it? I mean, India and Pakistan are surrounded by water, so there are some coastlines and where there's a coast there are indigenous cultures where fish are eaten--wouldn't you say?

If anyone has an answer on this, please tell me!

When Nipa threw away the fish (which she was clearly disgusted to touch), I felt physically ill. How can a person who has no respect for food claim to be "an excellent cook" or be in a competition for a TV food show of her own, no less?? I was so pleased she is gone.

Forgot to mention NIPA. Not a sincere bone in her body that I could see. She has the patent on PHONY DIVA. I truly can't imagine people in India throwing away fresh food, fish or not. I really thought they'd keep her around for a little longer for the diversity angle. When they said her name, I heard myself and thousands of others yell, 'YAY!!!"

I so totally agree with the need for more ethnic cooking on TV. We've got Italian pretty well covered now, but we need to move on to other regions.

PBS in this area shows another Italian cook that's different from Mario and Giada, and they also run a show called New Jewish Cuisine that's pretty interesting. And there's the Scandinavian cooking show that I can't recall the name of. Ah, and Daisy Martinez, Jose Andres, and some reruns of Ming Tsai and Martin Yan. And Julia. So they're actually doing a pretty good job of it. And Rick Bayless.

Wow, that's a lot of food on PBS.

But FN could really use more focused shows instead of these cooks who think they have a theme (cook it fast, cook it healthy, cook it fast and healthy, cook it on a budget...) but the dishes are all the same. Not very challenging, and not much different from what I could make any day of the week by looking in the fridge and pulling out random ingredients. And I don't need another mommy version of spaghetti sauce.

I'd rather see more chefs like Mario, but with different ethnic angles. Tell me about where the dishes are from, why they were created, what part of the county, etc. Let me learn a little about the culture along with the cuisine. Besides the Asian and Hispanic cultures, I'd love to see shows that focus on the European cultures. Show me German, Polish, Austrian, Czech, Hungarian, Irish, Scottish, Russian, Armenian...Wander to Australia and New Zealand. Over to some islands. Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, etc. Pick a country, any country, and show me some food.

Obviously, they aren't going to be able to series on each cuisine, but maybe a host chef who brings in people who cook each ethnic style. Not necessarily restaurant chefs from each area, either, but moms and grandmas as well.

But of course I digress from the question. Food Network Star? Yes, I watch. So far, I don't know if there are any of them that I would watch if they had a show. Maybe. We'll see.

Nipa sort of faked her way through the squid, but the torture of the fish was pretty bad. Of course, if she had her own show, she could avoid fish and/or have it all prepared for her. Honestly, how many FN shows have you seen where the chef started off by filleting a fish? Unless that's the point of the show, they're going to start with the steak or fillets ready to go. But Nipa's squeamishness was a whole other thing. They want to see if these people can handle surprises and handle mistakes that happen without getting all flustered, and that's why Lisa finally impressed me. She didn't sit down and cry, she just forged ahead.

Honestly, though, the squid is the one item they showed where I would have been somewhat at a loss as well. I've never cleaned one, and I've only seen it done on TV, and didn't take notes. But I think that I would have approached it like, "If you're not sure how to proceed with cutting up a particular food, try to think about how it's presented on the plate. You have a squid, think calimari... It might not have been a brilliant presentation, but at least I wouldn't have been giving out wrong information.

I poked around the site and Robyn Lee did a Q&A with Coolio a few months back about this show. I'm so glad SE covered this.

I was just fine with the elimination of Nipa. She was lacking in knowledge of anything out of her comfort zone.

At first I was hyper-critical of the show and the contestants. Then, as I began to read the opinions of others and really think about the challenges that the show is giving the contestants, I've become more hostile towards the network. I'm in a clear love-hate relationship with this show.

Really, don't like the way Food Network executives are treating the contestants. Some of it has to do with what the Food Network considers cooking, and some of it is just pure meanness. There seems to be too much emotion on the part of the selection committee towards the contestants. They seem to want to see these people get hysterical. They give personal critiques that seem unwarented and use words like "bozo" and terms like "you're on thin ice" when talking about and to the contestants.

Perhaps I just don't at all agree with what they seem to be looking for. To me, it seems that they are looking for someone who doesn't need any direction from them, won't need any help from any staff, blabbers on about themselves and their personal lives, and can cook anything in 30 minutes or less.

@Josdean - that makes so much sense. Odds are, they expect the "winner" to fail. It's not about searching for a new star (gosh, I hate that they use that term), but about drama, tears, love vs. hate, really stupid scenarios & competitions, showcasing current shows and a huge ego trip for Bob & Suzie (who should be fired for their programming decisions and ruining what was my favorite network). The reality show/contest IS the show. The contestants they liked already have new shows. Basically clones of the currently most annoying which must get high ratings? The only glimmer of hope is Anne Burrell. I want to see accomplished cooks and experienced chefs COOK, and show me and educate me. I can get entertainment elsewhere.

I am really looking forward to watching this episode after seeing the previews, and watching the snipets on Rachel Ray's website. Thirty minutes to go and we'll know who is going home and who will continue to the next challenge. I still support Lisa, she seems to have the best combination of culinary knowledge, and personality.