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The Ten Most Recent Comments By Buckethead

From Required Eating

'Top Chef': A New Kind of War

I'm hoping that we don't see another catering challenge until next season. I think Nikki probably was due to go, but I'm a bit tired of seeing people eliminated because they couldn't put on a buffet for 125 people in less than 36 hours while standing on one foot with no food processor or whatever. That tells me absolutely nothing about what it might be like to eat their food at their restaurant. There have been so many of these challenges this season that I still don't have a good idea of what kind of food some of these people actually cook when they're serving their customers back home. Perhaps next season they can just spin off 'Top Caterer' into its own show and let the chefs on Top Chef be chefs.

From Required Eating

Guess What This Is

They make cilantro and basil like this as well, very handy. Not as good as fresh of course, but they have their uses.

From Recipes

Essentials: Hamburgers

Personally I think cast iron over high heat beats a grill for burgers any day of the week.

From Required Eating

'Top Chef': Down and Dirty

I remember the same thing happening a few times last season, one week the prize was a signed copy of Anthony Bourdain's book, the next week it was a laptop computer, then one week Tre won a trip to Italy I think. They should save the big prizes for challenges in which the chefs are working (and succeeding or failing) alone.

From Required Eating

'Top Chef': Down and Dirty

I too am a bit sick of watching 'Top Caterer'. Next week looks like more of the same, feeding a horde of tailgaters. I don't really care if the cheftestants can serve 300 people at once with only 15 minutes of planning and 2.5 hours of prep time.

Dale's complaint wasn't that she cooked bacon and won, it's that she cooked bacon and won a trip to Italy! I agree with him. I'm sure Lisa's bacon was great, but it was one element of the dish that three people worked on. I think if anything Stephanie should have won, she was the one who smoothed over the problems between Dale and Lisa and allowed the three of them to work as a team.

From Required Eating

Top Chef: Block Rockin' Eats

KC Masterpiece, Hidden Valley, and Glad are all brands associated with mealstogether.com (owned by Clorox), who were the sponsors (I guess?) of the block party challenge. Their abominable website features recipes that include salad dressing and barbecue sauce as 'ingredients'. Ugh.

From Required Eating

They're Ba-ack! 'Top Chef' Gets Windy

Andrew strikes me as the Joey of this season. Joey was all 'F this, F that, F you, I'm from F'in Noo Yawk', then when he got kicked off the show he was blubbering like a baby.

From Eating Out

Serious Sandwiches: The Gage's Brisket Sandwich

Jack Daniels' isn't bourbon, it's Tennessee whiskey. Jameson also isn't bourbon, it's Irish whiskey. However, that sandwich definitely looks serious.

From Required Eating

Candidate Ice Cream Flavors

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran.. with nut cluster (bombs). McCain's already recorded the audio for the commercial.

From Eating Out

The Best of Philly's BYOBs

epices6:

Those places are excellent (though I haven't been back to Django since Brian and Aimee left), but not exactly 'budget'...

Responses to Comments by Buckethead

From Required Eating

'Top Chef': A New Kind of War

@ zekks: The reason Dale was doing everything was because there was no leadership, which Nikki should have assumed since she has the most experience with Italian cooking. She should have set a tone with a menu and split up the responsibilities accordingly. Fish rots at the head. And I loved how she had the audacity to say she wasn't leading the sinking ship. Nikki should have been kicked off weeks ago for the Italian sausage blunder during the tailgate.

From Required Eating

'Top Chef': A New Kind of War

@ shell0724: I have to disgree about Dale. I think that he didn't "only try to rescue a meal that was doomed." He just tried to put his hand in a little bit of everything and I think that instead it appeared that this was his reasoning behind getting into so many different things was that to use that excuse that he did so much so the judges would keep him around. Nothing he did was great. He did a lot of things mediocore. Like its been said before, I think its worse to do a bunch of things at a so-so level than a few at a great level. I think that's why Spike was saved (by the chilean sea bass). I can't disagree with the choice to eliminate Nikki at all but I think that Dale is real close to the chopping block and has become exactly what Spike called him....to put it politely.

From Required Eating

'Top Chef': A New Kind of War

I think Dale was far from the most annoying contestant. He was placed in an untenable group of slackers and back-stabbers, in my opinion, and only tried to rescue a meal that was doomed. His frustration level was high, but, understandable, especially after extreme sleep deprivation, extreme work, and extremely annoying people. Lisa made a cool cake, but, her hateful disposition and greasy hair annoys me. Antonnia is cool but she tends to be very patronizing and while she shined in last week's challenge, she's not really shown herself to be extraordinary. Dale is a very outspoken and honest person who doesn't suffer fools gladly. I felt he deserved some credit for having to suffer through unbelievably selfish people who were only interested in themselves and their individual dishes, not caring about team work, and not caring about producing a quality menu for someone's wedding! Dale had the work ethic, and he's proven himself through the past episodes. I love Richard, and thought his gesture of bestowing the win on Stephanie was awesome, but, I think Dale would have performed brilliantly if given the chance to work with the bride team, not the bottom of the barrel of this season's remaining chefs. I'm sure they're all top chefs in their own way, but, there is no comparison between Nikki, Lisa, and Spike's attitudes and ostensible mediocrity to Dale. They are so threatened by his excellence that they literally shunned him and refused to treat him like a team member. I was thrilled that Nikki left. She should hang her head in shame. It was she who came out looking like a mug, after shouting out how cooking Italian and leading this mess had nothing to do with her. If their team had won by some miracle, she would have leaped into the center stage. There was a big contrast between the type of people they were compared to Andrew, Antonia, Stephanie and the lovable Richard.
All in all though, I thought it was an interesting show and one that we'll talk about in future seasons.

From Required Eating

'Top Chef': A New Kind of War

Is Gail Simmons pregnant? Looked to me like she's... how to say this... filling out a bit but my wife figures she got a bun in the oven.

From Required Eating

Guess What This Is

I make galic purée and ginger purée to freeze. My South Indian best-friend's mother showed me this trick - she makes garlic/ginger/jalapeno all together for her masalas.

From Required Eating

Guess What This Is

I agree with all the people who think this is a major waste of resources.

Sure it's easy, but are we really too important to chop and freeze our own garlic?

From Required Eating

Guess What This Is

@mballena - No! I agree. Mincing garlic is REALLY not that difficult, and the resources that must be used for this (shipping from Israel, to start) are outrageous to think about, and I'm not even THAT environmentally conscious! If you do it yourself, that's fine, but buying it seems ridiculous.

From Required Eating

Guess What This Is

Not to be a complete grouch, but this really irritates me. Am I the only one who thinks it's a complete waste of resources (as in packaging/plastic/transport/etc.) and that it sells something that is completely unnecessary?

From Required Eating

Guess What This Is

This and the ginger one are good for pan sauces and stuff like that because the cubes sort of melt down into everything. I can never get garlic or ginger smooth enough, and I hate dragging out the food processor just for a little ginger, so these are good when you want everything nice and smooth.

From Required Eating

Guess What This Is

not sure how much this costs, but since i use alot of garlic, i buy a lot on sale, peel and then blend/pulse. Put the minced/crushed garlic into freezer ziploc bags and make smaller portions with chopsticks using a similar method to: http://lunchinabox.net/2008/04/11/speed-tip-make-individual-portions-in-freezer-bags/
The best part is knowing there's no (additional) preservatives.