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From Talk

I May Never Watch Top Chef Again

This show is disappointing this season. The product plugs are getting ridiculous, the challenges are worse than usual, and the judging is inconsistent. They should have had the new judge from the start, not in mid season.

the season is so bad that amuse-biatch can hardly find anyhting to talk about.

The whole group screwed up this week; all of them delivered insipid, over processed food and never grasped the concept of fresh, simple, and local.

And Stefan, go back to Finland or wherever the hell you're from; I'm not amused by your hammer and sickle attire.

From Serious Eats

Animal Style Fries at In-N-Out Burger

In n Out will make anything anyway you want. Strawberry shake syrup on your fries? As you wish.

The problem with animal fries is the cheese will coagulate before you get settled in your seat. Never get them to go. I modify these and get the fries well-done, with grilled onions and grilled chiles, if the InO has peppers. Cheese only if eating on site. No spread.

From Serious Eats

Hamburger America: Dyer's Burgers

I grew up in Memphis and was introduced to Dyer's while in college back in the late 70's. Since serious academia was hand in hand with prolific dopesmoking, a Dyer's visit could take the edge off the munchies like nothing else (except maybe a throbbing Broadway Pizza). It was in the tiny shack on Cleveland, and the skillet of grease sat there at the front, bubbling like a tar pit, supposedly unchanged since 1912. The big deal was the double double, which was always nearly dunked in the grease, bun and all, unless you stopped them from doing it.

On many afternoons, the place was patronized by some of the local Memphis wrestlers like Professor Tanaka and Tojo Yamamoto, who would put away a couple of triple triples and a six pack of Schlitz, then they'd get in the Professor's bigass Lincoln and go to their match up the road.

I remember their onion was the hottest onion I've ever had, but it was perfect for these burgers. they were remarkably non-greasy, very flavorful. The new places may have co-opted the history, but they can't stand up to the original.

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Recent Comments | Response to Comments

From Talk

I May Never Watch Top Chef Again

This show is disappointing this season. The product plugs are getting ridiculous, the challenges are worse than usual, and the judging is inconsistent. They should have had the new judge from the start, not in mid season.

the season is so bad that amuse-biatch can hardly find anyhting to talk about.

The whole group screwed up this week; all of them delivered insipid, over processed food and never grasped the concept of fresh, simple, and local.

And Stefan, go back to Finland or wherever the hell you're from; I'm not amused by your hammer and sickle attire.

From Serious Eats

Animal Style Fries at In-N-Out Burger

In n Out will make anything anyway you want. Strawberry shake syrup on your fries? As you wish.

The problem with animal fries is the cheese will coagulate before you get settled in your seat. Never get them to go. I modify these and get the fries well-done, with grilled onions and grilled chiles, if the InO has peppers. Cheese only if eating on site. No spread.

From Serious Eats

Hamburger America: Dyer's Burgers

I grew up in Memphis and was introduced to Dyer's while in college back in the late 70's. Since serious academia was hand in hand with prolific dopesmoking, a Dyer's visit could take the edge off the munchies like nothing else (except maybe a throbbing Broadway Pizza). It was in the tiny shack on Cleveland, and the skillet of grease sat there at the front, bubbling like a tar pit, supposedly unchanged since 1912. The big deal was the double double, which was always nearly dunked in the grease, bun and all, unless you stopped them from doing it.

On many afternoons, the place was patronized by some of the local Memphis wrestlers like Professor Tanaka and Tojo Yamamoto, who would put away a couple of triple triples and a six pack of Schlitz, then they'd get in the Professor's bigass Lincoln and go to their match up the road.

I remember their onion was the hottest onion I've ever had, but it was perfect for these burgers. they were remarkably non-greasy, very flavorful. The new places may have co-opted the history, but they can't stand up to the original.

From Serious Eats

Animal Style Fries at In-N-Out Burger

Has anyone noticed that their fries have gotten worse over the last year or so? Since day one in 1948 In & Out used a Shaver Keen Kutter for cutting their fries. Most of the high end steak houses and restaurants use the Keen Kutter because of their quality and unique design of the blades. The blades are thin & cut through the french fry rather then trying to "force" the potatoes through the cutting head with thick blades. They switched to what looks to be a "Nemco" machine or hybrid that has thick blades. When you apply pressure on the potatoes and try to push them through this thick blade design, the patatoe is forced through the cutting head. Were the blade makes contact with the potato it puts stress on the potato. When the cut portion of the potato is exiting the blades it wants to expand from the preasure of trying to get by the bigger blades. When this happens, the potato edges crack or break and allows oxygen to enter through these stress cracks. What does that matter you may ask? Now when the cut fries are being fried, the oil gets inside these cracks which enter the patoto and cook it uneavenly. Not to mention it changes the nutritional facts that have been the same for 60 years. I bet they didn't re-test the fries after they switched their process. I know notice that their a alot more broken little 1/8 & 1/4 picece fries on my tray.

I heard that over the years that the potato's that In & Out grow/buy have gotten bigger and didn't fit the Shaver cutting head, thus changing to a bigger head and thicker blade design. Consistency is key and after 60 years of the same good french fry that helped the company grow to what it is today... why change something that isn't broken.

From Serious Eats

Animal Style Fries at In-N-Out Burger

long post ahead to answer the simple question for the above post

French Fries(FF) animal style like everything else on the "secret menu" came to be at the request of our customers. Before 2000, FF animals did not exist, animal style burgers did. In 2001-02, one customer must have asked some cashier if they could melt some cheese and put that on the FF. Thus the birth of the animal FF.

In 2002, we did not have button for animal FF on the order taking screen. We just charged the customer 40 cents for the two extra cheese and the cook would make the animal FF. There was also no policies on making FF animals. Some cooks melted chz on them, then put some fried mustard in the grill onions, added a little chop pickles along with the grill onions and spread. This was the true animal FF because it had the same extra condiments that went on the animal burgers.

The problem with this was that this is an extremely time consuming process. The FF has to come out early for the cook to make them animal style. It also took grill space to melt cheese. Not a huge deal when you made animal FF once or twice a month. When animal FF started spreading like crazy, they became very inconvenient.

The only way to make everything fresh and to order, is to have a very simple menu. One kind of bun, one kind of cheese, basic condiments. No bacon, sesame buns, chicken sandwiches etc. The cooks sees how the customer wants their burger and makes it that way. Animal FF takes a huge toll on the cook. They are fairly simple to make, but during a rush when the cook has to make some 80+ burgers/30min all with different condiments, they are just rhythm killers. They are wrenches in the cooking mechanism.

The company saw this too late and animal FF became much too popular for them to just say no when the customer ordered one. The are very few complaints about in-n-out as a company. The two big ones are lack of a menu variety and the other is wait time. The first one is never going to change because the INO foundation is built on fresh food made to order. The second one is caused by this ideology. A burger will take about 5 mins to cook from the time you order it, no matter what. During the rush this will increase and animal FF will not help. So the next best thing the company did to try and slow down the FF animal popularity was to make them very expensive.

A Double Double, THE all American Cheese, 100% beef patty, on slow rising true sponge dough with granulated sugar, with ace grade tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, and secret spread cooked to order became the 2nd most expensive item behind some FF with 2 slice of cheese on them and some condiments. Imagine if FF animals cost $1.75 instead of $3+. The not so great wait time would be horrendous with the amount of FF animals made. This is why if you don't know about animal FF you never will, animal FF will never be advertised by the company and they will never ever appear on the official menu. Heck, they don't even advertise them on their official website on their secret menu tab.

So yea, they are expensive, and yea they are good. At least, some stores are now retrofitted with steam machine that will melt the cheese, making them a little easier to make, but still very time consuming. FF animals are the biggest thing to change for INO since they added Dr. Pepper in like 1997. Keeping it simple and fresh is the INO motto and FF animals are not simple. Just be glad they didn't axe them like the famous 5X5 and bigger burgers we used to make.

Thanks for reading and thanks for making my check possible every 2 weeks.

From Talk

I May Never Watch Top Chef Again

can i just say "GO TEAM FABIO!" Yeah, hes not the best chef on there, but hes so damn adorable!

From Serious Eats

Animal Style Fries at In-N-Out Burger

In-N-Out's fries are ONLY good if you order them well done. Otherwise they are soggy from minute one.

As for Animal Style fries, I've yet to try them because they are such a rip-off to order. The first time I tried I wondered why my bill total was so high. When I got to the window, I found out Animal Style Fries are MORE THAN DOUBLE the price of regular fries.

Now extra onions on your burger is free.
A side packet of Animal Sauce is free.
Cheese is 30 cents a slice.

So even if you add 3 slices of cheese on top of the fries--which they don't--the price doesn't add up.

To me they make the price so outrageous so anyone that orders it will really think twice. I don't need a small paper basket of fries that costs as much as my double patty hamburger. Sorry.

From Talk

I May Never Watch Top Chef Again

Ariane was the most overrated chef on the show. I just don't understand how you can win any challenge with the simple shit she put out. A watermelon salad? Really? She gets praise for NOT destroying turkey? Really? There were even bad chefs who I preferred whole-heartedly to Ariane simply because she was unimaginative. There's classic and there's boring and this chick.. she didn't even try. Or maybe she did try, but she was simple untalented.

I also think Hosea will do a lot better once Leah is gone. I find her pretty lame too. I personally want Fabio to win. The other Italian is probably one of the best on the show, but he's an ass and Fabio is just so loveable.

From Serious Eats

Animal Style Fries at In-N-Out Burger

Huh??? Please explain to this Texas gal what "animal-style" has to do with melted cheese, onions and 1000 Island dressing?

From Talk

I May Never Watch Top Chef Again

@Jeana - I think for the best outcome (crowning the actual Top Chef) that would work, but I think for the reality show formula, you need to have it judged based solely on the current week's performance. Otherwise, they might lose viewers in the middle of the season. If they judged based on cumulative performance, and say I was rooting for Jamie, I could stop following the show for a couple of weeks because she has enough credit built up w/ the judges that she won't get booted.

It would also be a bit unfair for the first few people that get kicked off.

and also regarding the show's quality of competitors this season, I think people need to remember that this is a talent-based reality competition. There isn't gonna be another Kelly Clarkson. It's just the way these things work.

From Serious Eats

Animal Style Fries at In-N-Out Burger

I finally tried animal style fries and I didn't care for it. I did love the dressing on the fries so now I order extra dressing on the side for my fries. Haven't tried a burger that way but I will.

From Talk

I May Never Watch Top Chef Again

I thought Ariane had some moments of talent (or luck) that allowed her to move past missteps that nearly got her kicked off early on. She hasn't been consistent enough for me to really root for her or feel like she has what it takes to go all the way. And if you don't know how to tie meat to roast, you probably shouldn't be there anyway.

That being said, it appeared as if (who really knows, with editing) Leah kind of threw her under the bus; when she stepped in to "help" her with the tying while admitting to the camera that she knew she wasn't doing the best job at it, I thought that was pretty slimey.

And andytseng is right; they've always gone by each performance individually and not a cumulative performance, which doesn't always sit well with me; there have been many seasons in which the bottom three include the same contestants over and over again, but if someone else performs just slightly worse than they did in a particular challenge, they continue to just barely skate by. I'm not really interested in continuing to watch mediocrity, and would rather those who have performed consistently well be given a "pass" when they've had an off day, allowing the most consistent chefs rise to the top.

From Talk

I May Never Watch Top Chef Again

Jennifer and Zoi came into the show being up front about the relationship they already had. They also kept their relationship pretty private and out of the cameras. Hosea and Leah are cheating on their partners, which makes me uncomfortable to watch, and makes me want to smack them both. Especially Leah, who seems pretty useless.

I liked Ariane okay but didn't think she had what it took to win.

I hope Jamie wins. I think she's talented and opinionated without being obnoxious like Stefan.

From Talk

I May Never Watch Top Chef Again

My boyfriend has a theory. He thinks that Top Chef is a sinking ship and because romance between contestants has never been explored in previous seasons, he thinks that Ariane got the cut in order to let the two love birds take center stage on the dying show.

There was a cheftestant romance last season too, though--Jennifer and Zoi.

I dunno...
At this stage it doesn't matter a whole lot who goes out when.
Ariane had weaknesses in technique and creativity and wasn't going to be a finalist. She had her share of good luck and bad, if not this week it would have been soon enough.

From Serious Eats

Hamburger America: Dyer's Burgers

Go away, MISSSEXY. Your ALL CAPS nonsense is annoying.

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