June 26, 201313 yr My 13-year-old sister is addicted to this show. Per her urging, I started watching it a month ago and can't get enough. Anyone else a fan?
June 26, 201313 yr My wife. Every night. I hate it, but admit that if I start to watch, I want to see who wins. I try very hard to not look at all.....
June 26, 201313 yr My wife likes cooking shows, except for the "contests" - she can't stand them. I don't watch them.
June 26, 201313 yr A fan here. Been watching for years. Some of the combinations they put in those baskets are very strange. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives is also one of my favorites.
June 26, 201313 yr I like the special episodes they have like the breakfast one or the grilling. I also liked the chopped allstar challenge they had.
June 26, 201313 yr To be honest, I think it's moderately entertaining, but not necessarily a good "cooking show". That's not to say that there aren't plenty of times when I find myself watching it (particularly when I'm not happy with anything else on tv), but depending on the episode, it sometimes bugs me a fair amount: 1) In general, you only get to see very very brief snippets whatever the dishes are being cooked. I like to learn from cooking shows, and it's tough to do that watching Chopped. 2) The basket contents are often crazy enough that they're never things that anyone would cook with. (I realize that that's kind of the point of the show...but that goes back to my statement about liking to learn and wanting to take things I see on the show and use them in my cooking.) 3) The judges are far from impartial. Chris Santos, for example, doesn't like raw onions...so anyone using raw onions in their recipe gets low markings from him. Also, the judges frequently are making part of their decision based on things that happened while they were watching the chefs cook the dish, rather than just basing their decision on the dish that was placed in front of them at the end of the alotted time. 4) I.CAN'T.STAND.ALEX.GUARNASCHELLI - and she's about the most regular judge they have on the show. 5) The judges are never happy with the dish they are given. I understand constructive criticism, but I'm literally yet to see anyone have a dish that the judges say, "You did this right. It was good." I think when people are given surprise ingredients, and a very abbreviated amount of time to turn those ingredients into an appetizer, entree, or dessert, then the judges need to be at least a little less critical of some things about the dish.
June 26, 201313 yr My favorite judges are Marcus Samuelsson, and Maneet Chauhan. I find that their critiques are generally the most insightful, and their judging to be the best. The other judges I like, after those two, are Geoffrey Zakarian, Scott Conant, Amanda Freitag, and Aarón Sanchez. I don't like Alex Guarnaschelli, Marc Murphy, Mark Bittman, or Chris Santos.
June 26, 201313 yr ^I do agree about the "not showing you how" part. One thing I really like about Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives is they have cookbooks with receipes from most of the places they visit, that allow you to try your hand at some of the dishes. I watched an episode of Chopped last night where they said a guy's dish was perfect. He forgot an ingredient and they kept him around because what he made was so good.
June 26, 201313 yr ^I do agree about the "not showing you how" part. One thing I really like about Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives is they have cookbooks with receipes from most of the places they visit, that allow you to try your hand at some of the dishes. I watched an episode of Chopped last night where they said a guy's dish was perfect. He forgot an ingredient and they kept him around because what he made was so good. DDD may actually be my favorite show on the Food Network. I guess as far as the "perfect dish" is concerned, I must have just not caught an episode with one yet.
June 26, 201313 yr I'll be around to collect your man cards. Goldie, you're excused. :lol2: Hey hey hey....I cook like a BOSS. :lol2:
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