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View All PostsHugh Acheson
Truck Nutz
Hugh Acheson reveals what he would have cooked for his Lyonnaise hosts.
May 16, 2012Sai and Jenna are battling. No one likes anyone, except Nick and John are nice to one another. A menu is decided and dessert becomes a brownie au chocolat. Julia Child is gonna kick someone’s ass in heaven.
The guest judges show up and they are Jacotte Brazier and Gregoire Cuilleron. They eat with the beautiful blond and Cat. Red Team first: “I think we should present it as a play on a quenelle.” This is code for “we completely bombed at this.” During prep there was chatter that they made pancake batter, basically fishy pancake batter. The process of making a quenelle is this: A panade is made, kind of like a choux base, and then the fish is finely ground and passed through a sieve. Eggs and the panade are added to the fish and mixed and then you quenelle the mixture with two spoons forming them into little footballs and then you poach them gently in highly aromatic stock and serve them with a Nantua sauce or a simple cream-based sauce. It’s not rocket science and Red Team has completely bombed on this course.
They also have a haddock with gribiche but not enough of it. Expediting is horrific. Half of the people seem to have really enjoyed the fish. Bad omen.
The salade Lyonnaise rocks, but I would have used more frisee in place of lettuces. That’s just my opinion. It’s funny because I think the salad is a really important Lyon dish, but Sai is about to get raked over the coals for it. Remember that playing nice and explaining your motives is half the success in this show. Sai is combative and not a team builder. She also has pulled a Hitler comment off the “We Do Not Go There” shelf.
I didn't get to catch the show last night. BRAVO repeats shows like crazy, so I will get to see it easily enough.
That said, I didn't mind reading the blog, it is more entertaining than the show any ol' day.
Keep on "doin' that thing you do"!! I can't get enough of Hugh!!
Jules
I'm happy for your blog for two reasons: (1) I love your sense of humor and (2) I'm a Top Chef fan and this bastardized version is awful. I stopped watching after the first 15 minutes of the first episode. BUT your blog IS fun! It seems that very little content on 80 Plates is devoted to cooking. There are no "real" judges, just catty, juvenile behavior that reminds me of why I stopped watching Survivor.
I like the show, although I don't like the part where the other contestants got to decide who stays and who goes. We will surely end up with weak chefs. Oh well.
I see that the winning chef has made changes to her team, but from the promo, she's regretting adding a cry baby to her team. Soon we'll have the strong chefs up against the weaker, louder chefs.
I missed the show on Wednesday too and assumed I could watch it when it was re-run. Wrong! Bravo has it's schedule messed up and instead of my TiVo recording the show, it recorded the show I hate most; Housewives of anywhere. Go take a long whiff off of a tailpipe Andy Cohen.
Why do the chefs trust Cheven for navigating anyway? Didn't he show his ineptitude in London? The cameramen really need to raise the camera cuz I'm tired of looking up his huge nostrils.
Why did the show have to choose the slowest most pretentious Asian they could find? Asians usually are not that way.
Anyway, Chef Atcheson, love your blog.
Hugh, your narration is genius. I want to watch the show all over again just to have your words as the soundtrack in my head! Please continue writing blogs at least, but more if you are up to it. I'd read anything you write.
Two episodes in and I'm not enjoying this show. It should be about cooking great food but instead it's ridiculous running all over town and some really creepy personalities coming out. In Lyon one team gets a sit down with a renowned chef to learn the cuisine and the other team are out in the street trying to decifer restaurant menus. How stupid. No wonder the black team won. I'd win too if I had your guidance. And enough of the teams. Let the individuals cook and be judged by people who know what they're talking about and not just plotting to dump a team mate.
Awesome blog, Hugh! I laughed so hard I had to wipe my eyes to type my comment. I totally agree with your assessment of the chefs so far. This is an interesting style of challenge, and the combination of an unusually large number of egomaniacs and some really dastardly scheming is bringing out everyone's negative alter egos earlier than they would appear in a typical cooking competition. My personal favorite saying so far is "Allez moutons!"
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