I would love to see the actual notes for the brief the Chefs were given.
For so many to have completely the mark I can only think it must have been very ambiguous when written down
The recent series have all required the chefs to do more than just present a restaurant-style dish. There's been a theme, so the dishes had to relate to that theme.
This year's banquet is for Comic Relief. Nothing more really needs to be said!
If a bunch of junior school kids were asked to make biscuits for Comic Relief, they'd at least cut them into funny shapes or put funny faces on them. You wouldn't have to explain it to them, and I guarantee that none of them would say "Oh, the comic bit is that they taste nice" or "We have these when we go on a picnic"!
Daniel summed it up perfectly today. "Putting a few tomatoes on the dish. Is that humour, or is that laziness?"
The brief last year was missed more than it was hit, though - pushing boundaries to some chefs meant using a microwave - and the street party one was a brow furrower.
The fact that a couple of the Chef-Judges have struggled with the concept and at least one Chef per region has used the food that makes you smile clause does make me suspect the written remit was fairly broad and quite open.
They obviously film the 3 chefs doing all their courses in one day and then the final two come back the next day for the judges. So two days of filming. Every now and again there is a slip of the tongue that gives this away.
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I THINK from memory they do starter and fish one day, main and desert day two and then all four courses for the judges (if applicable!) on day three. So there was no time really to make a change between starter and fish. Again from memory, the regional heats were filmed around mid October (Scotland was anyway) and the banquet was filmed on 25th Feb.
At least Marcus is focusing on the brief and on what is funny and what is not so hes doing his job properly.
I think Will has already ruled himself out by pretty much ignoring the brief completely. Daniel is a shue in. I'm not his greatest fan but he works hard to both nail the brief and produce great food, you have to credit him for that.
Balsamic and olive oil floating on a saline broth laced with seaweed and with confit seagull as a humerous recreation of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Main
A variation on Hestons seashore dish where diners are given a large jug of water to throw over the plate as a laugh a minute recreation of the Tsunami.
Dessert
2 tall vertical stacks of millefeuill topped with spun sugar arials and just as the diners tuck in radio controlled model planes fly into them , destroying the dessert in a rib tickling homage to the twin towers terrorist attack.
That menu would surely have them rolling in the aisles!:eek:
This series is so contrived and farcical. All these chefs take food and their cookery very seriously and quite a few seem to have had humour bypasses carried out. Putting a red nose on a dish does not make it funny!
Those that have attempted to follow the brief seem to have been marked down in favour of "top" chefs who just cook what they normally do.
Don't post in this thread often, but I read it every day, and it really makes me laugh... unlike some chefs I could name...:D
I've been finding myself shouting at the screen whenever a chef says anything like "surprise and delight" or "flavour combinations that will make you smile". Argh!!! Putting nice ingredients on a plate will NOT make me laugh. Don't any of these chefs have an imagination? :mad:
Don't post in this thread often, but I read it every day, and it really makes me laugh... unlike some chefs I could name...:D
I've been finding myself shouting at the screen whenever a chef says anything like "surprise and delight" or "flavour combinations that will make you smile". Argh!!! Putting nice ingredients on a plate will NOT make me laugh. Don't any of these chefs have an imagination? :mad:
The wife and I are normally busy with the kids when TGBM is on so we record it and watch it later. Doing so also lets us fast forward through the awful Chefs-at-Play section. As soon as one stops cooking, straightens up and announces "I had a really time the other day..." we hit the button. We did the same last year when they sought to learn how to make the perfect fish course by talking to a cyclist.
However as we were all snowed in yesterday our schedule was thrown out and we got to watch it live. When we jumped for the remote and found we couldn't skip forward was a terrible moment, only surpassed in awfulness by the moments that followed when we saw the pupet show.
Comments
The recent series have all required the chefs to do more than just present a restaurant-style dish. There's been a theme, so the dishes had to relate to that theme.
This year's banquet is for Comic Relief. Nothing more really needs to be said!
If a bunch of junior school kids were asked to make biscuits for Comic Relief, they'd at least cut them into funny shapes or put funny faces on them. You wouldn't have to explain it to them, and I guarantee that none of them would say "Oh, the comic bit is that they taste nice" or "We have these when we go on a picnic"!
Daniel summed it up perfectly today. "Putting a few tomatoes on the dish. Is that humour, or is that laziness?"
No need to answer that one!
The fact that a couple of the Chef-Judges have struggled with the concept and at least one Chef per region has used the food that makes you smile clause does make me suspect the written remit was fairly broad and quite open.
I THINK from memory they do starter and fish one day, main and desert day two and then all four courses for the judges (if applicable!) on day three. So there was no time really to make a change between starter and fish. Again from memory, the regional heats were filmed around mid October (Scotland was anyway) and the banquet was filmed on 25th Feb.
But then I love his big smile and those eyes and that beard and...oh my...going to have to lie down.
Can't believe he trotted out a 10!!!
I think Will has already ruled himself out by pretty much ignoring the brief completely. Daniel is a shue in. I'm not his greatest fan but he works hard to both nail the brief and produce great food, you have to credit him for that.
Starter
Balsamic and olive oil floating on a saline broth laced with seaweed and with confit seagull as a humerous recreation of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Main
A variation on Hestons seashore dish where diners are given a large jug of water to throw over the plate as a laugh a minute recreation of the Tsunami.
Dessert
2 tall vertical stacks of millefeuill topped with spun sugar arials and just as the diners tuck in radio controlled model planes fly into them , destroying the dessert in a rib tickling homage to the twin towers terrorist attack.
That menu would surely have them rolling in the aisles!:eek:
This series is so contrived and farcical. All these chefs take food and their cookery very seriously and quite a few seem to have had humour bypasses carried out. Putting a red nose on a dish does not make it funny!
Those that have attempted to follow the brief seem to have been marked down in favour of "top" chefs who just cook what they normally do.
Don't post in this thread often, but I read it every day, and it really makes me laugh... unlike some chefs I could name...:D
I've been finding myself shouting at the screen whenever a chef says anything like "surprise and delight" or "flavour combinations that will make you smile". Argh!!! Putting nice ingredients on a plate will NOT make me laugh. Don't any of these chefs have an imagination? :mad:
I liked that too
However as we were all snowed in yesterday our schedule was thrown out and we got to watch it live. When we jumped for the remote and found we couldn't skip forward was a terrible moment, only surpassed in awfulness by the moments that followed when we saw the pupet show.
Agree these people don't mostly seem to follow the brief
menu above sounds interesting-- I particularly like the helicopters---I mean model planes---
Not missed much because it started late.
Will he come out onto the balcony holding a small tomato?