[planets]

Originally Posted by degsyhufc

I think they had to bring in the celeb judge because they wanted more chefs during the week but only two on the Friday.

they have reduced the amount of actual cooking shown so drastically and most of the programmes during the week were extended ads for restaurants that they could change the format to an hour long show with the 3 chefs being judged in a blind tasting by the judging panel.....there appears to be a lot of marking by the chef judges for mates or people with reputations whether they make errors or ignore the brief totally....unless that was just this week, hopefully it improves

[halloweenbabe]

Hiya peeps

Originally Posted by Whodini

Not sure how I feel about the judges knowing who cooked the menu before the end of tasting. Seems a touch unfair considering the cliquey nature of these programmes.

C'mon. Been saying for years that the professional judges must have had a serious clue about most of the dishes they were tasting... given their experience...

Originally Posted by Melodybear

This is a bit of a farce...the judges are normally always on about the brief.....

Yeah but often choose the better tasting food... Prue is particularly prone to the about face .

Originally Posted by planets

i would like to have seen what the judges thought of Matt''s dishes - they should just skip the celeb chef judging section

BTW: Looking at the chef clips at the beginning I'm thinking they have invited back several of the chefs that had shown whimsy in the past... Thinking particularly of Steph... wonder if she can surpass her dessert for the street party where ppl would've drawn their own desserts on the tablecloth (but she didn't get through )

Totally random... Keep wondering if one year one of the chefs mights be someone who won/undertook a Masterchef... Told you it was random

[Bryant N May]

As I've mentioned before I think the judges confusion over the way the brief should be handled each year detracts from the programme.

In a way they are in a difficult situation as lets say that a chef produces a 'perfect' dish with no attempt at humour and the other produces a nice dish served with red noses round the plate. Are they seriously going to mark the humourous dish higher ? I think not.

However the brief is there so the dishes should be marked on the quality of the food and then an additional mark awarded for each course to the chef who has best stuck to the brief even if almost the only way of sticking to it is to use novelty props which we will become tired of by the end of the series if not already.

That way the chefs are encouraged to think about the brief but the judging will be more clearly defined.

On the point of the judges now knowing who cooked which dish, they have always been able to differentiate anyway as the chefs usually have their own style. The point someone else made about the camera shots of the photo of the chef after each dish is valid too.

[gemma-the-husky]

i think it's had it as a format, now.

[wicklowcollie]

Originally Posted by DenizenOfSW3

What a joke... Matt was robbed. Adam totally ignored the brief in every dish. Who was the female chef last year who got marked down for doing the same thing?

Was it Steph who went tit's up last year?

Defo a fix on the final score, Matt underscored on his dessert, but if he was given a 9, IMO should have been, him and Adam would have tied.
BUT, What would happen then? (please pause for fake tension)

[walterwhite]

Originally Posted by Whodini

There leaning too heavily on this idea of 'Comedy', Id be really surprised if someone can cook a dish which makes them laugh without resorting to stupid props.

Well there's stupid props and there's making no attempt whatsoever to make it funny which is what Adam did.

[walterwhite]

Originally Posted by Whodini

Didnt we have this trouble last year? Ridiculous hard to fathom brief and a lack of consistency in judging.

How is the brief hard to fathom? They need to cook food that is witty and gives people a smile.

[lammtarra]

Originally Posted by walterwhite

Well there's stupid props and there's making no attempt whatsoever to make it funny which is what Adam did.

It was telling that Arabella Weir pointed out that all Adam's dessert needed was a single glace cherry to fulfil the brief.

All Adam's starter needed was a witty title drawing attention to the fact that the pigeon was being served with pigeon food.

With extremely small changes, Adam would have met the brief at least as well and probably better than Tom, who for the most part served straight food with comedy props.

[aggs]

Originally Posted by Whodini

Didnt we have this trouble last year? Ridiculous hard to fathom brief and a lack of consistency in judging.

Last year the brief was incomprehensible. Being Olympian and striving for excellence or something. Boundaries may have been pushed at some point.

I don't think anyone knew what the heck it was.

[aggs]

Originally Posted by Whodini

There leaning too heavily on this idea of 'Comedy', Id be really surprised if someone can cook a dish which makes them laugh without resorting to stupid props.

The problem is, they've had that in previous series - Jason Atherton and his BLT starter or Glynn Purnell and his egg custard in an egg. Witty without being kerayzeee

[degsyhufc]

Originally Posted by aggs

Last year the brief was incomprehensible. Being Olympian and striving for excellence or something. Boundaries may have been pushed at some point.

I don't think anyone knew what the heck it was.

I think the only two decent briefs they've ever had was to use local ingredients and possibly regional classics

and the one at the Gherkin cooking for the best chefs in the world.
Just cook to your very best and impress the best in the business.

[walterwhite]

Originally Posted by degsyhufc

I think the only two decent briefs they've ever had was to use local ingredients and possibly regional classics

and the one at the Gherkin cooking for the best chefs in the world.
Just cook to your very best and impress the best in the business.

Agreed. As worthy a cause as it is, cooking for Comic Relief is nothing compared to some of the previous prizes. The only real reason for chefs to go on now is to promote their restaurants. Worked for Tom Kerridge.

[rumtruffle]

Were we really arguing about raw fish?

I find it a tad weird that a show based on indulgence, gluttony etc is using a charity based on helping the world's poorest for a series. That's just me being picky.

But overall, I didn't enjoy last week. One of them went through without actually cooking to brief, the one who really did cook to brief got left behind. It felt like Richard had already decided before the show started who he was putting through. The judges were hugely annoying - they're just getting more pretentious with every series.

It needs a drastic shake up, the format. It was at it's best when they cooked at the Gherkin. I'd love to see another series like that.

Having said that, I'm very excited to see what Chris Fearn produces in the Ireland heat - he's always been bang on when it comes to the brief. The humour element this year seems to be perfect for him.

[Rorschach]

Originally Posted by rumtruffle

I find it a tad weird that a show based on indulgence, gluttony etc is using a charity based on helping the world's poorest for a series. That's just me being picky.

But you could equally argue that raising money by sitting watching TV for a whole evening is a tad wierd when the peope you are helping are living rough on the streets without a TV, or have no electricity in their village in Africa, or are too tited from walking 50 miles for water to sit down on a comfy sofa and laugh at newsreaders.

You could also say that raising money for starving villages in Africa by sitting in, and therefore wasting, an entire bath of beans is also a tad wierd.

[poshnosh]

Originally Posted by rumtruffle

Were we really arguing about raw fish?

I find it a tad weird that a show based on indulgence, gluttony etc is using a charity based on helping the world's poorest for a series. That's just me being picky.

But overall, I didn't enjoy last week. One of them went through without actually cooking to brief, the one who really did cook to brief got left behind. It felt like Richard had already decided before the show started who he was putting through. The judges were hugely annoying - they're just getting more pretentious with every series.

It needs a drastic shake up, the format. It was at it's best when they cooked at the Gherkin. I'd love to see another series like that.

Having said that, I'm very excited to see what Chris Fearn produces in the Ireland heat - he's always been bang on when it comes to the brief. The humour element this year seems to be perfect for him.

microspheres of Sennakot in the starter, a laxative liquorish flavoured jus with the main and syrup of fig steamed pudding for dessert would bring a sense of humour - albeit the schoolboy kind.

Well, it would make me laugh, especially if it took effect on Oliver just as he was about to pronounce the judges final decision

[degsyhufc]

The spotlight is on Scotland. Returning contenders Michael Smith, Tony Singh and Mark Greenaway are all determined to get one of their dishes to the banquet. Will a witty take on spiced ham score highly, or will a warm chicken salad with a twist or a rabbit terrine come out on top?

Veteran judge Angela Hartnett MBE will be judging all week.

[jonbwfc]

Spam, that's a big a reference to British comedy as you can name...

[degsyhufc]

Ah, but it's the BBC so it's the mystery spiced ham meat product in a square tin that can't be named. Monty Python must have had special dispensation

[degsyhufc]

They must have relaxed the rules. The voiceover has mentioed they infamous SPAM

[degsyhufc]

I think you can safely say that Tony has gone all out down the spam route

[degsyhufc]

Tony's 'spam' loosed very loose. I little too much like cat/dog food
I wonder how much the presentation helped him as the marking was strict tonight

[Whodini]

Blimey, Angela laying the smackdown on the chefs.

Thought Micheals looked a good dish.

[squadge]

i absolutely LOVED Tony's hamming it up. Hilarious and you know it's better than your normal pub grub. Yes it is a banquet but it is comic relief, alot of them will be a bit hammered, and I do think that this banquet should be about presentation (along with good food). Go Tony!!

[Clarkie66]

I think the atmosphere this week has been much nicer with less nastiness between the chefs and I quite like the fact that Angela's marking is strict as long as she is fair. Michael is lovely and I hope he wins the week.

[Dission]

I was looking forward to seeing if Alan was returning to the competition, as I thought he probably can´t be arsed anymore, he was extremely unlucky last year and in the end there´s a point in which you have to stop.