I think it was not Chef Besh's meat that was "wet tissue paper," it was the sassafras leaves he wrapped it in before he put it in the packet to cook. probably tasted something like mushy wet NORI...

If you listened carefully it was made very clear by the 2 judges who complained about the texture, that is was the loin itself. Even Donatella asked him if he had tasted his loin and what he (Besch) thought of the texture of the meat. To me, it was distinct that the meat was the issue and not the leaves.

Michael Ruhlman stated in his blog this morning about the show that Kaysen did know how to season. It was during the wait that the cooler where Kaysen had stored his food went from ice to ice water. That leeched all the seasoning out of the food. Ruhlman said that if he had known that that it may have affected his judgement. oh well.

I agree that Besh and Symon are the stand-outs, and that we have to keep in mind these are all accomplished pros--not reality-show wannabes--who are putting their reputations on the line. The stakes are very high, as all have multi-million dollar businesses relying on their cooking skill AND credibility.

Besh and Symon have shown the most grace under pressure, a trait that will be necessary to perform as an Iron Chef. Both compete hard, but fair. Cosentino and Symon gave each other reasonable protein choices, as did Besh and Morou. Kaysen and Sanchez were the two who seem to have "hosed" each other with the snails and frogs. Both suffered--"unable" to use their proteins in more than one dish (try five in an hour, future ICs!)--and both should have gone home. Sanchez is proving to be a bit of a whiner, and I hope he bites the dust next. I was sorry to see Morou go instead of Sanchez. So what if his elements were plated separately? Use your forks, judges, and mix 'em up!

Meanwhile, I'm rooting for Besh. Love the combo of his stamina and charm. Never been to Louisiana, but I may have to make the journey to try his food. Or to see those baby blues in person!

I don't understand how Donatella's loin could have been cooked perfectly and the two male judge's loins could have been cooked so poorly that one actually referred to the texture of it as wet tissue. Does anyone have a possible explanation?

Also, for previous entries regarding the hygeine of these chefs I have to remind you FN shows what it chooses to show. I'm sure we aren't shown the chefs wiping the sweat from their brows because it is more dramatic to let us think that all the sweat is ending up in the food.

I'm rooting for Chef Besh.

Lisa, I couldn't agree with you more about Chef Sanchez. He certainly should have been sent packing before Chef Morou. I see no problem with plating items seperately. I know several people that actually prefer their meals served this way.

Crystal, I read on Ruhlman's blog that substantial time elapses between the cooking and judging (for camera resets, etc.), and the food languishes in coolers. This is probably how two of Besh's loins got soggy--Ruhlman says melting ice leaked into Kaysen's food and leeched salt out of it. I can imagine water (or simply the meat steaming too long in a confined space) could have wreaked havoc with the texture of Besh's food as well.

I can't believe I'm getting this into a TV show! I just got satellite TV two months ago--I live on an island without cable, and got just a few channels with rabbit ears. The Iron Chef world is pretty addictive, and is making me feel very inspired in the kitchen!

Wow, I fell asleep before the end of the show and thought for sure Sanchez was a goner after judge Andrew totally dogged him. It sure is hard to figure out who is going home without tasting the food. Could Mouou's food have suffered from his early plating?

After hearing all this, I am having a first. I'm having second thoughts about remaining a fan of Iron Chef America and Alton Brown. (cries)

After reading Lisa's message, I realize that the Food Network is to blame for Gavin being eliminated and his future career as a chef possibly ruined, as well as Besh's rep getting smeared.

I'm going to e-mail to Alton Brown's address with the following:

"Come on, Alton! Why didn't you offer to make those special coolers like the one you made in that first squid episode of Good Eats? That way the food wouldn't have been damaged!"

"You shouldn't have said 'If Chef Kaysen had seasoned his food", you should have said "If we had been smart enough to find a better way to store food than packed in ice." You phail, Alton and Food Network."

I think that once this scandal breaks out(if the Food Network doesn't cover it up in shame or deny anything), people will demand that Iron Chef America be cancelled out of rage and smear the Chairman and Alton as idiots who didn't know better. I mean, Alton is supposed to be a genius, and yet he let these people store their food in raw ice, knowing that the seasoning may leech out or fried food may get soggy!

If anybody's rep is smeared, it's Alton's. He had better come clean to the world and wipe the egg off his face. It's too late to reclaim Kaysen, the damage was done.

I do feel that Aaron Sanchez has woken up, but it's too little, too late. His time management issues from the past two episodes will eventually doom him.

R.I.P. Gavin Kaysen, whose career is clearly doomed because the Food Network is dumb. >_

Lighten up, Christian! You really think AB is supposed to supervise the entire production??? As Ruhlman stated in his blog, it was the network's culinary crew who messed up Kaysen's food.

I have to say, I was incredibly disappointed (again) that this show let go a different chef than Sanchez. He seems to be getting a lot of breaks! His food has seemed bland and unimaginative, at best. Yet they let Morou go because of a plating issue? PLEASE.

Plating, on ICA, is scored much lower than taste or imagination -- both which Morou showed in spades.

She11y,

I don't think that Christian should lighten up at all. We all know that the Next Iron Chef (and ICA) is a televised competition, and that some elements of it are staged or rearranged in order to produce the show. But that's no excuse for not including information that could affect the viewers' perception of a competitor.

To be fair, all of the participants were competing under similar restraints, and I assume they all had to deal with the lengthy waiting period. Moreover, I'm sure they are all aware that NIC is a television show, and that they have to make some allowances for that. So, it's fair for the judges to have made the decision to eliminate Mr. Kaysen. It's well within their rights.

But he was eliminated for a fundamental error that most untrained home cooks would avoid. This creates the perception among the audience that he is incompetent, at best. It's not a big deal right now. I doubt that Cafe Boulud would fire him for his performance on a television show. But when he is trying to attract investors to open his own restaurant in the future, this may haunt him. And that's a real shame. The producers of the show should have at least added some postscript reflecting the fact that the food's quality may have been compromised by storage conditions before it was served to judges.

I agree with She11ey--clever spelling and all--that it's ridiculous to think that Chef Morou was let go over a plating issue. His plating is elegant and sophisticated. I find it hard to believe that Donatella successfully runs two New York restaurants. Her sensibilities seem to run more towards the Fuddruckers end of dining. Although in fairness, I can't taste the food, so she may be right about it. Based on the way she dresses though, I can be sure she has no sense of design or style. Perhaps there was something else wrong with Chef Morou's food, but his plating was beautiful and timeless.

I think many of you are taking it too seriously. This is a television show- a reality competition. I think the chefs who get eliminated may be teased by their co-workers, but not much else. For the winning chef, yes, it is a big deal financially and for the fame it will bring.

Don't forget, the Chairman is an actor, a karate-chopper, not the King of High Cuisine. Alton Brown is a tv celebrity. These chefs enter this competition to get their name out there, and perhaps an opportunity to be a "star". I've seen John Besh in other cooking competitions on the Food Network. If he does not win this, I don't imagine he'll crawl in a corner and die.

I imagine those eliminated will go back to their lives and go on as before.

I enjoyed the show it really put them to the test, seperating the men for the boys if you will, as an amateur chef myself I would have had difficulties preparing presentable dishes in those circumstances. As far as how the dishes were ruined by the shows crew maybe a rematch of this episode is in order.

I can understand why Ruhlman is a judge. He is a chef. I don't understand how the other two qualify. Especially Moulten a whiner and non chef.

Love this show. The chefs are all top notch pro's (which separate this show from other "reality" shows.) The food going bad after waiting is just another elements they would have to account for. It is obvious that Besh is head and shoulders above the others as far as personality and being cool and collective. I mean the guy picked "catfish" to make a desert...How cool is that?

I know many of these contestants have been competitors on the ICA show. And some of them have actually won. Beating an Iron Chef on his/her own turf kind of make these challenges anti-climatic. And what about the chef's that have won that are not in this competition?

You think the pool of contestants could have been made and the show marketed with the pre-requisite being "having beaten an iron chef" already?

I am surprised that I still am watching this show. While I purposely look away when driving past a car wreck, somehow I am fascinated by the choices made for this series.


ICA has a set format in the kitchen stadium. So how best to identify the NIC? Why, let's put them in a bunch of cooking environments that don't resemble ICA at all... and crown the person that does best under those completely different conditions the Next Iron Chef??? Bizarre.


So many other irritating things to choose from... well here's the one that distracted me throughout much of last night's episode. Episode #3 with no running water (and what about soap?)would have made me very concerned about tasting any of the food that ended up on the plates.


And apparently next week we have a Lufthansa jet as the stand-in for the kitchen stadium. Lovely.

Who will be the NIC is not the question. For me the real question is: why is Knowlton judging? I just went back and read his bio. How can he manage even a bite of the food put before him when he is so full of himself? The pout and overblown ego go with a chef's persona, it seems. But those qualities have no place at a judging table.
Maybe judges for this show should start out with the "beginner chefs" on that other show. Here's a new show idea - "Who Will Be the Next Food Judge?" The contestants could be judged by reknown chefs.

Boooohhhhh.....All I have to say is how embarrassing it would be to be one of the three judges on this show. Bottom line they are a bunch of picky "w"itches. The world would be better place if their discernable palates were not present. Their positive contributions to mankind: ZIP! They are whiney and aristocratic. Go off yourself now as you have no positive contributions to make on this earth.

I still have a basic problem with this concept. All of these competitors are masters. So why are they being judged by people with little expertise in the field (despite their "refined palates"). This is such a treacherously subjective process that it often seems unfair and inconsistant - probably because we do not have the advantage of hearing the judges debates in their entirety. Still, wouldn't the current Iron Chef's have made better judges?

This show is a cheap, pathetic ripoff of Top Chef. The elimination challenges, the silly equipment, locations and ingredients, even the website is identical. I am extremely sad that these talented, successful chefs are being treated like this.

So, for example, the next time you visit Chef Besh's namesake restaurant "Besh Steak" and your waiter asks how would you like your sirloin, will you say: "Kleenex consistency, please?"

I'd be more inclined to order it sans perspiration

:-)

Call me crazy, but I highly doubt that anyone who goes to August or Incanto watches FN, so I think these guys are fine.

"ICA has a set format in the kitchen stadium. So how best to identify the NIC? Why, let's put them in a bunch of cooking environments that don't resemble ICA at all... and crown the person that does best under those completely different conditions the Next Iron Chef??? Bizarre."

Thanks, dusty. This is a really good point, and I hadn't thought about it. I guess I am so used to the silly challenges on Top Chef....

I would expect this show to be a little more straightforward.

I'm for Chef Besh also. As far as Chef Morou goes, I think they were wrong in judging him so hard on his plating. Didn't the judges brag on how good his food was. If the food is NOT good then who cares how it's plated! On the Iron Chef America show I see chefs plate their food separately. I think Chef Morou got a raw deal, no pun intended.

I agree with mo anam cara about the judges. I think the current ICs would be much more qualified than these whiners!

I think the two male judges are prima donna dickheads that are not qualified to judge a lemonaide stand.

I've seen Besh on other food network shows, I think that he is being exposed on purpose, that is why I belive he is going to be the next iron chef.

last 30 minutes BORING (except last 2 minutes)... um.. who are these judges... one looks like he just graduated from elementary school...

go chef besh... your refusal to wear a head band is adding the taste needed to win...

i'm rooting for besh even though i will never eat his food...

what would happen if the secret ingredient was salt... besh would be in trouble...

They should change the name of this show to, The Chef Besh Show. SO FREAKING OBVIOUS, that he is the winner.

I don't really understand why Chef Mourou got eliminated....when all three suck judges said his food was great!!!! If i'm not mistaken he went home because of plating....This show sucks big time!!!!

Especially Moulten a whiner and non chef.

Hey, Larry, I think you mean Knowlton. If Sarah Moulton was a judge on this show, then maybe I'd think that the judging was fair. Instead, we have one "real" chef in Ruhlman, and then the token-sexy-woman-to-draw-men-in and a guy from Bon Appetit.

In defense of the sweating chefs (particularly Chef Besh whom I adore)you've got to realize that the conditions they are cooking in are not normal. I read somewhere else about the kitchen being extremely hot due production needs (e.g. having fans going would make it more difficult to capture sound). I seriously doubt that the chefs would be sweating as much working in their own kitchens at their own restaraunts. And if for some reason they were sweating like that I'm sure they'd take the time to wipe the sweat off of their brows. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post I think that showing the chefs constently sweating adds to the drama. It wouldn't be so dramatic to see the chefs wiping the sweat away with a hand towel or a sleeve.

I'm going to say it again for good measure...
What did we miss that caused Chef Mourou to be eliminated?? Isn't one of the Iron Chef judging categories "Plating and Presentation"?
From what we as viewers were allowed to see, the elimination did not seem fair. The Next Iron Chef will now be something I watch if nothing else interesting is on.

I think Chef Sanchez should go. All he does is whine. I think Chef Besh was set up. He has my vote.

Pat

I think Chef Sanchez should go. All he does is whine. I think Chef Besh was set up. He has my vote.

Pat

I think Chef Sanchez should go. All he does is whine. I think Chef Besh was set up. He has my vote.

Pat

If you examine the scheme of the Iron Chefs' themselves, you can see the winner pretty clearly. Flay covers Besh's territory in a way, Symon and Cosentino cover Batali and Cora's style, but Sanchez has a unique niche that has not been fulfilled by any of the other potential contestants or Iron Chefs themselves.

Wow. I think people are putting way too much weight on how this show will effect a chefs career. Your average diner doesn't care. Period.

It will have an upside to the winner as in more exposure. But those that have been voted out - I seriously doubt it will effect their career even a little bit. As already commented - they already have established careers. They are already respected. This is free advertising for them. I didn't know who several of these people were prior to the show. I have now made notes to visit their restaurants when I am near them.

(note to managers of this site: fix the date/time on the servers - this note was posted Oct 23rd @7:24 )

One other note - I am also relieved that the "chairman" is getting less face time. The dudes a frick'n actor. I can't imagine being a respected chef and having to listen to that idiot.

(note posted Oct 23rd @ 7:27pm)

Mary said: "They should change the name of this show to, The Chef Besh Show. SO FREAKING OBVIOUS, that he is the winner."

I saw a spoiler a while back, and I am not going to share it, because it kind of ruins it, but I will just say, don't make any assumptions.

I think it is pointless to get upset about who was eliminated. They condense about 6 hours of tape into a 40 minute show (20 minutes of commercials). Besides, this is television, people.

ICA is the main reason I still watch Food Network. Because the chefs on ICA appear to be demonstrating their resourcefulness, skill and grace under pressure and making the outcome look and taste good, I find them amazing and have kept watching with great anticipation. With real culinary finesse in the foreground, the atmospheric campiness (at least in the American version) is actually endearing.

NIC doesn't deliver on that promise, and I find myself less interested in ICA, as a result.

Maybe FN has lost its way, trying to play too much to the masses. Good grief, FN! You take my viewership for granted now. When I'm not looking at ICA, most of what's on FN -- including NIC -- doesn't appeal to me. I don't really want to see that crass, non-credible cook named Guy Fieri preparing Lasagna Burgers and Breath Mint Pie and taking yet another oversized (and gross) bite of a steak sandwich. If that's what your core audience wants to see, it's clear that I'm not your core audience. Is that what FN is coming to at the end of the day? Like most of the people who watch NIC, I like real chefs. I'll watch Bobby Flay, Sara Moulton, Michael Chiarello, Tyler Florence and even Nigella, but spare me the Robin Millers, Rachael Rays (although she seems to have food knowledge and could outcook Guy Fieri in a heartbeat) and the Amy Finleys. And please, please, please, stop force-feeding me Sandra Semi-homemade. Maybe the real chefs are costing too much, and that's why you have to focus on home cooks who won't take too much of a bite out of your profits. No worries, FN, I'll just turn to PBS and watch Jacques Pepin, Lidia Bastianich and Ming Tsai. They actually are authentic and can teach me something.

But I digress. Let's turn back to what's going wrong with NIC. Let's be clear: I like watching genuine chefs and their amazing ways as well as their all too human foibles, but NIC falls to deliver the goods. Nice try, FN! NIC is a pale imitation of Top Chef (despite that show's many failings). Now, I must admit that I almost got excited about NIC. After the veritable debacle that was Next Food Network Star (no more crying homecooks and repeat reality TV contestants, please!!!), I thought FN was getting its groove back. I almost got excited because FN seemed to be seizing on an opportunity to showcase real chefs with real culinary skills. But the bland TV formula of FN won out again, as I suspected it would. NIC has the raw materials of Top Chef (plus greater authenticity in the quality of its chefs), but can't deliver the juicy dramatic bits that Top Chef viewers love (and love to hate). No one can be a Marcel, a Stephen, a Hung or a Dave. Why? Because America has to see the cheftestants afterwards on FN and continue to love them. So, we can't have the real drama of Top Chef because, it is FN, after all, and the network has to cater to a mid-American audience with bland tastes and bland aspirations, who wants to see how nice all those talented chefs are. ( To avoid hate mail, I just want to say for the record that mid-America is not a geographical location but a state of mind.) And so, we hopeful, but stupid, viewers out there have to watch the judges make really nasty comments gratuitously. Yawn! I'd rather watch Ted, Tom and Gail. We are forced to watch FN favor Besh and Symon, the fair-haired crowd pleasers. Again, Yawn! And we are made to focus on Aaron Sanchez in a negative way. Bad! Very bad! I ask you, FN, is it really necessary to portray Sanchez as an angry Latin male? I mean, doesn't this remind anyone of the portrayal of JAG in the previous debacle? Do you mean to tell me that John Besh and Michael Symon never swear and throw kitchen implements around? An ex-Marine? A tatooed biker? Really, FN, stop this trite nonsense! Chefs are nice people mostly when they are sucking up to elite diners and when they are on TV. Restaurant kitchens are full of temperamental, childish, and, yes, macho dictators -- it's the accepted law of the almost exclusively male kitchen trade. So, stop with the popular, but wholly racist, stereotypes. Will I get hate mail for saying that truth? But, {sigh}, America will feel most comfortable with Besh or Symon, so the editing will continue to favor them, and the outcome becomes stale and predictable just like the FN TV formula.

And, it saddens me to see the treatment of Morou, just as it saddened me to see the treatment of Tre in Top Chef. Their departures just don't seem credible. In this instance, Morou is sent home for something that I see countless chefs doing on Iron Chef America -- artfully separating his components -- but on ICA, it's called deconstructing a composed dish, and it is highly praised as a form of food genius, I might add! Kudos to Morou for deciding to stay true to himself. Shame on FN for trying to pass off the judges' decision as some kind of enlightened and discerning thought leadership. Why insult Morou and say that he doesn't know how to tie up a dish, just to make people feel better about Besh and Simon. Nonsense, I say, utter nonsense. Stop it, FN.

Who will win Top Chef Version 2.0 - I mean, Next Iron Chef? Who knows? TV Land is full of surprises. All the same, let me join the chorus of some of the other posters: C'mon, FN, we already know! What would be exciting to me is if you had a Next Iron Chef tournament, with sixteen competitors going head to head, two by two, just like in a basketball tournament. Now that would seem more credible -- and a whole lot more exciting -- than this Top Chef clone.

The point of this rant: I'm thisclose to turning off FN for good, for real. Take a risk, FN. Do something different. If I had to pick a chef to characterize my tastes or my aspirations, I would pick a Chef Morou (or a Chef Aaron Sanchez or Chef Emeril) over Guy Fieri (and John Besh and Michael Symon, for that matter) any day, any time. Now "that's money," FN. Maybe, in the long run, it would better to pay those real chefs some real cash, just so you can stay in the race.

To Nancy S./MA;

I couldn't agree with you more!Thanks for saying what I have been thinking for a long time. I am an avid Top Chef fan and was really looking forward to NIC now that TC season 3 is done...sorry to say, I felt that the second challenge on NIC was a totally assinine way of eliminating a really good chef, Ms Davie. I have seen her on other FN competitions and she was fantastic!
I also feel that FN has gone too far into the realm of the home cook. There is nothing wrong with home cooks, God knows! I, like millions of other people are home cooks, but I really don't need another slow cooker recipe, or someone telling me how to make chicken on Sunday and make it work for four more meals during the week! And sorry, I will be nice and say I don't care for FN's darling Rachel. I have not yet made even one of her recipes that worked in my own kitchen. But, Oprah's little darling, you know. Don't care much for Oprah either. Oh well. Hate mail anyone?!
In any event, I learn the most from watching trained, professional chefs. I absolutely LOVE Wolfgang Puck. I learn something from him every time I watch him cook. Wolfgang Puck's Cooking Class is an excellent show. Have made a great many of his dishes and they always come out great. Learned great knife skills from chefs like Emeril, Wolfgang, and Bobby. Learned how to make the very BEST minestrone from Mario.I do like Ina Garten for her elegant dishes made easy, and she is just such a likable personality. And I do also like Paula. I had been looking for a recipe of my mom's for many years and finally one day saw it on one of Paula's shows. Thanks, Paula! Plus her sinfully good Southern cooking just gets me going ANY day.
Was very disappointed in the outcome of NFN Star, as well. Hope they do better next season. I think of the past winners I like Party Line with the Hearty Boys best. Got some really good recipes from their show. Easy to make and yummy. Plus they have nice, easy going personalities on air and it looks like they truly have fun in the kitchen. I have FN HD and I like Made to Order on that channel. Talk about high end chefs! Wow! Some of the things they do I have never heard of, but again, I always learn something from them. And that is really why I love culinary TV...I don't want to make pot roast every other night, or burgers and fries, or lasagne. I want to get into the kitchen and stretch my abilities and feel a little nervous about it, and then watch great things happen because I learned something new (for me, anyway).
So, Nancy, I am on your side. I would like to see a return to FN when it was new and innovative, and we could see more pro chefs teaching us exciting things to do with food. Otherwise it's just another baked potato! :)
Cheers!

I taped Sunday night's episode and just finished it earlier this evening.

What an upset! Not that I'm one to judge, but based on former reactions from the judges and what we've seen on the show Chef Sanchez over Chef Mourou? Really? But Mourou seems to be more stable, able to execute his recipes better and preform well more consistently.

Either way, I LOVE ICA and TNIC. Although kind of sad that there will be a new competitor if one is leaving. ICA is like food sports. Brings a whole new meaning to contact sport and has to be one of my favorite sports (if not the only) to watch.

And I'm glad I've finally found some of your work Adam D. Roberts. Always entertaining and gets a few gut-busters outta me if I'm down. Thanks!

And I, too, would like to know how meat can have the consistency of wet tissue. I'll still go visit Chef Besh - another reason to re-visit intoxicating N'awlins.

Okay, I guess I wasn't done posting.

I agree with former entries that the seasoning criticism and plating criticism were uncalled for. If the food wasn't packaged properly how is the chef to help that? And if the man can cook AND plate beautifully, albeit, not entirely following "directions" who cares? Sure, we eat first with our eyes but y'know, I had a beautiful plate of veal ravioli from an upscale restaurant this past weekend - and I felt like I had POUR salt on it to salvage any flavor. The flavor of the table salt was almost better than the veal filling - and I wouldn't have had to pay for that. And I know it wasn't packed improperly before being brought to me.

And, as a huge fan of Alton, I have to say - not loving him on this show. Breaks my heart a little... He almost seems too judgmental, not as easygoing and encouraging as he is on "Good Eats."

Alright, I think I'm done for now.

First off, I was aware that all the chefs had to hold their food for the same waiting period. I am not riffing on the camera crew for dooming Gavin's chances of winning - Besh's rabbit loins also suffered quality loss because they had to be stored in ice. Otherwise, they would have not tasted "like wet tissue."

However, while the camera crew was partly to blame(and it's light blame at best - until we have the technology to do quick camera resets, people will have to wait and there is little that can be done to speed the process), Food Network should have known better. Alton Brown preached about how brining will flavor a turkey because of the osmosis principle, and yet he did nothing and was a hypocrite was saying "Gavin didn't season his food."

Okay, maybe Gavin said nothing about it to Alton or anybody by that judge as he was going home, but hopefully Food Netowrk reads the judges' blogs and slaps themselves in the head for being idiots. If I had been the producer of that show, I would have figured out a way for the chefs to carefully cold-store their food for the wait, instead of just doing the "man thing" and packing it in ice. I mean, didn't Alton show off a dry-storage method for cold food in his first squid episode?

Unfortunately, we can whine and grind our teeth and it won't change the fact that "Enrique" Sanchez is still in the running and the more handsome men are gone.

I am also going to be a realist here: Even though I do love Besh and hope he wins, the chances are based on a chef's skill, and there isn't going to be a vote this time, so we have to like what we get. And if Sanchez has survived this far, chances are his chances of being the next Iron Chef are very high - after all, he tied with Morimoto, a master chef, in a black bass battle! I think that Morimoto is the best Iron Chef, and if someone can tie him in a battle, he's pretty good. Besh did win a battle, but it was against Mario Batali, who isn't quite as good an Iron Chef as Morimoto is. If Besh had done that battle against Morimoto, he would have lost by a landslide.

Not trying to be pessimistic, folks, but realistic - I didn't want Jess Dang to be axed in the second season of Next Food Network Star, nor that black southern "sassy" guy to get into the finals, but that's what happened, so anything could happen. It's all up to the chef's skill, and if Besh slips up, he may end up being eliminated. I just wanna say, don't get your hopes up. And no, I'm not trying to jinx the thing, just being factual here. In a perfect world, Jess Dang would be have her own Food Network. :(

With enough food/sporting events for the gourmands among us, we do not have to wait long between competitions. Why is everyone so damn emphatic that they can taste and judge better(through the magic of television) than the three people that the Food Network is paying to do the job (in person)? I do not much like a lot of what every one of the judges has said about a lot of the competitors so far, but I am not advocating that any Umpires or Zebras should be shot as I play Monday-Morning-Quarterback. Enjoy the show, because it is a show. They are not solving World Hunger, or forgiving Third World Debt. These jobs belong to Bono and Bob Geldoff. The folks on the Next Iron Chef are cooking food.
It is nice that people are passionate about their feelings, but saying �the more handsome men are gone� is just nonsense. I don�t want to sound gay, but I think that Symon and Cosentino are the real STUD-MUFFINS of the show. They are starring in some really good FANtasy fiction pieces elsewhere on the net. One story has them catering a great gathering of Starfleet commanders with Kirk and Spock doing cameo appearances.
Did I mention that this show is entertainment? There is no testing to see if anyone has been sipping the Nyquil between events. I am not saying that the outcome of the competition is pre-determined like Pro Wrestling. Castrating the camera people for doing �lengthy� set-ups for the money shots and allowing the rabbit saddles to get soggy and contributing to the desalinization of the amphibian legs is not an option. It was probably not the camera guys that did the Cooler Crimes, anyway. It may have been just a case of bad judgment on someone�s part.
Alton Brown is NOT the Anti-Christ. Anthony Bourdain has already taken that job. Alton has a few Mad Food Skills, but he is not responsible for every culinary success or failure that occurs within a 500-yard radius of him. Take the Foodie Restraining Order off the poor dude. He did not kill Mama Cass. Someone else made that ham sandwich. Did I mention that the Next Iron Chef is entertainment?

Apparently in defense of Chef Sanchez (who isn't even my favorite)...

To be honest, I thought that Morou's food looked kind of boring. Part of what they talked about was plating (mostly because they also showed him mugging to the camera about refusing to change his "signature" plating), but I thought they also mentioned something about it being a meal they could get anywhere...although I could be mixing that up (so no angry replies please). Generally, I just haven't seen his food a being that innovative or interesting - but it is quite subjective, and the judges will reflect their own tastes as well.

As far as Sanchez, as Ruhlman pointed out on the show, Knowlton has seemed out to get him from the first ep, always being extra hard on him. We are only getting a very small snapshot of what happens, and NIC has been edited to show every annoying thing Sanchez has one the entire time - putting stuff on the plate after time, whining about plating time, etc. I admit, he is a whiner. But also for all of you who are swooning over Besh, he voted Sanchez's "one bite" as the best he tasted. That has to count for something.

Dear JG,

"But also for all of you who are swooning over Besh, he voted Sanchez's "one bite" as the best he tasted. That has to count for something."

While Besh may have truly liked it the best, I just have to point out another possibility that crossed my mind:

how smart it was to pick the one competitor's bite that had absolutely no chance of being able to win...

That POV also counts for something.

Respectfully, HCP

This is a regular reality show. It is not Iron Chef. The entire creative team needs to be field dressed and become the next secret ingrdient.

I agree with HCP! Besh and Sanchez do seem to have a bit of a mutual admiration society going (albeit a wary one)--Sanchez picked Besh's bite, which was perhaps a bit risky, because the chefs didn't need this strong competitor winning again. (Note that no one else voted for Besh.) But I think HCP is absolutely correct. However tasty Sanchez' shrimp may have been, I think the congenial Southerner made the smart, if slightly shark-like, choice: Vote for the mathematically-guaranteed loser. It upped Besh's chances of winning...only the other competitors were even cannier by not voting for the Cajun Charmer at all.

Ah, the cutthroat world of the kitchen! I wonder how sharp the knives will get for the remaining eps. I don't know about you guys, but I'm sure having fun!

It did cross my mind that it was strategy, but it seemed like they were all giving pretty honest feedback. I would hope that had something to do with it - especially given his reaction at the time about how good it was.

But who knows...it is a potentially lucrative deal. I guess I need to be more cynical!

I can't believe that Alton Brown had the nerve to say that Besh's "gosh darn southern cooking was getting a little old." Didn't Alton Brown have a show call "Feasing on Asphalt" that feature a lot of "gosh darn southern cooking." Each chef cooks from his roots and Besh is from Louisiana for crying out loud. Also, since Morou had a delicious
venison then he should have stayed and Sanchez should have been the one to go. Oh, I forgot to mention, I am from Louisiana and I hope John Besh wins.

The main issue I have with this show is that the male judges are unqualified to judge. Their commentary is rudimentary. There is no chemistry there and I don't see a fundamental respect for the food in their comments. I respect the chefs' opinions more. This is one of the (many) reasons why Top Chef worked better -- you could see a mutual respect among chef and judge in that show. The judges here are primadonnas -- they should boot them off the show now before they boot any more chefs.

I was rooting for Morou and Symon. I think its a rip off that Morou lost over something as silly as plating. Especially when there have only been a couple episodes so far. If they liked his food, then someone else should have went.

I agree with the others than Sanchez probably should hve gone by now. The attitude he has shown is not a winner's attitude. His failure to do a test on time last episode was bad enough.

Well, not I am rooting for Symon. I use to watch his show on FN a few years back. I like his personality and I think he's got what it takes.

Stop complaining about AB would ya please everyone? Saying he is too judgemental... come on. This is TNIC, you see how serious they make everything, im sure they wanted AB to be a little more serious.

Anyway... I think Morou should have stayed... too bad for him. I think he would have been great. I mean come on, plating? Hmm, I think in an IC battle, it would be easier to fumble through the mind for a clever plating idea than a great, creative food idea. Morou was great with food, creative, and obviously great even stated by the judges. Too bad.

Kaysen though.. so cooler packing was at fault for his lack of seasoning eh? hmmm, well shame on FN, but whoever said that was AB's responsbility.. ah well i won't go there..

On to the only thing that bothers me in the whole show. The judges. That long-haired whiney prep (doesn't deserve his name be said) needs to stop being the stubborn critic. Notice how often he is the only one to complain when the other two are usually in agreement? Such a hard head, I think he is just looking for things to pick on instead of really evaluating it. He said he didn't even remember the salad. So what do you do when a judge forgets what he's eaten? I don't think that makes for fair judging. I also think he just holds grudges.

But eh, Im not judging so what can i say. Whats done is done, whos gone is gone.

I don't think aaron needs any more chances. I want to see him go next episode.

btw, to all who are "done with FN" or are "never watching again" don't throw your angry negative farewells here, comment on the episode, state your opinion, but really, no one cares if you will never watch again. really, no one cares if you hate FN after an episode. contact FN yourself, we don't care. What you watch is your business, and i want to read what people have to say about the show and chef.

no one probably cares about that rant on this post either, but i had to get the message across.

rooting for cosentino.