a personal review of the show 'The Taste' - My Life on a Plate

I did not watch the first season of The Taste.  Last week I decided to watch season 2 for a few reasons.  I love cooking shows and competitions.  I really admire the chefs.  I am pushing myself to a higher level of cooking so I am going to watch and then do the challenges later that week or I might need to wait till the next grocery trip to buy my ingredients.  I hope that watching these chefs will help me elevate my own cooking abilities.  So many of these competitions showcase how these competitors are self taught home cooks.  That is me!  I watch the cooking shows, I read the cookbooks and I research on the internet different recipes.  I learn tips, tricks and how to balance flavors.  Stroking my own ego I know I have a talent in the kitchen but since I am a self taught home cook I still have a long way to go.  So far my cooking repertoire is based on family style meals or easy quick food.  I hope that in the next year or two I will feel confident enough to begin entering cooking competitions.

The first group cooking challenge in season 2 is "My Life on a Plate".  Nigella's group is making Chicken Soup, Ludo's group is making Roasted Meat and Vegetable, Marcus' group is doing a Multicultural Mashup, and Anthony's group is making Soup.  Nigella's group went with Jay's dish of Chicken soup with coconut milk. Marcus chose Shehu's dish of Coconut curry broth with halibut and mussels.  Ludo's group chose Jeff's dish of Ramen soup with roasted pork loin.  Anthony's group chose Shellie's dish of Ginger soup with chicken noodles.  Edward Lee was the guest judge and mentor.  Edward Lee picked Ludo's kitchen of Jeff's Ramen soup.  He awarded the second best bite to Marcus' kitchen.  The worst taste was Nigella's kitchen.  

With Nigella's kitchen being chosen as the worst she had to choose someone to eliminate from her group.  My personal picks, the worst in her kitchen is Reina and the best is Jay.  What I didn't like about Reina is her aggressive and disrespectful attitude towards an accomplished chef as Nigella is.  Nigella tried to guide Reina but she was stubborn and thought herself superior to Nigella's advice.  As bad as Reina was what I really didn't like is that Nigella's group was not acting as a team. I know Nigella asked them for their opinions as to who to let go so of course they threw Jacquelyn under the bus for her oily soup.  It is a competition and what they were actually doing was naming who they thought was their competition, Jacquelyn isn't bad but I felt that she should have been able to perform better since she is a professional chef.  I feel sorry for Nigella because her team is not an actual team this season and I really don't see any of them stepping up as a winner.  Sure they might have some good days when they won't be on the bottom but I really don't see them coming out on top.

With Ludo's group as the winner of the challenge they now have the chance to have Edward Lee mentor them for the solo part of the challenge!  He is a great chef to look up to.  http://chefedwardlee.com/bio/  The master class with Edward Lee he explained to them that Korean and Southern food is his life on a plate, there are a lot more compontents but he was keeping it narrowed down.  Chef Edward Lee maked a soup with about 8 ingredients (I rewound twice and these are the ingredients he mentions) Ham, bacon fat, apple cider vinegar, kimchi, ground peanuts, and pork rinds all combined into a soup.  Chef Lee explained that with some finesse and understanding of his two cultures he was able to fuse these two parts of his life that do not naturally blend together. After showing them his own version of the challenge he then helps them refine their recipes for the solo challenge of My Life on a Plate.  What a fantastic opportunity!

Solo challenge!  One hour!  UGH!  I think that is the single fact that makes these challenges a fear factor for me.  I can definitely make a delicious meal in less than an hour but if I was making a competition level dish I would love to have at least two hours just so I could really develop the flavors!  One hour cooking time.  Jeesh that really does up the level of a competition.  

This is how it works.  The mentors take their bite of each dish not knowing who cooked it or what they are eating.  They each must select their best dish with gold stars and the worst will get a red star then face elimination.  The judges don't even know which dish is a part of their own team.

The best in this challenge was a tie between Jeff from team Ludo and Lee from team Anthony.  The worst was Jay from team Nigella with 3 red stars and Audrey from team Marcus with one red star.  Jay went overboard in defending his dish and choice as to not include gravy.  He came off as brash, unable to take criticism and emotional.  He admitted his dish was an emotional choice that was more about his favorite last meal than about keeping a competitive spirit.  I still believe Jay is a great cook that made a bad emotionally charged choice.  Audrey's dish was a horrible combination of many different parts of her life using an array of ingredients that did not find a balance or cohesiveness.  She didn't really have a story to meld with her dish as much as she was paying homage to different parts of her life through the different ingredients she chose.  Her dish was sort of a clusterfuck of ingredients with no real direction.  I honestly feel bad that both of these cooks made the decisions they did.  They both have a similar background with their extreme weight loss.  In my opinion Audrey doesn't seem to want this for the right reasons, she is trying to promote her blog but at least she is open and upfront about it!  She did take the chef's criticism very well.  

In the end someone has to go home and that is Jay.  I think he should hold his head high.  He did well even though his food didn't make the cut. He stayed true to himself but was just out cooked when he made the mistake of not making a gravy.  If he did make a gravy then I believe he wouldn't have received a single red star and then Audrey would have gone home.  Also if he would have kept his emotional outburst low key, nodded and took the chef's critiques then he really would have still been in the competition.  

So what am I going to make?  My life of a plate.  How could you not do some soul searching with a food challenge like that?  If you like to cook and love to eat then combine that with a cooking competition called The Taste you really need to search your soul to find what meal defines you.  You need to consider the flavors, textures, and direction of the food.  Just because it is your favorite food doesn't make it an option.  You need to keep in mind that you are not cooking for yourself but for the judges to like it and keep you in the game!  For example my husband loves his asado well done but I know none of the judges would think it as cooked properly and I could lose points simply for over cooking the meat.
For me I need to choose something classic but with some spice and then a balance of something sweet and tart.  Keeping in mind I only have one hour to prep and cook I can not go for my chili and corn bread because the chili needs several hours to get all the flavors balanced.  With Chili not an option I have to dig deeper and go for my second brilliant idea.

Thanksgiving!  I would make Thanksgiving in one bite.  Okay, yes Jay went home after making a type of Thanksgiving meal.  He did it all wrong!  I would make a Garlic Roasted Turkey Breast, cornbread dressing, white wine gravy and my cranberry apple sauce.  Portioning for the single bite would be tough.  I would mold the dressing as a cake using a round cookie cutter using this as the base.  Then I would spoon a little layer of sauce on top followed by a thin slice of turkey breast and topped off with some gravy.  My cranberry sauce and the white wine gravy are my clinchers that make this bite stand out.  My sauce is a delicious combination of the tart cranberries berries, crisp granny smith apples, light brown sugar and orange juice.  When roasting my turkey I use the white wine as the liquid, I like Moscato but to make a really sweet gravy I would choose Mead(Irish Honey Wine) for the competition dish.  Then while the turkey breast is resting I whisk the drippings from the pan to pull up all the good flavors slowly adding in the flour, to thicken the sauce but remember to add salt and pepper to taste.  If needed add more broth till you get the right consistency.   At the end I would add a touch more wine just to send home all the flavors you want!  I remember the first time I used Mead in my Chicken gravy.  My nephew loved it!  It had all the sweetness of honey with a back note of the garlic from the roasted chicken inside a gravy to pour over your creamy mashed potatoes.  Yum!
My life on a plate.  I choose Thanksgiving to represent me because it is a holiday filled with warm family memories.  I am all about family!  Thanksgiving is also the only holiday that is all about the food and overindulgence.  Traditional turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce and gravy then take all of these components into a more updated feel is exactly how I feel about myself.  I am a traditionalist but I take everything to a modern level.  My childhood memories of Thanksgiving are filled with lots of cousins crowded around the kid table fighting for elbow room and I was often the one placed next to "that cousin" who stuck his elbows right out into your rib cage.  It was wonderful!
I don't have any turkey breasts or white wine right now or else I would be cooking this meal now!  The next time I have all my ingredients I promise to post my step by step instructions complete with photo's to share with you.  Until then I will be craving this meal.  

Next week's show is about Guilty Pleasures!  I am already thinking about my personal guilty pleasure.  I have been dying to try out a combination of Dulce De Leche and my Mom's Fudge recipe then adding in something to give a crunch to make this guilty pleasure balanced.  Sweet, rich, creamy, salty and crunchy.  Talk about indulgent!  

My personal rundown of this seasons teams.  

Marcus' group is a real team, I feel the love!  They support each other and boost each other up.  I think that is a smart move this early in the competition.  As far as who I think is the best from this team I have to say I need to see how it works out with Shehu and Don.  Sarah might be an executive chef but she is a little forgettable in this episode. Audrey has a powerful view point that appeals to a lot of viewers if she could only learn to harness it in this competition - she is lucky she is still in the competition.

Anthony has some great cooks on his team. I think he built a smart team but I don't see them coming together yet as a team.  The top cook from this team is a tough choice for me between Lee and Shellie.  I think Brad is good but ultimately he and Dana are a little bit forgettable.

Ludo has an awesome team of great cooks. I they will come together as a team as they get to know each other better.  The top cook from this team is 

Nigella's team.  I already said it.  They make a team of enemies.  Jay and Jacquelyn are the best from that team but unless they really grow I do not see them beating out the cooks from the other teams.  Unfortunately, Jay had to go home.  This team is already beat.  I feel sorry for Nigella because I really admire her as a Chef.