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Hell's Kitchen Returns

Or talk to your teammates it seems. I'm thinking Craig is the one to break silence and go ballistic next week.
 
My ex flat mate worked at one of his top restaurants. He met him and said he seemed ok. I love Kitchen Nightmare but the English version is much better because it is more reel and they don't get a free make over...
 
My ex flat mate worked at one of his top restaurants. He met him and said he seemed ok. I love Kitchen Nightmare but the English version is much better because it is more reel and they don't get a free make over...

Yeah, the UK KN is much better, less "fake feeling."

Ramsey does seem like he's a nice, personable, guy. It shows sometimes during the rewards with team-mates and when things whittle down to the better contestants. But he also knows he's got to be a real bear in the kitchen to get the best out of them. Being a chef in a 5-star restaurant is tough, tough, work and not for the faint of heart.
 
I just loved when he started beating his head against the counter after Jason decided to make the soufle's not stick with sugar.

I was tempted to do that too.
 
The chef's aren't very good though. Are they not allowed to have recipes with them to reference when cooking?

Heck, are they not allowed to look at the menu earlier in the day? Do any research whatsoever on how to make stuff? Talk to teammates about how to make stuff?

I am NOT a chef, professional or otherwise, but I can fail to make a souffle just as good as that guy did - I can fail to cook salmon the way the other guy did.

Is it REALLY that stressful that they can't come even close? Sometimes I start to wonder whether these people are picked BECAUSE they aren't good... or even close to good...
 
Any bets on when the first good service will be. I thought last year was bad when Wellington kept on being ordered and the cooks failed almost all the time, but man I am finding it hard to believe that these people can be called chefs. I know they are playing the reality aspect of this show a lot (like the feud between the women and men, Christina and Corey, stuff like that) but this is getting really laughable now. I still enjoyed the episode a lot, but I really hope we don't wait till late in the season just to get the first relatively decent Service.

I'm glad Jason is gone. Now if we got rid of Craig and Corey, and then maybe Jen (Even though she is a strong player right now) than that will be great. I still don't know who I want to root for since none of these chefs are really standing out at this point. I guess Christina for her leadership and she looks hot, but other than that, it really doesn't matter who goes week after week.
 
The chef's aren't very good though. Are they not allowed to have recipes with them to reference when cooking?

Heck, are they not allowed to look at the menu earlier in the day? Do any research whatsoever on how to make stuff? Talk to teammates about how to make stuff.

They're allowed. They're just not. They've plenty of time between services to study the menu and recipes (and again, Ramsey tends to have very simple, easy recipes) but they're sitting around binge-drinking and chain smoking instead of studying the menu.
 
The chef's aren't very good though. Are they not allowed to have recipes with them to reference when cooking?

Heck, are they not allowed to look at the menu earlier in the day? Do any research whatsoever on how to make stuff? Talk to teammates about how to make stuff.

They're allowed. They're just not. They've plenty of time between services to study the menu and recipes (and again, Ramsey tends to have very simple, easy recipes) but they're sitting around binge-drinking and chain smoking instead of studying the menu.

That was something else I noticed. Is this group one of the most hardcore smoking group in Hell's Kitchen history? It seems like I'm watching a 1950's reality show in which it was ok if everyone smoked.
 
Heck, are they not allowed to look at the menu earlier in the day? Do any research whatsoever on how to make stuff? Talk to teammates about how to make stuff.

They're allowed. They're just not. They've plenty of time between services to study the menu and recipes (and again, Ramsey tends to have very simple, easy recipes) but they're sitting around binge-drinking and chain smoking instead of studying the menu.

That was something else I noticed. Is this group one of the most hardcore smoking group in Hell's Kitchen history? It seems like I'm watching a 1950's reality show in which it was ok if everyone smoked.

It's seems like the cheftestants have always been chain smokers, working in that industry is very stressful and I guess it's one of the many ways some choose to deal with it. Odd though, since smoking deadens your pallete which is pretty damn critical to making good-tasting foods.
 
I'm just constanrly amazed at the difference between the HK dorfs and the Chefs on Top Chef... If anything the HK'ers have it easier because they have a menu to work off. Top Chef gives a theme and a couple of hours to impress qualified and picky judges. the HK's just need to get something simple past Ramsey.
 
The chef's aren't very good though. Are they not allowed to have recipes with them to reference when cooking?

Heck, are they not allowed to look at the menu earlier in the day? Do any research whatsoever on how to make stuff? Talk to teammates about how to make stuff.

They're allowed. They're just not. They've plenty of time between services to study the menu and recipes (and again, Ramsey tends to have very simple, easy recipes) but they're sitting around binge-drinking and chain smoking instead of studying the menu.

If this is the case, then it is hard to disagree with Gordon's assessment that they are "donkeys", whatever the hell that means (as long as it means something bad...)
 
I'm sure it means something bad. Quickly I would say it's euphanism for "asses", more elaborate I would say it means "slow-moving, dumb, and mostly usless animal."
 
I'm just constanrly amazed at the difference between the HK dorfs and the Chefs on Top Chef... If anything the HK'ers have it easier because they have a menu to work off. Top Chef gives a theme and a couple of hours to impress qualified and picky judges. the HK's just need to get something simple past Ramsey.

The Top Chef contestants would beat the HK'ers in every competition. There's really no question (especially this season).
 
^^

So do real chef's avoid HK (& its $250,000 prize) or does HK make a point of not selecting a quality chef to compete?

Season after season TC has quality contestants competing for a so-so prize (compared to HK).
 
^^

So do real chef's avoid HK (& its $250,000 prize) or does HK make a point of not selecting a quality chef to compete?

Season after season TC has quality contestants competing for a so-so prize (compared to HK).

Well, compare the two prizes. A top chef winner gets some cash to start his/her own restaurant and gets to meet some of the best chefs and food critics in the world (benefiting from those connections and their critiques). They also know that the process will give them a chance to show off their originality and talent.

A Hell's Kitchen winner gets to work in one of Ramsey's restaurants following (I assume) Ramsey's recipes. They meet nobody of importance other than Ramsey, and they know that they will get yelled at repeatedly and never get a chance to show any creativity. They also know that they will never get a chance to show off any interesting cooking skills.

A Top Chef winner is prepared to wow the cuisine world. A Hell's Kitchen winner is prepared to run one of Ramsey's kitchens entirely by Ramsey's rules. One show helps prepare you to be a chef. One show teaches you to be a manager.

I also have zero faith in Ramsey's U.S. producers (as evidenced by the U.S. version of Kitchen Nightmares), so it wouldn't surprise me if they were purposely picking from the bottom of the barrel (for at least 3/4ths of the contestants).
 
^^

So do real chef's avoid HK (& its $250,000 prize) or does HK make a point of not selecting a quality chef to compete?

I suspect that, since Fox is really in control, many of the cheftestants are planted there to create "drama"/"make it interesting" sort of like the bad singers on American Idol. But that some of the cheftestants are "ringers" put there for the actual competition. (Bobby, Louross, and Blondie atleast certainly seem to fit this catagory.) We're not seeing much of the "ringers" right now because the plants are more interesting in the early parts of the program. As the weaker ones are weeded out the "real contestants" should shine more. This has more or less been the pattern in past seasons.

A Hell's Kitchen winner gets to work in one of Ramsey's restaurants following (I assume) Ramsey's recipes. They meet nobody of importance other than Ramsey, and they know that they will get yelled at repeatedly and never get a chance to show any creativity. They also know that they will never get a chance to show off any interesting cooking skills.

Ramsey has several restuarants across the world, I doubt he'll personally be in this one in LA to harass the winner, but I also bet he'll have a more respectable right-hand man there making life tough. The chef may have opportunity to show some creativity or individuality. It's one of an executive chef's responsibilities -nor did anyone know this would be the "prize" this season. In past seasons the winner has, pretty much, been given their own restaurant.

It's also well-worth pointing out Michael, Season One's winner, so impressed Ramsey that Ramsey offered him an apprenticeship with him in England for a year (rather than the regular prize which was your own restaurant, period,) after which he could pretty much write his own ticket anywhere he wanted. He accepted, but eventualy declined to go -due to his fiancee- and then turned down the re-offering of the prize and pretty much went on to his own thing. (I believe he has his own line of kitchen knives and started his own restaurant on his own.)

Other season winners became Executive Chefs in anchor restaurants in Las Vegas Hotel Casinos. I assume writing their own menus and and running their own kitchens.

This season's prize is interesting because it *is* one of Ramsey's restaurants and I cannot imagine he'll a)just give it to anyone and b)yeah, they'd have all that much power and control over the menu and the operations of the kitchen.
 
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