This week, the Food Network premiered their new, very hyped, competition show: Chopped. I gave the premiere episode a look and I have to say that it seems a little derivative. It is very similar, as well as inferior, to Iron Chef. The main difference is that the show begins with four chefs competing, and eliminates one chef at the end of the three courses: appetizer, entree, and dessert.
Like Iron Chef, the contestants have a set of secret ingredients for each course that they have to work with. Each round is timed, with the chefs having only 30 minutes to make a dish. A panel of judges tries and critiques each dish and decides who stays and who goes. The last chef standing gets a prize of 10,000 dollars. Not too shabby.
I enjoyed the first episode, but it definitely is not going to join Iron Chef in my “must watch” list of programs. The chefs that compete, while professionals with a good deal of talent, are nowhere near as skilled as the chefs that are featured on Iron Chef. The first episode of Chopped featured a pastry chef, a caterer, a personal chef, and a sous chef. These are not restaurant owners or even head chefs, but I will admit that they had some skills.
I enjoyed the panel of judges. The panel will rotate like Iron Chef, but they picked a good three to start off the series. This episode featured Alexandra Guarnaschelli, from Iron Chef and The Cooking Loft, and Aaron Sanchez, who you may remember as a competitor on The Next Iron Chef. The third judge was someone who I did not recognize, but he did a fine job. Ted Allen serves as host and does an adequate job. He’s no Alton Brown, and doesn’t really add much to the show, but he keeps it going.
I thought that the secret ingredients were a bit limiting. I would prefer to see one or two ingredients that could be used in many different ways. The problem is that there are too many secret ingredients. The entree in the first episode featured duck breast, ginger, scallions and honey. While some of the dishes were creative, I would have felt a little boxed in with those ingredients.
It’s a fine show, and I’m sure I’ll watch it again. It’s great lazy weekend viewing, along the lines of Food Network Challenge. Most importantly it’s not too sensational like so many reality and competition programs out there. Here, it’s mostly about the cooking.
Did you catch Chopped? What did you think of it?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jan 17, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
it was a decent variation on the cooking competition show. it actually reminded me a lot of the BBC’s Masterchef except that they don’t carry the winners over and have them compete with each other.
I also agree that they had too many secret ingredients for each round.
but having the contestants have to cook appetizer, entree and dessert allows for fewer one-trick ponies. I’m sure everyone who watches Top Chef is really tired of the contestants having no clue how to do a decent dessert.
and Ted Allen does a fine job as host — one of the best parts was that, like Iron Chef, the judges are right there watching the contestants cook and commenting on how it’s going. it allows for the judges to use that information in addition to just the food for their judging, but I think that additional element of pathos helps the show.
I agree that Chopped definitely doesn’t set its sights as high as Iron Chef, but you’re right it’s just good entertainment. What I like the best is that the judges consider all the dishes when picking a winner and not just the last one…as in Top Chef when many a decent chef is sent home for having a bad night.