Either Symon or Besh would have been excellent selections for the NIC. I still am displeased that the Finale show was advertised (extensively) as a “Winner-take-all”. If so, the choice should have been made exclusively based upon the food prepared during the finale. Past records would not have counted. Counting the votes of judges who did not eat the food prepared during the finale was, in my oopinion, inappropriate.

As far as your impartiality regarding Symon, you may have been as fair as humanly possible. Regardless there is a appearance of conflict of interest as you have a financial stake in his success, i.e. how many copies of a “Soul of a Chef” have been sold so that IC fans can read about Symon. The historic reference of Caesar’s wife comes to mind where (paraphrasing) it isn’t good enough to be impartial but you also need to appear impartial. Frankly, the only way you could have accomplished that would have been to recuse yourself from voting in the final.

Michael still has the best charisma, character, and personality (for Iron Chef TV presence) to keep it interesting and ‘festive’ during that one hour crunch, while putting out quality food.

He WAS the entertaining factor ‘cliche’, quotes & comedy mouth throughout the episodes except for John’s star moment/episode with “I got a bad feeling…”.

*On a side note I have to wonder what would/could have been if Morou could get past his ‘everything separate on one plate’ fetish, or if Aaron could have got away from Latino flavors and ‘puppy dog’ faces (more smiles on camera unless they left them all on the cutting room floor)…but alas, we shall not know.

But interestingly enough none of my prior personal thoughts changed much at all even after watching them back to back.

tyrone

“My theory is that it’s all Alton Brown. He pretends just be just an outside observer, an innocent nerd just helping things run smoothly, but I’m convinced that he’s behind every decision the Food Network makes.”

Hehe… interesting theory (and he’s great at it, too.)

“In fact I think he may be getting advice from Dick Cheney. I thought I saw Cheney behind Jeffrey Steingarten during Battle Blue Foot Chicken. In fact I think Steingarten may BE Cheney in disguise! Think about it!
Don’t get me wrong, I love Jeffrey Steingarten. But I’m pretty sure he doesn’t love me.”

Hahaha — this is TOO funny — love the comparison between the two. I dig JS, too (IMO, he should have been one of the judges on NICA). I think JS loves JS

“And neither does Cheney. See? ”

Oh, just cook with the flag waving, and it’ll all be good again!

“Hmm…I think it may be time to take a break from this thread and get started on the thanksgiving prep.”

Same here.

But, it’s not turkey, but roast duck and roast pork (along with some trad. sides).

On the next NICA, how about Susan Spicer, John Besh, Marcus Sammuelson, David Cheng (I don’t know if he’d buy in to it, though) and Ming Tsai, Lydia Shire, and Gabrielle Hamilton, going at it for the Top Prize?

“Also, to comment on Chance’s last post – I sympathize but also think that in whatever professional world you enter you always have to deal with pretentions and insecurity. Those that cannot overcome their insecurities will not have the strength to endure a lot of life’s challenges. It’s up to the individual to possess a confidence to embrace that which you do not know and be greatful for any opportunity to learn and to always really believe in yourself. There will always be challenges…. let’s just have fun with it.”

WORD to the nth, chef jw: thank you for that, there above. I reckon your drift to be true –although, I simultaneously find, a continuous (or a continuum of the) oneway vanilla my-way- or-the-highway in culinary discourse.

However, as you stated in so many words, there is a lesson to be learned in every moment.

Regarding those who cannot overcome their insecurities, sometimes — oftentimes — it’s not as simple as that. Particularly when it comes to marginalization and co-optation: for those who think neither/nor occurs in cuisine, think again, please.

Alas.

But we move on — we have to — or one remains mired in the bog of [name a] pathology.

Happy Thanksgiving (to all, and to all a good night.

It has been my contention for a while that, despite his protests to the contrary, Batali WAS going to make a clean break with FN. I just wanted to see if anyone had noticed a Batali blow-up photo on the set that I might have missed. The fact that it is missing – as Batali himself was, from the final judging – lends some credence to the NY Post report that he was “outta there” November 18. (Yes, even though he taped 2 final battles yet to be aired.)

Ooooo, Cheney as Steingarten – now THERE’S a conspiracy theory for you, Nebulae! Had to laugh – time for both of us to get back to our TG prep (!)

This bears repeating because it may be the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time:
Alton Brown (official title, but we know better) – An Innocent Nerd Just Helping Things Run Smoothly.

There is strong evidence that Batali is making a clean break with FN period. He will be missed, but I can’t blame him really.

Also, to comment on Chance’s last post – I sympathize but also think that in whatever professional world you enter you always have to deal with pretentions and insecurity. Those that cannot overcome their insecurities will not have the strength to endure a lot of life’s challenges. It’s up to the individual to possess a confidence to embrace that which you do not know and be greatful for any opportunity to learn and to always really believe in yourself. There will always be challenges…. let’s just have fun with it.

i really loved the series and the chefs (which made it all worthwhile). the producers, the editing, the whole not talking about the end result (.ie. food) so much – sucked. it could have made this way better. ( who the f is donatella anyway – )

btw, ruhlman i respect somewhat the whole clear soup thing but really i think it’s too late and we have to accept coined fancy food terms that aren’t really always accurate. thomas keller does it. everyone does it. it’s just food. make it sound good or don’t, but let it always taste good.

Try eGullet dot org.

You’ll find what you’re looking for.

Thank you very much – appreciated, and hope to “see” you and other folks here, over there.

I just didn’t want to be rude to Ruhlman and fellow readers here, but this blog is so good that, you want to get tangentially on topic, so to speak and thanks to all who patiently put up with and off topic diversion (of angels!)

Oooh, BTW – did anyone notice that there were only 3 IC blown-up portraits up behind the chefs last night – Flay, Cora and Symon? Or were Batali’s and Morimoto’s off to the side somewhere?

I don’t know what I can remember, really, Frances.

However, I will say… Susan Spicer would be very cool to have on ICA.

Sure, we all know that TV in general is ratings and advertisment driven, but the vehicle doesn’t have to stall, so to speak.

There should be room for different personalities — I consider that level of diversity to be as important as any other (gender, race etc.) provided it is based on ability and talent, and not on PC-concerns.

On that note, I watched what I believed was the first or inaugural episode, of ICA, and I’ll cut Symon some slack regarding his so-called “personality made for TV” that he, and not Besh, supposedly has: at least, according to many here who believe Symon was more charismatic etc.

Sometimes it (charisma) is a given, sometimes it’s all about context, often it’s subjective, at best. And it wasn’t evident last night.

If the selection of ICs is about ratings and selling advertising, then, ICA is not about food, but revenues and crass commercialism.

That does not piss me off – we live in a capitalist society, so we deal with it, no matter what. What pisses me off, is, how that is parsed according to one’s personal preferences — on one hand, there’s the camp that will conveniently excuse the commercial greed, if it’s the cook or chef they prefer.

On the other hand, others will condemn the commercialism, if, and only if, it’s not the cook or chef they prefer.

Again, for me, I don’t care about the commercialism – although, I do believe there is a tasteful and tasteless approach to ratings and revenue. Rather, I care about the type of cook or chef on such a show, and is said culinary ace can elevate the quality and language of food, while also making both accessible and inclusive: there’s nothing worse than someone who is genuinely curious, shying away due to not knowing enough, or being self-conscious of such a lack of knowledge on a particular subject.

Because, each time such a person does shy away, that’s one less person, who, not only wanted to take a chance to be involved in the process, but one less person who will now likely never partake, due to the exclusivity, and the boxing out that comes with such claiming of territory.

To me, finding that person who fits the above description, is infinitely more important than continuing to cater to the same pretentious, elitist “foodies,” who stake their cool on having discovered sweetbreads and porkbellies — and who think that being a part of a melting pot society is, visiting Chinatown and Koreatown – when countless, unheralded and unknown folks have been doing so as a WAY OF LIFE, well, there’s just something really wrong in and of itself, right there and then.

To put this another way, I do not know how many people FN is truly educating about cuisine (high, low, middle brow, whatever) or about how Food Fast is nto synonymous w/ Fast Food.

I only know that, those — chefs, tv personalities, and every day consumers of “other” food — often do not attempt to teach others, but instead, belittle them for what they do not know: again, as if dining on offal is a guarantee of inclusion in some gold-gilded dome which houses a pantheon of nose-to-tail eaters.

Flay may be abrasive (he’s great with kids), but he does teach as they televise. Ditto Batali. But I don’t see folks like Cora, Morimoto et. al. having that same gift or reach. I hope that Symon, as he gets comfy, will also prove to be a natural when it comes to combining culinary wizardry with pedagogy.

PS: Is there a good Food-related board or list, where many here are found there, and one can post about different topics? Thanks in advance.

“I like that Flay has made cuisine accesible to all, and just another co-opted, exclusionary, elitist flagship in the Ivory Tower’s Armada.”

Fuck, wish there was a way to edit a post without having to repost, but, above, I meant to write:

“I like that Flay has made cuisine accesible to all, and *NOT* just another….”

Keyword is NOT.

Thanks.

Speaking firsthand (having eaten at all the NYC establishments of the ICAs – those who have them, that is) and IMNSHO, Batali was – and still is – the best chef on ICA, and one of the Top 5 in the US.

If Besh feels Batali is the best, he’s likely better qualified to make such a call, even if it’s subjective.

For the Flay-floggers, he may be as charming as a dull copper penny, but that man can cook, and I like how he subverts his FCI training with his SXSW approach and aesthetic: it’s like telling the establishment of cuisine, “écheveau vous infiniment pour me permettre dedans à votre école à cuire,” and, yeah, I can do that, but check this out.”

I like that Flay has made cuisine accesible to all, and just another co-opted, exclusionary, elitist flagship in the Ivory Tower’s Armada.

Some may wince at what he does, and I can empathize, but the best food is peasant food – elevated or otherwise – and since that is the case, it’s important to rememeber that in general, as well as that, indigenous cultures could give a flying fuck about cuisine or cooking becoming an academic discipline.

There’s my diplomatic resolution. I feel better now, and watching Alton’s informative bird-brining episode isn’t as plagued with cognitive dissonance. (That “Food Network’s bitch” comment was pretty hilarious though.)
Well, Happy Thanksgiving, fellow psychos. (Particularly you folks who spent 6 paragraphs telling everyone else to “lighten up” and “get a life.” You guys are funny.)
Perhaps I’ll go ahead and purchase Ruhlman’s book now…
Hmm, that WAS a clever marketing scheme!

I went back and found where she was highlighted. I’ve been reading so many different things lately that I forget where I’ve read what. I don’t see where his description of her exploits disqualifies her as an authority on what makes a good Iron Chef though.

Now ask yourself, isn’t it odd that the majority of the season-long judges voted for John Besh yet the current ICs voted for Michael Symon? I don’t think so. I think they all voted for Michael Symon because that’s what FN told them to do.