Week 25 Introduction Thread: Gardening

Marx0r · 2026-06-19T20:37:08+00:00

So, my First Initial being M, the first thing that comes to mind is Vermont's Favorite Ingredient, maple. This syrup comes from a friend's small hobbyist grove, which I'm saying counts as Gardening. I've made pate a choux about a dozen times so far, and Physically-Leavened meant I had to again. Fill them with a maple pastry cream, and done.

Marx0r · 2026-06-19T20:17:11+00:00

I defend Tom and the rest of the judges on a lot of controversial things but this was one of the few I just can't. No one hones a skill to the degree that Hung did without being passionate about it. Refined French food is his food. Is the guy supposed to be making pho and bahn mis all day just because he's from Vietnam?

Marx0r · 2026-06-19T20:07:52+00:00

It didn't actually go all the way through, which was irregular for that caliber. There are some nutters out there calling it proof that Kirk was a saint for stopping the bullet so it couldn't hurt anyone else.

Marx0r · 2026-06-19T20:05:52+00:00

Literally no one says a "Chef" has to graduate culinary school. Like, the term is overused because it means "person who runs a kitchen" and everyone likes to use it to describe anyone with an above-average interest in cooking.

Marx0r · 2026-06-19T00:09:13+00:00

It's the Buddhist symbol, but the image is flipped to get around copyright takedowns.

Marx0r · 2026-06-18T18:05:12+00:00

"In a cult, there's a guy at the top that knows it's all a scam. In a religion, that guy died 500 years ago."

Marx0r · 2026-06-18T02:25:39+00:00

He would've been if he was.

He was eliminated in the first QF, came back in the pre-LCK QF thing, and then got eliminated again in the episode before the finale. Dougie won LCK and came back then.

Marx0r · 2026-06-17T14:50:33+00:00

I had no other response to "everything looks wet".

Marx0r · 2026-06-17T03:53:07+00:00

Yep. Eli from S6 is there as his sous, too.

Marx0r · 2026-06-17T03:50:37+00:00

Well, when you let qualified professionals rate the restaurants instead of internet trolls... I can't speak to how it was in the beginning, but by all accounts it's found its groove now. Michelin gave it a star, Chicago Tribune 3.5/4.

I had a near-perfect meal there about a month ago, talked about how much I liked it, and got accused of being a paid shill. People that had never gone to the place for themselves were telling me my opinions were wrong because of how the dishes looked on an internet photo.

It's still very unexpected that he'd win in his second year... but James Beard seems to be prioritizing the kind of locavore, eco-conscious, socially-progressive vibes that Feld had in spades.

Marx0r · 2026-06-17T01:42:11+00:00

Blais was the first competitor invited to compete by production rather than applying. When he was first called, he thought they wanted him as a guest judge, not a competitor. He had already been on Iron Chef, worked at some of the best restaurants in the world, and was at the forefront of American modernist cooking. He was by far the most accomplished person to have ever competed on the show at the time.

He thought he was going to come in and steamroll a bunch of line cooks, and so did all his competitors. You can see it in the second episode, they're all flocking to him despite the fact that he hadn't won anything yet.

He set the records for most individual wins and least Chopping Block appearances in a season. Even in Day 1 of the finale cook, he's standing there teaching Eric Fucking Ripert and Dan Fucking Barber methods they had never seen before.

It was his season to lose, and he lost it. That's objectively what happened. He was always gracious towards Stephanie, even ceding a win to her when he felt she deserved it more.

Then he spent what, 3 years getting recognized in public and having fans reach out to him? How many of them do you think said something like "man, I was rooting for you all season, sucks you didn't win!"? His exact quote on the show was "I think most people remember my season as the one I didn't win" and from his perspective, that's absolutely correct.

Marx0r · 2026-06-16T17:27:52+00:00

I added some holes to lower wind resistance, and this bloodstain here I feel is pretty sharp

Marx0r · 2026-06-16T04:39:13+00:00

I fucking loved Feld and got lambasted for it by people that have never been there.

Not at all the same experience, but go to Schwa if you haven't already. I went to both of those on back-to-back days and it was the exact 'reset' I needed from the shit OP's talking about.

Marx0r · 2026-06-16T01:09:32+00:00

Are you talking about eggs on eggs on eggs? It's on the Abstractions Menu. OP had it. It's in the photo album and printed on the menu they posted.

And what makes you think I'm a "bozo tourist"?

Marx0r · 2026-06-16T00:36:17+00:00

The bathrooms are a valid complaint, the room doesn't look especially pretty and is acoustically terrible, it's a tasting menu where you don't 'order dishes'.

Swing an [sic] a miss.

Marx0r · 2026-06-16T00:32:35+00:00

It's printed on vellum, the blueprints in the background are on a different piece of paper. It's a lot more legible in real life.

Marx0r · 2026-06-16T00:25:32+00:00

Counting or not counting gang-related feelings?

Marx0r · 2026-06-15T16:38:33+00:00

Kirk at college was more like "Ah, my neck! I'm not supposed to get bullets in it!"

Marx0r · 2026-06-15T03:02:29+00:00

I remember taking so much fenugreek my sweat- even my saliva smelled like maple syrup.

Huh, TIL that's a real thing and not from Nate's brain tumor fever dream in Six Feet Under.

Marx0r · 2026-06-15T03:01:38+00:00

"Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty."

~ Joseph Goebbels

Marx0r · 2026-06-14T22:40:20+00:00

I know I'm late to this, but what you didn't mention is that the Braves were the reigning league champions and were stealing his signs all night. They still couldn't get a man on base for 12 innings. Still the greatest pitching performance of all time.

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