Disappointed with the showpieces - Top Chef: Just Desserts (2010) Discussion

[–] GaelinW 12 years ago

Like?

If you can't walk and talk/text at the same time, do the rest of us a favor and get out of the way.

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[–] Elfbarf 12 years ago

Like?

A flying showpiece.

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[–] smns65 12 years ago

I'm just more of a realist. When I look at a piece of art I want it to actually look like something real and not something abstract. I've never cared for impressionism.

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[–] GyrosOnTheBeach 12 years ago

Yeah, I agree. I would like to see actual chocolate houses, vehicles, or whatever.

However, I do understand the other posters' points.

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[–] jurae 12 years ago

As I was watching this episode, I noticed the silicone moulds they were using for their showpieces. They all looked similar, so I assumed they were using stock moulds on hand. Custom moulds are very time consuming to make and are a multi-step process. If they did make their own custom moulds from the ground up (carving wood or clay, then going through the mfg process of melting silicone, pouring and creating the mould), I missed that process in the edit.

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[–] duomixen 12 years ago

I think they would have if they were given more time. I find overall things that were made throughout the season are quite "simple" mostly because of lack of time. I think they've shown works from guest judges that were very detailed and refined. I know that many of the challenges is to make something great in a short amount of time, but they could have given them more time for some challenges like when they were making those layered cakes. I wanted to see some interesting detailed works.

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[–] jurae 12 years ago

Agree! Ex: The works shown by Shinmin Li are absolutely stunning!

I'm starting to get a little jaded on the whole Top Chef franchise now. I get the time challenges, etc., but in real life, a pastry chef creating a cake for a wedding/event will often spend days on the piece, not hours, so I kind of laugh when the judges complain of sloppy workmanship.

While I have much admiration for chefs such as Shinmin Li, Sylvia Weinstock, etc. et al, I'd like to see them bang out a perfect piece in a matter of hours. (Wait! I just banged out four awesome phyllo strudels this afternoon in less than an hour! LOL)

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[–] smns65 12 years ago

(Wait! I just banged out four awesome phyllo strudels this afternoon in less than an hour! LOL)

But did you make your own strudel dough from scratch or did you use frozen?

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[–] jurae 12 years ago

Oh smns65 - you so busted me! LOL

No - I did not make the phyllo from scratch (I do make my own puff pastry from scratch - different kind of dough tho - easier to laminate:)

Most pastry chefs do not make their own phyllo/filo because professional laminators are very pricey, have large footprints, require lots of space and are tempermental to set up and run on a small scale. Most leave the lamination of phyllo to the large companies that can do large scale production.

And I will further admit that my strudel filling was prepped and chilled yesterday - so another 90 min there.

I lost this one! (Packing up my tools and going home:)

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[–] smns65 12 years ago

Oh smns65 - you so busted me! LOL

No - I did not make the phyllo from scratch (I do make my own puff pastry from scratch - different kind of dough tho - easier to laminate:)

Most pastry chefs do not make their own phyllo/filo because professional laminators are very pricey, have large footprints, require lots of space and are tempermental to set up and run on a small scale. Most leave the lamination of phyllo to the large companies that can do large scale production.

And I will further admit that my strudel filling was prepped and chilled yesterday - so another 90 min there.

I lost this one! (Packing up my tools and going home:)

There was a woman on Food Network Star last season who made her own strudel dough from scratch. It was amazing to watch her take a small amount of dough and stretch it literally tissue paper thin using just the backs of her hands. I make my own croissants and Danish pastries from scratch.
http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd275/ds99302/Danish%20Pastries/

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[–] jurae 12 years ago

I remember watching either the same snippet or similar. The one I watched was not NFNS, but Challenge Thanksgiving theme. I remember one of the judges saying she should just go into the strudel making business because she'd be a millionaire. She made a traditional Danish strudel dough. That is not an easy dough to work with.

How awesome that you make your Danish and croissant dough from scratch. I get the bug to do it every now and then, but I left pastry/baking work behind years ago and now favor line cooking. (I do make my own breads from scratch tho)

We have a terrific authentic French pastry shop near me. The owner - Pascal Janvier - holds a number of impressive titles. He uses the finest imported ingredients. Even his equipment is transplanted from France. With such authentic quality in my backyard, it's just not worth competing with.

BTW: I want to crawl through my computer screen right now and devour some of your photos!

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[–] smns65 12 years ago

You're right. Now that I think about it, it was Challenge. I remember seeing that Keegan guy there.

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[–] sandifay62 12 years ago

I was underwhelmd as well. I would prefer they just give them maybe a week to really do something spectacular. The showpieces looked too similar to the showpieces they had before. Although Orlando's was the most elegant.

Thet should treat the finale challenge as important as Project Runway treats the Fashion week collection. They know how much time pastry shefs need to do something great. The finale of this show show be held on a different and more important level than every other timed challenge. They can edit it down for the broadcast if they needed too.

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