Appetizing Muse

Yesterday I watched several episodes of Top Chef on the Bravo Channel. The show was good, albeit a culinary version of The Apprentice. However, instead of saying "you're fired" at the end of a competition round, one of the judges tells the losing chef of the day to "pack your knives and go."

Most of the "trial" chefs are highly competent and innovative. To be fair, they are thrown loops during some of the assignments. On a repeat of Top Chef that aired last night, Ted Allen from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was a guest judge. He pooled all of the chefs together to fix a seven-course meal to celebrate the release of his new cookbook. Guests at the dinner would comprise of food critics, restaurant owners and food magazine editors.

Each chef planned in detail what course they would prepare, but then at the last minute they were told to select numbered knives from a block to determine their new course order. In other words, they ended up having to prepare a dish planned by someone else on the team.

Most of the chefs kept their cool, while a few of them lost their enthusiasm. However, the end result was a finely prepared seven-course meal which received rave reviews for the most part.

Top Chef is a culinary show well-worth watching.