Paper Moon

I know that I don't write about this enough in my livejournal, but to be perfectly honest: moreso than anime, moreso than manga, moreso than comics, moreso than any other type of television... I fucking LOVE cooking competition shows. They are my obsession.

The combination of cheesy staged theatricality + food porn + reality-show drama + occasional educational moments sucks me in every time.

Not only do I occasionally learn techniques that I actually use in the kitchen from watching these shows (idiot-proof poached eggs! mixing instant coffee with whipping cream = INSTANT DELICIOUSNESS! how to make perfect homemade gnocchi! how to make gorgeous fish stock! how to grill pork in raw miso! how to mix textures in a dish! how to pair the right sides with the right meats in order to balance sweet/savory and acid/base notes!), but the ZOMG DRAMA aspect never fails to entertain, either. The triumph! The tears! Having that perfect cast of contestants that include characters that you love to hate and characters that it just breaks your heart to see fail! Plus there is something that I just love about the way that these shows construct increasingly wacky cooking challenges that truly do test the contestants' creativity and improvisation skills. Chopped and Hell's Kitchen are definitely the best at that particular aspect. Hey, remember that episode of Chopped where the contestants had to use anchovies, lettuce, and chocolate in the same dish?! I sure as hell do.

And then there are just the ridiculous, over-the-top, and utterly delightful little touches that show up in just about every show that Gordon Ramsey produces.

Like: I'm re-watching one of my favorite episodes of Master Chef America right now, the second season episode with the pork challenge. For pure theatricality purposes, the judges have brought a gigantic hog named "Bob" onto the stage with them. So the contestants are running right behind Bob, carrying their cuts of pork from the pantry to their cooking stations, and Bob suddenly turns his head toward the contestants and snorts.

The producers of the show decided to hover a censorship blur over Bob's mouth at that moment and bleeped out his snort.

For some reason I cannot stop laughing at that. It's the ridiculous little moments like that which really make these shows awesome.

Well, that and the time that Top Chef Masters had a cookie-baking competition judged by Sesame Street muppets. I still don't think that anything is ever going to top that.