# Top Chef- 9/19 Blow by Blow **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829 "2007-09-20T02:18:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/41 "2007-09-20T23:32:43Z")
I think Casey was purposefully flying under the radar realizing a lot of chefs can’t make the cut and if you are at any sort of a top level, you mere have to not fuck up to make the final 7. After that, you need to put on your A game. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/42 "2007-09-21T01:10:03Z")
The other thing that didn’t make sense tonight to me is that the guy in the quickfire said that Casey’s was the best when he tasted it but gave the win to Hung. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/43 "2007-09-21T05:16:03Z")
[QUOTE=treis] The other thing that didn’t make sense tonight to me is that the guy in the quickfire said that Casey’s was the best when he tasted it but gave the win to Hung. [/QUOTE] The challenge was to come closest to his restaurant’s dish. Casey’s may have been tasty but it probably differed from the original enough so that she didn’t win because of that. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/44 "2007-09-22T14:23:43Z")
I get that Hung is classically trained. He loves to tell it in every episode. He loves to critique others for not being classically trained. He loves to tell off judges because they don’t understand his “classic” dishes. That said, I’m sorry, but no amount of say-so by Hung is going to convince me that vacuum sealing a plastic bag before boiling is a classic dish. Did someone from France in the 1720s have slave girls suck the air out of a goat uterus before stuffing it with bull testicles and throwing it in a cauldron over an open but thermal controlled fire? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/45 "2007-09-22T15:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=Enderw24] I get that Hung is classically trained. He loves to tell it in every episode. He loves to critique others for not being classically trained. He loves to tell off judges because they don’t understand his “classic” dishes. That said, I’m sorry, but no amount of say-so by Hung is going to convince me that vacuum sealing a plastic bag before boiling is a classic dish. Did someone from France in the 1720s have slave girls suck the air out of a goat uterus before stuffing it with bull testicles and throwing it in a cauldron over an open but thermal controlled fire? [/QUOTE] It’s called [_sous-vide_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide). It’s fairly recent trend in French cooking (it was invented in the 70’s), but Hung never said it was traditional, he said that “any classically trained chef would know how to do it,” which is correct. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/46 "2007-09-22T16:42:44Z")
Yes, I can imagine it’s been around for a good 20-30 years. I guess my question is what defines being “classically trained”? Is a technique invented in the 70s (because it literally couldn’t be done before then) part of being classically trained? Can you claim to be classically trained and never have performed cooking through sous-vide? I would submit that you can. I’d go so far as to say cooking through sous-vide is the complete antithesis of a classically trained chef. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/47 "2007-09-22T18:35:16Z")
I _do_ think the other contestants are being a bit silly complaining about Hung not being a _team player_. He’s not your _teammate_, he’s your _competition_. That said, Hung has been the most likely to act like he’s smarter than the judges. Remember his comment after the mixed drink quickfire, when his “sweetness didn’t go with creaminess”? “I’m thinking he must have been confused. That’s why I called him on it.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/48 "2007-09-22T18:54:50Z")
[QUOTE=Enderw24] Yes, I can imagine it’s been around for a good 20-30 years. I guess my question is what defines being “classically trained”? Is a technique invented in the 70s (because it literally couldn’t be done before then) part of being classically trained? Can you claim to be classically trained and never have performed cooking through sous-vide? I would submit that you can. I’d go so far as to say cooking through sous-vide is the complete antithesis of a classically trained chef. [/QUOTE] I think his point was that anybody who has been to a classical culinary school would be taught sous-vide as a matter of course. You can argue that it’s not really “classical” in the sense that it’s not traditional, but that doesn’t change the fact that most any chef who has been formally trained at a culinary school would be taught how to do it. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/49 "2007-09-22T22:46:40Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] …but that doesn’t change the fact that most any chef who has been formally trained at a culinary school would be taught how to do it. [/QUOTE] I graduated from a “classical” culinary school back in '99 and _sous-vide_ was never mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/50 "2007-09-23T05:43:18Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] On their part, yes. But that’s television. You don’t think she got cast solely for her cooking ability, do you? [/QUOTE] Perhaps not, but she is a seriously good chef. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829/51 "2007-09-23T18:45:13Z")
I tend to be pretty sensitive to the assholes - I hated Stephen boundlessly - but Hung isn’t rubbing me the wrong way. He’s overly confident, but I don’t think he’s a bad guy, just a bit interpersonally clueless. Everyone comes off looking like they’re correcting the judges now and then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-chef-9-19-blow-by-blow/419829.md?page=2)