I think it’s a fair criticism. No one expects that he should make Asian food, but it should have at least influence his cooking. I go back to organic vs. artificial development. Hung cooks as though he was a lump of clay molded by some French cooking school. Other cooks on the show have had training but you see their roots shine through. Tre made his cheesy grits, Howie made his cuban sandwich, and Casey made her Grandma’s chicken. That is superior, imho, no matter how perfect Hung’s dishes may be.
What really floored me about last night was how he got done with his dish early but forgot the lemon juice. How can a chef stand there for 10 minutes and not review and tweak to the point that he never realizes that he forgot a key ingredient? That move seemed very arrogant to me.
Ever tried to slice and squeeze a lemon while patting yourself on the back?
Actually, that seemed perfectly understandable to me. And while Hung might be arrogant, i’m not sure i’d describe forgetfulness as arrogance.
Back in my pre-college and undergrad days as a waiter, i often found that i made the most mistakes and forgot the most things on days when there were very few customers and i had plenty of time to get things right. By contrast, on the busy days i would generally not make the same mistakes.
I’m sure that not everyone does this, but i think that there are times when having too much time can be just as detrimental to the quality of your work as having too little.
That sentiment has been echoing on the Chowhound boards all day.
I don’t see it as arrogant, just absent minded. I think some of the reason I’m defensive of Hung is that I have some similar characteristics. I’m klutzy, I’m a space cadet a lot of times and I get accused of arrogance a lot when none is intended. I’m not hyper like he is but I totally relate to having things taken the wrong way and generally just getting in my own way sometimes.
OK, here’s my take on Hung:
Yes, he is passionate. I don’t question that in the least. Nor do I question his technical skill. From what we’ve seen this season, his strength lies in classical cuisine. He resonated with the “old school” guest classical judges and could hardly contain himself. If that doesn’t say anything, I don’t know what else would.
That said…I don’t know if I’d call it “soul”, but I was taught that a true chef goes beyond the textbook. His/her strength might be in one particular cuisine, but s/he will always be learning, refining, calling on his/her innate creativity, looking at ingredients in a different way, etc. Hung has shown all this at different times, albeit some with disasterous results (cauliflower ice cream anyone?) BUT he’s always been focused on the competition itself. What do you do when you’re competing? You stick to your basic strength. Harold did it. Ditto Ilan. Hung’s no different.
Besides he’s still young. If he’s been working at Guy Savoy’s for most of his post-CIA years, then of course he lives/breathes the classics. Whether or not he wins, I’d like to think Top Chef will ignite other possibilities and directions for him.
What bothers me about Hung is that he seems to have a very narrow conception about what makes great cooking, i.e. theidea that a dish he prepares will be inherently better because f the technique. he talks so much about technique that I do not think it is unfair that he is seenas being soul-less in his food. Is it accurate, probably not. Hung probably does realize that there is more to cooking than technique, but he talks too much about technique. In this competition he seems most concerned with displaying his technique . that passion, seems to be directed toward mastering technique over mastering food.
Having said that, I don’t dislike Hung, I just think his energy is slightly misplaced or too one-dimensional. But I would have no problem with him winning.
I am a defender and fan of Hung, and I think he has been “cast” as the bad guy and largely misrepresented by the editing, but I disagree here, and it’s making me rethink my opinion of him a bit. I really do think he tried to float the claim out there, thinking the flavor would be “imagined” by a projecting taster (“ah yes, very subtle”)… but then he reconsidered, realizing upon looking into the eyes of one of the top fifty palates in the world that the bullshit wasn’t going to fly. He had plenty of time, chatting with Dale about what he forgot, to ponder how to frame his presentation to deal with the gaffe. And then the lame “no… no lemon” correction? That was not a brain fart. Very disappointing.
And that riverside trout challenge? What the hell were they thinking? You have fish that unbelievably fresh, you do absolutely the least to it that you can. Trout isn’t especially good raw, like salmon would be (I nibbled on some minutes-dead Coho on an Alaskan fishing trip a couple of weeks ago; ohmyGAWD), but it’s still the freshest fish they’re ever likely to get, and they should have approached it that way. They cooked like they had pulled just another fish off a bed of ice at the supermarket. Yes, they were given an undistinguished pantry, especially given the profile of their guest judge, but come on, people: simple, simple, simple.
You know how some people’s cooking is influenced or at least reflects their personality? The show makes Hung look like a cooking computer, technically reliable, classically trained, not much in the personality department (unless he really is like that- who knows).
I agree that Colichio’s comment of him not letting his Vietnamese heritage show in his cooking was dumb. However, to borrow a phrase from that Designer Show, it would be nice for Hung to show he has a “voice” or a unique point of view that is “Hung” rather than working from the standard French Cooking Playbook.
I guess I am rooting for Dale, but just because he is not the other two.
Hung is lucky. Due to the success of the show, the kitchens are now equipped with the latest kitchen gadgets. He cooked sous vide(under a vacuum) three times so far. Remember last year when Marcel was shocked that the equipment to do so was not available?