# Worst Cooks in America **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181 "2011-01-02T23:42:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/21 "2011-01-04T16:27:10Z")
My wife! Actually, my wife thinks I’m a god. Every night she brings me a burnt offering. _rimshot_ Once I decided to make it easy on her. I asked her to boil some water. She burned _that!__rimshot_ When my wife makes a ‘mess of beans’, she makes a _mess_ of beans! _rimshot_ NB: I’m not actually married. Just riffing on Henny Youngman. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/22 "2011-01-04T16:27:11Z")
I thought the dishes they had the recruits make on the first episode were easier than the ones they did last season. Is that just because I’m unfamiliar with cooking shellfish, or did anyone else think the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/23 "2011-01-04T16:34:04Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Buy a chicken > Bone it yourself Round heah, a man jus’ ain’t a _man_, 'less he kin bone a chikkin! ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/24 "2011-01-04T16:40:16Z")
I can’t get decent cut up chickens any more. They leave the ribs in the breasts, cut through bones rather than between the joints, and I never see whole cut up chickens any more, just the one type of cut in a package. It’s almost impossible to find skin-on boneless breasts. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/25 "2011-01-11T03:39:08Z")
Seriously, dude? You’re on a show called Worst Chefs, and your bright idea is to “improve” on a recipe from Chef Irvine? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/26 "2011-01-11T03:51:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > My wife! > > Actually, my wife thinks I’m a god. Every night she brings me a burnt offering. _rimshot_ > > Once I decided to make it easy on her. I asked her to boil some water. She burned _that!__rimshot_ > > When my wife makes a ‘mess of beans’, she makes a _mess_ of beans! _rimshot_ > NB: I’m not actually married. Just riffing on Henny Youngman. My wife is into Cajun cooking. Not really but everything is blackened. And I’m _not_ riffing on Henny Youngman. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/27 "2011-01-11T05:01:57Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > I can’t get decent cut up chickens any more. They leave the ribs in the breasts, cut through bones rather than between the joints, and I never see whole cut up chickens any more, just the one type of cut in a package. It’s almost impossible to find skin-on boneless breasts. If I want chicken parts I just go to my local market, pick out a chicken, and ask the dude to cut it up for me. He’s happy to do it and he certainly doesn’t raise the price or charge me for the service. Doesn’t every market do this? ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/28 "2011-01-11T07:49:16Z")
> [@moejoe](#): > > If I want chicken parts I just go to my local market, pick out a chicken, and ask the dude to cut it up for me. He’s happy to do it and he certainly doesn’t raise the price or charge me for the service. > > Doesn’t every market do this? No ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/29 "2011-02-07T15:11:18Z")
I turned into this accidentally yesterday (they were running a marathon), and I thought it was a hoot. Agreed that trying to move these folks from “worst chefs” to “restaurant quality” seems like a huge stretch. Raising them to “basic cook” seems to be hard enough. And agreed that some of the things they’re doing (butchering a chicken, taking apart a calamari) isn’t really what you’d expect from a basic, competent cook. It’s interesting that they’ve obviously learned knife skills (which were not shown), and had significant lessons beyond what we see on the episodes. I about had heart failure when I saw them using a mandolin, apparently without instruction. Talk about a serious accident waiting to happen! But obviously they’d been trained in mandolin usage off-screen. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/30 "2011-02-14T17:24:01Z")
Anybody watching? I thought that it was a mistake to pickJoshie instead of Carlos. Carlos is clearly the better cook, but I suspect Joshie makes better TV – more excitable, better looking, bouncier. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/31 "2011-02-14T18:22:23Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Anybody watching? I thought that it was a mistake to pickJoshie instead of Carlos. Carlos is clearly the better cook, but I suspect Joshie makes better TV – more excitable, better looking, bouncier. Spoiler I guess? I think he was right about himself though- when he hits it, he hits it out of the park. The critique of Carlos, as pointed out by Chef She-Fierri, was that he under seasons things. He’s competent but not exciting. I was more thrown by the female semi-finalist’s wife… being atleast 20 years older than her. Creepy craddle-robbing there. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/32 "2011-02-14T19:15:04Z")
Yeah, in a strange case of TV shows referencing each other, I thought her wife (Theresa? I think she calls her?) looks a heckuva lot like Coach Beast on _Glee._ ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/33 "2011-02-14T19:18:29Z")
I’m surprised she’s gay, that explains the name I suppose. Then again it’s nice to see normal gay couples on TV when their sexuality isn’t a big deal Caught the rerun of last week and the new episode last night, loved it! I’m going to be replicating that calamari dish next week (sans parmesan cheese though). I think they made a good choice with Joshie. He’s up and down, but his ups are better than Carlos’s bland consistency. There’s no way Carlos would have been able to make a dish to impress the professional food critics, while Joshie at least has a chance. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/34 "2011-02-15T15:36:35Z")
Should be an interesting final episode as either of the two finalist are unpredictable. I was kind of surprised the perky redhead got the boot. She wasn’t great, but I think she had been more consistent in recent episodes. I got a big charge out of Joshi’s SO and her dream meal…sweet chicken :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/35 "2011-02-21T04:54:10Z")
Well, just finished watching the finale, and found myself pleasantly surprised. I would’ve eaten everything on that menu. However, I think Joshie did deserve the win. In the long run, the execution was better. And those were some notoriously tough judges, too. It was an enjoyable season. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181/36 "2011-02-21T09:31:09Z")
Some of the judging comments seemed a li’l weird, since the recipes themselves were from the expert chefs, not the contestants. It shouldn’t have been about recipe but about execution. Nonetheless, an entertaining show and series. Amazing how far most of those folks came: from not knowing which end of a knife to hold, to doing perfect julienne. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-cooks-in-america/566181.md?page=1)