IronChef Onion (with pics)

[Dominic]

awesome. come cook for me please.

[raptor517]

wowwww this looks sick. wish i could cook, would be awesome to be able to make stuff like this.

[boomshakalaka]

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wowwww this looks sick. wish i could cook, would be awesome to be able to make stuff like this.

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in my first quarter of culinary school... sponsor me for the next 16 quarters then you can hire me as a personal chef when I graduate. Itll only cost you ~100grand, then I dont know, 50 or 60 a year once I graduate?

[BK_]

I am also very jealous that you found such a good fishmonger / butcher. That salmon and those pork chops looks insane. How much per pound for each ? Where do you live?

[El Diablo]

M,

"I can't start the thread to gauge IC interest as I don't have thread-starting privileges"

You were added long ago, my friend!

[ElSapo]

I think it might be helpful to think about why the OOT IC died out (it did, right, it's not that I've been missing it?), before starting the same thing again...

I don't really have a reason to give you, or rather, I'm sure there are lot's of different ones.

Part of it is photography. I actually have a background in photography and feel like some of my stuff looks ok, but I also felt outclassed and that definitely gave an edge to some people and no chance to others.

Creativity - I never felt like this was rewarded.

Structure: It should either be more or less structured, if that makes sense.

I'm an overly competitive guy, so this sort of thing (a) really interests me; and (b) usually ends up frustrating me. These were just some of my thoughts during the OOT Iron Chef challenges. I hope it doesn't come off as any sort of sour grapes. I really enjoyed participating, but also found it frustrating.

[SamIAm]

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There is nothing wrong with a Gibson as a drink except that it is run of the mill

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Absolutely. I really just threw-together the drink at the last moment. It was mostly a fun afterthought to the appetizer.

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I am also very jealous that you found such a good fishmonger / butcher. That salmon and those pork chops looks insane. How much per pound for each ? Where do you live?

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I'm sorry I don't remember the $/lb for the two meats. I do remember that the chops were $50 for the four and the salmon was $50 for enough lox for that dinner, Sunday's brunch, and Monday & Tuesday's dinner. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] It wasn't cheap but, even on a grad student salary, good meat is a nice thing to splurge on. I'm a fan of local food and farm (instead of factory) meat. Having a great butcher/fishmonger helps with that a lot.

My butcher is Sawicki's, in Decatur, GA. I used to buy my meat from the local international market, but got really sick of their crummy, apathetic meat department. I witnessed a few labeling lies, and just got generally bad service. I really like that at Sawicki's, the woman fabricating my pork chop is Lynne Sawicki. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Anybody in the Decatur/Atlanta area should check it out. When she moved in a few months ago, I was really worried about the store's survival (so bought too much meaty goodness), but she's definitely building more customers and seems here to stay. (And yet I still buy too much meaty goodness...)

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IC

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I think that an important change is that we should have more time between entries. Something like a whole month. The 2-week pace last time was a little frenzied, and died out when the posters couldn't keep up. I'd rather posters forget about IC for a few days between updates than they get tired of constant posts.

The photo-unfairness is a big issue, but I don't think there's any getting around it. I happen to not get as competitive as others, but I do admit that I bought a dinky $8 tripod just for food. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[shemp]

BK, you might be able to find grass fed beef (and other) locally where you basically buy a 1/2 or 1/4 (or large quantity). If that is too much for your freezer maybe you can do it with a friend. For seafood I just widen my tastes and experimenting to non luxury items -- and occasionally, and where applicable in-season, splurge on more expensive stuff.

I would get moving on the beef, as I think(?) a lot of slaughtering is done about in June...

OOPS: Awesome stuff Sam

[Mrs. Utah]

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I think that an important change is that we should have more time between entries. Something like a whole month. The 2-week pace last time was a little frenzied, and died out when the posters couldn't keep up. I'd rather posters forget about IC for a few days between updates than they get tired of constant posts.

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I agree that the frequency of the contests is what led, in part, to the end of IC-OOT.
I know that toward the end-around last Easter-when I was talking to people it was a timing thing.


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The photo-unfairness is a big issue, but I don't think there's any getting around it. I happen to not get as competitive as others, but I do admit that I bought a dinky $8 tripod just for food. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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I know that the photography has always been a sticky issue and like you Sam am not sure how to get around that either.

I have always liked the secret ingredient format-either chosen by the challenge winner or in a forum poll.
I know I have said this before but I also think that allowing published as well as original recipes may open things up to a lot more people.

ElSapo,

What sort of format would be less frustrating to you?
You definitely raised the bar in the contests.

[Mermade]

El Diablo--Thanks for adding me to the thread starter list. Obviously, I didn't even realize.

All--I agree with that we shouldn't spend too much time with the details. We can iron things out as we go.

I also agree that extending the duration of the contests and perhaps adding some minor restrictions to what may be done with the photography would address the concerns of those who burned out with Iron Chef.

I will also add that I think CSC's requirement that 2 dishes must be entered (app and entree) discouraged participation. There were many who only had time to put together one dish and were disinclined to post because their work wouldn't even be considered. Greater participation from a wide range of cooking skill levels would only make the contests more interesting. I think there would be more contestants if it were only required that something be made that incorporated a particular ingredient or a proposed theme.

Perhaps, if he is interested in doing so, El D could throw out an ingredient and set some basic ground rules and we could get started.