Chopped is another reality TV Show, like Kitchen Nightmares, but it is much friendlier. The only reality TV shows I really watch involve cooking or kitchens. Another one I watch is called Cutthroat Kitchen, but it really isn't very nice.
Chopped is nice because contestants compete against the clock more than each other. In Cutthroat they are forced to sabotage each other, which means they are much more antagonistic. Sometimes in Chopped, they even help each other out.
I like the show because it is so amazing what these chefs can do with the ingredients they are given. Some of the worst ingredients they they've been given (in my opinion): durian, whole chicken in a can, pork rinds, bacon popcorn, a three-tiered vanilla fondant cake (for the appetizer round), pickle juice, and pickled pigs feet.
How the show is set up is that there are three rounds. The first round is the appetizer round, the second the entree, and the third is dessert. There are four contestants to start and each round the chef that did the worst, goes home. The last one standing wins $10,000 (or more - some rounds have money for charities or money for scholarships).
Somethings that I think people should really have learned by now:
Taste everything. A lot of people who get in trouble, get in trouble for not tasting things and making things too salty or too bland. If they had just tasted it, they would have known.
Include everything. There are four ingredients give to each contestant and they have to use all four. They don't specifically say in the rules that the ingredient needs to be highlight or transformed, but you lose points for not, so - that should be kept in mind.
And the one I think is the most important and most overlooked...
Check the equipment! Like every other episode someone goes to use something and it doesn't work! The ice cream maker doesn't always work. The meat grinders in the hamburger episode didn't work. And people will count on ice cream or something being apart of their dish and then, oops! Not going to happen.
I like the show because contestants show a lot of creativity. And it really is impressive what they can do with what they are given. But what is also interesting is how much variety there ends up being.
Four chefs given the same four ingredients and yet they can end up four completely different dishes. In one episode, the first round gave the contestants things like cotton candy, corn dogs, peanuts, and scallions - and the contestants created things from Pad Thai to Hot Dogs with Pesto and Cotton Candied Peanuts.
I'd recommend it to people who like cooking and people who like puns. Because Ted makes a lot of puns.
