Hell’s Kitchen Minicap

25 Comments

1. 1
   michkabibbles
   Posted July 18, 2012 at 8:08 am

   robyn killed me when she was complaining that justin gave her squash blossoms that weren’t all the same size. i just can’t anymore with that girl. i am SO GLAD that gross tiffany is gone; how can you get upset when people tell you you don’t care, when you’ve literally said i don’t care.

   i love how Ramsey’s always a bit incredulous when the red team nominates barbie. i’m usually pro-barbie, but it did look like she was taking her sweet time with the mussels. even christina was bitching about it, and she doesn’t really seem the type to create drama for no reason.

2. 2
   PopePhilly
   Posted July 18, 2012 at 8:23 am

   @michkabibbles: I definitely think some of the Barbie hate was merited this episode. However, her being a bit slow in prep isn’t an offense worthy of elimination. Kimmie DEFINITELY screwed up way more than Barbie did during the actual service.

   I’m still baffled about how raw food made it past Gordon and into the kitchen. He’s slipping!

3. 3
   PopePhilly
   Posted July 18, 2012 at 8:23 am

   Dammit! “Kitchen” = “dining room.”

4. 4
   WishICouldDance
   Posted July 18, 2012 at 8:27 am

   Ha!!! Yes, Robyn, you figured it out!!! Justin was TOTALLY out to get you by making sure that each blossom was a different size! Damn, I was sure that would slip right by you!! And poor Tiffany :” ( She did say her level of caring was “like, maybe a 9″ out of 10. And all those time she said that she didn’t care MUST have been taken out of context.

   Can’t wait for the full recap!

5. 5
   PopePhilly
   Posted July 18, 2012 at 8:32 am

   @WishICouldDance (me too): Of course! We all saw that part where Justin planted the squash in the spring so he could pick them when they were all a difference sizes for this dinner service knowing Robyn would be on his team and would be cooking that particular appetizer!

6. 6
   michkabibbles
   Posted July 18, 2012 at 8:34 am

   @popephilly, i completely agree re: barbie and kimmie. this was just the first time i can recall actually seeing why they had a reason to be mad at her.

   kimmie killed me at the end when she was all yo, yo, girlfriend! to tiffany-i’ll get that bitch (barbie) out for you! when it should have been kimmie up for elimiation in the first place, and tiffany nominated her! gordon doesn’t seem to have any interest in getting rid of barbie-he doesn’t care what happens in prep!

7. 7
   vallegirl
   Posted July 18, 2012 at 8:36 am

   Barbie was prepping the shellfish, though, and cleaning mussels is a slow process because of the grit and sand. I only know this because I watch TC and whenever mussels fail someone mentions the grit. Plus, when they were barking at her about taking too long with the mussels, Barbie mentioned breaking down the lobster, too.

   I think shellfish is one of those things people think takes less time when someone else is doing it, because I remember Sasquatch Heather barking at Bev on TC for taking too long prepping her shrimp.

   Plus, Christina has jumped in on the Barbie train in the past. Especially early on when they were all barking at her. And Christina’s biggest issue with Barbie this time was that she “has an attitude.” Not that she doesn’t help out, not that she isn’t competent but that she’s not friendly. Really?

8. 8
   snowshoecat
   Posted July 18, 2012 at 9:17 am

   We don’t get fresh mussels to cook where I live, so i don’t have cooking experience; however, I have eaten about a tone of the little goodies over time, steamed in wine and garlic. Oh yum…

   Where was I? Oh yes. I thought they were put into the wine bath closed, and the steam opens them up, which is why we mustn’t eat the closed…bad mussel. bad bad mussel. So how can the preparer get the grit out of them?

   Just askin’

9. 9
   PopePhilly
   Posted July 18, 2012 at 9:32 am

   @vallegirl: I forgot that Barbie had done both the mussels and the lobster. That’s a good point! Every time I’ve seen Barbie “have an attitude,” someone else (probably Robyn) did something pretty stupid first.

   @snowshoecat: I can get fresh mussels from time to time. I will now be making them with garlic and wine because you mentioned it. They’re also good steamed in white wine and lime juice. *Drools.*

   As for the prep, it can depend on how they’re being used. When I make my crock pot paella (*drools again*), I’ll steam the mussels separately earlier while the rice, tomatoes, oninions, etc. are cooking. Once they’re open, I clean out all the grit. When it’s just about time to serve the paella, I throw the mussels into the cooker just to let them heat up. I don’t have my notes in front of me, so I don’t remember what exactly they were making. Perhaps it was a similar concept where they had to be cooked and cleaned ahead of time and then just heated up with the dish.

10. 10
    exhero
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 9:34 am

    I love that Robyn just doesn’t work out. Anywhere. The only time she was the “shining star” of her team was when they were all dragged into the freezer to be yelled at.

11. 11
    c8h10n4o2
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 9:34 am

    You don’t have to get the grit OUT of them, but you do have to scrub the ever-loving hell out of the outside of them. The gritty stuff (plus barnacles and sand) are stuck to the shell and then get loosened up with cooking. You also have to remove the beard, which sticks out of the shell. Tons of fun and a great way to lose multiple layers of skin in one swoop if you’re not careful.

12. 12
    Pawesl
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 9:58 am

    Well in regards to the Mussels Christina was wrong. In the last episode when they presented the dishes Ramsay said the mussels were dirty on the plate and he refused to even taste the dish because of it. So they clearly do take a lot of time to clean.

13. 13
    timgunnssister
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 10:00 am

    I suspect that so long as there’s no issues with Barbies cooking (this is a cooking show, yes?) thatGordon will keep her around, no matter how much she pisses off her teammates. So, in future, if they really want to get rid of someone, just put whoever it is up against Barbie.

    And Robyn. Well what can one say about her? Zero social skills. Who can forget her proclaiming how thrilled she was to be on the guys team then in the same sentence saying she’ll work really, really hard………….to get them all kicked off. Yeah, that’s how you win friends and allies, girl. And I’ve long suspected she was a mediocre chef so she won’t be around much longer.

    Still ridin’ the Christina, Barbie and Justin train. Brian is just seriously weird; Clemenza aweating into every dish he prepares is simply too gross, Kimmie is simply NOT a fine dining chef and Dana, well, I suspect she may be related to Brian .

14. 14
    michkabibbles
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 10:19 am

    i am in a landlocked state, so i have no idea how intensive it is to clean fresh shellfish like that. usually it’s just tiffany’s and kimmie’s white trash butts barking at barbie, so i always disregard it. i’ve always thought their complaints of her ‘attitude’ meant her skin color. i was surprised that christina brought that up in nominations because i didn’t see it (her attitude)-i do remember her bitching about barbie at the begining, but not as much as others seemed to, and she’d really backed down on that for a while. maybe it was cumulative from the ice unloading as well (i do think it was kind of a punk out to be the only one not hauling ice in, just to the end of the truck, which is much easier-but someone had to do it, and they probably wouldnt have bitched so much if it hadn’t been barbie doing it).

15. 15
    sagittariuskim
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 10:20 am

    I don’t know why I keep watching this show, it just gives me a headache.

    What did Robyn expect Justin to do, stand next to her and talk her through the dish step by step?

16. 16
    crankyguy
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 10:41 am

    I haven’t cooked mussels in a long time, but their shells have to be thoroughly cleaned which includes removing the hairy “beard” which runs along the line where the two shell halves meet. That takes time. I believe there is also a technique of putting them in a water bath that has corn meal mixed in which ostensibly causes them to burp out or poop out any sand that is in their system.

    At this point, the other women are just looking for stuff to blame on Barbie, like Kimmie going off on her for being up in the truck moving the ice so it could be unloaded. Somebody had to do that, so was Kimmie going to hoist her fat carcass up in that truck? Hell no.

17. 17
    snowshoecat
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 10:47 am

    @c8h10n4o2 (very clever ‘nym!) and Paws for sharing the lowdown on cleaning shellfish to eliminate the grit.

    Nowthat I’m home, I will be abe to see the next epi.

18. 18
    vallegirl
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 10:53 am

    And the ice was wrapped in layers of plastic wrap. Barbie wasn’t just moving bags around the truck, she was unwrapping the palettes then moving the bags. Plus, Kimmie was hauling the hand truck, so other than having to walk her ass around, she wasn’t straining that much either. But she was gauging what she had to do (walk) and evaluating Barbie accordingly (She’s not walking therefore she’s not working.) and since she’s the biggest and loudest whiner, and Barbie was not present, Kimmie’s “interpretation” of Barbie not doing anything stuck.

19. 19
    crankyguy
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 11:01 am

    Having had some experience unloading trucks, I don’t see the job that Barbie chose to help get the ice unloaded to be in any way easier than walking the bags from the truck to the kitchen. Anyway, one white trash POS down, and hopefully Kimmie will be next.

20. 20
    michkabibbles
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 11:42 am

    i guess kimmie just associates steps with too much work. it does look like what barbie was doing made everyone elses job a lot easier. and if it wasn’t barbie in the truck, no one would have cared.

    “a technique of putting them in a water bath that has corn meal mixed in which ostensibly causes them to burp out or poop out any sand that is in their system”
    -i don’t know why but that sentence made me laugh so hard.

21. 21
    BlueCanary
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 12:47 pm

    I think that the Red team has issues with Barbie because she so very obviously doesn’t care about their collective opinion of her. I mean, she just. Doesn’t. Care. And she’s said it, too–Gordon’s opinion is the only one that concerns her. This makes perfect sense to me, but I bet it annoys the hell out of her teammates because she’s not trying to be in their little cliques and groups. Barbie is one of the rare contestants who, when she says she’s there to win and not to make friends, actually means it and acts accordingly. Personally, I dig that about her.

    And Robyn, my god. She just gets worse and worse, doesn’t she? When she started yelling at Justin during elimination, I just shook my head. She’s so completely unable to take responsibility for her own mistakes, but she’s also one of those people who thinks that arguing her side equals taking responsibility, so you know that’ll never change. I predict her or Kimmie will go next, unless someone else really screws up (or they make another nonsensical elimination, like the Patrick one, to keep the drama high).

    As far as cleaning mussels goes, I’ve never done it. It may be that the others were just looking for an excuse to pick on her, or it may be that she really was taking longer than she should’ve, but it’s hard to tell in the context we got. I can tell you that cleaning shrimp is a pain in the ass, though. I usually just buy them peeled and deveined in the big Costco freezer bag, rather than fool around with unshelled ones, but I don’t think you can do that with mussels.

22. 22
    PopePhilly
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 1:12 pm

    @Pawesl: That’s a good point. The red team really didn’t seem to have many glaring mistakes. It made complete sense for Barbie to take the time to really perfect everything and make sure all the tiny details were in place.

    @crankyguy, vallegirl, and michkabibbles: It did seem that Barbie had taking the easier job of just moving the ice to the front of the truck. However, I’m sure doing that shaved a bit of time off them moving it inside. Rather than having each person climb up, go to the back of the truck, get bags of ice, and repeat, each person could just grab a few bags off the edge.

    @michkabibbles (again): Poop is always pretty funny. I used to laugh really hard whenever the word “duty” was said in a Tort Law class I took. “How would we expel this duty?” made me have to leave the room.

    @BlueCanary: I think Robyn will argue whatever side she happens to be on at the time. She was the one that had complained about having to hold Kimmie’s hand (even though she didn’t), but then wanted Justin to do just that. Robyn has complained about people only being their for themselves, but then gets pissed off and says she’s only there for herself. She could at least be consistent with her arguments!

    I also like that Barbie “isn’t there to make friends,” but doesn’t take that to mean, “I’m here to make enemies.” It’s true – Gordon’s is the only opinion that matters in the end.

    I hate cleaning shrimp! I usually buy the giant frozen bag as well. Sometimes the Harris Teeter near me sells fresh shrimp already cooked and de-shit-sacked. I don’t think mussels come pre-cleaned like that. I think they’re one of those things that comes either fresh or fried in a bag.

    Also! I meant to share. I went out with the PhillyParents last weekend. I ordered seared scallops. They came out perfectly and this was not a high end restaurant by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe this cast can just come to Alexandria and learn a thing or two!

23. 23
    timgunnssister
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    The whole scallops things has mystified me all season. I took a 6 session basic cooking class this spring and now I can make a perfect scallop every time. It’s just not that tough to do.

24. 24
    vallegirl
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 1:33 pm

    But did you have a 200 pound Shar Pei yelling at you and calling you a donkey?

25. 25
    timgunnssister
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    No, but it’s just not that tough. And the yelling generally starts after they fubar the scallops.