Things you learn from watching... Chopped

 Introduction

This is going to be a series of posts.
All revolving around shows that've played in our house for decades. We enjoy them but they come with their own pet peeves. Or simply lessons some people wind up having to learn the hard way. Sometimes, it's frustrating for the viewer but it can also be super entertaining to see unfold. 
Also, I am aware that this isn't a purely original idea. But I don't care. I want to make my own comments and hopefully get some great input from my friends and family afterwards.

The Premise

This series came out a short time after we discovered "Iron Chef America" so the concept was a familiar one.
But instead of creating 5 dishes from a secret ingredient, the contestants receive mystery boxes across three rounds. They MUST use all of the ingredients in their dish in some way. With few exceptions, there's always an appetizer, entree and dessert round. And the winner wins $10,000.

The show's been around so long that they've done several versions of it. They have episodes around different types of chocolate or they have to have a fried element in every round. There's been tournaments where there's 5 episodes and the best of the best wins $50,000.
Some of our favorites from the years revolve around holidays. Especially when it's Halloween and they have different candies and goodies. (But due to copyright laws, they can't say the exact brand name of the candies unless it's a direct sponser of the show).

On the other hand, they've had some tricky games. Like they'll have leftovers and the results are mixed at best. Or one time they had different types of offal (hearts, livers, sweet breads, etc.)
Then again, it's never truly Chopped unless there's one bizarre basket ingredient every round. This drives my mom nuts, but it's part of the game. You have to be prepared for anything and some people are better prepared than others. Even if it's impossible to prepare for everything the producers behind the basket throw at you.

A Few Words of Advice

Now for the meat of this post.
If you're gonna compete on Chopped, remember these things:

The Basics and Criteria (Taste, Plating, Originality)

•  This bears repeating: DO NOT forget any of the basket ingredients. Not an immediate disqualification, but to say that it's generally frowned upon is an understatement.
  
  I remember one time a person advanced despite missing one ingredient... then got chopped in round 2 because they made that mistake twice
  
  
• Make sure you transform the basket ingredients in some way. Don't just throw it on the plate at the last minute. That's generally frowned upon
  
  
• Use the pantry to enhance your dish, but be sure that the basket ingredients are the star of the dish. 

• Taste
• For some reason the judges' table doesn't have a salt and pepper shaker... so be sure that your dish is properly seasoned. I can't count how many times (in every cooking show, come to think of it) I've heard the judges say there wasn't enough salt in a dish. 
• Other key things they look for (on a lot of food shows) is that the dishes are perfectly balanced. Sometimes they'll say they wish there was more acid- particularly on dishes involving seafood
  
  
• Plating
• make sure you choose the proper plating for your dish. If a fork and knife is required, don't choose the tiniest plate imaginable. 
• Also make sure the size of the dish matches the course and remember you are cooking for culinary experts, not yourself. 
  
  The only specific example I remember of this going wrong was when Johnny Weir competed on a celebrity edition. He made a tiny portion for his entree because that's what he typically eats.
  
  
• Give yourself a good 2-3 for plating at the end of the round. Plating/presentation is one of the big three things the judges are looking for, in addition to taste and originality.
  
  
• Fair warning: you prepare 4 dishes, three for the judges and one for all the camera shots. The best looking plate will be used for camera, meaning that if you're missing components (basket or otherwise), one of the judges will get your incomplete dish(s)

The Infamous Dessert Round

• If you're going to make ice cream for dessert, get to the ice cream machine ASAP. If the other chef needs the machine, clean it out for them. (Just common courtesy). And be careful not to overchurn- a lot of chefs make this mistake and come back to find out they accidentally made butter instead of ice cream 
  
  
• Think outside the bread pudding and pain perdu. SO many people in the earlier years made french toast for dessert and the judges are looking for greater creativity
  
  
• This applies for all the other rounds but it's more frequent in desserts: if you're working with a crust, puff pastry or phyllo dough, don't serve the judges undercooked dough. That usually ends up in you getting chopped and/or tripping over the finish line

Other cooking tips

• If you cut yourself, make sure you follow the proper sanitary practices. If there's blood on your cutting board or in your food, the judges won't touch it and you WILL be chopped
  
  
• Give yourself proper time to cook your proteins. If you get something that normally takes hours to cook (cornish hens, spare ribs, etc.) and you only have 20-30 minutes, break it down before cooking it
  
  
•  Don't make two separate preparations in the same dish (i.e. salmon 2 ways). This leads the judges to compare the two and the lesser of the two could be the reason you're sent home

• Not as common anymore, but in the earlier seasons, chefs would set up their grill pans really late into a round and it'd be too late to get a proper cook
  
  
• Keep an eye on your equipment. Sometimes stoves and ovens will "randomly" turn off and you lose valuable cooking time.
  
  
• Don't repeatedly open up your oven to see if your food is cooking. (Seriously, someone did this with their cornish hen, it wound up being raw and they got chopped)
  
  
• if your main component is fried or crispy, don't let that part of it be in direct contact with your sauce or it'll undo the crispiness you worked to achieve
  
  
• Remove all the pin bones from your fish. When you cook shrimp, remove the vein. Having shell fragments in your dish is also not good
  
  
• an early series taboo- for the love of God, DO NOT use truffle oil to finish your dish. Nowadays, it can apply to a number of other spices and oils. If you're using something that packs a punch (sriracha or ghost peppers) or tends to overpower a dish (i.e. fish sauce), use it sparingly or not at all. 
  
  
• Sometimes there will be basket ingredients that have parts that are poisonous. Example: a fruit called cherimoya. The seeds are poisonous. DO NOT put the seeds in your dish- the poison will not go away when you cook it

Dealing with the Judges

• If Scott Contant is among the judges that day, do not include raw onions in your dish. He hates them. He'll also judge you harshly if you use pasta and don't do it justice
  
  
• I don't remember every judge's preferences but Alex loves bacon and Amanda likes chocolate. (No joke, some contestants have taken advantage of this. Flattery doesn't always pay off but it doesn't hurt to try if done well)
  
  
• This applies more to the earlier seasons of the series, but it's something that stuck with me. Do not sass the judges when they critique you, especially if it's Geoffrey Zakarian. I've seen him put several chefs with big egos in their place because they were being disrespectful. After all, you can't improve in any discipline if you don't know how to listen and take criticism 
  
  
• If you're going to call your dish (or one of its components) by a specific name, make sure it fits the description. The jduges won't hesitate to call you out on it if it doesn't
  
  
• Don't give the judges a dissertation about what you "planned" to do or what components didn't make it to the plate. It not only gets you off on th wrong foot but they'll just say there's no point mentioning elements they can't taste. The one exception is basket ingredients. If you don't bring up the fact it didn't make it to the plate, they'll do that for you. 

Other Observations

• Typically, each show has 3 male contestants and one female. For whatever reason, it always seemed like the girl got sent home first. Especially in the early years of the show. If it was 50/50, the odds improve but chances are the women got sent home first

• If you watch enough cooking shows (like I do with my family), you tend to see a lot of familiar faces between the different series. I've seen at least three Hell's Kitchen contestants on Chopped. Only Roshni was able to win the whole thing. Sakari and Dana (both made it to black jackets but didn't win) got chopped in the dessert round, barely missing the tile of Chopped Champion