Chopped: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Chefs, open your baskets. In them you will find [[Noodle Implements|Noodle]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Implements]]."''|Ted Allen, host of ''Chopped''}}

 

 

The show follows a simple recipe. Take four chefs (preferably of varying careers, training, and specialties) and throw them into the bowl. Mix in three rounds of fast paced cooking with a basket of secret ingredients (at least one ingredient in each basket should be quirky, obscure, or difficult to work with). Quickly beat in a mixture of [[Jerkass]] and [[Nice Guy]] judges. Do not forget a can of "I'm Screwed...", this is needed to keep you sucked in! Bake for one hour and serve while hot. Goes well with a serving of ''[[Good Eats]]'' for dessert.

*** He then went on to compete in and ''win'' the second All-Star tournament.

** The judges' episodes in the ''All-Stars'' tournament definitely count as this.

** The second season features four of the Iron Chefs, including Cat Cora, who hasn't been on ICA in quite some time.

* [[Bacon Addiction]]: Whoever comes up with the mystery baskets has a singular obsession with bacon and its relatives (i.e. cured, fatty pork in all its forms).

** How about "Rocky Mountain oysters?" <ref>Bull testicles</ref>

* [[Bait and Switch Boss]]: Michael Symon in the second finals of ''All-Stars''. Considering his expertise cooking under pressure, it looked like he was the shoe-in for the final two. But then he gets eliminated for leaving off an ingredient in the appetizer round. That, in turn, would make Marcus Samuelsson the "boss" of that episode, who is ''just as tough'' as Symon.

** Scott Conant - mistreated Italian ingredients, too much black pepper, raw red onions.

** Alex Guarnaschelli - being interrupted while she's talking, sloppy presentation.

** Aarón Sanchez - Not using a whole bird when one is given, mistreated Mexican ingredients and undercooked rice.

*** He also seems to have a problem with Hispanic or Latino chefs cooking outside their ethnicity, at times. He actually asked one of them "Are you ashamed of your roots?" just because he used Asian flavors.

*** This can be a bit of a berserk button for viewers both because it makes them seem whiny and because most viewers have products like those in their own kitchens.

**** Taken to a worse level on the leftovers episode when one of the chef stated that she ''never'' had cooked with leftovers and then bashes the quality of ingredients. Plenty of home viewers were very angry at her.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Many of the special episodes where the contestants are competing for charity. One charity gets $10,000 (or even $50,000) dollars! ... And three charities (or twelve charities) get a bit of minor publicity.

** It was worse on the second season of ''All-Stars'' when Chris Santos was explaining why he was playing for charity <ref> His child was suffering a very debilitating disease, and the money was supposed to go to his charity.</ref>, Alex Guarnaschelli [[Defrosting the Ice Queen|shed tears of sympathy]]. {{spoiler|Chris Santos was chopped on the first round}}

* [[Brain Food]]: A literal example when "goat brains" were one of the secret ingredients.

* [[Can't Get Away with Nuthin']]: If a chef plates three plates of food perfectly but leaves one plate empty (or missing an ingredient that went on all the other plates), it will be made sure that the lacking plate is put in front of one of the judges, not set aside for the chopping block.

** Happens when contestants just "put the secret ingredients on the plate without doing anything other than chopping them." Usually.

** In the 1st ''All-Stars'' tournament, Jacques Torres pulled cocoa nibs from his pockets and the judges took note of it. When it came down to who to chop, it was either Anita Lo (who had failed to complete all four plates) or Jacques Torres (burnt chorizo on cocoa nibs). The judges opted to chop Chef Torres for using an illegal ingredient.

* [[Can't Hold His Liquor|Can't Hold His Spice]]: Geoffrey Zakarian. Made funnier when Aarón Sanchez and/or Chris Santos are part of the judging panel and they all get served a relatively spicy dish they both can handle.

* [[Captain Obvious]] / [[As You Know]]: Ted Allen invariably asks the judges if they can come to a decision. Marc Murphy has recently been responding to this with "we have to."

** Particularly bad in the episode with four English chefs: "As you know, this is an elimination-driven competition..."

* [[Combat Commentator]]: Ted Allen and the judges follow a similar structure to ''[[Iron Chef]]'', commenting on the cooking techniques of the competitors. The competitors themselves get in on the action in after-action interviews.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Judge Susan Feniger. She often isn't even looking at the person to whom she is talking. Given her behavior and her appearance, she would have been the perfect choice to play [[Harry Potter|Professor Trelawney]].

* [[Cooking Duel]]: The final round is a one on one competition between the two chefs who make it to the Dessert Round.

* [[Cooking Show]]: It is, after all, on the [[Shaped Like Itself|Food Network...]]

* [[Cordon Bleugh Chef]]: Averted. The required mystery ingredients make it seem that this is inevitable, but the chefs use the fully-stocked pantry and fridge to avoid this problem. Usually.

* [[Crossover]]: This is one of the few shows on Food Network that receives the crossover treatment from ''other'' Food Network competition shows, such as ''Rachel vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off'' and ''[[The Next Food Network Star]]''. And on those crossover episodes, the rules and/or basket ingredients are much, ''much'' easier to work with.

** Actually, in one episode, one chef couldn't taste '''anything''' because all three rounds contained a mystery ingredient that he was allergic to. Luckily, he does remember the taste of the ingredients to know how to compose them.

* [[Denied Food as Punishment]]: Inverted. If the chef doesn't make exactly four servings (three for the judges and one for display/the Chopping Block) or get all the elements onto the plate on time, the judges may not be able to taste everything (and therefore cannot be considered into judgement). However, if the chef does something [[Squick]]-worthy (usually bleeding into the food), the judges definitely won't eat their food - which invariably gets the chef chopped.

(Cut to judges' extremely shocked expressions.) }}

** In the appetizer round of the first ''All-Stars'' episode, one chef only managed to plate ''one out of four basket ingredients''!

** In one of the earlier seasons, a chef lost track of time so badly that he did not plate a single thing in any of his four plates.

* [[Exact Words]]: When it comes to trick ingredients like boxed macaroni & cheese or Neapolitan ice cream, the implicit challenge is to use all parts of it. More than once, contestants have argued that they only used the easy part (i.e., just the pasta or just the vanilla ice cream) on the grounds that the rules say "use as much or as little as you want." Scott Conant actually agreed with the contestant's reasoning.

** May be combined with [[Analogy Backfire]]: The usual argument is "if you gave us a chicken, would you expect us to use both the breasts and the legs?" In several episodes where contestants were dealing with whole birds, the judges complained if they only received one type of meat.

* [[Food Porn]]: Some of the ingredients are incredibly obscure to the audience, and sometimes even the chefs. Long shots of every ingredient and dish are also provided in this style.

* [[Foregone Conclusion]] / [[Downer Ending]]: On the particularly [[The Scrappy|bad episode]] where the entrée round was deemed an [[Epic Fail|epic failure]] (see [[Epic Fail]] above), the chef that ''didn't'' contaminate the Cornish hen became the Champion. Even Maneet Chauhan confirmed it on the final chop.

* [[Genre Blind]]: For such a popular show, you'd be surprised how many chefs fall for the [[Schmuck Bait|Schmuck Baits]] below, includinng '''TRUFFLE OIL!'''

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Many chefs that have watched ''Chopped'' know the basic tricks of the competition, including what ''not'' to serve to [[Jerkass|Scott Conant]], and not going with the obvious with certain groups of ingredients.

* [[Gratuitous English]]: The occasional competitor whose first language isn't English can sometimes end up wording things like this.

{{quote|"The crackers kill my life."}}

* [[Hey, It's That Sound|Hey It's That Music]]: When the chefs are standing around the Chopping Block, the show sometimes plays background music from ''[[Space Empires|Space Empires V]]''.

** Some of the music used in Chopped seems to appear in ''[[Man v. Food]]''.

* [[Humiliation Conga]]: Happens in redemption and Championship episodes where the chef either wins or comes in 2nd place in his/her initial appearance only to end up chopped on the appetizer round of his/her redemption/Championship semifinal.

* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Over the course of two episodes, one contestant was overconfident, talked over the judges (and Ted), accused a competitor of stealing his food after he misplaced it, and [[Honor Before Reason|refused to let the judges taste a component that didn't make it on to the plate]]. Then he stopped in the middle of the dessert round to open a can for a leftie competitor struggling with a right-handed can opener.

** Probably more of a case of a [[Pragmatic Villain]]... he seemed to realize just how aggravated with him the judges were over refusing to be a good sport, and was probably hoping to earn some points back.

*** As if that was not enough, he outright admitted that he was cooking for himself and not for the judges, then he actually gets angry when the judges comment on what they disliked about the food and eventually eliminate him.

** Surprising no one, Penny from [[The Next Food Network Star]] in her appearances on the ''All-Stars ''battle. She was as rude as ever to the other competitors, and she repeatedly made it very clear that she was there purely for the attention and because she apparently thought if she won, Food Network would decide to give her a show after all. Her charity was always mentioned as an afterthought, if at all.

* [[Impossibly Delicious Food]]: Considering the randomness of what's inside the baskets, the good dishes are often this.

** The appetizer basket of the second ''All-Stars'' Tournament episode contained ''canned haggis''. Because fresh haggis wasn't bad enough. And all four chefs made it delicious!

** Another chef commented that passion fruit tastes like perfume.

** A third chef had never used rose water and made the mistake of tasting a spoonful. "It tasted like a bar of soap!" [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Geoffrey Zakarian.

** In the dessert round of first semifinals match of the 2nd Chopped Champions, one chef proceeds to smack talk the other competitor right in front of the judge's faces during the round. He ended up having undercooked pie crust, which got him eliminated.

** In the finals of the 2nd ''All-Stars Tournament'', Chef Penny smack talks all of the competitors, claiming that she can win against Marcus Samuelsson and Jeffrey Saad, as well as getting Michael Symon eliminated. <ref> Michael Symon made the mistake of leaving out okra, which had nothing to do with Penny's skill.</ref> In the entrée round, she ended up putting inedible bonito skin in all of the judges' plates, and that got her eliminated.

* [[Oven Logic]]: Invoked and played straight many times, especially if the chef misjudges the time it takes to cook the food. Or when a chef cooks pork chops on the whole rack or double bone, but find out five minutes near the end that the center is raw.

* [[Positive Discrimination]]: The baskets on the New Orleans chefs episode were loaded with softballs like andouille sausage, shrimp, and rice. They may as well have just let the chefs bring their own ingredients, to allow even more time for forced attempts at [[Tear Jerker]] moments about Hurricane Katrina.

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: Geoffrey Zakarian in the episode where the judges compete. Aarón Sanchez asks him to save him some eggs. Geoffrey's response is a joking "Fuck you!"

* [[Pungeon Master]]: Ted Allen.

** In the Dessert course of the first ''Chopped Champions'' finale, the basket contained cake flour and the contestants were given fifty minutes. One of the judges made it clear that the setup was to, effectively, force the contestants to bake.

** Partially averted in the second ''Chopped Champions'' finale. In the desert course, the basket contained arucana eggs, bread flour, goat's milk and turbinato sugar. The judges, again, comment that basket seems to say "bake me". One contestant proceeds to make a parfait instead.

** Averted in one episode where fish was an ingredient in both appetizer and entrée rounds, but not in the dessert round.

* [[Runs with Scissors]]: One contestant got so wrapped up in a round that he did not realize he ran from the cooking area to the pantry and back with knife still in hand (blade out!), much to the horror of the judges.

* [[Serial Escalation]]: Each successive season tops the last with weird and challenging basket ingredients. The Season 8 redemption episode featured a dessert basket containing duck eggs, russet potatoes, farmer's cheese, and ''honey herb cough drops'', which aren't even technically ''food''.

** And surprisingly, neither chef complained.

*** Canned. ''Haggis.''

** Or how often someone bleeds all over the place and yet still doesn't quite understand how this dooms them.

** The ice cream machine. Just ''using'' it in earlier seasons would almost certainly ensure contestants the victory. As the show went on, more and more chefs used it, but with varying degrees of success.

* [[Silver Fox]]: Geoffrey Zakarian.

* [[The Smurfette Principle]]: Almost every episode has at least one female chef, it's very rare that it's all male chefs.

* [[Supreme Chef]]: The winners of the Champions' tournaments, called Chopped Grand Champions.

* [[Special Guest|Special Guest Judge]]: Sam Kass, Assistant White House Chef, for the Lunchladies episode.

* [[Taught by Television]]: During the lunch lady episode, one of the contestants watched the show frequently enough to know what and where everything was in the pantry, including a rather obscure ingredient.

** Subverted into [[Did Not Do the Research]] in one one odd case. One of the contestants opted to make potatoes because that's what one of the judges likes. He was explaining to Geoffrey Zakarian that he knew that he likes potatoes, but Geoffrey said "No, no. That's Marc." The kicker? Marc ''wasn't'' one of the judges that episode. However, he was a judge in a previous episode the same contestant had been in.

* [[Technician Versus Performer]]: Happens often enough in the dessert rounds when chefs with different styles face off. The judges often describe one as having a very precise style of cooking, with the other cooking more creatively and soulfully. This usually balances out to a very close last round.

* [[Title Drop]]: "Whose dish/plate is on the chopping block?"

** [[Elimination Catchphrase]]: "You have been chopped."

** Chef Jessica Mogardo, at the time working for free and living in her sister's apartment, was so nervous in the beginning of her competition that Marc Murphy had to calm her down. Not only did she end up winning against 3 seasoned chefs and getting $10,000, she would later be a sous chef for Iron Chef Jose Garces on the Mexican Chocolate episode of ''[[Iron Chef America]]''. Quite a level she's jumped.

*** She then appeared on a season 2 episode of ''[[Sweet Genius]]'', which she also wins.

[[Category:Nonfiction Series]]

[[Category:American Series]]