LordEden vs Strange Famous cooking challenge
 

So the challenge has been made, and I'm happy to answer it.

So lets set out the rules and how it will work?

Do you want 20 recipes vs 20? I think that will be hard for people to follow and judge. Recipes 1 at a time? 1 vs 1? How are people going to judge? Is anyone going to actually try them?

If I can find a cheap camera I am even willing publish video's of the way I chef to better assist my followers on Youtube or whatever..
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In respect to the specific request that Lord Eden made in terms of my posting on this forum, let me say to now very clearly

I am a Masterchef. I use this title proudly and without any hesitation, because it means nothing to me other than I'm a good cook. When I write about food and when I describe the way I chef a meal, I strongly recommend that people listen and follow me. For those who do, they will enjoy tasty, cheap, simple food. I did not go to catering school, I do not use 8 types of spice in every meal I make... I hold these things in disdain. I do not consider cookery difficult, skillful, or artistic; nor do I consider good cooks are worthy of some kind of hero worship.

So... I answer your challenge Lord Eden. Let's clearly decide the rules, and then may the best man win.

I suggest categories. Maybe put up you best recipe based on each category?

Maybe we can get three TFP "celebrity judges" to follow the recipes at home and make comments.

I'd like to see 1 for 1, categories for an entire meal. Should be similar in end result intention, for example the pizza challenge. It will be hard to compare if they have different kinds of foods. Burger vs. Burger, mashed potatoes vs mashed potatoes...

appetizer

first course - meat
side - vegatable
side - starch/carbohydrate

desert

Yes, I'd like to see major categories, but similar dishes/ingredients for each recipe challenge. Not all challenges will have compartmentalized foods though.... one-dish meals, and the like.

I guess examples would be recipes for pork roast, chicken stirfry, beef stew, etc.

I'm up for this.

Realistically I know the odds arent on my side, but I wont back down from a challenge!

I know my cooking is simple and workmanlike, but at the same time I do believe it is basically good.

I agree that themes and going 1 or 1 is better than just a big list of recipes, but LE has to be happy with the terms as well.

We could break it into categories, I think overloading this thread with recipes won't be possible.

Who is going to judge this. I have my opinion on who would be the best, but then I am in the contest.

We could do everything from best way to cook a baked potato to a full dinner with everything in between.

I'd be down for cooking them, but I don't have the funds to cook 20 meals back to back. I've got some ideas on how to organize this, but I'm interested in how others think this should go down.

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How about categories like soup, casserole, one bowl wonder (one pan, one bowl, one fork and all your meal at once), veginitarian, ethinc, "grandma meals", ect.

We can trim it down from 20 to whatever fits best.

Man, I wish we could do a masterchef/iron chef style challenge, time limit with certain ingredients. That would be awesome. We would also have to be in the same place at once.

I suggest keeping it simple, yet varied enough to test the full spectrum of preparing meals. I propose the following categories, based on common organization of cookbooks:

1. Appetizer
2. Breakfast
3. Dessert
4. Lunch
5. Main Dish
6. Salad
7. Side Dish
8. Snack
9. Soup/Stew
10. Casserole (or other one-pot meal)

If you wanted to keep it balanced and to do upwards of 20 recipes, perhaps each of you challenge the other on a recipe in each category. For example, say, Eden challenges Strange to a coconut shrimp appy, while Strange challenges Eden to garlic cheese bread. You both come up with a recipe for each.

Awesome thread, by the way. I've got half a chub right now thinking about it. If I spammer floats through, I might mess my pants.

OK, judges: They need to well-known members, impartial and agreed upon by both sides. I think it's best to ask for volunteers, with self-nominations closing by Date X. Personally, I think that we should let it run through the weekend at least and make a decision by early next week. I'm happy to facilitate that if both parties agree. I'll collect the names and let you two decide.

Who should we contact if we want to be a judge?

Can we at least come to an understanding on the definition of Master Chef? I think that we will never have concordance until that is achieved.

I'd REALLY like WK as a judge, but I don't know if he has the time for it.

I'm completely excited to do this, giddy in fact.

I'm intersted in how we are going to break this down in which recipes are judged. Taste can't be used or plate presentation (tho I wish I could, my plate presentation is AWESOME), so that breaks down to things like, time/speed, price, ingredient amount, skill needed to cook, ect.

I'd like to know so I know how I need to tweek the recipes I have ready for this.

Also, time is going to be a factor here. If SF's location is correct, we are 5 hours apart (he is BST and I'm EST). Would say setting a challenge and the saying "you have X amount of time to finish this challenge and submit your recipe" be better because of the time difference?

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This is not for the title of masterchef, whatever that is. I am *NOT* a chef nor am I trying to say I am one. SF is the only one claiming that title. This is to prove who is the better cook the only way we can being across the pond from each other.

I'm not actually sure WHAT the stakes are in this contest. I'd like to know.

If the judges are making the recipes (the only true way to judge the recipes), then taste is a key criterion.

since i was involved in the last pizza thread i dont think i can be impartial, therefore id rule myself out.

but since i LOVE cold pizza, you guys can send me your slices in overnight express. Halal only please :D

I believe Eden in +5 EST in the US, and SF is on Greenwich Mean Time in the UK which is at zero. so there is 5 hrs difference.

what will be the criteria? someone's got to taste it! and you cant be your own judge because that wouldnt be fair.

taste
smell
presentation
texture
etc etc..

i agree, i think WK should be on this panel.

maybe you guys need to swap each others recipes and cook each others pizzas to keep this fair?

Is that what we are doing? I mean the judges will use our recipes to make the meals and then taste them?

That throws this challenge in a whole new direction.

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I used SF's location to find the biggest city near him (Birmingham, UK) and see what the time zone was and it said BST +1.

dlish I almost want to make a pizza for you and mail it frozen to you. For being on my side.

This is not just a pizza challenge, this is an all-out cooking challenge. On the internet. With someone in another country. Across an ocean. For bragging rights. Judged by people I've never met.

Man, this just might be the nerdiest thing I've ever done.

Well, the original argument was that SF's advice for cooking the pizza was the best. This is about getting other people to make good food in a simple manner. Or so I thought.

Here is the orginal quote that was made to spark this challenge.

I'm not sure how we should interpret that. He says top quality for real people. That could almost mean anything.

Please, for the love of God, explicitly agree to a set of terms and state your purpose in a clearly defined manner. And stick with it.

As a stay at home dad with lots of free time I volunteer / nominate myself.
I'm not a well known member but I bring free time to cook and a large family with varied palates to the table...

* Self - Adventurous eater with a preference for complexity. I really like the subtle nuances of well done Thai or Vietnamese foods.
* Wife - Meat and Potatoes. Preferably with the meat being beef and the potatoes out of a box.
* Kid 1 - Angst ridden 20something with a hankering for Italian.
* Kid 2 - Absolutely no taste at all... Considers "Checker's" fine dining and "Olive Garden" haute cuisine.
* Kid 3 - Loves vegetables more than candy.
* Kid 4 - Supertaster! At 5 already knows the differences between Jamaican and Bahamian jerk, and recognizes different coffees.

Okay, but the context was offering a recipe to someone who hasn't made a pizza before. SF's philosophy is food that's down-to-earth and for anybody, not some fancy-schmancy haute cuisine.

If you want to be a judge, either PM me or post in the thread.

Judges have to make each dish prepared. A judge may state beforehand that they will have to sit a dish out if there is a conflict. There will be 3 judges, although it is unlikely that they will remain the same 3 throughout the contest given Real Life Interference. All judges (original and replacement) will be agreed upon beforehand by both competitors. A family may act as a single judge, but they only get one collective vote and recipes do not have to take more than one eater into consideration (single-serving recipes are fine). Staff members are eligble to be judge but will be treated as any other member.

Contestants shall produce a total of 20 recipes of varying types (side-dishes, entrees, desserts, etc.). A contest moderator will name a type (of the types predetermined by the contestants), and the contestants will have 48 hours from the contest moderator's post to post their recipe in the thread. The judges will then have 3 days to make the recipes and vote in whatever manner the judge best determines. Judges will follow the directions to the best of their abilities with their own household items. Judges may receive extra time up request. Contestants can mutually agree to post multiple recipes at the same time, with deadlines to be pre-determined by contestants.

I think those are pretty fair rules. Obviously they're highly flexible, so if either candidate doesn't like them or parts of them, let me know. But it's a starting point.

My view:

Pick a number of challenges... however many. It cant be a stupid amount because it will take forever and also cost is an issue for me. I'm happy to compete over any number of challenges, but it has to be have a defined end.

I think we should both

Post our recipe and method at a pre-determined time,

At a later date both cook the meal/meals.

Any people who want should give their opinions and I would say anyone who wants to go to the effort of cooking the meals themselves can be a "Judge".

That way you compete on:

1 - how easy your recipe is to follow (for anyone who wants to judge)
2 - how good it tastes in the end
3 - how the version we both make looks.
4 - I am happy for an expert to judge how healthy it is (although you have to allow some things arent supposed to be healthy)

If I can get a cheap little camera I will happily video myself cheffing the meals and if I can figure out how, post on Youtube. But its only fair if both me and LE have that. I dont have a lot of spare cash and LE may or may not have a video camera he can get access to. (as you may know from my thread in the Life section...) so this might not be possible for me. But I do have a camera already.

At the end of the day, if we are competing on the level of who can style the best recipe - its a fair competition to be judged by how well other people can make our food and what they make of it when they do.

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But if LE wants a more formal process with a defined judging panel, Im happy to go along with that. Just a question on if enough people will want to judge multiple meals.

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I think the first challenge should be a three course meal. After 20th I can start anytime and work to any reasonable schedule. I dont think we have to cook/post at the exact same times.

It should go without saying that we both trust each other to post and cook only our own recipes and not copy from a cook book. (not that any cookbook would match me in any case really)

I think a couple criteria that need to be taken into account, because SF puts such stock in them, is time and money.

How long does this recipe take to prepare? How much money was spent on ingredients?

I would suggest that each recipe, and the resulting showdown, get a separate thread. This way discussions about the challenge at hand don't get lost in the chatter about any of the other recipes. Regardless, monkeysugar is correct, we need clear rules and criteria and we have to stick to them.

I am up for testing recipes and judging. I also think we need at least one person who isn't very good in the kitchen to be a judge as well. We need to hear from people who are not into cooking.

As the cook in my house I'd be happy to cook up some meals to compare, the big trick will be getting my wife to eat essentially the same dish two nights in a row...

I think for this sort of challenge the contestants should agree upon the criterion to be judged by, or at least they could each pick 3 criterion to be judged on which would result in a 6 part score. Eden could pick something like plating then (and have it judged by a picture in the thread) and SF could have his price too.

And for the love of all that is holy pick an odd number of challenges.

I humbly suggest limiting the challenge to four:

Breakfast: Eggs, any style
Lunch: Salad. Carcass optional. :-)
Dinner: Pizza (Pizza is how this started, after all)
Dessert: Chocolate based.

That keeps it to a reasonable number of options, and is what a reasonable person might eat.

Personally I think 9 challenges would be enough to pick a winner. Let's face it, Internet users attention spans are very short and the shorter the contest, the more likely people will stick with it to the end. Plus, I'm a poor white boy and this is going to hit my foodstuff budget hard and Cinn doesn't eat meat (so half of the meals will get thrown away or donated to others).

I'd like it if this was done on the weekends, say post the challenge Friday and it has to be in by sunday night. That gives the judges 4-5 days to cook their meal during the week.

One challenge a week, 9 weeks total. I'd like the judging criteria set down in stone before this starts, as my recipes will tweek depending on what it is being judged by.

I like Jazz's idea on the whole thing. I just think we should tone down the amount of challenges. If this was a meetup, we could do a few challenges in a day or a lot over a few days. 9 challenges with one a week would be 2.5 months and that's a long time for the contestants and the judges to worry about this.

Cinn took one look at this thread and declared, "This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen on TFP. You actually want to do this? Whatever." So I have her support on my side.

I'm going to video tape me cooking the recipe and how I made it. I don't want this to be part of my judging criteria if SF can not do the same. I'm mainly doing it for personal reasons and don't want an unfair advantage over SF. When I win, I don't want any shenanigans to be thrown out and the judgement being called into question.

I would like to volunteer to judge any challenge that is vegetarian. This is due to both money constraints and dietary constraints in my household. I'm assuming that there will be a vegetarian challenge; I definitely think there should be at least a couple recipes sans meat.

I agree with robot that recipes for different meals should be addressed.

I'd like a veggie recipe challenge, most of my recipes in the last few months have been sans meat.

Hark at Eden!

He's already talking about how it will be WHEN he's won, he thinks he has it in the bag! He thinks he just has to turn up to win!

I'm just a humble kid, a working class lad who battled up from the days of dinner duty at school to become a Master Chef: glad for the chance to take part in the challenge... I think the judges should decide who the winner is... Eden must think he knows better than them as well as better than me what makes good food!!!???

Whatever we're gonna do, lets aim for the weekend after next as the start. (after 20th... which to step aside from the banter of this, I am feeling pretty fucked up about and am not going to be in the frame of mind to do anything for fun until after)

9 Challenges, I am up for that.

In terms of price and ease of method... thats a criteria for the judges... they can make of it what they will. I know that any member of the TFP is going to have preconceptions about both of us, but all I call for is fairness. If I lose I wont be happy about it on the inside, but I'll put my hands up and say I lost to the better man on the day.

On the judging... if Eden is happy with Jazz's format - then go with it. The only thing I would state is that I assume that Cinn is the guys close friend, partner, whatever... so in fairness she can't be a scoring judge (although of course she can give her views)

In terms of meals, I would suggest the following

A Breakfast
A Veggie main meal
A Meal you'd cook for a date (starter, main, sweet)
A Meal that costs under $5 to make (and £3, whatever exchange is atm)
A Supper
Ultimate Snack
"Junk Food/Fast Food"
Something Baked
Your Speciality

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I think if we use nice open categories, it gives some guidance but lets us both cook to whatever we think our strengths are.

If the guy lives with a vegetarian, he doesnt necessarily want to have four challenges on different types of steak. The same as if the guy wants to challenge me on how to cook a duck ala orange and fennel foam and poached quails egg and betroot fritters, ec... (or whatever michelin stuff he wants to come up with... I aint got a clue)

He has to be free to do his thing, and the same for me.

I'd say lets do two challenges a week and then the big one (the date meal) at the end?

If there is any category Lord Eden wants to take out and replace, lets discuss that between the two of us.

Lets base everything on a portion size of 1 or 2. If people want to scale up to cook for a family then they can do the maths

Im not rich, and I dont plan on cooking anything for this that isnt for my own enjoyment or for a friends.

SF - you have veto power on all judges under my rules. If you don't think they can't be impartial, you don't have to accept them. I think that's settled, so volunteer judges need to start making themselves known soon.

Otherwise, I think that this is up to the two competitors to figure out the rest. If you guys need staff help with threads or anything else, let us know.

Just a quick note before I go home, Cinn isn't going to be a judge. As I stated before (and SF didn't read), she thinks this is the stupidest thing she has seen on TFP. She wants nothing to do with it.

I'll update this later in the day after supper.

how about we cut it down to ten recipes and each contestant posts their recipe. then its up to each member of TFP to make that dish at home and post results/verdicts?

I heart Cinn.

I think it's going to be crazy with name calling and hair pulling, but I can't keep away. It's like the Jersey Shore. So bad for me and I'm just encouraging it to exist by reading and posting, but I love it.

I do hope these guys make videos. I do, I do, I do....

I heart her too. All she can do is shake her head and ask "Why, just... WHY?".

Oh I'm SURE this is completely drama filled, I know it's just going to end up like that. $10 it gets locked down for flaming from multiple members.

Now see a TV intro like Jersey Shore and there is a picture of SF with spiked hair in a white wifebeater and gold chain. His name flashes across the TV screen, "The Mastachef" in big spray painted letters.

H-Love would be my name, short for Hobbit Love.

*Slicks back his hair*

"Yo yo! Bitches, Once you go hobbit, just can't stop it!"

Represent!

*****

I'm going to make a video, more for a side project. I've had a cooking blog for AWHILE and done nothing with it. I want to start video blogging me cooking for the blog. This is more like practice for later so that I get comfortable doing it.

*****

I think it should go down like this:

1. Breakfast
2. Lunch (Light meal)
3. Dinner (Meat\Veg\Starch)
4. Dessert/Snack (This will be tricky because baking is harder to tweak to make it your own, it could be replaced with something else)
5. Vegetarian
6. Soup (Hot/Cold) or "Hungry Man Meal" (A easy to cook bachelor meal)
7. Pizza
8. Cassaroll/One Pot Wonder
9. Lunch Box (Has to be cold and able to be backed into a lunch bag/box)

Not in that order, but maybe picked at random and pizza being the last one.

I'd rather do one per week, less stressful on the judges (only one meal a week is our recipes) and less stressful (writing/research/cooking a recipe takes time and a lot of money) for the contestants. I don't get to cook full blown meals during the week because of time constraints, so this would take up a bit more of my little free time. Plus, reality TV shows only come on once a week, why shouldn't this be any different?

I spend enough time in my job watching and thinking about food that I can't help but want to be a judge in this.

I am in agreement with Eden's list of challenges and think that one challenge per week is more than enough. Don't forget that the judges will have to make two dishes a week (one from each contestant) and we have lives other than TFP. :P

I want to say again, that we should have a different Thread for each recipe. It might even be a good idea to create a special sub-forum for this.

I think a different thread is a great idea. We may make a tag to go with it and merge them all together at the end. The tag seems like a no-brainer; merging maybe not. We'll see how it goes.

No thanks on videos, but that's a personal choice. I just have an aversion to seeing body hair deposited in food.

I think we're getting closer to being ready to go. Right now, I note Charlatan, Snowy (veggie only), hotmkyluv and Hektore as voluntary judges. If there are others, let me know. The contestants will agree on judges and the dish types beforehand.

I'd rather have separate threads, if it actually takes off, let's set it in it's own little section. Only if it takes off. Which is 50/50 right now.

Jazz, I'll wear a shirt, promise. I might even chef it up and put my old chef clothes on.

I can help as a moderator once we get things rolling.

does that mean one of those cool tall white chef hats too? i bet you wont do it...

There is clearly class warfare going on here between Strange and LordEden. LordEden clearly thinks that Strange is recalcitrant, deviant, and should accept his less equal status as a chef.
Strange clearly feels that LordEden represents conservative ideology and is a repressive institution, and needs his cognitives adjusted.

I think that we need to bring roachboy in as judge...:)