The first program of ‘Com pogos’
TV3 has premiered the first program of Cuina com pois, the new culinary competition by Marc Ribas. The protagonists were two acquaintances of La Sotana fans, Joel Díaz and Andreu Juanola. Neither of them have much of a streak on the stove, as they’ve proven, to the point where the judges have labeled their creations outright bullshit. The friends had to face two tests after showing what was inside their fridges on a normal day. Joel’s had quite a few more ingredients than the rival’s, a content they described as “sad”. And it just had sausages, beers, some fruit and sweet ham.
The tests of the program
For the first test, whoever has the worst fridge gets to choose which main ingredient they want for the recipe. Andreu has chosen to send the chicken to Joel to make it more difficult for him and he has kept the tuna. What dishes did they want to make? Díaz has prepared some noodles with chicken and carbonara sauce. Andreu, on the other hand, has reproduced the typical dish of macaroni and tuna that a teenager might cook on the first day he stays home alone.
The fun times
It was fun to see Joel Díaz completely overwhelmed by the whole chicken that was placed in front of him. He has asked for help to find the chest, in fact. He was also not comfortable during the preparation, taking into account that the onion has burned and that it has clogged the sink. It really didn’t look like he was going to be able to come up with anything, but he took the time and ended up dishing up a pretty decent pasta dish.
The verdicts of the jury
The jury reprimanded him for putting too much salt, but they approved and selected him as the winner of this first duel. Andreu, on the other hand, did not convince with a dish that they said they cooked “when they were 5 years old”. He also didn’t like me stirring the onion with a knife, although he assured me that I wasn’t scratching the pan.
The second duel
The space is short, lasting less than an hour, fresh and with a touch of humor that can make it successful. They were quickly starting the second test, which started with a disadvantage for the loser who was Andreu. The first handicap? That he couldn’t use normal kitchen utensils, but office supplies. This has led to hilarious moments such as when he has been seen chopping meat with a stapler or using a ruler to beat eggs. That wasn’t the worst thing that happened to him, though.
The final verdict
Once the booklets were ready, it was time for the jury’s evaluations. Marc Ribas, Ivan Surinder and Sofia Janer have been much more sincere than people expected. It is not common to hear a jury describe the dishes as crap and run over food. However, this transparency has made it even funnier. All three have acknowledged to Andreu that it has been much more difficult, but this has not compensated for the disaster of the dish he has presented: “You have had it complicated, but this dish is shit. It doesn’t have anything libretto, there’s too much oil and it doesn’t have the crisp tone you were looking for.” Joel has received some pretty bad reviews, too, but they came from the rival’s bad book and that has benefited him: “Your dish is also crap and pretty awful. The batter is fine, but you chose salty ham and a very strong cheese that you haven’t even melted. It is unforgivable, but coming from the other…”. They chose him as the winner of the night, but with a warning: “With this shit you won’t do anything in the semi-final”.
The next episode
Next Wednesday, TV3 will broadcast the second of these four duels that they have prepared before the semi-finals. It will be the turn of Miki Núñez and Marta Torné from Eufòria, they have progressed, so there is already a desire to see them outside their comfort zone.
