when top chef first started airing, i was one of the skeptics. without willy wonka’s magical tv, i reasoned, it’s just not possible to be able to live vicariously through chefs in competition the way that one can with fashion in project runway. whereas in project runway, the way we consume fashion is to wear it and see it, in top chef, the way we consume food – eating and smelling it – is impossible.

i realized that, over the past few years, my position on this issue has softened – slightly. every day, i look at seriouseats’ photograzing section to see what other people are making. and through looking at these photos, i’ve found that i have been developing my faculty of being able to tell how something will taste, based on how it looks. the powers of observation will not always hold true, but they do admirably well most of the time. in these photographs, i can see when the onions haven’t been properly browned, when shortbread hasn’t been cooked enough and remains hopelessly pale, when meat is overcooked and looks dry. i can see when a ganache-covered confection has been refrigerated and brought back to room temp too quickly (condensation, and a certain type of slick shininess that isn’t the soft sheen that ganache should have). i can see when something is overly yellow and a custard is too solid from too many egg yolks. and these are things that transcend bad presentation, over-exposed or unfocused photographs, and their related ilk – these are things that you can see that actually make you not want to eat something. (more…)