"I enjoy myself. I almost want to finish it all. For his last chance test, Jean-Philippe could not have hoped for a better compliment from Paul Pairet, the new three-star juror of "Top Chef". Her biscuit of dried fruit, roasted figs, vanilla mascarpone whipped cream also seduced Hélène Darroze even before the first bite. In front of her TV last Wednesday, Laura would have given everything to be in their place: “It made me want too much, when I don't like figs. "
Among the 3.1 million faithful to have tasted this eleventh season, this 21-year-old master's student in biology is certainly not the only one to salivate in front of M 6. "Watching Top Chef makes you hungry," says Simon, a fan. competition for ten years. It awakens the taste buds. "In order not to be too frustrated these evenings, this resident of La Seyne-sur-Mer (Var) is simmering for his partner and him good little dishes inspired by candidates' old recipes, which they taste just before the program.
"No pasta, no simple soup," he insists. Rather a ballotine of chicken with an unstructured apple pie, for example. This does not prevent him from rummaging in his reserve during the broadcast: "Even if we have had dinner, we can put on a packet of Haribo sweets or marshmallow bears." We nibble more than in front of a football match. "
Theme meal with friends
Laura, from Montpellier, had dinner twice in a row one evening of "Top Chef". "I saw the candidates preparing duck dishes and it happened that I had some in the fridge," she slips, mischievous. It was really delicious. My mother goes down to the kitchen during the pubs to get a bar of chocolate with fruit and almonds which she then devours. I also happen to make myself a bowl of milk with chocolate cereal. The worst part is when the chefs taste the candidates' pots. To me, it's like putting your finger in the dough of a chocolate cake. "
Last week, it was the “mouthful of paella” imagined by Nastasia that melted David, 46-year-old IT manager: “I wanted to eat my TV. It was very tempting. "This cooking enthusiast, who has hesitated to become a pro, is still improving thanks to M 6." We have the impression of having chefs at home, of feeling what they do, "he specifies. Only the odors are missing. "
Bastien, a 25-year-old Parisian, was fed up with his stomach gurgling over his TV. "It is the visual aspect of the dishes that makes you want to taste it and the technicality of the cooks that amazes you," he explains. So, for seven years, this statistician has been cooking with two friends in front of "Top Chef": "We choose a theme - Wednesday was pistachio - and we distribute the starter, the main course and the dessert. "
"We are trying to do the same"
Same atmosphere in Lille, with Florence, 46-year-old consulting director. Several times during the season, she invites six to eight friends: “At the end of the program, we look at the themes of the trailer and we try to do the same the following week. Everyone puts their hands in the dough. »His best memory? “Having reproduced the Robuchon puree with Le Touquet spleens. The prowess of Steve Ramon (2018 class) or Florent Ladeyn (2013 class) also made Florence want to push the door of their restaurant. "Chez Florent, it was canonissime", she judges.
And when this large mother does not go out or receive, she sometimes falls for sweet things. “For the premiere of Top Chef, I bought Ben & Jerry's ice cream in anticipation. And I already made a chocolate and passion fruit cake just because I had just seen one, she says. The presentation was magnificent. We feel the desire rising, it's irresistible. Until the final, we definitely gain pounds. But the worst is for the jurors. I remember that one year, Trap swelled well. "
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VIDEO. Paul Pairet, new juror for Top Chef
