Homebrewer Ben Starr, finalist on Tv's Master Chef season 2

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Revvy

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
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I'm watching the current episode (I think from last night) and the final person given an apron, and entered into the next round turns out to be a hombrewer. His name's Ben Starr,(Facebook page) and although he seems a little geeky (like most of us) the chef judges seem blown away by him.

You can see his segment in the last block of masterchef on hulu here. (Skip to 34:49)

He also has evidently some youtube videos where you can see his somewhat exuberant demeanor-



He made a fish taco which incorporated roasted pumpkin, and his PUMPKIN IPA (I want the recipe!!!!!)

(I wonder if he's one of us here?!?)

Here's wishing him well!!!!!!!

:mug:
 
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Indeed I am! Not nearly the masters that most of you are, still learning, but I've been brewing for 4 years and I'm a full fledged addict. Just upgraded to kegging last year and built a nice 4-tap kegerator in my garage. Thanks for watching, everyone! It will be a wild season.
 
Ben, I really enjoyed your segment on the show. I think I would be supporting even without the brewing connection! You come across with brilliant enthusiasm and zeal, and immensely likable. Best of luck in the show. I guess I'll have to start following it now!!:mug:
 
Fantastic job Ben!

I now have to go set up the DVR when I get home. :mug:

Oh, and post up that Pumpkin IPA recipe!!! (or a link to it!)
 
Very cool! I have been meaning to start watching MasterChef and now I have another reason to. Good luck, brother!
 
Ben,
I'll be rooting for you. My SWMBO said that your forgetting the secret ingredient then laughing about it would be something I would do. Hilarious! good luck.
 
Good Luck! We'll be watching and we'll be respectful of your Non-Disclosure agreements.

Which, hopefully does not apply to the Pumpkin IPA. :)
 
I can almost recall Ramsey’s words, “so you’ve been in the underground this whole time ha big boy” something like that!

Best of luck Ben!
 
Here's my Pumpkin IPA recipe. I believe it's from a Stone IPA clone that I outright stole from someone else here, and made my own little adaptions. It's an extract recipe, guys...I've been brewing for 4 years, but haven't made the leap to AG yet. Forgive!

10# roasted pumpkin flesh (any other hard squash will work, and you don't have to use this much. Canned pumpkin will NOT work. Big mess.)

Cut fresh pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds, turn cut side down into a pan, add 1 cup water, and roast at 350F until the pumpkin begins to collapse on itself. Reserve liquid to add to wort, let pumpkin cool a bit, peel off skin, break into manageable chunks, add to wort with following grains and extract:

8# pale liquid
1# Munich
1# Crystal 20L
0.5# cara pils
0.5# flaked barley

HOld 1 hour at 160F.

1 oz. Warrior 60 minutes
2 oz. Centennial 15 minutes
2 oz. Centennial 5 minutes

American Ale yeast

Dry hop with 2oz Centennial in the keg

My OG 1.070
My FG 1.020
6.75%
 
Did Gordon drop any F-Bombs on you?

Holy sh1te balls, did he ever? I've never heard that many cuss words come out of a human mouth. Worse than Full Metal Jacket!

But he's actually an incredibly bright, friendly, sensitive guy. That's just his camera act.
 
By the way, all the shows are posted for free to watch on-demand the day after they air on Fox's MasterChef website:

http://fox.com/masterchef

So can catch up if you haven't watched it from the start! It's actually a really fun show. There were some other home brewers in the original 100. And Adrien (young Mexican guy who made the achiote buffalo in the first round) and Derrick (death-metal guy with the lip piercings who made the homemade chorizo sopas in the first round) are both AVID craft-brew addicts who are about to get into homebrew. I was in very good company on the show!
 
Thanks for the recipe and the info on your fellow contestants.
I'm sure we all will try brewing it :)

and if you are in contact with the craft brew turned homebrew folks, send them to us... we will be gentle. well, mostly gentle.
 
Seriously the only reason I watch this show is because a fellow brewer is on it and I wanna see how he does. Great job so far Ben!
 
Seriously the only reason I watch this show is because a fellow brewer is on it and I wanna see how he does. Great job so far Ben!

Me too. I hate the show. I hate the stupid challenges like forcing folks to peel apples for 2 hours, or making them race to get their ingredients. I wanna see folks cook, see how they handle things like the ingredient boxes- what kinda food they come up with, and hear the critiques. I don't really care about the "drama" of who dislikes who or crap that is meant to humiliate folks.

I only watched one episode of last season, and must have forgot about my dislike for the show when I saw this season starting on Hulu. I watched the selection episodes because I wanted to see what folks "signature dishes" were. Then Ben came on and I got excited again. But once the first "elimination" crap with the apples happened I would have turned it off if it weren't for Ben's presence.

I don't know how much more I'll watch if Ben gets put off the show.
 
I wanna see folks cook, see how they handle things like the ingredient boxes- what kinda food they come up with, and hear the critiques. I don't really care about the "drama" of who dislikes who or crap that is meant to humiliate folks.

This is why I prefer 'Chopped' to Masterchef.
Mystery Box, stovetop and a time limit. None of the post-production drama that reality shows seem to revolve around nowadays.

Being a former post guy ( including time @FOX), I tend to notice things like how many times a cutaway is used, or how often a contestant is highlighted. Weird choice in that they singled out Ben at first with the salmon dish, and then he was a ghost the remainder of the episode. I really wanted to see his "French" dish and to see if there was an improvement over the mystery box dish.

That could have been used as a 'redemption moment', but the producers decided to keep the negative tone -- people will go home. not people will rise to the occasion.

I'm just glad I don't have to cut the promos for that show.
 
This is why I prefer 'Chopped' to Masterchef.
Mystery Box, stovetop and a time limit. None of the post-production drama that reality shows seem to revolve around nowadays.

I was going to mention chopped, and even Iron chef as well, as great examples.

The sad thing is that even food network isn't exempt from drama crap like that. I was really impressed with the first season of "Be the next food network star" because it didn't fall into that "reality" tv crap. I even started the application process to enter for season two, but I didn't have it all together so I planned to send it in for the third season, then my dad got sick and all that life stuff so I forgot about it.

When the last season began I watched the first episode and was saddened to see how much "personality" crap was added to the show. It became too much like Hell's kitchen and master chef.

Since I'm a foodie and cooking nut, like Ben, I can't get enough of food shows, and I actually like Gordon Ramsey, so I try to watch any shows. But I'm in it for the food and the techniques, and the knowledge, not the personal crap.

You wanna see a really fun and educational food show, with a bit of a contest twist? Go to Hulu and watch the 2 seasons of a made for the internet series called "Pressure Cook" with Ralph Pagano, who was the finalist looser on the first season of Hell's Kitchen. I'm addicted to it so much I've watched each episode a dozen times probably.
 
I really enjoy top chef; the reg one, not masters. It's a lot about the food, a little about the people
 
I was going to mention chopped, and even Iron chef as well, as great examples.



You wanna see a really fun and educational food show, with a bit of a contest twist? Go to Hulu and watch the 2 seasons of a made for the internet series called "Pressure Cook" with Ralph Pagano, who was the finalist looser on the first season of Hell's Kitchen. I'm addicted to it so much I've watched each episode a dozen times probably.

Pressure Cook is fun to watch. Very good productionvalues as well.
Many of the MOJO programs are good actually. After Hours with Daniel being another example.
 
Hmmm... another episode that didn't have Ben's dishes.
Conspiracy?
Maybe.

It seems that Max is being made out to be the 'Heel' ( using a pro wrestling term here ).
There are no 'Pretty Boys' or crowd favorites at this point.

Our Mr. Ben seems to be used for quick bits and bites between battles.
Is it because he's a mediocre cook? Possible, but most likely not.
Not giving the producers enough juicy personality to exploit?
Based on the Reaction shots -- that's not it either. Ben IS quite expressive.

Here is a theory: They are building him up to be the heel after they ax Max.

It's always the quiet ones. :)
 
Tuesdays episode is on Hulu and Fox.
Best line in the show was from Ben.

His line... " beer, Beer,BEER,BeeR "


I need to build an animated .gif now.

Curse you Ben for keeping me up too damn late. :)
 
Glad that prick got kicked off. I think Ben has a good strategy of flying under the radar until the end.
 
Glad that prick got kicked off. I think Ben has a good strategy of flying under the radar until the end.

I dunno, I didn't always like him, but I think it was unfair that either of them got thrown under the bus by the "captain." I was hoping upon hope that the judges at the final second, because both cooks were really close with the steaks, tossed Esther out instead.
 
That's awesome! Me and the wife watched the episode (1st or 2nd) where you had to peel the apples for hours. I wondered if you were a forum member. Cool beans.
 
What about Marimoto aka Rouge marimoto soba, etc... Just happend to notice a refernece to him/ rouge beer.Sorry to go off topic and whatnot.Just a thought.
 
Indeed I am! Not nearly the masters that most of you are, still learning, but I've been brewing for 4 years and I'm a full fledged addict. Just upgraded to kegging last year and built a nice 4-tap kegerator in my garage. Thanks for watching, everyone! It will be a wild season.

Best of luck Ben! :mug:
 
Thanks, folks! I figured this thread would have fizzled but it's still going! And so am I.

With so many people in the competition, there's just not screen time for everyone. They don't want it to be "The Ben Starr Show" so you'll see me come and go here and there.

I won the catfish challenge last night, and this coming Monday will be UTTERLY insane, so tune in if you're looking for a wild ride.

Agreed to the general sentiment that it would be a more interesting show if the focus was more on cooking than drama. However, this is a major public network and they are targeting a broad audience. Us food and beer geeks make up only a fraction of the people who watch the show, and the majority of "fans" who get in touch with me confess that they can't cook to save their life. They tune in for the drama and suspense, which is exactly what Fox gives them!

Ultimately it's a fun show, and the more eliminations occur and the core group dwindles, the more the time slot will be filled with cooking technique and less name calling.

So grateful for the support here on homebrewtalk! If I get my ultimate dream of a guest farm/cafe/brewery on the Big Island of Hawaii, I'll need lots of conceptual help for great new never-before-conceived-of brews!!!
 
I was going to post a congrats on the catfish challenge, and that you're going to be team captain next week. Hopefully everything will work out, and you don't have a big "I was team leader" target on you.

:mug:
 
Wow! I was intrigued by Ben from the selection episode when he used his Pumpkin IPA in the recipe. . .that was probably right before I joined the forum.

I was already rooting for him due to this, but this is pretty cool.

Good luck. . .that catfish episode last night made me hungry.
 
If I get my ultimate dream of a guest farm/cafe/brewery on the Big Island of Hawaii, I'll need lots of conceptual help for great new never-before-conceived-of brews!!!

Pineapple-butt Beer!! It's a bit like beer-butt chicken, but much more painful for the brewer! :mug:
 
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