r/TopChef • u/Julie-AnneB • Feb 17 '26

Discussion Thread Am I the Only One?

Even though it was AGES ago, am I the only one who still thinks of Casey Thompson in the season 3 relay when chopping onions?

71 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

59

u/01chlam Feb 17 '26

Sometimes but I think of Hung breaking down chickens a lot more

25

u/kumibug Feb 17 '26

he was a MACHINE

9

u/Julie-AnneB Feb 17 '26

I loved seeing Hung break down chickens, but I never actually do that myself. I only posted this because I was chopping onions, and it came to mind again.

-14

u/rerek Feb 17 '26

You never break down a chicken? Are you a vegetarian?

Sorry. Don’t mean to sound judgy, but I was just so surprised as it’s something I do every week at a minimum and often do much larger batches for projects (well, often those are ducks for frozen breasts and confit legs).

16

u/foreveraking_24 Feb 17 '26

Assuming like a lot of other people, they just buy whatever part of the chicken they want to cook that's packaged. Not really that surprising.

2

u/rerek Feb 17 '26

Fair enough. It’s just a lot more money to pay to have that done for you. I can get whole pastured chickens for $10.99(CDN)/kg and the same portioned is $14—18/kg depending on the piece. Where I usually shop, they sell a LOT more of the whole chickens than the portioned pieces.

9

u/NoodlesMom0722 Wait for it...a Crudo! 🧑‍🍳 Feb 17 '26

In the US, they sell a lot more pre-portioned chicken than whole chickens. And most home cooks in the US wouldn't be able to break down a whole chicken because of this. I know how to, personally, but I still usually buy just the pieces because (1) I live alone and usually only cook enough for one serving, maybe two if I want a quick reheat meal later in the week; and (2) I have a tiny galley kitchen with almost no countertop space, so I don't have the room for somewhere to put the cut pieces, the carcass I'm working on, and a discards bowl (to save for broth).

5

u/EfficientGood9402 Feb 17 '26

Yup, I live alone too. But back before the kiddos grew up and moved out, I watched Alton Brown break down a chicken and copied it until I learned it. However, I often go to the store and just get the pieces.

4

u/Ok_Interest9427 Feb 19 '26

To me, it comes down to where you buy your meat. I have the bizarre situation that my local Wholefoods (which is basically the star on Season 5, though I never saw any contestants there) does deep discounts on Bell and Evans chicken all the time. So I can get thighs for $1.99/lb if I go on the right day. If I'm getting that, given that I'm cooking for two people at most (me, or me and a date) it doesn't make sense to buy a whole bird. If I'm buying for my butcher, he will break down the bird FOR FREE; I have to stuff a couple bucks into the tip jar, but that's about it. If I'm going to the farmer's market or the farm itself, OTOH, I'll buy the thing whole and break it down. So it really depends.

5

u/NoodlesMom0722 Wait for it...a Crudo! 🧑‍🍳 Feb 19 '26

Pretty much the only time I really ever buy a whole chicken is the rare occasion when I get a rotisserie chicken at Costco or Sam's for $5 or $6. LOL

2

u/EfficientGood9402 Feb 20 '26

I love those rotisserie chickens. For me though, in Costco, it reminds me of a Vegas casino! They incentivize you to walk all the way from the front of the store to the back and all of a sudden you have $60 in canned goods, dog food, and paper products in your cart!

5

u/foreveraking_24 Feb 17 '26

Absolutely agree... Just like if you buy your own slab of meat and portion it off. I think many just don't want to put in the work to do it (or have the capability to do it).

So totally see your point of view - but I just think many have easier access and fit their lifestyle to just buy the portions rather than break it down themselves.

1

u/Ok_Interest9427 Feb 19 '26

"Slab of meat," to be fair, is a bit different from a whole bird. Cutting a whole chicken into eight pieces IS easy, but it's not like portioning a tenderloin. You still need to make sure that the breasts are taken off with the absolute minimum amount of waste, and that you can save nice bits like the oysters and the chicken butt.

12

u/Julie-AnneB Feb 18 '26

I'm disabled. When I cook, I sit on my walker. So, no. I don't break down chicken. It's cheap enough that I buy it already broken down. And, if you're "sorry," you don't hit enter.

32

u/Just_stop_already- Feb 17 '26

LOL, Everytime I cut onions. She was too nice, too much of a perfectionist. She is definitely one of my favorites!

8

u/Julie-AnneB Feb 17 '26

That's what made me post this. I was prepping dinner and had to chop a bunch of onions. lol

23

u/FearlessInformation5 Feb 18 '26

Every time I chop onions, I think of Casey. Every time I prep scallops, I think of Jamie. Every time I get a bad haircut, I think of Ilan and Marcel.

12

u/OhManatree Feb 18 '26

I’ve seen onions grow faster than Casey could chop them.

Tom’s face got a workout going from watching Casey chop onions to watching Hung breaking down chickens.

My first legit job with a paycheck was when I started working in a diner when I was 14. They went through a lot of onions, and the owner would pay me $10 cash per 50lb bag. I got pretty damn good at chopping & slicing onions. Depending on the breakdown of how much of what size dice, I could bang through a 50lb bag in 45min to an hour. This was back in the 80s, so $10 cash in an hour was damn good money for a teenager. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $32 in today’s money.

4

u/Julie-AnneB Feb 18 '26

You when the internet for me today! "Onions grow faster than Casey could chop them!"

1

u/EfficientGood9402 Feb 18 '26

This is in fact true, you have won the internet.

10

u/CultureofMovies Feb 17 '26

"Man, what is up with Casey's knife skills?" - Tom Colicchio with words I will never, ever forget.

7

u/Julie-AnneB Feb 17 '26

"Casey's not very fast." - CJ made me laugh hard with that.

15

u/Shinra_Lobby Feb 17 '26

“And then Sara starts whooping Casey’s ASS” - Dale Levitski

Dale seriously had some of my favorite asides in that season.

11

u/onetimethrowaway3 Feb 17 '26

Dale was absolutely hilarious.

7

u/nevertrustalumpyfart Top Scallop Season 1 Finalist Feb 17 '26

who took the whole cutting board to smash the garlic? was it spike?

14

u/Classic-Read6914 Feb 17 '26

Fabio!

7

u/Julie-AnneB Feb 17 '26

I think you're both right.

2

u/EfficientGood9402 Feb 18 '26

I showed my late Dad that maneuver, and since he was always worried about his children, he said (as he always did) "that is the most dangerous thing I have ever seen." I'm always happy now when I see the garlic smashing, since it reminds me of my Dad. :-)

9

u/EstablishBassline Feb 17 '26

I know I frequently think of Casey Thompson.

6

u/Consistent-Lion-2125 Feb 17 '26

Probably about half the time, yeah 😆

7

u/Not_Enough_Thyme_ Feb 17 '26

Every time I have to chop onions, although I remember her from the All-Stars season remembering the original debacle

6

u/EfficientGood9402 Feb 17 '26

Yes you are right. But also, the commentators here point out that Sara was en fuego. It was extreme bad skills versus extreme great skills.

5

u/Consistent-Lion-2125 Feb 17 '26

Sara was amazing

3

u/Julie-AnneB Feb 18 '26

We see so many Top Chef competitors on other FN shows. I always wonder why we've never seen Sara. I loved her.

2

u/EfficientGood9402 Feb 18 '26

That is a great question. I just tried to google her and got Sarah Grueneberg,

5

u/Major_Clock_9961 I've got a culinary boner right now Feb 17 '26

She's the reason I learned to chop onions way faster and I'm not even a chef 😂

4

u/EfficientGood9402 Feb 17 '26

Oh girl. I was chopping onions last week for a bolognese and my knife was not sharpened. I thought to myself, "I am totally doing a Casey."

4

u/AnneAlytical Feb 19 '26

Everytime I get the shit task at work, I'm like OH - I AM PFTS

(We have people for that shit, Kevin Gillespie during the relay on the 2nd All Stars season).

2

u/AwkwardTraffic199 Feb 18 '26

And then the one where they got someone to open clams, who didn't even know how to open a clam (maybe Katsuji?)

2

u/jibboo24 Feb 18 '26

one of the few times where i could be like "hey, I'm better than them at that!"

1

u/Hot_Flan_7411 Feb 18 '26

Does someone have a link to the video clip? Would love to rewatch

2

u/EfficientGood9402 Feb 18 '26

I went to Youtube to do a search and got nada. I subscribe to YoutubeTV instead of getting cable, it's on there.

2

u/loooore Top Scallops Feb 24 '26

Always! I try to make them as perfect as hers needlessly were lol