‘Fast Foodies’ Recap: ‘Horatio Sanz’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 211 of ‘Fast Foodies’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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For the most part, Fast Foodies on truTV is a series… that rarely explores the same theme twice. A feat that it is able to accomplish, by way of the diverse group of celebrity guests that visit the kitchen. Since each of them bring unique reasons for loving a particular food to the table. Allowing for us to have fresh insight regarding our love affair with food. But as of late, the celebrities popping by the kitchen have had no specific reasons to offer regarding their love of a particular food choice. They’ve simply spoken to why a certain dish is delicious and how that sticks with them, and this shift in tone… has allowed for a different exploration regarding food to take place.

In that, it’s just transformed these past few episodes into a celebration of food and how its flavors can wow us and bring us nothing but joy and comfort, and all of this is relevant to our discussion today, simply because a celebration of food is precisely what took place during this week’s episode. For Horatio Sanz dropped by to express the wonder that a good old fashioned White Castle Burger and Onion Rings platter brings him on a regular basis. Just because it’s damn delicious and you can’t go wrong with its burger-y goodness and sheer tastiness, and the complexity of this dish, led to quite the competitive copycat round. For White Castle assembles it meals in a supremely unique manner and the challenge of that motivated the chefs to really work hard to replicate this dish properly.

Which meant they each had to figure out how to properly slice that meat to the right consistency and thickness that White Castle makes use of. Plus, they needed to figure how to properly vent the meat so it could steam the bun and onions in the appropriate manner and of course, they had to make some bomb onion rings and well, the end results were fascinating to say the least. Since Kristen’s dish turned out solid, but the patties were just a little too thick to be a White Castle replica. As for Justin, he definitely came closer to making it just right. Since his patties were thinner and his rings were delectable. And Jeremy, while his rings were the best out of the three, since they actually made Horatio freeze for a moment to relish in their wonder, his burger had too many pickles and the meat wasn’t quite right.

Which allowed for Justin to win the day here since he came the closest and with his victory in hand, it was off to a stellar remix round. Wherein the chefs once again went all out in capturing the spirit of the meal. Since Jeremy assembled an Umami Glazed Wagyu with Soba dish, that was ridiculously gorgeous and flavorful and once again put Horatio on cloud nine and Kristen… well she created a Cheese Arancini with Black Garlic Aioli and Onions. A bite sized creation full of flavor and memories of White Castle through and through… despite not having any beef in it. As for Justin, well he made a beautiful Stroganoff with Wagyu Beef. A dish that basically fused together White Castle and down-home cooking with fine dining. 

But in the end, there can only be one Chompion and this week that chef was Jeremy. Because the beef in his dish, was just so beautifully flavored and for his efforts, he got some awesome White Castle gear and another victory to add to his collection and well… this episode was just a blast when all is said and done. For it really did lean hard into the fact that food is just freakin’ amazing and always finds a way to bring us comfort and joy and there’s nothing wrong with spending a half hour of our day being reminded of that, and well, the only real complaint one can have about this episode, is that it brings us close to the end of this year’s flavorful journey. For there is only one episode left in season two and it will be bittersweet to sit through one more lesson on the wonder of food and how it sustains more than our appetites. Until next time.

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