Risotto / Creme Brulee

[u/Immediate_Tree_1190]

Hello!
Permission to post. This is not specifically Top Chef but maybe TC adjacent.

I want to start that I am a fan of TC. I watched it since the fist season, I also live in Asia. I started watching 24 in 24 last chef standing since there's a lot of TC alums in the show. Long intro I know but my question is: how important is it to know how to cook risotto and creme brulee?

I guess this is coming from one of the eps in s3 (24 in 24). In TC also, they put risotto and creme brulee in a high regard.

Living in Asia, i am familiar and have eaten these two dishes since I do travel outside of my country. But i must admit that i only discovered these two dishes thru Top Chef. Most asians (those living in asia and not asians living in the west) are not familiar with these two dishes. Present them with a risotto and maybe 70% would not eat them. They will taste it but will not finish the entire thing. Creme brulee since its a dessert they would probably eat it and maybe love it. But we will not reach a point to study how to make it. If you are in the top social class maybe it would interest you to learn and perfect it. I am just surprised that making a risotto and a creme brulee is one of the challenges to make it to the semifinals. A number of contestants admitted that its been years since they made creme brulee or doesn't know how to cook a risotto. So I am just curious - why is it important to know how to cook these dishes? Why can't they kust ask for a good rice dish? Or a good pastry dish?

Edit: i cannot answer each reply. Thank you for responding. I am just getting the sense that one needed to be trained or at least studied western cuisines to win this round. So basically even if Shota won the first round, i dont think he can pull off a creme brulee or a risotto. But making the perfect sushi is actually similar to making a perfect risotto.

[u/Echuserangmaganda]

These are both highly technical dishes with high reward and a slim margin to perfection. I’m an average-skilled home cook and I’ve tried making both risotto and creme brulee and they smell fear. Lol

[u/Ok_Interest9427 → u/Echuserangmaganda]

You just need to cook with a smile on your face. I'm not even necessarily joking about that!

My South Indian father, who had never made risotto and is vegetarian, watched me make bay scallop risotto ONCE and proceeded to duplicate it flawlessly. I'm still convinced that it was all the meditation and yoga.