I wonder about that myself! I think the scrambled eggs would have been done in more like 30 minutes if I'd got the temperature right the first time, but the lamb chops definitely needed 3-4 hours. Time depends on thickness, and increases exponentially, so maybe they just do everything with very thin fillets? If I'm reading right, a half-inch-thick piece of meat could be done in a reasonably short period of time, but a thick steak would take hours. (Also, fish and seafood probably cooks faster than land animal meat, and I'm betting chicken is faster than red meat.)

I'll have to pay attention to what kinds of cuts they use next time I watch Top Chef, though.