I’d disagree about the three-ring circus. Hell, if you’d eaten at half the houses I have, where salt is only on the table and never in the cooking, you’d agree that everything that can be done to make people cook good food is necessary. I mean, Geez, just because you make it warm doesn’t make it good food.
My mom is an incredible cook–food to die for (and from, if you take the fat content into account)–and I learned from the best. A little of this, a little of that. Might I mention that I’m the testosterone-bearing member of the family, and my wife comes from the “if it ain’t black, it ain’t done” tradition? But for her mom, cooking was always a chore and she grew up thinking of it the same way. For me, it was kind of like playing with a chemistry set: “Hmmmm…wonder what would happen if I threw in a little of this.” My daughter, at 5 1/2, will spend an hour in the kitchen with me just to help “BAM” stuff. She’ll grow up to be a good cook because it’s fun to cook. It’s like creating art, in the sense that you get to sit there while everybody either oohs and aahs or pukes. But the oohs and aahs make the failed experiments worth it.
I’ll make you an alfredo carbonara that will cause you to call me Daddy. And I throw in the spices saying “BAM” because it’s too fucking fun not to.
Cooking good is not an arcane art. Most of our grandmothers or great-grandmothers took it for granted, but in the age of TV dinners, McDonalds, Bennigans (or insert your favorite chain), and pizza delivery, we forgot how to do it right. In order to return cooking to the enriching experience it can be, we have to make it a show, make it fun.
Make me fried chicken or a real chicken fried steak, then we’ll talk food.
I saw Ainsley on some Aussie special and I thought it was a documentary- " When talk show hosts attack"
While not changing my opinion of the big E, I will say I like pork fat. A lot. maybe too much
My latest fix haas been Schweinhaxe mit Schwarte.
That’s a roast pork shank with strips of crunchy chewy pork skin on the outside-- it surely must be Homer Simpson’s favourite food in the world.
Ah, you’re too late, my dear, too late. Ainsley has infiltrated the US, Gomez, starting with Los Angeles. He has The Ainsley Harriot Show (even though I’d bother with a show called Can’t cook, Won’t cook) and he is another obnoxious ass polluting the air waves. We have a guy in our class that looks vaguely like Ainsley, but he can do a dead-on impersonation that usually gets us to start sharpening our knives in front of him.
If it was a toss up between having to watch Ainsley or Emeril, I’d turn off the TV and go cook something.
Uh, yeah, I’m sure the FoodTV hosts physically sit down and type up their recipes themselves, then post them on the website. In fact, I’ll bet Sara Moulton does her own Chyron work for “Cooking Live Primetime.” :rolleyes:
What, some PA or intern doesn’t have a half-hour to write down as the chef works, then put the stuff together? Gimme a break.
Well, you can definitely assume what you like based on what I say. That’s your prerogative.
Well, duh. Who the heck do you think he’s cooking for? I suspect that when you get home from class, the last thing you want to do is turn on TVFN. However, what he does would definitely be done in a home kitchen. (Well, maybe not all of it). And that’s who his audience is. Poor schmoes who can’t cook a lick, but love the glamour of it all. Professional kitchens have basically one mission: Put out food that people will pay for, and make it as close to the same every time as you can. The mission of a home chef isn’t necessarily the same. After all, when you cook at home, you have a captive audience.
Yeah, but you can bet your butt that a sous chef wouldn’t have smacked the executive chef for the same thing. And I’m sorry, but unless you’re very talented and/or lucky, anywhere you worked with Emeril, you would be the sous and he the exec, not the other way around.
We also hate Emeril. He holds forth too much. His whole show is just an opportunity for him to have people admire him, and you can tell that he knows it. I hate cooking shows where the cook just tries to get the audience to ooh and ahh, and basically massage his ego. Graham Kerr’s new show was like that too.
And let me put in a specific dig for Emerils promo for the FoodTV network. Have you seen it, he pops onto the screen holding a braided strand of garlic, looks at the camera, and proceeds to massage the garlic intensely. He is fucking MOLESTING that garlic - it gives me the willies!
As a transplanted New Yorker living in Fall River, MA, believe me when I say that his accent is not fake.
BTW Needs2Know, Emeril went to Johnson and Wales in Providence, not the suck-ass Culinary Institute here in town.
Rose
Not only is the guy a phoney, he seems like a sleezy con-artist. Remember a year or so back, every show he’d collect several hundred dollars in that fishtank that he said he was “gonna use to buy da 'Pahtridge Fahm’ly’s” bus from the TV show? Never happened. He was hawking that project (“We’re gunna use it t’ come ahrownd t’ youa neighb’rhood and show youse a t’ing or two about cookin! So >BAM< your money in dis heah fishtank!”
His website (actually his page on Food TV’s site) had an address where you could send money to contribute, he’d announce mail-in donations at the beginning of each show.
Then, one day,poof nothing. No fish tank, no “Pahtridge Fahm’ly Bus”, no mention of what he’d done with the loot he’d collected. Nothing.
Thank you all for warning me ahead of time, this guy sounds like a world class jerk. I still mourn the loss of Two Fat Ladies, they were a gas. “Nothing like a strong Indian, Clarissa!” This Emeril berk sounds much like my own non-favorite, Martin Yan. This guy’s constant pidgin English, (“See how beautiful!”), set back Asian American relations a full decade. Yan’s Best of Asia series is even worse as it contains almost no recipes at all.
Thanks Gomez, I’ve also had the misfortune to watch Ainsley Harriot prinking about. At first I was intrigued because he looked so much like the actor who played Garreth Blackstock on the fabulous PBS series, Chef!. That program was one of the most sidesplitting I have ever seen. One or two viewings of Harriot’s antics put me off permanently. The way the nit wit cavorts about, you would think that he’s trying to distract you from noticing the fact that he actually cannot cook at all.
Now as to you JavaMaven1, you have mentioned the true master, Jaques Pepin. This guy is fantastic! His understated style and competent work is always a pleasure to watch. The most convincing display he ever put on was when he appeared with Martin Yan. Pepin made a Baronnette of chicken on the show. In front of everyone, Pepin boned out a chicken, skin and meat intact, in less than three minutes. It was one of the most stunning displays of knife work that I have ever seen. Thank goodness that Yan had the decencey to merely look on in awe.
Pepin’s technical advice is always spot on and useful to the professional and beginner alike. I shall not talk about his daughter in this venue however.
I suppose all that remains is to direct all of you to this thread. All of you chefs out there are cordially invited to participate. Special recipe requests are welcome too. See you there!
The first time I ever saw Emeril he reminded me of this Greek I used to work for. Same kind of personality and similar cooking styles. Same huge egos too.
Hey Blue…You misread my post. I know he went to Johnston and Wales, and he’s on the board of directors of that “suck ass” school in Fall River. I want my daughter to go to Johnston and Wales for all the obvious reasons, like she can bring her laundry home on the weekends. cough
Well, duh… Seems like you didn’t read the second half of my post. I know that the Big E has been executive chef of the Commander’s Palace, and has opened several other restaurants to boot. Obviously, the guy does have an ability (and the stamina) to do this, and I’ll give him that; he must know what he’s doing in that department. Heck, I’m even sure that he can knock out a few really wonderful dishes. Like I had said, though, it’s not always the best cook that makes it to executive chef.
I’m certainly not obnoxious enough to think I’d ever have Emeril working for me; the guy has around 20 years experience–I’m still a peon culinary student. If I was working under him, I’d give him the respect he deserves… but I’m still going to think he’s a bad TV chef.
I like the guy on Good Eats. His show is entertaining without being non sensical. But what I really like is that song he did in the 80’s (** She Blinded Me with Science**). Cool tune.
