A poll of sorts but if this is more suited for CS, feel free to move it, Czarcasm.
It seems no one does and while I agree with the prevailing sentiment that he is, in fact, the God of Cooking, it seems odd that he doesn’t have at least one detractor. I mean, even Mother Theresa must have had someone that thought she was twat and for all Alton’s bad-assery, he’s still just a TV personality.
Is anyone brave enough to risk a pile-on and a dozen or more Pit threads by admitting their dislike for him? There has to be someone out there, right?
Oh I really like Alton, but I have to admit, there is something about him that I just can’t put my finger on. Maybe he’s a bit cocky? But not quite. I think maybe he knows he comes off as cocky but doesn’t want to be so he throws in the gags to lighten up the show. Anyway, I understand why certain people might not like his personality or style, but they have to admit, he knows what he’s doing.
I am a kitchen nerd, and Alton Brown is therefore my king.
However, while his teaching of the techniques is second to none and his dropping of the knowledge about food science has revolutionized my cooking, his actual recipes–as in, the flavors he puts together–just aren’t that good. For instance, he has a tendency to put cumin in places where it doesn’t belong. His meatloaf, mired by a mirepoix of vegetables and the aforementioned cumin, was an atrocity.
Watch him to learn how to do things, but get the actual recipe from somewhere else.
I’ve cooked my (perfect) Thanksgiving turkey just like Alton taught me for years. Recently, he turned me on to a fantastic method for pot roast. (Pot roast with balsamic vinegar, olives and raisins? Contrary to what one might think, it’s very, very good.)
I made Alton Brown’s brined turkey for Thanksgiving.
I am now Goddess of Thanksgiving, and have intimidated the rest of my family with my expertise in making juicy, flavorful turkey in about half the time.
I tape Good Eats religiously, and putting the show on five days a week is the best thing the Food Network ever did.
My wife, however, thinks he’s weird. Sometimes she’ll watch the show with me if she’s really interested in the food and he’s not being too strange (like the cheesecake episode). But when he’s doing something really odd (like the boxing puppets in the pie crust episode), she rolls her eyes and walks away.
I went into my local, Very Cool Kitchen Gadget Store to pick up one of those tubular measuring thingys he uses… the one where he keeps adding stuff and then squishes the tube closed and all the ingredients pop out into the bowl?
The Gadget Store guy said to me, “Hm… have you been watching Alton Brown?”
