# I hate Alton Brown more than ever. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412 "2012-07-16T14:35:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412/161 "2012-07-18T18:35:23Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Also, Alton’s idiotic “do-it-yourself” smoker out of a cardboard, old tin, tin snips, a hot plate, etc…probably cost $40.00 to make if you didn’t have a scrap yard out back. Plus another couple of hours to put it together. > > A year or so ago, you could buy a cheapo electric smoker for about $80. And you could use it more than once. And it won’t melt in rain. Are you sure it wasn’t the [terra cotta](http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=_Ka2kpzTAL8) smoker (which definitely would not melt in the rain and could be used many times), and not the [cardboard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMk-y6330aE) smoker, that was around $40? I thought they were both pretty ingenious and it was entertaining to watch him make and use them. Good ole Yankee know-how, I say. 🙂 Gotta defend my man Alton here. Other than a few years there in the middle, when the bad character acting and silly plot lines got way out of hand, his show was the most consistently informative and interesting on the network, bar none. I’ve made many of his recipes, and while they weren’t all winners, he had a good success rate with me. As for criticisms from others that he is a sociopath, or an asshole, or got progressively meaner with each pound he shed – hey, I’m not going to say it’s wrong, but it really seems like a bunch of unsubtantiated nonsense to me. Plus, he’s an entertainer. You think Captain Kangaroo didn’t call out the crew on occasion when the cameras weren’t rolling? 😛 > [@GargoyleWB](#): > > On Good Eats, Alton also had a bum recipe for sauerkraut. It tasted like licorice strained through an old gym sock. Well, of course it did. It was _sauerkraut_! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412/162 "2012-07-18T18:48:50Z")
I don’t think anyone here is arguing that Good Eats wasn’t an excellent show. At least, that isn’t the point of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412/163 "2012-07-18T19:12:25Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > A “food” channel that doesn’t feature people cooking recipes is like a porn channel that doesn’t have naked people having sex. QFT ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412/164 "2012-07-18T19:29:50Z")
One problem I’ve had with Good Eats is just how complicated AB seems to make things, and usually unnecessarily, IMO. For example, his method for cooking lobster. I’ve never heard anyone complain about eating a boiled lobster. But AB had to instead steam it, then cut it all up and finish portions in the oven. The end result was a massacred lobster. I thought part of the fun of lobster was getting to massacre it yourself? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412/165 "2012-07-18T20:43:30Z")
I just looked up the onion soup recipe. Apple cider?? I spend an HOUR or more carmelizing onions and using all those good ingredients, and he puts apple cider into onion soup?? Sounds like some kind of prank - the man is obviously evil, too! ---
**Author:** ![FrigidLizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3bc359/32.png) [@FrigidLizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrigidLizard)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412/166 "2012-07-18T22:11:09Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > One problem I’ve had with Good Eats is just how complicated AB seems to make things, and usually unnecessarily, IMO. > > For example, his method for cooking lobster. I’ve never heard anyone complain about eating a boiled lobster. But AB had to instead steam it, then cut it all up and finish portions in the oven. The end result was a massacred lobster. I thought part of the fun of lobster was getting to massacre it yourself? I have to agree. He always seemed to insist on being a little too clever, especially with his hardware store rigs, like the tikki oven made with a terra cotta pot and a masonry saw. He’s like a balding Martha Stewart. Mr. Lizard calls him “The Anal Retentive Chef.” (R.I.P. Phil Hartman) ---
**Author:** ![tellthetruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@tellthetruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellthetruth)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412/167 "2012-07-19T15:45:01Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > QFT Food Nework is more about shallow personalities and lame competitions than it is about food. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412/168 "2012-07-19T16:37:55Z")
I want Alton to do a corrections show in which he correctly pronounces oligosaccharide, astaxanthin, arthropod, and plantain. Oh, and turbot. ---
**Author:** ![davey77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@davey77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davey77)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412/169 "2012-07-19T21:16:03Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > To expand further on this topic, I submit that no one beats Laura Calder in the Beautiful Titties department. My attention is so riveted on her cleavage\* that I miss most of whatever it is she’s saying. 🆒 > > \*I also love it when she goes upstairs to change clothes and comes back down all girly-like. Oooooooooooooooooooooh…! :rolleyes: You are correct, Sir! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-alton-brown-more-than-ever/628412.md?page=8)