Dude, does your wife know about that?
My dad watches Emeril a lot. I think I watched once when he was making pierogies. Anyone who makes homemade pierogies is okay in my book.
If you all are going to fight over Alton Brown, at the very least you should settle it with a naked olive oil wrestling match. And set up a webcam, while you’re at it!
I think there’s only so much of Emeril that you see. On the old show, he was pretty stiff and uncomfortable about the camera being there, and he still had some humility. Whoever it was that got to him between that show and his current one, needs to be slapped. Instead of coaching Emeril to come out of his shell some, and be a bit more bouncy and personable, he was seemingly instructed to be a pompous jerk.
And why do people applaud for garlic? Butter? Fat? He also seems to get a kick out of mangling the language, too, even though he isn’t aware he’s doing it.
What galls me the most about Emeril has nothing to do with food. He makes himself look like a giant moron every time he makes reference to the Food Network webpages. “It’s on that double-you…double-you…dot…thing,” even saying it as though it’s something too inconsequential for him to even learn what to call it. Is there something endearing about proclaiming your ignorance of modern technology on national television?
And the falsetto, off-key humming has got to go. Bam THIS, garlic boy.
I’m a vegetarian. I don’t think Emeril has ever once cooked anything I can eat.
I’m also a pretty inexperienced cook. I love Alton Brown because he once did a show on how to make scrambled eggs. That’s about my level of cooking. Thank you, Alton!
Bobby Flay has never recovered any credibility in my eyes after his-stands-on-the- equipment-during Iron Chef stunt.
My other least favorite celebrity chef is Nigella Lawson. Her columns in the New York Times are pretentious and condescending.
I’d give Rachel Ray a 30 minute meal…
nudge nudge, knowhattimean?
Anyone (it appears to be most everyone) who enjoys *Good Eats * would probably enjoy What Einstein Told His Cook, by Robert Wolke.
I dislike Emeril’s recent tv work, but he used to ride the circuit of other television programs and was, I thought, very good. His show now might serve to inspire recipe ideas, but trying to match what he’s doing to what he’s saying is getting much too hard: “A tablespoon of olive oil,” he says, pouring about 2/3 of a cup into the pan; “We’re just going to sweat these a little,” he says, dumping some onions into a pan so hot you can see them flash-fry before the camera cuts away. And he does teach people how to create large quantities of burned, bitter garlic.
Really? Tonight she made a salad of red pepper, celery, and red onion with a homemade dressing of EVOO (of course), lime juice, and chili powder. On the next show she made mixed mesclun with EVOO ( 
), red wine vinegar, and some other damn thing. No way both of those salads put together would cost $15.
I watch Rachael (and that’s how you spell it, guys) because she often gives me good ideas for stuff I can make. I don’t eat meat, which means I can’t always make the stuff she (or most of the FoodTV folks) make, but I can change it up a little and make something similar. She’s also very down to earth and talks you through every step. That’s what I like about Alton Brown, too.
I also agree with whichever poster said that there’s just too much cumin being used on FoodTV, not just by Alton, but in general. I’m not a big fan of cumin and I often just skip it or put in far less than the recommended amount. I would never put it in pasta sauce, no matter what anyone says.
You’d bake her a frozen pizza?
I cannot watch Paula Dean’s show for more than five minutes, simply because she sounds almost exactly like my evil step-grandmother. It’s the harsh nasal drawl. I’m sure Ms. Dean is a perfectly nice woman, but I couldn’t eat anything she made because I’d be expecting a passive-agressive verbal beatdown to accompany the meal.
Alton Brown rocks, though. I’ve been hooked since the honey episode.
No thread singing the praises of Alton Brown (who will gladly tell you that he’s no chef) woulf be complete without this link. Transcripts, places to buy the equipment he uses, fictional Iron Chef episode (which also makes fun of Flay), etc.
I greatly miss the dearly departed Julia Child. I adore her solo, but she used to have some interesting chemistry going on with Jacques Pepin, too.
I started an Alton thread in IMHO for anyone interested: Link.
Euuuw…
Euw, euw.
Anyway, umm Why are you WATCHING all of these people? I mean, I like to cook and all, but I find watching TV about it overwhelmingly boring, no matter WHAT they’re cooking, not even something chocolate.
From the few snippets that I’ve caught of some of these shows, I have to give a tentative agreement. Although I can NOT stand Martha Stewart (I know she does more than just cook, but I’ve disliked her for many years, before she became mega domestic goddess even) so if these folks are anything like her, I can’t say as I blame you.
Wooops!
The euuuw euws were supposed to have a smilie, just teasin’.
I don’t know if her show’s still on, but I used to watch Gail Gand of Sweet Dreams a lot. She was a dessert chef, and made all sorts of awesome stuff.
Alton is da man. I made his brined turkey and his braised baby back ribs, and they were both excellent.
And remember kids, “If Yan Can Cook, so can you!” In some ways Martin Yan is Alton’s Chinese counterpart. As a kid I used to love it when he did his Whirling Outboard Motor Propeller Strike on a bunch of green onions or whatever.
Emeril - The audience bugs me, the constantly repeated jokes bug me (BTW, he washes his hands… in his sink… compliments of the Sopranos… that was funny the first time…) But I like the Essence of Emeril, and the show he did when he opened Tschop Chop (sp?) and other shows away from that cultish audience. Emeril has a LOT of passion for food. That’s what I like best.
Flay - Yes, he’s a stone asshole, and trendy to the point of putting on airs. But he does have a great knowledge of Southwest dishes and chilis in general. Also I like his Boy Meets Grill show. He knows his Q.
Paula Dean - I can hear my arteries hardening. But she is so sweet you could eat her with a spoon (hush youse, you know what I mean…) And I love when she has her sons on, you can just see the love in that family.
Rachel Ray - I like her shows. She does simple stuff that anyone could do. And I’d do her too, especially after seeing those pics… :eek:
Mario - Mario talks too fast. But he REALLY does true Italian cooking. He spent the years in Italy, learning. His food just blows me away.
Wolfgang - I don’t like his show much, and he doesn’t really take time to show techniques (except for the odd slo-mo shots… :dubious: ) But Puck is legend. Someone else mentioned how cool and calm he was on Iron Chef America. He is a master.
Jamie Oliver - I like him. Like his accent. Don’t remember many of his dishes tho. I liked the series he did when he opened the restaraunt with the delinquents for chefs. That really showed the passion he has (I have a thing for passion.)
Sara Moulton - She bugs me. Always trying to get her guests to hurry up. Makes me nervous.
Alton - The best. For ALL the reasons everyone else has already mentioned.
De Laurentiis (sp?) - She is a little weird looking, with a too often smile, but she sometimes wears a yummy low-cut blouse… so it evens out. 
I’ll say this about her, like Mario, her dishes are the REAL DEAL Italian.
Tyler Florence - I like him a lot. On Food 911 he’s funny, helpful, and makes a WIDE variety of styles. I liked his other show too, Tyler’s Ultimate. He went all over the world searching for the most classic cuisines (like apple pie) and then brought everything he had learned together in his own "ultimate version.
Sandra Lee - What can I say about her “cuisine?” Nothing. She’s going to have back problems when she gets older.
Julia - Julia was the best. It took me a long time to see that, but when I did… wow! She knew EVERYTHING. And was still just herself. Not smug like a french chef, or a clown for the camera or anything like that. I especially loved her shows with Jacques Pepin.
It just occurred to me - know who nobody mentioned?
That 'ol Galloping Gourmet! I forget his name, starts with a G. Keep wanting to say Garrison Keillor, but that’s not right. Garth Brooks? No.
Anyway, I’ve seen some recent incarnations of his shows & that is one dear sweet man!
Interesting that he’s not on anybody’s radar.
I saw a lovely recipe that she recommended in her column, it was some kind of a poached spiced plums with maple syrup recipe. Now, I’d just read the recipe that week, so I rushed to the local supermarket and bought a new bottle of real maple syrup, then looked for plums. No dice. Well, I figured, they don’t have much room in this store, I’ll check the local big supermarket chains. And so I ended up going to 2-3 locations for each of the two major supermarket chains here. Then to a Whole Foods, then a Wild Oats. No plums. I can find exotic fruits and vegetables from around the world, but no goddamned plums, and finally it dawns on me that this isn’t my fault or the local stores’ fault, plums are just not in freaking season and someone - either her or some kind of editor - screwed up royally and printed a recipe for something that wouldn’t even show up in the stores for (it turns out) two months. By that time I bought the plums, but I was just so frustrated by the whole thing that the plums ended up sitting around forever and I finally tossed them out.
Erm, anyway… Moral of the story is to not play up how wonderful and seasonal your particular recipe is (as she did) only to publish it in a time that’s completely out of season and entirely impossible to use the recipe.
Plus her set of three nesting mixing bowls and a wooden pestle cost eighty-five dollars at a department store I found them in. Eighty-five dollars for mixing bowls?! No thank you. I’m not cheap when it comes to kitchen gear; I’ll drop a hundred bucks or so on a decent knife or pan if it’s good quality and highly recommended (especially by the people at Cook’s Illustrated), but not on a few mixing bowls.
Graham Kerr. He’s hilarious! He completely fell of my radar, I haven’t seen him in years.
Paula Dean seems to laugh at various times for no reason. Like there’s some inside joke that audience hasn’t been told about.
I remember one episode where she was going to use butter.
“Butter. Hahahahahahahahaha!”
Um…OK Paula. Maybe I don’t want to know.