To me that’s true of pretty much every chef on TV. The amounts of salt they use are to me the amounts good for racing rocket cars, not for human consumption.
I’ve noticed that the judges on Top Chef are always complaining about “unseasoned” meat. Maybe they’re just used to tons of salt.
I think it was Alton (who, it must be remembered is not a chef) who said that the single most important skill a chef must possess is the ability to properly season (i.e., add salt to) food.
They all use lots of salt. She uses entire fistsful of the stuff. Watching her salt pasta water is hilarious.
He’s been to culinary school & worked as a chef in the restaurant business. He likes to claim he isn’t a chef, but I suppose he does so in an attempt to seem a bit more down-to-earth. He is (or was) a chef.
That’s how one should salt pasta water. It isn’t unusual at all.
Mario Batali explained this. Your only chance to properly season pasta is by salting the water. He said that Italian cooks feel that the pasta water should be like the sea.
Folks, seriously. I know you add lots of salt to pasta water. Watch her show. She goes far, far beyond “lots” of salt. I suspect she’s far past the saturation point of salt in water (even at elevated temperatures). This isn’t “like the sea”. This is “oversalted for the Dead Sea”.
Anne Burrell (for it is she with the “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef” show, which I love) uses tons of salt because she makes food in quantity. In her red-sauce episode, she made enough for twelve servings. Naturally it looks like a lot of salt. The actual food is amazing. I really enjoy her show; she’s a seriously idiosyncratic personality for the network, and she knows her stuff in a way the Paula Deens and Sandra Lees can only dream about.
The most recent issue of “Cook’s Illustrated” has a discussion of real vanilla versus the imitation stuff. If you’re not a subscriber, the short version is, the qualities and complexities of vanilla are burned off at higher baking temperatures, so the cheaper imitation is perfectly acceptable in things like cookies. You should use the real stuff (either extract or an actual vanilla bean) only in uncooked or low-temperature applications, like custard (and its derivatives like ice cream).
The amusing thing is, Ina Garten is a reader of Cook’s Illustrated – she namechecks them in her most recent cookbook. One hopes she’ll lay off on the “good” vanilla. (although the CI folks all admit they still use real, not imitation, themselves – despite their own findings last time around.)
I watched a couple of shows, and she did pick up salt by the fistful, but I didn’t get the sense that she used it any more than what I saw in professional kitchens. A handful for her is probably around 1.5 to 2 tablespoons.
I get a lot of raised eyebrows when people see me add salt to a piece of meat that is about to be grilled or roasted. Those folks are usually converts by the end of dinner.
ETA: I can certainly see why it got your attention, Lightray. It made me do a double take the first time I saw her do it, but I think that’s due to the fact that most people just don’t grab salt that way.
Read his bio on Wikipedia. He went to culinary school because he didn’t know enough about cooking to make the TV show he wanted to make. Brown describes himself as “a storyteller who makes 30-minute movies about food.”
Cite.
I know how he describes himself. He still was a chef & did his share of time in professional kitchens (post culinary school). He has spent more time behind (or in front of) a camera than anything else, so it certainly isn’t his primary focus by a long shot.
It isn’t how he wants to be identified, and I can understand and respect that. It’s just best to keep that in mind, though, when evaluating his kitchen skills.
Anne Burrell worked (works?) as a sous-chef at one of Batali’s restaurants, which is why she was his sous-chef on Iron Chef. No doubt she learned her salting techniques from him.
I thought that one might be a bit over the top, but on the other hand - if you’re going to grind your own hamburger, why not make it from different cuts to achieve a perfect balance of flavor, texture and mouth feel?
Making the Wikipedia page about him, I found what he’s doing these days. His newsletter, the Rosengarten Report, may be moribund (at least it’s not taking any new subscribers). But he’s organizing food tourism, cruises and trips to various countries. His next one is a trip to Iceland for Valentine’s Day.
He mentioned something in one of his interviews about trying to make a show that would fit into their new format. He could probably pull it off, but come on - isn’t there a place on the network for one show that is seriously about food?
Seriously, one would think that the success of Good Eats would make the programming decision-makers at FN take notice. They’re spending so much money trying to capitalize on the success of Iron Chef & reality shows that they are ignoring the success of the one “hard-core” show they have left.
I like Paula Deen but I acknowledge that she can get on nerves. I have tried some of her recipes and like them. Giada annoys me far more, the boobage, the toothy fake smile, the overpronunciation of Italian words and the huge head all bug me but I like her food, it looks good and simple to make. I also like Ina Garten although he giggle is a bit creepy. I think I am even more amazed about her and her husband after reading about them on wiki.
I don’t like Sandra Lee but sometimes I watch the show just to mock her and her tablescapes. I also can’t stand Emeril or Bobby Flay.
Come on, what’s not to like about boobage? It’s not like she’s naked or anything. They just happen to be on her show, because they’re there, right below her collarbone and right above the stove. What’re they going to do, just show her in mugshots? Boobage and foodage. Mmmmmm.
Okay, I don’t like her show either. I just don’t get how that’s a reason for not liking it. How do you show someone cooking but not have her (ample ample) chest in the shot?
Oh, Jebus.
She mentioned once in a commercial going to “CAPry.”
Took my brain almost 30 seconds of subliminal processing to realize she’d been to Capri.
indeed. I am always surprised at myself for falling asleep on her show with all that eye candy, but I do. She is that boring, and even the great production job (a la Tyler’s Ultimate) cannot save her.