This all sounds familiar, but I’ve never heard of this guy… Is he spoofed on Futurama? The chef is called Elzar, and same thing… riotous applause for adding spices and such.
That’s the saddest thing I ever heard. No, I take that back, I once had a friend whose mom would make spaghetti with ketchup, but it’s still pretty sad. My wife accuses me of starting every recipe by browning a clove of garlic in olive oil. Like most of the lies she tells about me, it’s only partly true. Sometimes it’s a head of garlic.
Dinner at Bill Door’s house!
I’ve gotten better- like I said, now it’s a challenge to cook something that my parents will eat, because they’re so averse to garlic and I like it so much.
And finding a wine to go with it is even worse- the only wines other than White Zinfandel that I’ve gotten them to drink are off-dry Riesling and Lambrusco. I wouldn’t even try to get them to drink a nice dry wine. I did that once with my (then-future) MIL and Mr. Neville’s aunt- tried to take them wine tasting to a place that did dry wines. I ended up drinking my wine and theirs, too, after they decided they didn’t like any of it, so I got pretty drunk.
I love my parents dearly, but their lack of taste in food (they like Velveeta, for crying out loud!) and unwillingness to try something new embarrasses me, sometimes. But most of the time I just feel sorry for them- they’re missing some wonderful food and wine 
My great aunt used to saute a little garlic and onion before making any dish. She claimed it made the kitchen smell good.
It was fascinating to smell garlic and onions and eat brownies. 
I miss her.
How do you feel about someone who loves garlic but can’t stand wine?
I really hate when I’m at an event and they pass out champagne. I feel obliged to drink it, but it tastes so nasty.
Fine, so long as you don’t have a problem with me liking it. If I were at the event with you, I’d probably make puppy-dog eyes at you to try to get you to give me your champagne (unless, of course, I was planning to drive later).
I don’t have any quarrel with that. I’ve never eaten food that he’s prepared, and perhaps in a commercial kitchen with his reputation and paycheck on the line, he produces some dandy vittles. I just don’t see what he’s doing on this show as being anything special.
I’d applaud too-garlic is yummers! My dad, who loves to cook, watches Emeril all the time. I have to admit, he’s made some pretty tasty-looking things.
[Marge Simpson]
8 spice spice rack? There aren’t 8 spices. Or-e-gon-o… what the heck is that?
or
The secret ingredient is salt!
[/Marge]
I feel no thread is complete without a Simpsons quote.
For the Extreme Garlic Lovers: Garlic Candy. It’s really good.
I was reading some critique of celebrity-based cookbooks, and it mentioned Emeril’s book. They said it was pretty clear that Emeril rattled off a quick description to someone who didn’t understand how to fill in the blanks, and it was rushed out the door. If you at home followed the recipe on the page exactly, you would have very little chance of creating the same dish that Emeril had in mind. Apparently a lot of cookbooks with some big name attached to them have similar problems.
Several years ago I ate at Emeril’s restaurant NOLA in New Orleans, and that was some of the finest food I have ever tasted. He might be a jackass on camera but he really does know his craft.
That seems very unusual, and very tasty! I’d try it!
if only I could cook…
I like Emeril, and I have cooked a some of the recipes from his show. I will agree that the BAM thing, and applauding for garlic is sorta old. But many of the recipes are really good, and I have learned a few things from him, even though I am already a good cook.
On a side note, the first time The Sausage Creature went to stay with her dad and his new wife, I asked her how it went. Her reply still makes me grin: “She doesn’t understand garlic”, complete with rolleyes and teenage angst! 
If we don’t support our garlic growers, the vampires win.
And the thing is, in a very early Simpson episode Marge was seasoning pork chops with turmeric and chervil!
Could it be because a lot of cooks of Emeril’s caliber no longer really follow recipes-they just go by what “feels” right? My dad’s like that, never measures. It does get him in trouble when baking, though.
Yeah, that’s part of it. But the recipes in the book are apparently really sloppy. Manduck mentioned the bread recipe that didn’t list the kneading step. This article I read mentioned a fish recipe that would some out watery and mushy as written. There, the missing step was a slotted spatula used to lift the fish out of the baking pan and drain off excess juices before proceeding with the next step. An inexperienced home cook, who is probably the main target audience after all, might not know what went wrong.
It’s true that following a recipe exactly may produce different results each time, because of the varying quality of ingredients and equipment. Spices lose potency, one onion has more flavor than another, your oven might have a hot spot in the back while mine has one in the front instead. However, a well written recipe should at least give a good baseline. You can always tinker with it later.
Foity seven cluvs.
Foity seven cluvs uh gahlic in dis.