I tend to watch Alton Brown, Paula Deen, Everyday Italian, The Secret Life of... and The Barefoot Contessa, even if Ina Garten sounds like she's having sex when she's cooking. "Ohhhh... Carrots..."
I don't care for Rachel Ray... Something about her recipes make them look made up 5 minutes before the cameras start rolling.
Bobby Flay puts ancho chilies in everything and that's boring and predictable.
Once Emeril went Hollywood and got a comedy show, that was it for him.
"Hey, you created me. I didn't create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better. Take some responsibility! ."
Mrs. Dunk and I went to a taping of "Emeril Live" back in the first season of the show and we came away vastly unimpressed. I can't watch him at all anymore.
Iron Chef - both versions, Rachel Ray (even though she can be very annoying), Paula Deen, Food 911, Tyler's Ultimate and Wolfgang Puck's Cooking Class. Mrs. Dunk won't answer the phone during Molto Mario.
Off the Food Network, I like to watch Lidia's Italian Table and Everyday Food on PBS.
Enough with the PC Crap A Christmas Tree is a Christmas Tree - not a Holiday Tree A Menorah is a Menorah - not a Holiday Candelabra
I watch Iron Chef and Chef At Home (and Michael Smith's other shows, whatever they're called) and Unwrapped and Top 5 and Good Eats and Emeril and really, whatever happens to be on (except I refuse to watch the show about wedding food because I hate it when people get retarded about weddings). I love Unwrapped and Top 5 despite the fact that the hosts are two of the most annoying people in the history of television.
I used to be able to catch a cooking show on my local PBS station with the owner's of Carrabas called "Cucina Amore". It was entertaining and the food they made looked very appetizing.
I love Food Network so much. I'm not a big fan of the actual cooking shows though. Everyday Italian and 30 Minute Meals are about all I can handle. I can't stand Barefoot Contessa especially since she NEVER makes anything I would ever possibly eat.
I love the travel shows though, like 40 dollars a day and Giada's travel show. Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives is one of my favorites, as is Unwrapped.
I can't stand Alton Brown's Good Eat show though. Good Eats my ass.
I do love the Food Network's Next Top Star though, I've been hooked on that lately.
Well unfortunately I'm of the opinion that the quality of the shows has gone down tremendously from years back when I would watch all day long. The first and maybe biggest loss was way back when Ming left. He was phenomenal, and I learned a ton watching East Meets West. He's on PBS now but I never remember to catch the show. Still have one of his knives, which while sharp as hell are also very, very brittle.
I hear they are no longer making Molto Mario which is just asinine. Bobby Flay doesn't get to just cook for us he has to do the dog and pony show running around the country "challenging" schmucks to cook offs.
As for what else they show....Barefoot Contessa has to be the worst cooking show ever. She's horrendous. Semi-Homemade is a joke as well. I think she spends more time on the cocktails than the food.
Rachel Ray is nice and all, but isn't a chef and really isn't that great a cook either. Look up the recipes from her show and you'll collections that are almost identical save for one tiny ingredient. She does this all the time. No creativity.
Alton still rules of course with his work on Good Eats and Iron Chef, though they can put a bullet in the "thirsty traveler" or whoever the hell that worthless dude is.
Emeril is watchable still, though I don't all that often anymore. He's certainly not bad.
Giada...in the Ray mode is not very creative but somewhat watchable.
These cooking contest shows piss me off. The dorks they have on Next Food Network Star all suck pretty bad. Half don't know what the hell they are doing.
Then Hell's Kitchen....hell I'm better than anyone they have on that show and I've never worked in a professional kitchen. Those idiots are clueless.
Now Top Chef, they've got some real talent there though. But it's not a Food Network show, of course.
I tend to get more recipes that I enjoy and use again from my Bon Appetit magazines than TV these days.
Food Network Canada shows "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares"...where Gordon fixes failing restaurants around England. And he swears. A lot. And it's not edited.
FOX is currently working on the American version. It will feature bleeped-out swearing and won't be nearly as awesome.
You wanted the best, you got... Out of Context Quote of the Week.
"Yep....and was it really necessary having the woman keep glancing down at his penis?" (Kevintripod)
Originally posted by BullittFood Network Canada shows "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares"...where Gordon fixes failing restaurants around England. And he swears. A lot. And it's not edited.
FOX is currently working on the American version. It will feature bleeped-out swearing and won't be nearly as awesome.
...and that's where BBC America comes in. Thanks, Beeb!
Since my father's taken to using it as background noise, I've got an opinion on much of their lineup. If it doesn't involve Alton Brown, Jamie Oliver, or Iron Chef... in the words of a great man, IT STINKS.
I especially hate the Food Network-sponsored competitions, or the ones where they just shoot some other competition and talk to the people, on the grounds that they're hokey as shite. The Next Food Network Star just doesn't need to be. Or at least have Duff beat someone into a pulp with fondant (which would be pretty freaking impressive if he did so without sending the poor sap into a diabetic coma).
And I don't know why, but my hatred and loathing for Michael Chiarello burns with the passion of a hundred supernovas. It might have something to do with the "hey, I'm having a bunch of people come over, here's something you could do if you throw hundreds of parties every calendar month!" aspect of it, but then I'd have to hate Barefoot Contessa and Sandra Lee. Oh, wait, I do.
But if it wasn't for "Good Eats", I wouldn't be nearly as interested in cooking, so there's one large plus for the network.
"Dinner: Impossible" is good fun -- serious cooking in implausible circumstances. I love Alton, although he's getting to where he's having to reach for topics -- the older episodes have the more interesting stuff.
I have TiVo season passes for Jacques Torres (serious chocolate), Jamie Oliver, & Graham Kerr for if/whenever they come around.
I'd be interested to see a real cooking show with Gordon Ramsay. The closest I've seen is the occasional cooking segment on "The F Word", but that's very little cooking, usually pretty straightforward food, & nothin' by way of technique.
"Good Eats" - although they're getting a little spare "Challenge" & "Ace of Cakes" - The cake ones, mainly so my wife can make fun of the competitors and the people at Duff's shop (I just had to ask my wife for the guy's name, so I don't actually pay too much attention to the show). "30 Minute Meals" - for filler "Secret Life of..." & "Unwrapped" - We like trivia and behind the scenes stuff. "Iron Chef" - the original, not American.
My wife also likes "Dinner: Impossible" sometimes, and I happened to love "Feasting on Asphalt", though she doesn't.
I don't have cable anymore, but I used to always catch the original Iron Chef in undergrad college. Like most things from that time, a drinking game was involved.
I've seen Giada's show a few times at friends' houses because everyone I know thinks she's gorgeous. And she is.
Lloyd: When I met Mary, I got that old fashioned romantic feeling, where I'd do anything to bone her. Harry: That's a special feeling.
My significant other probably watches Food Network more than I do, but there's several shows we both enjoy:
Good Eats
Feasting on Asphalt
Unwrapped
Ace of Cakes
I used to be into Emeril's show, but haven't watched it in ages. But I love the Food Network Challenge shows!
Never argue religion, politics, wrestling or the merits of individual wrestlers--no one else will recognize you for the expert you obviously are and resent your insistence that you're right and they all have s**t for brains.
I used to watch it a lot but it got old after awhile...but now that DirecTV has Food HD up and running, I'm finding I'm watching "Good Eats" and "Unwrapped" a lot all over again.
But they need to start producing "Iron Chef America" and "Emeril" in HD. And "Everyday Italian" doesn't get shown either, even though it appears to be shot in 16 x 9. Giada's other show is done in HD, but doesn't have all that good of a picture quality.
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After Pearl Jam started playing Fortunate Son during their 2003 tour, I have longed for a track-by-track tribute to Chronicle Vol 1. I also wish more folk/bluegrass jambands would do rap covers like The Gourds' version of Gin & Juice.