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Post by rainbowsherbert on Aug 26, 2017 14:12:14 GMT -5
I've just started getting into the wonderful world of cooking, and I was wondering who everyone recommends when it comes to television and/or internet cooks/chefs? Who has great recipes? Who provides the clearest guidance? Who refrains from telling terrible jokes? Any and all suggestions are welcome!
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Post by Jimmy James on Aug 26, 2017 15:32:28 GMT -5
Smitten Kitchen is my favorite food blog at present. Her writing has personality without being full of terrible jokes, and there are lots of photographs of the process and the results, which I like. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt has The Food Lab on Serious Eats. Sometimes his humor veers towards the geeky, but I like that he has explanation of the science of cooking. He's good at describing general techniques, though I've had mixed results with his actual recipes. Alton Brown on the Food Network was one of my favorite TV chefs for similar reasons, I like to know how and why the dish comes together. Not sure if he meets your standards for terrible jokes. Epicurious and Food52 are good collections of lots of recipes you can search through, if you have an ingredient you need to use. These are mostly no-nonsense, I think much of Epicurious is aggregated from a bunch of magazines like Bon Appetit. I was a long-time Emeril fanboy when he was on Food Network, and I think he's one of the few celebrity chefs (along with Julia Child) that I own cookbooks from. Acquiring them feels a little silly, as most of the recipes they contain are available online- formerly via Food Network, now hosted on his website. His pork shoulder gumbo has become my go-to gumbo, and his fried duck confit is probably the best thing I've ever made.
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Post by LazBro on Aug 28, 2017 9:24:44 GMT -5
I've made no secret my obsessive fandom of Alton Brown. His Food Network show, Good Eats, is almost certainly the reason I became a cook at all. It's a well-rounded program, covering everything from the science of cooking - why do things cook the way they do, or taste the way they do? - to food history, to recipes, to the very basics of food preparation and techniques. While most cooking shows are like live-action cookbooks, Good Eats is more of a live-action textbook, and I mean that in a good way. And on top of that, it's funny. Or I think it is. I don't know the best legal way to watch the series these days, but I do know that if you're comfortable with torrenting, you can probably find the whole series in a single easy-to-download bundle. ETA: He also has cookbooks, and his three Good Eats cookbooks do a good job of conveying the spirit of the show with refinements of many of the recipes first seen on TV. I might as well also drop a shameless plug of my rarely-updated project in which I cook my way through his latest book. |
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Post by Crash Test Dumbass on Aug 28, 2017 9:37:44 GMT -5
I have to second the recommendations of both Alton and JKLA. I really liked Sara Moulton when she was on the Food Network, but that channel is mostly Chopped and Guy Fieri these days. Good Eats is still on the Cooking Channel, if you get that.
If you really get into food science, check out On Food And Cooking by Harold McGee from your local library.
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Post by Liz n Dick on Aug 28, 2017 9:40:37 GMT -5
This is going to sound lowbrow and idiotic, and perhaps be an unpopular suggestion, but I actually found Rachael Ray, back in her earlier incarnation (before the media empire) was an excellent introduction-to-cooking inspiration. I used to watch the old-days "30 Minute Meals" on Food Network, and, almost 15 years later, still have a number of the recipes I saw then in my regular rotation. I have no idea if any of that stuff is still a thing, or how to watch any of it, but I suspect you can probably find plenty of recipes online, if not the show itself. It always seemed to me that she was unfairly maligned, getting lumped in with the Semi-Homemade trends of celebrity chefs at that time. The circa-2003 "30 Minute Meals" was, in my opinion, a friendly way to un-demonize the kitchen, and show how cooking can be an everyday, approachable, fun habit. (Again, though, I have never read any of her cookbooks, and haven't seen any of her shows since then. I fully put forth that there is much about Rachael Ray that is super-annoying, but I stand by my approval of her olden-day appeal.)
Oh, and Snape is right about ye olde Good Eats.
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Liz n Dick
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Post by Liz n Dick on Aug 28, 2017 9:42:10 GMT -5
I have to second the recommendations of both Alton and JKLA. I really liked Sara Moulton when she was on the Food Network, but that channel is mostly Chopped and Guy Fieri these days. Good Eats is still on the Cooking Channel, if you get that. If you really get into food science, check out On Food And Cooking by Harold McGee from your local library. Oh man, Sara Moulton was THE BEST. The demise of Food Network into shitty game shows and Guy Fieri whatnot is so depressing. |
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Post by LazBro on Aug 28, 2017 14:16:51 GMT -5
This is going to sound lowbrow and idiotic, and perhaps be an unpopular suggestion, but I actually found Rachael Ray, back in her earlier incarnation (before the media empire) was an excellent introduction-to-cooking inspiration. I used to watch the old-days "30 Minute Meals" on Food Network, and, almost 15 years later, still have a number of the recipes I saw then in my regular rotation. I have no idea if any of that stuff is still a thing, or how to watch any of it, but I suspect you can probably find plenty of recipes online, if not the show itself. It always seemed to me that she was unfairly maligned, getting lumped in with the Semi-Homemade trends of celebrity chefs at that time. The circa-2003 "30 Minute Meals" was, in my opinion, a friendly way to un-demonize the kitchen, and show how cooking can be an everyday, approachable, fun habit. (Again, though, I have never read any of her cookbooks, and haven't seen any of her shows since then. I fully put forth that there is much about Rachael Ray that is super-annoying, but I stand by my approval of her olden-day appeal.) Oh, and Snape is right about ye olde Good Eats. +1 for Rachel Ray/"30 Minute Meals". Where I'm at now I find a lot of what she makes really same-y, but that was a great place to start. Simple recipes, not too many ingredients, really clear and concise instructions. In fact, my bolognese - which is to die for - is actually a modified version of her double-batch bolognese. I do admit that I started watching her show, because I thought she was (is) adorable, but I ended up liking the show, too. See also Robinson, Claire. |
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Post by LazBro on Aug 28, 2017 14:18:03 GMT -5
***grumble grumble can't we just blame the shitty game shows and leave the actually cromulent guy fieri out of it grumble grumble***
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 28, 2017 14:31:43 GMT -5
Alton Brown is great. His Good Eats books are more like kitchen science textbooks than traditional cookbooks, perfect for a nerd like me.
If you're into Mexican food, I have to recommend Rick Bayless, who is not really a true TV chef but has a long-running PBS show and his cookbooks are pretty widely acclaimed. Yes, he's a white dude, but he's really studied Mexican culture and food and knows his stuff.
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Post by pairesta on Aug 28, 2017 16:03:40 GMT -5
Mario Batali was exactly on my wavelength when I first got into cooking. Don't know where you could dig up Molto Mario, his old Food Network show, these days though.
Amazon Prime has Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home and if you have access I highly recommend it. It's a little dated, from the late 1990s, but they pick a big old school classic every episode. Plus watching them squabble affectionately over things like white or black pepper in a dish is a hoot.
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Post by 🐍 huss 🐍 on Aug 28, 2017 19:16:10 GMT -5
American Masters on PBS just did an episode on Jacques Pepin, they're probably rerunning it for a while.
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Post by Pastafarian on Aug 28, 2017 20:26:33 GMT -5
I've just started getting into the wonderful world of cooking, and I was wondering who everyone recommends when it comes to television and/or internet cooks/chefs? Who has great recipes? Who provides the clearest guidance? Who refrains from telling terrible jokes? Any and all suggestions are welcome! I'm a big fan of Melissa Clark (and kinda have a crush in her too, but I digress) she does a food column over at Nytimes.com and a weekly video to go along with them. Generally (with occasional indulgences) her recipes are simple, easy to follow, and not too fussy www.nytimes.com/video/melissa-clarkPlus they often look delicious. |
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Post by Ron Howard Voice on Aug 28, 2017 21:17:54 GMT -5
Smitten Kitchen is my favorite food blog at present. Her writing has personality without being full of terrible jokes, and there are lots of photographs of the process and the results, which I like. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt has The Food Lab on Serious Eats. Sometimes his humor veers towards the geeky, but I like that he has explanation of the science of cooking. He's good at describing general techniques, though I've had mixed results with his actual recipes. Alton Brown on the Food Network was one of my favorite TV chefs for similar reasons, I like to know how and why the dish comes together. Not sure if he meets your standards for terrible jokes. Epicurious and Food52 are good collections of lots of recipes you can search through, if you have an ingredient you need to use. These are mostly no-nonsense, I think much of Epicurious is aggregated from a bunch of magazines like Bon Appetit. All these recommendations are A+! |
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Post by Nudeviking on Aug 28, 2017 22:08:33 GMT -5
When I was in high school I really liked the show How to Boil Water. I can't remember the lady chef's name, but she was tasked with teaching some moron guy how to cook super simple dishes. It was pretty enjoyable and as a young person with little kitchen experience, actually helpful in learning how to cook. I also liked Chef Eff(?), a drunken Frenchman on PBS, mostly because he was always drunk. He would literally add wine to whatever he was cooking as part of the recipe and then be like, "A little wine for ze chicken...and a little wine for me," and then chug wine out of the bottle.
I also liked Martin Yan from Yan Can Cook.
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Post by Crash Test Dumbass on Aug 29, 2017 8:29:20 GMT -5
I also liked Chef Eff(?), a drunken Frenchman on PBS, mostly because he was always drunk. He would literally add wine to whatever he was cooking as part of the recipe and then be like, "A little wine for ze chicken...and a little wine for me," and then chug wine out of the bottle. I also liked Martin Yan from Yan Can Cook. The description of Chef Eff reminds me of Justin Wilson, a Cajun chef from PBS, who would add wine to his dishes like so: "And a li'l bit o' wine..." at least five seconds pass as he pours the wine into the dish"...I like wine..." another five seconds pass and he finally finishesMartin Yan was also excellent. "If Yan Can Cook, so can you!" I understand he has a restaurant in the LA area I want to try one day. I'd forgotten about all of the PBS people in my mad rush to talk about the Food Network. My first real cookbook was Jeff Smith's The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines. His descriptions of cooking skills and ingredients, about 100 pages before he actually gets to the recipes, are now what i set my cookbook bar to be. I used to watch that show all the time; shame about that guy. I also really liked Ming Tsai, but I can't remember the name of his show. Blue Ginger? Or was that his restaurant? |
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Post by LazBro on Aug 29, 2017 8:32:12 GMT -5
I also liked Chef Eff(?), a drunken Frenchman on PBS, mostly because he was always drunk. He would literally add wine to whatever he was cooking as part of the recipe and then be like, "A little wine for ze chicken...and a little wine for me," and then chug wine out of the bottle. I also liked Martin Yan from Yan Can Cook. The description of Chef Eff reminds me of Justin Wilson, a Cajun chef from PBS, who would add wine to his dishes like so: "And a li'l bit o' wine..." at least five seconds pass as he pours the wine into the dish"...I like wine..." another five seconds pass and he finally finishesMartin Yan was also excellent. "If Yan Can Cook, so can you!" I understand he has a restaurant in the LA area I want to try one day. I'd forgotten about all of the PBS people in my mad rush to talk about the Food Network. My first real cookbook was Jeff Smith's The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines. His descriptions of cooking skills and ingredients, about 100 pages before he actually gets to the recipes, are now what i set my cookbook bar to be. I used to watch that show all the time; shame about that guy. I also really liked Ming Tsai, but I can't remember the name of his show. Blue Ginger? Or was that his restaurant? I think he's had a few, but East Meets West is the Tsai show that I watched. Blue Ginger is the restaurant. |
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Post by Nudeviking on Aug 29, 2017 8:35:39 GMT -5
I also liked Chef Eff(?), a drunken Frenchman on PBS, mostly because he was always drunk. He would literally add wine to whatever he was cooking as part of the recipe and then be like, "A little wine for ze chicken...and a little wine for me," and then chug wine out of the bottle. I also liked Martin Yan from Yan Can Cook. The description of Chef Eff reminds me of Justin Wilson, a Cajun chef from PBS, who would add wine to his dishes like so: "And a li'l bit o' wine..." at least five seconds pass as he pours the wine into the dish"...I like wine..." another five seconds pass and he finally finishesMartin Yan was also excellent. "If Yan Can Cook, so can you!" I understand he has a restaurant in the LA area I want to try one day. I'd forgotten about all of the PBS people in my mad rush to talk about the Food Network. My first real cookbook was Jeff Smith's The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines. His descriptions of cooking skills and ingredients, about 100 pages before he actually gets to the recipes, are now what i set my cookbook bar to be. I used to watch that show all the time; shame about that guy. I also really liked Ming Tsai, but I can't remember the name of his show. Blue Ginger? Or was that his restaurant? I could very well be combining Chef Eff with Justin Wilson into a single drunken chef on PBS who had a vaguely French accent since this is all half forgotten stuff from ages ago. Ming Tsai was also pretty good. It think he had shows on both PBS and the Food Network at roughly the same time. One was called East Meets West and the other one was Simply Ming or something like that. I can't recall which show was on which channel though. |
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Post by Liz n Dick on Aug 29, 2017 8:36:08 GMT -5
***grumble grumble can't we just blame the shitty game shows and leave the actually cromulent guy fieri out of it grumble grumble*** I actually just swim with the tide on the Guy Fieri front. I've never watched any of his shows or looked into any of his books, so I take the popular opinion that he's the frosted-tipped bringer of the downfall of civilization at face value. But as the person who will defend Rachael Ray's honor, I suppose I'm willing to concede there might not be, once you get past the whole Guy Fieri thing, as much wrong with him as people say.  |
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Post by Nudeviking on Aug 29, 2017 8:45:25 GMT -5
***grumble grumble can't we just blame the shitty game shows and leave the actually cromulent guy fieri out of it grumble grumble*** I actually just swim with the tide on the Guy Fieri front. I've never watched any of his shows or looked into any of his books, so I take the popular opinion that he's the frosted-tipped bringer of the downfall of civilization at face value. But as the person who will defend Rachael Ray's honor, I suppose I'm willing to concede there might not be, once you get past the whole Guy Fieri thing, as much wrong with him as people say. I don't know about him as a chef, but him as a champion of small local eateries on that one show seems like a positive thing to me. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 29, 2017 8:45:47 GMT -5
***grumble grumble can't we just blame the shitty game shows and leave the actually cromulent guy fieri out of it grumble grumble*** I actually just swim with the tide on the Guy Fieri front. I've never watched any of his shows or looked into any of his books, so I take the popular opinion that he's the frosted-tipped bringer of the downfall of civilization at face value. But as the person who will defend Rachael Ray's honor, I suppose I'm willing to concede there might not be, once you get past the whole Guy Fieri thing, as much wrong with him as people say. The man is a walking deep-fried Twinkie. I find his personality grating. But I will say that the restaurants he's highlighted on DDD are usually very good and worthy of being recognized. |
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Post by Ben Grimm on Aug 29, 2017 12:21:35 GMT -5
I actually just swim with the tide on the Guy Fieri front. I've never watched any of his shows or looked into any of his books, so I take the popular opinion that he's the frosted-tipped bringer of the downfall of civilization at face value. But as the person who will defend Rachael Ray's honor, I suppose I'm willing to concede there might not be, once you get past the whole Guy Fieri thing, as much wrong with him as people say. The man is a walking deep-fried Twinkie. I find his personality grating. But I will say that the restaurants he's highlighted on DDD are usually very good and worthy of being recognized. I like the idea behind the show. I just wish someone less noxious was doing it. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 29, 2017 12:30:59 GMT -5
The man is a walking deep-fried Twinkie. I find his personality grating. But I will say that the restaurants he's highlighted on DDD are usually very good and worthy of being recognized. I like the idea behind the show. I just wish someone less noxious was doing it. Oh I agree which is why I don't watch it anymore (not for a long time), but we have been to DDD-featured restaurants that were very good. |
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Post by Ron Howard Voice on Aug 30, 2017 12:26:52 GMT -5
When I was in high school I really liked the show How to Boil Water. I can't remember the lady chef's name, but she was tasked with teaching some moron guy how to cook super simple dishes. It was pretty enjoyable and as a young person with little kitchen experience, actually helpful in learning how to cook. Have you watched "Worst Cooks in America"? There's a lot of serious (basic) culinary education on it, but also joys like: |
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Aug 30, 2017 12:42:35 GMT -5
I used to watch Food Network all the time back when they showed actual cooking shows in the evening. Good Eats was always a favorite and I'll always watch reruns, but when you look at the foundation of my recipe repertoire, Tyler Florence owns the most real estate.
The recipes he featured in both Food 911 and Tyler's Ultimate were always straightforward, easy and quick to produce at home, and rarely featured ingredients that you'd have to hunt down. My personal style of cooking is that I like to make relatively simple dishes, but I want to make them the best possible way. He was perfect for that.
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Post by pairesta on Aug 30, 2017 12:53:09 GMT -5
I used to watch Food Network all the time back when they showed actual cooking shows in the evening. Good Eats was always a favorite and I'll always watch reruns, but when you look at the foundation of my recipe repertoire, Tyler Florence owns the most real estate. The recipes he featured in both Food 911 and Tyler's Ultimate were always straightforward, easy and quick to produce at home, and rarely featured ingredients that you'd have to hunt down. My personal style of cooking is that I like to make relatively simple dishes, but I want to make them the best possible way. He was perfect for that. Yeah late 90s, very early 00's Food Network was my happy place. It was like my ESPN or something. I'd just have it on all the time, in the background. So I'd absorb techniques from Ming Tsai, Sarah Moulton, the aforementioned Mario Batali, a not-quite-so-obnoxious Bobby Flay. It absolutely built my basis of cooking. |
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Aug 30, 2017 13:00:16 GMT -5
Yeah late 90s, very early 00's Food Network was my happy place. It was like my ESPN or something. I'd just have it on all the time, in the background. So I'd absorb techniques from Ming Tsai, Sarah Moulton, the aforementioned Mario Batali, a not-quite-so-obnoxious Bobby Flay. It absolutely built my basis of cooking. Ha. That's about the time when I stopped caring as much about sports as I did when I was a younger. Food Network totally replaced ESPN for me. It was always the default channel between Comedy Central and Adult Swim. The only time I watch it now is the occasional 3D rerun on the weekend. |
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Post by The Sensational She-Hulk on Aug 30, 2017 14:31:27 GMT -5
I 100% recommend any cooking show on PBS. They tend to air a lot of them on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, but you can't go wrong with Jacques Pepin, Lidia Bastianich, and Nick Stellino.
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Liz n Dick
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Post by Liz n Dick on Aug 30, 2017 14:47:34 GMT -5
I used to watch Food Network all the time back when they showed actual cooking shows in the evening. Good Eats was always a favorite and I'll always watch reruns, but when you look at the foundation of my recipe repertoire, Tyler Florence owns the most real estate. The recipes he featured in both Food 911 and Tyler's Ultimate were always straightforward, easy and quick to produce at home, and rarely featured ingredients that you'd have to hunt down. My personal style of cooking is that I like to make relatively simple dishes, but I want to make them the best possible way. He was perfect for that. Yeah late 90s, very early 00's Food Network was my happy place. It was like my ESPN or something. I'd just have it on all the time, in the background. So I'd absorb techniques from Ming Tsai, Sarah Moulton, the aforementioned Mario Batali, a not-quite-so-obnoxious Bobby Flay. It absolutely built my basis of cooking. Those were the days, back when you could turn it on at any time of day and see actual cooking instruction. Even Hugs and Boomer, who hate to cook, would happily watch so many of those shows, because the hosts were often very appealing. Yes, even Bobby Flay was tolerable! ::sad sigh:: |
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Aug 30, 2017 15:08:49 GMT -5
I 100% recommend any cooking show on PBS. They tend to air a lot of them on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, but you can't go wrong with Jacques Pepin, Lidia Bastianich, and Nick Stellino. I've never seen a single episode of Lidia's show, but my mom got me one of her cookbooks because she watches it all the time. I have worn that thing out. |
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Post by The Sensational She-Hulk on Aug 30, 2017 15:37:02 GMT -5
I 100% recommend any cooking show on PBS. They tend to air a lot of them on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, but you can't go wrong with Jacques Pepin, Lidia Bastianich, and Nick Stellino. I've never seen a single episode of Lidia's show, but my mom got me one of her cookbooks because she watches it all the time. I have worn that thing out. I love Lidia! Watching her show is like watching your Italian grandma in the kitchen. She really knows her shit when it comes to regional Italian cooking, but unlike some other TV chefs *cough*Ina*cough* she's never smug or condescending about it. |
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