Alton Brown

Well, my schedule is in a state of flux. I may be out west doing some live events later in the year. In November I'll be performing in Food Network's "Great Big Food Show" in Cleveland and Phili. I'll be doing a little bit of touring with my third book, due out in October, but nothing as extensive as the tour for IJHFTF...I just don't have enough time.

Restaurant Solutions in Smyrna.

Turtleboy, I have to say I haven't counted lately...I don't know...at least 120, probably more. Shows on sauce making, chocolate, oysters, chili, cheese, doughnuts, sourdough, melons, and wontons are on their way to you as we speak. A

Wow, good question...but I have to ask: are you a Food Network exec in disguise? Doesn't really matter now that I think about it. I would put old cooking shows on in late night...Julia, Kerr, all the old classics that are really cool. I'd turn late night into a food version of TV land but not before my one hour talk show in the 11:30 slot. That's right Dave, I'm comin' after your worn out butt! I'd produce more documentaries and specials and I'd make Tony Bourdain actually cook something on television, by force if necessary. I'd give a cooking show to a lunch room lady from mid-America. I'd produce more Iron Chefs but I'd find a female Iron Chef first. I'd find someone to do a realistic, but within reason Mexican food show. I'd bring back Bill Bogg's Corner Table and David Rosengarten...though I'd make the later shave. I'd do away with stock photography and Voice Overs would be restricted to 8% of a show's total run time. That's all just for starters. Oh, and I'd never, ever put a show in front of a focus group....ever. A

I went to culinary school at 34 and it didn't kill me. Still, law school...hmmm. I think that I'd have to see the rest of your resume to say. The food game is darned tough and that's if you're independently wealthy. If you've been doing something else that you can combine with food (as I did) then you've got a better chance of rising above the pack.

Well, NECI is certainly good but so are Johnson & Wales and the CIA. I've heard that theres a darned fine scool in Chicago but I don't know about their baking program...or even the name of the school, but I'll ask around and get back to you. A

Sometimes good and fast is the goal...sometimes it's good and cheap...never is it cheap and fast...unless of course it's good. I do a lot of braising which means that I'm willing to invest a lot of time in relatively cheap food. I do buy expensive chunks of fish from time to time, which I generally broil or convection roast. My cooking is really all over the place at home. I'm either trying to prove some hairbrained theory or I'm just really in a hurry. Oh, and here's another secret to my home meals: Orida. And I really make great ribs...really I do. A

Well Valorie, "Appealing"? Me? Why that's just...oh, no...you actually said my silliness was appealing...not me...okay. Well, nevermind and thanks for your call. a

Genetically Manipulated foods are here to stay. Instead of fighting them, we should help to put legeslation in place that will insure (or help to insure) their responsible handling. When you think about it, most of what is happening today in GMA is more akin to traditional cross-breeding than a science fiction movie. Properly handled, we may be able to better life on this planet with GM foods. However, like all new technologies, there is a possibility for things going wrong. I doubt that anyone at Monsanto is going to develop a tomato with teeth and a bad attitude, but if they start breeding plants that will say, change the third world, only so that they can sell a bunch of chemicals to the third world then that would be (in the words of Mr. Garison) bad...okay?

Sit down and read the recipe before you start cooking.

I don't get to cook at home as much as I'd like but when I do I generally keep it really simple. Tonight for instance was wild salmon, grilled with grilled veggie cous cous. Nothing special there...but it was tasty.

Actually I have thought about taking the show on the road as a live sorta food play...an evening with strange props and food...that sorta thing. I think we could do well on the college circuit. Don't you?

Hmmm, a Good Eats spinoff...Good Drinks maybe? Or how about Good Eats Done Dirt Cheap. I'd like to do that one. Actually you may very well see another show featuring moi in the next couple of years. Of course if Iron Chef America becomes a regular series...

Good idea...I'll get on that.

I have asked to do a baby food show a few times but the answer from the network is a resounding "no". That's because they don't think that many people are actually interested in making baby food and if they're not interested they won't watch and we all know what that leads to: low ratings....which we all just hate. I might agree to compete on Iron Chef but I'd want special rules: no tools but a blow torch, a tank of liquid oxygen, three cardboard boxes, a box of rock salt and a drill...something like that.

Actually, I kinda doubt there will be any more Good Eats specials...sorry. I do think we'll do a regular episode about food sanitation though.

Heavy pans usually cook more evenly than thin or light-weight pans which is why recipe writers evoke their names so often.

Jeff, All I'll say about "I'm Just Here For More Food" is that it's about "the wet works" that is: baking and that it centers around mixing methods much as IJHFTF centered on cooking methods. Iron Chef was an amazing experience which I hope will be repeated...without the whole hospitalization thing of course. A

Replace the pickle juice with pineapple juice and add chunks at will. Then just squeeze on a little lemon juice...she'll be happy as a clam.

I don't care about criticism. I make Good Eats for myself and anyone who likes it enough to watch. If people get it, that's truly the best thing on Earth...if they don't that's okay. I really don't listen to criticism, positive or negative. The way I see it, believing either one can be dangerous. Does that make any sense? And you know what, it really is easier to roll pasta on an ironing board. And you know what else, I know a few people that decided to make their own pasta for the first time because of that "gimmic". So...I win.

I'll have to get back to you on this. I'm at home and need to poke around the library at work.

I'm a pretty simple guy...I don't need to be "wowed" by chefly creativity, I just want consistently good food. With that in mind I have to site: Aria La Strada Burito Arts Blue Ridge Grill The River Room Canoe Dairy Queen Pappy Reds House of Chan

Mike, Since I never thought I'd come this far, I honestly have no idea what will be next...I'm working on it though. I guess that above all I'd like to stay employed. A

I'm constantly learning and therefore constantly changing the way I cook. And no, I won't tell you that I'm too busy to cook. I am however too busy to eat.

From what I hear, taste buds did develop to tell us what and what not to eat...though some might argue that the system is backfiring on us a bit today. The issue of raw versus cooked (the way I understand it at least) comes down to the fact that some nutrients are destroyed by heat while others are liberated and made available by them. I believe that evolution is irrefutable. Cooking is good, cooking works. The raw food movement is, near as I can tell, a very good marketing ploy…except when it comes to sushi.