O Sara, Where art thou?

[liv4fud]

I had heard that after Sara Moulton's departure from food network, she was going to have a syndicated show on some public television. This was some time back. I am an avid fan of cooking shows on public television but haven't heard anything about any show with Sara.

Does anyone have any updates?

Her site doesn't list anything either.

[Genny]

Here in AZ they had an episode on yesterday of Lidia's Kitchen and Sara was the guest except that Lidia was visiting her on stage at a live show. Perhaps they are developing a live show for her on PBS? She really is quite fun on the fly!

[RockinRonD]

I had heard that after Sara Moulton's departure from food network, she was going to have a syndicated show on some public television.  This was some time back.  I am an avid fan of cooking shows on public television but haven't heard anything about any show with Sara.

Does anyone have any updates?

Her site doesn't list anything either.

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I never did like her show all that much. I thought she was ill prepared most of the time and talked way too much about nothing. I'm sure she's an excellent cook, but not a very good instructor.

[liv4fud]

rockinRonD, are you talking about sara / lidia?

sara's one of the best teachers on food tv.

and its a shame that like mtv moved away from music, food tv moved away from cooking by letting people like sara go away.

[RockinRonD]

I was talking about Sara, yes. I never thought she was particularly good at instructing. Too often she was hurried, took shortcuts and overall just seemed distracted and ill-prepared. I'm sure she's a seasoned professional and all that, but perhaps she just got tired of doing the show.

Lidia, on the other hand, is one of the best on TV in my view, cooks in real time and continually gives helpful hints about preparations. Her recipes, almost without fail, are right on the money. She makes Mario Batali seem like an amateur (and I know they're great friends and business partners, but Lidia is eons above in the cooking department in my view).

[rconnelly]

I was talking about Sara, yes.  I never thought she was particularly good at instructing.  Too often she was hurried, took shortcuts and overall just seemed distracted and ill-prepared.  I'm sure she's a seasoned professional and all that, but perhaps she just got tired of doing the show.

Lidia, on the other hand, is one of the best on TV in my view, cooks in real time and continually gives helpful hints about preparations.  Her recipes, almost without fail, are right on the money.  She makes Mario Batali seem like an amateur (and I know they're great friends and business partners, but Lidia is eons above in the cooking department in my view).

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I couldn't watch Sara even though I think she's a true professional/ She does has a habit of sucking, almost slurping, in air while she's talking that totally disrtracted me.

[kbjesq]

Great news for those of us who are Sara Moulton fans. According to her website:

Finally!  I've been dying to get back on TV ever since the Food Network and I parted ways.  My new home is PBS. The new series is called Sara's Weeknight Meals and it will start airing weekly in April.

As the title suggests, the new show is based on my last cookbook, Sara's Secrets For Weeknight Meals, and it's all about rethinking dinner.  I'll be making Breakfast for Dinner (comforting suppers such as the Egg, Canadian Bacon, and Cheddar Biscuit Sandwiches pictured here), Soup for Supper, The Substantial Sandwich and more.  Plus, a raft of tips that will help you bring the family together for that all-important meal at the end of the day without your head exploding. Read on for more:

The series is made up of 20 shows.  I'm flying solo in 14 of them.  The other six feature great guests, including Madhur Jaffrey, Jasper White, Andrew Carmelini, Roberto Santibanez, Corinne Trang, and Michael Psilakis.  (The ethnic diversity in this line-up is deliberate, a way to inspire us to think beyond the dozen or so dishes that we all tend to make over and over again.)

I must say I think the show turned out very well.  It was produced by my dream team – the folks I most enjoyed working with during my years at the Food Network.

The originating station is WETA in Washington, but you'll have to check the listing for your local PBS station to find out exactly when Sara's Weeknight Meals will air in your town.  Meanwhile, I'll keep you posted on all the new developments as we get closer to April.

 

(Emphasis supplied).

I am so glad that Sara will be back on the air. I really used to look forward to watching her "Cooking Live" show, which was on right about the time I got home from work and was cooking dinner. When the vile Foodnetwork administrators replaced her show with Rachel Ray in that time slot (and back-to-back episodes, nonetheless), I swore off FN for good.

[Jane Die]

This is good news. I enjoyed Sara's shows very much and had success with her recipes. Look forward to a quality series.

[DTBarton]

The first thing I saw on the Food network was Sara Moulton's show that was broadcast live. It was pretty entertaining, especially when she would get the most inane phone calls and questions that she had to try and handle with aplomb. I was disappointed when she stopped doing the live show.

She was prescient in predicting the dumbing down of the Food network. Right after she left, she said in an interview that they weren't that interested in doing serious cooking anymore and were taking the network in a different direction. How right she was!

[Chris Amirault]

Fans of Sara Moulton will want to read her great contributions to her Spotlight appearance here in 2006. There's also this review by yours truly of the book upon which the show is based.

[SnorkelVik]

I'm glad Sara's going to be back on TV. I was a huge fan of her Cooking Live show, she's very talented and entertaining and held your interest. And she's so good with guests, both the pros and the amateurs. I'm a little disapointed in the theme though - this is like a repackaged 30 minute meals or Robin Miller or Everyday Food. Breakfast for dinner, boy oh boy, that's original. Is cooking on TV not allowed to be more intensive and challenging? You have all these international talents, don't constrain them. I'd love to see a show about weekend cooking, that's when I have time to tackle a longer or complicated recipe.

I'll still watch it, though. I'm sure it will be better than most FTV offerings out there.

[Toliver]

....I'm a little disapointed in the theme though - this is like a repackaged 30 minute meals or Robin Miller or Everyday Food. 

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Don't fault Sarah. It seems to be the trend these days. Even Jacques Pepin joined the club with Fast Food My Way.

[317indy]

She was before the whole Rachael Ray phenomenon. She was doing the 30 minute meals with people talking live on her show. I cant stand the way food network does the people who got them started.

ming tsai was another one of my favorites. now there arent any asian cuisine shows. they traded his ethnic food for giada who is nothing but a pretty face with a beautiful rack, her food sucks to boot.

[Toliver]

This past weekend I caught an episode of Sara's PBS series "Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals" (Click here for her show's website)

I'm amazed to see every recipe from this year's series has been posted on her web site (see link above). Doesn't she know she's supposed to charge a fee for the recipes? Oops, wait a second...the recipe for the mains are posted but the recipes for the sides can be found in her book. The other shoe drops.

I discovered we share a similar opinion on beets (she says they taste like dirt ). She did, however, show a quick way to cook beets...grate them in a food processor and then sauté them in a pan. You don't end up with stained hands and it doesn't take forever to cook them like when you roast them in the oven. Who knew cooking beets could be so easy?

Has anyone else caught an episode yet?

[Pierogi]

This past weekend I caught an episode of Sara's PBS series "Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals"........Has anyone else caught an episode yet?

YES, YES, AND YES !!! I've actually seen 2. The first one was sandwiches (note....NOT, um, "sammie"....{hork}, but sandwiches) and then the soup episode that ran last weekend. I believe, actually am pretty sure, those were the only two run locally so far.

The main PBS station in LA (KCET, channel 28 for you locals) is running our Sara's show at 1:30 P.M. on Saturdays. Worth making room in a manic Saturday, or setting the VCR/DVR, for. Quick and easy food for real people who work 8-5, but NOT dumbed down, or "semi-" anything (hork again.....). I loved it.

Between Sara, and Lidia's Italy and Jose Andres' "Made In Spain" and Rick Bayless and Gourmet's "Diary of a Foodie", Saturdays on the 3 PBS stations in the Los Angeles market is almost an embarrassment of riches.

[jsmeeker]

I think my PBS station just started to air this starting this past weekend. It was the sandwich episode. I managed to catch while channel surfing and now the TiVo season pass has been set.

[Kevin72]

Caught the soups episode. It sure feels good having her on TV again; I didn't realize how much I'd missed her. She's such a good, down-to-earth teacher.

[cathrynapple]

yeah, i've seen it a couple of times on saturday afternoons on pbs.

[mcohen]

I used to like Sara Moulton until I heard her refer to NYC as 'Jew York' on a food podcast. Now, PBS will never get any more of my money.

[tino27]

I used to like Sara Moulton until I heard her refer to NYC as 'Jew York' on a food podcast. Now, PBS will never get any more of my money.

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Um, link please?

[mcohen]

I used to like Sara Moulton until I heard her refer to NYC as 'Jew York' on a food podcast. Now, PBS will never get any more of my money.

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Um, link please?

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I was so shocked and hurt that she would use such words that I had to relisten to the podcast, and that's what she said- "Jew York".

But, if you want to listen to it yourself, its on KCRW's Good Fast Podcast on June 7, 2008.

[prasantrin]

I used to like Sara Moulton until I heard her refer to NYC as 'Jew York' on a food podcast. Now, PBS will never get any more of my money.

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Um, link please?

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It was a little hard to find (especially because it's the Good Food podcast, not "Good Fast"), but here's the link to the June 7th show.

She most definitely did say it, though in context, it doesn't seem like such an egregious thing. I might feel different if I were Jewish, however.

I wouldn't punish PBS over it, though. They had nothing to do with it. NPR, however, did.

[mcohen]

My bad. Yes, its Good Food. I must have mistyped it. (I'd recommend this podcast for others to listen to, notwithstanding Mrs. Moulton's comments.)

I wouldn't punish PBS over it, though.  They had nothing to do with it.  NPR, however, did.

I'm not sure I follow that. That would be like punishing Nightline and Ted Kopell when some baseball executive made racist remarks on the show about blacks. Instead, I hold those responsible who harbor such racist and anti-semitic remarks and their employers- do the employers give such employees a pass or do they suspend or fire them.

[tino27]

My bad. Yes, its Good Food. I must have mistyped it. (I'd recommend this podcast for others to listen to, notwithstanding Mrs. Moulton's comments.)

I wouldn't punish PBS over it, though.  They had nothing to do with it.  NPR, however, did.

I'm not sure I follow that. That would be like punishing Nightline and Ted Kopell when some baseball executive made racist remarks on the show about blacks. Instead, I hold those responsible who harbor such racist and anti-semitic remarks and their employers- do the employers give such employees a pass or do they suspend or fire them.

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mcohen -- Please don't take my request as being accusatory. It's just so easy to post something on the Internet and people just take it for fact. I was only doing due diligence when asking you for a link.

That being said, using the link that prasantrin provided, Sara's segment starts at 36:20 (minutes:seconds) and the comment in question comes at 38:55. She clearly does say "Jew York". That being said, I agree with prasantrin that in context, it doesn't necessarily offend me (although I am not Jewish). And from her rather thorough description of the dish she is describing (knishes), you can clearly tell (at least I can) that she loves a good knish. My take on it is that she is just attempting to reinforce the fact that the Jewish community plays such an important part of the New York City food scene and was not an anti-Semitic remark. That being said, I would agree that it may have been a poor choice in that it might not sit well with everyone.