Mexican cooking shows?

[Darienne]

So a friend told me she had found a Mexican cooking show on the Food Network (Canada) and I thought. Oh boy! Just what I need.

So I watched it. Marcela Valladolid. And boy was it awful. Meatloaf a la Mexican. This dish and that dish with a dash of "Mexican" spices or ingredients.

But then the subtitle was: "A spin on American Classics". I didn't look at that part of the title obviously.

Are there any useful Mexican/Hispanic/Latino type cooking shows on television either in the USA (which no doubt we Canucks cannot get) or in Canada? Right.

Thanks.

[Chef Jonny]

I agree... it was a bit brutal watching one show.... I don't know how many times you heard the word "tor-tee-ya".

[LindaK]

There's a show on PBS called Daisy Cooks! that focuses on Latino food.

[Darienne]

Thanks Linda. Could you please tell me the Boston day & time?

We have a new satellite provider and I still don't know the stations we get for PBS...arrghhh...but I'll go now and try to figure out where it comes from. Our provider provided about 5 different PBS stations...but we don't get them. And we haven't worked out our so-called favorites list...are there any favorites to have on television anymore?.

I'll get back if I can figure it out. Thanks.

ps. Don't bother, Linda. Apparently, for some reason which I'll never fathom, we, living in east central Ontario...that is, east of Toronto even...get our PBS from Seattle. I'll try the Seattle listings next.

pps. No luck. Rats.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Darienne (log)

[IndyRob]

There's Rick Bayless' Mexico - One Plate at a Time. It's not currently on my DYR's radar though. It looks like some episodes will air on CreateTV in April. Or you can go to the website and order DVDs.

[andiesenji]

There are some individual videos of show segments by

The Two Hot Tamales - broadcast in the late '90s.

I have all their cookbooks and have found them very helpful.

There are dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of YouTube videos showing Mexican foods being prepared and served.

Once you start with this one and click on the other links, you will see more and more links to other videos.

You do have to watch a brief commercial at the beginning of each one but it goes quickly.

The advantage here is that you can find a particular recipe you want and watch just that, at your leisure, instead of watching what the presenter on a TV show wants to show you.

Edited March 6, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Darienne]

There are dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of YouTube videos showing Mexican foods being prepared and served.

Now why didn't I think of that? Thank you muchly. I have watched some videos from time to time, but never thought of making a determined effort to look at one for each thing I wanted to know. Of course!. Thanks again.

ps. Strangely enough I cannot seem to watch any of the US Food Network videos.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Darienne (log)

[jsmeeker]

"One Plate at a Time" is fantastic. Not sure when the newest season will air. Currently, the Dallas PBS station is re-running the previous season. Looks gorgeous on my HDTV, too. It's in English with a little bit of Spanish thrown in. Most of that is when Rick does segments while traveling in Mexico.

[Toliver]

KCET in Los Angeles (formerly a PBS station, now just an independent) currently airs Susana Trilling's "Seasons of My Heart: A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca, Mexico" about three times a week (it rotates with another cooking show).

It's extremely authentic down to cooking with iguana.

She usually starts each show with a look at the dishes/meals/ingredients in Oaxaca and then she recreates them in her kitchen. I thought her show on the seven moles of Oaxaca was quite interesting.

She often uses authentic kitchen tools/pans (comal, molcajete, etc), as well.

[Darienne]

Thanks all. Canada is a food television wasteland for the most part I fear.

[Jaymes]

Thanks all. Canada is a food television wasteland for the most part I fear.

Is there any chance you have access to a library, even by mail, that offers DVDs? I know some do. Perhaps you could check out some of these series. I particularly loved the Susanna Trilling one. In fact, I wound up taking some classes from her.

[Darienne]

A good idea Jaymes. I have access to two libraries, but neither is very up-to-date and I am probably lazy to go one step further. My goal was probably less learning...than it was the idle time of watching a bit of TV...which to me has become a wasteland anyway. To me the cooking shows have become unattractive (I really mean something worse) contests or of the Drive-ins, Diners, etc which could be fun now and then, but a steady diet??? No. The drama shows we used to watch, which are still on, have become nasty and violent. What is there left. But I digress...

So my answer is probably Andie's suggestion of looking up videos when I want to make something. That's how I found the delectable Puero Pibil recipe.

Thanks again.

[Jaymes]

A good idea Jaymes. I have access to two libraries, but neither is very up-to-date and I am probably lazy to go one step further. My goal was probably less learning...than it was the idle time of watching a bit of TV...which to me has become a wasteland anyway. To me the cooking shows have become unattractive (I really mean something worse) contests or of the Drive-ins, Diners, etc which could be fun now and then, but a steady diet??? No. The drama shows we used to watch, which are still on, have become nasty and violent. What is there left. But I digress...

So my answer is probably Andie's suggestion of looking up videos when I want to make something. That's how I found the delectable Puero Pibil recipe.

Thanks again.

And that is undoubtedly going to be the best approach.

But just for future reference, I've lived places where there were only very small remote library branches. They were affiliated with larger libraries off in some sort of big city or university. You could look through the catalogs (no internet in those days) and find something you wanted, and the library would order it for you. I suspect now you can do that kind of thing online.

The nicest thing about watching a cooking show is when the host/hostess makes something you never thought of, and it looks fabulous, and so you make it, and are introduced to something brand new in your repertoire.

Edited March 8, 2011 by Jaymes (log)

[Darienne]

But just for future reference, I've lived places where there were only very small remote library branches. They were affiliated with larger libraries off in some sort of big city or university. You could look through the catalogs (no internet in those days) and find something you wanted, and the library would order it for you. I suspect now you can do that kind of thing online.

For two decades of research I lived on ILL (Inter Library Loan)and it's there in my two libraries. I still do use it on occasion. I think the salient word was 'lazy'. Not to mention that the list of what I have never made is so long that I literally do not have enough time left in my life to make it all.

Thanks.

[Tropicalfox]

"Daisy Cooks" is not about Mexican food. It's really a NeoRican approach to Puerto Rican cooking. Some of the recipes are ok, others make me cringe, but at least it's better than Tyler Florence's Arroz con Gandules using jalapeno peppers!!!

[andiesenji]

I've been watching Pati's Mexican Table on a local PBS station for the past three weeks.

She is very enthusiastic and fun to watch.

[EatNopales]

Thumbs up for... Rick Bayless, Two Hot Tamales, Pati Jinich, Susana Trilling or any specials with Aaron Sanchez or his mom Zarela Martinez... the others Daisy, Marcella etc., are gawd awful.

Big thumbs up for You Tube videos lots of content out of Mexico with dishes that don't make the Celebrity Show hosts radar... I should put together a Play List... btw not to toot my own horn or anything... but my You Tube music channel is pretty fabulous

http://www.youtube.com/EatNopales

[kalypso]

"One Plate at a Time" is fantastic. Not sure when the newest season will air. Currently, the Dallas PBS station is re-running the previous season. Looks gorgeous on my HDTV, too. It's in English with a little bit of Spanish thrown in. Most of that is when Rick does segments while traveling in Mexico.

New season starts in September and will focus on the Baja peninnsula. They filmed in April. If you havent' seen them (but I suspect you probably have) here a link to the video outtakes - http://fronterafiesta.com/ . The last 20 or 30 seconds of each video are a plug for their sponsor, Bohemia

[Darienne]

Thumbs up for... Rick Bayless, Two Hot Tamales, Pati Jinich, Susana Trilling or any specials with Aaron Sanchez or his mom Zarela Martinez... the others Daisy, Marcella etc., are gawd awful.

Big thumbs up for You Tube videos lots of content out of Mexico with dishes that don't make the Celebrity Show hosts radar... I should put together a Play List... btw not to toot my own horn or anything... but my You Tube music channel is pretty fabulous

http://www.youtube.com/EatNopales

Go for it. Toot your own horn. Put together that list. NOW! Please.

[Katie Meadow]

I've been watching Pati's Mexican Table on a local PBS station for the past three weeks.

She is very enthusiastic and fun to watch.

Doesn't her accent and delivery remind you of a certain SNL character created by Gilda Radner?

[andiesenji]

I've been watching Pati's Mexican Table on a local PBS station for the past three weeks.

She is very enthusiastic and fun to watch.

Doesn't her accent and delivery remind you of a certain SNL character created by Gilda Radner?

I know exactly what you mean. However my memory goes back a bit further and I was reminded of a very young Goldie Hawn on Laugh In when she would deliver a sort of gurgly giggle and follow up with a spot-on delivery of the punch line.

[Pierogi]

I've been watching Pati's Mexican Table on a local PBS station for the past three weeks.

She is very enthusiastic and fun to watch.

Doesn't her accent and delivery remind you of a certain SNL character created by Gilda Radner?

I know exactly what you mean. However my memory goes back a bit further and I was reminded of a very young Goldie Hawn on Laugh In when she would deliver a sort of gurgly giggle and follow up with a spot-on delivery of the punch line.

Both of those comparisons are dead-bang on ! That said, I do enjoy the show, although it's a bit simplistic compared to Bayless. Even with that, though, I get some good ideas.

But now I will never again watch it without channeling Roseanne Roseannadanna crossed with Goldie Hawn !

[andiesenji]

What gets me is when she scrunches up her eyes and grins, showing all her teeth - usually when talking about her boys - that's what got me thinking about Goldie.