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How Guy Fieri Ruined the Food Network

Shel_B

By Shel_B
in Food Media & Arts

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted

If you want actual insight, this much better article by Bill Burford in The New Yorker from 2006 is an amazing, analytical look into the evolution of the Food Network.

Excellent article. Given that it was written 9 years ago and the programming is even worse now than it was then, he should write an updated column.

  • 1 year later...
gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

I will defend Fieri. He's still talking about food and cooking on FN. Not many others are.

  • Like 2
Tri2Cook

Tri2Cook

Posted
Posted

I don't really care too much about the host one way or the other. I just kinda like the show and the Canadian equivalent, You Gotta Eat Here, because it's sometimes interesting to see what people are doing in their restaurants. You see a lot of "uh huh, seen it" but every now and then you see a "wow, wish I'd thought of that".

  • Like 5

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Tri2Cook

Tri2Cook

Posted
Posted

Back in my party years, at ~2 am, after a night at a bar, I would have worshipped the person who made me one of those. :D I don't really see the problem with it. Nothing particularly classy about nachos anyway, they're just stuff on a chip... and almost always tasty.

  • Like 2

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Thanks for the Crepes

Thanks for the Crepes

Posted
Posted

The problem I see with these "Trash Can" Nachos is that the stuff is all layered into the can and sits at the pass until a server picks it up and delivers it to the consumer. The great appeal of nachos to me is the contrasting textures of the crispy chips, and all the different textures and flavors and temperatures of a well constructed plate of nachos. Personally, I don't want my chips steamed in a can and dumped out on a plate.

 

I love nachos, but usually won't order them at a restaurant except for Torero's which seems to share my nacho philosophy about crispy chips and top notch toppings. I really loathe "cheese" sauce in this dish, which is just an excuse to add a lot of cheaper ingredients and sog my chips out.

 

It's so easy and cheap to make nachos at home, so it's not a problem most restaurants don't make them the way I like them. 

  • Like 5

> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

nonkeyman

nonkeyman

Posted
Posted
On 11/26/2016 at 6:25 PM, Thanks for the Crepes said:

The problem I see with these "Trash Can" Nachos is that the stuff is all layered into the can and sits at the pass until a server picks it up and delivers it to the consumer. The great appeal of nachos to me is the contrasting textures of the crispy chips, and all the different textures and flavors and temperatures of a well constructed plate of nachos. Personally, I don't want my chips steamed in a can and dumped out on a plate.

 

I love nachos, but usually won't order them at a restaurant except for Torero's which seems to share my nacho philosophy about crispy chips and top notch toppings. I really loathe "cheese" sauce in this dish, which is just an excuse to add a lot of cheaper ingredients and sog my chips out.

 

It's so easy and cheap to make nachos at home, so it's not a problem most restaurants don't make them the way I like them. 

I think this is the most rational statement towards why I dislike the idea of the "trash can nacho". It's not because Guy Fieri made it. Guy Fieri appeals to a certain audience. If people want to watch him, sadly, that is on them.
However, even those people should like good nachos, and like you put it. If it sits on the pass and just gets soggy...well, what was the point?

  • Like 1

"Sense Of Urgency" -Thomas Keller

86ed Chef's Advice

Tri2Cook

Tri2Cook

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, nonkeyman said:

However, even those people should like good nachos, and like you put it. If it sits on the pass and just gets soggy...well, what was the point?


In a restaurant or convenience store in the wee hours of the morning after a night at the bar/club, anything that resembled a nacho or burrito was the best thing in the whole world. The bigger and messier and more full of stuff, the better. Fortunately, my time in that stage was short and long ago... but I'd be lying if I said it never happened.

  • Like 4

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted

Longtime ago,  Reese Schonfeld, who has no background in world news, decided to start a 24-hour TV news show. That was the very successful CNN.

After that,  Reese Schonfeld  who has no relationship to food felt that there was a huge need for a 24-hour food program TV show. So he started TV Foodnetwork. Whatever your feeling are about Foodnetwork's programing,   96,931,000 pay television households apparently want to watch them, not counting other worldwide audiences.

 

dcarch

.

  • Like 1
rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

I think you have to eat that Taco Tower sitting in one of those over sized Captain Chairs  to fully appreciate it.

 

make sure you are wearing something w elastic around your mid-section   !

 

that sort of attire goes well w the Huge Chairs !

  • Like 1
Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
17 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

I am more of a fan of Texas style nachos -with New Mexico toppings. But, I have never found a restaurant that was detail-oriented enough to make Texas style nachos.

 

What are "Texas style" nachos?

 ... Shel


 

Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
18 hours ago, nonkeyman said:

I think this is the most rational statement towards why I dislike the idea of the "trash can nacho". It's not because Guy Fieri made it. Guy Fieri appeals to a certain audience. If people want to watch him, sadly, that is on them.
However, even those people should like good nachos, and like you put it. If it sits on the pass and just gets soggy...well, what was the point?

 

There are times when I like soft, soggy nachos, just like there are times I like my morning bowl of hot farina lumpy, etc. 

 

That said, I do like this Alton Brown recipe. 

  • Like 1

 ... Shel


 

Lisa Shock

Lisa Shock

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Shel_B said:

 

What are "Texas style" nachos?

 

I got this recipe as a college student, from another student's mom, who was from Texas. She was one of the socialite types, with the perfectly coiffed helmet-hair, high heels no matter where she was, neatly appointed dresses from Neimans, and pounds of old Zuni jewelry acquired on vacation trips to New Mexico. -And she was always quick to point out that she was dressing down while on vacation, like NM was one giant dude ranch set up as a Texan playground. Of course, this was the early 1980s; the days of oil boom and a savings and loan bubble. Money flowed out of Texas, in ways not seen since.

 

First and foremost, these nachos involve real cheese -not a cheese sauce.

 

Preheat your oven to 350°. Heat an ovenproof serving platter. One asks the maid to take sheetpan and carefully places tortilla chips on it so that none are touching. The round type of chips are preferred, because it's easier to get everything uniform on them. Then, she places cheese on the chips. It can be shredded or thin slices that have been cut into rounds. Just make sure that the cheese is pretty even on each chip, so there is some in each bite. Then, the other toppings are carefully, evenly placed on each chip. These may include fresh or pickled hot pepper slices, black olives, thinly sliced roast beef, shredded beef, shredded chicken, etc. Broil until cheese bubbles starts to brown. Immediately top with any cold toppings (like dollops of sour cream [a pastry bag is useful here] or fresh raw toppings like grated sweet onion) and serve in a single layer on that hot platter. Have the maid keep making batches of these for a while, as it is difficult to make more than 30 or so at a time and if you are serving guests, one pan's worth will be gone in under 5 minutes. Your friends will judge you by how neatly your maid prepares these, so, be sure to stress that these need to be assembled to be as pretty as possible. (extra points for making fancy patterns with the olives)

  • Like 7

Have you read eGullet's Kitchen Scale manifesto?

Thanks for the Crepes

Thanks for the Crepes

Posted
Posted

@Lisa Shock,

 

Your Texas college mate's mom sounds like quite the character. :)

 

I never broil nachos, but rather bake them at about 400 F/204 C. Have you tried the recipe?

 

I make them kind of similarly, but I like to cook the onions and fresh jalapenos with the ground beef, and I need shredded iceberg and tomatoes as part of any cold toppings. I also shred the cheese as part of the hot ones. I do love me some good nachos.

> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

Shalmanese

Shalmanese

Posted
Posted
20 hours ago, dcarch said:

Longtime ago,  Reese Schonfeld, who has no background in world news, decided to start a 24-hour TV news show. That was the very successful CNN.

After that,  Reese Schonfeld  who has no relationship to food felt that there was a huge need for a 24-hour food program TV show. So he started TV Foodnetwork. Whatever your feeling are about Foodnetwork's programing,   96,931,000 pay television households apparently want to watch them, not counting other worldwide audiences.

 

dcarch

.

 

The history of the Food Network is that it was a failing tv channel with declining audiences until it was bought by Scripps and Judy Girard was brought in charge and radically remade the network away from lessons on how to cook from actual chefs and towards travel/eating shows and reality competitions. Whatever the Food Network is today, it has almost nothing in common with Schonfeld's original vision except the title.

  • Like 1

PS: I am a guy.

IowaDee

IowaDee

Posted
Posted

Read this morning that they are bringing back Iron Chef and that Alton Brown will be hosting the show.  It was fun to watch when I first discovered the channel.  Some nutso stuff went down.

  • Like 1
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