Cook like a chef

[cook-em-all]

Pepin is the master of techniques.

There is a niche for the urban peasant like there was for What's for dinner?

Basically they are saying if we can cook something in a realatively small amount of time that we can stomach, so can you(the viewer).

That is fine. The Urban peasant & What's for dinner? have never claimed to be chefs so they can't be judged as profesionals-unlike the Chefs on Cook like a Chef. Again call the show Cook like a Stagiere and I will have less problems with it.

[Coop]

Dude: Que ce que cest Stagiere?

[cook-em-all]

A cooking school student who works for free at a potentiel employer.

[riboflavinjoe]

The Urban Peasant breaks a barrier that says only "tight-assed" chefs can really cook. He helped me get over my feeling that one was either born a cook or not!

Exactly! Like I said, I didn't really watch him at first to see what neat ideas he had for food. I watched it precisely because he is just so easy going about things, something that I think is important in life. To not get overly stressed and crazy about things is a definite plus, and it is this philosophy that I liked so much when watching james.

i have a few of his cookbooks (which i never look at anymore), but he says something like, "What would i like to hear about from my readers? I would like to know that young college students were able to get by on more than chinese take out and kraft dinner. I would like to know that a mother got a breakfast in bed." etc. Well, I admire James for bringing food to a level that anyone (laypeople) can get. Not everyone is so crazy about food as we are, not everyone demands the same quality, as I'm 100% sure you guys are aware.

Dude: Que ce que cest Stagiere?

Stagiaire is an intern

[Lesley C]

Oh God...couldn't we just forget What's for Dinner? ever existed???

[eat2much]

I can't comment on the show due to my watching the US feed of FoodTV and missing all the Canadian content but one thought that comes to mind (when thinking about the Urban Peasant) is that most households (even those with serious foodies) do not have things like veal stock, etc. hanging around. Watching a guy like Barber cook with what is in the fridge makes you feel that you don't have to be a chef in order to cook.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step!

[ollie]

Oh God...couldn't we just forget What's for Dinner? ever existed???

Never! I even have some of them on tape.

Of course I never paid attention to what they were cooking but those two had a perversely enjoyable, to me at least, chemistry.

I tuned in after not watching for a few years and Mary Jo was gone. What ever happened to her and just who was she?

Edited February 11, 2003 by ollie (log)

[guru]

That show should be called cook like a fool or act like a fool. The chefs keep saying oh perfect, fantastic and these things only cause they saw Trotter do that on his sessions.I recently saw a program on sugar and was to the point of filling a complain to the network; the show started with two guys putting newspaper on the floor in order to make some caramel nests.How many chefs do that? The worst part was when the clown on the show showed how to test the sugar at the hard crack stage;he refreshed his fingers in an ice bath and took some caramel from the pot (yes with his fingers) dipped the piece in the water and took a bite out of it. WOW How many of us do that? I was explained that technique in school but the teachers said it was too dangerous and that we had great thermometers to work with. My big concern is that the food network is not only watched by professionnals and that a home cook could really hurt himself. I'd never try that.

[Lesley C]

Only scary old alcoholic pastry chefs do that, and young French hot shot morons.

I once saw a tired pastry chef do the opposite: dip his finger in the caramel, then the ice water and then the caramel. Some lovely second degree burns there.

[cook-em-all]

I'm glad Guru you see my point.

[Coop]

This thread led me to wondering, who does Food Network Canada target it's shows for?

Watch the adverts, Lipton Sidekicks, Uncle Bens microwave rice, and other items aimed at people who probably don't cook like chefs or eat in restaurants other then the occaisional trip to the Burger King or Subway.

[Jinmyo]

Voyeurs?

[riboflavinjoe]

Watch the adverts, Lipton Sidekicks, Uncle Bens microwave rice

yeah, i noticed this too. how about those cutting pads, like a maxi pad for cutting on. they have a "real" chef using them in her "professional" kitchen, all ecstatic about the virtues of glad maxi-boards. wtf?

[Kenk]

I like Cook Like a Chef. You can easily find fault with the way the chefs in the show come accross on TV, for TV hosts these Guys make good Chefs.

And for the most part come accross pretty well on tv. I couldn't even imagine how hard it would be to be both a good chef and look good doing it of TV.

As for FoodTV Canada these guys set Ken Caustic as the star of their network. I could elaborate but any further discussion on this point may get me in big trouble from Lesley.

Apart from that because FoodTV Canada is based in Toronto we get what the media gurus in Toronto think is good. One of the telling point about the food media in Toronto was when I read a very prominent food writer there say that "the most important thing about food is presentation".(style no substance)

I think FoodTV Canada has been getting better because of Cook Like a Chef. I hope FoodTV Canada get into producing better documentry or information based shows where lots of good quality information is given, a little less tavelogue.

Cook Like a Chef is made in Toronto but produced by Chris Knight of Ottawa.

[Lesley C]

Hi Kenk and welcome to eGullet.

You're absolutely right about Kostik. When they launched Food Network Canada, the show they were pushing the most was "Ken Kostik and Friends" or was it "Ken Kostik and Company."

His was the promo tape included in the original Food Network press kit, no the Canadian Living show or Feenie -- Kostik.

That show, which I think you can still pick up at about 6 a.m. on weekdays, ended up being Kostik's downfall. The guy showed up in a suit, blabbed away endlessly, interrupted all his guest chefs, talked about his mother, and proved episode after episode that at most he was a mediocre cook and not much of a comedian. Talk about a recipe for disaster.

(note: kenk, please don't tell me you're Kostik, the screen name makes me worry Then again, if you are Kostik you could fill us in on the ups and downs of making that show)

[Jinmyo]

Ken Kostik. Very strange, terrible shows, worse cooking.

Lesley, has he suffered reverses?

[Lesley C]

"Lesley, has he suffered reverses?"

Jinmyo, what this mean?

[Jinmyo]

Lesley, you referred to Kostik's downfall. Has he fallen? How far? Down and out?

I think I saw a ridiculous high edged soup pot with his name on it a few months ago. Is he pan handling or handling pans?

[Lesley C]

I think he got that pots-and-pans contract during his "high" on What's for Dinner. I haven't heard anything about him since the FNC show was axed. He seems to have plenty of books on the market. I interviewed him once. He's a very nice man, but after about 5 minutes it became painfully obvious his focus is Ken Kostik -- certainly not food. I remember him saying, "I want to sing, I want to dance." And he did end up doing a show at Rainbow Stage in Winnipeg that summer. So maybe, if you look closely, you'll see him as an extra doing a couple Jazz kicks next to Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago.

I saw Mary-Joe making drinks on Canada AM one morning. She was charming. But if I recall correctly, she had problems with the blender.

[Jinmyo]

So, now he's "a little song, a little dance" and she's "a little setzer down your pants."*

I was only ever aware of Kostic and Mary Jo as things to avoid when scanning through a schedule. So I don't know that much about them. Something about a dog. A few bizarre unconnected images. Nightmarish, really. Too much broccoli. Perhaps they microwaved it.

However I notice from a previous post, Lesley, that you rated Canadian Living Cooks above Kostic so I get a sense of vertigo at the depths the name Kostic might indicate.

*Possibly obscure MTM reference. Chuckles the Clown.

[Lesley C]

Oh Canadian Living Cooks!

Don't get me started....

Elizabeth Baird is certainly a force to be reckoned with on the Canadian food scene. But she seems rushed and frantic on that show, always trying to get an oven temperature or hint in edgewise.

Emily appears to be the best cook of the three, but seems happy to play third fiddle to the other two.

Daphna (sp?) gives me the impression she thinks she's smarter and better than the rest and would be happy to host the show alone.

Basically, there is no chemistry in the group, the dreary suburban kitchen set is awful, the lighting is too harsh, and the makeup is too heavy. The casual banter is silly, and the phony jokes and laughter are embarassing. Perhaps worse of all, the recipes don't look appealing, and they should. Nothing I see on that show makes me want to set foot in the kitchen.

It's just sooooo Toronto

[Jinmyo]

I agree. The cackling sets the teeth on edge.

I don't have much knowledge of Baird off the show. On the show she looks like she stole Captain Kangaroo's toupee and is too busy spluttering and stuttering to finish a sentence. Naptha strikes me as someone who would strike me when I wasn't looking just because she could and just because I wasn't looking. The other one, Emily, seems less insane but I think it might just be the company.

Isn't this fun?

[Kenk]

I think the FoodTV Canada can use a good show produced in Montreal.

Maybe with an excelent pastery chef as its host.

Seems like a good Idea to me!

The last english, Montreal produced cooking show I can think of hasn't been made in years. It might be the Pol Martin series.

[Lesley C]

Montreal just doesn't exist for Food TV Canada. I don't think they'd be at all interested, even if this city is the most happening food city in the country (hmm that sounds like a new thread to me).

However, there are some excellent French shows running here, such as A la Di Stasio and Cultive et Bien Eleve.

[Coop]

So now us people in BC have something in common with the other solitude. Our hate of all things Toronto. After watching the show Opening Soon's episode with the folks from Cube it looks like they would be perfect foils for our boy Rob Feenie. They could have a half hour episode on hair frosting. Face it the Food Network Canada seems to bring out the worst of both coasts.

Don't get me started on those Betty Crockett triplets on Canadian Living Cooks. Have you noticed that two of them seem to be getting bigger? It can't be from the food they prepare on the show. Hopefully it's from the wrap parties at Harvey's and the Swiss Chalet.