America's Home Cooking

[guajolote]

Our local PBS is showing the Crockpot version of this show to raise money.

Here's a sample recipe for a Rueben Pizza:

add cream cheese, grated swiss, 1 can corned beef (the host asked the lady if you could use real corned beef, I didn't catch her answer), and sauerkraut. Cook for 2 hours on low. Spread this mixture on a pizza crust, sprinkle with caraway seeds, and bake.

You can also use the mixture as a dip.

I don't think I'll call in a pledge today

More to come...

[Suzanne F]

Thanks for reminding me why I don't even watch public TV.

[Aurora]

Our local PBS is showing the Crockpot version of this show to raise money.

Here's a sample recipe for a Rueben Pizza:

add cream cheese, grated swiss, 1 can corned beef (the host asked the lady if you could use real corned beef, I didn't catch her answer), and sauerkraut. Cook for 2 hours on low. Spread this mixture on a pizza crust, sprinkle with caraway seeds, and bake.

You can also use the mixture as a dip.

I don't think I'll call in a pledge today 

More to come...

I'm tuned in expecting my weekly dose of Bayless and Pepin. Slight change of plans. Surprise! It's pledge drive time! It's funny how the regular lineup of Chicago cooking shows is always the first to be swept aside. When I tuned in, here's what I discovered on America's Home Cooking: Crockpots:

Cheesy Spinach Velveeta Dip:

As I understand it, this is a side dish that contains about one stick of butter (one quarter-cup for rubbing down the inside of the crock pot; one quarter-cup cubed and added to the dish), frozen spinach that has been thawed and drained, cottage cheese, Velveeta, and three eggs that have been slightly beaten. This all goes into the pot and is ready for consumption after 90 minutes on "HI".

Boy Scout Beans:

A concoction of spicy sausage, onion, garlic, Kraft bbq sauce, brown sugar and 11 different kinds of canned beans and their water set to simmer in a crock pot over night with no additional seasoning.

Now, a woman is preparing something that she calls:

Chocolate Mess:

'Nuff said. After the chocolate chips and the marshmallow cream, I stopped watching to write. This is also prepared in a crock pot. They describe the dish as a "British-like" pudding.

I don't mean to sound snobbish. I love my crock pot, and Mark Bittman gives me more reasons to love it all the time, but this PBS cooking presentation is...well, it isn't what I expected.

After each recipe, the host of the segment brings a sample of the dish over to the wide-eyed talker whose job it is to extoll the long-term benefits of pledging to PBS. Based on my impression of the amount of effort she exerts to maintain her enthusiasm , I'm guessing that some of the recipes may be falling short.

I recall PBS cooking show pledge programming that was better than this. It presented recipes that made you want to head to the kitchen, and it dangled the books that contained those recipes in your face until you relented. Five of my Julia Child cookbooks came to me by way of a single PBS pledge drive. The programming that I'm talking about had folks hitting redial until they got through to pledge those member dollars!

America's Home Cooking is not exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not running to the phone, and the chances are good that I won't be pledging my $60 to obtain a copy of the companion cookbook. In fact, I'm quickly running over to Manny's for a Ruben.

Then again, not so fast...it appears that one woman's sausage in brioche is another woman's pigs in blankets.

It does make me happy to see people cooking even if what they are cooking doesn't appeal to me. Their efforts in the kitchen come from a place of love, and each cook clearly enjoys what they are doing. Their creations are resonating with someone somewhere, and that's really what food and cooking are all about when you get right down to it. So, I will get over the recipes where every ingredient comes from a can, and I will look past the lack of technique. Ultimately, what each cook has conveyed is a love for food and being in the kitchen. As I watch them spoon garlic from a jar, their apparent love for the activity will sustain me and keep me watching. That makes us kindred spirits in the kitchen, and that is everything.

[Jinmyo]

Naive recipes.

Very terrifying to me, but I get it. "America's Home Cooking."

I just turn away and leave them to it.

Gah.

[Bux]

Is it not the point of these pledges to get viewers to promise money in exchange for a return to regular programming? Are they not meant to be seen as holding the regular programming for ransom?

[Jinmyo]

Bux, they used to haul out the good movies and say, "We could show this stuff more often if you weren't so cheap."

[Aurora]

Is it not the point of these pledges to get viewers to promise money in exchange for a return to regular programming? Are they not meant to be seen as holding the regular programming for ransom?

That really isn't the point. The point is that the programming costs money, and pledge money is the biggest source of that support. Most times, the programming that is offered during pledge time is excellent. This time, it wasn't.

Subsequent pledge drives will yield better things. I have no worries, Bayless and Trotter have gone to the mat for the local PBS station more than once during pledge time. I'm sure they an others will again. My membership is good for another eight months. They should be back on target by then. Perhaps I can get a few Lidia Bastianich books out of the deal.

[guajolote]

Just to be fair, one woman did make a semi-edible looking version of a choucroute. But it took 30 minutes on the stove followed by 3 hours in the crockpot. Why not just put the already dirty pan in the oven?

[Jinmyo]

I watched Lidia on PBS recently. Five years ago, before I first encountered St. Mario's EVOO ways, she stirred a bit of interest in Italian cuisine that I had let slide since childhood. Mario fanned that to leaping flames. I've since made some things my Welsh/Italian mother made (without the hundreds of hours of over-simmering and better quality ingredients) and have stated on eGullet that I would even try tripe if Mario made it. So I watched the show with some interest.

I was surprised to be so disappointed.

[Aurora]

There were a few that made me wonder why a crock pot was essential. For example, the cook that introduced Boy Scout Beans, mentioned that he started cooking the dish in his crock pot at midnight. The show was not live (nor was it produced at WTTW), but I was led to believe that the recipe had been simmering for a considerable amount of time. To my surprise, the example of the finished dish looked exactly like the beginning mixture.

[Jinmyo]

To my surprise, the example of the finished dish looked exactly like the beginning mixture.

The magic of television.

[Aurora]

I watched Lidia on PBS recently. Five years ago, before I first encountered St. Mario's EVOO ways, she stirred a bit of interest in Italian cuisine that I had let slide since childhood. Mario fanned that to leaping flames. I've since made some things my Welsh/Italian mother made (without the hundreds of hours of over-simmering and better quality ingredients) and have stated on eGullet that I would even try tripe if Mario made it. So I watched the show with some interest.

I was surprised to be so disappointed.

To my recollection, none of Lidia Bastianich's PBS shows have ever been aired by the local station.

So, if I read you correctly, your saying that I should just shoot for additional Julia Child stuff of the Jacques Pepin pledge package.

[Jinmyo]

Right.

[Bux]

11 different kinds of canned beans and their water set to simmer in a crock pot over night

Overnight, at a temperature close to the boil, canned beans (already cooked beans)?

[Aurora]

11 different kinds of canned beans and their water set to simmer in a crock pot over night

Overnight, at a temperature close to the boil, canned beans (already cooked beans)?

Yes, tis true. It seems unlikely, but that was the claim. According to the guest who claimed Boy Scout Beans as his signature dish, the pot was 'a simmerin' as far back as midnight.

I dunno. I just watched.

[ideefixe]

Aww! I missed this! But my local PBS, KCET in Los Angeles, shows Lawrence Welk re-runs during pledge drives, for some wacko reason.

Why PBS is in the cooking show business these days is beyond me. I can think of better uses for my tax dollars.

[Aurora]

Aww! I missed this!  But my local PBS, KCET in Los Angeles, shows Lawrence Welk re-runs during pledge drives, for some wacko reason.

Why PBS is in the cooking show business these days is beyond me.  I can think of better uses for my tax dollars.

I hear you, but wait a minute. Hold on.

Not everything PBS produces in the cooking realm is like America's Home Cooking. In fact, most of the shows are good, whether you like the chef that stands in front of the camera or not. I, for one, love Mollie Katzen's books, but can't really handle watching her on television. Others have expressed similar sentiments with regard to particular chefs, but the quality of the programming, in terms of content, is usually good.

America's Home Cooking is a bit of a departure for PBS. It is internally produced programming with no outside sponsors and no big bucks. From what I could learn it is also not produced by one of the PBS major markets, which means even less bucks. It is rare to see programming specifically produced for pledge time with the breaks and the segues already built in. I can't comment on public television programming in other markets, but typically they have run the best of the best programming during pledge time in Chicago. America's Home Cooking seems to be something new that is a cost-cutting measure.

They ran America's Home Cooking again around 2 AM. I woke in the middle of the night to re-live Chocolate Mess, but damn if I didn't miss Boy Scout Beans. That is fast becomming my favorite.

In case anyone is up and reading this right now, Your Chicago Kitchen just came back on (11:19 P.M. CST). The guy host's name is Richard Steele. Here they go, from the top, with Grandma's California Maki. It looked good, but they used too much rice, and they didn't cut the cucumber to a more managable size. The maki came out too big. There's no way the end result could be handled with chopsticks.

Guajolote - If you call in, I'll bet you can get an apron.

edit: to minimal correction to fix 1 stand-out comma error and the atrocious misspelling of "segues." The only way to truly appreciate this type of programming is with a cold one!

I love it -- goofy crock pot recipes and all!

Edited March 4, 2003 by Aurora (log)

[guajolote]

11 different kinds of canned beans and their water set to simmer in a crock pot over night

Overnight, at a temperature close to the boil, canned beans (already cooked beans)?

He also added cans of green beans and peas.

After 2 hours of this my wife asked why I was still watching it. I said it was the same reason you slow down to see the car wreck on the side of the road .

We also get Lawrence Welk. He'll be on next weekend with Suze Orman and some self-help guru.

[Bux]

11 different kinds of canned beans and their water set to simmer in a crock pot over night

Overnight, at a temperature close to the boil, canned beans (already cooked beans)?

He also added cans of green beans and peas.

That would explain everything.

[Joy]

Why PBS is in the cooking show business these days is beyond me.  I can think of better uses for my tax dollars.

As a former PBS fundraiser, I have to step in and dispel this notion that *anyone's* tax dollars goes to PBS or NPR. You've heard it before but our biggest source of income is from membership support.

I'll also add that the way PBS has gone in terms of their drives is horrifying. I've tuned in a couple of times and had to check to make sure that I had not inadvertently turned on the QVC. Seriously.

[Jinmyo]

Joy, what is QVC?

[guajolote]

Joy, what is QVC?

It's a TV channel that sells stuff, lots of stuff. Kind of like all informercial, all the time.

QVC.com

[Jinmyo]

Gah. Thanks, guajolote.

[Richard Kilgore]

I think Bux may be on to something. I recall a public radio station in NYC many years ago that played a recording of Bessie Smith singing America the Beautiful for three days straight until they got what they needed. Then they celebrated by breaking the record (back in vinyl days) over the air. So maybe PBS will end with a smashing of the crockpot.

[Joy]

I think Bux may be on to something. I recall a public radio station in NYC many years ago that played a recording of Bessie Smith singing America the Beautiful for three days straight until they got what they needed.

That sounds like a Steve Post stunt.