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2004: What are you watching?


NickMach007

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Jamie cooks, preps, and talks so fast that I get a little anxious watching

his show but overall, I like it. I'm also really starting to like R. Ray's

30 minutes a day which I couldn't stand for the longest time.

Rachael Ray? I've watched her before and I just can't do it. But I agree about J.Olvier, he does keep me a little on edge, but as I've said, I do respect his cooking. Last nite, I caught part of an episode where he made a chocolate risotto. Not sure how that would actually taste, but he definitely gets a lot of points for creativity. Not being a huge chocolate fan, I can't say I will try that recipe out, but I've made some of his other stuff before, usually pretty good.

And bilrus, I'm beginning to be jealous of your TiVO!

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Let’s hear it for Food TV Canada! I would also give accolades to home-grown shows such as :

The Thirsty Traveler

Opening Soon

Chef at Large

But also adore:

Good Eats

A Cooks Tour

Jacque Torres(sp?) (chocolate as sculptural medium show!)

Iron Chef :rolleyes: (guilty pleasure)

And dearly miss The Two Fat Ladies *sigh* :sad:

Minou ~ Kitchen Widow

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Like everyone else I watch Good Eats all the time, I also like Bobby Flay, and I guess i am the only paula Dean fan here.

I like Andrea Immer's wine show, and like to watch Carlo cooks Italian, i think he cooks real Italian food and does show how to do it.

My wife loves watching Michael Chiarello, I find him tedious,

When i have control of the remote my first choice is cooking shows, like everyone else i don't watch the new food network stuff.

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I guess i am the  only paula Dean fan here. 

I can't stand her laugh (more like a cackle) but I do watch her show some of the time. Although she can get a little Sandra Lee-ish, some of her recipes are great. Her "Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding" is a real crowd pleaser with my family.

I'd love to eat at her restaurant, too. I've heard nothing but great things about it.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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What's the consensus on Bobby Flay? I like his cooking (although I must admit, when it somes to southwestern I prefer to watch rather than to actually make), but his so goofy.

I remember the whole Iron Chef thing where he really pissed of Morimoto twice. I've been to Morimoto's in Philly and I have to say I really enjoyed the food there, but I've never been to Mesa, so I can't compare on a fair scale.

Either way, Flay is a good chef, but his personality is a bit too quirky for me to watch on a weekly basis. But that doesn't mean I can't borrow a recipe or two every now and then... :biggrin:

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OK, I'll jump in and admit to liking some of the shows that have been bashed here, like Dweezil and Lisa. I don't know that I'll watch it for much longer, but so far it has been an interesting change. I am also partial to Follow That Food with Gordon Elliott, Ciao Italia with Mario Batalli, and I really liked Into the Fire, which seems to be either finished or on hiatus at the moment.

Neil

Author of the Mahu series of mystery novels set in Hawaii.

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Now I've got the "willies".

Last night I caught the opening minutes of "Family Circle's Good Food Fast". The host came out, she pet her little dog, she did a little intro for the episode and then they cut to the show open. When they came back from the show open, she started in prepping food and cooking.

My problem with this is that she didn't wash her hands after petting her dog before she started cooking. :blink:

I know, I know, the show isn't in "Real Time", it's edited and we just didn't see her wash her hands but we're sure she did wash her hands, right? Right? :huh:

I guess I just needed to see her do it.

Call me a wimp but it's just one more show on FoodTV I won't be watching again...

edited to add: plax/Neil, I love your "Hairy" Potter avatar! :laugh:

Edited by Toliver (log)

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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My problem with this is that she didn't wash her hands after petting her dog before she started cooking. :blink:

Very silly-- the Europeans laugh at Americans for their scrubbing themselves until the skin comes off...

Would you have also been upset if she shook hands with someone and didn't wash immediately afterward?

And also, based on the stories I've heard from people that have worked in restaurant kitchens, the less we know, the better!!

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My problem with this is that she didn't wash her hands after petting her dog before she started cooking.  :blink: 

Very silly-- the Europeans laugh at Americans for their scrubbing themselves until the skin comes off...

Agreed :laugh: I'm american and I think that germ phobia in America has reached epic heights. People walking around with paper towels gingerly opening doors, endless hand washing... I love hearing the story about Julia dropping the turkey (?) on the floor, then just picking it up and putting it back on the counter with a wink to the audience.

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My problem with this is that she didn't wash her hands after petting her dog before she started cooking.  :blink: 

Very silly-- the Europeans laugh at Americans for their scrubbing themselves until the skin comes off...

Agreed :laugh: I'm american and I think that germ phobia in America has reached epic heights. People walking around with paper towels gingerly opening doors, endless hand washing... I love hearing the story about Julia dropping the turkey (?) on the floor, then just picking it up and putting it back on the counter with a wink to the audience.

Ah, but it's not that paranoid. Dogs (and other pets) do go outside and encounter much that our shoes protect us from: pesticides & herbicides in gardens and lawns (and spillover onto sidewalks), fecal matter and urine, motor oil (some synthetic motor oils contain toxins that can be absorbed by contact with our skin) & radiator fluid can be found on driveways and streets, the ubiquitously dirty "dirt", etc.

This is yet another reason why some people insist that shoes be taken off at the door before entering a house.

Washing your hands after petting your pet before you handle food still sounds like a good idea to me. Call me Howard Hughes, I guess.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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Ah, but it's not that paranoid. Dogs (and other pets) do go outside and encounter much that our shoes protect us from: pesticides & herbicides in gardens and lawns (and spillover onto sidewalks), fecal matter and urine, motor oil (some synthetic motor oils contain toxins that can be absorbed by contact with our skin) & radiator fluid can be found on driveways and streets, the ubiquitously dirty "dirt", etc.

This is yet another reason why some people insist that shoes be taken off at the door before entering a house.

Washing your hands after petting your pet before you handle food still sounds like a good idea to me. Call me Howard Hughes, I guess.

Oh yes I know there's all that - I just try not to think about it :shock:

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What's the consensus on Bobby Flay? I like his cooking (although I must admit, when it somes to southwestern I prefer to watch rather than to actually make), but his so goofy.

I remember the whole Iron Chef thing where he really pissed of Morimoto twice. I've been to Morimoto's in Philly and I have to say I really enjoyed the food there, but I've never been to Mesa, so I can't compare on a fair scale.

Either way, Flay is a good chef, but his personality is a bit too quirky for me to watch on a weekly basis. But that doesn't mean I can't borrow a recipe or two every now and then... :biggrin:

I like his BOy Meets Grill show and the food he makes does look really good and in the few times I have made dishes from it have tasted pretty good ( i love the fish tacos).

Having eaten at Mesa Grill, I thought the food there read better on the menu than it tasted on the plate.

Bill Russell

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Ted Nugent would make a kickass food tv host, with Anthony Bourdain as one of his first guests

Throw in Paul Sr from American Chopper with a Kitchen Themed Bike and you'll have a sure Emmy winner.

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I really have to wonder sometimes who the FN are trying to capture with their programming line up. The food tv watching public seems to be maturing into a number of camps, at least among people I know. There are people who love the ethnic travelog type of shows like Cooks Tour, there are those that like the instructive shows like Good Eats, and then there are apparently gagillions of morons out there with a hearty apetite for progamming pabulum. Does anyone on this board really care about a candy bar made in Idaho that looks like a potato?

I would love to meet the FN's head of progamming in a bar one day and discuss the logic behind their line up. It seems to me (and of course I am just another know nothing loudmouth on a message board) that they could really jazz their ratings by revamping their approach of trying please everyone and instead focus on shows designed to appeal to true foodies. I want to watch these shows to become a better cook, I want to expand my knowledge of ethnic cuisines, and wine, and technique in the kitchen, and ingredient choices, and .......

Additionally, it seems that the publishers of Cooks Illustrated and Fine Cooking and other food related publications seem to have figured this out, no?

Oh how I doth rant so,

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Well, a bunch of things to reply to, so I'll just start:

The germ thing-- well there are germs everywhere and we all have to just deal with it, or we can go pay thousands of dollars for therapy (its called OCD). On the other hand that does mean that I'm not going to wash my hands before preparing food. Nor does it mean that after I play with raw meat I'm not going to wipe my counter down with diluted bleach. Indeed I'm going to take every precaution in my power to prevent food-borne illness and not become one of the 3000 that dies every year becuase of some sort of food poisoning. (But I can't say I don't ever practice the 5 sec. rule)

Ok, moving on...

bilrus, I've encountered that menu-reading-better-than-tasting phenomenon before too. It's always a little dissapoing when you've been anticipating a great meal, then read the menu and get even more excited, only to be dissapointed by the actual food... That's one of the biggest let downs.

Finally, to Jay-Bob and Mabelline, I think we should combine both your ideas. 1. Ask what the hell the programming directors at FN are doing, then 2. Suggest some of our own "fantasy food shows." I'll start.

I'd like to see one/all of the Iron Chefs teaching cooking techniques (hey in my fantasy they all speak perfect english-- either that or they can use that hilarious dubbing they always use. If memory serves me right...) :cool:

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5 Second Rule.

It's an international standard! :raz:

:laugh::laugh:

Ther is a newer show on, can't remember times though. Its called something like "special requests" or "made to order" Anyone seen it? Also I've not heard mentioned Cristine Cushing.

And I agree as well about the endless shuffling of times for shows. Just when I get used to a time slot, its gone.

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When I first started watching it, I was mezmerized by the Galloping Gourmet, Ming Tsai, Iron Chef, and Mario.

When I first started watching i was mesmerized by James Beard and Dione Lucas (sp?) AND the early black and white Julias. Love to see that stuff again now.

As for Bobby Flay, he was on some Pyramid game show this afternoon (which i saw at the gym) so i guess the celeb thing is where his heart now lies...

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Definitely agree with many here that FTV isn't what it used to be. I still enjoy Cook's Tour, as I didn't catch all the eps first time around. I also like the Food Hunter, but good luck finding him on the schedule! Good Eats appeals to my inner geek, but isn't wearing your own apron on your show kind of like a member of a band wearing their own t-shirt to a concert? There's something wrong about that.

What I truely hate (in addition to the much-bashed fuzzy guy) is the Almost Homemade Cooking woman. I mean...I don't consider taking angel food cake out of the container and putting sliced berries on it "almost homemade." Plus her personality puts me off.

I always want to watch America's Test Kitchen, but the name puts me off...I always imagine unholy mixtures of food or eating torture tests!

SML

"When I grow up, I'm going to Bovine University!" --Ralph Wiggum

"I don't support the black arts: magic, fortune telling and oriental cookery." --Flanders

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Good Eats appeals to my inner geek, but isn't wearing your own apron on your show kind of like a member of a band wearing their own t-shirt to a concert? There's something wrong about that.

Come on. Give AB a break. All the celebrity chefs promote themselves in someway. Wearing your own apron doesn't seem very bad to me. If you're watching his show already its not like real adverstising. Either way though at least he's not like Emeril. Gag.

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