Those Wacky TV Chefs
Published March 23, 2006
According to Brown's bio, he strived to create a cooking show that was far from the dull fare of his era. Good Eats is truly the best, most-action packed, and enlightened half hour of food knowledge. The show is the benchmark for how to do it right.
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart has experience ranging from life on Wall Street to lifestyle guru to a stint as an actual jail inmate and a brief attempt to recruit an "apprentice."
Stewart also has a bad-tempered reputation that precedes her. Except with Martha, after a lifetime of public exposure, she manages to keep any temper flares well away from the cameras.
I always get the feeling I should put on white gloves when watching Martha Stewart. And frankly I've never seen the woman cook a single thing that I would ever want to make in my own kitchen.
Martha Stewart, seen in her syndicated series Martha Stewart Living on various channels across the spectrum, tends to concentrate on cooking items for entertainment, be it for a children's birthday party or an adult afternoon brunch. For viewers wanting a dashing way to cook a handy hamburger, best move on beyond Martha.
George Duran
One of the newer cooking shows as of this writing, and hence its featured chef, would be Food Network's Ham on the Street. This show's chef, George Duran, also has an extensive background in the film and TV industry and he too left it all to be trained in France and pursue his own cooking show.
Duran's show is certainly offbeat, for at times the viewer might find Duran handing out burritos from a manhole in New York city or munching on an entire turkey while sitting on a park bench. Duran counts on the surprise of his settings and the challenge of cooking under different circumstances to entertain his audience.
Once Duran went to a campground, raided everyone's rustic pantries, and cooked everything he found over an open fire. The results were mixed, at least to my own viewing eyes. Somehow he managed to come up with a fairly accurate campground favorite, "S'mores." Other strange concoctions that ascended from Duran's fire pit included day-old vegetables and even a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
George Duran is more about entertainment than actual cooking; few cooks would get involved with wrapping leftovers in aluminum foil to later pull a handsome culinary creation from the ashy embers of an open fire.
Pat Fish is a pop culture and political pundit. When she’s not working on her own blog she contributes regularly right here on Blogcritics.Pat lives in Delaware with her husband. They are owned by four cats, two dogs and one adorable granddaughter. Pat Fish is a published author and her books have drawn attention from her fellow reviewers on Blogcritics. Reviews of Memoirs of Josephine Fish and Mystery and Mirth have been conveniently provided for your reading pleasure.
- Those Wacky TV Chefs
- Published: March 23, 2006
- Type: Review
- Section: Tastes
- Filed Under: Tastes: Food and Drink, Video: Film and TV Business, Video: Reality TV, Video: Television
- Writer: Patfish
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- Patfish's personal site
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you missed the best chef on the Food Network....TYLER FLORENCE!
On Rachael Ray: I saw an episode of her "$40 a day" in which she ate in France for under $40. So she's been there.
Also, she's got a legion of young thirty-something male fans, too, some of whom don't even cook. SHe's been in Maxim magazine, if you can believe that!
That said, despite the fact that Rachael Ray warms my heart whenever I see her, Alton Brown is the best of the bunch.
I like Emeril, but he is getting a bit over-exposed. And Alton is the best thing going on the network right now. Even my four-year-old loves to watch his show.
And I didn't even know Giada cooked on her show ...
Everyday Italian is food porn. In addition to the low cut tops, have you noticed that each episode features at least one close up shot of Gaida gently washing her hands under running soapy water?
Now that you mention it, Sean, you are correct.
She leans over the sink in that low-cut top and washes her hands in, yeah, a somewhat erotic fashion.
Who'da thunk washing hands could be a sexy thing?
You know Warren, she really does cook but if you held a gun to my head I wouldn't be able to name a single thing she's cooked.
the oddest-looking oven I've ever seen
i agree. i want one...bad. love that pop-up broiler.
maybe it's one of those retro-fit things where they take an old "shell" of a stove and install new plumbing & the like.
p.s. this person here thinks the stove is a "Chambers".
Emerils other (and longest-running) show is "The ESSENCE of Emeril".
Giada's show is produced by her own people in Hollywood, not NYC, and also features excellent camera work worthy of the film industry. She performs each show TWICE in a day, and the footage is stitched together in editing to create the finished show. The editing folks also enhance the audio (chopping, pouring, crushing ingredients, etc.) while cutting in great closeups of knifework, etc.
I love, love, love George Duran! Ham on the Street is very entertaining and not at all condescending to the people that are interviewed. His recipes are fun and off the wall. Of course the "Free Food" episode made me squirm a little as it is always slightly uncomfortable to watch people's reactions to others acting inappropriately in public.
The fact that George is very cute in that Teddy Bear way does not hurt at all. The show has just been picked up for a second season and I also hope they will use George in a few of the network's numerous specials.
And yes, Giada is selling a little something more than Italian cooking, but who can blame her? Rachel is adorable and I swear all those people on the other sites are just jealous as I have yet to see any of them have their own shows.
I agree with the comment above about Tyler Florence. He is one of the most popular chefs on the network and my fave. Whats with that? He is getting a new show come May 6th. This must be about the 6th show he has on the network.
Ilike to see one them do a show on the connection between a chef and gardening think that would great
How about Mario Batali? I like his cooking show because there's an absense of a wild always clapping mob. or a band making sound effects as he grates or sautes something. Also he gives a short talk on what region and the ingredients they use in the recipe. All in all, I enjoy his show.
Raytard is a sad commentary on the state of the nation today. Anyone who would watch this manic, arm flailing, joker-mouthed, no-necked, chunky loud irritating voiced freak is just contributing to the dumbing-down of America. Quit calling her a chef, she is NOT a chef!
Giada is kinda scary too, with her oversized bobble head and her fake velociraptor smile. It hurts my face just to look at it.
Yes, her stove is a Chambers. They were big in the 1930's. They are wonderful and there are many clubs out there dedicated to restoring them. They were the original "crock pot". You fire it up in the morning and put food in the oven, turn it off, and the residual heat would continue to cook the food for several hours. They are VERY heavy. The saying is that your best friend will help you move a Chambers...once. I had one but I left it in a house that I sold. Too heavy to move. I wish I had kept it.
How do you have an afternoon brunch? I thought whole point was that it's between breakfast and lunch.
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You must be anti-Scientology - Chef's missing:)