Who's your favorite TV chef...

I was liking Ming for a while but his stuff is too complicated. Then it was Lydia and her homestyly Italian but it was a little plain. After that I liked that South American chef for a while but the ingredients are too bizzare.

Then, I tuned in to New Scandanavian cooking and decided very quickly that Tina Nordstrom had the right mix of simplicity and ease of preparation. And the stuff she makes makes me hungry.

New Scandanavian Cooking is great, if just for the scenery. The couple of times I watched, it's beautiful weather.

I like Bobby Flay's Grill Meets Boy, especially the beginning when he does his food shopping. Almost makes me want to move to NYC.

I like Paula Deen. But my all-time favorite was Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet. I watched his show all the time when I was a kid. Some of the funniest stuff ever. :)

I haven't watched a cooking show in forever.... so I'm gonna go with Masaharu Morimoto.

Alton Brown and "Good Eats"

Have enjoyed the Paula Deen magazine and would love to catch a show...

Alton Brown! His show is just so clever!

Alton Brown, definitely. I can't stand Bobbie Flay, Emeril, Rachel Ray, Sara Moulton, or any of the Food Network stars. I can put up with watching The Barefoot Contessa, but that's about it.

Favorite of all time has to be Julia Child, of course.

Oh, and The Galloping Gourmet, but only when he was still drinking. After he sobered up and found God, he was far less entertaining.

Yan Can Cook was entertaining for a while, but the whole Jackie Chan style of cooking gets tired really quickly.

And I always suspected Jaques Pepin of faking his accent.

You guys are gonna think I'm nuts but I've never heard of Alton Brown.

I need to check him out apparently. I'm scratching my head at how I have never seen his show???

Alton has a website: http://www.altonbrown.com/

I have "I'm just here for the food."

If you like Alton Brown, you might also like the Cooking for Engineers website: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/

Both have kind of a scientific bent to cooking.

I also liked The Frugal Gourmet until they found out that this former minister was also a pedophile.

Seconded, Frugal was very cool.

I have a wonderful Christmas book by Jeff Smith. Too bad.

Sheldonrs;329319 wrote:

I also liked The Frugal Gourmet until they found out that this former minister was also a pedophile.

I couldn't stand him before we found out he was a pedophile/ephebophile. He was always too self-righteously smug.

Beestie;329264 wrote:

Then, I tuned in to New Scandanavian cooking.....

[youtube]mbs64GvGgPU&mode=related&search=[/youtube]

Alton ROCKS !!!!!

Nigela Lawson is fun to watch .

I will have to check out that sweedish cook .

I find Nigella annoying for some reason. Also, she cooks in metric. I can't be bothered with the conversions.

Ahh but I have Metric/lb scales ,
and she cooks well , looks good , and has a Brit accent !!!

the food porn thing with Nigella bothers me though--all that gustatory delight, mouthing of food while casting sultry looks and heaving the bosom.

And the problem IS ?????

Bobby Flay just pisses me off...I'm not sure why. Maybe it's that stupid new show he does..."Throwdown." Yeah...throw my nuts! I don't like Rachael Ray either...that "$40 a Day" show is crap.

Lidia is kinda scary, but I enjoy watching her show. I also like The Naked Chef, Paula Deen, Alton Brown and Mario Batali.

Yeah, Bobby Flay is an irritating pompus jerk!
Julia Child was fun.
Mario Batali is authentic.
Most of the others are just ordinary and bore me.

My favorite Iron Chef is Chen Kenichi.

Masaharu Morimoto comes off like a Japanese Bobby Flay.

I like the French Iron Chef with the big old-lady glasses. He's awesome.

.

wolf;329621 wrote:

Masaharu Morimoto comes off like a Japanese Bobby Flay.

He's the only iron chef that has actually served me sushi, at a table with a huge glowing dildo on it, so he obviously earned earned huge points there... I don't know who Bobby Flay is....

... as I don't know if any of these names will travel.

If we're talking chefs just to watch, I love Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for his enthusiasm and the respect he has for real ingredients.

Heston Blumenthal because his ideas fascinate me and I find him rather attractive.

And the Hairy Bikers, because it's more than a cookery show (oh and Jamie Oliver when he's abroad, but again that's more about the travelogue).

But for being tempted into making the actual food:
Nigella Lawson because the food is so unpretentious (sadly she never seems to cook for less than 8 people)
and Gary Rhodes - although I find him irritating he cooks traditional food with a twist.

I do like Rachel Ray, though--she's cute, and unpretentious because--she's not a chef!

I also like Giada, because she's pretty and has such a great backstory.

jinx;329635 wrote:

He's the only iron chef that has actually served me sushi, at a table with a huge glowing dildo on it, so he obviously earned earned huge points there... I don't know who Bobby Flay is....

i peed a little!

Cloud;329686 wrote:

I do like Rachel Ray, though--she's cute, and unpretentious because--she's not a chef!

Agreed. I prefer her only on the 30-minute meal show. Only thing bugs me about her is that she loves her some "ee-vee-oh-oh."

Alton Brown is very entertaining. Or is it edutaining?

I also loved the Two Fat Ladies. Great show and very bawdy sometimes. :)

Oh yeah totally, they were a piss. Googling for their recipes always resulted in farm animal porn though... not that there's antything wrong with that...

Sundae Girl;329653 wrote:

Heston Blumenthal because his ideas fascinate me and I find him rather attractive.

I don't know about him being attractive or not, but he's a good chef. His scientific approach is cool and different, and he's interesting to watch. His restaurant, The Fat Duck, has been named the best restaurant in the world by both Michelin and Restaurant magazine at different times. Plus it's just the inside of a small house, which is cool.

wolf;329621 wrote:

My favorite Iron Chef is Chen Kenichi.

Masaharu Morimoto comes off like a Japanese Bobby Flay.

I like Chen too. I don't mind Morimoto...he could use some English lessons though. ;)

I feel bad for the Italian Iron Chef...I don't think I've ever seen him picked. Surely somebody picked him!

King;329772 wrote:

I don't know about him being attractive or not, but he's a good chef. His scientific approach is cool and different, and he's interesting to watch. His restaurant, The Fat Duck, has been named the best restaurant in the world by both Michelin and Restaurant magazine at different times. Plus it's just the inside of a small house, which is cool.

Ooh, thanks for the pic - it's not how I imagined at all.

One of these days I'll find someone who loves me enough to take me there for the tasting menu :drool:

And the "selections of wine by the glass) to go with it...

Anybody remember Justin Wilson? Not only did the man show me a lot about Cajun cuisine, but he kept me rolling on the floor with his jokes. Tough sumbitch......made his own dark roux. I'm lazy and buy it a jar.

Justin Wilson, he is dead now. He always was entertaining and his dishes were spicy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Wilson_(chef)

Dead as Gaius Julius Caesar, but not forgotten. Man refused to use black pepper, so most of the spiciness can be attributed to his preference for cayenne, hot sauce, and lots of it. 'Nuff to make you sweat.

Another Cajun chef is (was, I don't know) Paul Prudhomme. Fat man could cook. I think a chef ought to be fat anyway. Skinny chefs make me nervous. If your food's so damned good, why aren't you fat?

Wouldn't eat Giada's concoctions, but I would chew on her tits.

:D

Hyoi;329989 wrote:

Dead as Gaius Julius Caesar, but not forgotten. Man refused to use black pepper, so most of the spiciness can be attributed to his preference for cayenne, hot sauce, and lots of it. 'Nuff to make you sweat.

Another Cajun chef is (was, I don't know) Paul Prudhomme. Fat man could cook. I think a chef ought to be fat anyway. Skinny chefs make me nervous. If your food's so damned good, why aren't you fat?

Wouldn't eat Giada's concoctions, but I would chew on her tits.

I should have included this earlier - - Cooking is fine, but a show on EATING is better! The Travel Channel has Andrew Zimmern and his show Bizarre Foods. That bit of TV shows me more about food than any of the cooking shows. Takes me back to some of the great and just plain weird stuff I have eaten in other countries. :flycatch:

Nearly everytime someone mentions a chef, at least one that's seen in the American market, I'm getting a little flash of nostalgia ... especially the Two Fat Ladies. I have (I think) all of their cookbooks, although I've not made a single thing out of them. I might now be inspired to do so for my next pot luck.

I enjoyed Justin Wilson too ... his "gar-un-tee" catchphrase still sees some use.

Anybody remember Chef Tell? I think he was probably not much known outside of the Philadelphia market. I met him, back when I was in high school, he came and lectured to the German and Culinary classes at my high school. I knew someone that apprenticed with him, he was supposed to be a major jerk, although that's my impression of most successful chefs.

Alton for the win. Really pleased to see Feasting on Asphalt will be returning for a second season this fall, minus the fat LA cop that ruined it all after Alton broke his arm.

I can't believe they gave the guy his own show after that. "Food Detective", my ass.

My least favorite is Paula Dean. Don't know why, she just grates on my nerves. My favorite is Giada, Every Day Italian. My wife says her head is too big for her body. Still rather watch her than Paula Dean.

Anybody remember Chef Tell?.....wolf

Yeah. He was on PBS years ago. Taught the first wife how to cook so I suppose I owe him my life. Man couldn't pronounce "apple" to save his soul. Always came out "ahbble".

Love: Mario Batali, Alton Brown (when he gets things right, don't ever let him near Indian food).

Watchable: Jamie Oliver, Chen, Sakai, Tony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Two Fat Ladies, Ming, Sara Moulton.

Intense Dislike: Paula Deen, Giadia, Flay, Ray, Sandra Lee (she's double-plus ungood), Martha, any "reality show" type.

Justin Wilson is on RFDTV. RFDTV is a network on Dish Network, and since someone mentioned he's dead, they are probably reruns.

Sundae Girl;329962 wrote:

Ooh, thanks for the pic - it's not how I imagined at all.

One of these days I'll find someone who loves me enough to take me there for the tasting menu :drool:

And the "selections of wine by the glass) to go with it...

115 pounds seems reasonable for the food, but 90 pounds per person for wine by the glass, seems a bit much...... unless that's a glass with each course.

simian;330032 wrote:

I should have included this earlier - - Cooking is fine, but a show on EATING is better!

If this counts, then I'm also including a vote for Anthony Bourdain. Man can write and it makes for a very interesting show.

Anthony Bourdain's show is one of the best things on TV, and I loved his first book, Kitchen Confidential. He's cooked a couple of times on the show, and the rest is almost all eating and drinking. I have two of his other books--one's a cookbook, I think--but I haven't really looked at them yet.

although not techincall y a chef.. I loves me some Alton Brown. other than that... the Swedish Chef... (I agree w/ bruce on that one whole heartedly)

Gareth Blackstock. Possibly the greatest chef in Europe. Maybe even the world.

Oh yes--Anthony Bourdain! I want to read Kitchen Confidential, but am a little afraid I'll be so grossed out I won't want to eat in a restaurant again. I love it that his show has a warning label on it!

Crimson Ghost;330963 wrote:

Gareth Blackstock. Possibly the greatest chef in Europe. Maybe even the world.

Yes, Chef!

there also was this guy back in lawrence.. barefoot S might know who I'm talking about.. had a show on the local cable access channel.. really funny and easy enough for the rachel ray addict.

racheal ray by far

So far and no mention of Fanny Cradock? my first (and hence only) experience of TV chefs. :eek: (and do bare in mind what fanny is Brit slang for.......

That was quite a read Monster...what a weird rooster she was.

monster;333988 wrote:

So far and no mention of Fanny Cradock? my first (and hence only) experience of TV chefs. :eek: (and do bare in mind what fanny is Brit slang for.......

If the BBC one-off "Fear of Fanny" makes it over to the US, do make sure you watch it... Julia "Nighty Night" Davis plays Fanny, with the lovely Mark Gatiss as her long suffering husband. Strangely moving, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Oops, caught hotlinking again. bad monster

I love Emeril.

This is my tribute (3Mb MP3) to the man of dead air time, grunts, heavy breathing, annoying audience whoops, pointless live music and shows without content.

All audio taken from a single episode ("A Garlic Show" that aired two days ago).

Just been watching Giada. My eyes keep hanging up on her cleavage.

Food? What food?

I like Paula Deen and Nigella a lot. I don't like Rachel Ray -- why would someone with such an influence on what people eat choose to do advertisements for Dunkin Donuts? :rolleyes:

Here's a link to a purported guest blog by Anthony Bourdain, commenting on the current crop of chefs: Bourdain guest blog

I can't vouch for its authenticity, and in fact I had to pull up the cached version, but it makes for fun reading.

I do not know the name of the show, or of the chefs, but back in the late 80's and early 90s, there were these two guys on cable (from Virginia I think) that were hilarious as all get-out. They never said so back then, but I'd say they were gay, not that it matters except it added to their mystique. One was big and the other skinny. Very Laurel and Hardy ish. If someone remembers them, speak up. Be fun to look them up and see if any shows still exist.

My mom loved that show! Laban and Larry were the chefs, they were on PBS, not cable ... it was called "Cookin' Cheap."

Wolf to the rescue!!! That's them! They were a riot!