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TV and Food: Did TV Make Us Better Cooks?


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FYI - Martha Stewart's Cooking School has started a new season. She's concentrating on Arabian Gulf cuisine and dishes inspired by it. Underwritten in part by Al Jazeera and Qatar Airways it appears. Anyway, she's in fine form. "Some people are squeamish about presenting a whole fish but...get over it."

You go, Martha!

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On 7/8/2017 at 2:10 PM, Terrafamilia said:

FYI - Martha Stewart's Cooking School has started a new season. She's concentrating on Arabian Gulf cuisine and dishes inspired by it. Underwritten in part by Al Jazeera and Qatar Airways it appears. Anyway, she's in fine form. "Some people are squeamish about presenting a whole fish but...get over it."

You go, Martha!

Really???  Awesome!!!  I adore her.

I was always terrified to cook a whole fish at home until we cooked some on vacation in Montenegro a few years ago.  A fresh fish guy drove around every day and we bought fish out of his trunk (not even kidding, but it was on ice, everything looked and smelled fresh, he was very sanitary), and he cleaned them for us.  I just followed the example of a million TV chefs, and stuffed it with lemon and fresh herbs.  More than one friend said it was the best fish they'd ever had.  Keeping it whole really does enhance the flavor and tenderness.  It also makes it harder to overcook, because we were cooking those bad boys on a cheap charcoal grill and got the most amazing results.

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On ‎7‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 2:10 PM, Terrafamilia said:

Anyway, she's in fine form. "Some people are squeamish about presenting a whole fish but...get over it."

You go, Martha!

Julia Child used to say something similar.  It usually involved butter or cream & she said something like "if you don't want to add that ingredient, too bad, make another recipe".

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Here in the UK I used to watch the likes of Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Marco Pierre White, Nigel Slater and even Mr Angry himself, Gordon Ramsey. 

With the exception of Oliver most of these chefs cooked fairly elaborate foods, that would probably justify a large social gathering rather than just a couple of people. Jamie Oliver was fairly easy on the eye, although his preparation of food was a bit roughshod at times. But he impressed me a great deal to the point of buying a couple of his best-selling recipe books, and I learnt my trade from those. 

And now I absolutely love cooking; there is something hugely awesome about preparing and cooking a meal; coupled with that 5 minutes of anxiety when your guests sit down to sample your offerings! 

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I loved the Two Fat Ladies.  I own many of their cookbooks, but I have only made a few of their recipes.  I loved the show & watching them in their travels.

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5 hours ago, ariel said:

I loved the Two Fat Ladies.  I own many of their cookbooks, but I have only made a few of their recipes.  I loved the show & watching them in their travels.

Awww, I loved the "Two Fat Ladies".  I learned a lot from them about British food that I never knew before.  I get choked up when I think about them because my late mother loved them.  She could have been a third "fat lady", only an American version.  She was a great cook and very much like the fat ladies.  RIP Jennifer and Clarissa.  Although my heart broke when I read that they didn't end off on the best of terms.

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I love America's Test Kitchen! I've told MrMellow that if I die young and he needs to learn to cook just watch the 16 seasons I have saved. 

I've never followed their recipes accurately but I picked up so much useful information. My vanilla chiffon has never been lighter since I switched from milk to water. That show inspires me to think about my recipes.

Love Alton Brown and Good Eats although I don't enjoy his recipes. Was going to name the kidlet Alton but MrMellow refused!

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Signs you watch a lot of food TV: Washing off a carrot that is going to be part of the chicken stock you are making, "Eh, if there's a little dirt on it'll be okay. It will add umami."

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I've always tried cooking new (to me) foods (e.g., moussaka, souvlaki, kima, etc). But the Barefoot Contessa was the one cooking show that pulled me in as a fan. In addition to her recipes, I learned how to plate food, do one color flower arrangements, and not to iron a crease in the napkins but just softly fold over.

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14 hours ago, biakbiak said:

It hasn’t made me a better cook because some of the dishes are absolutely ridiculous but I really enjoy Binging with Babish where he makes dishes featured in TV or movies. I did make the recipe from Chef for the pork roast and than leftovers for the Cubanos and it was delicious!

That's site full of some fun recipes!  And I so want to try the Cubanos - yum!

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On 1/25/2019 at 5:42 PM, biakbiak said:

It hasn’t made me a better cook because some of the dishes are absolutely ridiculous but I really enjoy Binging with Babish where he makes dishes featured in TV or movies.

Sometimes, Andrew takes a completely terrible food idea from tv or movies and recreates it faithfully. He then tries a better approach to it. Crayon grilled cheese (The Simpson's), car panini (Family Guy), Rachel's English trifle (Friends) are some that I don't think he's ever created better versions of because the originals are so heinous. My favorites are the Bob's Burgers recipes and Archer's Eggs Woodhouse featuring Al(t)on Brown. I love them both because the original recipes are cartoonishly specific, which allows Andrew to give a really thorough and specific critique of the recipe.

https://youtu.be/wy1vLBf4CqI

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