All Episodes Talk

[Kohola3]

Is it a dry sense of humor or passive/aggressive remakes because she resents Crazy Clown Smile?

[anneofcleves]

2 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

I wonder how much she has to pay her "friends" to eat this crap.  Surely they don't do it willingly.

Sadly, lots of Americans love crappy food.  As evidenced by just about 80% of the boxed stuff you see in the aisles of your nearest grocery store, as well as the long lines you always see at Olive Garden restaurants.  I bet her guests loved it.

Ree, Hyacinth, and the rest of her friends with any means are no strangers to great food.  She blogs about it, with glossy photos of wonderful meals she's enjoyed while traveling.  Based on what I've seen on her blog about during her travels, she knows and appreciates good food when she sees it.  

That's the hypocrisy of her show and her retail line, imo.  She enjoys the good food and probably collects real Americana dishware herself, but she makes crap food for her viewers and sells them cheap, Americana-like dishware manufactured in China.  I was in a Walmart for the first time in a long time yesterday and saw her dishes on some shelves.  As someone who collects Depression glassware and other older dishes, it tugs at my heart to see her sell this junk at Walmart when people could probably find similar-looking  in a garage sale, a flea market, a lesser antique mall, or through online merchants for not much more money (or likely less).

ETA:  I was thinking, too, as much as I may snark on Ina and her fabulous lifestyle, she's authentic and produces recipes that I can believe are reflective of what she would eat in any given day, her ingredients are simple and most are very affordable, and her recipes and methods are doable by any home cook willing to learn.  She elevates the art of home cooking, whereas Ree just doesn't.

Edited November 27, 2016 by anneofcleves

[Automne]

On 11/27/2016 at 11:16 AM, anneofcleves said:

 I was thinking, too, as much as I may snark on Ina and her fabulous lifestyle, she's authentic and produces recipes that I can believe are reflective of what she would eat in any given day, her ingredients are simple and most are very affordable, and her recipes and methods are doable by any home cook willing to learn.  She elevates the art of home cooking, whereas Ree just doesn't.

 

As well as elevate the art of home entertaining. Her style is simple, yet elegant and classy. Even somebody on a middle-class budget and a full-time job can replicate a lot of her ideas.

For the rustic, farmhouse style of cooking and entertaining, Nancy Fuller is of a far better caliber than Ree Drummond. It's simple, doesn't pile sugar upon sugar upon sugar, doesn't open a bunch of cans, and the gatherings look natural and fun, not stilted and uncomfortable like Ree's.

[peacheslatour]

My DH and I used to watch both Ree and Ina before the FN changed their time slots from early eve. to mornings. My hubby would just be rapt watching Ina do her magic. Ree would come on after and we would laugh and laugh. Good times.

[Natalie68]

On 11/27/2016 at 5:10 AM, anneofcleves said:

She really phoned it in for her party guests, which is a pattern with her.  Nothing says Prohibition era, like a big old pitcher of Jack 'n Coke, dolled up with her beloved maraschino cherry juice and orange.   That would have been a big hit in high school.

I think I was most disappointed with her play on deviled ham.  Deviled ham should be very, very finely minced, or ground.  Her version with squishy deli ham is just going to become nasty and watery.  Yuck.  And I guess the fact that her mom started with the canned, deviled ham pretty much says everything you need about the basis for her cooking skills.  Not everyone in the 50s, 60s, and 70s fed human cat food to their good friends and family.

The steak bites looked OK until the mayonnaise-based dipping sauce made its appearance.  I would think something more like a zip sauce, chimichurri, or even a roasted pepper aioli would have been better and more in theme with her gross deviled ham.

And yeah, gris gris, dipping the brownies in melted white chocolate bark is sort of on par with dipping them in canned frosting.  It's a pretty good idea, and shape, for a party, but at least use a better confection.

I bet her party guests all drive through McDonald's on their way home.

WTF is it with her and mayo based sauces?  I have a mayo phobia which I cannot explain and she puts that in just about everything!  Oh yeah its Ree.

[peacheslatour]

15 hours ago, Natalie68 said:

WTF is it with her and mayo based sauces?  I have a mayo phobia which I cannot explain and she puts that in just about everything!  Oh yeah its Ree.

I hate mayo. If I make potato salad, cole slaw, tuna, chicken salad, I always use as little as possible. Just enough to moisten. I've never had anything with "special sauce" of any kind. Makes me gag.

[Natalie68]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

I hate mayo. If I make potato salad, cole slaw, tuna, chicken salad, I always use as little as possible. Just enough to moisten. I've never had anything with "special sauce" of any kind. Makes me gag.

I started using light sour cream.  All you need is really a binder for certain things and this seems to work well.  I made deviled eggs with it and my husband didn't notice.  

[anneofcleves]

I think if her crew had suddenly turned out all the lights during today's new Christmas episode she would have glowed in the dark.  I have never seen her more neon.  Honestly, I can't even tell you what she made, I was so mesmerized by the color of that hair.

Will have to watch again, wearing sunglasses...

[Lura]

AHA!!!  Now I understand why Ree wears those over-the-stomach blouses and dresses!   It's not because she's had four children, after all.  (Will she never stop bragging about it?)  It's because she's hiding her cheese bump!  She uses cheese in almost everything, with no concern about the fact that she's killing her husband and children with an overload of cholesterol.  I wonder how often she heads for the big city and has liposuction on her Great White Tummy -- and still it doesn't remove those telltale cheese signs.  At the same time, she breaks open another hair color, and she thinks she's a brand new woman.  Bring on more cheese, plus a gallon of whiskey and "the nectar of the gods!"  I'm indebted to you friends for showing me the truth.

[grisgris]

I finally caught Saturday's episode. After seeing Trans-Siberian Orchestra's matinee Saturday afternoon, I had to wait for my retinas to recover before checking out Ree's hair.  I think she's trying to desperately make her hair her "signature," and I guess that would be OK if it were a better shade of red, cut into a modern age-appropriate style and then she wore clothing that didn't clash with it. She also needs to PLEASE lay off the harsh black eyeliner. All that does is make her already small eyes disappear.

The *show* was basically a montage of previous Christmas episodes. You could really notice the evolution of Ree's hair color over the years. She looked so much better when it was a darker auburn.  It was also interesting to see how the kids grew up literally overnight.

Regarding the food, I also don't recall what she made. I recall chicken skewers, but she's made those before with the same peanut dipping sauce, so I don't know what was *new* or revamped about those. There was something else then chocolate cookies dipped in almond bark and big chunks of broken-up peppermint candy.

Lastly, was mulled apple cider. That would have been OK except when Ree served it, she insisted that each glass include the chunks of apple, orange peel, pieces of cinnamon stick and the whole allspice berries. Maybe that's how you are supposed to serve it, but all I could think of was that I'd have to carefully sip my drink to dodge the pieces of debris. I don't think I'd like whole allspice or orange peel. Yuck.

[3pwood]

11 hours ago, grisgris said:

... Lastly, was mulled apple cider. That would have been OK except when Ree served it, she insisted that each glass include the chunks of apple, orange peel, pieces of cinnamon stick and the whole allspice berries. Maybe that's how you are supposed to serve it, but all I could think of was that I'd have to carefully sip my drink to dodge the pieces of debris. I don't think I'd like whole allspice or orange peel. Yuck.

 

Even at her worst, Aunt Sandy never included quite so many choking hazards -- pardon, garnishes -- to her beverages.

Edited December 6, 2016 by 3pwood
spelling!

[MargeGunderson]

51 minutes ago, 3pwood said:

Even at her worst, Aunt Sandy never included quite so many chocking hazards -- pardon, garnishes -- to her beverages.

Because it would mean less room for the booze! Can't fault her logic.

[anneofcleves]

11 hours ago, grisgris said:

Lastly, was mulled apple cider. That would have been OK except when Ree served it, she insisted that each glass include the chunks of apple, orange peel, pieces of cinnamon stick and the whole allspice berries. Maybe that's how you are supposed to serve it, but all I could think of was that I'd have to carefully sip my drink to dodge the pieces of debris. I don't think I'd like whole allspice or orange peel. Yuck.

Exactly.  I kept waiting for her to put a dollop of ice cream on it and stick a spoon in it.  That wasn't mulled cider, that was a glass of fruit compote.  Or compost, in Ree's case?

[Aquarius]

On ‎11‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 9:53 AM, grisgris said:

I don't know. Hyacinth seems kind of like a superficial "famewhore" to me and will eagerly and willingly grab her front and center camera time whenever she can get it.  There is something about that woman that just rubs me the wrong way for some reason. She seems very phony and I pick up this underlying seething resentment towards Ree.  She probably is a perfectly nice and normal person IRL and what I perceive is just my (another) erroneous interpretation of her "dry" humor. /eyeroll

I had the really uncomfortable feeling that Hyacinth was making fun of Ree in the Prohibition Punch episode, and not in a nice way.  There was just something so sly about those sidelong glances, like she was play acting very poorly at being impressed or interested, and doing it on purpose.

So, Coke is the nectar of the gods in Osage county?  I didn't catch when she showed the bottle and was too lazy to rewind.  I thought it was Dr. Pepper from the label.

[peacheslatour]

I would have thought Mountain Dew.

Edited December 8, 2016 by peacheslatour

[Kohola3]

Which goes best with the hooch?

[Lura]

Skewering goodies onto a rosemary sprig is an old trick.  Apparently, it never reached Oklahoma until Ree got the news from BFF Hy.   In any case, I thought the bites Ree put on it needed some kind of sauce or dip or something, as the foodies say, to tie it all together.  The salami folded in quarters and skewered failed to tickle the taste buds.  After making these quickies, Ree boasted that she was already halfway through her apps!  LOL Pour more booze, and they won't know what they're eating.  I imagine everyone came for the steak, anyway, but it took lots of bite-sized nibbles to fill themselves up.  All of this from millionaire cattle ranchers, no less.  IMHO, Ree cooks more generously for visiting teens on a sleepover than she does for the bigwigs of Osage County.

[Jaded]

I was trying to find something that would be on for 30 min until B&B aired so I ended up watching an episode of PW.  She joked that the "cowboys" would run her out of town if they found out she used bacon bits instead of fresh bacon cut into pieces. 

[peacheslatour]

God forbid she try to make them eat a vegetable, they would probably hang her at sundown.

[Lura]

Somewhere, I read in an interview with Ree that their house and their lodge are 4 miles apart.

I liked the meals that Ree prepared, but any day that I would cook four different meals for my kids is the day you could have me committed!  Maybe I take these shows too literally, but I can't imagine Ree, with her schedule, cooking like that in real life.  Also, I'm another one who wishes that the kids would sit down and eat.  Who gets to sweep and scrub the floor behind the counter all the time?  Yuck!

If Ree and Ladd are half as kind to those kids in real life as they are on the show, those are four very lucky kids.  There is a lot of love in that family.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Lura
changed a word

[RabbiBeth]

Just watching the "mash up recipe" episode.  Yikes.  The mash up of chicken enchiladas and lasagne was frightening.

[Kohola3]

Anything called a "mash up" is bound to be frightening.

[peacheslatour]

16 hours ago, RabbiBeth said:

Just watching the "mash up recipe" episode.  Yikes.  The mash up of chicken enchiladas and lasagne was frightening.

Didn't see that ep, but I've been making Chicken Enchilasagna for years.

[anneofcleves]

Did anyone catch her ode to puff pastry?  Oy.  I admit I'm not the biggest fan of puff pastry as a cheat for things like pizza crust, mostly because it's really messy to eat as a finger food (and I hate serving messy stuff to guests).  Her golf club-length cheese straws looked utterly ridiculous, too, and had me laughing at the thought of her guests eating them at a cocktail party while wrangling a big old glass of her chunky mulled apple cider.

I immediately followed my viewing of Ree's puff pastry episode with Ina's, which focused on an incredibly gorgeous zucchini tart (that featured...drumroll...pie pastry) that I actually would want to make.  And Ina gave credit to the creator of the recipe.  Bonus!

Edited December 19, 2016 by anneofcleves

[grisgris]

I saw that episode and thought the cheese straws were way too big and wondered if Aunt Sandy's niece, Danielle, was invited to the party. (inside joke.)  I forgot what else she made other than the cheese straws and pizza. I vaguely remember some type of huge layered dessert that looked impossible to cut into and eat. Aren't you supposed to dock puff pastry beforehand to prevent it from getting ginormous like that for a Napoleon?

[peacheslatour]

16 hours ago, grisgris said:

I saw that episode and thought the cheese straws were way too big and wondered if Aunt Sandy's niece, Danielle, was invited to the party. (inside joke.)  I forgot what else she made other than the cheese straws and pizza. I vaguely remember some type of huge layered dessert that looked impossible to cut into and eat. Aren't you supposed to dock puff pastry beforehand to prevent it from getting ginormous like that for a Napoleon?

Please explain? I use a lot of puff pastry and I've never heard of this.

[Kohola3]

You can use a fork or a docking tool to prick holes in the puff pastry. It lets more steam escape and keeps the pastry from puffing up too much.

[peacheslatour]

Oh, well yeah. You have to do that. I guess I didn't know it was called that, learn something new every day. I always just called it pricking with a fork. I love puff pastry so much, it's not called "the caterers best friend" for nothing!

Edited December 20, 2016 by peacheslatour

[Kohola3]

You know those pesky professional bakers - always a fancy term.  I'd go with pricking with a fork as well.

[Lura]

I'm another one who adores puff pastry.  It used to be used primarily for croissants,, but chefs have become far more creative these days and use it in all sorts of things.  I watched Martha Stewart make it once, and if I had to go through all of that rolling and folding in order to have it, I'd never use it.  It's nice that we can get it at most supermarkets now.

[peacheslatour]

I use it to make turnovers, empanadas, all kinds of hors d'oeurves and layered pastries. I made Ina's sticky bun recipe in which she substituted puff pastry for yeast dough. Meh, I didn't think much of it. YMMV.

[ShellSeeker]

On 12/22/2016 at 11:59 AM, Lura said:

I'm another one who adores puff pastry.  It used to be used primarily for croissants,, but chefs have become far more creative these days and use it in all sorts of things.  I watched Martha Stewart make it once, and if I had to go through all of that rolling and folding in order to have it, I'd never use it.  It's nice that we can get it at most supermarkets now.

I love it too, and I would also never use it if it was something you had to make yourself. Egads. A few weeks ago I had empanadas on the menu for dinner. I was so annoyed that there were no puff pastry sheets at the store, only the shells, but I bought them anyway and figured I could improvise. It turns out they were a lot handier than the sheets, because I popped them in the oven, finished up the empanada filling, and the filled up the cups and topped them with cheese. No rolling out the dough, folding it, sealing with a fork, and so on. My only mistake was that I didn't realize you are supposed to separate them before cooking them, so some of them didn't rise all the way into the full shell shape. It still worked pretty well though. Then a couple weeks later I wanted to try them with a spinach and sausage calzone recipe, and when I went to look for the shells in the freezer section, and all they had were sheets. LOL.

I didn't think the cheese straws were a bad idea, but they were way too big. She should have made them about half the size. I did like the idea of the pot pies in the small individual iron skillets. But puff pastry doesn't seem like it would work that well as pizza crust.

[anneofcleves]

On 12/22/2016 at 3:13 PM, peacheslatour said:

I use it to make turnovers, empanadas, all kinds of hors d'oeurves and layered pastries. I made Ina's sticky bun recipe in which she substituted puff pastry for yeast dough. Meh, I didn't think much of it. YMMV.

Was it Ina's play on Chelsea buns, PeachesLatour?  I saw her do that in her London special and was really disappointed.  She blathers to the guy selling them at the London market that she's going to make these at home, and then uses puff pastry.  It's fine, but they're nothing like Chelsea buns.  At least she didn't use whack-a-dough.

[peacheslatour]

4 hours ago, anneofcleves said:

Was it Ina's play on Chelsea buns, PeachesLatour?  I saw her do that in her London special and was really disappointed.  She blathers to the guy selling them at the London market that she's going to make these at home, and then uses puff pastry.  It's fine, but they're nothing like Chelsea buns.  At least she didn't use whack-a-dough.

I think it was. It just wasn't like the ooey gooey sticky buns you get when you use yeast dough. They were crunchy and kind of greasy.

[anneofcleves]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I think it was. It just wasn't like the ooey gooey sticky buns you get when you use yeast dough. They were crunchy and kind of greasy.

That is kind of how I was thinking they might be.  Thanks for the review - I'll sidestep that recipe.

[BadKitty]

On ‎12‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 0:13 PM, peacheslatour said:

I use it to make turnovers, empanadas, all kinds of hors d'oeurves and layered pastries. I made Ina's sticky bun recipe in which she substituted puff pastry for yeast dough. Meh, I didn't think much of it. YMMV.

I agree about Ina's puff pastry sticky buns being underwhelming.  BUT... her Easy Cheese Danish (with puff pastry) are DELISH.  And alarmingly easy.

[peacheslatour]

21 hours ago, BadKitty said:

I agree about Ina's puff pastry sticky buns being underwhelming.  BUT... her Easy Cheese Danish (with puff pastry) are DELISH.  And alarmingly easy.

That's the thing with puff pastry. It's so easy to work with. Unlike filo dough, which terrifies me.

[grisgris]

The tip to working with filo dough is to make sure to keep it covered with damp towels (cloth works better than paper) at all time while you're working with it.  It can be very finicky! Lots of BUTTER helps the process go much more smoothly.

[Gam2]

I, too, was terrified of filo but once I used it, it was surprisingly easy. The most important thing is to keep each sheet damp while working. Start with something easy to prepare and work your way up to something a bit more complicated. You can do this!

[peacheslatour]

Thanks guys, you give me courage!

[Lura]

The first time I ever worked with phyllo was when my next door neighbor, Sophie, a native of Austria, offered to show me how to make apple strudel.  The dough stretched completely over my kitchen table and hung down about two feet on all sides, like a tablecloth!  It was a job covering all of that dough with a small brush and melted butter.  Little did I realize that her recipe was making three strudels, each one about 18" long and crescent-shaped.  Dusted with powdered sugar, they were a beautiful sight.  Sophie was a taskmaster (I'm glad) with a heart of gold, and this was a rare opportunity for me.  I've never forgotten it, or her.

You'll do just fine, once you discover how easy it is,  Peaches.  Good luck.

[grisgris]

Lighter 16-minutes meals ... meh ...

No joke that eating small portions (i.e. the chicken tenders instead of whole breasts) means consuming fewer calories.  The calorie count on whole wheat pasta isn't that much less than regular pasta, so that was more a general health/fiber benefit.  With growing boys like that, I don't see the need for them to eat lighter meals. It was funny how Todd said "the last time" Ree made chicken parm it was the "best meal he'd ever had /eyeroll." Then he took a tiny portion of the slimmed down verions

OMG the raving on and on about how awesome the vegetable salad was. It was just a bunch of veggies with the noodles swapped out for zoodles. Again, it seemed very basic.

I'm not even sure what that taco skillet thing was supposed to be. It just looked like basic taco flavored meat with tortillas mixed in it. A deconstructed taco salad?

I'm pretty sure I've seen the pork chop served with the white beans/spinach before. Giada and Nigella coming to mind, but I could be mistaken.

The scripted scenes with the kids (and the dog) were just the worst. They are all at that awkward stage where I am sure the last thing they want to be doing is playing out some silly scenario for the camera. Why on earth were Todd and Bryce trying to hit golf balls in ankle high grass?  If Ree were better on camera, she wouldn't have to rely on her kids to make the show even halfway watchable.

[Qoass]

So did the 16 minute limit on that taco skillet count the time it takes to dice up the avocado, lime, tomatoes, et al they used to garnish the meal?  It would have taken me 16 minutes just to do that.

[txvoodoo]

You're making "lighter" chicken parm Easiest way to save calories/carbs? NOT have pasta with it. There's also no need for balsamic. 

Make some damned veggies, woman, and get your delicate man flowers to eat them.

eta: also, add in some garlic to things. Garlic brings huge flavor. 

Edited January 13, 2017 by txvoodoo

[maggiemae]

On 1/9/2017 at 6:21 AM, Qoass said:

So did the 16 minute limit on that taco skillet count the time it takes to dice up the avocado, lime, tomatoes, et al they used to garnish the meal?  It would have taken me 16 minutes just to do that.

Let alone taking it out of their little homes and organizing everything.

Whatever - I can't understand having a home and not eating there - or the waste of gas to go to to The Lodge and go home again. What? Or the kids playing with the dogs yet driving up to the lodge for a meal. 

[Aquarius]

23 hours ago, txvoodoo said:

Make some damned veggies, woman, and get your delicate man flowers to eat them.

I hope this doesn't make things awkward, but I think I love you. 

[Kohola3]

The boys might actually like veggies if they tried them but have probably been brainwashed about how "real cowboys" eat so won't touch them.  "We're Meat and Taters Men and we don't eat no damned vegetables.  That's for the Little Ladies".  Gah.

[Hildegard802]

Forced myself to watch part of a "new" episode this a.m.  Based on his running style, I'd say B-man is not quite the star athlete his mama claims.

How many years has this shit show been on??  And she still has the same grating voice, same awful delivery of squeaking up at the end of every phrase, still appears uncomfortable in the kitchen (claw fingers picking stuff up), still making boring Tex-Mex and still relying on her equally awkward famiy for repetitive story lines.  

Good on her, making all the money she does.  

Edited January 14, 2017 by Hildegard802
I couldn't make it through a whole show after all

[Kohola3]

26 minutes ago, Hildegard802 said:

How many years has this shit show been on??

Another show I cannot bear to watch for all of the reasons you mention plus the fact that her recipes are horrible.  I love the snark here though~

[anneofcleves]

On 1/12/2017 at 10:28 PM, txvoodoo said:

You're making "lighter" chicken parm Easiest way to save calories/carbs? NOT have pasta with it. There's also no need for balsamic. 

Make some damned veggies, woman, and get your delicate man flowers to eat them.

eta: also, add in some garlic to things. Garlic brings huge flavor. 

I totally agree.  If I'm in a lower carbing mood, I just make a thin cutlet "breaded" with parmesan or a mix of parmesan with some crushed pistachio.  Then I top the cooked cutlet with a chunky tomato sauce and serve the whole thing over mixed fresh greens or wilted greens (depending on what I'm in the mood for).  It's delicious, and I don't even miss the pasta.

But Ree is a woman who thinks that varying the type of cheese in her quesadilla is creative cooking.  More likely, she underestimates her fans and assumes that is what they think is creating cooking.  

Edited January 14, 2017 by anneofcleves