Good Eats: The Return - General Discussion

[msrachelj]

when are the new episodes starting?!

[chessiegal]

Looks like new Good Eats will be airing soon from Alton's teasing tweets.

[lambertman]

He's previously said 3rd quarter, which I take to mean late September.

[Peper81]

Alton announced on Twitter that the premier date for Good Eats: The Return will be August 25 at 10:00 eastern.

[msrachelj]

I hope direct tv gets their shit together because on Aug 25 at 10 they have season 15 (ok good) episode 2 at 10:30 they have episode 7. WHAT happened to episode 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6???!!!!

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, msrachelj said:

I hope direct tv gets their shit together because on Aug 25 at 10 they have season 15 (ok good) episode 2 at 10:30 they have episode 7. WHAT happened to episode 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6???!!!!

They're being shown on later days/weeks.  It's FN's doing - It often airs shows out of order.  Take a look at the FN TV show schedule for "Good Eats the Return" and you'll see it matches up to what appears above.  Episode 2 will be shown on Aug. 25th at 10:00, episode 7 at 10:30 on that date.  Episode 3 will be shown on Sept. 1st at 10:30, episode 4 at 10:00 on that date.  It goes on like that.  It doesn't even look like there is an episode 1.  It's crazy.

[Aethera]

This is the place to discuss the New New Good Eats! 

https://www.eater.com/2019/6/3/18650542/alton-brown-good-eats-the-return-food-network-august-2019

[Skyfall]

First episode is already streaming and it’s great!

[Yeah No]

3 hours ago, Skyfall said:

First episode is already streaming and it’s great!

I just saw it yesterday and I agree!  It's on the FN site for free here:

https://watch.foodnetwork.com/tv-shows/good-eats/

[SVNBob]

On 8/19/2019 at 9:54 PM, Yeah No said:

I just saw it yesterday and I agree!  It's on the FN site for free here:

https://watch.foodnetwork.com/tv-shows/good-eats/

It's also available for free on YouTube.  And since embedding should work...

I love that they are more or less ignoring the 7-year hiatus in continuity, and that they're keeping the original cast of characters around still.

[Mellowyellow]

I screamed with joy when I saw W! I cannot believe he got her back!

[b2H]

Set to record the season on the DVR.  I fly on Sunday nights.  

[Yeah No]

I love Alton and always learn something from him, but I have to clarify something about chicken parm.  Contrary to what his show would lead one to believe, as a native New Yorker of Italian descent I can safely say that for decades in the 20th century there really was no such thing as chicken parm. there.  It was pretty much strictly veal for a long time.  Later on, when chicken cutlets became more popular among Americans (and veal unpopular for its own reasons) you started to see more chicken in dishes that were usually made with veal.  I'd say this started happening in the 1980s.  Today in NY you often have a choice of chicken or veal in family run red sauce palaces (of which I still frequent today).  In non-Italian run restaurants that serve Italian-American fare you often don't see veal at all, or if so in only a handful of dishes.

[biakbiak]

59 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

can safely say that for decades in the 20th century there really was no such thing as chicken parm. there.  It was pretty much strictly veal for a long time.

It was apparently enough of a thing to have a recipe published for it in the newspaper in the 50s

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

It was apparently enough of a thing to have a recipe published for it in the newspaper in the 50s

To cater to non-Italian tastes chicken might have been more easily sold to them, hence the recipe.  Maybe it was sold in areas of Manhattan where there were non-Italian tourists, but that was an exception.  There were also Greek diners that sold their interpretation of Italian food, which was not necessarily authentic.  But in ethnic neighborhoods where I grew up it was strictly veal.  I remember this distinctly since when I was a kid veal parm. was my favorite dish and there was no such animal as chicken parm.  I would have known about it if there were.   This was MY ethnic cuisine, so I'd better know about it.  In the Bronx, Brooklyn in family run ethnic red sauce palaces you did not start to see chicken until the 1980s.  I just did a reality check with my 92 year old father and he confirmed this.

[luvapickle]

17 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

To cater to non-Italian tastes chicken might have been more easily sold to them, hence the recipe.  Maybe it was sold in areas of Manhattan where there were non-Italian tourists, but that was an exception.  There were also Greek diners that sold their interpretation of Italian food, which was not necessarily authentic.  But in ethnic neighborhoods where I grew up it was strictly veal.  I remember this distinctly since when I was a kid veal parm. was my favorite dish and there was no such animal as chicken parm.  I would have known about it if there were.   This was MY ethnic cuisine, so I'd better know about it.  In the Bronx, Brooklyn in family run ethnic red sauce palaces you did not start to see chicken until the 1980s.  I just did a reality check with my 92 year old father and he confirmed this.

My mum was Sicilian. And she made all of the above. She said her mum would make chicken, but that was because no one in the family liked veal. My grandma was known for trying substitutions a lot, so was my mum. Runs in the family. We keep the same basic recipe, just subbing the protein part for variety. And we never made it as a casserole-they were always individual portions. With all the hooha over where foods come from, I think much of it crossed many countries over centuries.  We all have similar foods, but they were adapted to wherever we were from.

[Yeah No]

51 minutes ago, luvapickle said:

My mum was Sicilian. And she made all of the above. She said her mum would make chicken, but that was because no one in the family liked veal. My grandma was known for trying substitutions a lot, so was my mum. Runs in the family. We keep the same basic recipe, just subbing the protein part for variety. And we never made it as a casserole-they were always individual portions. With all the hooha over where foods come from, I think much of it crossed many countries over centuries.  We all have similar foods, but they were adapted to wherever we were from.

I also think some people at home made chicken because it was always cheaper than veal.  But restaurants wanted to offer more "high class fare".  BTW, my mother's family was Sicilian too.  My grandma made "chicken gravy" at times, substituting beef and pork with chicken, just for a change of pace.

I just dug out a menu my mother saved dated June 23, 1966 from a Bronx Italian restaurant (it was a seafood, steak and chop house, but offered traditional red sauce dishes too).  Its name was Dominick's (not to be confused with the famous Dominick's still on Arthur Avenue today).  It offered both veal and eggplant parmagiana but no chicken cutlet of any kind was to be found on the menu.  Mamma Leone's back in the day offered both chicken and veal parm., but my family always considered that a tourist trap restaurant that catered to non-Italian Americans.  Note that I don't consider chicken cacciatore to be non-traditional because that was one of the dishes commonly served with chicken even back in the day.

Below is a typical menu from an Italian restaurant in Manhattan in the 1950s - Tony's on 79th Street, courtesy of the New York Public Library menu collection.  Notice no chicken cutlets of any kind, only veal.  But that place obviously didn't cater to tourists.

http://menus.nypl.org/menu_pages/56960/explore

Edited August 27, 2019 by Yeah No

[luvapickle]

On 8/27/2019 at 10:19 AM, Yeah No said:

I also think some people at home made chicken because it was always cheaper than veal.  But restaurants wanted to offer more "high class fare".  BTW, my mother's family was Sicilian too.  My grandma made "chicken gravy" at times, substituting beef and pork with chicken, just for a change of pace.

I just dug out a menu my mother saved dated June 23, 1966 from a Bronx Italian restaurant (it was a seafood, steak and chop house, but offered traditional red sauce dishes too).  Its name was Dominick's (not to be confused with the famous Dominick's still on Arthur Avenue today).  It offered both veal and eggplant parmagiana but no chicken cutlet of any kind was to be found on the menu.  Mamma Leone's back in the day offered both chicken and veal parm., but my family always considered that a tourist trap restaurant that catered to non-Italian Americans.  Note that I don't consider chicken cacciatore to be non-traditional because that was one of the dishes commonly served with chicken even back in the day.

Below is a typical menu from an Italian restaurant in Manhattan in the 1950s - Tony's on 79th Street, courtesy of the New York Public Library menu collection.  Notice no chicken cutlets of any kind, only veal.  But that place obviously didn't cater to tourists.

http://menus.nypl.org/menu_pages/56960/explore

The menu makes me miss my mum.  I remember the days, when they offered all those different varieties. Yum!

[Yeah No]

On 8/28/2019 at 12:01 PM, luvapickle said:

The menu makes me miss my mum.  I remember the days, when they offered all those different varieties. Yum!

It made me think of my mom too.  She loved veal scallopini pizzaiola with mushrooms, a dish I almost never see on menus anymore.  You still see veal marsala and veal piccata (also called scallopini), but not so much the pizzaiola.  The pizzaiola version has tomato sauce in it as well as capers and mushrooms (or peppers).  I still go to a great little family run red sauce place in Yonkers when I visit friends.  We just had my birthday celebration there.  I had a dish similar to the pizzaiola but it was called veal valdostana with marsala sauce, mushrooms, mozzarella and prosciutto.  Now that was YUM.

[HoodlumSheep]

The fact that good eats is back on tv...*cries* 

A major part of my childhood-teenhood that i've missed dearly.

Loved both episodes.

Now i want the original iron chef back (complete with the ridiculously wonderful english dub). Then the time travel back to my earlier years would be complete.

On 8/24/2019 at 9:16 AM, Mellowyellow said:

I screamed with joy when I saw W! I cannot believe he got her back!

Same!

On 8/23/2019 at 2:22 AM, SVNBob said:

I love that they are more or less ignoring the 7-year hiatus in continuity, and that they're keeping the original cast of characters around still.

I also love this aspect. It feels like the show never left our tvs.

Edited August 30, 2019 by HoodlumSheep

[ALenore]

On 8/27/2019 at 11:19 AM, Yeah No said:

I also think some people at home made chicken because it was always cheaper than veal.

I grew up in the '60s.  My family was not  Italian, and we had veal parmesan fairly frequently.  But my mother used prepackaged veal patties  (I think mostly breading) and they were  lots cheaper than chicken cutlets. She just put the cutlets in a 9x13 casserole, poured in a jar of spaghetti sauce, and sprinkled on mozzarella or parmesan cheese. I think  this is the way a lot of non-Italian families made it, since it was cheap and easy.

[Yeah No]

5 hours ago, HoodlumSheep said:

The fact that good eats is back on tv...*cries* 

A major part of my childhood-teenhood that i've missed dearly.

Loved both episodes.

Now i want the original iron chef back (complete with the ridiculously wonderful english dub). Then the time travel back to my earlier years would be complete.

Same!

I also love this aspect. It feels like the show never left our tvs.

I can't help but think of my younger days too, although for me that means being 40....::Sigh::

I remember watching this and the original Iron Chef every week religiously....Good times, before a lot of crap happened, and my mom was still alive.

I have to admit there are a few things that annoy me like the new kitchen set.  It's a little disappointing.  Not terminally so, I'll probably get used to it.  At least he kept the chicken with the bowler hat painting, though!  Plus this is me being shallow and female, but I prefer Alton without the stubby beard and less heavy glasses.  I think they make him look older.  I sometimes have to remind myself that he's 4 years younger than me.  Ouch.

And other than an appearance by W and the woman that played his sister (on Reloaded), the other actors so far seem to be new.  Unless I'm forgetting, you know how that happens at my age, LOL. 😉

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, ALenore said:

I grew up in the '60s.  My family was not  Italian, and we had veal parmesan fairly frequently.  But my mother used prepackaged veal patties  (I think mostly breading) and they were  lots cheaper than chicken cutlets. She just put the cutlets in a 9x13 casserole, poured in a jar of spaghetti sauce, and sprinkled on mozzarella or parmesan cheese. I think  this is the way a lot of non-Italian families made it, since it was cheap and easy.

LOL, I had my share of chopped veal patties as a kid.  In school and other cafeterias, in TV dinners and when traveling.  My mother used to hate that and refused to order it but it didn't bother me so much.  I'm not THAT much of an Italian food snob, LOL.  Although my mom did eat Ragu from the jar on occasion.  But I have never and will never buy Kraft "parmesan" cheese.  It's strictly imported "Reggiano" in this house!

[SVNBob]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

And other than an appearance by W and the woman that played his sister (on Reloaded), the other actors so far seem to be new.  Unless I'm forgetting,

Koko Karl and the attorney with him were the same performers as before.

[Yeah No]

7 hours ago, SVNBob said:

Koko Karl and the attorney with him were the same performers as before.

That's interesting, I didn't recognize them.  I'll have to go look at old episodes.  And people change over the years, too.

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

That's interesting, I didn't recognize them.  I'll have to go look at old episodes.  And people change over the years, too.

Especially the actor who plays his sister.

[Yeah No]

On 8/31/2019 at 11:22 AM, chessiegal said:

Especially the actor who plays his sister.

Yes, especially her, although it's hard not to recognize her voice.  I went back and looked at old episodes and of course I recognized those two male actors.  It's just been a long time since I've seen them.  I loved the show but stopped watching it in its last 5 seasons or so.  Back then I had a lot going on and had to cut back on some shows.

This reminds me of one day recently when I was talking to the checkout guy at Trader Joe's.  Somehow we started talking about the game show "The Price is Right" and I told him it was my favorite game show back in the day.  He was no more than 30 years old but told me he loved the old episodes with Bob Barker and liked to watch them online.  He then asked me what some of my favorite games were on the show and I told him that was 45 years ago and I didn't quite remember after all this time.  He was just watching them recently but I hadn't seen them in many decades so of course I'm going to forget some things!

[Sharpie66]

I just watched the icebox cake episode, which I am definitely going to try making some day! 

Back in the late ‘90s, I lived in an old storefront apartment building where the units had two doors each leading from the hall into the apartment. That confused me at first until I realized that the second door was a pretty narrow one which opened into the refrigerator nook in the kitchen built-in cabinets, and I then realized it was for the iceman to deliver directly into the icebox! Very cool (pun very much intended). 

[chessiegal]

Ina Garten has an icebox cake recipe people like.

Ina Garten Icebox Cake

The Tate's chocolate chip cookies are available in my grocery stores.

[arachne]

That icebox cake with the chocolate wafers looked yummy, but I found the shakshuka episode -- well, problematic. You must really want to eat this dish to go to all that trouble (making preserved lemons and spice paste, then keeping them around for days.) And unless you live in a college dorm room, what's the point of that high-tech hot plate Alton used? 

[ninjakid]

I think that just making shakshuka wasn't enough cooking time for the episode so he made the harissa and preserved lemon. If I decide to make this, I'll buy those. Just like how I'm not going to fart around roasting red peppers when I can get them already done.

Also: I normally like Alex Guarnacelli, but she was OBNOXIOUS in this. And I'm not just saying that because she blocked me on Twitter for saying American cheese isn't real cheese (which legally, it isn't.)

Edited September 11, 2019 by ninjakid

[biakbiak]

Also both harissa and preserved lemons last a long time and can be used in a ton of dishes, I have homemade versions of both in my fridge most of the time.

I actually go back and forth on whether or not to buy a standalone induction burner, they are nice to have because they are super quick to heat and provide a constant exact temp. That said between his recommending that and his inferred thermometer it was a expensive gadget heavy episode.

[ninjakid]

3 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Also both harissa and preserved lemons last a long time and can be used in a ton of dishes, I have homemade versions of both in my fridge most of the time.

I actually go back and forth on whether or not to buy a standalone induction burner, they are nice to have because they are super quick to heat and provide a constant exact temp. That said between his recommending that and his inferred thermometer it was a expensive gadget heavy episode.

My range is induction and it's terrific. I got it for free so I hope I don't have to replace it any time soon.

[chessiegal]

Our house is in an area that doesn't have natural gas. When we were shopping 9 years ago, almost every home we looked at had an electric range. I figured I'd replace it pronto with induction. Turns out, the house we bought has a propane tank buried in the yard, which fuels the furnace, water heater, and stove, so I ended up with a gas range. Quite frankly, I'd rather have induction, but gas is good.

A stand alone induction hot plate is an intriguing idea.

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

stand alone induction hot plate is an intriguing idea.

I bought one for my dad so he could have an extra burner in their RV but it’s handy for holidays to have an extra portable burner in the house for cooking and entertaining. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

People interview with Alton Brown

[Sharpie66]

Thirteen years ago, when his cookbook I’m Just Here for the Food came out, a few friends and I went to the Borders in downtown Chicago for his signing. We got there early enough to get front row center seats, right in front of him. He was really friendly, chatting with the three of us while people were still filing in before he started his presentation. 

[Yeah No]

13 hours ago, arachne said:

That icebox cake with the chocolate wafers looked yummy, but I found the shakshuka episode -- well, problematic. You must really want to eat this dish to go to all that trouble (making preserved lemons and spice paste, then keeping them around for days.) And unless you live in a college dorm room, what's the point of that high-tech hot plate Alton used? 

I forgot how Alton overcomplicates everything to the point of obsession.  I thought "America's Test Kitchen" was bad that way, but this recipe was just over the top!  And then he goes on about how Aleppo pepper is getting hard to find but substitutes it with something even harder to find, LOL.  BTW, if you can't find Aleppo in the store you can order it online everywhere from Penzey's to Walmart for reasonable prices.  But I just saw it in my local supermarket today, so I still don't know what he was on about.

About the induction burner, I bought one a lot like his last year and use it when I need an extra burner.  One of the burners on my electric stove is acting strange so I'm down a burner already.  The only issue I have with induction is that I can't use all my pots or pans on it but I still have a lot that I can use.  I know you can get a converter for non steel bottomed pans but I haven't needed to do that.  Anyway, it's pretty amazing, although mine makes an annoying whirring noise, which I'm not sure is typical for induction burners.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Yeah No

[gingerella]

I’m confused...I see Good Eats: Reloaded, where Alton reviews past epis and updates some of the material, but is that the “New” Show? Because I thought the new show was Good Eats: The Return? Someone mentioned icebox cake and that’s Show was also billed as Reloaded for me. 

[biakbiak]

4 minutes ago, gingerella said:

I’m confused...I see Good Eats: Reloaded, where Alton reviews past epis and updates some of the material, but is that the “New” Show? Because I thought the new show was Good Eats: The Return? Someone mentioned icebox cake and that’s Show was also billed as Reloaded for me. 

If it had a chocolate wafer cookie icebox cake and a strawberry pepper one than your channel guide mislabeled it because that was an all new episode of Good Eats: The Return.

[gingerella]

4 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

If it had a chocolate wafer cookie icebox cake and a strawberry pepper one than your channel guide mislabeled it because that was an all new episode of Good Eats: The Return.

I just saw another epi that was about broth vs. stock, also called Reloaded, with a lot of flashbacks. Does the new The Return have flashbacks to the old show too or  no?

[biakbiak]

1 minute ago, gingerella said:

I just saw another epi that was about broth vs. stock, also called Reloaded, with a lot of flashbacks. Does the new The Return have flashbacks to the old show too or  no?

No flashbacks in The Return. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The sauce for fish episode only reinforced what Mr. EB told me several years ago: you can serve a pile of crap as long as you cover it with a delicious sauce!

Why no love for balsamic vinegar, Alton? It’s yummy!

[biakbiak]

3 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Why no love for balsamic vinegar, Alton? It’s yummy!

It’s having a backlash moment, sort of like Merlot after Sideways. I don’t know if it’s because of the proliferation of other vinegars being more readily available but I have noticed it getting knocked a lot on food shows and podcasts. 

[arachne]

Just saw the episode about steak tartare and poke. Nice recipes,but I pity how poor Alton has to walk such a fine line in the food safety/liability department. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Recipes!
S1.E5: My Shaksuka - shaksuka
S1.E5: My Shaksuka - urfa biber harissa
S1.E6: Let Them Eat (Icebox) Cake - icebox cake
S1.E7: Rich Little Poor Boy - oyster po boy
S1.E8: Raw Ambition - steak tartare

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Behind the scenes:

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SEASON FINALE!

S1.E9: Day Tripper

Quote

Alton Brown discusses how to get dates into culinary life, including three recipes for the 1960s classic Devils on Horseback and a very sticky toffee pudding.

S1.E10: Wild Yeast Risin'

Quote

First the pandemic, then the zombies, then the nukes and now: desolation and a giant dinosaur-thing.

Original air date: 9/22/19

[arachne]

After watching the sourdough episode, I decided that if I were worried about impending apocalypse, I'd stock up on ingredients for soda bread (flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, boxed/powdered milk and vinegar) and live on that, rather than try to raise a sourdough village as Alton did.

That said, it was cool to see the yeast puppets again. 

[Peper81]

There will be a special episode airing on 11/17 according to Alton’s twitter.  The turkey strikes back again.