My Love of Cooking Shows...It's Complicated

I am a cooking show addict.
I'm neither proud nor ashamed. It's just a fact.

I started young. The Galloping Gourmet and The French Chef are my earliest TV food memories. I loved watching Graham Kerr dance wildly around his kitchen and Julia Child manhandle various cuts of meat.

They were the gateway shows.

The Frugal Gourmet, Biba's Italian Kitchen, Ciao Italia!, Yan Can Cook, Justin Wilson, Nathalie Dupree, Jaques Pepin and the seemingly endless episodes of Cooking At The Academy have all left their mark on me.

A young cooking show viewer is wild, unpredictable, care free. You sample anything as long as it has a host and a mixing bowl. No regrets.

Today it's a little different. Today we have The Food Network. The Food Network has an element of danger not found in cooking shows from back in the day. It's a potent mix of mind-numbing challenges, EVOO, and Ina Garten. Some days you're flying high on the love of Ina and Jeffrey and then you crash after thinking you can handle Big Daddy's House.

I'm a bit more discerning with my viewing now. I show restraint with the competition shows, I sneak a little Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee in for kicks, and I have added the hilarious and talented Anne Burrell to my DVR. What can I say? My palate has evolved.

The hours I have spent watching these shows could rival the dollars some spend on the more unsavory vices. So yeah, I'm an addict. An addict with a freakin' awesome culinary repertoire.


My Top Five Current Cooking Shows Paired With My Top Five TV Shows From 1978

Barefoot Contessa and Laverne and Shirley
Top Chef Masters and Welcome Back Kotter
Secrets Of A Restaurant Chef and The Love Boat
Jaques Pepin's Fast Food My Way and Eight Is Enough
Chopped and Little House on the Prairie

Five Minutes...Five Ingredients

Comedy and cooking make my endorphin levels rise.

When I was doing stand up, I loved the rush of creating and performing a new joke. I loved my pen. I loved my spiral joke notebook. I loved sitting in my big leather chair and writing the joke. But what I REALLY loved was telling the joke in front of a live audience. Good idea + Good timing + a two drink minimum = Comedy magic.

I get that same rush when I have an idea for a new recipe. I love shopping for the ingredients. I love chopping with my sweet Santoku or using my beloved food processor. Whisking together a great marinade. But the true rush is eating something you have just created that tastes exactly how you hoped it would. Even better? Experiencing a depth of flavor you didn't know was there.

Making strangers laugh is a beautiful thing.
Making good food for people you love is a really beautiful thing.


Five Comedians I Love Paired With Five Favorite Ingredients
George Carlin and shallots
Chris Rock and garlic
Ellen Degeneres and paprika
Dave Attell and fruity olive oil
Louis CK and kosher salt

The Little Kitchen Mouse Roars.

My two basic needs are good food and laughter.

I was the kid who watched Julia Child hack up a chicken on Channel 13 on Saturday morning, then watch Dan Aykroyd's Julia Child "cut the dickens" out of her finger on Saturday Night.

My parents encouraged this. I grew up in a family of gifted cooks and gifted story tellers.

Today's post is a more or less awkward, getting to know you, what the hell am I doing kind of free for all, so I'm going to end it with a few things about me.

Three Things That Make Me Laugh, Paired With Three Comfort Foods I Love

Babies learning to walk and a cheeseburger
Robert Downey Jr. In Tropic Thunder and warm chocolate chip cookies
Dom DeLuise and mashed potatoes

I'm hoping you find my kitchen deliciously funny.