07 December 2006

Cooking Shows Galore

Over the long weekend, I loaded up on TV. I’ve missed staying at home and doing nothing. It soon got old though. Anyway, I reconnected with an all time favorite past time, watching cooking shows. Not that I love to cook and imitate whatever these celebrity cooks come up with. I simply salivate and hope my mom can replicate whatever it is they’re cooking. That’s the thing with growing up with a mom who’s a great cook, you either want to be like her or just watch what she’s doing and eat the finished product.

We used to have Discovery Travel and Adventure. I would hog the remote control the whole day and watch Tyler Florence, Anthony Bourdain and a bunch of other cooks. I have old classic ones and recent discoveries. I just want to do a quick round up.

Nigella… oh, Nigella. I miss watching her show on Lifestyle. Even if they showed reruns, I’d still watch. There’s something about the way she cooks that completely mesmerizes me. I heard someone mention before that they think the way she cooks is like sex. Everything is embellished. The way she describes food makes you just want to binge after. Although I have no idea what her food tastes like most of the time, and I believe some would taste quite unusual to my untrained palette, she draws me in. She always ends up eating what she cooks right after and she eats with gusto, like there’s no tomorrow. And I think that’s what makes it good TV. She doesn’t care if her hands get dirty or if the sides of her mouth catch bits and crumbs of food. All
that matters is the food.

Rachel Ray. The format is sort of like Oprah. And not surprising because it’s produced by Harpo. I think it’s more of the way she talks than what she cooks that got me hooked. This one is just non-stop chatter. She makes Nigella look like a quiet and reserved celebrity cook. It amazes me that she doesn’t turn blue from speaking non-stop. She’s Italian ergo, Italian food is her specialty. The queen of 30 minute meals, her food is not intimidating. It’s very everyday and doable. Again… MA! Can you do that?

Iron Chef America. Who knew competitive cooking could be so much fun to watch? I didn’t pay attention to this show before even if my friends talked about it non-stop. But it is fun to watch. These two top cooks come up with a feast in 45 minutes and the key ingredient is revealed at the start of the challenge. I’ve seen them make all sorts of dishes out of tilapia, turkey, mushrooms, lobster, shrimp. It’s not just random cooking. There should be some kind of a theme, a reason why they cooked what they cooked. But I must admit that most of the time I’m rooting for the underdog except when it’s Iron Chef Mario Batali who challenges.

Speaking of Mario Batali, Lifestyle used to air his show Ciao America. He goes on this great American tour in search of the best Italian cuisine from the homeland. Gelatto, assortment of cheeses, the best dried meat, all kinds of pasta... The best show before dinner. It makes you completely hungry.

And speaking of Italian dishes, there’s a show called Everyday Italian with Giada de Laurentiis. It really is Everyday Italian, from spaghetti with pesto to ravioli with amaretto cookies, to baked herbed vegetables. But no matter how simple her dishes are, I still can’t manage to make them. The most I can try doing is her classic Italian dessert of ricotta cheese spread on a baking pan and then sprinkled with sugar. No cooking involved. That’s it.

I can go on and on about the other shows that I haven’t mentioned. So I guess this proves that I am a cooking show addict.

Orange Git at 5:15 PM

2comments

2 Comments

at 6:15 PM  Pen said...

Since we renovated the house I got hooked in Lifestyle Network so I'm basically tuned into all of the shows you mentioned (well except Iron Chef America). Love the homemakeovers especially. i tried to do the panacotta recipe from Everyday Italian and it ended up looking lumpy like taho and tasting like...like nothing I've ever tasted. It was an embarassment to panacotta. I didnt know panacotta could taste like that. It wasn't too bad, but there was this unidentifiable funky taste. Needless to say, I had to throw the whole batch away which made Chicoy cry because he wanted to just repair it with sugar. But I was afraid it would make him sick. I blame it on the gelatine though and not on my cooking skills, because it was the generic kind. (right)

 

at 9:14 PM  Orange Git said...

Right, let's blame it on the gelatin. Bad bad kind of gelatin made your panacotta look lumpy. Tsk.

 

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