Lake Neuron

The first cooking shows I ever watched were the ones that used to air on Saturday mornings or early afternoon on public television. There was the “Frugal Gourmet,” Jeff Smith; amiable Cajun Justin Wilson, and even Brother Domenic, a genuine monk who baked bread.

“It’s bread,” Brother Domenic would say, reassuringly, while demonstrating some new technique about which viewers might be unsure. “It’ll forgive you.”

Eventually, of course, the local cable TV company picked up the Food Network, and I could get cooking shows any day of the week. I was delighted. And the Food Network made it easier to cook along by giving instant access to all of their recipes online. Most of the public TV shows, which depended on cookbook sales for some of their revenue, would force you either to take notes or send in a self-addressed stamped envelope if you wanted that episode’s recipes in print form.

And I liked the personalities who were on Food Network at that time.

Today, I happened to catch a little of Sara Moulton’s public TV show, “Sara’s Weeknight Meals,” on public TV. I always enjoyed Sara when she used to be on “Cooking Live” and “Sara’s Secrets” on Food Network, and it was nice to see her again. It sort of reminded me of how much Food Network has changed over the past few years, and not usually for the better.
(more…)

Food Network recently introduced “Rescue Chef with Danny Boome,” which is, for all intents and purposes, a remake of Tyler Florence’s old show “Food 911.” A viewer writes in with a food-related difficulty, and Boome visits them at home to teach them a new recipe or technique.

It’s a pretty good show — but Boome got it wrong today. He was making a salad with his pupil today and was teaching her to use a salad spinner to dry the greens. “Let the power of gravity work for you,” he said.

BZZZZZT!

As Alton Brown could have told Danny, a salad spinner works by centrifugal force, NOT by gravity. Gravity comes into place when you drain something in a colander, for example, but gravity wouldn’t work on salad greens because there are so many surfaces for the water to cling to and hide in. The reason you need a salad spinner is because gravity doesn’t work in this particular situation.

Ellie Krieger on the Food Network was extolling the nutritional virtues of crab meat this morning, and when I stopped by Food Lion for some groceries after work, darned if crabmeat wasn’t on sale. I mixed it with mayonnaise (there goes the healthy aspect; sorry, Ellie), horseradish and some seasonings and am enjoying some of it on toast, topped with slices of avocado. As it happens, Ellie had also paired her crab with avocado this morning, and I had an avocado in my cart even before I noticed the sale crab meat.

Pretty yummy, if I do say so myself.

When I was writing my earlier post about Tony Bourdain’s old show “A Cook’s Tour” being re-run by Food Network, I wondered what Bourdain might think about the situation.

I need wonder no longer:

“They’re not putting the show back on because they like it. They’re trying to destroy me!” I theorized. People will surely comment on the striking - even horrifying - decline in my appearance since those few years ago - and will wonder why they would still watch someone who is clearly dying of some hideous hair whitening, skin puffing, tropical bloating disease. Or maybe they’re putting it back on as a deliberate strategy to break off and confuse a segment of potential audience who might otherwise be tuning in to the exciting new season of NO RESERVATIONS (the vastly superior and more expensive series on TRAVEL CHANNEL)! Maybe … maybe it’s vengeance for some of the Rachael Ray cracks. In fact…MAYBE it’s part of some secret deal to keep her on the network … some ultra hush-hush rider to her contract! I’ve been trying to buy those old shows back for ages - to make DVDs. They’ve refused to sell, sitting on them year after year. Until now. Coincidence? Or conspiracy?

The whole post is pretty funny. I loved the comparison of Guy Fieri to “Poochie” from “The Simpsons.” (Bourdain’s post does contain some strong language.)

The wry, cynical chef and author Anthony Bourdain has made a cottage industry out of bad-mouthing his former TV home, the Food Network. He is particularly critical of Rachael Ray, but mostly he’s upset that real chefs who used to dominate the network (including Bourdain’s friend Mario Batali) have to some extent been pushed out in favor of bubbly TV personalities and gimmickry. Much of it rings true; some of it, however, seems like it’s just for effect.

All of this is why it’s so funny that Food Network, apparently prompted by the success of Bourdain’s Travel Channel series “No Reservations,” has suddenly dug out and begun not only re-airing but heavily promoting Bourdain’s old Food Network show, “A Cook’s Tour.” If they had promoted the show this heavily on its original run, Bourdain might never have left!