Ten Deep 02.02.12: TV Cooking 101

Posted by Mike Gorman on 02.02.2012

Warm up your burners and get out your cutting boards, this week’s Ten Deep serves up a heaping helping of the best TV shows to build up your cooking skills. This recipe for kitchen success includes Chuck’s Day Off, David Rocco’s Dolce Vita, and Alton Brown’s Good Eats.





"TV Cooking 101"


This past weekend I took a cooking class at the local culinary college. It was quite the experience. Let's just say I have never seen more breakfast pastries assembled in one place in my life, and if you know me, you know that is saying something. As I was leaving the class I was reflecting on the emphasis the instructor put on technique and mastering the basics. Cooking at its core is about good, simple food prepared with precision. That got me thinking about the dozens of food and cooking shows that flood the airways these days. There are too many to count but lately most seem to have gotten away from the initial missions of channels like The Food Network and The Cooking Channel, the charge to teach people how to cook.

With Valentine's Day coming up soon also, this seemed like the perfect time to dig through all the shows out there. Tossing aside the dozens of competition based shows and the series that prepare foods way beyond our abilities in the home kitchen, I wanted to find the shows that are currently airing that offer the not so kitchen wise viewer the chance to pick up some useful and applicable knowledge. Check out these selections and trust me, you will a whiz behind the stove in no time. Ok, maybe not a whiz, but you will be able to impress your Valentine's date with a nice home cooked meal that did not come from the microwave. This week I give you, the top ten shows that will teach you how to cook. Also, this week is the starting point for a new feature in this column, "Even Deeper." Each week it will where I can take each top ten topic a little bit further or a little askew of the original destination. I hope that you enjoy it!


10. Kelsey's Essentials





Perky and a bit grating at times, there is one thing that Kelsey Nixon has going for her, and that's that her show is true to its title. It really is an exploration of the essential elements of the kitchen. This runner up from the Next Food Network Star lays a solid foundation of kitchen knowledge down taking you step by step through the procedures and dishes you need to start building a solid repertoire. A recent episode on the "Mother Sauces" showed how you could take the most basic of sauces and turn it into something spectacular, like ooey gooey macaroni and cheese. Toss out the box and the yellow powder and saddle up to Kelsey's counter. She'll definitely point you in the right direction.



9. 5 Ingredient Fix





If Kelsey's show is about honoring technique, then Clare Robinson's 5 Ingredient Fix is truly about honoring the ingredients. Robinson sets a limit of five ingredients per dish each week cutting through the clutter than some recipes can exhibit. She stresses the importance of high quality and freshness when it comes to the supplies you keep in your kitchen. And don't be put off by the low number of ingredients as she is able to show you how to make something spectacular without having to have a two page shopping list.


8. Brunch @ Bobby's





Let me get it out there right away that Bobby Flay can often come off as a prick. I feel like he definitely went through a period of being overhyped and way overplayed. It culminated in his obnoxious Throwdown show where he arrogantly attempted to crush home town heroes of the food world each week by making their signature dishes better than they could. The series just reeked of smugness and so did Flay. Which is why I was completely shocked when I gave his newest series a chance and discovered a quite humble host who was bringing you variations on his favorite theme, brunch. I am not going to say that Flay doesn't stray from some of the more complex preparations out there but he does always show how easy it is to build a solid brunch around an idea or two. I think that having a solid reserve of brunch recipes is an aspiring cook's greatest weapon and Flay provides a perfect arsenal here.



7. Cooking for Real





I selected Cooking for Real for this list because I feel that the host, Sunny Anderson, has an amazing ability to connect the food she prepares to her personal history and she encourages you to do the same. Cooking with heart is perhaps one of the most important lessons I think anyone learning to cook must master and Anderson evokes emotion and feeling with each dish she prepares. She builds passion as she builds the layers in her dishes and it is truly infectious, in a good way. She is an easy going host who makes sure that she breaks down each step of her recipes in a way that any casual viewer can understand.



6. La Dolce Vita with David Rocco





David Rocco's La Dolce Vita transport you to his home in Italy for an exciting culinary adventure. The unique piece about Rocco's show is that he is bringing you everyday life in Italy, not an overproduced series set in an aging mansion on some extravagant trip. The extravagance here comes from the simplicity of his cuisine. Italian food, and I mean true Italian food not chicken parmesean, has a real purity and whimsy at its core and that is what Rocco tries to share with his audience. He prepares basic dishes that don't require insane equipment but do challenge you as a home cook. Catch this series if only for the many amazing pasta recipes sprinkled throughout.



5. Chuck's Day Off





Chuck Hughes may look more like he should be playing hockey or working as a doorman at a club, but this give this guy a chance and you will quickly see that he is overfilled with passion and skill when it comes to cooking. The show's premise is that he is spending his day off cooking for the important people that pass through his life with an emphasis on giving them the most enjoyable experience possible. In addition to solid recipes and easy to follow techniques, Hughes will teach you how to craft a solid meal from start to finish with your guests firmly in mind. Hughes likes to have fun with the recipes he puts together and it shows when he presents them to you.



4. Secrets of a Restaurant Chef





Anne Burrell is a tough cookie for sure when it comes to spreading culinary knowledge but only because she wants to make sure that you are getting the message. She believes it is possible for everyone to cook like a restaurant chef, or at least with a chef's mindset, and on her show she attempts to pull back the curtain on the mystique of restaurant quality food. She shows you that the so called "secrets" are really just an emphasis on building layers of flavor and not hiding the food that you are preparing. She is definitely a fountain of useful knowledge who presents her skills in a well organized form. Burrell will encourage you to step outside of your culinary comfort zone but is there to provide supportive tips and tricks that will have you come through the fires of your stove successful like a true pro.



3. America's Test Kitchen





America's Test Kitchen does feature a lot of easy to follow recipes with an emphasis on making life easier for the home cook but that is not why it ranked so high on this list. It is their propensity to test and rank each and every kitchen device imaginable that makes this show such a great resource for the budding gourmet. ATK have several segments of the series devoted to testing equipment and tools that are essential for the home cook. They look at the quality of construction, ease of use, and perhaps most importantly, price. They will usually steer you in the direction of the item that will be the most useful, last the longest, and has the smallest impact on your wallet.



2. Alex's Day Off





Yes, another show with "Day Off" in the title. Not sure how the Food Network/Cooking Channel ended up with that happening but I am not concerned because it is not the title of this series that makes it shine. The Alex of Alex's Day Off is Chef Alex Guarnaschelli. My first exposure to Alex was through her appearances as judge on Chopped. On Chopped she can come off as stern and often disapproving, not hiding her displeasure when a chef presents a less than stellar dish. I saw her as a bit of a food snob and hypercritical. When I finally had the chance to catch her series I was not sure what to expect. After a few minutes I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my initial beliefs about her were way off base. Guarnaschelli comes off as harsh when judging not because she believes she could do better but because she truly cares about the food being prepared and about the experience of the taster. On her show she cannot hide the thrill she gets from preparing a good dish and she clearly wants you to experience the same high. What her makes her truly great though is not just this enthusiasm but her clear mastery of food preparation and her keen understanding of the essential information you need to recreate the food she demonstrates. Each episode of this series leaves you wanting to jump right into your own kitchen to replicate her creations, mostly out of hunger brought on be her amazingly descriptive use of colorful language and imagery.



And lastly…



1. Good Eats





One of the key factors in selecting the shows for this list was that they had to be readily available for consumption on your television, at this time. Alton Brown's Good Eats was an immediate selection for the countdown but I was not sure if it would truly deserve a spot because lately The Food Network had taken to pulling back the airing of the series; be it because the show was no longer making new episodes or they needed more space for Guy Fieri's ego. I did not know. I was however truly excited to hear that they had migrated the show over to their sister network, The Cooking Channel, giving it a nightly airing with blocks of episodes on the weekends. This is the seminal show when it comes to cooking education on television in my opinion. There are other shows that may be just as important (see this week's "Even Deeper" below for more on that topic) but there is no other that truly serves as an encyclopedia of basic cooking knowledge for the home viewer. In Alton Brown's world of cooking there are no gray areas, or celebrity chef moments, or sponsored products. He gets down to the brass tacks on a new topic each episode breaking down myths, exposing useless kitchen ephemera meant to drain your pockets and increase food pretension, and delivering cold hard facts. He is the "Mister Wizard" of the culinary kingdom. If anything you will feel like you deserve a culinary degree once you view each and every episode. Brown is quirky in a relatable way that makes you feel more comfortable and well informed as you tackle new recipes and techniques.

I end this entry with a classic example of Brown at his Good Eats best. The Bacon Battle episode.


Scrap Iron Chef : Battle Bacon Part One





Scrap Iron Chef : Battle Bacon Part Two










In this first edition of the "Ten Deep: Even Deeper" afterword, I wanted to address two issues that may come up in the comments section that definitely were weighing on my mind as I prepared this list. First, many of you may be wondering why Julia Child is missing from the list? There are a few reasons, but primarily I created this list to include the shows that would give you a true basic introduction to cooking. Shows that any random person, regardless of experience could watch and pick up the starters they needed to get themselves going. Julia Child's French Chef is indeed one of the most important shows in our culinary television history but it is definitely a tough nut to crack and could possible scare away a beginner who had not yet picked up a wooden spoon or measuring cup yet. It is a series I think every food minded person should view and would top a follow up list to this week's Ten Deep. Dip your toes into the pool first, and then dive on into the deep end with Julia as your guide.

Secondly, please do not even attempt to convince me that Rachael Ray, Guy Fieri or god forbid, Sandra Lee deserve spots on this list. Rachael Ray has become a walking commercial for her kitchen products, a far cry from her truly humble begins on 30 Minute Meals, which is, in and of itself a pretty solid concept. Guy Fieri is possibly the most annoying person on the planet so I am not even sure how well of a cooking instructor he'd be as I can't handle him in more than 30 second sound bites at this point. And Sandra Lee is actually watchable, in that she is clearly an out of touch alcoholic with a pantry stuffed with canned pie fillings and taco season packets. Do yourself a favor and look her up on You Tube. Her Kwanzaa Cake is epic.

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