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23510. iiibbb - 2/1/2008 12:54:21 AM Try it with seafood. 23511. judithathome - 2/1/2008 1:25:03 AM I'd like to recommend a Travel Channel show called Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. I think it comes on Monday nights.
He did a whole hour on Charleston, SC and I swear just watching the show made me gain weight. 23512. wabbit - 2/1/2008 2:52:46 AM WoW update - all is well, he's very busy with gearing up for new and exciting things, and will check in when he has time to chat. And he passes a big hug and thanks to Mags for thinking of him! 23513. anomie - 2/1/2008 3:44:31 AM Anthony Bourdain rubs me the wrong way. I like the idea of a show like his, but it would be much less annoying if he could do it without dissing every other chef who has a show, and if he'd stop acting like the whole show is beneath him. His glib put-downs of other presenters just puts me off. 23514. judithathome - 2/1/2008 6:25:22 PM I love him...for me, that makes the show. Some of these guys take themselves way too seriously.
I also love Gordon Ramsay and many people think he's a pompous ass.
If neither of these guys had bona fides out the wahzoo, I might think differently but I think they have earned the right to be critical of others and in Bourdain's case, to expose the conditions of their establishments like he did in his book.
It makes me mad enough to eat in a mediocre, no name restraurant and find out later that the kitchen was a pig sty, either from a local TV news exposé or through getting food poisoning...if I were paying big bucks to dine at a snooty place with a world-famous chef and found out his standards of cleanliness were no better than the local rib joint out on the highway, I'd be livid. 23515. Magoseph - 2/1/2008 6:55:59 PM Thank you, wabbit--I love this man! 23516. anomie - 2/1/2008 7:47:37 PM Judith, it's clear you know his background better than I do. I didn't know he HAD books or that he exposed poor conditions. Kudos to him for that. So, why does he have to make himslf look all superior by bashing people like Rachel Ray? I means she's just trying to get on with what she does. He's just an ass sometimes and I can't watch hime anymore.
And yes I do think Ramsey is a pompous, boorish ass. But he's genuine and entertaining. 23517. anomie - 2/1/2008 7:48:38 PM Jamie Oliver is fun. 23518. anomie - 2/1/2008 7:49:10 PM ...to watch cook. 23519. Ms. No - 2/1/2008 8:29:32 PM iiibbb,
The cookbook that has been the most useful all around for me is still Joy of Cooking. It has everything basic although nothing exotic. It's pretty rooted in American and French, but it's great for sauces and basic things from which you can branch out. Tons of info on meats and vegetables and spices. How to store things, when to use fresh or dried herbs, how to raise and dry them yourself. How to butcher your own meat. Candy-making, pastry, canning, drying, salting.
It's a bit dated, but as an all-around, foundation cookbook I can't think of anything more useful. 23520. judithathome - 2/2/2008 2:06:46 AM So, why does he have to make himslf look all superior by bashing people like Rachel Ray? I means she's just trying to get on with what she does.
Well, face it, he is a chef and she is a cook. Maybe he's jealous that someone can gain such popularity using canned ingredients and packaged sauces when he has been traind in the freshest ingredients and sauces made from scratch.
I think Rachel Ray is entertaining but some of her food is absolutely dreadful. I would choose a meal done by Bourdain over her stuff any day of the week and twice on Sunday.;-) 23521. wonkers2 - 2/2/2008 2:46:55 AM The conversation about food reminds me of my late Aunt, Maggie Deeds Murphy. She had a TV show in NY in the fifties called, I believe, the Cooking Hour, before anybody had heard of Julia Childs (on TV at least). And she published about 15 cookbooks. For a while she was food editor for Women's Home Companion or Ladies Home Journal, I forget which. After she "retired" to Cape Cod she was food editor for the Boston Globe, and she wrote a column in the local Cape Cod rag. If that wasn't enough she was one of the earliest women pilots in the 1930s, (but no particular flying exploits). Her only downside was that she was a rabid Republican. In election years we had to keep her separated from my dad, her older brother. When I went off to college I stopped to see her and her husband in New York. Her husband sent me off with two pieces of advice: 1. Read Time Magazine every week (at the time it was edited or owned by Henry Luce and much more right wing than now--He famously printed a picture of a smiling Ike along side of a picture of Adlai Stevenson picking his nose!) and 2. Pay off your American Express card in full every month. I ignored 1., but have followed 2. fairly religiously. With no regrets on either count. 23522. anomie - 2/2/2008 2:57:33 AM But Judith, is that really the point? So he's a great chef...so what? Can he not also be gracious about people who do something different. RR is what she is and I don't see any reason to bash what she does. She's not competing with the likes of AD, except in the TV ratings market. In which case, let the best chef/cook win.
If you ask me, AD deals in sour grapes. 23523. resonance - 2/2/2008 3:18:02 AM Maybe, but Rachael Ray kinda sucks. I mean, there's a reason beyond arrogance for Bourdain to maybe think that Ray sucks. She's some kinda television creation.
Of course, you're free to get her back and stand up for her against the snobs of the world, but I don't know why you'd bother.
Anyway, as for me, what matters is how much technique I can pick up from 'em that's worth having. Like, I don't know if you've ever cooked professionally, anomie, but chefs can be a little acerbic. I don't go to 'em for lessons on how to influence people and win hearts, I want to know how to give my bearnaise a bit of pop. 23524. anomie - 2/2/2008 4:15:26 AM No, I'm not a cook. I can appreciate a chef's temperment, and I can admire the higher standards of a pro. I mean his recipes are his creations. His art. But really...it's TV. I don't compare Ray with a proper chef. I just think she stands alone and does what she does. She's a bit annoying if you're not in the mood for all that cheerfulness, but she's not as bad as the woman who redecorates her kitchen every week.
But back to the point. I would enjoy Bourdain more if he would just stop dissing other chefs and cooks, or for that matter dissing TV presenting in general. It's not necessary and he should rise above it. Afterall, he's a TV presenter himself now. 23525. arkymalarky - 2/2/2008 5:38:18 AM RES!! 23526. arkymalarky - 2/2/2008 5:40:49 AM Great story, Wonk. Your aunt sounds fascinating. 23527. Ms. No - 2/2/2008 5:57:19 AM Does he bash Nigella like he bashes RayRay? 23528. resonance - 2/2/2008 6:14:16 AM Hi, Arky. How's life? 23529. resonance - 2/2/2008 6:15:48 AM I hope he bashes Nigella; she makes me itch.
The Barefoot Contessa, on the other hand, rocks the house.
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