# cooking shows



## luvmybhm (Jan 18, 2016)

i watched the master chef celebrity cook off show tonight. i agreed with most of the decisions except the champs vs kids. regardless, it was fun viewing.

i adore the cooking shows. i do like the masterchef junior version better than the adults, but i watch both. i used to sit through hell's kitchen with my older daughter as our hang out time, but gordon is a bit over the top in that for me. i can't bring myself to watch his restaurant rescue show. i would never eat out again thinking there are places like those in the world.

i am waiting patiently for series 7 of great british bake off. i also watch great australian bake off. i tried the irish bake off, but they seem sooo serious about the whole thing it is not as fun to watch as the other 2 versions.

i gave up watching chopped because i rarely agreed with their decisions. I really like cutthroat kitchen. i have been an alton fan for a long time. i have a couple of his cook books and love to watch the old good eats and the periodic stuff he puts on his youtube channel. 

is anyone else into the cooking shows? if so, what are your favorites?


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## Orchid (Jan 21, 2016)

I watched BBC tv UK Victorian Bakers there is a trailer of episode 3 on Youtube and I think someone posted episode nr 2 on Youtube. Very interesting to see and people used to eat much more bread back then like 4x more I I heard it well.
I also like to watch cooking shows by Nigella a female UK chef, Delia Smith also was nice both have cookbooks and websites. I have Delia's christmas cookbook really nice. Rick Stein and Ainsley Harriott are also good kitchen chefs.
There is a Belgian tv chef I like to watch Jeroen Meus. He filmed also cooking in USA making a ham.Saturday mornings I sometimes watch BBC tv cooking shows. There are many more I like. I sometimes watch british bake off also.
I used to collect cookbooks but I stopped in my thirties when I had 2 rows of cookbooks
in my kitchen. I started my kitchen /household at 21. I came quite late to internet when my daughter started school I went online that was end of summer 2004. Soon after discovered YouTube. I like some cooking channels there like FoodWishes, Cooking with Dog she makes very small portions. And some other I forget the names.

See www.bbc.co.uk/food/ this is a nice site to read. I also sometimes like to browse sample pages of cookbooks at Amazon.

There is also a british historian chef who cooks things from past history times etc I forgot his name.


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## agouderia (Jan 21, 2016)

luvmybhm said:


> i adore the cooking shows.
> 
> 
> is anyone else into the cooking shows? if so, what are your favorites?



Slightly unrelated question - more professional curiosity: Do you actually cook a lot? Especially the recipes in the cooking shows?

Because that would be statistically pretty unusual: Most people who love cooking shows don't cook themselves.

That is a continuous media science finding which baffled me when I first heard it. A close university friend of mine does TV audience analysis' and she has been doing viewer testing of cooking shows for a decade now - and that is the most significant result. Also the main reason why advertisers like to put commercials for ready-made meals in the shows.


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## one2one (Jan 21, 2016)

agouderia said:


> Most people who love cooking shows don't cook themselves.
> 
> That is a continuous media science finding which baffled me when I first heard it. A close university friend of mine does TV audience analysis' and she has been doing viewer testing of cooking shows for a decade now - and that is the most significant result. Also the main reason why advertisers like to put commercials for ready-made meals in the shows.



This makes sense to me. I don't have cable, and if pressed will say it's because I'd just spend all day flipping back and forth between the cooking and home improvement shows. Which is true, although mostly it's just that I don't want to have to pay for cable. It's also true that I don't own a house that needs remodeling or do many DIY projects. When I'm somewhere with cable and the cooking shows, I just sit there watching them for so long that I get hungry, don't have the right ingredients at home, and have to order pizza or go out for something really good because I've been watching people prepare such lovely meals that pizza is just not going to satisfy me.

And I cook more of my own food than most of people I know. To help minimize the amount of chemicals and overly processed foods I eat. Often it's simple meals. I don't always use recipes, and when I do I'm more likely to try something from a cookbook I found at the library. Or open the fridge, type an ingredient I want to use into Google, and search for recipes. I have really good luck with ones found on epicurious.com and am less likely to use a recipe from the Food Network. I used to watch Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie and really enjoyed it as a global documentary of unique aspects of food and culture, but it's not really a cooking show. 

I think the appeal of watching the cooking shows has something to do with the nurturing/nourishing experience of watching someone cook. As though I were hanging out in the kitchen of a friend or aunt, in some other era, while they make dinner for me. Which rarely happens these days.


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## MattB (Jan 21, 2016)

I used to watch the Food Network constantly, but I'm finding myself less interested over the last few years. (This applies to TV in general, to be blunt...) However I still enjoy the occasional Chopped episode, provided it's not a kids edition or the Canadian version. Once in awhile I'll watch the 'Challenge' episodes, especially around Hallowe'en. Love me some giant cake building...

Classic shows for me are Barefoot Contessa and the original Japanese Iron Chef...


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## luvmybhm (Jan 21, 2016)

agouderia said:


> Slightly unrelated question - more professional curiosity: Do you actually cook a lot? Especially the recipes in the cooking shows?
> .



i actually do cook every day for my family. plus from about march-nov i am an avid gardener, so i am always looking for new and interesting dishes that use the veg that i grow.
i don't necessarily watch for a specific recipe, but i do find the cooking shows useful in learning tips or hints that i may not know. that is how i got hooked on good eats/alton brown. he not only told you how to make something, but why it is made that way and such. cooking shows also inspire me to try new dishes that i may not normally make/eat. if i see a dish on tv and learn what it is in it, i am more likely to make or order if out to dinner and try it.
if i see a dish on the cooking show that i like, i usually try to find a version of it online for a recipe. i do also have 2 shelves of cook books and like to watch the allrecipes channel on my roku. they give you short step by step videos on how to make a variety of recipes based on your main protein or food you are looking for. 

i do also bake regularly, but not necessarily the super complex stuff they do on bake off. i like to watch the baking shows just to learn about baking and for the reality/competition portion of it.


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## luvmybhm (Jan 21, 2016)

MattB said:


> I used to watch the Food Network constantly, but I'm finding myself less interested over the last few years. (This applies to TV in general, to be blunt...) However I still enjoy the occasional Chopped episode, provided it's not a kids edition or the Canadian version. Once in awhile I'll watch the 'Challenge' episodes, especially around Hallowe'en. Love me some giant cake building...
> 
> Classic shows for me are Barefoot Contessa and the original Japanese Iron Chef...



i do like to watch some of the challenge shows on food network too. especially around halloween when they do pumpkin carving. they are always amazing! 

i used to watch barefoot contessa but she was too high end foodie for me. i did see an episode recently where she was doing more everyday food...so might watch her again in the future.


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## MattB (Jan 21, 2016)

I loved the pretentiousness of BC, because we all have had those weekends in the Hamptons when friends come over for ganache. 

How good is that?


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## ScreamingChicken (Jan 22, 2016)

I love Diners, Drive Ins , & Dives and Chopped. I am also a fan of The Pioneer Woman and Barefoot Contessa. 

I despise Cutthroat Kitchen. Alton Brown is better than that show.


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## luvmybhm (Jan 22, 2016)

i like that alton gets to break out and be devil's advocate. plus to watch someone have to cook with nothing but utensils they made out of tin foil is always good fun. i find it interesting that some chefs you can throw anything at and they still make something edible while others crumble.


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## GoodDaySir (Jan 23, 2016)

ScreamingChicken said:


> I love Diners, Drive Ins , & Dives and Chopped. I am also a fan of The Pioneer Woman and Barefoot Contessa.



I love Pioneer Woman. She just seems so freakin nice!


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## ScreamingChicken (Jan 23, 2016)

GoodDaySir said:


> I love Pioneer Woman. She just seems so freakin nice!



Plus she makes some awesome eats. She had a Thai beef with veggies and rice noodles dish that I have been enough drooling for since I saw it last month.


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## luvmybhm (Jan 24, 2016)

pioneer woman has some beautiful rosewood utensils at wal mart. the only downer is that they are hand wash only.


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## Ruby Ripples (Feb 2, 2016)

I love Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers and some of his other series too. His dishes have virtually always been so up my street that my mouth has been watering. And I have actually scribbled down several and tried them myself. I love his kitchen, it would be my dream kitchen and he has this gorgeous courtyard garden that he goes and snips herbs from. You see him going to his local delicatessens and grocers, buying lovely produce. When he goes to get butter from his fridge it's always wrapped in brown paper or something. I always imagine some poor runner on the programme frantically removing all supermarket packaging from his ingredients then carefully wrapping them all rustically, ready for filming.

I think One2One would love his food too. 

I do enjoy British Masterchef. I cannot bear the American, Canadian and Australian versions as it all seems to be stupid group tasks accompanied with actual screaming from balconies! I find it frenetic and awful and the judges unlikeable.


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## one2one (Feb 6, 2016)

ScreamingChicken said:


> I love Diners, Drive Ins , & Dives ...



Me, too. And I've been lucky enough to eat at a couple places that have been featured. I think it's one of the most compelling shows, or at least it's the one the had me hooked for two and a half hours of back-to-back episodes the last time I stayed in a hotel. 



Ruby Ripples said:


> I love Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers and some of his other series too ... I think One2One would love his food too.



I do! I had to look him up because I've never seen one of his shows, but this is exactly the kind of approach to food that works for me. Plus, it makes it a bit of a creative adventure and not just more work when I already have more to do than I can ever get done. It really is right up my alley (or street). I watched a clip of chicken and leek pie, which I was thinking of just the other day because I have a couple pie crusts in the freezer.

I can see why you love his kitchen. It's beautiful, and duplicates the same elegant simplicity that is often in the meals you post. My dream kitchen (if I ever win the lottery) also has a back door and overlooks a patio with an herb garden. And a fireplace. I meant to bump the cookbook thread a while ago for a couple new(ish) titles. I think you might like David Tanis' "One Good Dish".



luvmybhm said:


> ... from about march-nov i am an avid gardener, so i am always looking for new and interesting dishes that use the veg that i grow.



I admire people who garden. I don't have nearly enough patience. My dream kitchen herb garden includes a gardener.


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## smithnwesson (Mar 4, 2016)

I love it when they taste the dish at the end and say "Mmmmmmm, this is the best <whatever> I've ever had", and roll their eyes.

Just once I'd like to see one of them gag and go "Holy Mary! This tastes like ass. What could have gone wrong?"


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## squeezablysoft (Jun 10, 2016)

*One of my classmates, Nathan Barnhouse, is on this season of Masterchef. So I am watching this season even though usually it's a bit too mean for my tastes. My mom thinks it's funny I like cooking shows but don't cook (thinking of learning how though, maybe Chef Nathan, the other Nate in my class who cooks and is *almost* a BHM (just borderline chubby atm but I sense potential) and/or my BBW BFF will teach me). I do bake some and love it (even my mistakes taste good), and I feel like cooking would be really easy, but I'm sure it's more complicated than it seems. *


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## Dr. Feelgood (Jun 10, 2016)

squeezablysoft said:


> * I feel like cooking would be really easy, but I'm sure it's more complicated than it seems. *



Cooking can be as simple or as difficult as you like. You can start with a few basic dishes (cornflakes: add milk; eat) and add more as you learn more techniques. Every _cordon bleu_ chef had to start from where you are right now.


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## EldonRhodes (Sep 10, 2016)

I love it when they taste the food at the end. It feels so yummy.


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## socrates74 (Nov 17, 2016)

Originally Posted by luvmybhm View Post

i adore the cooking shows. 


is anyone else into the cooking shows? if so, what are your favorites?
-----+++++++++++++-------
The old Iron Chef shows that where made in Japan. 
Today: This minute I am watching 'Dining with the Chef' It is from NHK World Japan. It is.on public television (PBS). I also watch 'Simply Ming'.


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## Leem (Dec 4, 2016)

I love the Great British Bake Off. I have watched the shows as they come on PBS. I have also watched a few on YouTube. I have enjoyed other shows as well, but this is my current favorite.

In contrast to what was mentioned above About the viewers of cooking shows, I actually do a lot of cooking and baking. Not near as much as my grandma or mom, but I also work full time. 

Today in fact I watched the masterclass with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood and used one of their recipes and made a Christmas Pavlova for the first time(this is apparently a very British dessert, I had never seen nor tasted one before). :eat1:It turned out great. I took it over to a friends house for a night of cards and pizza. The whole thing was gone people loved it.


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## socrates74 (Dec 9, 2016)

Leem ====> "Pavlova...mother...grandmother"
Seems interesting,esp since (article I looked up) says" _significantly_ _more fragile than meringue._".
It was my grandmother's chocolate and mother's lemon pies that peeked my interest in meringues. It made me graduate to adult cook books. You are *obviously skillful*.


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## socrates74 (Dec 9, 2016)

Void/repeat


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