Good Eats and Giada

[Ray loves food]

Two of my favorite cooking shows have to be "Good Eats" Alton Brown and "Everyday Italian" with Giada DeLaurentiis(yes I had to look it up to spell it right). I like Good Eats because I come away from every show with a deeper appreciation of the history of the food discussed and the crazy ways they describe something or invent a gadget to make food ie. take a box fan, a/c filters and bungee cord to make a food dehydrater. Also, on occasion they come up with some pretty good recipes. Fry Hard 2's fried chicken recipe is awesome.
Everyday Italian has some of the best recipes I have ever tried making after watching a TV show. The calm and graceful way she goes about cooking always impresses me, probably because I'm more like the Tasmanian Devil in the kitchen.

[tullius]

I agree those are 2 of the best Foodnetwork has to offer. Alton has a quirky "Bill Nye the Science Guy" or "Beakman" that makes it fun & engaging while giving an insight into the chemistry behind the processes. I find this helpful in troubleshooting & making my own recipes. Particularly helpful was a show about cookies & how shortening vs butter & butter temperature affects texture. The only recipe I've actually followed (kind of) of his was the "free range fruitcake. Turned out great & I'll use it again.

I gave my DIL Giada's cookbook for Christmas & she made the turkey ravioli (made with wonton wrappers) with the holiday leftovers. They were very good. Not the same texture of course as ravioli made from actual pasta but the point of the dish I think was to be quick & easy after all the work of the holidays.

[Rasna]

To me the won ton wrappers are slimy. Giada isn't always clear on the authenticity of a recipe. If her family were not so well connected and placed here under the wing of Wolfgang Puck she would have had a hard time. That doesn't mean that she is not talented and knowledgeable but indirect nepotism is a bit much

[jocym]

I like both of those show; Good Eats and Giada. But my very favorite is The Barefoot Contessa. I love the quiet way she presents the recipes and just generally her manner. I've gotten so many handy tips from her show. I also like Lydia's shows. I have 2 of her cookbooks, but I must confess I don't use cookbooks very much.

[icebox]

yes yes yes! I watch the cooking shows of Giada and I have to say, I love her a lot! I mean, not romantically..lol. But she's just so cool and the food that she prepares is amazing. Giada is pretty but her cooking style is really what I love the most about her. Aside from Giada's cooking show, I also love Iron Chef..How about you guys?

[jocym]

I like Iron Chef too. The person that turned me on to that show was my then, 13 yr. old grandson. He's 22 now and still likes to cook. This is only my second time on this sight. I think it's pretty awesome.

[eclecticsynergy]

Yah, I like Alton too, and appreciate that I always come away from his show knowing something I didn't before. Have developed an interest in history and he touches on that, something few do from a food perspective. I've tried a few of his recipes and they've all been successful & tasty.
Am not sure all his info is 100% accurate and well-considered tho- one instance in particular: he mentioned that stomach acid wasn't really part of the digestive process but was just a barrier against bacterial nasties. I quoted this once and the other folks in the kitchen really jumped down my throat about it...
I dig his scientific approach (and his wacky mad-scientist schtick too) and as I said, his recipes. For a research based approach to food he's my go-to guy, especially now that America's Test Kitchen only makes their recipes available to subscribers. And every Alton show has a laugh or two, even when they're silly.

I love Giada, she's so cheerful, almost effervescent, and bright-eyed (and yes, very easy on the eyes). Several of her recipes have intrigued me, but she's a recent discovery for me and I haven't made any of them yet. But they wait in my recipe file for when the mood strikes.

Also a big fan of Ina, the Contessa. Have a real appreciation for her show and her depth of knowledge as well as her cooking style & flavor choices. Would love to say that I cook like her but that would be a huge exaggeration- I'll just say that her tastes resonate more with me than any other presenter.
I've downloaded more of her recipes than I have from anyone else on the Food Network, and the ones I've tried have varied from sublime to spectacular!

Have got a few from Tyler's Ultimate that were really good takes on classic recipes. Though he doesn't have the "personality appeal" for me of some others, I continue to watch his show when I can because the food is so darn good.

Also have a weakness for Mexican; have DVR'd a couple episodes of Mexican Made Easy with Marcella Valladolid, but in my area her show is on only sporadically at an odd time so I haven't been catching it live.

And I love Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Would love to visit some of those places (actually have been to a few, back in my Jersey days, years ago) but I don't travel much now. I wish he posted all of the recipes- have tried to replicate a few but the really good ones seem hard to nail down or require things I haven't got, like a smoker and a place to use it. The longtime pros make it look so easy 'cause they're doing it every day... But my mouth sure waters when I watch the show.

[Mariah-RoseCass]

Have any of you ever watched Martha Stewart?It is a show here in Canada. My mom used the watch it a lot, does she have a cooking show, or just a show? I remember my mom telling me about how she learned to wash lettace?

[mmwineguy]

I too love Good Eats and all of Giada's shows. She gets a bad rap because she looks so great for the camera on her show. She can make tomato sauces without getting any on her. She is classical train from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. She did the program and did not speak French (English and Italian). I know the school is hard that is where I got my training.

[House of Pasta]

I love Giada and have all of her cookbooks. I think the thing I appreciate most about her is her passion for food, and her enthusiasm is just infectious. I love Alton's quirkiness and scientific approach to cooking. I have made a lot of both Giada's and Alton's dishes and had good success. I read cookbooks like some read romance novels, and I love nothing better than a cook book that marries the colorful presentation of food with the history of its origins.