cooking @ home

©2008 Harry Kenney

Wolfgang is Back!

… with his show simply called Wolfgang Puck. Now I have to admit I missed the first few of the new shows already. Because, quite candidly, not watching too much Fine Living (FL) channel, I see only a few of their commercials. In short I had no idea it existed until several days into it’s run.

Ok, wait, this isn’t a knock on the FL channel as I do watch several of their shows, it’s just fewer shows than the Food Network (FN) as FL does a variety of programming, most of which I’m not as interested in. That said, their take on food and beverage, the shows they’ve come up with often show even more innovation than FN does. Let me save this for later below and get back to “Wolfy”.

As I said I missed a few already before discovering it was even on. The one’s I’ve seen so far, one dealt with the tomato, that meant — yes baby — an excuse for Puck to show us how to make pizza! So we had pizza dough making, a four-cheese pizza, gazpacho soup and a visit to a California farm where Puck gets all his tomatoes from. Another show featured bread, and we got to see La Brea Bakery, then Wolfgang made foaccia bread (mmm, one of my favorites I’m going to have to try this now) and what to do with the bread? Why a gourmet BLT, namely barbecued shrimp BLT on foaccia. Yes my mouth is watering already. The guy is a legend, he’s still so upbeat and energetic and passionate about food, he really does get you passionate about it. Charming, magnetic, it’s great to see him do a “crowd” show (a la Emeril) which he interacts with and works with incredibly well. And hey, he’s the master. What can you not love about this show? It’s Wolfgang!

The show airs 1pm weekdays. Though with only 12 episodes so far listed on the FL website, who knows where, when and how far this is going to go. I’m thinking the response should be big and that we’ll be continuing to have a whole lot more Wolfgang around

On a related note, you might want to set your TIVO or VCR and capture his repeating episodes from Food Network’s old 2004 or 2005 show Wolfgang Puck’s Cooking Class which still sometimes (yes, it’s off and on again) air at 4am. Or you can just stay up and watch them. Hmm, I have no idea if I should kick FN for airing them so late or applaud them for having the sense to continue airing these fine shows. Guess it evens out in the end.

Jamie’s Big Return

Second new show is the return of the cook Mario Batali has called the Rolling Stones of British cooking (because of how a mob shows up any time he’s out anywhere). With nine cookbooks under his belt in less that many years, the UK sensation, the third leg of the British cooking triad (Gordon Ramsey and Nigella Lawson being the other two) the one and only mop-haired Jamie Oliver in Jamie at Home. With previous American shows The Naked Chef which made him a star, at least here, and Oliver’s Twist, in the newest venture “Jamie’s back doing what he does best – cooking at home with simple, accessible ingredients, including fruits and vegetables fresh from his backyard garden.”

His first episode tackles Pumpkin and Squash, then Pastry, followed by Peppers and Chilies, and then Mushrooms. Actually I have to say I like the way that’s done, focusing in on specific thing and then taking off on it. It’s definitely very “in” in the sense of the whole organic meets artisan feel of cooking with fresh ingredients. I was also impressed a week or so ago when, although he lost to Mario Batali on ICA, it was by a mere two points in taste and that for a secret ingredient he proclaimed he’s never tasted before. Spot on. The show airs Saturday mornings at 9:30am.

Martin Yan’s China

A new series from the “old” master of Chinese cuisine, Martin Yan’s China. With the world’s attention being focused later this year on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing so Yan has taken on a different look to that ancient country. In his new television series on PBS of course he first travels to various places in China, restaurants, kitchens, homes. Checks out the techniques first hand, then it’s back in the studio kitchen for Yan to both show the home cook how to do these themselves and how he combines authentic and traditional techniques and introduces new flavors and methods of cooking too. In the second episode of the series I caught just today, we look at Panda’s in their native habitat and then chef Yan makes his mother’s “Weekly Chicken Soup” recipe back at the kitchen. Being PBS, you’ll need to check your own local station for air times; for me it’s on Saturdays around mid-afternoon.

The show’s so new the book isn’t yet available. Here’s a tip though. On Yan’s website — which is out of the book btw — the new cookbook goes for around $25. However, you can go here and preorder it, and when it comes out at the end of April you get it about $16.50! Pre-Order “Martin Yan’s China” at a Third Off.

Rachel Does the World

The next new show is Rachel’s Vacation. Ok, Even I have to start wondering how does she do it with a major network show every day, continuing to do the 30 Minute Meals and now a second (how can you forget $40-a-day?) travelogue show to boot? The description from the website: “Rachael’s Vacation takes viewers on an international odyssey. From pubs in Dublin to markets in Bordeaux, from a fairy tale carriage ride in Lisbon to a marathon of tapas in Barcelona, Rachel charts her course for exciting finds near and far.”

I’m kind of yawning I must admit, but please Rachel fans don’t hit me. It’s not her as much as it’s just few travel shows with a food spin really do me. I’ve never been thrilled about shows like A Cook’s Tour, Feasting on Asphalt, or that show who’s name escapes me where Paula Deen’s sons hop into a car. Mind you, there is the occasional travel-meets-food show I’ll watch, Giada in Paradise because (hey, it’s paradise) who doesn’t want to watch the view from or eat the local food found at Capri or Santorinni (I don’t watch her other local travel show mind you). Also of note in this genre is Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, because it is a fresh take on an otherwise (to me) stale concept. If you however love these type of shows or are a Rachel groupie, then you’ll no doubt find her latest right up your alley. This one premieres tonight, January 12th and is shown every Saturday night at 9pm.

Favorite Cooking Shows with New Episodes

So that’s the brand new shows this month. Meanwhile a ton of established cooking shows are already airing fresh new episodes everywhere: On PBS, America’s Test Kitchen and Everyday Food.

Take Home Chef Curtis Stone has a brand new season of shows airing on TLC. He’s charming, he can cook, his recipes are versatile and like the show’s overall theme on things. There’s a new format this season though which (from what I can tell from the site) fans aren’t sure if they like or not. I’m just happy for the brand new episodes.

An abysmal, horrible website though. Oh the flashy (literally) front page seems a good intro, but that’s it. You can’t tell what episodes are new or rerun. The recipe index goes by the name of the woman he cooked for. There’s a forum who’s script must have been written in 1994 because it’s readable but just barely, and it’s as confusing as the rest of the site is. It’s like something an 8 year old would toss up. I say eight year old because a 13 year old would have made a much better website than this. Also the new recipes are not up for the new shows either (or if they are, who can find them?) TLC really deserves to be slapped upside the head for both the very little promotion it gives this fine show and the moronic website. Curtis deserves much better and so does his fans.

On Food Network, the early Saturday lineup from 9 am to about 1:30 pm is currently 100% new with Tyler’s Ultimate, Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee, Paula’s Home Cooking, Rachel’s 30 Minute Meals, the still relatively new Simply Delicioso with Ingrid Hoffmann, Giada’s Everyday Italian, Ina’s Barefoot Contessa, and Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger.

Now some of those Saturday morning and afternoon shows are also shown during weekday afternoons. Among those on daily which have new episodes (besides those mentioned above) include the Essence of Emeril, Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller and Paula’s Home Cooking. At night, there are new episodes of Unwrapped and yes, some of the 7pm Emeril Live programs are brand new as well.

And new episodes of chef Robert Irvine’s wonderful — I really do love this show tremendously — Dinner: Impossible begin this Wednesday night at 10pm when Robert takes on making hor’s d’oeuvres for a mere 2,900 Alaskan cruise passengers in an impossibly limited amount of time. Duff is back with the Charmed City gang and Ace of Cakes in roughly a week or so.

Meanwhile it looks as though (but it’s very hard to tell as Food Network is not good at releasing schedules) Bobby Flay’s Throwdown is taking a rest as well as Iron Chef America, after both having just shown a spade of new shows at the tail end of last year.

The Food Shows of Fine Living

A nice bunch of new food shows came on the Fine Living network in the latter part of 2007, with The Martha Stewart Show naturally being the biggest. Naturally, anyone who knows Martha knows the show “covers the spectrum” from home remodeling to crafts to cooking and a billion other things. Being as my particular interests lie in only one of those areas, I don’t get to see the show that often. What I have seen either from episodes descriptions, a commercial or on occasion actually turning the dial to the show is Martha does have an excellent variety of chefs on there from all walks. That is, we get very used to the chefs we see on television that have their own shows, whether they’re from FN or PBS or elsewhere. And obviously there are hundreds of fantastic chefs, many up and comers, who we often don’t see. Well, they can be found here in Stewart’s show. So keep your eyes peeled and you can catch others out there making their stamp on the culinary world who you won’t find on TV anywhere else.

Also among the newer shows that are now a few months old are two of my new favorites I highly recommend. First up, Shopping With Chefs. Both hosts, Chef Jill Davie and Chef David Myers bring a lot of knowledge and Davie especially a lot of enthusiasm. Going through the various tools, appliances and foods as well. Mind you sometimes you have to question whether you really need a special shrimp devainer or whathaveyou. But by going through the low-end to the top-end variety of each melon baller to rice cooker, you get to see the whole variety of what’s out there, even though you know few of us will ever want the $300 roasting pan, Seriously, it’s a very good show to watch that focuses on those tools of the trade even a home cook needs and which every other show glosses over. It’s a great niche, a very important area that needed focusing on for a long time, and now it’s here and it delivers.

Great Cocktails with mixologist Stephen Phillips The show is a bit funky and tad whacky, both by nature of the content and the nature of the host. When you first watch you think, this guy isn’t totally there. After a while, no, you don’t change that initial assessment, you just realize it’s a bit endearing and that you’re happy he’s a pimento pit left of center as it makes the perfect guide. Another niche in the food and beverage area that had been long overlooked while this show isn’t for everyone, you may be surprised to find it is for you. You owe it to yourself to turn in on for say ten minutes and then decide. I’m betting most will find this a welcome addition to the viewing schedule.

I’m going to have to come back to The Heat with Mark McEwan at some other time, simply because they must have the show on during a time when I’m watching something else. One of Fine Living’s problems with their television schedules is, unlike sister channel Food Network, they don’t rerun things often. Miss it once and you can’t see it two nights from now or four days from now. The next time will be (as though it were a major network) the same time next week. So if the show you want to see clashes with something else then you (and Fine Living apparently) are out of luck. Really FL, you are not a major network, you’re cable, more than that you are speciality cable. Dot your shows around more and you’ll pick up a larger audience.

Older shows that rerun which I still enjoy, Michael Chiarello’s Napa Style, Ming Tsai’s East Meets West, Batali’s Molto Mario, The Thirsty Traveler with Kevin Brauch (who does the floor reporting / color commentary on FN’s Iron Chef America) and one of the most innovative shows ever done when you think about the logistics involved Follow That Food with host Gordon Elliot who now spends most of his time behind the camera producing Paula Deen’s cooking shows and others at the Food Network.

All in all some very engaging shows, new and old, so big kudos to Fine Living for their fine contributions to the cooking, food and beverage (as well as kitchen shopping) shows. And for bringing back Mr. Puck. Now go get more episodes of Wolfgang in the can please as we want to see more of him.