What's Cookin' Vol. 1

I know I go on about politics quite a bit but when I'm not watching McLaughlin or Tim Russert, you can usually find me watching cooking shows. I also used to cook in a 4 star restaurant. As such, I consider myself a bit of an expert and decided I would critique some of the best and worst of the lot. Here goes...



The Look: Everyday Food is a PBS show that got its start a couple years ago on a simple/commercial kitchen set with the cast wearing different brightly colored sweaters. The production quality got a lot better this past year which would indicate to me that once the show got some traction they started sinking more loot into it. Now they film on a set that looks more like somebody's fancy ass house.

The Cast: The show has 5 hosts that share the spotlight. They are Lucinda Scala Quinn, Margot Olshan, Sarah Carey, John Barricelli and last (but most certainly not least) Allie Lewis.


I guess you could say I've got kind of a thing for Allie. I think that they are putting a little too much make up on the ladies since they gussied up the show but other than that she is pretty easy on the eyes.

The cast all work for Martha Stewart's magazine of the same name so they actually know how to cook quite well.

What's Cooking: The cast takes turns making meals that most people can produce in a short amount of time or with the least amount of trouble and simple techniques for the home cook. They try to and do a good job of using influences from lots of different cuisines. I have seen everything from Indian food to Thai to Russian. All made to be very accessible to home cooks.

Problems With The Show: It's a Martha Stewart production which has a couple of set backs. Everything looks a little too perfect and has that Martha feel that turns some people off. Also, it means that there's a whole lot of measuring going on. More experienced cooks (myself included) don't like measuring things or timers and shit like that. We season to taste and cook it until it's done.

Why I watch: Although I don't take to all the measuring to well, I get some good ideas for recipes from the show. Also, pretty girls in Aprons are hot.