Alton brown! what a man

This week we ill be looking at the wonderfu works of my man alton brown. We will check out some of the shows he has appeared on as well as look at his show Good eats!

Alton brown seems to be appearing in almost every food network show these days. He has appeared in Chopped, Iron chef, The next iron Chef, Good eats, 30 minute meals, The best thing i ever ate...the list goes on and on. SO what makes this man such a culinary icon? Good question, but there are many answers to that one.
Believe it or not Alton brown did not pursue food to start. He actually received his in Drama from the university of Georgia. He always had a passion for food, and it lead him to be one of the most know culinary icons today. Brown is a culinary genius. HE knows the genetic make up of almost every plant and vegetable it seems like. The man is a walking food encyclopedia. On his show good eats hes shows his culinary skills by not simply cooking, but explaining why each of these foods go together. I find it so interesting to watch. Alton brown has a way of breaking down ingredients and then rebuilding them in order to create something so so yummy. For Alton, it is not simply just about the meal, its about decoding the parts of a meal to decipher why/ how each ingredient works.

Apart from being a cullinary genuous he is also a writer, and has written many books on food, and even some on weightloss. His one serires "Im just here for the food" is simply brilliant.  Alton brown may be considered the face of the food netwrok and for good reasons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Brown
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"Savory seasonings stimulate the appetite"

Lets see some cooking!

So this week i decieded that we would do something a little different. Indtead of looking at the action packed shows, were going to take it down a notch a look and some of the shows that not only have amazing food on it, but that teach us how to cook as well!

Shows such as rachel ray, Ten dollor dinners with Mellisa D'arabian, and one of my personal favorites Barefoot contessa. All these shows truly do capture the essance of the food network.

Rachel rays show is called 30 minute meals. This show is more for the stay at home mom due to the time that it is on during the day. The times that i have seen this show it has been quite good. While i do think that Rachel is a bit over rated, she does bring some good advice twords cooking to the table. She creates easy to make meals that the average family can easily make at home. The other week she made spaghetti that did look quite good.While this show does have alot to offer, it is not necessarily my cup of tea.

Ten Dollor dinners is a brilliant show. Ive seen it about 5 times and every time i am amazed. Millissa creates full course dinners for under ten dollors. Not only does she show you how to make this amazing food, but she also gives the audiance prices and guidelines on how to shop, and where to find the best ingrediance for cheep. They even tell you how much you as the consumer will save by using her methods. This show turly does show the audiance how good food can be made an extremly low price

My favorite show of the three is Barefoots show. Not only does she have an amazing name, but she cooks up unbelieveable food. Part of it might have to do with the setting of here home in the beautifull country side, but still, this women knows how to cook. her style of cooking is more of a ellegant at home feel. She targets on presentation as well as table presentation. What really makes the show is how good she is at explaning her meals. Tehy seem so compliated but by the end i find my sefld saying" i could make that!". This show is a fun hearted show that brings an ellegant feel to the kitchen while at the same time reminding the veiweres at home that they can cook like this too!

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"A good cook is the peculiar gift of the gods. He must be a perfect creature from the brain to the palate, from the palate to the finger's end"

TIme to get chopped!

This week the show Chopped seemed to be one the food network a lot, while most of them were re runs they were so interesting to watch! This shows concept truly does hit home for me! The way that they take crazy food combinations and put them together to make them taste good i will never understand.
So for your views who dont know alot about the show chopped, here is some back round.

This show in general is more for the average chef. You do not need to be a world renowned chef to appear on the show. Some chefs that have been on it haven't even been to culinary school. Chopped really does seem to caputre the idea that anyone can be made into a good chef through creativity. Each week four competitors appear on the show. Like other food network shows the winner receives a check for ten thousand dollars. What is interesting about chopped is that they have numerous secrete ingredients involved when cooking. Each competitor receives a basket with five items in it. Each of the items has to be used in order for the competitor to even be considered to move on. There are three rounds in chopped. An appitisor round, and entree round, and a dessert round. Each round you receive thirty minutes to create your dish. The competition truly does get to be intense. Most of these chefs do not have the experience that the chefs do from the other related food network shows so i feel as a viewer that i can relate more to the stress they are feeling.
What hits home for me about chopped is that they truly do have to uses every once of creative ability that they have in order to be successful. Its not just about cooking good food, ints about being initiative and creating food that no one else ever have. I personally love creative chefs and this show truly does capture that idea!

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all"

Iron Chef Ameria! What makes it so good!

This show might be the most popular show on the food network, im sure that some of you reders out their have experiances this show, but do you truly know all the parts that go into it? What makes this show so good? And why has it been so successful? Well you hungry listeners i am here to tell you why! Through this blog we will be breaking down the parts of Iron chef and figuring out why this show is so addicting!
To start, The iron chefs are a key component of this show.  The iorn chefs consit of Bobby flay, Cat Cora, Michel Simon, and Mario Bastille. Each chef brings a different style of cuisine to the table that truly does create and exciting aspect to the show. You never know what your going to get week in and week out!

The next component is the challenger. Only the best of the best get to be seen on Iron chef, even making it onto the show is a testimony to the competitors culinary skills. They have the ability to choose their iron chef and then battle then to culinary death! in a matter of speaking.

Another component of this show our the Judges. The commentator of the show is Alton brown who is simply a culinary genus. He knows the ins and outs of each selected food on the show and provides the audience with information, sometimes useless, but never the less interesting!  The judges for the show are top name food critics. The change every week, but each week they bring their culinary backgrounds to the judging table and truly do give back some excellent critiques.

One of the most important components of the show is the battle. This, in my opinion is what makes the show so interesting and grabs the audiences attention.  They have an Hour to create a a 5 course meal. That to me is insane. Some of the recipies they come up with are extraordinary. It really is a battle in kitchen stadium.

The last component of the show is what ties everything together, its what makes Iron chef the show that it is. Its what causes us as the audience to come back week after week. Its the.....Secret ingredient! Yes, you heard me right. Every episode the competitors some how have to incorporate this ingredient into all their dishes. Ive seen some crazy ingredients over the years too. They can range from spinney lobster, to eggs, to cabbage, to liver, to something as simple as chicken. It is always so interesting to see how each competitor masters the secrete ingredient and brings the judges true mater pieces! I hope that you now have gained more information on why Iron chef America is such and amazing show! Tune in on Sunday nights to see the fierce battles week in and week out!
here are some links to learn more about the histor of this show as well!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Chef_America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Chef

" strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody!"

Cup cake wars! Its gonna be goooood!

Cup cake wars is one of my personal favorite shows on the food network. It takes something as simple as a cup cake and creates an entire show of intense competition and fierce battles! Plus, the winner of the show each week recieves ten thousand dollors and gets to have their cup cake display featured and a party or event. Pretty cool!

The break down: In cup cake wars there are three stages. Each week they start out with four competitors from around the country. In the first round it is simply about taste of the cupcakes. The four competitors have around 15 minutes to back a set of three cupcakes for the judges. The three competitors with the top scores move on the the next round. In the second round its about taste as well as presentation. In this round competitors have 30 minutes to really wow the judges with their designs. After the 30 minutes period the competitors with the top 2 scores move on to the final and hardest round. This round is a real dozie! the competitors have ne hour to bake 1000 cupcakes and put them on a display! This to me is pure crazyness. I am always wowed to see how these competitors even pull it off. Once the cupcakes are on the display, they judges then diciede the winner of cup cake wars for that week! it really is an intense battle.

I enyoy this show because it takes such a simple treat and puts it on a whole other level! I would advise you to check out cupcake wars and experiences the madness of cupcakes!

"Hunger is the best sauce in the world!"

HERE WE GO!

I wanted to start off my blogging experience by saying how excited i am to be talking about the food network! each week we are going to explore different shows, break them down, and we might even get to do a little cooking ourselves! As you may already be able to tell, the Food network is a huge passion of mine, and maybe by the end of these next couple weeks it will be one of yours too! Shows like Cup cake wars, Iron chef America, and Chopped are all shows that we will be reviewing and talking about week in and week out. I will try to end each bog with ether a funny video or some food network pictures to really get you excited for the next weeks too come.       

"cook till you cant cook no more!"