Favorite TV Chef?

Mine's Nick Stellino.  He cooks stuff like I grew up on. My grandparents came over from the old country,  Italy and Sicily,  had a garden and made everything from scratch.  My grandfather even cranked out his own sausage,  which I got to help him with. The one thing missing from Stellino's repertoire are oven baked items and slow, all day to cook sauce.  He only makes stovetop, what we called quickie, sauce.  Otherwise....

My wife watches the Cooking Channel and the Food Network. I often sit with her when those programs are in. There are some who just try too hard and who’s personalities are abrasive and annoying. Otoh, many are quite entertaining. The chef I’ve actually learned something from hasn’t been on tv for many, many years; Jeff Somethingorother, the Frugal Gourmet. I learned that when scraping food off a cutting board, turn the knife upside down and use the spine to clean the board, not the cutting edge. It seems plain as day now, but then, it was before I learned the importance of maintaining a sharp blade.

Mine would be Michael Symon.

Mrs. Esposito on Ciao Italia hits on a lot of things from my youth as well. She's less regional though than Stellino,  who does Scillian and southern mainly ( my family ) or that other woman whose name I forget who makes nothing I ever had at home as a kid.

Michael Simon is a favorite of mine too.  Cooks food I want to eat.  Tyler Florence is another I enjoy watching.  Alton Brown's Good Eats was fascinating to me for all the info he'd load up.  Some I don't enjoy?  Giada De Laurentiis, Rachael Raye, Ree Drummond, Sandra Lee.  Those 4 are like nails on a chalkboard to my ears.  And just so it doesn't seem I hate women chefs, I do love me some Anne Burrell! (Oh yes I do).  That lady can cook.

(01-28-2020, 08:16 AM)chazt Wrote: My wife watches the Cooking Channel and the Food Network. I often sit with her when those programs are in. There are some who just try too hard and who’s personalities are abrasive and annoying. Otoh, many are quite entertaining. The chef I’ve actually learned something from hasn’t been on tv for many, many years; Jeff Somethingorother, the Frugal Gourmet. I learned that when scraping food off a cutting board, turn the knife upside down and use the spine to clean the board, not the cutting edge. It seems plain as day now, but then, it was before I learned the importance of maintaining a sharp blade.

The Frugal Gourmet went off the air because the chef you refer to had some children on the show and he played hide the sausage with one of them. He found it difficult to do the show from a cell.

But I agree, I liked the show also. To this day I flip the knife over to protect the edge. I had forgotten where I learned that.

FWIW, I can't pick just one chef that I like best.

(02-01-2020, 08:00 PM)ShadowsDad Wrote: He found it difficult to do the show from a cell. 

Yikes!

Keith Floyd, RIP.

“Food is life, life is food. If you don't like my approach you are welcome to go down to McDonalds"

Fanny Cradock with her bumbling husband Johnnie , R.I.P. both .

Cooks’ Country, America’s Test Kitchen, Lidia Bastianich, David Rocco, Jacques Pepin, and Jamie Oliver.  And one from the past, Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet.

+1 on The Galloping Gourmet