Dragon V's Ramblings

Was watching a little Saturday evening TV and I just gotta say that Good Eats is in IMHO the coolest cooking show around. Granted, it is decidedly geek friendly so that might have something to do with it.

In today's episode, Alton Brown (the host) used a pair of vice grips, and a utility knife (among other more transitional things) to prepare ham. I really like the attention he pays to telling you why you want to do things when cooking and how so far I've never seen a show dedicated to anything really useless. I mean I do like watching bits and pieces of shows like Iron Chef from time to time, but when I watch a cooking show, I want to know how to make the food. If I can make the food using a cardboard box, hot plate, and sawdust (main ingredients in smoking fish, I kid you not), then I am a very happy camping geek.

Makes sense if you think about it. The whole point to food is taste and smell. The TV does not yet have that down very well. It does me no good to see some ludicrously complicated show that involves $500 of specialized cooking equipment to prepare a single serving (insert french sounding name). I want a show that tells me why I'm doing X, Y, & Z (funny how its easier to do stuff if you know why you're doing it). A show that shows you how to do stuff like fry chicken, smoke fish, deal with thanksgiving leftovers, that's a good show.

So - yeah, I just thought I'd share.