Stunt Food Genre | blogging doesn't get tougher than this

jamie, jamie and the magic touch

Seeing as my earlier Nigel Slater post had me singing XTC constantly, I don’t hold much hope with this one (look it up, kids)!

So, the inimitable Jamie Oliver is back on our screens with not only his ’30 Minute Meals’ (coz that clearly wasn’t fast enough) but also his ’15 Minute Meals’. All Jamie, all the time. I think even I might struggle with all the excitement.

There was a recent elimination task on Oz MC; cooks had 30 minutes to grab ingredients from the pantry and cook whatever they liked. The bottom three moved on to the next round and had 20 minutes to do the same. The bottom two then had a whole FIVE minutes to rustle up a storm in the kitchen. Pretty crazy scenes, I can tell you.

COCK!

’15 Minute Meals’ begins with a visual riot of a title sequence. Buffalo Stance blasts out of my speakers as our host flings basil, crushes chillies and generally makes a split-screen mess. I pity poor old Jules who, I presume, has to clean up after him. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by Meg the Marauder on October 30, 2012 in Channel 4, Jamie Oliver, Masterchef Australia, Recipe Kitchen Based Genre, Stunt Food Genre

and finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint

23 Oct

“Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.”

Thank you, sir, and now the check.

So, me and my friends would regularly chatter on about last night’s Masterchef or the merits of Slater over Stein. Eventually, those who did not care for food-based telly programmes (I know, they do exist!) cried ‘shut up and blog it!’. So, here we are. It has taken me some time but, once outside of my Masterchef bubble, I have realised just how many cookery shows there are! Bloody loads.

It was requested that I compile a list of current shows so my fellow bloggers won’t miss a morsel. Happy to oblige. It took me a while and I’m considering posting a permanent weekly/monthly list so our readers can also keep up. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by Meg the Marauder on October 23, 2012 in BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, Delia Smith, Food Network, Good Food Channel, Gordon Ramsay, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, ITV, Nigel Slater, PBS Channel, Rachel Allen, Reality Show Genre, Recipe Kitchen Based Genre, Rick Stein, Saturday Kitchen, Studio Genre, Stunt Food Genre, Travel Genre, Watch Channel

man v food v john catucci

19 Oct

I think most of us are familiar with Adam Richman’s Man v Food but for the uninitiated let me explain a little.

His culinary road trip is divided in two with our enthusiastic host showing us around the weird, wonderful and tasty sights of [insert American town here]. We see diners, dive bars, curry houses and BBQ shacks. The first half focuses on popular local joints – most have customers who have been tucking into biscuits and gravy, chicken wings or cheesecakes for a long time. There are regulars who have had the same meal every Friday without fail for 20 years. Adam tastes the signature dishes, sees how they are made and, of course, shoves it down his cake hole.

‘Mmmmmmm. Donuts/beer/erotic cakes’

I admit to an assumption that MvF was fronted by a chirpy chap who likes to eat, more of a student type who likes nothing more than to chug down a few beers and eat as many kebabs as possible. But he’s not just that! Each show begins with a quick intro from the man himself: “I’ve held every position there is the restaurant business” so he has the background but he also has the intelligence and vocabulary to match. He will explain that, yes, he may be a few mouthfuls into a 25lb steak but it’s SO GOOD because the sharp onion relish cuts through the beautifully rendered fat on the meat and the dusty coating of semolina on the chips gives an incredible crispness that compliments the homemade aioli. Or something.

After the commercial break? All hell breaks lose. Read the rest of this entry »

i’d quite happily put my face in it

18 Mar

I think if a certain Mr G Wallace Esq were ever a guest judge on Top Chef: Just Desserts he might actually explode.

I’ve watched quite a few series’ of Top Chef and Top Chef: Masters over the years – they have the intensity of your MC OZ (screened six days a week) combined with our own MC: The Professionals. Contestants on Just Desserts are all pastry chefs of differing experience and abilities with their main judge and pastry king being 50’s throwback Johnny Iuzzini. Gayle Simmons is our master of ceremonies (a regular TC judge) and the Arsene Wenger of French cuisine, the wonderful Hubert Keller, completes the head panel.

Iuzzini, Simmons, Keller & the other one

Season openers always begins with the 12 (or so!) chefs meeting for the first time – it’s a common occurrence that there are familiar faces or the people have crossed pastry paths in the past. The judges turn up and give them their first challenge. “I couldn’t believe how beautiful Gayle was in real life and how Johnny’s eyes starred deep into your soul” was how one chef put it.

Let me tell you now, JD is camp. Very camp. You are beset by a visual feast of pink, chocolate, sugar and cream – your teeth will itch.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by Meg the Marauder on March 18, 2012 in American, Competition Genre, Dessert, Good Food Channel, Great British Bake Off, Gregg Wallace, Masterchef The Professionals, Masterchef UK, Pastry, Studio Genre, Stunt Food Genre, Top Chef Just Desserts

where every day’s food science day

11 Mar

PBS continues it’s wacky food adventures leaving behind Jose Andres and finding America’s Test Kitchen’s Chris Kimball.

Chris is our bow-tied head master of the test kitchen, home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine. Here they take a classic dish, do some science and make it perfect.

This is a pretty fascinating show that incorporates gadget testing along with a Letters to the Editor segment. The episodes I saw tested apple corers, barbecue meat trays and kitchen knives. Much of show focuses on barbecues; how to get an even cook, what tools to have and how to take care of the grill itself.

Read the rest of this entry »

deconstruction! what is it good for?

07 Mar

He didn’t lose — he was bold rather than timid — but the top-flight guest pastrybods on Masterchef evidently disliked Tom’s “deconstructed lemon tart” for look (“Did he drop it?”) and taste. All those screwed up little faces! And it did look like it wasn’t all there…

I don’t really get deconstruction, as deployed in cookery: it’s like the “list” bit of the recipe without the “then do this” bit (where “this” is combining everything on the list). Surely the combination of the ingredients is the best thing — how is keeping them all carefully separate going to be better? Readers, school me! Have you ever ~~read Of Grammatology~~ eaten a so-called deconstruction to pleasant effect? And what was it?

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Posted by syllabubdobdee on March 7, 2012 in Gregg Wallace, John Torode, Masterchef UK, Stunt Food Genre

Tags: Derridean Cuisine, Pastries, Tom Rennolds