Chewing the Fat: Alton Brown on Donuts
About six months ago we decided that it would be fun to produce more original video segments for Serious Eats. When I made a list of interesting people I wanted to interview on camera for a series called Chewing the Fat, Alton Brown was at the top of the list. Why? Because whenever I have watched him on the Food Network or chatted with him (ever so briefly) when I was an Iron Chef judge, I have always found Alton to be interesting, provocative, smart, and funny.
So one day Alton came over to Serious Eats World Headquarters and sat down for an hour and a half, one-on-one interview, which was shot, directed, and edited by none other than Hamburger America director and author George Motz.. Nominally the subject was Feasting on Asphalt 2: The River Run, Alton's Food Network series and its companion book. Alton and I ended up chatting about everything from the pleasure derived from feeding people to the art of the doughnut, the subject of the webisode we're posting here. The series may have run its course on the Food Network, but the subjects we discussed are timeless.
So pull up a chair and watch as Serious Eats chews the fat (and the doughnuts) with Alton Brown. If you want to buy the DVD of Feasting on Asphalt 2 you may do so at amazon.com
Related
Chewing the Fat: Alton Brown on Race, Class, and FoodA Guide to the Best Doughnuts in New York City
The Serious Eats National Doughnut Honor Roll
View other entries from Serious Eats Original Videos.
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30 Comments:
Is this the only segment we'll get? I'm already craving more!
Duc_m750 at 9:18AM on 10/30/08
Great work!
hereandthe at 9:20AM on 10/30/08
Agreed - nice piece! Makes me want to go and seek out a good donut... if only I could find one around here.
jessie at 10:04AM on 10/30/08
I love Alton and I love doughnuts! It's like you made this just for me
Laurel E at 10:14AM on 10/30/08
Dang, Alton Brown... on doughnuts? I want ... I .. must .. resist ..
Allison Hemler at 10:16AM on 10/30/08
He seems so genuine. I wish I could sit down and eat a sandwich with him.
Emsev333 at 10:20AM on 10/30/08
I totally identify with what he's saying about local donut joints that don't change yet have their routine customers. My favorite source has been in business for probably 50 years or more and neither the donuts nor the decor have changed in the 25 or so years that I've been going there.
Oh, and I love AB! I'll have to watch this at home due to crappy laptop speakers and a severe lack of bandwith here at work....
AuntJone at 10:25AM on 10/30/08
Thank you for the great video! I'm sure I just piddled a little bit in happiness.
bobfole at 10:32AM on 10/30/08
I *heart* Alton! Mwah to you, Alton, and your big donut belly.
juliebugsmama at 10:39AM on 10/30/08
hahaha, they would eat it if it was tree bark. that's me.
foodinmouth at 11:19AM on 10/30/08
Having just fairly recently moved to Seattle from a city which had an incredible doughnut shop, I am sadly disappointed to not yet find a decent doughnut shop.
As an adamant fan of AB, and a person desperately seeking a quality doughnut, I thought this post was quite relevant. Can anyone please help me out and suggest a quality doughnut in Seattle. And, no, Top Pot does not count.
...I also mentioned this because I think Serious Eats might be based in Seattle - am I right about that?
SpoonInHand at 12:52PM on 10/30/08
@Spoon...Serious Eats HQ is NYC.
I am doughnut deprived and all of the recent doughnut stories, recipes and photos here on SE have me dreaming of them. Aargh! Me want doughnuts now!
holdthemayo at 1:35PM on 10/30/08
more alton videos to come? please!
gastronomeg at 1:50PM on 10/30/08
YAY! Finally Alton appears on SE. It's about time ;)
Puffy at 2:10PM on 10/30/08
@SpoonInHand
Try Family Doughnut Shop in Northgate. Head west from I5 onto Northgate Way. It's on the right in the strip mall.
rochellefeil at 2:51PM on 10/30/08
@holdthemayo: Thanks for clearing that up for me. ...and, yes, I feel your doughnut craving pains!
@rochellefeil: Awesome!!! Thank you so much! I'm going to have to go soon and give it a try!
SpoonInHand at 3:15PM on 10/30/08
@Duc_m750 and @gastronomeg: There are more Alton videos coming! We'll be featuring one a week on Thursday mornings for the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
Alaina Browne at 4:17PM on 10/30/08
i just might have to make some homemade donuts this weekend :)
Lilartist at 4:40PM on 10/30/08
Alton is something of hero to me, so it pains me that you felt this video was the best segment from the interview. I wasn't sure if his message was that "bad food served in well established institutions is 'good' for America's mental health" or "that while some places make good donuts, good donuts add more....well just more to your mid-section." I think I'd much rather hear about the proper specific gravity of frying oil for donuts or some other food science topic.
GuaranteedGF at 11:48PM on 10/30/08
Thank You SE! I love AB and I love his feasting shows, probably because they are less food science and more his take on how people and food interact. I think AB would have made a great sociologist.
huneybumper at 8:46AM on 10/31/08
What is it about donuts? Saturday mornings with my father going into Mister Donut and buying me and my brother a big ole chocolate milk and a "bowtie". He always got a coffee and an "old fashioned cake". I thought my father knew everyone in town from the people he would say hello to. Then before we would go to some far off hockey game or little league baseball tournament my brother and I were in, he would always get us one for the road... Thanks Dad!
Pavlov at 4:04PM on 10/31/08
and yes I wrote donuts, cause that's how Mister Donut wanted it!...hehe
Pavlov at 4:06PM on 10/31/08
I love AB! There was a corner bakery near my grandparents that had the same donuts forever till it closed when the owner died. You could get that box of assorted donuts. I recall when I was a child the thrill of grandpop bringing me the cream donut because it was my favorite. Fresh and loaded with cream. I don't like cream donuts anymore. Why? Because not one I have had since 1977 can compare to that one. I sitll take a nibble now and then just to see and still nothing as good.
Great memories there.
JerzeeTomato at 5:29AM on 11/01/08
dido gastronomeg &Puffy /great pt. GuarenteedGI / feel the Love Pavlon..... support your local bakery..... plumbers lay pipe ....bakers stay up all night
tgr1104 at 7:34PM on 11/01/08
Love Vodoo Doughnuts in Portland OR!! The maple w/bacon are outstanding along with a bunch of other unusual flavors and vegan doughnuts too. It is literally a tiny hole in the wall in downtown and they really do hold weddings there!! Very Portland!!
butterscotchsq at 4:43PM on 11/03/08
Opening music reminds me a lot of Rush's The Analog Kid!
jbzepol at 11:23AM on 11/04/08
any chance we could get this off the home page?
suburbangourmet at 1:32PM on 11/04/08
Thank you! I, too, would chose Alton Brown as number one on my list of people who inspire people about food, cooking, etc. I love his Feasting on shows, motorcycles, boats, and next rails--I live in NJ where we have lost the ma and pa stores in favor of generic Starbucks and Panera bread stores. For Donuts, it's only Dunkin Donuts and MAYBE Krispy Kremes in Bergen county and those maybe me sick to my stomach. I think one of the posters missed Mr. Brown's meaning about "eating bark". With so many bad things going on and changes in life, there is something very comforting about the place and the PEOPLE--it's not the food.
Donnamarie at 9:06PM on 11/05/08
AB's remarks about food &/or food establishments that steadfastly do not change with the times having loyal customers is exactly why I go to Barney Greengrass.
petitesoeur at 5:46PM on 11/06/08
Psst seriouseats! Loving my time catching up on the video segments, but the link here for 'Chewing the Fat: Alton Brown on Race, Class, and Food' just takes you back to this page.
lethargarian at 7:46PM on 12/22/08