Posted by Erin Zimmer, August 20, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Winner of Food Network's reality show The Next Iron Chef, Michael Symon will begin hosting Dinner Impossible tonight, kicking off with two back-to-back episodes: one on Alcatraz Island, the other on the New Jersey boardwalk. Symon replaced Robert Irvine after "embellishments and inaccuracies" were made on Irvine's resume in February.
According to this video interview (Warning: autoplay video), Symon wasn't allowed to cook on the historic prison island so he prepared everything at an off-site facility then shipped in the food. But as Iron Chef proved, Symon loves a good adrenaline rush. "I'm always pretty jacked up for a good competition," he said in the video.
One episode to get excited for: a visit to the Crayola Crayon factory, where Symon had to spin a wheel with 64 crayons in a box—whatever color came up, that's the hue his cooked food had to be. The hardest? Symon says purple because as he pointed out, eggplant, when cooked, is no longer purple. Get all caught up on his blog, Symon Says. And after the jump, watch this preview episode of Symon making chocolate-covered bacon.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, August 14, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Before you leave the house for any party, you do the routine check: keys, wallet, phone, mints. Now you can add hot sauce carry purse to that list. Because what if they hand you a burger and don't have bottles of tongue-burning, chili pepper-laden condiments waiting? "They ain't got no hot sauce! I told you we should have called first...C'mon woman, get in the car, we got to go!" Bernie Mac, who died Saturday morning of pneumonia, was freaking out in this SNL sketch until his lady whipped out her sweet Tabasco accessory, where each compartment is insulated and calibrated for maximum hot sauce freshness.
Bernie even had something for guys who didn't want to schlep around a girly bag. "Oh, it's still a purse, but it's for dudes." Conveniently, it just sits around your wrist plus it has that stylish Tabasco logo in the corner. Even when you're busy getting down on the dance floor, you won't even know it's there! Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 28, 2008 at 7:30 AM
Morning, serious eaters! We hope you're drinking some "damn good" black coffee—and hot, too—just the way Agent Dale Cooper liked it on the television series Twin Peaks. "As black as midnight on a moonless night." The show's creator and cult filmmaker David Lynch wants you to "give yourself the present" of black coffee everyday, so he created his very own brand of organic beans.
Eight-ounce canisters are available for $18.53. After the jump, watch a bonus video of the Twin Peaks characters loving black coffee. [via Metafilter]
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Posted by Raphael, April 30, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Gordon Ramsay, promoting his latest book, visited Live with Regis and Kelly today to do a cooking demo. Ramsay's comment to Regis Philbin regarding his previous visit to the show: "You were a nightmare last time. You were horrific." A lot of gentle sparring. Video after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, January 18, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Tonight on Great Britain's Channel 4 (or in half an hour if you live in UK), Gordon Ramsay will be cooking live for 60 minutes with his television audience to prepare a three course meal for four people. In anticipation of the nation's rush to buy ingredients for this special event, supermarket chains have stocked up with the provisions for tonight's menu: pan-roasted scallops with tomato and herb salsa as a starter, steak and chips with a rocket and parmesan salad as the main course, and chocolate mousse for dessert.
Watch the promo for tonight's show after the jump.
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Alton Brown has signed a new contract that will keep him on the airwaves of Food Network for the next three years. In addition to hosting Iron Chef America and pumping out Good Eats, he'll eat his way around the world's waterways on his new show, Feasting on Waves.
Posted by Harold Check, July 19, 2007 at 11:30 AM
First off, if you're a fan of Top Chef, casual or hard-core, it's time to visit the Bravo website and read up. There are a metric ton of blogs on that site, and, while they're not always stellar, the scales are tipping in a big way when you've got chefs like Anthony Bourdain and Season One's Harold Dieterle breaking it down. Bourdain's take on last week's episode is well worth your time, as is Dieterle's recap of this week's action. In fact, go read his and ignore the rest of mine...
Ah, well, if you insist, here's my take. [Warning: Spoilers follow after the jump.]
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Posted by Harold Check, June 13, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Following up on last week's on-air publicity stunt charity contest, Bravo's Top Chef has kicked off Season Three with a pair of cook-offs in New York and Miami. The latter city is the location for this year's run, but New York was were I happened to be hanging out when hosts Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio wheeled out the Top Chef party tent and set Season Two contestants Ilan and Sam quick-firing at each other. I can't tell you who won, since I had an appointment at the nearby Union Square Cafe, but I can remind you to watch the season opener tonight on Bravo, 10 p.m. ET. Note: Add 15 minutes to your recording if you're taping the show. Apparently, Bravo didn't get the memo that supersizing television episodes is bad for you.
Posted by Harold Check, June 1, 2007 at 4:15 PM
I'm sure the programmers at the Food Network would've loved to have scheduled next Friday's Good Eats rerun for tonight, but Grill Week must be strictly observed. Still, if you think a week from now you might be jonesing for a half-hour on the food science of glazed, raised, and chocolate-bathed doughnuts, tune your personal recording device to the Food Net June 8 at 11 p.m., when Alton's 2004 opus, Circle of Life, is slated to air.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 17, 2007 at 7:00 PM
Okay, so Sunday's first ever Food Network Awards? Tony Bourdain thought it was a trainwreck, and so did you guys, but apparently people watched it anyway. Like, a lot of people watched it—according to Nielsen, about 4.6 million of them did. They were "the second most-watched program in the network's history. In addition, the program placed in the top 10 rated shows on the network, on both a household and P2+ rating basis. Finally, among the 18-49year old demographic, the show tied as the highest-rated telecast this year among adults 18-49 and women 18-49."
I guess I'll be waking up on a Monday morning next year waiting to read Bourdain's new rant on the Food Networks Awards 2008.
Posted by Cathy Erway, April 12, 2007 at 8:00 AM
Bobby Flay dons a black tuxedo. A bejeweled Giada DeLaurentis saunters down the red carpet. Guessed the picture yet? Awards season isn’t over. In fact, for one niche, it’s just begun. Introducing the Food Network Awards.
“Way more than cooking” just got a little more out there: The first-ever awards show, which was held in February in Miami's South Beach, will debut on television this Sunday (April 15) on the Food Network. The 90-minute event marks not only a first for the network but also one for food television.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, January 29, 2007 at 11:45 AM
Guest-posting on food writer Michael Ruhlman's blog, Anthony Bourdain dishes up the short order on some of this season's Top Chef contestants. Of the remaining two:
Marcel:Is there ANYTHING this guy doesn't want to foam? So slavishly devoted to what Ferran Adria was doing TEN YEARS AGO it's....scary and sad.
Ilan: So Ilan cribs his offerings shamelessly from Andy Nusser. And he's a manipulative, conspiratorial, vindictive, weasely little shit....(Hardly impediments to a career as a chef). These are classic assets.
If you need to catch up on the show, Bravo is airing all the back episodes on Wednesday, January 31, starting at 10 a.m. ET, and ending with the season finale at 10 p.m. ET.
