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pizza - one of the best foods in the whole world... straight cheese pizza with a great doughy crust always does it for me.

@chiff- I swear this is the 4th or 5th time you've posted the EXACT same thing I was going to say! I get so gorked out when chefs handle raw meat then wipe their hands on a towel, or do a quick rinse under running water with no soap. Then they grab a knife for their next task and all I can think of is the millions of germs they're spreading! Ack!

When we taste anything in the kitchen where I work part time there are dedicated tasting spoons and they are only used once, then they're sent to the dishroom. It isn't a face paced restaurant setting but we're still under the gun to get food served when promised. I'd rather be 5 minutes late than double dip.

Perhaps FN can start adding a "Do as we say, not as we do" disclaimer to each show.

You know, this is an interesting topic...back during the Next Food Network Star, Tyler Florence had a bit in a grocery store with the contestants and they had to give some sort of money-saving tip on camera while shopping. One contestant spoke about not throwing away the marinade as it can be used for a sauce later on.

Tyler chastised this contestant up on side and down the other about food safety and how you never, ever use a marinade after it's had the meat/seafood in it since it could make people ill. He was nasty and brusk with this group of people, but especially so with this contestant.

Two nights later, he's on some show - I think it was the South Beach Food Show - and he's with Alton Brown on the beach cooking something. Don't you know he uses a marinade after taking the meat or shrimp out of it and cooked it on the stove to make a sauce? What is with that??? Anne Burrell did the same thing on her show with a pork dish...

I wrote to the FN's Bob Tuschman, saying they ought to have this type of food safety issue clear cut and across the board with their shows...and Tyler Florence should have apologized to the contestant.

Food safety in this day and age is HUGE...from my days as a cook I know what food goes through...from point A to point B and onward to the final destination. These shows have an obligation to their viewers to promote safe food handling practices. Their viewers are home cooks and how you can get this message across to a home cook is consistency and repitition.

@SuzyHomemaker, it's an interesting article, but I think they might be expecting too much in terms of having someone wash veggies and herbs on camera. I don't want to watch that over and over, unless there's some interesting new technique.

Lately, they've been doing more handwashing on the shows. At first I thought it was odd, because it's a bit of a time waster in a short show. In the back of my mind I was just thinking that the washing up was done off camera, like a lot of prep and cleanup is done. But if there are that many people learning basic kitchen skills and sanitation from these shows, then it makes sense to show it or al least mention it when going into a commercial.

The thing about the double-dipping and other offenses is that if they're doing it on camera, then it's a well-established habit. Otherwise, they'd be looking for another spoon, or at least setting it down off camera and pretending that it's a new spoon.

Heh. The other day, I was heating some soup and spooned a taste and was about to toss the spoon in the sink. And I stopped myself. It's my bowl of soup. That I'm going to eat right now. I can use the same spoon. But yeah, it's such a habit for me NOT to use the same spoon that I have to think about it twice when it's okay.

The thing that really grosses me out is when the chefs (happens a lot on Chopped) are sweating and it is dripping off their faces. You know where it is landing.........ewwwwww.

My 2 pet peeves in this department are:

a) Tasting and dipping the spoon back into the pan for a second taste. Regardless of whether or not a chef does this in his or her own restaurant, it should not be encouraged on camera.

b) Not washing hands with soap after handling meats and fish. The last thing I want to see a TV chef do is handle chicken, then move on to dessert without having washed hands on camera.

As for pets, as long as they don't jump on the counter, I don't see the harm. My dog is a 12 year old Springer Spaniel and he doesn't move from his favorite chair until he hears a knife hit a cutting board. This dog knows the difference between a knife going through meat ("Yeah baby!") and a knife going through a head of broccoli ("Later for that"). He's also a bread lover and if he hears the crinkle of a bread bag, he will knock over anyone in his path. He sits and waits patiently and if I ever feed my dog while I'm cooking, my hands never touch his mouth - he's an excellent mid-air catcher.

Use a large skillet filled with water.
If you've really got a bunch, set small-sized canning rings sprayed lightly with non-stick spray in the bottom of the pan and drop an egg in each one.
The rings will keep them from running into each other.

@Asado thanks for reposting that link!!

I feel like one of those great mysteries in life has just been solved

"I'll make it every night this weekend if it helps to cheer him up."

Where have you been all my life, dhorst?

Happy Birthday! Pizza was always a treat for us in the 60's. We might have had it three times a year. Now a days it's like a staple and I just don't get that excited about it anymore. But enjoy.

I think my love for pizza is based on the same thing as my love for snow. As a child it meant less school, either school was out (snow) or it was Friday (pizza).

My favorite pizza to order so far is onion, garlic, green peppers, and eggplant.

to all--it worked last night, so it's pizza all weekend long here--BYOB (I'll be drinking Chard) and we'll do it up with whatever toppings you want...just try not to upset dmcavanagh with anything too unconventional :-) (it will be a feta and asparagus free weekend--meatballs are allowed).