Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Least: Ina Garten; from her voice to her food, personality, friends, etc. . .she drives me insane.

Most: Giada Di Laurentiis, I have a girl crush on her.

I have to agree with many comments here.I have studied culinary arts for years and these housewife cook wannabees do not know the difference between a good Veloute and a bowl of gravy.
Where does the food netwok find these people?
Sandra Lee gets so excited over her booze,you would think she was an alcoholic! Rachael Ray acts like the host of Sesame Street with her ignorant, goofy, childish sayings. Paula Dean serves so much fat in her food, it is more rich than her fake,overpronounced accent which is comparable to fingernails on a chalkboard.Giada dresses like a street walker and tries to sound italian with her fancy pronouncing og food.What happened to credible culinarians? are all we are left with are women's day readers like these four women who think they are teaching cooking? please!!!

My favorite is Ina and my very least favorite is Giada. Can Giada's tops get any lower without this show being rated as porn? I have nothing at all against showing some cleavage, but please...this is a cooking show, and if her cooking isn't good enough to stand on its own, they should take her off the air. Actually, I tried several of her recipes and thought they we just "okay". Her books are loaded with photos of her rather than of the food, and she is way too full of herself. She should stop the annoying Italian accent when she pronounces Italian food items. She was born and raised in California for goodness sakes!

I used to watch this channel frequently for info on cooking techniques, and good recipes; not on much anymore. Weekend getaways at $40 and such rot are a waste of time. I have no problem with the dumbed-down shows for the chef-boyardee crowd, but I have the travel channel, with Bourdain, for the other stuff.

Faves: Alton, Mario, Sara

Middling: Sandra, Giada [OK....just eye candy....no turtlenecks needed]. Flay....I like the genre, so I follow his recipes. Emeril....shelf life date gone by......he's now a shill on the "green network".....and, not convincingly so. Paula.....on the fast track to Emeril status.

Least: Ray Ray. Well, Sandra too...although S doesn't annoy me me nearly as much as does RR.

FAVE: jamie oliver -- i LOVE jamie at home. also nigella -- apparently i love brits.

LEAST FAVES: sandra lee, hands down. not even a competition!

Favorites: Paula Dean, her recipes I can make and have. Sandra Lee because her recipes are very doable. Why do so many dislike her? I love to watch her. I also like the fact that with Sandra Lee, you can take common packaged stuff and make something great. Alton Brown, definitely a fav of mine. I can't stand Emeril. His recipes are so complicated, why bother? Ina Garten's recipes are too complicated as well.
Least Favorite: Obviously Rachel Ray is an amature when it comes to cooking. Come on folks, I mean, my teenage son can concoct what she comes up with. Also, she is extremely irritating with all of her hand gestures and her EEVO and her rolling eyes. I deliberately turn off the FN when she is scheduled. I just don't get it. She's awful. BEST: Alton Brown WORST: Rachel Ray

First of all I have to recover from laughing sooo hard at the remarks from:
Nance- re: Sandra Lee on the Kwanzaa cake (topping in with corn nuts) please tell me your joking, I don't know if you or Sandra's Kwazaa cake recipe want to kill ME. rotfl.
Jensings- your comment also made me roll off the couch, well put.
Alssa- same as above
Thanks y'all for a very good laugh.

Now who I like:
Alton - becuz he is silly and informative, I like that.
Emeril- becuz of due respect, but he needs to (or has) retire, his "bam" has gotten a little too old.
Ina- like her soft spoken demure and her recipes seem very good, but did she make a pact with the devil? Read her bio eveything thing she did she is successful at... hmmmmmm. That nervous laugh does get to me though.
Tyler- tried some of his stuff....really good.
Sara Moulton- like her alot, she is so relaxed, I like her cooking, she teaches, and she covers UP!! I miss her.
Cat Cora-total professional, she is very pretty but like all chefs ( iam one myself) cover's UP!! She wears a chef coat. I like her demure and professional knowledge.
Anthony Bourdain- Love his shows, they tell the real shit that goes on in cultures.
Mario- real authentic chef. Love his shows and his foods. Wll miss him too.
Duff-I like but other then his oux and Mary Alice many of his workers seem liike there on drugs.
Guy- I like him. his show makes me sick becuz my city has very few diner, drive-ins and dives anymore( I live in Seattle). His other show I only saw a few times, but I liked what he made so far. He's funny.
Symon- I like him. He's professional and his giggles crack me up. I like his food.
Flay- His actual shows bore me to sleep but I do respect his success and I 'm sure his food is good. I hear good reviews about his restaurants.
Ming Tsi- I miss him, he too is a Pro. and I loved his show. I made a dish of his for Mother's Day once and it turned out great but man, I almost had to hop a plane to Asia to get some of the ingreds. for it.

Now for my dislikes:
Paula Deen- I like her home program (she's somewhat mellow) but the shit she makes.......
Paula's party- That is enough to make my ears bleed. Is she drunk on that show? She is flirting, forgetting what they are doing she is hamming it up. Nooooooooo!!
Robin What her name- Boring.
Giada- I liked her pogram when it first aired, but now it is a joke. Yes that phoney accent, the Farrah Fawcett smile, yes the low cut shirts. Shit she is making Italian food (maybe), she should be professional and wear a chef coat. You get shit all over yourself making Italian food. It's food food porn.
Sandra Lee- Ah wtf is she doing on FN? Yes she has a concept for making things go easy in the kitchen, yes someone above wrote that some chefs use canned this and that for fresh and its true, and that is good, but she can at least come through with some dishes that are homemade 100% for the times one has day off or special occasions ect. Anyone can open a box or packet and just add shit to it, but I thought the FN was to educate people how to make real dishes.
Bobblehead aka Rach Ray- She is over the top of WHAT???? Yes I play a game with my boyfriend, everytime 30 mins. airs we get beers ready and when she says her imfamous words "EVOO, sammies, delish, garbage bowl, awesome, eyeball it, giggles, ect., we take a drink. Guaranteed your tipsy (if not drunk) in 30 minutes. FN needs to restructure what their goal is really quick. Do they want the true chefs that really show people methods, ideas of real cooking or do they want to have circus acts like they are airing?

I never much liked meat or chicken or milk or eggs - even as a baby - but ate it reluctantly until about age 22 (I'm 43 now). I gave up fish a few years after that, when I got scared of contaminated water, overfishing, and mercury levels. I've been off and on dairy and eggs through the years, more of a digestive issue than a moral one. For the last few months I've been CRAVING sardines and salmon, and no vegetarian substitute or seaweed would do. I finally gave in and had some sardines and salmon the last 3 days and I FEEL WONDERFUL. I guess it pays to listen to your body as much as listen to the experts.

Thanks to all of the posters above for helping allay the fear that I'd get horribly sick in some way. I still doubt I'll eat meat or chicken, so you can have my serving of bacon....

"I was a vegetarian from age 6 when I was a stubborn brat and declared myself a vegetarian to avoid having to eat a hamburger one meal."

Wow, Megannesta, your story is just like mine. Only I was 13, and the meal was the ubiquitous Sunday roast beef dinner. And like you, I'm making up for lost time. I had a cheeseburger for breakfast today.

The meal that flipped me (at age 19) was a hotdog at a fireman's picnic. Didn't get sick.

In-n-out

Damn you double-double with onions and extra sauce...the saucy korean bbq had no sway over me but you, with your two patties, hand torn lettuce, melting cheese, onions, and that sauce....

I was a vegetarian for 8 years. When I got a heart infection, my nurse told me I should eat cow's heart. Since I told her that was never going to happen, I decided to give normal cuts of meat a try. I went to a restaurant and I ordered a pulled pork sandwich. My husband thought I was daring and ordered the conservative chicken, thinking that if I didn't like the pork he could switch with me. My first bite was amazing, I was in shock. Although it may have been the fact that the meds I was on made me have a huge appetite, having meat for the first time in so long was fabulous. My husband thought I was being sarcastic and offered to switch. I told him he was crazy!

I grew up in a strict vegetarian household. Eggs and dairy products, but that was it. Veggies, brown rice, I didn't even taste candy until I was 8 years old. So, I get my first job, at McDonalds. They give you a meal. I had a Big Mac, large fries, cherry pie. That first bite? Into the Big Mac? Heaven. Half an hour later I was over the toilet, heaving. Back to work two days later. What did I eat? A Big Mac. I hid my meat eating. Like most kids do with the occasional joint or beer (which I was allowed, btw). I got permission to eat it at 19. I go back and forth now. I can go months at a time without meat and feel no loss whatsoever. But then I need a steak, or bacon, and it's awn.