Thumbs way up!
I was Emeril's wine director for a number of years in the mid 1990s. I can tell you. If you have a tasting menu cooked by Emeril himself, it is as good as any 3 star anywhere. And he has an amazing affinity for matching food with wine. I would bring him a glass and he would cook a dish and nail it every time - on the spot. Absolutely amazing and hugely passionate chef. And I've for for a number of them.
His show was overkill on Food Network. We enjoyed him at first but got tired of him very quickly. So no, we won't follow him to Fine Living.
Here on the left coast, Essence of Emeril is not available except in the day time. this is sad because working folk don't get a chance to see it. I wasn't really fond of the night time show, but, at least, he cooked. All the phony stuff they put on now is truly annoying. Too much making of cakes, silly contests and contrived stuff.
Paula Dean and Rachel Ray are too much. Annoying, trite and phony! My food shows come on PBS these days where the artist/cook really cooks and you learn something. Three exceptions come to mind - Giada, Ina Garten and Ellie Krieger. I also watch Alton Brown when I can. he's funny and has his facts in order. If Tyler Florence is on, I haven't found his show
I guess I am going to be in the minority. I love Emeril Live and I am sorry to see it go. While it is a cross between entertainment and serious cooking, I have had good experiences with the recipes. And for the experienced cook, Emeril gives a good demonstration that you can turn into your own recipe. For me, Emeril was the new Julia Child. I find the entertainment to be fun and I enjoy the celebrity guests that stop in. My biggest complaint was that there were too many reruns. I wish they could tape more shows and show more cooking. If the FN is going to resort to more dumbed down cooking shows and "reality" or competition-type shows, they will lose me as a viewer. Food Network has the opportunity to become the serious go-to place for cooks and people looking for good food information. I would be OK if they revitalize or revamp the Emeril Live show, but I will miss Emeril and his entertainment.
Thumbs UP!
Essence of Emeril is my favorite on FN. Live was trite and annoying. Chef's and great cooks aren't enough - they want SEXY STARS to exploit and overexpose, literally and FIGUREatively. They change and become obnoxious. I'm glad Emeril is staying - Essence is what I want to see in a cooking show. Recipes, techniques, expertise, wine pairings, etc. So far, the only "Star" who doesn't seem to have her name on everything, who we don't have to watch her eat her way through every city on the planet, is Ina Garten. I'll just bet they've tried, but she seems to be content and her cooking is awesome. Paula Deen - dump the "party" and stick to your home cooking show. Learn some lessons before it's too late.
Emeril was ground breaking and if you do not acknowledge that you are just being obtuse. He was the guy who did a stand and stir and turned it into big deal tv. He has a lot of energy and he's likable. The formerly about Food TV took what years of Julia, Graham Kerr and a host of PBS cooks were doing and made it "prime time" baby. Imagine for those who have never worked in TV or Radio what that was like; it was a freaking revolution.
Before 1993 you did not see chefs cooking prime time. You saw them on PBS or a morning show.
Soon after Food TV came chefs and bakers you never heard of came on TV and showed you how to make the best stuff. I was freaking hypnotized.
Faceless cookbook authors and chefs I had never heard of blew my mind with their recipes. How did that effect today? You all know the names, faces restaurants, cookbooks, recipes and biographies of a lot of chefs and food stylists. Chefs are on Primetime TV, in the news, on NPR radio.
Our own Dorie Greenspan was on NRP people http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16362480
The fact that I can chat with Dorie on this blog and on EGullet, drop comments on Mario Batali, even talk with you good people about these things to me is like heaven on earth. This is all because (SURVEY SAYS) Foodtv and Emeril made being a foodie main stream. Get David Kemp's book United States of Arugula. He goes over all of this.
I am not so happy about never having been to Emeril Live (whine whine CRY) but I acknowledge him and his contributions. I am sure he gave up a lot of opportunities to be the face man for Scripps, but that was a choice he made. Cough Cough anyone recall the prime time show Emeril on CBS a Linda Bloodworth-Thomason written disaster. I still watched it.
Years ago I ate at Delmonico's in Las Vegas when it was newly opened. Hubby and I, forever dieting, ordered the roast chicken which was carved tableside. So delicious I turned around and put the entire plate on the table and if we could have eaten the bones, we would have. To this day that memory of that chicken (of all things) still makes us laugh.
Plus if rumour was right, we had walked in just a bit after Emeril kicked out Robin Leach for his behaviour
I fear Paula Deen and friends is next. She is getting more crude by the second and all her hangers-on family members are riding her coat tails for a career in the limelight. She is getting old. Plus, I am from and live in Georgia, and I classify her as "an act." No one really acts like that in real life down here.
seagrove at 5:19PM on 11/27/07
Exaggeration of one's "Southern-ness" in the pursuit of success is a tried and true, fine-honed and well-respected tradition. I'm pretty sure myself that Miss Paula is quite aware of this fact.
I bow to her mastery of those skills.
Thumbs up for Emeril.
He's not my favorite chef by far on Food Network. I got tired very quickly of his catchphrases, and that made the show somewhat annoying, but I wholeheartedly agree that he contributed a lot to the mentality of the home cook and has had some positive impact on that group. I'm only sad that Food Network is exploiting "cooks" such as Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee. They are just saying, "It's OK to be lazy and make sub-par food. No one will notice." I'm sad to see Emeril's big show go. I hope he still continues his food career on screen somewhere.
It's possible that many of the viewers of TVFN do not cook and have no real intention of cooking "seriously" nor even do they have any real intention of altering the basic ways they presently cook from watching any of the shows.
This may be a sad cultural commentary (or alternately it may be an ironically humorous one) but many people who buy cookbooks don't cook from them either.
It's entertainment.
That the primary audience watching these shows prefers what or whom they prefer is really not surprising taken in context of our culture.
Emeril made food just fine, but I cant say I ever watched his show or bought one of his cook books. The real question is why Sandra Lee still has a show.
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