Good Eats and Holiday Treats

Whew!  The rush of relatives is gone and while I can enjoy some peace and quiet, many of you are just gearing up!  If you haven't caught an episode yet, Food Network has been airing the "Dear Food Network" series featuring many of the regular show hosts.

    I haven't watching any of the holiday cooking shows in a while and it was noticeably different from past years.  Gone was the strange 'family' gathering of FN hosts replaced by more informative and mixed cooking segments.  Each episode has a main host and then a one or more others present an added dish to spice things up.  Thanks to the Blessed DVR, I was able to watch a few minutes between cleaning, cooking, and entertaining this week.  The Guy Fieri feature was good, but a little disappointing since I had just watched the Big Bite show where he prepared the same turkey pastrami.  Ina Garten still isn't my taste, but Alton Brown topped it off.

The turkey episode which Alton Brown hosted was a treat.  Besides providing a nice peek into the Good Eats studio kitchen, we had almost a full hour of Alton and his usual antics.  He seemed to be in what I imagine, having never seen him in person, is his natural personality.  Not too much new in the show for those of us who watch GE all the time, but it was noticeable that Alton, and not Emeril, was featured prominently on FN.  Years of consistent quality and variety finally has paid off for him.  My only worry is that soon he will outgrow Food Network as Emeril and Mario have done in the realm of cooking.

I also, finally, had a chance to watch the latest Good Eats episode.  Bowl of Creole was what I think of a classic Good Eats: witty yet focused on the food, enough science to give some background but more food preparation for the substance.  I never heard of using pickled pork in the mix; anybody from the Bayou agree with that one?  I kept waiting to see somebody dressed in the sausage outfit from the River Run.