Good Eats American Classics V: A Pound of Cake

 The Show

Alton Brown delivered a winner with the latest episode of Good Eats.  A good mix of fun in the beginning scenes.  The stream of characters going by the window to accompany his monologue was hilarious.  After that AB got down to business with pound cake.  I enjoy the shows where he stays focused on one main dish since it gives him more time to spend on the background and science segments.  It also gives him an opportunity to go into variations, such as the buttermilk pound cake and lemon icing in this show. It's cute that Alton works his daughter Zoey into Good Eats episodes.  One wonders if that will eventually lead to a career in acting/film like her parents?

p.s.  Anyone else get the Graduate 'plastics' reference?

The Cake

It's been a while since I made a new Good Eats recipe and pound cake just sounded too good to pass up!  Yesterday, while grocery shopping I was unable to find cake flour.  Well, it's a smaller market, so I figured they might not have any in stock.  So, this morning I bundled up my toddler and hit the local megamart.  They had everything but cake flour!  At least I got my whole wheat flour for the cheddar beer bread, but that's tomorrow's post.  I also had a minor hardware issue when I returned home and noticed my loaf pans are slightly smaller (8.5x4.5)!  Then I remembered my wife had just purchased a bundt pan!

Butter and eggs sat on the counter while I re-watched the  Pound of Cake episode.  (didn't bother trying to find European butter)  I even poked the butter with a thermometer and read 68 degrees!  Things were looking up.  It's an easy recipe and not too many ingredients, so it was basically a matter of following the procedures.

Rather than sit around stirring all day, I pulled out the Kitchen Aid and went to work.  The only variations were the use of all purpose flour and a bit of nutmeg in the mix.  Hey, it's Fall!

 Into the waiting oven it went and hit 210 F at 58 minutes.  Cooling rack for 10 minutes in the pan, then 10 minutes out of the pan while I made the lemon icing.

Sorry, forgot to pick up lemons, so I had to use the ol' bottled stuff.  The icing still has a good bite to it, even without the zest.  I used a cooling rack and sheet pan during icing application.  What Alton didn't mention was the benefit of easy icing sampling from the sheet pan afterward!  The cake was a success!  I should know, I just ate two pieces while writing this :-)  The outside crust was a little tough, but that may be from the use of AP flour and a nonstick type bundt pan.  The icing really makes the dish, but I'll have to try it with some mashed berries tomorrow.  Alton's pound cake is definitely going into my book of regular recipes.

New Good Eats Episode Tonight

Reminder: there's a new Good Eats episode tonight at 8PM.  American Classics V: A Pound of Cake.

Alton Brown's Knowledge Links

There are some new links on Alton Brown's website in the Knowledge section.  In case you're not familiar with this section, AB often has links for product manufacturers and suppliers for ingredients or items he uses in Good Eats episodes.  Enjoy!

New Good Eats Episodes in the Works

Alton has posted a list of new Good Eats shows currently in production.  AB never rests!  I'm curious to see how he'll handle the 'weight loss' episode, but more excited to see the 'catfish and hushpuppies' show ;-)

Good Drinks
Chicken and Dumplings
Weight Loss
Paella
Curry
Catfish and Hushpuppies
Salty and Sweet

Alton Brown Video

Alton Brown interview with Donny Deutsch from two years ago.  Lately we've been hearing the 'how did Good Eats get started' theme regurgitated so often, but in this interview is a much more relaxed atmosphere and he has the time to go into greater detail.  Nice change of pace.

New Good Eats and Other Fun Stuff

There's another new Good Eats episode tonight: Fermentation Nation.  I was hoping for another beer making show, but it looks like this half hour will just feature cooking with beer and wine.  Should be at least one good sauce in the mix and maybe some bratwurst.

Last week's episode, Another Man Food Show, was pretty good.  My favorite element was his sidekick, who may actually be his personal trainer.  They played off each other well and there were some great one liners from Clarence.  "I like my bacon to bite back. Know what I mean?"  The cooking section wasn't as adventurous as usual; coffee, bacon, eggs, and hash browns.  Being a 'man food' show I was expecting something more, maybe a giant omelet perhaps.  The bacon in the waffle iron sounds like a good idea, until you think about cleaning it up.  Maybe a Foreman grill or panini press with removable grids woudl solve that problem.  The description of the types of bacon was good and I even picked up some applewood bacon from teh meat counter last week.  The coffee segment was a little off base.  The premise is cheap and to introduce somebody who does not cook for himself to making coffee.  However, he pulls out a huge burr grinder and goes through a method only a neurotic coffee fan would perform.  Overall, I'd call this episode very entertaining, but lame in the cooking area.

Speaking of coffee...how about a Monday Poll?  How much coffee do you use per cup?  Alton was teased in FOA2 for how much coffee he uses, and I thought 2 tablespoons per 6ounces sounded pretty strong.  I use around 1.5Tbsp for a 12oz mug in my 1 cup maker, though looking at the bag of ground coffee in my cupboard it recommends the same 2Tbsp as Alton suggested.  So, vote away!  How much do you use?


p.s.  Still trying to get into my new Good Eats book!  I worked a lot of extra time last week and my toddler and I are sick right now, so everything is in slow motion.  So far the book is awesome!

Good Eats 10th Anniversary Special was a Bomb

 In my opinion, as a longstanding Good Eats fan, the 10th Anniversary show really bombed.  There, I said it.  At the first commercial break I turned it off and let the DVR record the rest for later viewing.  In fact, I watched the This Old House Hour instead.  I even managed to dig up an old picture on the internet of Alton Brown sponsoring Miller Lite to relive his first bomb.

OK, now that that's out of my system, how was the show.  From its inception I thought the live show sounded like a lot of fun and would have loved to go.  And from what I've heard from comments here, the live show was indeed a blast.  But when I found out the 10th Anniversary TV special was just going to be the taping of the live show I started to wonder.  The more I thought about it the less it sounded like a good idea and it was with trepidation that watched the show that may go down in history as the moment Alton Brown jumped the shark.  Fortunately, the real Good Eats series should escape unscathed from this low moment.  So, why was the show so bad?

There was not nearly enough Good Eats in the TV version.  With so many great characters, costumes, and themes you'd think they could fill an entire hour just dedicated to these aspects.  But no, instead we had to watch the little game show for which the premise was strange and the contestant lineup even stranger.  The constant cuts to the crowd laughing also seemed a bit out of context for a Good Eats show.  An anonymous fan said it reminded him/her of the 'creepy over-clapping of an Emeril Lagasse live show.'  That sounds about right to me and one of the things that makes Good Eats stand apart.  Good Eats is about the show and not centered around Alton; he just becomes part of it all.  Finally, the ending fell a bit flat for the TV audience and it seemed odd that when the cast and family members came out at the end there wasn't a good shot of everybody just lots of silly string flying around.  But it wasn't all bad.

There were a few things I liked. The first thing that comes to mind was seeing Alton's 'sister' Marsha in the act.  I enjoyed the early shows with her and have been hoping AB writes her into a new episode soon.  I also think Ted Allen was the perfect choice for a co-host.  They looked like a geeky Dynamic Duo on stage and something worth working into a Good Eats epsiode.  And, well, I guess that's all I can think of in terms of enjoyable moments.

Personally, I think Good Eats deserved a budget to put together a real 1 hour special in their own studio.  Something akin to the Behind the Eats special which, while shot in a live theme, was filled with good writing and covered so much more about the show.  Maybe next time Alton.  The new Man Food show made up for it on Monday night.

Alton Brown on the Move

Alton Brown's a busy guy these days with lectures, book signings, etc.  Here are a couple of dates for upcoming Alton appearances:

Book Signings for Good Eats: The Early Years:
Tuesday, October 13
Boston
Brookline Booksmith at Coolidge Corner Theatre
6PM

Wednesday, October 14
Arlington VA
Sur La Table - Pentagon Row
12PM

Thursday, October 15
Chicago
Borders - N. Michigan Ave
7PM

Friday, October 16
Seattle
Third Place Books - Lake Forest Park, WA
7PM

Saturday, October 17
San Diego
Costco - Fenton Pkwy
11AM

Sunday, October 18
Austin
Location TBD
12PM

Also, Alton Brown will be giving a performance at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History at 7PM Wednesday, Oct. 14.  I'm interested to hear if this is just going to be a rehash of the Atlanta performances or something new.

Alton Brown Monday Poll

From our last poll we see that the majority of fans here would pay somewhere in the range of $0 to $50 to meet Alton Brown, though a whopping 24% of really dedicated fans would pay more than $150.  I'd put myself in the lower end category.  While I really enjoyed his lecture the other day, I can't bring myself to pay much extra just to say 'hi' to Alton.  Sure it would be cool, but I guess I admire him more for his work than for just being a star.  I'd much rather sit down for a beer wit the guy and shoot the breeze.

On to this week's poll!  I'm sure the majority of you watched Alton's Good Eats 10th Anniversary Special this weekend; and if not will probably catch a re-airing suring the week.  Before I get into what I thought of the show, I'd like to see how others rated the performance.  Was it more than you could have ever imagined or were you let down?  New poll on the left!  Vote away!

Good Eats 10th Anniversary Special

Don't forget the Good Eats 10th Anniversary special will be on Saturday night!  10-10 at 10pm!  Typical Alton Brown.  I don't know what to expect for the show.  It may just be material fromthe two live performances in Atlanta or, hopefuly, there will be some additional material.  We'll have to wait and see.

Alton Brown Lecture at Oakland University a Success

I arrived a bit early, partly to see what they've done with campus in the 9 years since I've been there, but also to make sure I found a relatively close parking spot since I needed to carry my 17 month old daughter to the lecture.  She may be small for her age, but 20 pounds wears on your arms after a while.  There was already a huge line waiting for the doors to open at 6PM.  Turns out they sold more tickets for Alton Brown's lecture than for any previous guest and that includes the likes of Oprah and Jimmy Carter.  We found some seats with a great view, but inconspicuous enough in case I needed to sneak out early.

Alton Brown was introduced by Dr. Ken Hightower, Dean of Health Sciences.  Par for the course, he mispronounced Alton's name, but only the real fans there would have noticed.  Meanwhile, Alton was being Alton and climbed up on a ladder which was sitting behind the stage curtains.  After the short introduction, AB came out on stage and and spent a few minutes running through his usual background information on how he started cooking to attract a date, failed, and moved on to combine food and film.  Even though I've read the background several times, he managed to make it interesting with his quick wit  and got involved with the crowd.

Alton's theme for the night was primarily discussion of how we, as Americans, have begun to value 'cheap' over 'quality' when it comes to food despite the fact that food is one of our most essential ingredients to life.  He presented his lecture keynotes in the form of ten axioms to live by, which was claimed to be developed as he fly his private plane from Erie, Pennsylvannia to Michigan.  I have to imagine using his new pilot skills and his own plane breaks up the monotony of all the travel he is doing nowadays.  The first of his ten axoims was 'Beware of Chinese Chili,' which lead directly into the discourse about how we haves fallen to the level of buying cheap cans of chili shipped from the other side of the world rather than make it ourselves.  Point being we have no idea of what we are actually eating or where our food comes from.  So few of us bother to grow our own food or seek out local products that we have become estranged from the actual food chain.  A funny story he had to emphacize this point was how his daughter and friends always wanted chicken fingers, so he went to the market and bought a few packages of chicken feet and offered those up for lunch.

One of the highlights of the show was Alton's first experience with having a sign language interpreter on stage with him.  Peggy Ostrander, not only provided the interpretation, but became a great sidekick for Alton thoughout the lecture as he bantered with her about the similarity of the signs for 'gourmet' and 'vomitting' and teased her about adding her own commentary about him.  At one point he made a comment about her in her silky dress, which required a sign outlining a shapely woman and Alton made her show the signs for pole dancing.  He really needs to hire her next time her goes on tour as she managed to keep up with his typical witty antics.  (Sorry for the poor picture)

By this point in the lecture/show, my daughter decided she had enough of sitting still and was starting to get whiney. Luckily for me, I was able to keep her occupied at the back of the arena long enough to hear the rest of the lecture.  Alton moved on to discuss sustainable fishing and eating smaller types of fish, striving to buy local when possible or heading to the freezer aisle for the best veggies, and encouraged everyone to grow something as a way to appreciate what it takes to really put food on the table.  He also revealed a bit of his religious side when he talked about giving thanks for our food.  To wrap things up he had collected questions from the crowd and sat down for a Q & A session.  I only had time for catch a few before heading out the door with my sleepy toddler.

Other tidbits from the lecture:

• There were a few diehard Alton brown fans in the audience.  Saw a guy sporting a Feasting on Asphalt t-shirt and somebody down below me waving a Good Eats: The Early Years book jacket.
• One of the Q&A questions was "What is your favorite raspberry recipe?"  To which Alton replied that he does not like the squishy little things.
• AB made fun the of the ICA Chairman being on Dancing with the Stars, mentioning that he has turned down requests to be on the show since he isn't finished with his career yet.

• Alton mentioned he has lost 50 pounds since march, though I could see first hand why some people have wondered if he has been sick.  He seems to be a bit too skinny now and I wonder if he is still losing weight or has been able to readjust and level off now.
• Somebody mentioned the lutefisk incident on FOA2 and thought he was a bit harsh.  Alton couldn't think of anything he's eaten that taste worse and this was confirmed by somebody int he crowd.  I would have chimed in but we were standing outside the door at that point.  Tried it once, tasted like fish scented soap!
• Alton didn't talk about Good Eats, FOA, or his new book while I was there, though I imagine he would plug the book at the end.
  

All in all I had a great time and enjoyed his lecture.  It was refreshing to hear him talk about food related subjects instead of seeing a Good Eats-esque performance.  One of the reasons I like Alton brown is that he gets involved with food as a whole and is not just another celebrity chef smiling for the camera.

I know some of you were also there last night and I'd love to hear what you thought of the show.  Please feel free to comment here or on my Twitter account http://twitter.com/AltonBrownNews  or send pictures to altonbrownnews@gmail.com if you want them posted here. Posting links to your own discussions or pictures is welcome!