Alton Brown: Kitchens of the Future

In preparation for the first episode, or just as holiday week filler, Kitchens of the Future airs Saturday night at 9:00pm EST.  It's an hour long show from 2004 hosted by none other than Alton Brown.  How the heck did I miss this?!  I've been watching Good Eats and anything else Alton for years and somehow this one got past me.  The Food Network description mentions the Jetsons; sounds right up Alton's alley!  So, for those who have to get up early on Monday and don't want to stay up late Sunday night for Feasting on Waves, or you are stuck at home working on a Saturday night like myself, this will give you something to tie you over until FOW re-airs later in the week.

Good Eats: Frozen Cache

Frozen Cache will be airing Monday, August 11th at 8pm.  For all of you lucky souls, like myself, who have fresh local fruits and vegetables in season and need some inspiration on storing them well into the winter.  I'm seriously considering the purchase of a dedicated freezer to keep a few batches of grape juice and peaches for those icy days in January.

New Good Eats Episode: Tuna, Surprise!

What's Alton Brown up to this week?  Well, looks like he'll be getting a visit from an old commercial icon to see what Good Eats he is able to create with a can of tuna.  A little Sandra Lee influence after her weekend marathon?  We'll have to wait and see :-)

Tuna, Surprise! airs Monday, July 7th at 8:00pm with a follow up at 3:00am.

New Good Eats Episode: Celeryman

The Celeryman is coming to the Good Eats kitchen Monday night! I can only imagine a celery stalk resembling the Fighting Okra. Mmmm...doesn't a celery soda sounds refreshing right about now?

Food Network's description:
Celery is not just for peanut butter anymore as host Alton Brown explores the only common plant that can be used as a vegetable, a starch, an herb and a spice.

June 23 at 8:00 PM ET

Alton Brown's Dutch Baby Saves the Day

Finally! I escaped from fatherhood, at least for a few minutes, to attempt some Good Eats recipes from last weeks show (the last two shows were brilliant by the way).

First I tried Alton's fried chicken recipe from Good Eats: Fry Hard II. Sadly, all I have to show for it is a house smelling of crusty fried chicken and a few grease burns on my arm. Apparently the thermometer I bought was telling me that my oil temperature was way lower than it really was. I let the oil cool a bit before the second batch of drumsticks went in, but by that time I no longer desired a piece of fresh fried chicken. I'll have to regroup and find a new thermometer.

Secondly; I tried my hand at popovers. I haven't made them in years and I just happen to have the twelve cup version of the pan Alton picked up at what I think of as Miss Wong's Emporium of Cooking Gear. Well, I screwed it up. Either my oven runs a bit hot or I just need to check them earlier than the recommended cooking time like most baked goods. The insides were good, but a bit too crispy on the outside. My wife turned them into a wonderful hot fudge sundae base though :-)

For my next trick, I took a shot at the Dutch baby. How could I not after the wonderful skit and the giant clogs! Success at last! It was perfect and will likely be prepared again for breakfast again tomorrow; this time with some fresh local strawberries. If I had failed at this basic cooking task it would have been cold cereal and carry-out food for a while. Instead I was rewarded with a new tool in my culinary binder o' recipes.

New Good Eats Episode: If It Ain't Broccoli, Don't Fix It

Alton Brown cooks up some broccoli dishes Monday night at 8pm EST in the latest Good Eats episode: "If It Ain't Broccoli, Don't Fix It." Fresh, steamed, and roasted will be the preparation themes. Sadly, the Steel Lotus does not seem to be utilized in the steaming process.

In case you missed it, Apple of My Pie airs again Monday night at 11PM and the broccoli episode will run again at 3AM Tuesday morning. I need to watch the Apple Pie show again since I was busy doing things around the house while watching. From what i saw it looked like a good episode and a sound recipe/baking method; except I was a bit bewildered by his complaining about the traditional spices and then watching him pull out the grains of paradise. What?!

New Good Eats Episode Tonight: Apple Pie

Apple of My Pie premieres Monday, February 4th at 8PM EST on Food Network. Check your local listings; they've been known to change things on me before!

While it's definitely not apple season out here in Michigan orchard country, a hot apple pie always sounds good; especially with ice cream! As always, Alton's take on a traditional recipe should be interesting since he's always trying to improve on techniques, cooking methods, etc. Click here to go to the crust and filling recipe from the show.

Good Eats -- Apple of My Pie is available on iTunes

Monday Night Good Eats: True Brew IV and American Slicer

Monday night features True Brew IV and, if you missed it the other week, American Slicer. True Brew IV covers making chicken stock, which is a good foundation episode for any cook. American Slicer, however, falls a bit short on its task.

Slicer starts out promising to teach core knife skills, but becomes awkward and, in my opinion,
unfinished. Sure basic cutting techniques are there, slicing, chopping, chiffonade, etc., but key points are left out. For example, he doesn't cover anything about knife sharpening or shopping for a knife; though I did spot an Alton Angle in one scene. The awkwardness comes in two
varieties; the first is the poorvoice over quality in some of POV scenes where the tone of his voice and volume are off. He sounded either bored or annoyed in the voice overs . The second, as Lewis from Table Bread pointed out, is where the action comes to a halt and directs you to the Food Network website to find the recipes. It's not the information little intermissions with catchy music that Good Eats fans are used to and throws the flow out of whack. This show really could have been done as either an hour long episode or in two parts.

P.S. If you love to bake stop by Table Bread. Lewis has some great articles, and lots of baking action shots, over there.

The Future of Good Eats and Alton Brown

A good question from a reader: how long is the Good Eats contract? I can only partly answer this one. According to Alton's website he is in the process of filming more episodes in November and December. I'm not sure how TV contracts work; if they sign up per season or for a certain number of seasons. If anything it seems that Alton Brown has gained more clout at Food Network this past year or so. Maybe somebody else who wanders by here can provide a bit more insight into the contract issue or stop by the Good Eats Fanpage chat room. There are a lot of people over there who know the ins and outs of the industry better than I do.

Something interesting that this brings up is how long is Alton commited to producing Good Eats? I had started to wonder about this last season after a few lame episodes, but I have reversed my opinion after the quality has picked back up. I believe Good Eats has been impacted by all of Alton's other projects and the quality of the episodes is probably a reflection of how much time he has to spend between filing specials, Feasting on Asphalt, Iron Chef, doing talks, etc. Good Eats still has a lot of life to it because of the effort Alton and his crew put into not only the cooking, but the scince, scripting, casting, and filming. It's not the same week to week and it holds the viewer's interest. I hope the series keeps on going for quite some time.

From Alton's site:
"Time to fire up the lights, camera and cooking action for new Good Eats episodes - this time AB and the resident culinarians tackle Rack of Lamb, Dutch oven cooking, Fats, Cupcakes, Broccoli, Cranberries and that perennial fav taken to new heights... Apple Pie."

Back to the Good Eats! Kinda Blue

Now Kinda Blue was definitely a good show! I couldn't stop laughing when Alton Brown pops into the grocery store on his time machine.

The recipe selection was good too. Some episodes are entertaining or witty but I'm not always interested in testing out the featured dishes. Blueberries, however, really had me glued to the TV. I appreciated the fact that he used some frozen blueberries since it was in the 30s outside and not a fresh blueberry to be found. This past spring I made blueberry jam from one of Alton's earlier shows with some frozen berries I had picked the previous summer and they had every bit of flavor as the fresh berries. Sadly, i didn't get out to pick any this summer, so I'll have to pick some from the grocery store freezer section.. I have to say that the Good Eats version of jam turned out better than two Ball recipes and two one I found on another canning website.

I've never used tapioca flour before, so maybe I'll pick some up for Alton's pie recipe and see if I notice any difference from regular flour.

Alton Brown's Granola Bars: Good Eats Power Trip

I ran across a blog article that somebody by the name of Jenny wrote about Alton's granola bars. I always love to hear feedback on the recipes from Good Eats or Alton's books; whether it be about the taste, recipe, or difficulty level. I have to admit that I didn't pay much attention to this show since it seemed like a lot of trouble for something all too easy to grab off the shelf at the grocery store, but this article may inspire me to think twice. Jenny has a couple of tips and a good description of what they taste like. The bars don't sound as bad as they looked on TV.

Click here to read the blog post

Good Eats, Pickles, and Alton Brown's Culinary Circus

I think the "culinary circus" comment from the Sour Kraut really summed up this episode. There was even one point where Alton was visibly laughing at his own antics. Probably one of my favorite episodes in the past season or two.

Having ventured into preserving this summer and enjoying my jars of pickles I really took interest in the fermentation method. It reminded my of my adventures in home brewing but a lot less work. Now I just need to find a good crock or two. The crock Alton inherited from his grandmother had the thoughtful addition of the weighted lid; I wonder if anybody makes them like that anymore? I'll have to keep my eyes open.

Darth Vader, again? Alton definitely has a favorite Star Wars character! I'm surprised I have seen a Darth Vader cookie jar on the set counter yet.

P.S. The Zevro dispensers I bought for work and been popular! Of course, working midnights I can't see who has been partaking of my treats, but the M&Ms are going much quicker than the roasted peanuts.

Alton Brown's Kitchen: Zevro Dispensers

I just picked up a pair of Zevro food dispensers at Target. I'm sure lots of you have noticed the retro-gumballmachine-like pods on Good Eats. I found them on the internet and was overjoyed that I could pick them up just down the street; unlike so many other cool products.

My interest started in the cereal line of thought, but then I realized I would take up the entire counter since my wife always has a minimum of six to eight different types of cereal on hand. Then my boss posed a great question to my group in a meeting last week regarding the barrel of pretzels I always keep on my desk for everybody, something to the effect of "Do you all stick your hands in there or dump some out onto a napkin?" I can't believe I never thought of that since I am typically concious of everything I touch in an office full of two hundred germ carriers! The Zevro immediately popped into my mind. I have a test batch of peanut M&Ms in one tumbler and Cherrios in the otehr and both work great. I was worried that too much candy, as if there is such a thing, would come out but it is just the right amount.

I paid about $30 for the double mill and the singles were $20 at Target. You can also order them through my Amazon link to the right if you can't find them, but in all honesty Target is probably your best bet on price.

New Good Eats Episode

Good Eats: Dill-iscious coming Saturday.
Odd day for a new episode but at least I'll be home to see it. Looks like fermented dills and fried pickles are on the menu. I'll have to crack open another jar of the pickles I made over the summer while I watch.

I ordered a DVR from Woot.com today! Hopefully I won't miss any more Good Eats or any of my other favorite shows now! I already have a stack of DVD-Rs ready and waiting.

Off-hand note: Check out the strange history of the HMS Pickle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pickle_%281800%29

Good Eats: Whithering Bites

Well, I missed the new episode this week. I had been looking forward to it since i love dried fruit, but I had more pressing matters to take care of. I put up 17 jar of dill pickles instead. Thinking ahead, I stopped in at Best Buy over the weekend to buy a DVD recorder, but was confused and somewhat let down with what I foudn there. I'll need to do some research first.

I'm also a bit put off at the long gap between re-airings of new episodes. If you miss one you're basically screwed. Whithering Bites doesn't air again until August 18th at 2PM; as if I'm going to be watching TV in the middle of a Saturday.

I will, however, be planted in front of the TV for the second episode of Feasting on Asphalt Saturday night!

Good Eats: Sub Standards

New Good Eats with Alton Brown airs Monday July 16th at 8:00pm EST.

Sub Standards
Whether filling in for your French teacher or your favorite spice, substitutes can be every bit as successful as the original. Join host Alton Brown and a handful of substitute chefs as they take on a few good recipes with one ingredient tied behind their backs.

Pretzel Logic Revisited: Alton Brown Scores

After my disappointment over the poor 'acting' in the coconut cake episode; Pretzel Logic reminded me of why I have been watching Alton Brown and Good Eats for so many years. The first thing that comes to mind is the witty way he uses props and integrates them seamlessly into the show. It may not have been quite as stellar as some of his previous work, but it was much more well executed than some of his recent flops. I also think he managed to stay focused and icorporated the additional material into the theme without wandering off to talk to some old lady in a dark alley. The lawyers did a much better job of adding to the entertainment value while Alton stayed with the cooking and science end of the bargain.
Speaking of entertainment and information, I really need a good dose of Deb and W soon! There's not enough of Chuck lately either. We'll have to wait and see what the rest of the season has in store for us!

Good Eats Coconut Cake

So, with all his time on the road between FoodNetwork events, presentations, and filming Feasting on Asphalt II has Alton had to cut down on production time? More specifically has his availability for filming episodes been cut short? What lodged this thought in my mind was Alton's noticable lack of composure in the Coconut Cake episode tonight. I believe it was the espresso show where this behavior first popped up. I don't mind it at all, seems a bit more natural for him to show a fun-loving side, but it does contrast to what we have been used to for several years.

Of course I could be way off track. The less serious Alton may be part of a conscious effort or a change in film style; that is his background after all. Enough analyzing the host on with the show! I enjoyed this one. It was creative and the entire show was devoted not only to a single ingredient but more pointedly to the cake recipe itself. And although we had a cake historian instead of a food anthropologist, it is clear that certain recipes and foods run deep in the veins of our culture; especially local variations and traditions. While living in Charleston I never had a chance to sample a homemade coconut cake but I did become addicted to she-crab soup and sweet tea and eventually I even warmed up to boiled peanuts. Back here in Michigan I miss the grand scheme of a single unifying culture but can enjoy several different ethnic cuisines within a few miles of home.

The coconut cake. Now I can't see myself going through the effort of making my own coconut milk and cream, but I'm sure it would taste darn good! I leave the baking side of the kitchen to my wife and mabe I can convince her of the need for a coconut sometime soon! Fo myself, pickling and grilling take up enough of my freetime. Speaking of pickling, I can't wait for that episode to roll around!

P.S. Looked like a new Viking stand mixer; needs some flames!

Alton's Dino Sprayer

Oh lookeee! Mr. Gnome has a new friend! He may not be as cool to hang out with as Alton's Dino sprayer, but he's a close second. And he does have an advantage: I picked him up at the local dollar store for a buck! Not only does he squirt liquids, but has a sport bottle-like nozzle on the back apparently for drinking; sorta weird if you ask me.

From the tag: Critter Spitters model # 3000WP "Spittin' Iggy" from the O2-cool company.

Good Eats: Pantry Raid 6: Lentils

How much more can Alton Brown cram into a single episode? I had to look at the clock to make sure it was only an half-hour episode. We were entertained and informed by Deb Duchon the friendly local food anthropologist, a group of snooty Frenchmen with an appreciation for the Chairman and Iron Chefs, some Star Trek mischief with good ol' neighbor Chuck, and a View Master show on Grains of Paradise (and a chat with Emeril on the phone)! And yet, he still manages to explain and prepare three recipes! This Alton just keeps getting better and better with each episode!

There were also some elements only Alton Brown fans would appreciate, such as his dog Matilda's bowl and, unless I haven't noticed before, some new specs and possibly a new watch. Keen Good Eats fans will also notice that Alton gets just a little bit more comfortable with each new episode and everything seems to fit together that much better; one might say flawlessly nowadays. Of course with his background in the film industry the camera angles and effects bring even more interest to the show. Recurring characters like Chuck, and real people, like Deb Duchon, have also become a staple of Good Eats. Alton and Deb even joke about their typical pattern of banter in this episode, referring to the direction that the conversation should take before continuing on. I like to see that Alton recognizes his fan base and brings that added element of immersion to the show for us; you almost feel like you know the guy sometimes!

Look for more new Good Eats episodes in the weeks to follow! Not it's time to get to the store for a bag a lentils!