ShivaX
3023
Guy’s website refers to him as a chef.
Rachel seems to call herself a cook and cook-book author.
Actually Ray is on the record as calling herself a cook and not a chef apparently.
Timex
3024
See, someone like Martin Yan did cooking for regular people… But he did it better than Rachel ray.
Remember kids… If Yan can cook… SO CAN YOU!
Ray’s original schtick was 30-minute meals. To get the time down to the required half hour, I recall she used bagged prewashed produce and canned items etc. If you are in a rush and need to get dinner out in 30 minutes, then that is one compromise and not a bad one.
Oh, was he the one who always had Wok based puns on his smock? We used to watch him a lot on Qatar TV when I was growing up there in the 80s.
I think that was Stephen Yan, a different Yan with a cooking show.
Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course is an Excellent beginner focused series that steps you through common ingredients, techniques, and recipes. There’s a quasi followup, Gordon Ramsay’s Home Cooking, that is in a very similar vein. Most if not all of both are up on YouTube.
His over the top asshole shtick is dumb and bad and I suspect he’s a shitty boss to work for, but when he’s playing it straight, he’s an excellent cooking educator.
Guy Fieri is sort of a doofus in his public persona, too, but he’s done some legitimately cool charity work and advocacy for LGBTQ groups, and generally wants to help small town restaurants and show them in a positive light, so I’m cool with him.
Also there’s this, the best cooking related parody image the internet ever produced.
You had me at “endangered with shaved lamb” my friend.
Timex
3031
Martin Yan was an awesome chef, who used to have shows on PBS. Taught me a lot of basic techniques.
He has insanely cheesy humor.
For some reason that menu reminds me of QShack in Durham. Plus they have Cheerwine on the soda machine!
IDK, apples and pork/sausage is a good combo.
edit - I just saw that it is a beef hotdog… Hmmm.
At first I thought, hey maybe it’s an all beef hotdog so that jews and muslims can eat it too. But no, it has bacon jam on it.
Does the bacon jam have actual bacon in it haha.
If you watch the British version of Kitchen Nightmares, he’s surprisingly grounded and a good communicator.
Lots of banter, which to a non Brit will probably come across as very aggressive.
I was thinking the same thing. I’m think he’s amped up the asshole thing for some shows as it seems to have been good for ratings,.
In general, the USA shows are slightly more sensationalist.
I do like them on occasion, but my it feels like a double serving of drama.
To be fair, I think he’s an extreme perfectionist with insanely exacting standards, and a TON of accumulated knowledge. Almost certainly any Michelin-rated or similarly talented chef would probably suck* to work for, insofar as you rarely achieve that level of success with single-minded dedication that doesn’t leave as much room for people skills :)
* In terms of bedside manner. You might love the benefit of all the skills you can acquire, though.
From what I understand, Thomas Keller is the exception to that rule. An all around genuinely good guy.
AWS260
3041
There was a nice profile of him the New York Times earlier this year.
I have fond memories of watching Yan Can Cook. A Chinese guy with his own show! With his name on it! That was a pretty rare thing in the U.S. in the 80s, and meaningful to see for an Asian kid growing up in that era (even if I never really learned to cook).
RichVR
3042
Met him at a foodie convention here, a while ago. Super nice guy.
