Cooking Resources

Robo410 · 12-07-2006, 10:34 AM

got no problem with the promos. Emeril's cajun chicken sausage is quite fine and if looking for a tasty non-red meat casserole item...that's a good one!

What I find hard to swallow is good cooks and chefs putting their names to less than great kitchen items. Unfortunately for them, great pots and pans already existed, so their lines are made abroad with cheap labor and are not the quality of All Clad, Le Creuset, etc. However, many companies wanted a second line or a foot in the door and got a name to go with their product.
If it gets more people cooking better...fine, job done. Still buyer beware.

Flourgirl · 12-07-2006, 10:53 AM

Robo410, you hit the nail on the head with the cookware lines. I love my All Clad collection, some pieces I've had for 15 years. I add a piece about every year and was told by the company that the Emerilware line, although its All Clad, is not as durable or high quality as the original line. And I have nothing against Emeril. Unfortunately, often, seeing a celebrity chef on a piece of cookware means its inferior to the original.

The other marketing that they do is harmless I believe. Let them make their $$. Its the same as putting an athlete on a box of Wheaties. I don't think the product is any better or worse than other similar prepared products. This goes back to the 70's and 80's at least with Paul Prudhomme's rubs and sauces and Wolfgang Puck's frozen pizzas.

BreezyCooking · 12-07-2006, 11:07 AM

Ah - forgot about those two. To be honest, I don't mind Prudhomme's stuff, because it's basically just a few spice mixes - at least around here.

Wolfgang Pucks stuff, however, just makes me laugh. The frozen food, the canned soups, sauces, etc., - all at outrageous prices. Again, I really don't believe that anyone with a saucepan & a spoon can't duplicate this stuff for at least half the price. And poor "Puck" is really reaching these days - touting all his stuff (cookware included) on tv home shopping networks. What a sad end to someone who really started out so well.

VeraBlue · 12-07-2006, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy M.

BC:

I agree with your sentiments. I do know that in one case, the frozen shrimp, US grown shrimp is losing market share to farmed shrimp from Asia. I believe Emeril's push for US shrimp is motivated by his desire to help rebuild the Louisiana economy while making money. Then again, maybe I'm being naive.

I love dining at any of Emeril's restaurants. My boyfriend and I were on Emeril Live a year ago, and I even got to sit on the stage at one of the bars, getting the food as he made it. My girlfriend interviewed him several times as a food writer for the New Orleans Picayune. I'm quite sure he's made monetary donations to NOLA since Katrina. However, it was what he did initially after the storm that kind of turned me off to him. He fired each and every employee of his two NOLA restaurants a week after the storm. I find it hard to believe that with all his vast epicureal empire he couldn't afford to keep those people on the payroll.
Paul Prudhomme, New Orleans' true son, not only kept his people on the payroll, he housed them in the restaurant if they needed it.

It's also my understanding that Emeril is not getting those shrimp NOLA local.

Sorry to drift from the originial topic.

Yea, I hate when celebrities hawk wares.

StirBlue · 12-07-2006, 01:49 PM

Don't you just miss the Frugal Gourmet? You always know when they are finished; when they start cooking really weird stuff. One of the last shows I viewed, he was cooking the feet of chickens, nails and all.
RR has been giving out some "untried" advice on her show. "making a bbq pit in your oven". I see some legal pies in her future.
Martha Stewart keeps it real. She will be around for some time. Her new show is a bit different but she's still making apple pies. I'd really like to see her make some instant mashed potatoes. Take on the challenges we people have to deal with. I wonder if she's tried any of that Paul Newman dog food.
I call it "cooking with personality".
RONCO infomericals are fun to watch. Cook and close the sale...close the sale...close the sale. I've actually found some interesting ideas for cooking on those shows.
Ever notice George Foreman doesn't have to cook?

kadesma · 12-07-2006, 03:08 PM

Like them or dislike them the TV chefs are feathering their nests..More power to them. Just remember that we are adults, have minds of our own and can pick and choose for ourselves. I'd feel rather foolish if asked why I was using a certain thing and then saying oh I use it cuz so and so does.In other words I need so and so to think for me! NOT I enjoy watching some of the food shows, gives me ideas for things I'd like to try, but try in a different way..I feel I can do this myself, I don't need to be lead around by the nose...So blame the chefs, laugh at them, scorn them, but they are doing what THEY want to get the best for themselves...How about you and me, do we follow like lambs to the slaughter or do we pick and choose for ourselves?
kadesma

GB · 12-07-2006, 03:11 PM

Something to keep in mind is that this is being posted on a food board. That means that most, if not all the people here are interested and have some knowledge about food.

I would venture to say that a majority of the people out there (at least in the US) are pretty clueless about food in general. It is getting better, but it is a slow process. For those clueless people, they know who Emeril or RR is and can use their face on a package to say "hey maybe this product my be a good one to try". Think of it like food training wheels.

BreezyCooking · 12-07-2006, 03:26 PM

StirBlue - you're a person after my own heart - lol!!!!

I LOVED "The Frugal Gourmet" & have all of his cookbooks. His demise was very sad, & to be honest, no one will ever know if the allegations were true or not. I know that even though he settled, to spare his family he said, he claimed his innocence to the end.

And while Martha does "try" to keep it "real" (I have ALL of her early cookbooks before she became a media diva), you do have to pre-test her recipes. Many aren't up to snuff as far as measurements & cooking times, something that was brought up in one of the biographies done on her. Unfortunately, it's true.

BreezyCooking · 12-07-2006, 05:57 PM

GB - I definitely see your point. And I've really really enjoyed the replies to my originial post.

Thanks guys!!!!

Like I said, I wasn't looking for bashings, just opinions as to the commercial items out there now produced/endorsed by tv "chefs". They just seem to be popping up everywhere, & the folks promoting them don't even seem to be using them.