Who are your favorite TV chefs?

[Cooking Goddess]

Originally Posted by Addie

...BTW, I read somewhere that her kitchen was built separate from her home just for the purpose of the show...

So did Jacques Pepin. Just because Julia did her show out of her Cambridge home doesn't mean it's the only way. Personally, I don't blame chefs/cooks with TV shows for building a separate kitchen. You don't need all that tech crew and equipment cluttering up the family home. Trust me, it takes a LOT of equipment and staff to film anything.

Besides, it's not like Ree can't afford it - according to this article, she's worth $8 million. Not bad for starting a blog about country living, considering she was a country-club-neighborhood kid with a California college degree who married a rancher.

[Cooking Goddess]

Originally Posted by Addie

...Jacques was an instructor at Boston College in their Culinary Department. That is where Julia met him. She wanted to see how he taught a class. And she used some of his teaching methods in later shows. They remained the closest of friends from there on in....

That's not what I remember hearing Pepin say when I watched an interview with him shortly after he had his stroke. Went hunting to find out how they met. This is from an earlier article, when he was interviewed on what would have been Julia's 100th birthday.

"Q: When did you first meet Julia?

A: In 1960 in New York at Helen McCullough’s house. She was the food editor for House Beautiful. She said to me ‘Jacques, I have this manuscript for a cookbook here.’ It was Julia’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” It was a nice book. The kind of food I want to cook. Helen said ‘the author is in California and is coming here.’ And that is where I met her. Julia was a large woman with a terrible voice, kind of overwhelming. Her presence, it could swallow you up because of her size and her presence."

[Aunt Bea]

Jacques Pépin is the top of the list for me.

I get a kick out of his sense of humor and his down to earth practical cooking.

I follow him on FB and got a real kick out of this quote from a recent article.

"I've been in restaurants where they bring over a carrot and say ‘This carrot was born the ninth of September. His name is Jean-Marie…' Just give me the goddamned carrot!' ".

How Jaques Pepin Saved My Life | GQ

[FoodieFanatic]

Fabio Vivianni...he was on Yahoo for a long time , then he made guest appearances on The Chew, The Talk, and have seen him do guest things on Food Network.

[lyndalou]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

Same as ever, Jacques Pepin and Julia Child.

me too. The shows on FN are not teaching us a thing. I watch some for the entertainment value, but not for instruction. Sara Moulton was pretty good, too.

[Dawgluver]

We looked forward to Alton Brown's Good Eats on Sunday, after CBS This Morning. Then it disappeared and was replaced by Pioneer Woman or Trisha Yearwood.

I do love Cutthroat Kitchen, and it's offspring, Camp Cutthroat. Alton has the right blend of evil and cooking knowledge.

[Andy M.]

I find a lot of the old shows, along with ATK and Cook's Country on the CREATE network.

[Addie]

Originally Posted by lyndalou

me too. The shows on FN are not teaching us a thing. I watch some for the entertainment value, but not for instruction. Sara Moulton was pretty good, too.

She now appears on PBS or Create.

[jseymour84]

My favorite celebrity chefs are Gordon Ramsay, Robert Irvine, Tim Farmer, and Guy Fieri. I also like the cooking competition shows because I get to see a ton of ideas about how to cook different dishes that I wouldn't have thought of.

[puffin3]

Dear old Keith Floyd is/was the all time 'Gold Standard' for cooking show presenters.
You can watch dozens of his shows on Youtube.
He pioneered the traveling/cooking genre in the UK.
Still the very best at what he did.