I think Emeril is obsessive-compulsive

[Andy M.]

I haven't seen a good Emeril bashing in quite a while!

Actually, although he can be annoying, he also generates interest in food and cooking. His popularity encourages people to try new foods and dishes they otherwise would not.

I believe Emeril took Paul Prudhomme's place at the Commander's Palace when Paul left to open his own restaurant, K-Paul's, with his wife. Then, Emeril left Commander's Palace to open his own restaurant(s). I don't think Emeril ever worked at K-Paul's.

 

[Lugaru]

Now while I am not a fan of his theatrics he will sometimes cook things that I like and use good old fationed sense of spicing. Still there's times when I think he's as sick of his act as I am... there's times when the audience start applauding his use of garlic in which I detect a sigh of disgust from him. Bet you guy's in 5 to 10 years he will say in an interview how much he hated his audience.

 

[DampCharcoal]

:roll:

 

[kitchenelf]

And I hate to break the news to him but guess what I saw the other day - SEASONED flour!!!!!

Since I'm not in the baking section much in grocery stores maybe all you bakers are familiar with it - but I about choked when I saw it!! LOL

He still has some good recipes - all the the foodtv people have good recipes - no matter how they act or if they get on your nerves - the people can cook and I can learn from each of them.

 

[Ishbel]

I'm fascinated to hear about some of the American TV chefs. As far as I am aware, none of them have made it onto mainstream TV over here (although I believe a couple can be seen on cable or satellite channels - I once saw a weird man with a strangled French/American accent, I *think* his name was Pepin(?). But I suspect that the series MAY have been quite old - judging by his seriously bad fashion sense.... Looked like it was made in the 'decade that taste forgot'...

Judging by the posts in this thread, Emeril seems to provoke strong feelings, you either like him or really don't.... 8)

 

[Catseye]

I once saw a weird man with a strangled French/American accent, I *think* his name was Pepin(?). But I suspect that the series MAY have been quite old - judging by his seriously bad fashion sense.... Looked like it was made in the 'decade that taste forgot'...

You DAIR to bad-mouze ze grrrreat Pepin! Zut alors! Zat eez an offense for ze hanging! Off to ze Towair of ze London wiz you!

Sacre bleu! I am totallee in ze SHOCK! I zeenk I shall NEVAIR get over zees!


Les Chats

 

[Ishbel]

Goodness - you are a BRILLIANT impressionist..... so LIKE him....

IS he famous - or should that be 'was'??? Have to say, I was underwhelmed by his cooking style! Mind you, I only saw ONE show..

 

[sarah]

If he says Bam! One nore time...........

LOL....now he even comes in a tv add,they show an old women who is sick and tired of his bam bam....

 

[buckytom]

it's not completely his fault. they have audience "preps" who are people who tell the audience to react certain ways. they "whip" the audience into a kind of loopy happy frenzy when he comes out, and they get them to shout "self" and go bananas every time he mentions gahlic. that's the one that bothers me. i mean, i love garlic, but i'm not gettin all giddy and worked up over it.
i'm sure he is sick of being a one trick pony, but he's getting sick all the way to the bank.
i don't know if he really hates his audience, like letterman does (i can testify to that one), he seems more humble and grounded for that. probably thanks to hilda.
i think his show is ok, and i'll tune in to see what he's making to see if i'd ever try it. like elfie said, there are some good things to learn from his show. if not, tv remote controls are a great thing.

 

[ronjohn55]

I think the best thing that Emeril does is to at least try to make cooking seem easy enough and entertaining to casual viewers. That probably gets more people to try it than anything else.

John

 

[Catseye]

i don't know if he really hates his audience, like letterman does (i can testify to that one

What do you mean, bucky?

 

[buckytom]

letterman is very tempermental. he has a lapel mic that he should turn off as soon as he goes off air. i have heard him grumbling more than once on the way up to his office after a show about how the audience was. i guess he forgets that it is because of his audience that he lives on easy street.

 

[choclatechef]

Goodness - you are a BRILLIANT impressionist..... so LIKE him....

IS he famous - or should that be 'was'??? Have to say, I was underwhelmed by his cooking style! Mind you, I only saw ONE show..

I have to say this......Jacques Pepin is one of the foremost chefs in the world! He was chef to Charles DeGaulle --- Prime Minister of France!

He is one of the greatest teachers in the cooking world. He has at least a dozen or more fine cookbooks, dozens of instructional videos, and several great cooking shows on PBS -- a couple of which were with Julia Child...ever heard of her?

Who is Jacques Pepin? One of the world's finest!

 

[GB]

I can not stand watching Emeril Live anymore, but I used to enjoy it before I knew his jokes back and forth. I do still enjoy his essence show because he is a lot more serious in that one. His recipes are great though. I have made quite a few and every single one has been a big success.

 

[DampCharcoal]

Watching 'Emeril Live' drives me nuts, too. I like the guy but everytime he decides to add a little extra garlic or something, the audience bursts into applause. Then again, maybe it's the audience that irritates me. :?

 

[Michael in FtW]

Emeril is a good cook - but on his own (without an audience and Rhoda to swing her black-n-white candy cane "frenzy stick" to get them into it) he's about as exciting as 3-day old milk toast. He's a showman ... he needs the audience participation to come across. In that respect he is like Dennis Miller .... without a live audience the timing is all off .... the marginal jokes are just lame ... and even what would be funny comes across even worse.

His first gig, on "How to Boil Water", was really, really bad. Talk about a "stumblebum"! Then, he was so boring on the first "Essence" series that the crew was falling asleep taping the show .... which is where *BAM* came from - he tossed some salt or something and shouted *BAM* to wake the crew up - sort of like Haydn did with his Surprise Symphony. It worked - so he kept doing it.

I'm with you choclatechef - Jacques Pepin rocks! I really enjoyed watching him and Julia cook together ... two greats doing the same dish in different ways.

 

[Bangbang]

I hate it when he hangs his head over the food. Its like his nose is in it. Ughhhhh :!:

 

[Michael in FtW]

Ah, Bang - they are just cooking "demonstrations" - there is NO way they can duplicate all the proper hand-washing, actual cooking times, etc. on a TV show. They never show the cooking staff in the back rushing out to replace things in the oven or on the stove during the commercials ... and how many times have you seen a TV cook say, saute this for 5-10 minutes and then immediately toss in the next step?

Now, if you really want to gritch about something ... try the "Great Chefs" series on another channel ... where they are filming real chefs in action in their own kitchens all over the world. This morning I saw one dip his finger into a sauce to taste it - 2-3 times ... another used a spoon to taste a dish, then used it to stir the sauce ....

 

[Otter]

I am very tired of "And you thought these were the the cheap seats," "I don't know where you buy your .........., but mine don't come seasoned," and "Bam!!!!" is way off the scale for me. Also, nothing against Doc and the band, but if I wanted to hear music I would tune in a music show. Stronger message to follow. :twisted:

 

[Catseye]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned my pet Emeril peeve: "OhYeahBabe".