Has anybody seen the show The Lost Kitchen on Discovery+? It is a six part documentary about Erin French who owns the Lost Kitchen in Freedom, Maine, and it goes into how she is surviving the pandemic.

Erin also has a new autobiography Finding Freedom which currently is #1 on Amazon right now. She is only 40, but she has gotten out of an abusive marriage, an addiction to prescription meds and has overcome depression while raising a daughter by herself, and opening a very popular restaurant in Freedom, Maine. She has also won the James Beard Award.

There is a seven day free trial for Discovery+, but after that it is $4.99 a month. Her show is part of the Magnolia Network.

New series on Netflix = High On the Hog, it’s about the roots and evolution of the importance of Black culture to the American food movement.

There is a new cooking competition on Fox called Crime Scene Kitchen. Each couple tries to figure out what dish was baked based on the clues left in the kitchen, and then make a version of whatever they decide it is. Tonight they were baking cakes, and the two teams that got the type of cake right automatically got to move on to the next round. One of the teams that got it wrong got eliminated based on the fact that their cake was the least desirable according to the judges. The second episode was on tonight. Joel McHale is the host.

I've been working my way through Somebody Feed Phil.
He's trying for Anthony Bourdain without the angst, and often goes too far in that direction with the mugging for the camera... but the food shown is good. The Israel and New Orleans shows are particularly nice (the latter has a sweet follow-up from the Vietnam ep).

JoelF wrote:I've been working my way through Somebody Feed Phil.
He's trying for Anthony Bourdain without the angst, and often goes too far in that direction with the mugging for the camera... but the food shown is good. The Israel and New Orleans shows are particularly nice (the latter has a sweet follow-up from the Vietnam ep).

He's your slightly food-aware uncle. He's more reactive than descriptive. It's all bug-eyed variations on "delicious." Having said that, his producers do an okay job of vetting. I can do without the wrap-up scenes with his parents, but as the 800-lb gorilla he can pretty much do whatever he wants.

Dave148 wrote:New series on Netflix = High On the Hog, it’s about the roots and evolution of the importance of Black culture to the American food movement.

Enjoyed this, especially in introducing me to Hatchet Hall in LA, sort of a Roister-y open-flame meat restaurant. They do periodic dinners based on Thomas Jefferson's and George Washington's slave chefs' menus (James Hemings (trained in France while Jefferson was posted there) and Hercules Posey).

http://www.hatchethallla.com/hemings-hercules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5albyJA11uU



DIY - Brick oven for $20 in 20 minutes AND Knife reconditioning!

This guy has an outdoor kitchen at what appears to be his dacha. He is roasting and cooking in all sorts of weather.

The "oven" looks like something my brother-in-law would design while he was drinking his second 12-pack of the day.

spinynorman99 wrote:The "oven" looks like something my brother-in-law would design while he was drinking his second 12-pack of the day.

This guy makes many of his own tools for his outdoor kitchen. It is a skill I saw many times, because what you really needed or wanted was simply not available.

If the design in the video did not work, no problem, just tear it apart and begin again.

Regards,
Cathy2

I heard that Paris Hilton has a cooking show on Netflix now. Has anybody seen it? I don't have netflix, and so I will have to pass.

NFriday wrote:I heard that Paris Hilton has a cooking show on Netflix now. Has anybody seen it? I don't have netflix, and so I will have to pass.

It's indeed true. Saw a snippet, it could be a culinary trainwreck or maybe they redeem themselves in the end. I may never know.

spinynorman99 wrote:

Dave148 wrote:New series on Netflix = High On the Hog, it’s about the roots and evolution of the importance of Black culture to the American food movement.

Enjoyed this, especially in introducing me to Hatchet Hall in LA, sort of a Roister-y open-flame meat restaurant. They do periodic dinners based on Thomas Jefferson's and George Washington's slave chefs' menus (James Hemings (trained in France while Jefferson was posted there) and Hercules Posey).

http://www.hatchethallla.com/hemings-hercules

Just renewed for a second season.

I noticed that Peacock has a new cooking competition called Top Chef Family Style. There are 12 teams competing, and Marcus Samuelsson is the head judge. I think it is available on basic Peacock which is free.

spinynorman99 wrote:

Dave148 wrote:New series on Netflix = High On the Hog, it’s about the roots and evolution of the importance of Black culture to the American food movement.

Enjoyed this, especially in introducing me to Hatchet Hall in LA, sort of a Roister-y open-flame meat restaurant. They do periodic dinners based on Thomas Jefferson's and George Washington's slave chefs' menus (James Hemings (trained in France while Jefferson was posted there) and Hercules Posey).

http://www.hatchethallla.com/hemings-hercules

I have had zero desire to go to LA, though my awareness of Hatchett Hall via this program has kicked in an itch.

There was a lot of interesting bits of information scattered throughout this series. I was unaware the profession of catering had its roots in black culture. The two chefs who tasted their efforts by leaving a deposit on the back of their hands to lick off a sample. They then asked each other how they knew about this, especially since they had only just met.

Of course, I was delighted when they made Cowboy Stew with all the variety of organ meats. I made this some years ago for either Culinary Historians or Greater Midwest Foodways. While their batch did not have brains in it, it was the same off putting color as the one I made years ago. While they may have had a calf freshly harvested to draw their protein from. I recall spending a lot of time collecting different organ meats at various shops. Between the cost of materials and driving, it was an expensive recipe to execute.

They also touched on Juneteenth, which is an event I have long followed.

Regards,
Cathy2

‘The Bear’ review: A culinary ace takes over a Mr. Beef-esque sandwich shop. Chaos and dark comedy in one of my favorite shows of the year

Chicago is a major food town, from pricey fine dining to modest neighborhood joints that hit the spot, and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the sweaty, cacophonous kitchen dynamics of the latter so richly and lovingly portrayed as they are in “The Bear,” a darkly comedic drama that takes its inspiration from a local staple: Mr. Beef.

On the show, this River North Italian beef sandwich shop is simply called The Original Beef of Chicagoland. But the exterior shots certainly look as if they were shot at Mr. Beef. And a crew member told me that production designers all but rebuilt the interior of Mr. Beef on a soundstage at Cinespace (the studio complex on the city’s West Side) down to grease on the stoves and the walls. That had me laughing and intrigued before I watched a single frame.

Artie wrote:‘The Bear’ review: A culinary ace takes over a Mr. Beef-esque sandwich shop. Chaos and dark comedy in one of my favorite shows of the year

On Hulu for those of you curious, but blocked by the paywall.

Wow, this darkly comic series just throws you into the deep end of a busy restaurant kitchen. The whole thing is a marvelous love letter to Chicago and food, and especially Chicago food. I've only seen one episode but I feel confident that pretty much everyone in this forum would enjoy it, and I wanted to get it onto your radar right away.