ronnie_suburban wrote:And yet, for all its flaws, in the end, it's hard to argue that the cooks who made it to the final weren't the best of the lot or that the winner wasn't deserving. For me, the fact that the show under-showcased its participants didn't diminish the result at all. These were some talented folks, cooking in a seriously challenging environment. Their sheer, unbridled sense of accomplishment was well earned and in spite of some bizarre editorial choices, the undisputed bright spot of the show.

=R=

Highlighted so people who feel discouraged reading through this can see a bright spot.

I do not have passport, and so I can't go back and catch all of the episodes of the Great American Recipe that I missed. I missed the first two shows, and the only one I watched in its entirety was the finale, but all of the contestants that I was able to catch were fantastic cooks, and yes the host of the show was not as engaging as the two hosts on the original Great British Baking Show, but I did not find her objectionable, and she was way more pleasant to watch than Gordon Ramsey. All of Gordon Ramsey's cooking shows are toxic, except for the show he does with the children. The host is returning for season two, as are the judges. Master Chef was on Fox last night, and I watched it for about two minutes, and then I had to switch to a different channel. BTW- Graham Elliot is a judge on Master Chef too.

NFriday wrote:I do not have passport, and so I can't go back and catch all of the episodes of the Great American Recipe that I missed. I missed the first two shows, and the only one I watched in its entirety was the finale, but all of the contestants that I was able to catch were fantastic cooks, and yes the host of the show was not as engaging as the two hosts on the original Great British Baking Show, but I did not find her objectionable, and she was way more pleasant to watch than Gordon Ramsey. All of Gordon Ramsey's cooking shows are toxic, except for the show he does with the children. The host is returning for season two, as are the judges. Master Chef was on Fox last night, and I watched it for about two minutes, and then I had to switch to a different channel. BTW- Graham Elliot is a judge on Master Chef too.

I couldn't agree with you more on Ramsay. Toxic doesn't even begin to describe him. In our house, he's rated U, for Unwatchable.

As for GAR, I think they've got a potential gem on their hands (like GBBS) but right now, it's in need of some serious polish.

=R=

King of Culinary
Mediacorp (Singapore)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3tQ4fU ... -Mediacorp

The basic premise is advanced home cook vs. celebrity chef. The home cook has the advantage of a few additional minutes of preparation, selection of the main ingredient and a couple of chances to force the professional chef to use additional ingredients.

Unlike most Western culinary challenges, there is a band of chefs watching and commenting on the work of both chefs which in and of itself can be very interesting.

This is not a cooking show, but did anybody see Celebrity Wheel of Fortune on Sunday evening? All three of the contestants were food celebrities. They had Jet Tila from the Food Network, Carla Hall from the Chew, and Phil Rosenthal on. When it was Phil's turn, he would buy all of the vowels.

Taco Chronicles is back on Netflix. This series focuses on the U.S., including Chicago. It's taking everything I have right now not to get in the car and ruin myself for Thanksgiving dinner.

spinynorman99 wrote:Taco Chronicles is back on Netflix. This series focuses on the U.S., including Chicago. It's taking everything I have right now not to get in the car and ruin myself for Thanksgiving dinner.

Soon as I read this I clicked over and watched the Chicago episode. Dear Sweet Carrol Channings Ghost! I feel like canceling turkey day and following the exact Taco Chronicles Chicago trail.

G Wiv wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:Taco Chronicles is back on Netflix. This series focuses on the U.S., including Chicago. It's taking everything I have right now not to get in the car and ruin myself for Thanksgiving dinner.

Soon as I read this I clicked over and watched the Chicago episode. Dear Sweet Carrol Channings Ghost! I feel like canceling turkey day and following the exact Taco Chronicles Chicago trail.

Hmmmm…what’s everyone doing tomorrow?? This sounds like a GREAT way to avoid the holiday shopping lunacy

Just caught it by accident while browsing. Ups my urgency to go see Smilin' Cesar "El Mollusko"(???) and also the folks over at Zaragoza. It's been far too long. I wonder if they are seeing a big uptick in business.

Anybody see the show on Peacock called Baking It that was on a year ago? It is returning again with Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph starting tonight 12/12. It is a cooking competition, and apparently the four judges are experienced cooks who all happen to be Grandmas. It is a six part series. There is also a Baking It Holiday show that is taking place tonight 12/12 at 9:00pm on NBC, where several celebrities are competing in a cooking contest, with all of the money going to the favorite charity of the winner.

I saw part of the celebrity edition of Baking it on NBC tonight. If you have Hulu you can watch it on there, and I am sure it will be on Peacock. I really liked what I saw. It was on the same time as the Good Doctor, and so I kept switching channels. The Grandma judges that are part of the regular edition of Baking it were judging it. They were wonderful, and so were the hosts Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler. Most of the celebrity cooks used to be on Saturday Night Live, but Lionel Ritchie also competed. I missed who won. I will have to try to watch it again. I tried to watch the regular version of Baking It, and I think for those people who only have the free version of Peacock, they can only watch the first season of the competition.

Souped up Recipes : https://curatedkitchenware.com/blogs/soupeduprecipes , has an entirely new web site.

My daughter and I recently started watching The Big Family Cooking Showdown on Netflix. I didn’t have high hopes going in but have found it surprisingly engaging. It has also led to a few good discussions around cultural cuisines and cooking techniques. She gets very upset with me when I criticize any contestant until I completely break it down for her in terms of why and how bad choices were made. All in good fun though..