Back when I was growing up, you could only catch cooking shows on PBS, but they were all pretty good shows- Julia Child’s The French Chef, Everyday Cooking with Jacques Pepin, and even The Frugal Gourmet was a great show despite whatever alleged improprieties Jeff Smith may or may not have done outside of the kitchen. Boy have times changed. There’s a ton of shows these days, especially with the Food Network and now WLIW public broadcasting even has a do-it-yourself channel called WLIW Create which has a nice lineup of shows. Too bad the majority of the general non-food-industry public only knows of Emeril Lagasse. Emeril is a terrific people person and that’s how he’s become so popular, but really, he’s not what I consider to be a very skilled chef. You can tell that just by watching one of his shows. All of the dishes that look well executed are the dishes that he pulls out that were prepared beforehand, most likely by the behind the scenes kitchen staff at TVFN. All the stuff that he actually prepares and garnishes for the camera comes out pretty sloppy and oftentimes just plain over the top. He can take a perfect dish and then ruin it by slamming additions onto it endlessly.

Oh well, thank goodness we have so many better shows to choose from. At the top of my list would be Jacques Pepin’s new show Fast Food My Way. Ever since I took classes with Jacques way back in the 90’s I’ve been convinced that Jacques is the absolute most knowledgeable guy in the world when it comes to all things cooking related. He’s had lots of cooking shows through the years, but FFMW really showcases his knowledge better than anything he’s done before. Seems that every episode he drops at least one gem of a tip or technique that is truly useful. For example, since the world has become more carb-conscious, one of his more recent innovations is that for most recipes that call for bread crumbs, he now uses fresh bread to make them instead of the traditionally recommended day-old stale bread. The difference is that fresh bread yields significantly more volume when run through a food processor than bread that is older and drier. The difference is substantial, something on the order of about six to one. Great tip. And I’m telling ya, he gives you something great like that during every show.

Another favorite show of mine is Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter. Having had the greatest dining experience of my life at Charlie Trotters in Chicago, I was compelled to tune into his show because I really wanted to learn what he does that elevates his food to that sublime level. He doesn’t trick up his food by using excess butter or bacon or what have you. His food tastes of their ingredients, but he manages to raise the flavor of those ingredients to glorious heights. He makes sauces out of vegetables which are as intensely flavorful as any veal demi glace based sauce you’ve ever had. And if you watch Kitchen Sessions, you’ll get a glimpse of why and how. Attention to detail is not just a catch phrase for him; he really lives it. Whether he’s sauteeing something or he’s just wiping down his cutting board, he is absolutely focused on the task at hand and trying to do it to the best of his ability. He says he even sweeps the floor that way. I’d say that is a bit over the top except that I’ve tasted the results of being that meticulous, and it probably cannot be reproduced by anything less. The service at Charlie Trotters is certainly equal to the exceptional food, and that is quite an accomplishment. Watch the show if you can, the man is a truly elite chef.