Melissa D’Arabian’s Food Network Premiere – I Want More!

It’s Sunday at 12:15 PM. I’m watching Sandra Lee make a spinach fritatta. It looks so-so, but the previous recipe, a sausage and mushroom bread pudding muffin, was something I might try.

I’ve already eaten my brunch – a Cajun-style omelet with crawfish, onions, sausage, bacon, and spicy red potato chunky hash browns, all topped with cheddar jack, salsa, and a dash of two different hot sauces. The Admiral has just tried another FN recipe: pumpernickel toast, lightly buttered and topped with bacon and orange marmelade. My omelet was wonderful as usual, and I tried a bite of her sandwich – it was better than I’d imagined.

I’ve just learned that the premiere of Melissa D’Arabian’s new show, Ten Dollar Dinners, is next – I’m going to watch. Of all the contestants, I liked her best, though I admit to also liking the somewhat unpopular Debbie because of her Korean background. I’ve decided to blog the show more or less live.

Meanwhile, Sandra is doing something with poached eggs, which has given me an idea: Take the mushroom and sausage bread pudding muffin she made a few minutes ago, slice it in half, and top it with a poached egg and Hollandaise. Now you’re talking! I’m getting hungry all over again just thinking about it.

Now some British guy is hawking a gadget called the Titan Peeler, a supposedly improved version of the old peeler tool. I always marvel at how these gizmos are geared towards people who can’t cook. These devices save neither time nor money and are no substitute for basic knife skills. For those with limited storage space, such useless toys take up valuable room and contribute to clutter. Just give me a good, sharp set of knives any day!

My wait is over: the intro is now on for Ten Dollar Meals. It has great photos and good dialog about her days spent in France. The featured item is a potato bacon tort. My interest is piqued on two points: the tort photographed well, and it has bacon.

The show opens with dessert prep. She’s making an applesauce granita and she seems both nervous and rushed. She does, however, make the point that the dessert is extremely simple and quick to make. She pops it into the freezer to solidify and moves on to the next thing.

The first step of the potato and bacon tort is to render the bacon. She is more smooth here and mentions that she keeps her bacon in the freezer, cutting off strips against the slice as needed. This is useful if you only add bacon as a flavoring in another recipe, but not so good if you want to fry it in strip form – it would have to defrost first. Good to know, though.

Next, she tells a story about how she got the recipe for her pie crust. It seems it was presented to her by her French mother-in-law with some amount of ceremony just prior to her wedding. The story is interesting but there seems to be no real punch line, so the ending falls flat.

The technical demonstration of making the pie crust mixture goes well, however. Melissa talks about the importance of very cold butter and a quick trip throught the food processor, a point upon which she differs from her mother-in-law. It seems simple enough, even to me.

Back from break, and she actually rolls out the crust. I don’t bake much and have never made a pie crust, but I am suddenly filled with confidence to try this. Her presentation could be just a bit more polished, but she’s making it seem doable by mere mortals such as myself.

She finishes the tort prep with the potatoes, bacon, sauce, and shredded cheese, and pops it into the oven. I find myself wishing she’d have spent just another moment on pinching the pie crust. I would have enjoyed seeing a bit of detail on that.

The tickler at the end of the segment is about a secret vinagrette recipe from a Parisian cafe owner. At the show opener she also referred to a secret pie crust recipe, so I think she has overused the “secret recipe” reference, however, and it comes off a bit forced.

Back from the break, and she’s making the vinagrette. But I am now pleasantly surprised! The vinagrette looks amazing and the secret ingredient is unexpected: soy sauce. It’s not just some shaken up oil and vinegar, but seems more rich and complex than what I had thought. I would try this, too.

We’re back for the plating and tasting. The tort looks great! The salad itself could be from a bag, though there’s nothing wrong with that – I do it all the time. Melissa definitely “sells” her meal with appropriately ecstatic looks of joy during the tasting.

She fluffs the granita, spoons some into a small dish and adds the maple syrup yogurt sauce. It looks delicious. She tells a story of testing a number of desserts with her family and how they liked this best, and she is amazed because it takes literally two minutes to prepare – perfect for a busy cook.

So how did she do? Well, there were clearly some jitters in evidence. Who wouldn’t be nervous shooting the premiere episode of their own show? Regardless, she delivered. The food looked good, there were plently of useful tips, and I was inspired to try something out of my comfort zone, which is exactly what I expect from a FN cooking show.

FWIW, while I’ve been translating my notes, I’ve also been watching a bit of Big Daddy’s House, hosted by last years NFNS winner, Aaron McCargo, Jr. What a contrast! Aaron mumbles his way through his show while making such pedestrian fare as fried porkchops and chicken chili. He has no star power whatsoever.

Melissa D’Arabian is definitely worthy of the title Next Food Network Star, and I look forward to watching her develop her niche at FN. You go, girl!

Food Network – Who I Like, And Who I Don’t

As I’ve confessed before, I’m a huge Food Network Fan. Well, go figure, since I’m a huge food fan. And I don’t mean huge in just the metaphorical sense, either. It’s taken years of effort to get a body like mine. Really.

And I’ve learned so much by watching, too: How to properly season a dish. Tasting your food as you cook. The importance of high heat, when needed. Knife skills. The ease and satisfaction of cooking with fresh ingredients.

So who taught me?

• Alton Brown. My all-time Food Network favorite. Alton is a food genius, hugely entertaining to watch, and appeals to me personally with his scientific approach to food. I owe my almost-but-not-really-award-winning ribs recipe to Alton. Iron Chef America would be completely boring without him, too.
  

• Giada De Laurentis. Her innovative take on Italian cuisine never fails to inspire me. I cannot count the number of times I’ve watched her shows and then gone shopping to make the same dish for dinner that night!
  

• Ina Garten. Ina’s simple yet elegant style resonates with me. Not every dish rings my bell, but her shows always get me thinking in new ways, and she gets extra points for knowing every Gay man in the Hamptons.
  

• Anne Burrell. Though Anne has been on Food Network for a couple of years as part of the Mario Batali team for Iron Chef America, her new show fills a notable gap in the FN lineup for me: More insight into the professional chef world. Her techniques and shortcuts are always useful, and her commentary is fresh without being too cutesy.
  

• Guy Fieri. I like Guy a lot. Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives is a fun show featuring some interesting and quirky places, and with Guy’s Big Bite, he makes food that appeals to my dark side (bad for you, but oh so tasty). And he drives a cool ’68 Camaro, too!

Honorable Mentions – These folks are fun to watch, too!

• Bobby Flay. I used to think Bobby was a pompous jerk, but after watching a few dozen Throwdown episodes I’ve decided he’s a nice guy after all. Why? He’s a good loser.
  

• Duff. I’m not much of a baker and his show doesn’t really “teach”, but he and his friends are fun to watch.
  

• The Neely’s. Nice folks who seem to genuinely love each other and their food. I haven’t picked up much, but I still watch.
  

• Robert Irvine. Dinner Impossible gives me another look into professional kitchens, for which I have a fascination. He can be a bit over the top, but still fun.
  

• Sunny Anderson. I’ve watched Cooking For Real a couple if times and found it informative and enjoyable. She is warm, pleasant, and engaging.

And here are my votes for the worst:

• Aaron McCargo, Jr.. He’s just not interesting and doesn’t inspire confidence. Boooring.
  

• Aida Mollenkamp. The Ask Aida format has no appeal for me. If I wanted to watch people stare at computer screens, I’d go back to the office. Besides, I too have the world’s greatest research tool at my fingertips: The Internet. Who is she talking to, Luddites? Get a browser, people!
  

• Rachel Ray. She just seems to have jumped the shark from over-exposure. Thirty Minute Meals haven’t done all that much for me (Yes – I tried one), and I think she’s done.
  

• Marc Summers. Unwrapped can be fun to watch, but Marc Summers does not make a good host. He seems over-rehearsed and has cliche dialog. I just wanted to scream when he hosted the finale of Next Food Network Star a season or two ago – it was just bloody awful!
  

• Tyler Florence. The clear winner for Worst Food Network star. He comes off simultaneously as both pompous and disengaged, and seemed downright rude during the most recent Next Food Network Star episode, wherein he “helped” the constestants do a 30 second meal tip. Also, did you catch that none of the contestants seemed overly happy to see him, unlike with other FN personalities? This guy should go.