Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Alton Brown

I have to say I am a big fan of Alton Brown. His program Good Eats has expanded what I do in the kitchen and how.

What he has inspired us to do:

  • No unitaskers - this means no ultra specialized tools
  • Get our spices whole and grind them - we also date them
  • Buy whole tenderloins and break them down
  • Bought push measuring cups for such things a sour cream, honey, peanut butter and other gooey ingredients
  • Tried some more techniques - Stephen watched the episode Choux Shine to learn how to make pas de choux.

His program is an inspiration to people that are interested in understanding their food and are not interested in doing recipes by rote. You gain a deeper understanding of the technique or ingredient and thereby are better able to apply them in your cooking. It is a show for interested amateur cooks.

I have almost all the episodes of the show on DVD and watch them when I need to know how to use an ingredient or technique. The visual is important because cooking is such a visual and tactile process and Alton makes it real and accessible with what you should have on hand in your kitchen.

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