Cooking Show Rant

High Cheese

Saucier
I found something that really irritates me watching various cooking shows, and it can happen on any show with any person. :lol: Probably more my OCD kicking in than anything but...

I can't stand it when someone is cooking something, say sauteing onions and some of the onions catch on the spatula :unsure: and they just keep cooking away. I'm thinking "YO! You're gonna have raw onions mixed in with cooked ones!" :nono1:

I become fixated on the food laying on the spatula I loose all interest in the show.

:mrgreen:
 

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
oh-oh . . . .

I do that on purpose to have some texture variation in for example 'shrooms&onions heaped on me steak . . . .
 

Sass Muffin

Coffee Queen ☕
Gold Site Supporter
I've been annoyed by similar, Cheese.. it's like---tap the spatula on the side of the pan or scrape it already! lol
 

Lefty

Yank
Paula pisses me off when she talks and you can see the spit going into the food. She also double dips her spoon. YUK!
 

Ian M.

New member
Yep, I've frequently seen Paula do that and you're right, it's a major league YUK!! Sure hope she never does that at her restaurant. Makes me kind of hesitant to ever eat there..............................

Ian :agree:
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Boy, some folks are really picky. It's a feaking TV show, not a state dinner for world leaders. If you're blessed to still have your Mom or Grandma still around, ask them if they dressed in surgical garb (face mask and all) and scrubbed in to make food for your family. Did they wash the testing spoon after each use and douse it with a bleach solution? If you're grossed out by a little spit (do you kiss anyone?? Dare I ask French?), think about when your Mom or Grandma changed your cloth diapers and washed them out before making dinner. Were they wearing industrial grade rubber gloves and following proper sanitation methods after doing so? And what about every relative whose food you ate? Did you inspect their kitchen and test them on their sanitation methods? Did you ask if they washed their hands after using the bathroom? Ever see Aunt (insert name here) pick her nose while kneading bread dough?

THERE!!! Now a little uncooked onion and spittle doesn't seem so bad. If you want to get irritated, think about all the cancer research that has not been done due to lack of funding. And about people who REALLY don't know where their next meal is coming from. Or old people sitting alone in their homes with nobody to visit them or make them a good meal. Or the Dad or Mom who loses his/her job and doesn't know how they're going to feed the family and keep their home. Need I go on? Come on folks, let's focus on the things that are really important, and not think ourselves to be so special as to be offended by the actions of imperfect people. What's the next step, file suit for being offended? Sorry, that one has been taken already, so you can't be that special. :flowers:

Signed,

Joseph, Chief Sinner and least perfect.
 

High Cheese

Saucier
Wow, from onions to cancer, way to stay on topic.

BTW, this type of thread is called "Forum Content" so if you take it literally, you may as well remove 99% of the crap posted on forums.

And FWIW, grandma's spit is alot different from some stranger. I'm sure you wouldn't want sous chef Miguel licking the spoons at a restaurant you frequent.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Yeah, Joe, really. It's perfectly okay for anyone to post a pet peeve of theirs any time (as long as the TOS are not violated, natch) without having to feel guilty about all the other troubles in the world.

In the same vein as HC's gripe, one thing that irritates me about cooking shows is the fact that they sometimes don't scrape the bottom of a bowl or pan when they are combining ingredients, leaving stuff in there!! I yell at the TV, "Hey, there's more to go - you're wasting it!"

LOL!

Lee
 

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
just a small interjection . . .

I had an extremely small "career" presenting the news on closed circuit TV during a military stint. I can vouch for the fact that making it all come off smoothly on the tube and getting all the other misc. details "right" is not as easy as one might think.

in my stint, there were no "do overs" - it was live. "nerves" is an issue - it did get 'easier' with time - learning to gracefully 'recover' from a bobble got easier, but I have no question about (a) looking non-flustered (b) presenting the recipes (c) the ingredients (d) the technique (e) the procedure (f) what the inexperienced may expect (g) what it looks like in the end . . . . etc etc is an order of some tallness.

frankly I don't know of a single home cook that dons gloves for food prep. well, mega-million Scoville hot peppers aside....

in a commercial kitchen - laws vary - but when was the last Typhoid Mary event?
cleanliness, hygiene, "good practices" all apply in any kitchen - but if I'm cooking up a pot of chile, yeah I double dip the spoon - more than once. but I do ditch the raw meat platter in the sink.

if I'm contagious, DW is gonna know about it - and likely not due to anything happening in the kitchen, we have other ways of establishing contagion . . . hence I don't have a lot of issues with TV personalities and their practices - they are not making NSF training films.

indeed I have QSis's reaction to the half-hearted scrape&dump - but WAIT there's more in the bowl - bit more frugal in that regard - but as my rant started out - TV is not real life.
 

Ian M.

New member
Hmmm! Appears someone got up on the wrong side of the spoon today!

I work in a commercial kitchen and let me tell you, people are required to wear plastic gloves to handle all food items there. Hand washing after pit stops is required and if you have a cold, sneezing and coughing, I've seen employees get sent home until they're recovered. Most restaurants are pretty "picky" about that sort of thing. In all fairness, I do believe that people who make their living plying their trade on public tv are sort of roll models and the great unwashed rather expect them to use the best possible practices when preparing something on a cooking show. Yeah, they're just human like the rest of us but try and tell people like Paula Deen, Bobby Flay and Emeril that they're "just human" and see what they think of that assessment!

Ian :ohmy:
 

Squirrel

Mess Cook
Site Supporter
I've seen Paula do that spit thing in the food. I'm just not a big fan of hers. She's as fake as my blonde highlights. I guess the one thing that gets me is all her constant sexual innuendos. There's just something about hearing a grandmother say, "I'm gonna rub my meat ya'll!" that makes me want to curl up in a fetal position and hide in the corner. :dizzy:
 

Doc

Administrator
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
I've seen Paula do that spit thing in the food. I'm just not a big fan of hers. She's as fake as my blonde highlights. I guess the one thing that gets me is all her constant sexual innuendos. There's just something about hearing a grandmother say, "I'm gonna rub my meat ya'll!" that makes me want to curl up in a fetal position and hide in the corner. :dizzy:
You have a way with words Cheryl. I love it, and agree. :thumb: :yum: :yum:
 
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