Posted on 02/10/2012 7:02:29 AM PST by iowamark
TV’s smartest chef, Alton Brown, is ending his blockbuster show after more than a decade.
More than 250 episodes later, Brown has achieved his goal of tutoring the masses, introducing terms like “hygroscopic,” “Maillard reaction,” and “polyphenol oxidase” into the vocabulary of the average home cook. He was the first TV food personality to get cerebral about groceries, helping viewers get to know the properties of ingredients and how best to manipulate them for maximum taste. (What other chef would use Tinkertoys to explain sugar crystallization?)
Brown and his wife, DeAnna, built the Good Eats empire from scratch, shooting the first two episodes them-selves on 16mm film in 1997, but it wasn’t until Kodak put clips of the pilot on its website (the company wanted to showcase what the film could do) that people began to take notice. It took two years, but Food Network picked up the show in 1999.
From there, the show covered every-thing from artichokes to crawfish to yogurt. It spawned a series of cookbooks, nabbing James Beard and Peabody awards along the way for its unique take on food. Each episode focused on a single ingredient or dish—a feature that allowed Brown to delve into history and nutritional information. “Good Eats was a game changer,” says Bob Tuschman, senior vice president of Food Network’s programming. “It expanded the possibilities, in both form and content, of what a food show could be.”
The last Good Eats will air Feb. 10, concluding with a celebration of dark chocolate, so that its bespectacled host can pursue other projects with the channel that made him famous.
The final show, Brown promises, will be the best yet. “We’re not going out with a whimper,” he says. “We pulled out all the stops.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
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Feb 10, 2012
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Hands down, the best cooking show of all time.
He won’t be able to top this, but I’m hoping his future efforts are better than Feasting on Asphalt.
I love AB. His shows have been so fantastic, educational and entertaining.
Sad to see it end, yippee! for reruns.
I loved the show, the characters, and the story the show told about food, especially why to do certain things. I use multiple recipes and techniques I learned from Good Eats. AB is a talented man.
We learned a lot from AB. Fried chicken? His way. Brining turkey? Who knew? His way.
It wasn’t just what he cooked but the science behind it so you could use it in other recipes and styles.
I still remember his “Haggis” skit. “Eat it or get the back of me hand!” Too funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuixJaAia84
Wonderful show. My favorite episode was the one Alton did about coffee and how to brew it. He said using less coffee and more water is what makes the brew bitter, which is the opposite of what most folks think.
Signed, someone who likes her coffee STRONG. :)
“.... chili...”
“With a -”
“SHUT IT!!”
It’s been a long time since I watched FN regularly, but I used to really enjoy Good Eats. I watched it a lot when I decided I needed to expand my cooking repertoire beyond stuff in cans and boxes.
I wonder if Alton will follow in the footsteps of Sara Moulton and Ming Tsai and move over to public television...
Well done, Mr. Brown. Well done.
The most informative show on Food Network IMO. They need more shows like that and fewer shows where we just watch somebody else eat.
2012 already killed 2 of my favorites shows - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and now Good Eats...
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