With upwards of three dozen chefs appearing on PBS, the Food Network and beyond, TV's cooking shows are winning over bushels of couch potatoes. True, many viewers will never do anything more culinary than snarf takeout on the sofa. But those who do hit the kitchen ought to know whether the TV dinners are as good as they look. To taste-test six of the most popular shows, PEOPLE correspondent Cynthia Wang gathered four discriminating palates: Daniel Boulud, chef at New York City's revered Daniel; Anne Rosenzweig, chef at New York's Lobster Club; and Tim and Nina Zagat, the couple behind the restaurant-rating Zagat surveys.
They met recently at Manhattan's French Culinary Institute to critique the shows and sample dishes chosen and prepared exactly à la tube by Peter Sheehy, a graduate of Paris's Ritz-Es-coffier cooking school, and assistant Leticia Benzaquen. (Recipes are online at www.people.com/recipes.) Who sizzled—and who fizzled? Read on.
Two Fat Ladies
Roast Meat Loaf
[½ star]
What's their story?
Bios
Jennifer Paterson, 70, spent 15 years whipping up weekly literary lunches at the London magazine The Spectator. Clarissa Dickson Wright, 51, is a former lawyer, caterer and cookbook publisher. Two Fat Ladies, an extra-large hit on British television, airs on the Food Network at 7 p.m. ET Saturdays and Sundays.
Vibe
Upper-crust and cholesterol-loving. Roaring to locations on a Triumph motorcycle (Paterson) and sidecar (Dickson Wright), the plummy-accented ladies sling butter and cream with impunity.
Key phrases
"Brobdingnag," "Smashing!"
Tip
Hand-mushing ground meat is fine, even (apparently) while wearing rings.
Rating their act
Rosenzweig deems the eccentric ladies "refreshing" despite "blatant technique mistakes." Tim Zagat finds them "revolting."
How the grub?
"It's very British," offers Rosenzweig of the meat loaf, made with ground meats plus chicken liver, sausage and bacon. "Yeah," cracks Tim Zagat, "English in the old-fashioned sense, when English food was a bad joke." Boulud piles on: "It almost tastes like Communist cooking." Sheehy says the recipe was easy enough. But "whether it tastes good," he adds, "is debatable."
Jacques Pépin
Bread and Onion Soup
[3½ stars]
What's his story?
Bio
A PBS veteran, French-born Pepin, 62, was personal chef to Charles de Gaulle; he wrote the cooking-school bibles La Technique and La Méthode and won two James Beard awards for his cooking shows. In the series we screened, Jacques Pépin's Kitchen: Cooking with Claudine (weekends on PBS stations; check local listings), he guides his 30-year-old daughter through French classics.
Vibe
Patient. Dubbed "the Mr. Chips of television cooking teachers" by Chicago Tribune food critic William Rice, Pépin is tender with the less skilled Claudine. His Gallic good looks—and an accent that can make even the word crouton sound seductive—don't hurt either.
Key phrase
Jacques: "Onions, zees ees zee truffle of zee poor people, you know?"
Tip
To remove a chicken leg easily, hold the chicken aloft by the leg while cutting.
Rating his act
"He teaches so well," gushes Boulud. "He's very straightforward." Adds Tim Zagat: "Whoever does his nails is very talented." Rosenzweig likes Claudine: "She's not really adept, and that makes cooking seem more approachable."
How's the grub?
The soup, made with caramelized onions and chicken stock poured over toasted bread, is a hit. Rosenzweig calls it "a fabulous home-cooking recipe." Nina Zagat quibbles that it "needs more pepper."
Martha stewart
Lemon Squares
[½ star]
What's her story?
Bio
A caterer who rose to domestic-doyenne fame with her megapopular 1982 book Entertaining, Stewart, 56, oversees a growing empire, including a monthly magazine (distributed and partly owned by Time Inc., which also publishes PEOPLE), a line of Kmart bed, bath and kitchen products and the Emmy-winning syndicated TV show Martha Stewart Living (check local listings).
Vibe
Calm, cool and collected. In a studio kitchen, Stewart (who also advises on decorating and gardening) gives precise instructions with an easygoing but somewhat clipped delivery.
Key phrase
"I'm very particular about my lemon squares."
Tip
Knead crust into pan with your knuckles to smooth it gently into the corners.
Rating her act
"She is smooth, low-key; I'm almost falling asleep," complains Tim Zagat. "It's a show about a figure who is selling an image," says Boulud. Quips Zagat: "The show makes you want to go to her hairdresser."
How's the grub?
Uh, whoops. Despite three attempts, Sheehy and Benzaquen, a pastry specialist, can't get the crust to solidify or the lemon curd to jell. Experimentation reveals one solution: Chilling helps firm the dough. "I don't understand her recipe," Sheehy explains to the panel, who were underwhelmed by the overly mushy morsels.
EMERIL LAGASSE
Fish Beignets
[4 stars]
What's his story?
Bio
The owner-chef of Emeril's and NOLA in New Orleans, Lagasse, 38, wrote the bestselling Louisiana Real & Rustic cookbook and is the Food Network's best-known star and biggest cheerleader. The Massachusetts-reared chef, whose own roots are Portuguese, creates Cajun-and Creole-inspired chow on The Essence of Emeril and the hour-long Emeril Live (which we screened; it airs daily at 9 p.m. ET).
Vibe
Hammy. In front of a whooping, cheering studio crowd, Lagasse shakes onlookers' hands like Jay Leno, then cooks with gusto, gleefully tossing around handfuls of spices. Live musicians play during breaks; the worshipful audience, some seated at the counter to taste the dishes and sip microbrewery beers, goes wild at his suggestion to "add about 40 cloves of garlic."
Key phrases
"Bam!" (when adding spices). "We're gonna kick it up a notch!"
Tip
When grilling food on wooden skewers, fill a spray bottle with water and spritz to extinguish any flare-ups.
Caveat
Emeril's Essence, a Creole spice mix he sells via mail order, is a ubiquitous ingredient—but you can make your own from the recipe printed on the Food Network's Web site (www.foodtv.com).
Rating his act
"He's a guy next door who can really cook," says Nina Zagat, who chides Lagasse for not giving ingredient quantities. "He turns people on about food," says Tim Zagat. Boulud: "Really energizing."
How's the grub?
Bam! The deep-fried fish and rock-shrimp fritters score. "Fabulous," applauds Boulud. "It comes from Louisiana, right on the bayou!" Sheehy isn't surprised: "People love fried food. Even chefs."
Too Hot Tamales
Soba Noodles with Tofu
[3½ stars]
What's their story?
Bios
Chefs Susan Feniger, 45, and Mary Sue Milliken, 40, run Santa Monica's Border Grill and have written four cookbooks. Branching out from their Latin-accented Too Hot Tamales show, the Tamales go global on their Tamales World Tour (weekdays at 11:30 a.m. ET on the Food Network).
Vibe
Saucy. Business partners since 1981 and not above the occasional food fight, the Tamales banter playfully and pepper each other with gentle teasing as they split the food-preparation duties. The goofy opening sequence shows them zipping around the world in a cartoon spaceship. The Tamales diligently explain unfamiliar ingredients, which they like to use.
Key phrases
Feniger and Milliken mention Border Grill and L.A.'s City eatery, which they sold in 1994, a lot.
Tip
To create a nifty pasta square, lift a bunch of cold noodles out of a bowl of ice water with a chopstick. Drape noodles over the chopstick in a tight row; fold into a square shape atop a lettuce leaf.
Rating their act
"They're attractive, clear, fun and articulate," lauds Tim Zagat. Boulud finds them dull compared with Lagasse: "There's no commotion, or even emotion."
How's the grub?
The panel slurps up the spicy tofu-topped Japanese buckwheat noodles. "This recipe makes good torn," exclaims Rosenzweig, not a bean-curd buff. "Anyone could make that at home," Sheehy says approvingly.
Martin Yan
Grilled Sesame Beef
[3 stars]
What's his story?
Bio
Chinese-born Yan, 49, has won two James Beard awards for his Yan Can Cook series (Saturdays on PBS stations; check local listings) and written 12 cookbooks. A knife virtuoso, he can bone a chicken in less than 20 seconds.
Vibe
Part travelogue. In an episode about the Japanese specialty Kobe beef, Yan visits Japan to see the "very spoiled cows" that guzzle beer and get massages. Back home, the thickly accented, pun-prone chef slices and dices with blinding speed.
Key phrase
"I am having a lot of fun because it smells so good in here!"
Tip
Cut beef at a sharp angle for big, tender slices.
Rating his act
"He's very into it," says Nina Zagat, imitating Yan's gleeful "Mmmm!" Rosenzweig: "His enthusiasm makes up for his occasional lack of clarity."
How the grub?
"Great!" says Tim Zagat; other judges agree. But Sheehy docks Yan for not giving ingredient quantities or alternatives to the hard-to-find Kobe beef. (Yan's cookbook suggests rib-eye or New York strip steak.)
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