Old School PBS Cooking Shows

I wonder how that gay sexual harassment suit turned out against him.

He had to pay a large settlement if I remember correctly. I was at a bookstore not long after, and all of The Frugal Gourmet cookbooks were in the remainder pile.

Remember the Galloping Gourmet? He was so queer...in more ways than one.

My favorite Gourmet was the Galloping one. He was also the Guzzling Gourmet!

I miss the good old days of PBS cooking shows when cooking specific recipes and learning techniques was the norm. Used to live watching the Frugal Gourmet l, Yan Can Cook, and Ciao Italia. PBS still has a few like this, including one on Mexican cuisine and one on Greek. Don’t remember names of eight though.

Paul Prudhomme had a show, It was the first time I learned of New Orleans cuisine. All I remember is that he was so heavy, he scooted around the kitchen on a bar stool fitted with wheels. He never stood up.

He died.

[quote]I wonder how that gay sexual harassment suit turned out against him.

In 1997, seven men filed a civil lawsuit against Smith, charging him with sexual abuse. Six alleged that they were molested as teenagers in the 1970s while working at the Chaplain's Pantry in Tacoma; the seventh claimed that he was assaulted in 1992, at age 14, after Smith picked him up as a hitchhiker. The group claimed they had repressed memories, that had only recently surfaced. The incident was at the beginning of the short-lived repressed memory movement, in which people made allegations, usually of sexual molestation, that they had only recently remembered, sometimes with the aid of a therapist. Smith denied the allegations, and no criminal charges were filed, but he and his insurers, against his wishes, settled the cases for an undisclosed amount in 1998, believing a settlement was cheaper than litigation.The litigation ended his television career, though he continued his writing and charitable work.

Remember when Emeril Lagasse was such a big deal he was given his own sitcom playing himself? It co-starred Robert Urich and also an up-and-coming Sherri Shepherd, who got to say things like, "One thing's for sure: America really does love this man!"

Excuse me, but I don’t think Emeril was on PBS.

As I recall, one of those shows had a resident twink.

Yan Can Cook had a lot of helpful tips, and the dishes always came together really quickly. Last time I checked the episodes weren’t available on streaming.

Anyone who saw Jeff Smith's wife knew he was 'mo.

Remember Jeff Smith's assistant Chef Craig Wollman?

I just googled, R14. I forgot about that guy. He was a cutey.

l liked Nathalie Dupree's Southern Cooking shows.

I liked that Mennonite woman with the quilts.

She came on right after Nathalie, r17. Marcia Adams?

[quote] The group claimed they had repressed memories, that had only recently surfaced. The incident was at the beginning of the short-lived repressed memory movement, in which people made allegations, usually of sexual molestation, that they had only recently remembered, sometimes with the aid of a therapist

#JustRemembered #MeToo

Puleeze.

Jacques Pépin and Today’s Gourmet was good.

How about Ming Tsai? Went to Yale, found his calling as a tv chef doing a kind of fusion thing. He was pretty cute, but looks to have porked out a bit over the years (nowhere near Prudhomme territory, fortunately).

The Older School PBS:

Julia Child, The French Chef

r5 Ciao Italia is still in production.

Jacques Pepin was wonderful, but I couldn't bear to watch the show he shared with his dumb clod American daughter.

I always liked Nattily Depraved, also that Louisiana cook Justin Wilson, who would drive today's viewers crazy. He would wipe his nose with a hankie in his back pocket.

Justin taught me how to make perfect rice. "Water to the first knuckle over..."

I want to like Justin Wilson, but he is simply too long-winded. There's telling an anecdote and then there's completely going off the rails into a story (and not cooking meanwhile).

I stopped liking Jeff Smith even before the allegations came out. Reason: too condescending.

Craig looked like Andrew McCarthy of the Brat Pack.

One reason for alleged repressed memories may have been to get around the statute of limitations, which was tolled during the time your memory was repressed (for that jurisdiction at least).

R21 I really like Ming Tsai. Find him cute even with the extra weight. Smart and interesting

The Cajun Chef taught me how to eyeball measure a teaspoon of salt in my hand. I was too young enjoy Julia Child in her TV prime and now her shows are really difficult to find.

R29 I loved when he brought his parents on the show. His mum was adorable. I thought he was a Harvard bloke all this time, surprised it's Yale.

I once witnessed Jeff Smith do something just over the edge of appropriate with a waiter, at an upscale restaurant. I was a huge fan of his until that moment, when I realized he was a creep.

Does anyone remember a basic cable chef from the 80s who looked a bit like Mike Huckabee? I think his name was David something and his recipes were pretty basic but he tried to sell them as fancier with a florid, Moira Rose-esque vocabulary. My dad and I would watch him just to laugh at his purple prose. He might have been on TNT or USA or even CBN or whatever Pat Robertson’s channel became. Ring a bell?

R15 He is in partnership with another businessman in the state of Washington where they operate a distillery. His photos indicate that time has not been kind to him.

I can’t understand half of Justin Wilson’s video with that Cajun accent. And the amount of salt he uses is staggering! (at the 10:30 mark). He just pours it on from the big container.

I can’t tell what kind of peppers he’s using, either, not that I’m going to make this dish. I got a kick out of the video, thanks r25.

Oh, y'all need to watch the Great Chefs Of The World. All episodes are free on YouTube. I love the narrator's smooth jazz voice!

I checked out one episode of r36's Great Chefs of the World. I had to hear what a "smooth jazz voice" sounded like. It was a woman doing the narration, and she didn't sound like any kind of jazz at all. More "Nun #7" in The Sound of Music.

Can we keep this to PBS? Thx!

Here's Julia making Coq au Vin in 1964. You may need to be a PBS subscriber for it to play. The important points: she does not marinate the chicken; she gives "coq" the correct French pronunciation (as opposed to Ina's using the English word for "erect penis").

[quote]Can we keep this to PBS? Thx!

Then the Swedish Chef counts!