<p>After having had the misfortune of HAVING to watch a few episodes of Emeril on the Food Network, I am left wondering how this babbling, barely literate, and silly TV persona became successful? </p>
<p>I assume that a partial answer might be found when watching the live audience on his Emeril Live. All the oohs and aahs at the mere mention of garlic and booze and the wide smiles responding to Emeril’s silly noises do speak volume about what some expect from such show. </p>
<p>But, what about the cooking? It is obvious that the food cooked on the show would not be edible without the few 'real" chefs who work in the backroom and substitute the mess prepared by Emeril. Almost everything that is cooked in front of the audience looks terrible and his recipes make as much sense as his ridiculous attempts to use foreign words. </p>
<p>Was he always that bad? Was he ever able to utter a complete or coherent sentence?</p>
<p>I think viewers (like myself) feel he is just a genuinely nice guy. My kids and I have watched his show for years, but we’ve never made any of his recipes. I think cooking shows in general are relaxing to watch, and Emeril is a man of humble background with some good “sound bites” and a good jazz band.</p>
<p>Actually, he is a really smart guy, and a fine musician (had a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory). Put in a long apprenticeship in France. I think he is an extension of the Julia Child thing, and goes a bit overboard with the poor working-class Portuguese background - which is, in fact, what sells it.</p>
<p>The Essence of Emeril – the show before he was “Emeril”, no studio audience, no yelling, was a legitimate gem and he struck me as a good (not great) chef who had a genuine, modest, nice guy appeal. </p>
<p>I haven’t been able to watch him since then.</p>
<p>He’s a little over the top for me and I don’t watch him much but I agree that the secret of his appeal is that he seems to <em>genuinely</em> care about other people. He’s wonderful with the audience and somehow makes everyone feel as if they are his good and close friend. I imagine there are some decent recipes mixed in there somewhere.</p>
<p>I watch the program from time to time. He strikes me as just a tad arrogant, but I’ve still learned some tricks from him. One thing I like is that he uses real food (once alive / growing in the ground rather than laboratory products–artificial fats and such).</p>
<p>And I dealt for years with reluctant writing students who responded to my attempts at revision lessons with “looks fine to me, what’s wrong with it?” Now when I give back a first draft and say it’s time to “kick it up a notch,” they get it.</p>
<p>Emeril’s show is designed to be an entertainment show, not a cooking show per se.</p>
<p>However, I think he is a good and knowledgeable cook. He built his repuation during seven years at a legendary N’Awlins restaurant, Commander’s Palace, where he replaced Paul Prudhomme.</p>
<p>Emeril covers a lot of culinary ground on his show. I occasionally look up one of his Food Network recipes and I’ve never come across one that was far off the mark. He knows his stuff and applies it to food that appeals to a broad range of tastes. His show is really geared to introducing concepts, techniques, and ingrediants – kind of like a Cooking 101 survey course. So his Food Network competition is more along the lines of Rachael Ray than more hard-core specialty chefs like Flay or Mario Batalo. I don’t personally like Emeril’s show – I prefer more hard core cooking and less entertainment when I watch Food Network. Emeril doesn’t do much that I don’t already know. However, I can’t knock his cooking and I think his would be quite valuable to beginning cooks.</p>
<p>Now, if you want a serious cookbook, buy Paul Prudhomme’s “Louisiana Kitchen”. That’s a PhD course in recipes, techniques, and flavors. One of the best cookbooks ever written. His “Seasoned America” with regional specialties is also fantastic – best New England Clam Chowder recipe in the world.</p>
<p>Hee, one of Emeril’s cousins is a professor at MIT (who bears a physical resemblance to his cousin). My fiance didn’t particularly care for the latter’s teaching style, and hence can’t bring himself to watch the former’s show. :)</p>
<p>I enjoy most of the people on the food network, I can even tolerate RR for the most part. Emeril can teach you a thing or two, you just have to get over your own bias about someone’s cultural background. The man’s not stupid, nor is he a poor cook. People enjoy him because he enjoys food. If he gives you a tip that makes your food better excellent. </p>
<p>Since I don’t clean, I do all my household’s cooking and I have found the network to be a great source of ideas and methods to improve my family’s meals. Alton Brown is my favorite, still love Jamie Oliver, Mario’s fantastic and several others. Giaada is the one woman I would marry if I was a widower. </p>
<p>The gal from new england is the only one I have a hard time watching as if you use enough butter or fats, just about anything will taste good. I still love her oven fried chicken reciepe… DEEP fry for 15 minutes and finish in the oven… </p>
<p>But I even learn a thing or two from her as well. So let’s argue over politics not food, it’s too sensitive a subject for me.</p>
<p>Have you ever[blink]EATS[/blink] in a ‘diner’ the old fashion, classical diner? IMO the short order cook is a Picasso. Nothing elaborate or fancy but simple and powerful. Nowaday, the SoC prepares food much like a taco, even at my local Korean teriyaki house. Oh,Well.</p>
<p>I enjoy Mario. But, the man on the Food Network is Bobby Flay. The show he did with him standing behind a counter cooking was fantastic in its explanation of techniques. His blender vinaigrette sauces, his salsas, sauteeing to get the perfect sear and then finishing in the oven, etc. </p>
<p>If you are a fairly skilled cook and can translate to actual practice, his recipes are consistently amazing. One the most amazing meals I’ve ever cooked is his blue corn tortilla crusted crab cakes with carrot/habeneros sauce, and mango/scallion salsa.</p>
<p>Any of his citrus vinagrettes with grilled or sauteed seafood is a knock out dish – use the same sauce for the seafood and a salad on the same plate.</p>
<p>Not too impressed with Bobby Flay, really. It seems like half his dishes are burned on the outside and raw on the inside. The judges on Iron Chef America don’t seem to mind, so maybe it’s not that bad, but if I get burned food in a restaurant I usually send it back :)</p>
<p>Try some of Flay’s recipes yourself. After you’ve made three or four of his blender vinaigrette sauces or fresh salsas, you’ll start making up your own variations. </p>
<p>I enjoy adding the creativity of in his recipes to my cooking. For example, instead of croutons for the crunch in a salad, crispy fried strips of tortilla. Classic cooking techniques with enough flair to make for interesting meals. I’ve never cooked any of his recipes that did make everyone stop in their tracks.</p>
<p>I’m not a big fan of cooking shows, but there was a PBS series from the 80s-90s out of Roanoke, VA called Cookin’ Cheap. The “chefs” were two middle aged southern men, who sometimes dressed in drag, and who at the the end of the show were always as surprised as the audience when their meal came out great. Their utensils never matched and their oven and pots and pans were well used. It was a fun show to watch, and even my husband got a kick out of it. Their recipes were really easy home cooking types of meals. </p>
<p>And berurah, you hit the nail on the head with this one:
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