AB at Opryland = Awesome!

[MiseEnPlace]

Good report ! sounds like a fun time. I am happy for you, it is nice to know that you get to meet one of the people you admire for his talents and cooking skills.

As much as I go on about Alton being cute, I do seriously admire the man for all that he has taught me about cooking. Watching his shows has made me a much more knowledgeable cook and I deeply appreciate that.

[Pluff Mudder]

You can't help but learning from Alton... he makes it so much fun. I can't fry chicken without hearing that silly chicken of his saying "fry some more!" in my head.

[MiseEnPlace]

Watching the last episode of the Next Iron Chef reminded me of something else from the demo!! I'll be remember stuff for weeks in bits and pieces

Someone asked Alton about the Next Food Network Star and if he could do the stuff they made the contestants do. Alton said on the Next Iron Chef he would have been the first one voted off. Same went for TNFNS. He said the winners certainly earned their shows because of those challenges. He said he took the expensive and easy way to getting his show

Alton also mentioned there is supposed be another Next Iron Chef competition in 2009.

[Food Network Fan]

Really! Good scoop! I don't think I want Besh to do that again though. I want him to have a show where we get to hear him explain things.

[MiseEnPlace]

This post is going to go on forever as I slowly remember stuff!!

Alton talked a little about the Good Eats cookbook coming out next fall.
There are going to be two volumes. The first volume is the one coming out in fall 2009.
He is reworking the recipes from the episodes. He said some of them won't be recognizable from the originals.

Then he went into a long discussion about how recipes are never really carved in stone and what he wants the viewer to get from his show is technique and knowledge. He talked about it being ok to modify recipes and change stuff. And that's what he is doing to the Good Eats recipes for this book.

[Pluff Mudder]

Then he went into a long discussion about how recipes are never really carved in stone and what he wants the viewer to get from his show is technique and knowledge. He talked about it being ok to modify recipes and change stuff. And that's what he is doing to the Good Eats recipes for this book.

Can't agree more with Alton on that point. Unlike Mr. Christopher Kimball of America Test Kitchens/Cook's Ill./Cook's Country.

How much room do your books and magazine leave for creativity and interpretation?
None. Make the damn recipe my way. [He laughs.] I had someone write in a long time ago and say, "Lidia [Bastianich] cooks with her heart." And I wrote back and said, "Well, yeah, that's the wrong organ. You should use your brain." Until you know that recipe inside out and you really get it and you can make it without looking at the recipe, don't play with it. It's sort of like saying: "I'm going to play a Bach sonata. But I'm going to change the key." No. You play it the way he wrote it.

His Advice to America's Cooks: Use Your Head - washingtonpost.com

Love to see a debate between Alton and Mr. Bowtie on this one!

BTW... check out his comments about FN at the bottom of this article.

[MiseEnPlace]

Love to see a debate between Alton and Mr. Bowtie on this one!

Did you see the blogger who got called out by ATK for posting about modifying an ATK recipe?
The ATK stance is never modify recipes! EVER!

I wanted to stand up and cheer Alton for talking about this. I know he has always talked about playing and experimenting with your food. My favorite line from AB was something like its your food, you can put it together any way you want.

[Pluff Mudder]

Did you see the blogger who got called out by ATK for posting about modifying an ATK recipe?
The ATK stance is never modify recipes! EVER!

Oh yea. Read the whole thing at her blog Alosha's Kitchen: illegal or not? It sure got the food blogging world in a uproar.

The person from ATK who emailed told her "Sorry, no modifications allowed. Our recipes are tested up to 100 times for a reason (i.e. because they work). Let's agree to disagree and please don't print our recipes at all (as they are copyrighted). Thanks!"

What's so funny, is they have a forum on their board for modifying recipes, including theirs!

[jenibobeni]

OH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for posting all that stuff about Alton's demo at Opryland.

(as you can see this is my VERY first post here . . . how have I not have not found this place before?! But I'm very excited to have found it now!)

Opryland is LITERALLY 10 minutes from my house! I went to the one last year and it was that demo that launched me from fan to Super Fan. I wanted SO BADLY to go this year but had plans that were, unfortunatly, nonrefundable and partially unbreakable. So I missed it and have been heartbroken ever since. But your descriptions, reviews and pictures definitely help in healing that wound. Well, THAT, and anticipating Feasting On Waves. inkylove:

Does anyone know if there is video anywhere of the demo? I know that there was some on YouTube from the one last year . . .

[MiseEnPlace]

I'm so glad my report and pix help I haven't seen any video from the demo yet.

It was even better than last year's, which was amazing!!

I'm a major league AB fan, beware