Rocco's back

[Jenise]

Hilarious article from eater.com:

Rocco DiSpirito Has Scored Himself a Cooking Show on Bravo

The monkey-carrying, procedural crime drama guest-starring, Biggest Loser-visiting chef fameball Rocco Dispirito got himself a televised cooking competition series on Bravo called Rocco's Dinner Party. From the press release: "DiSpirito sizes up some of the country's most promising aspiring chefs to see if they have the chops to impress at a private dinner party attended by his discriminating guests."

We are mainly unenthusiastic! If only because Bravo already has two cooking competition shows (Top Chef and Top Chef Masters, no, we're not counting Jean-Christophe Novelli's Chef Academy). And really, two is enough.

Will there be Bertolli frozen pasta-themed challenges? Likely! Will some of the "discriminating guests" include ladies from one or more flavor of the Real Housewives? Probably! Will they drag past Top Chef contestants and current hosts, kicking and screaming as guest stars on occasion? Maybe! Will Bravo air Rocco's Dinner Party while Top Chef is in between seasons? Count on it.

Chef fameball...love that.

I know that I'm beating a dead horse here, but this whole adulation of celebrity chefs is so off-putting. Apart from Bourdain (who isn't a practicing chef anymore AFAIK) and Rick Bayless, I can't abide watching any of them and just wish they'd go back into the kitchen and cook already!

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

I know that I'm beating a dead horse here, but this whole adulation of celebrity chefs is so off-putting. Apart from Bourdain (who isn't a practicing chef anymore AFAIK) and Rick Bayless, I can't abide watching any of them and just wish they'd go back into the kitchen and cook already!

Mark Lipton

Read an interesting article in TIME just last night that suggests that the celebrity chef trend (charted with Wolfgang Puck as Ground Zero) and it's various television progeny are the actual cause of the decline in cooking at home because it magnifies the disconnect between what's probable with limited skills and what's possible. Or to put it another way, possibly, we were only happy with Mom's home cooking because we had nothing to compare it to.

Thoughts, anyone?

Hi Jenise
You may be right about the celeb chef and home cooking. sometimes it justs seems way too much, but here in Oz last year and again this year a reality TV show , "Masterchef Australia", has apparently produced an upsurge in home cooking and a greater willingness to try some more unusual ingredients. Unexpectedly this show has been an enormous hit and it puts "regular folks" with ambitions in the food industry up against each other in cooking challenges. There are also segments where a contestant goes head to head with a well known chef, both cooking a favourite of the guest chef. Several contestants have actually won against the chef, so giving the masses hope!
The show has enthralled people of all age groups from primary schoolers upwards. It is an interesting addition to the current fascination with all things culinary. Young children have been heard to say to the cooking parent "you should be plating up now" !!!! whack.
Should you be interested to see what it is about, all of the shows are available on their website at http://www.masterchef.com.au
I have no association with the show or it's sponsors.
One does wonder how many more food shows can be aired, I am an ardent food lover and enjoy food programs but viewer fatigue is beginning to set in.
cheers
Barb

[Jenise]

Hi Jenise
You may be right about the celeb chef and home cooking. sometimes it justs seems way too much, but here in Oz last year and again this year a reality TV show , "Masterchef Australia", has apparently produced an upsurge in home cooking and a greater willingness to try some more unusual ingredients.

Actually, I presented TIME's point of view, or at least what I thought they meant around 11:00 Tuesday night , for discussion not because I agreed but because I would expect the opposite effect, the kind you report in Australia, while understanding that 90% of the people who watch these shows do nothing but watch and their lives are otherwise unchanged. The other 10% could be quite significant.

I know that I'm beating a dead horse here, but this whole adulation of celebrity chefs is so off-putting. Apart from Bourdain (who isn't a practicing chef anymore AFAIK) and Rick Bayless, I can't abide watching any of them and just wish they'd go back into the kitchen and cook already!

Mark Lipton

Read an interesting article in TIME just last night that suggests that the celebrity chef trend (charted with Wolfgang Puck as Ground Zero) and it's various television progeny are the actual cause of the decline in cooking at home because it magnifies the disconnect between what's probable with limited skills and what's possible. Or to put it another way, possibly, we were only happy with Mom's home cooking because we had nothing to compare it to.

Thoughts, anyone?

I agree, Jenise. I think the disconnect comes from the complexity of the dishes and the techniques the chefs use on those shows. I mean, take Top Chef, for example. How many times did we see someone making something sous vide, or creating a foam or gel (ick) of some sort, or using liquid nitrogen? Who does this stuff at home? (Okay, maybe Jay Miller from this forum ) Also, some cuts of meat they use can be pretty obscure. ie. Pork Belly. It's just not something you can find in any grocery store, but you see it used on the show all the time.

Another reason for the disconnect could be that the chef's are always in stressful situations on these shows. There is a lot of tension in the kitchen due to super tight deadlines, surly co-contestants, being criticized by persnickety judges. It may just not look like very much fun to the (could be) home cook!

I can't abide watching any of them and just wish they'd go back into the kitchen and cook already!
Mark Lipton

Couldn't agree with you more. In a recent TV show Delia Smith made the excellent point that there's home cooking, which can be of the highest standard, but is about putting good food on the table. and restaurant cooking which is not at all the same. Not only am I royally fed up with these antics, but I feel that they are leading impressionable people into thinking that if their food isn't built into a stack and served with a "jus" it's just beyond the pale.

Having eaten in a number of places owned by celebrity chefs, I can only agree with you that their place is at the "passe" supervising what is sold under their name. In my opinion, the one glorious exception to the "absent celebrity" syndrome (in Europe) is Michel Roux Jr at Le Gavroche, who has twice now produced the best French food I've eaten in Europe. He's "only" got 2 stars, but easily beats a number of 3 starred places I've eaten at. The best French meal I've ever had was at the French Laundry. And that despite Thomas Keller being at Per Se. Perhaps that's why Per Se is now rated higher in the "World's top 50" list. Food at Le Gavroche is classic Haute Cuisine, which they cook there at eye wateringly expensive prices, but a total sense of unstressed ease and perfection.