These days, as people explore the various television options and movie programming services from cable and Satellite TV companies, there are more and more types of shows becoming popular. For example, talent show competitions like American Idol and The X-Factor are earning huge audiences, as people get hooked on watching people demonstrate singing and dancing talents. Along these lines, food TV has actually become extremely popular. There are a number of different types of cooking-related TV programs, both local and international, that show both entertaining competitions and intriguing methods and meals. Here are a few examples of popular food television shows:

Iron Chef

Some people don’t realize that Iron Chef is actually a spinoff of a Japanese cooking show with the same basic outline and theme. Basically, in this show, a number of different famous and well-known chefs face off against each other to see who can make the best dish using the same key ingredient. Because of the high level of talent in the chefs involved (people like Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, and many others), this show is less instructional than some, and more about actually watching the competition.

Man v. Food

Another show that is more about entertainment and less about teaching an audience how to cook, Man v. Food follows host and food enthusiast Adam Richman as he travels the country in search of the best pig out spots.Richman picks a town for each episode and tours it, choosing one or two local spots famous for a certain dish or side of food. He talks to locals, meets the chefs, and tries all of the best foods. Then, at the end of his episodes, he takes on a food challenge in that city – generally something designed to either challenge someone to eat something extremely spicy, or an extremely massive quantity. Since Richman is not a competitive eater, he fails about as often as he succeeds, which makes it fun to watch each episode.

30 Minute Meals With Rachael Ray

More of an instructional show, 30 Minute Meals is for people who want new recipe ideas, or who would like to cook along with their shows. It is also great for people who want ideas for meals that are quick and easy to prepare. Essentially, Rachael Ray walks her audience through a number of suggestions for these sorts of meals, giving her audience a number of tools and ideas to consider and keep on tap for cooking occasions. While you’ll need at least some cooking knowledge to keep up, this can be a great show to watch if you’re looking to expand your cooking prowess.

After Top Chef and Top Chef Masters, Bravo came up with a new show exclusively for pastry chefs. Cooking pastry or desserts has been a struggle in the past amongst Top Chef contenders so it was just fitting to have a totally new show with up-and-coming pastry chefs.

I just finished watching the whole season 1 of Top Chef Just Desserts. I won’t reveal who the winner is on this post just in case you haven’t seen it yet. But, I’ll just show you some of the beautiful and decadent desserts the competing pastry chefs have shown throughout the season.

The Top Chef Just Desserts host is the beautiful Gail Simmons, who’s also one of the judges in Top Chef. The head judge is Johnny Iuzzini, one of the most celebrated pastry chefs to-date (love his hair, by the way! So Johnny Cash / Elvis). The other 2 permanent judges are the god of French cooking, Hubert Keller, and Dannielle Kyrillos (I love her!).

My favorites among all the contestants of Top Chef Just Desserts are Zac Young, Yigit Pura, Morgan Wilson and Danielle Keene. No, they’re not necessarily the finalists (no spoiler here), but they have proven to be the best among everyone in the first season.

I love Zac’s crazy creativity. And he’s the only one who seemed to be really enjoying the whole competition, regardless of how stressed they all are. I wished though that he made a better cake for Sylvia Weinstock and her husband’s anniversary. I felt like he already gave up at that point in the competition.

You might say I’m watching too much Hell’s Kitchen nowadays, but ever since I started cooking again, I realized how preparation for cooking or prepping is one important factor in the whole cooking process. The faster you prepare your ingredients, the faster and fresher the result would be. So, I decided to share these videos.

I actually discovered these videos years ago when they weren’t revealed yet as part of Sprint’s viral marketing campaign, when they were still on Waitless.org (the URL will redirect you to Sprint’s website).

We’ve posted before about how you can make homemade ice cream using a plastic bag and these:  salt, ice, and the ingredients for your chosen ice cream flavor. Now, fancy these:

I haven’t tried this one yet, but it looks easy. Some may argue that the potato would be cold. But, I don’t think 5 seconds in that pool of ice would affect the inside of the potato. Only the potato skin’s affected, that’s why it’s easier to peel or remove it. I’m going to try this next time I see potatoes in our ref.

Renowned Chef Gordon Ramsay‘s cooking reality TV series Hell’s Kitchen is on its eighth (8th) season and it seems that the show is getting worse everytime. And that’s a compliment.

Even though Hell’s Kitchen is full of Chef Ramsay’s cursing and yelling, I enjoy it because of the food and cooking. When I started watching this series, I gotten familiar with some fine dining dishes that I haven’t heard of or might not even be interested in if they weren’t cooked in the show. One of them is risotto, which I’m planning on preparing myself at home.

For Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen, there was this introduction in the first episode where they showed a couple of the aspiring chefs in their own elements, inside their restaurants. For the first time, I believed that the contestants are actual chefs in an established restaurant. They never did that in the past seasons so I’m glad they included an introduction for the new chefs.

LA Market in downtown Los Angeles – WInner will be head chef here.

There are 16 chefs vying for the title of head chef. This time, the winner will be the head chef of the multi-million dollar restaurant L.A. Market in LA Live complex in downtown Los Angeles. That’s a biggy because the salary of the head chef is at $250,000! Wow, right!? Plus, the winner will be the official spokesperson of Rosemount Estate Winery. A lot is at stake, really.

Sabrina Brimhall – craziest female chef this season.

I’ve only watched the first episode, but I can already see how crazier this season is, especially because of the chefs competing this time. Take for instance Sabrina. She’s a li’l slow, and I don’t understand why she chose to wear high heels on the first day when it’s already expected they’ll be cooking their signature dishes. Then, she goes and yawns rather loudly and didn’t even know that Chef Ramsay was being sarcastic towards her. LOLz.

Raj Brandon – was it all the stress or he’s a bit cuckoo or something?

Then, there’s Raj. I had high hopes for this guy when I first saw him during the intro. But, he’s a li’l cuckoo, if you know what I mean. In a cute way though. I guess it’s because of all the stress and the nerves of being in Hell’s Kitchen. In fact, one of the women already was out of the season even before the service started. Antonia, she passed out and was shaking all over. Ahhh.. the things stress can do to you.

Jillian Flathers – so far, the only sane member of the women’s team.

So far, the only chef I’m rooting for is Jillian. I don’t like that she likes Sabrina, but Jillian seems to be the only sane woman out there. A lot of the chefs already made careless, and most of the time, stupid mistakes like Trev overdressing the salad (Sheesh! Even I don’t commit such a thing!), Boris mimicking Chef Ramsay (Did you see that? What’s wrong with him?! LOL), and then, there’s Antonia who didn’t even taste her food before she served it to Chef Ramsay.

A scene from last season of Hell’s Kitchen.

Watching the show the first time a couple of seasons ago scared me a li’l. Why? Imagine this – chefs arguing while there are a lot of sharp objects and knives around them, hot ovens, pots and pans. Good thing there’s nothing in there that might result to issues like Mesothelioma lawsuits. I guess they went through psychological screening or something to prepare them for everything they’re going to endure during their running on the show.

I also wonder why there are still people who are dining in Hell’s Kitchen. Did they pay to dine in there or were they invited? I mean, I love Chef Ramsay so I’m guessing that’s one of the reasons why they still come to Hell’s Kitchen. I just can’t imagine enjoying a meal while I’m hearing cursing, a lot of yelling and food being thrown out in the kitchen. Can you stand that?! Hehehe.

Hell’s Kitchen is not really for everybody. But, to tell you the truth, I learned a thing or two while watching this series from Chef Gordon Ramsay himself like how to properly cook pasta so it won’t be too saggy (I love it really soft vs al dente), how to devein shrimps (I normally just take the shell out hehehe), and a lot more.

Have you watched Hell’s Kitchen? What do you think of the show?
Let me know below at the comments section.

Enjoy!

I’ve always wanted to eat at a fine dining restaurant but it’s too expensive for me. Whenever I see people on TV eating at fine dining restaurants, they all seemed too satisfied and happy with the food they were served. Not sure if I’ll ever be willing to spend at least Php 2,000 (about $44) for a single meal, with very liltle serving. I’d rather spend that much money on other things. BUT, I still want to try out some fine dining food.

So, a few days ago, we had our very first Steak day. For lunch, I decided to make Steak Diane, one of Chef Gordon Ramsey’s main courses in Hell’s Kitchen, just to experience a little taste of fine dining at home. Hehehe.

Nilka from Hell’s Kitchen Season 7, prepaing Steak Diane table side.

I saw this recipe in one of the episodes from Hell’s Kitchen and I was a bit excited about making it myself. I, then, watched a video from Youtube where Chef Gordon made Steak Diane for his show The F Word. He really made it look like it’s so easy to cook.

That’s what I like about him and his videos: simple to follow as long as you know how to cook. Some of you who prefer following recipes with measurements, you might not enjoy his videos since he won’t show you any measurements for his ingredients. But, if you already know the basics and you know how to estimate the seasonings to your liking, you will love the way he makes his cooking videos – short and fast.

(Photos, recipe, and video after the jump)

One of the best cooking TV series that we absolutely love is Top Chef on Bravo TV, hosted by Padma Lakshmi. It’s an American reality competition show where chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. The judges in the show are renowned food critics, professional chefs themselves (Tom Colicchio) and other notable people from the food and wine industry (Gail Simmons).

Every episode, there’s a Quickfire challenge and an Elimination challenge where the chefs need to complete the requirements in a given time. One chef is eliminated every episode ’til they get to the finale. It’s a pretty fun show any foodie would love watching. The show actually inspired Mai to learn more about cooking. They’re currently in hiatus and will air again on June 16th.

So, just imagine award-winning, established master chefs competing against each other in that same way for their chosen charities. How exciting would that be?!

And that’s what Top Chef Masters is all about. It’s a competition between the brightest stars in the world of food. You’d expect amazing food, healthy competition and the master chefs’ own cooking techniques in one show. Top Chef Masters is hosted by Kelly Choi (host and producer of Eat Out NY). The judges are Gael Greene (New York Magazine’s food critic for over 30 years and Insatiable Critic columnist), James Oseland (Editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine) and Jay Rayner (food critic and author of The Man Who Ate the World).

In their first season, we’ve seen master chefs Art Smith, Rick Bayless, Michael Chiarello, and Hubert Keller, among others, compete against each other to win the title of the first Top Chef Master.

I remember Art Smith‘s Fried Chicken two ways dish. I mean, how hard is it to cook fried chicken?! But, he amazed the judges and they swore it was the BEST and juiciest fried chicken they’ve ever had. So, I just can’t imagine what he did to make a simple dish to receive such praises. By the way, he is Oprah Winfrey‘s chef. He also cooked for US President Barack Obama. That’s how good he is. After watching that episode, Mai planned on coming up with her own fried chicken recipes. To-date, she’s got 3 of the best I’ve had ever… plus a baked chicken recipe we’d share here soon!

Art didn’t win, but the other chefs left in the competition when he got eliminated were as awesome as he is. I love French master chef Hubert Keller, too. He owns the popular restaurant Fleur de Lys and Burger Bar in Las Vegas. I swear, if we ever get a chance to fly to Vegas, we’d visit his restaurant.

The winner of Top Chef Masters Season 1 was Rick Bayless. He is like the god of Mexican cooking. He love Mexican food and he was mostly responsible in introducing Americans and the world to Mexican food. He was just amazing and his personality made us love him more. He truly deserves to win in the first season. Mai was so inspired by how awesome he was that she started making her own tortillas! Here are some of the dishes Rick Bayless prepared in Season 1. Hover on each image to see the description.

Whenever we watch Top Chef and Top Chef Masters, our mouths can’t help but water with the sight of their dishes. The judges are oh so lucky to have a taste of all these dishes.

Season 2 of Top Chef Masters already started weeks ago. This time, Mai and I are rooting for 2 master chefs. But, one of them already got eliminated so we’re only hoping that master chef Susur Lee would win the title. He has "become a worldwide leader in Asian fusion cuisine, blending traditional Chinese dishes with classical French techniques". We love him because he’s corky, he’s a great chef and very competitive. He holds the record of getting the most stars or highest scores across all Top Chef Masters contestants. We love him!

He is one of the top 3 finalists of Top Chef Masters, along with Marcus Samuelsson and Rick Moonen. We really hope Susur wins it all. Here are some of his challenge dishes. He’s not really good in plating or making his dishes look good, but the judges are so amazed by the flavors that they don’t mind how messy Susur’s plates look.

We’re big fans of most of these master chefs, and that’s why we absolutely love Top Chef. The challenges are really fun and interesting. All the food look amazing! Mai actually have tried making a couple of ‘em herself just so we can have a taste of what they have prepared in the show.

Top Chef will return on its seventh season with a new judge – another master chef, Eric Ripert. They’re in Washington D.C. this season so expect guest appearances by a lot of political figures. We can’t wait for it to start!

By the way, if you check out the official page of Top Chef and Top Chef Masters on Bravo TV‘s website, you’d find the recipes of the amazing dishes that the competing chefs prepared during their seasons, plus more! Click here to go to Bravo TV’s recipe section directly.

Image Source: Bravo TV

Enjoy!

This is the first episode of Foodie TV on Certified Foodies. In this section of our blog, we will share with you TV shows or anything we’ve seen on TV that’s related to food, cooking, or foodie adventures.

All of these TV shows and series have inspired us in our foodie adventures. They’re all must-see and we hope you enjoy them, too, as much as we enjoyed watching them.

There’ll be a lot of recipes you’d see here in the future that are inspired by these TV shows so stay tuned for that!