The cooking channel is airing old school shows now. I LOVE them!
Julia Child is a part of my memory of random tv shows. Her voice still cracks me up.
Sidebar: I loved "Julie and Julia" and will make my own version of "Cort and Ree" when I cook my way through the Pioneer Woman cookbook. That is, once she gives the secret of how she looks so great when she cooks with all. that. butter!
I digress.
Today's cooking show include zoom shots of knives cutting herbs with carefully practiced finger positions. High definition cooking includes brightly colored backdrops, perfect lighting, and take after take after take to ensure a flawless delivery.
When I flipped on Julia Child's show, the graininess (we don't have a HDTV and I still noticed it) was the first thing I noticed. The colors were faded like an old photograph. The show was produced in 1978.
(I was produced in 1980, and would appreciate a bit of graininess in photos that now show every frackin' pore...ewww.)
Julia's voice still sang like a meadowlark.
She used about 30 feet of kitchen twine to bind and gag a chicken. Each snip of the kitchen sheers were hairs away from a lost digit. Knife work was fast and furious - zooming during the one-take shot was nearly impossible. Food flying everywhere.
She still explained everything. I still learned how to properly prep a whole chicken. This is actually something I end up doing more than 10 times a year, so I need this info. She then showed how to stuff and tie the chicken (hence the twine) and subsequently wrap it in bacon (hence more twine).
Mmmmm....bacon....
[I'll pause while you regroup]
*elevator music*
We good? Good.
I enjoyed the break from perfection. It was more a window into my world - this was me in the kitchen - minus the violent cussing outbursts that follow me in any task. Although I couldn't see any bits of food that had flown into her hair (like always happens with me), I trust it was there and the graininess of the image was preventing my seeing it.
The suspense of potential bloodshed just added to the fun (especially since it wasn't my blood!).
I enjoyed Julia, and welcomed her into my home.
I shall invite her back.
2 comments:
I'm a cooking show lunatic... I mean a real lunatic. I grew up on Julia Child on PBS and I still love that crazy bitch. I hate Rachel Ray, I have to say it, and that Every Day Italian Giada chick, oh and the Barefoot Contessa. But I have absolutely fallen in love with the UK food channel. I am a slut for Iron Chef and I could watch Top Chef as the last thing I do on this earth and die happy. Hmmmm, cooking shows.
I used to be able to do Rachel Ray, but not much anymore. Giada bugs me. I enjoy the Spice Goddess and Everyday Exotic. I would love to find a cooking class so that I can SMELL spices as I meet them on TV. I really think the learning-by-doing method would be more effective, but I'll take what I can get!
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