[dl] Television
Open SecretThe newest chef in TV’s kitchen is ready to reveal what she knows and what the rest of us want to find out. By Joseph Guinto
YOU KNOW THE SAYING:Teach a man to cook bouillabaisse and he’ll eat for a night, but teachhim how to crisp fish skin and he’ll eat for a lifetime. Well, it goessomething like that. However you say it, it touches on the problem withtoo many TV cooking shows these days. Simple recipes are nice (thinkRachael Ray), and competition is fun (think Top Chef),but learning the techniques of cooking is the real key to becomingbetter in the kitchen. And not enough shows these days are focused oninstruction -- for my tastes, at least.
That’s why I’m eagerly anticipating the premiere of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef.This new Food Network show, which debuts late this month, features AnneBurrell -- the executive chef at New York’s Centro Vinoteca -- teachingviewers culinary skills that they’ll be able to use over and overagain. You’ll get recipes, sure. But whether you remember the specificingredients Burrell puts into her roast-chicken dish isn’t nearly asimportant as whether you remember how to truss the bird so the flavorsstay within. That’s a technique -- like dicing an onion -- that you canuse repeatedly, whether you’re roasting chicken or rabbit or duck or,you know, anything with legs that will fit in your roasting pan.
“Onepiece of string, used correctly, changes the whole dish,” Burrellexplains, to my obvious fascination. “That’s a little thing. But it isalways so amazing to me how a little, tiny trick can be so fascinatingto people.”
She has a point. I catch more than a couple ofpeople trying to listen in on my conversation with Burrell. We’re atCentro Vinoteca, a popular restaurant in Manhattan’s West Village whosemenu is a hybrid of Italian and American
comfort food and whoseclientele includes Burrell’s friend, R.E.M. front man Michael Stipe.It’s just before the dinner rush, and Burrell is dressed in a chef’sjacket and a black-and-red cowgirl skirt. This outfit, along with herspiky blond hair, is Burrell’s trademark look, one that viewers of
Iron Chefwould easily recognize. On that show, Burrell serves as Mario Batali’ssous-chef. She makes pasta very, very quickly -- faster than you or Iwill ever make pasta.
Though the restaurant grows louder by theminute, Burrell manages to outdo her guests. She’s loud. Energetic maybe the better way to put it. She’s engaging too. Hers is a perfectpersonality for TV and for teaching. And as for the latter, Burrell hassome experience. After culinary school and cooking in restaurants inItaly and in
New York, the Cazenovia, New York, native left theprofessional kitchen to teach home cooks for three years. “I would hearthe same questions over and over again from my students,” Burrell says.“They were always [about] things -- techniques -- that, in arestaurant, we all knew how to do and that seemed obvious to aprofessional chef. But they’re not obvious.”
She’s talking aboutthings like trussing that chicken (or whatever) and roasting a leg oflamb and making your own stock, none of which is likely to come up inyour average episode of
30 Minute Meals.She’s also talking about even smaller things that a professional knowshow to do. “I tell people on the show that you shouldn’t cook with asaltshaker, because you will never achieve the level of saltiness thatyou would without one,” Burrell says. “Just use a saltcellar.” It’s awide, deep dish that you can dip your fingers in to grab salt. “Mysaltcellar on the show is huge, and I season with reckless abandon,”Burrell says as she fl ails one hand about, mimicking the saltingprocess.
Salt is one thing. Timing is another. Burrell says thateven after she’d left the classroom for restaurant kitchens --including Centro Vinoteca’s, a tiny, open kitchen that puts Burrell’sblond locks on display each night -- people would ask her how, at home,they can serve dinner so that everything is hot and ready at the sametime. “Getting completed dishes out in a timely way is something thatwe do in the restaurant every night, a thousand times a night,” shesays. “So we show you in every episode how to time out a meal -- whatyou can make ahead, what has to wait until the last minute.”
Maybe you’re thinking that all of this sounds pretty basic. Maybe some of it is stuff you’ve seen on other shows.
Molto Mariocertainly extolled the virtues of salt on a regular basis. But still,think about this: Professional chefs learn by repetition. They’ll makethe same dish over and over and over again until they know how and whythe flavors in that dish work together, until there’s no more need tothink about what they’re cooking, until they can feel their way along.That’s how the pros develop the instincts that make them creative aboutfood, about combinations of flavors, and so on. Home chefs don’t havethe luxury of being able to afford such repetition. But cooking showscan be our substitute. At their best, cooking shows are our culinaryschool, our on-the-job training. And we need that. Well, I do, anyway.
“Peoplewill say that cooking is common sense,” Burrell says. “But it is notcommon sense if you’ve not learned how to do it. It’s also not genetic.Just because your mom was a good cook doesn’t mean you’re going to beone. You have to learn how first. And I hope I can teach you some ofthe things you need to know.”
Can You Stand the Heat?
This summer, in two new shows, Food Network is opening its kitchens to home chefs.
THE SHOW
| THE SHTICK
| WHAT WE DON’T EXPECT TO SEE | Paula’s Best Dishes
| Paula Deenand her drawl invite family, friends, and regular folk into her kitchento cook along with her and to share their own best dishes.
| Deen pullinga Gordon Ramsay and throwing her home cooks’ dishes on the floor whileswearing like a sailor at them. | Grill It! with Bobby Flay
| According to Food Network, Bobby Flay will invite “grilling maniacs”over to share their recipes and techniques
| Dr. Phil offering hiscounseling services to calm the “maniacs.” |
|
Chef Anne Burrell’s Favorite TV ChefsJulia Child“I’dwatch Julia so much that I used to tell my mom, ‘I have a friend namedJulia.’ So when I graduated from culinary school, my mom said she wasgoing to write Julia and tell her I became a chef because of her show.She never did, though. When I saw my show’s set, I almost startedcrying. It has a dining room just like Julia’s!”
Mario Batali“Mario was just way ahead of his time when he was on Food Network. He’s so fun to listen to because he’s so freakishly smart.”
Ina Garten, a.k.a. the Barefoot Contessa“I get entranced by the Barefoot Contessa because her voice is like Valium. It’s like the snake in
The Jungle Book.”
Alton Brown“Mymom is like, ‘I don’t get that Alton Brown. He’s always popping up frombehind an oven. What’s that about?’ He does do a lot of that. But Ialways learn some tidbit of something when I watch his shows. Theinformation he gives is fantastic. He’s really teaching you the scienceof cooking.”
… And the Best of the Really Small ScreenMing Tsai: This Boston-based chef gets plenty of TV time. He’s done several series for PBS, and his current show,
Simply Ming,even offers a free companion vodcast. Subscribe through iTunes to get anew three-minute-long episode roughly once a week. That’s just enoughtime for Ming to show you how to trim artichokes, devein shrimp, ormake a compound butter. And you can always hit rewind and watch again.