Hi everyone, welcome to Pot Luck Food Talks. Today we're going to talk about TV chefs.
Do you have any favorite TV chefs? I got a few.
But let's talk only about like, you know, like cook shows, not about, you know, like
documentaries, travel and these things, like where the chef is actually cooking like a
TV chef, you know, like, like actually cooking. Exactly. For instance, Bourdain wouldn't qualify
for this episode. No, Bourdain wasn't a chef. He deserves his own episode.
Yeah. So one of my favorite TV chefs is Marco Pio White. Seriously. Yeah. But he's just,
he's just legendary, man. But you're talking about his gnoll cooking.
No, no, no. I'm talking about his early work, man, when he was still at Harvey's, when he
was still a young, a young gun. That's like this TV show, Marco.
Yeah. Yeah. That was also like one of my favorites.
So, that's so good, man. Like the whole show, like his attitude, like the way that he cooks,
the like beat up kitchen, like it's, I love it, man.
Yeah, I also love his books, like the South Topographic of books, like White Slave, super
nice pictures, Devil in the Kitchen. White Heat.
Yeah. White Heat as well. Yeah. You know, it's like he's so, this is
just like so no bullshit. There's so many legendary moments in that TV show, you know,
where he... Yeah, the one where he's cutting like mushrooms,
like tak tak tak tak tak. Yes. Tak tak tak tak tak. Yes. Tak tak tak tak tak.
And she's like, if you're not gonna, if you're only gonna answer yes or no to my questions
and there's no point in doing it. He's like, all right, there's the door. And she's like,
no, no, no, no, no. It's like, no, no, no, no. Like, I'm just... I'm just paid to cut
the mushrooms. You know, she's like, no Marco. No, that's not what I meant. It was like...
Do you want me to cut myself? Is that what you want me to do? If you
want me to cut myself, I'll cut myself. Yeah, the dude goes like, at some point he..
Just like..
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. He goes like, he's like, you want me to cut myself, I'll cut
myself. You want me to chop up the mushrooms post that I chopped up the mushrooms? You
want me to make the sauce? I make the sauce but never expect me to sell my heart.
me to sell my heart. Reble, rebel, rebel, rebel. Yeah, absolutely. Love that. Amazing
episode. Yeah, that's so funny. I also love how he goes to the fishmonger and he's like
young fishmongers, you know, like eighties long hair and they're sort of like, yeah,
it's very difficult to work with Marco, very difficult to, yeah, but he's, he's very demanding,
but you know, he's lovely really. And then Marco comes into the fish shop and he's got
this like attitude and he's like, beautiful, beautiful bass, beautiful turbus. What's this?
What's the salt fish? Oh yeah, very nice. It's really, really nice fish today. And the
guy's like, yeah, thank you, Marco. Thank you. And he's like, why isn't it always like
this? And the guy's like, it is Marco. It's always like this.
Then there were also his junk chefs talking about him and they're like super respectful,
like, you know, like he will demand so much from us, but it's never not for a reason.
And blah, blah, blah. And then you also get to see Jung Gordon Ramsey in that kitchen
working in some episodes also like making pasta as a young.
Yeah. Before his facelift. Yep. I mean, yeah, it's, I mean, Marco was his swim chef, I think,
no. And it's, it's cool to see. Well, for me, that's not even a cook show.
For me, that's also like a documentary of a restaurant, but like TV, TV chefs, I don't
know, like most, most of my TV chefs, I, there was this channel in Latin America called El
Gurmet. So there were plenty of chefs I would watch there. There was this Japanese called
Iwau Komiyama, which was super funny because he would speak Spanish super, you know, like
Japanese sushi chef and would speak Spanish with this super strong Argentinian accent.
Oh really? Yeah. And he was like making sushi, but really nice execution and everything.
It was super nice to watch. And also I would say there was this Basque chef that lived
in Mexico for a long while, Bruno Teysa. Yeah. And he would do like also, you know, like
TV, TV cooking, like having like a TV set where he would do recipes. And I think that
was also pretty cool. That's nice. I mean, fat TV chef goes, you know, like there's loads
from the UK, the UK has lots of really good cooking shows. Two fat ladies. You ever saw
those one? I've seen that one. That one's very funny, but like I wouldn't count them
as chefs. There are two, two fat ladies cooking, you know, but like butter lovers. There was
always so much butter in those episodes. Yeah. I feel like they're like a little, they're
kind of like a Julia Child sort of thing. You know, I mean, Julia Child was also like,
fuck, I looked at some of her recipes lately, actually. And the amount of butter she used,
it's not just like, you know, we like to use butter in a restaurant, you know, but that's
excessive. Nobody uses butter like that. It's like basted in butter, then pour some butter
on it and finish it. And one recipe it said sort of like, you might want to serve a sauce
with this dish such as melted butter. And I was like, that is not a sauce. Melted butter
is not a sauce. But the other, I have to think she, I mean, that woman died in the eighties,
if I'm not wrong, you know, like those are like super old recipes. And she was American.
So you know, there's that. Well, we have to talk about Jamie Oliver. What are your opinions
on Jamie Oliver? I grew up with Jamie, so he's got a soft spot in my heart, especially
when he started the show in his like fancy countryside home where he had the garden.
Yeah, I mean, it was like a milestone in the TV show's history, I would say. Yeah. And
it was very nice. And he cooked nice food. I think in recent years, he's he's gone a
bit bananas, you know, like I grew up and I started cooking with Jamie Oliver, you know,
I had his cookbooks as a child, you know, I was like a like when I was like 10. And
would cook recipes out of it. So you know, he was part of the you know, what got me cooking,
but not so much anymore. Like the stuff that I see from him nowadays is very, a little
bit too much showmanship too much this that blah, too much selling his own persona. And
I mean, at some point, he was in the top 10 chefs, the richest chefs in the world. I'm
not wrong. Wow. I'm not surprised. And he, he built the whole thing from television,
you know, like, yes. Well, I think an important name to mention also is Carlos Alguinano.
I don't know who that is. Really? Well, he was part of the new Basque cuisine. And at
some point he had a mission and star. And he gave up his star to become a TV chef.
I think I know who you mean. You always wear a talk and stuff. Is that him?
And sings and yeah, and like, yeah, he's quite a real character, right? Quite a character.
Yeah, I think I know who you mean. And he's, he's an icon here in Spain. Like he has built
his restaurant here in Sarrauz. And people go there just to take pictures of a statue
of him. That level of icon I'm talking about. Is it? Yeah. Well, what I respect about him,
I respect many things about, about him. Like he's been on air for the last maybe 40 years
on primetime. Like everybody loves him. I've never heard someone, well, people make jokes
that ah, you're, you're using parsley as a decor like Alguinano because he always, whatever
he does, he ends up with parsley on top. Of course. Or you, you start every recipe with
onions like Alguinano and this kind of thing. But I also heard like, this is something everybody
tells me like Alguinano's recipes always worked. If you go to his website and you want to find
like a classic Spanish things and you use his recipes, they always work. I'm pretty
sure he has like a team of, of recipe testers that develop those recipes. But at the end
of the day, it's his brand, you know? Yeah. No, that's cool. That's rare also because
a lot of people at home might not know this, but recipes usually are bullshit because they're
not tested properly. Like writing a proper recipe is not that easy and it takes a little
bit of work. And so a lot of times when people have to make a lot of recipes, they, they
bullshit a little. One person who I also really like is Nigella Lawson, you know, the domestic
goddess, but as successful as she is, you know, I think the food that she makes is super
nice and her recipes work most of the time also. And it's just like this right level
of like homey cooking with like, you know, interesting aspects of it. And I think it's
super cool.
Others, you know, Gastón Acurio. I first met Gastón Acurio from his cooking shows
this channel I mentioned. Yeah. You know, now he's so much more than a TV chef, but
that's when I first saw him, I thought like, okay, this is like, or probably he was already
before. He was already a restaurant chef. Yeah. I mean, he's a chef chef, right? Like,
I mean, he's a real chef who's also on TV and that's actually quite rare. Exactly. Yeah.
Like, like Raymond Blanc, for example, you know? Oh yeah. He, he, he had this TV show.
Oh, he does. He does a lot of TV. Ah, he does a lot. Still today, right? Yeah. I've never
been into British TV, so I'm not, not so much into it. Yeah. He does a lot of TV, but you
know, he's a real chef. And apart from that, like a world-class historic chef for sure.
Yes, absolutely. And his restaurant, Le Manoir, iconic, you know, still to this day and a
great character. And I also really love the way that he cooks, you know, it's, it's just
fun watching him and you can really, there's one person that you can really learn something
when you watch it. Like even me as a chef, I really enjoy watching his show, you know?
And it's like, I'm not going to be like, oh yeah, you know, like taking notes, but like
you see like little bits and bobs and you're like, oh, that's quite nice. It's quite nice
how he does that. Yeah. That's pretty cool. When you see a chef chef and you see him working
and you see him doing things you didn't saw before. I remember the first time I saw Tim
Melza. Tim Melza, I would describe him like, like as a somebody who wanted to replicate
the formula of Jamie Oliver for the German market. Yes. 100%. So he kind of like tried
to, you know, use the same aesthetic and the same tone and you know, and make it German.
Yeah. Everything basically. I remember I was like somewhere in Spain. It was not in Germany
and there was this German channel and he was cooking and I saw him doing like a Hollandaise,
the way you would do a mayo with a, you know, with a mixer. And I never saw that before
and I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. I never saw that before. And then I never followed
him, but he has both lots of haters and lovers in Germany, if I'm not wrong, right? Yes.
Yeah. Which side are you, Phil? I don't know. The lover side, of course. Yeah, of course.
I have to say, I don't think that I know enough about him to really justify the dislike that
I feel for him. I don't know. Like everything that I've seen from him is just very, just
very filthy. It's just like, you know, you know, Jamie, Jamie Oliver is also like a,
like a bit of a messy guy. Jamie comes from like a very good restaurant trajectory. You
know, he was cooking at the River Cafe in London, which is a very amazing restaurant
still to this day with super pure Italian style food, you know, the ingredients and
just like good technique and no bullshit. And I think you can really see that in his
cooking and Tim Meltzer, you know, it was like, whenever I saw him, he did things where
I was just like, man, why, you know, like dirty little tricks and stuff and just sort
of, you know, saying nonsense, sort of like, if you don't have, you don't have this, just
use this and just like, you know, if you don't have, yeah, yeah, I get that. If you don't
have onions, use garlic. Yeah, stuff like that. But also just kind of like, well, if
you don't have, if you don't have lemon juice, just use the pickle liquid of these tinned
onions and stuff like that. And that's like, I don't know. And it's like, that's fine.
But it was just this kind of like, it was very messy and just like, almost like a, like
hobo cooking, you know? I remember that there was a chef in Venezuela that was really hated
because this guy was really like a TV product. I don't remember his name, but he had like
this, you know, Emeril, right? The American, he would always do like, bam, you know, like
this sound on his throat, something like, Emeril is a cool TV chef, I have to say. But
this guy would imitate him and he would always say, verde, que te quiero verde. He would
scream like, when he was throwing parsley to the food. And it was like a TV product
without culinary background and cooking shit with lots of audience and people following
him, you know, and using stock cubes for everything. And that really annoyed me, man. And everybody
in the culinary scene, I remember. Yeah, it's like, that's the thing, no, it's kind of like,
well, TV chefs who are not chefs. Oh my God, that just brings me to a point where I, which
really annoyed me the other day. It was like, I don't know if you ever followed the YouTube
channel of Bon Appetit, the YouTube channel. Yeah, sure. Fuck me. Right. They produce some
good stuff like Brad Leon. I love Brad Leon. If you haven't seen, you know, his stuff,
absolutely amazing. Also when Claire was on there doing her pastry shenanigans, absolutely
amazing content. But they have this series where they're like, pro chefs react to cooking
scenes in Hollywood movies. And it's like, and they talk about it and you're like calling
yourself a pro chef is a bit of a stretch made, you know, because they spurt out these
opinions that, you know, as if they're the like professional expert where me as an actual
professional expert, you know, listens to that. I'm sort of like, that is just not true.
You know, that's just absolute bullshit. What you just said. Yeah. There's so much bullshit
around food. Yeah. Yeah. And I hate that when it's like TV personalities making these statements
and everybody's like, oh yeah, they're on TV and they're cooking. So they must be a
professional. It's like, no, no, there's a big difference between somebody just making
him throwing some parsley on something like you said, or somebody who actually knows what
they're doing. Yeah. The same way you mentioned that Jamie Oliver got you into cooking. I
would say he got me into cooking, but he got me into getting interested in professional
cooking was Sumitres Tevez. He's also a Venezuelan TV chef, but he became like really big in
Latin America through this channel. But was for me, it was also nice to him because he
was like a Venezuelan making it. And his shows, like he would cook like, you know, like demi
glasses live on real time and this kind of thing. And these were actually the first time
I saw this kind of techniques. It was the first time I saw someone making an espuma
and putting it in a zippon and these kinds of things. Yeah. And I actually ended up going
to his culinary school, which is where I studied. Oh, cool. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. I mean, it's,
it's difficult, you know, it's like, there's a lot of bullshit content out there, you know,
but there are people who do good stuff. And you know, like, I mean, if we talk about TV
chefs and we've just kind of crossed over into the YouTube territory, you know, who
I used to dislike and now I really love David the Jorge. I don't know who that is. It's
not Robin food. Fuck David the Jorge. Let me see. Oh no, I don't know who that is. No,
really? Okay. No, I don't want to talk about him because I will only say bad things about
him. We can leave this out. No, but you know who I really love? Maddie Madison. I haven't
seen what the thing is. I haven't seen, I haven't seen cook shows like since I started
cooking, you know, when I started cooking, I just see fragments, you know, but not like
a follower or something. No, man. Maddie is Maddie is so cool because I mean, he is like
himself. He's like this persona that he's created and it's very loud, very colorful.
And you know, it's very entertaining to watch. But at the same time, it's like, it's not
my style of food at all, you know, because it's like, it's very full on. But man, he
like, he cooks really good. Like he cooks really well. And I looked at his cookbook.
The last one he brought out was like own cooking with Maddie or something like that. Something
some stupid title. And it's just that good food in there. You know, the kind of stuff
where I'm sort of like, man, I would make that at home, you know, and that's, that's
rare. I think that's rare. Another one that I really liked was an Argentinian called Gato
Lumas. He was a, you know, like a super classic Argentinian chef from, from the eighties.
He already died. But you know, this typical like fat old guy with a glass of wine in his
hand, he was drinking the episodes and doing super traditional food with this strong Argentinian
personality. You know, it was super fun to watch. That's nice. Kind of like Caluccio.
You know, Caluccio? No. The Italian? No. He was also like this kind of like little bit
copulent Italian guy, like gray hair with a walking stick and you know, like going foraging
for mushrooms and stuff like that. You know who I really liked? Wolfgang Puck. Oh really?
This guy with the Arnold Schwarzenegger accent, you know, cooking. And I think he's cooking
is quite nice. What he does. I like it. I see for me is a chef chef, you know? Yeah,
I mean, he's incredibly successful. I mean, he's, he must be one of the richest chefs
in the world for sure. At some point he was number one. I think he's not anymore. Yeah.
I mean, he's a chef for the Oscars and stuff like that. You know, like it's, I mean, he's
very, very successful. Yeah. And he has also this strong charisma and you know, like, yeah,
I mean, he's a bit of a dick, right? But what can you say? And that's also a guy that I
have tried his recipes a few times and they always like super nice recipes. What about
Jose Andres, man? Jose Andres was a TV chef at the beginning. Now he's so much bigger
than that, but he started, okay. He was many other things, but here in Spain he made his
name because you know, he was like just like a chef at El Bulli. Then he went to Washington.
He was someone in Washington, but no one, nobody in Spain until they started like a
TV show in Spanish for Spanish television. And like when I was, when it first came to
Spain around 2005, it was the TV show about food. And you can still find the episodes
on YouTube, but super nice. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I, I like Jose Andres. There's things
that I like about him. There's things that I like, dislike about him as in like dislike
and the fact that I don't need to watch too much of it, you know, he gets, he gets very
tiring very quickly, I think with the strawberry. And you have to peel the strawberry.
If you take it, the peel the strawberry and you put it in your mouth, it's like making
love to the most beautiful woman. Something like that. No, who peels the strawberry? No,
no Jose. What about your friend, David Chang? So David Chang, he's made some of the coolest
content I think, especially like back in the day with the mind of a chef and stuff. The
mind of a chef is still today, I would say my favorite cook show was amazing. Yeah. Especially
the first seasons after that, it became boring. Yeah. As a chef, I don't like David Chang
so much. Um, I think it's very, very messy and just like obscene cooking. He does a lot
of things that are really cool, you know, and he's done a lot of things that are really
cool. But like when I see him on a TV show and he like fries some like store-bought fucking
Krispy Kreme donuts, put some store-made ice cream on it, you know, and people are eating
it like, wow, this is crazy. You're a genius. You went to the supermarket, you bought a
donut and you put some ice cream from the supermarket on the donut. It's like, what
the fuck are you guys talking about? You know, like what is going on here? It's ridiculous.
Uh, and that I don't like, you know, it's just like this consumerism, nothing is enough
than just like more and more and more and take a burger and put on some caviar. This,
it's just obscene, you know? Um, and that part I don't like, but he's paved the way
for a style of restaurants in the, in the modern like landscape and the style of cooking
also. And that's, you know, nobody can take that away from him. You know, he was one of
the most, by far one of the most influential chefs of all time. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. You
know, it was really cool. And who I would like to see have a comeback. Jacques Pepin.
Jacques Pepin. Yeah. Uh, I remember, well, we can't tell this story. Like, do you remember
our omelette adventure? I don't know how many omelettes we made. So Phil and I, we were
like, we don't know how to cook omelettes. Okay. Why don't we buy 70 eggs and just cook
as many omelettes until we get them right. You know, and we did. Oh man, I remember it
was so disgusting at some point that like, I, I couldn't eat egg for weeks. Yeah. I mean,
it's a lot of egg. That's, it's an unhealthy amount of egg. And I think it's crazy that
we did that. We like now thinking back to it, it was the most normal thing for us. We're
like, yeah, yeah, we're gonna buy 70 eggs and we're just going to make omelette after
omelette after omelette. But I remember the, the best reference for that omelette thing
was Jacques Pepin omelette video. Yes. He actually, he actually explains how to hold
the pan to flip the omelette directly on the plate, which was quite useful. Actually still
today, if I see someone doing that, I know he knows, you know, like these guys are not
just cooking an omelette. He knows he knows he's one of us. One of us, one of us. His
name was Peter Paulson. Okay. Yeah. But these sorts of things, you know, they're like, I,
I don't know about you, the hundreds and hundreds of chefs that I've worked with, right? There
is only a handful who can cook an omelette properly. And that's pretty depressing. And
I, yeah, I don't know. I think it's just something that you should be able to do. And you know
what? Like the other day I made an omelette. I don't ever make omelettes, you know, ever
unless I want to show off and, you know, be like a cool, cool chef guy and make like a
nice omelette. And my omelettes are far from perfect. You know, I'm not, I don't make great
omelettes, but I can make an omelette that passes as an omelette. What's a nice omelette
for you? For me, a nice omelette is like a perfect sepuline, which is cooked on the outside
and liquid on the inside. For me, that's like a three star omelette, like a super, like
the ones these Japanese guys does that then he opens it with a knife. And you know what
I mean? Like on a, on top of a rice. I wouldn't say liquid. Creamy, creamy. I think some
people take it too far. Okay. I agree. I agree. But for sure creamy. And if you get really
into the, into the details of it, the size of the curd that's inside of the thing, this,
if you're too lazy with your stirring, the curds going to be too big, but if you're too
aggressive, it's like scrambled egg inside. And that's not cool either. You know, you
have to have the right, it's, it's a, that's the thing about the omelette. You have to
control your heat. You have to control your movement. You have to, you have seconds of,
it needs to be decisive action taken. Right. And you have to be there. The philosophy,
the, yeah, the philosophy of an omelette, you know, it's, it's deep. And the other day,
I really felt like just eating like a simple breakfast and I was like, I'm going to make
an omelette. I made a three egg omelette with nothing, no cream, no nothing, just eggs and
butter and salt. And it came out pretty nice. And I ate it. I sat down and I ate it. And
it was just a quick breakfast for me, but it turned out really good. And I was like,
man, when an omelette is made nicely, it's fucking delicious. Yeah, for sure. So tasty.
Like this is a perfect texture on the inside. And I was really sort of like reminded of
the impact of the base technique executed properly is far superior than most extra little
bits that you can do.