One thing I've noticed lately (and by 'lately', I mean, the past eight months or so)...
I watch a lot of cooking shows. And other food shows in general.
But I don't mean the homemaker-y, working class-oriented, diet-seeking shows that profile easy, cheap, gluttonous (but oh, so delicious), and, at times, ethnic foods.
I mean the competitive cooking shows.
Many a night this past summer I stayed up until 2 in the morning watching various episodes of Chopped on Food Network. For those who have never watched it, Chopped brings in four chefs from around the U.S and makes them compete against each other for a $10,000 prize. The catch is that they are given a basket of random (and I mean random) "secret" ingredients before the start of each round, from which the chefs must produce a satisfying course to be reviewed and tasted by a panel of judges that consists of culinary aristocrats.
This process continues for three rounds (appetizer, entree, dessert), one competitor getting eliminated (or "chopped") if their dish, for whatever reason, is unsatisfactory.
The other catch is that the contestants usually have a half hour or less to produce each dish.
Don't even get me started on Iron Chef: America. Those guys have serious guts...
I don't know why these shows appeal to me so much, seeing as I don't cook at all...Perhaps it's an unconscious way of absorbing culinary knowledge that will, someday, come in handy.
Until then, while I do like the occasional beef stew, I'd rather not have it infused with grape schnapps, Cheez-Its, and Korean chili paste.
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