OK... I'll kick this one off...

My real only favorite one is Alton Brown...
altho I do find a lot of his recipes need some tweaking, his cooking methods are pretty good...

I also find the Barefoot Contessas show interresting, as I know a lot of the places she shops...
and she highlights a lot of East End LI recipes I have been making for years...

I can't stand Sandra Lee... Just way too Cutsie for me! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sick.gif" alt="" />
Paula Deen is just way too much for me to ever watch... Blech...

Brian--we were typing at the same time! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> Will copy my post here, and delete the one I started..

I guess I like Bobby Flay best, with close second Ina Gartner. Bobby I guess I like because he grills a lot and I love grilled foods, and everything he does seems kind of imaginative, a bit different, not a lot of heavy stuff, often with a spicy touch. Ina (Barefoot Contessa), I don't know, she seems to genuinely enjoy cooking and eating and she really cooks, unlike some of those folks...

Not so favorite--don't even know their names--the Neeley's, maybe???--the black couple. Everything they do is collard greens, all fat and cholesterol. Yuck. (Some of which could be said for Paula Deen, but her, I genuinely like. She's had a hard life and come a long way and her, I enjoy...)

I like Alton Brown, his shows are unusual, in that he talks a lot about the science of why things work the way they do. Sandra Lee doesn't really cook and she is way too cutesie, I agree.

Yepr, I do like Bobby Flay too, just not his "Throwdown" series so much...
Can't stand any of the the "Iron Chef" series either!

I hated the "Neely's" from day one... just too much "I love you so much" cr*p! who needs that in a cooking show???

No, not the throwdown stuff, that's kinda dumb. His regular cooking shows. Iron Chef is kind of an acquired taste. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> Eric likes it. I think it's OK.

Yeah, the throwdown stuff is kinda "self indulgent" IMO...
His regular shows are good though...
I do find it interresting who he's married to... "Alex Cahill" (Sheree J. Wilson) from Law & Order...
I had lunch at his " Mesa Grill " in NYC once, and it was really good!

Brian, I am going to correct you here. Bobby is married to Stephanie March who played Alexandra Cabot on Law and Order. One of my favorite shows.

I don't care for Iron Chef either...did enjoy the original series. And I do like Paula as she is fun to watch. As for her recipes...some are pretty good really as I have tried a few. Alton is very informative.

Don't care for Rachel Ray at all nor Sandra Dee. I do like Big Daddy (can't remember his name now) that won the Next Food Network Star a year or so ago. I think Giada is beautiful and where oh where does she put the food she eats...she is so thin!

Annie

I like Ina Garten's recipes the best. (I'm also a Long Islander), but I do like her stuff the best. I like Tyler and Bobby Fley, and I like Michael (not sure of his last name) but I think his show is called "entertaining". I have not had much success with Giadia's recipes.

AH... you are right, never bothered to look it up!

Boy Meets Grill with Bobby Flay is great, so is Ina Garten the Barefoot Contessa. Rachel Ray is too over exposed, some of her recipes are good but don't care to watch her. Michael Ciarello (not sure I spelled that right) is good and I really do enjoy Alton's shows.

Food Network has certainly changed the way we all look at food and entertaining!

It is amazing to me as a Memphis area resident and pork canibal(One pig eating another one!) how popularized (Is that a word? Is now!) the Neelys have become. Their food is far from being the best Q in town.

I agree about all of the stuff they do on TV. One show of them will hold me for a lifetime.

Being old, I really got my interest in cooking fueled by Julia Child, especially in her younger years. I also enjoy Burt Wolf's food and travel on PBS.

I like Paula Dean, Bobby Flay, Guy Fieri (my favorite), and some of Alton Brown.

I do not care for Giada, Sandra Lee, Ina whatever her name is and the new chick that use to or still cooks with Mario Batali...

Mario Batali's recipes always confuse me for some reason. I do like Guy's show and I think he has really pulled in a lot of the younger men which is good for the younger women!

My favorite is "Barefoot Contessa". Her recipes always come out perfect for me, although her laugh sort of drives me nuts. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> I also like Giada. I've really gotten into the show, "Chopped". The ingredients they make the contestants use is very interesting. I don't really like Bobby Flay and I can't stand Rachael.

My favorite, though she's not on any more, is Sara Moulton. She used to do Cooking Live, and she really taught me how to cook. Now I enjoy Ina Garten, and my favorite newer show is Anne Burrell's Secrets of a Restaurant Chef. I gag when I see Sandra Lee, and can't change the channel fast enough when Paula or the Neely's come on. Emeril Lagasse is the most overrated chef ever; how that man made an empire out of "Bam" is a mystery to me.

Rachel Ray, I was trying to think of her name earlier. I sort of liked her when she first came out, but now, she just irritates me! Just TOO something...

Ah, Julia Child I don't really remember seeing, but Burt Wolfe, I do remember seeing several of his shows!! Very interesting.

Georgia, I agree with you on Emeril. No way is he a chef...a mediocre cook is what I would call him. And all the salt he uses...ugh!

Annie

Oh boy do I remember Julia Child! Any one remember Graham Kerr and the Galloping Gourmet? I was making bread a little while ago, opened a drawer to get my dough scraper out and I pulled out one with Graham's name on it. Took me back a few years!

Annie

I used to love Graham Kerr as the Galloping Gourmet. He was hilarious. A few years ago I saw some newer shows, where he cooks with very little fat, salt, etc, I believe, because his wife had health issues. It just wasn't the same.

Was he the one that drank while he cooked??? I do remember him being very funny though..

Carol, yes he is the one that drank while cooking. I really enjoyed him and his spurtles! I still have two of mine and would be lost without them.

Annie

Alton Brown has taught me a lot with his Good Eats show.

Alton is a mixed blessing. Sometimes there's just too much information there, like going to school! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

LOVED Graham Kerr as the Galloping Gourmet. I couldn't believe the quantities of butter and wine he used (and drank!!), but back then no one cared! I also didn't enjoy his healthier show as much.

Alton Brown is the best there is on FN. What a treat.

Guy Fieri is at the complete other end of the spectrum. I think he is a hack, and find him very offensive. I wrote a letter to Scripps (who own FN) and didn't even get a form letter back.

I do like Ina Garten and Bobby Flay.

From the old days: Julia Child, Galloping Gourmet, Two Old Fat Ladies, and Cooking Cheap. Those are the ones I learned to cook from.

I like the older shows from Yan Can Cook also.

Same here... he's just a showman...

Some of the best were Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. Both together and solo <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />
Before Julia was Dione Lacas (sp)
James Beard wasn't a slouch either.
Also the Cajun guy with suspenders. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" />

Ah, what was that Cajun fella's name??? He was neat!

I don't remember his name but he use to say "I ga ron tee this is gona be good"

Justin Wilson was his name.

Justin Wilson, I ga-run-tee!

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />Justin Wilson

He liked to use his Ounn-Yunnn too... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

JW was probably the first TV Cooking show I started watching years ago...
You can find a lot of his recipes here:
http://www.justinwilson.com/

I have made his Crawfish Etouffee, many years ago... YUMMM!
Don't know if I got the recipe exactly like it is on the website, as it was before the Internet and I had to write it all down while watching the show...

Oh WOW! I had forgotten about trying to write recipes down while the show was on the air! Even in the early days of Food Network, you had to mail in for the recipes. We're so spoiled now!

Thanks, Augmon, for the name!

Ah, that made me smile, just reading that! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

James Beard was my Dad's favorite and thusly influenced my cooking. I do like Bobby Flay as well.