Friday, March 13, 2009

Three Chefs And One Oprah

Oprah did a good job with the three chefs she had on the other day, showing three families how to cook better, cheaper and healthier than their usual diet of takeout or frozen foods.

Cat Cora, Tyler Florence and Curtis Stone (he’s hot – here’s his diary…his TRAVEL diary, sadly) all came up with good strategies and recipes for seven days worth of meals for the different families.

I was appalled at the husband of the family that Curtis visited. After the wife said she was tired of cooking things that people didn’t eat, the husband snarled that her food wasn't good. They looked as if they could use a session with Dr. Phil. My feeling is if someone isn’t happy with the food being served, then he can cook it himself or eat what he brought with him!

Tyler was absolutely adorable. Oprah LOVED it when he called his wife “babe” when he spoke to her in the audience. He talked about the first meal he cooked for her. Unbeknownst to him, she hated duck and was feeding it to his dog under the table. Tyler is really all about his wife and family. He seems genuinely lovely.

All three chefs had one of their dishes ready for Oprah to taste. Tyler’s Barbecue Pork Shoulder with The Ultimate Barbecue Sauce was made in a crockpot. The politically correct term is now slow cooker. I love this idea for a broccoli slaw made with the STEMS of the broccoli. I often stir fry them, but I never thought to make a cole slaw type thing with them.

Curtis had a yummy pizza that O scarfed down.

Cat’s Greek Cinnamon Stewed Chicken was really cost effective, coming in at under 8 dollars.

This was a do-good, feel-good hour of Oprah…except for the surly husband.

6 comments:

DebCarol said...

I also thought this show was very well done. The Chefs were great, very down to earth and the food they made could be done by any home cook. I felt so sorry for that one little boy after it came out he was going to school hungry (after his mother's breakfast of some microwave junk). And OMG could you believe how much that one family spent on take-out? Every single night, take-out. Yikes.

Emily said...

I'm sorry I missed this! All of the dishes sound great.

I think I still call it "crockpot". Whoops. I've never actually used one before. The parents' model is from the seventies, I believe. Oooh, dangerous.

Have a good weekend!

oregonphotography said...

Hi!
Tyler is one of my personal favorites on the Food Network, along with Bobby Flay and the Barefoot Contessa.

All are down-to-earth folks and not so full of themselves. You have an excellent blog and I am going to follow it. Best to you and your family!

Thom
BBQing Tips From Deep In The Heart Of Oregon

The Short (dis)Order Cook said...

Isn't "Crock Pot" a registered trademark of Rival? I can see why they have to say slow cooker.

That story about Tyler is hilarious. I would never cook a meal for someone without asking what their likes and dislikes were first. How can anyone not like duck? I still remember the sense of panic I felt when I first cooked a meal for Sir Pickypants and found out everything he couldn't eat!

Sue said...

Hi DC,
The recipes were quite good too.

That little boy was so sweet.

Of course, that family spent a lot on takeout. The wife was being passive-aggressive (understandably) at her pig of a husband criticizing everything she made. Ok, perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration after seeing them for only 2 and 1/2 minutes, but I do get how it was just easier to order out, although that amount was staggering. Sending them to marriage counseling would have been a lot cheaper.

Em,
It was a good show, but please don’t start watching Oprah in your 20’s. You have other fish to fry.

Hi Thom,
Welcome!

Tyler is a complete sweetie-pie and he can cook too. What a combo!

Thanks for stopping by.

Hey Rach,
Good point about the “Crockpot”.

That hadn’t occurred to me about Tyler cooking for his future wife. Yeah, of course, he should have asked about any special food issues. It was funny that she didn’t want to tell him she hated duck and just secretly gave it to the dog. I guess that was better than wrapping it an napkin and putting it in her pocket a la Elaine on Seinfeld.

Anonymous said...

Great great show really! I enjoyed it myself!