Rachael Ray

The more I consider this topic, the more I tend to towards thinking that interesting things can be learned about cooking from all sorts of sources. Its very easy for any of us to simply dismiss certain TV chefs as rubbish in a few choice words (or emojis). I'm increasingly trying not to be prejudiced but to look dispassionately at what they are doing. And if I can learn something or even get an idea and be inspired to create something then that's good.

The problem with Rachael that I have is her style. As TastyReuben says so wittily:

TastyReuben said:
Everywhere a person turned, there she was with that snorting, braying laugh of hers, forcing her “yummo!” “choup,” “stoup,” and “sammies” on everyone, and suddenly commenting on things outside the kitchen. For a time, she was bigger than Oprah.

You how a kid does something kind of funny, and everyone laughs, the kid sees that they got a little attention, so they do it again and again and again, and more so every time, to the point of annoyance? That was RR for quite a long time - “Oh, you love my fun names for food?! Here are 10 more I just thought of!!! I’m adorkable! Hee-haw-snort!”
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But if you strip all that away, there are some good American Italian dishes being cooked.

It is a bit patchy though. I saw her attempting some sort of curry and well... enough said.
 
Going from memory...
RR filled a niche.
You had Emeril and Bobby with their street cred. You had Paula and Giada with their roots. Alton with his Bill Nye the science guy approach. And you had Rachel, the approachable girl next door. Who most likely learned to cook like many of us, by watching our mothers or hanging out in the kitchen. At least that was her persona to me.
IMO she was a smart move for the Food Network. I imagine they were trying to capture that magic again when they plucked Rhee off youtube. But by then their channel was a joke. Too many reality game shows and talent that was a personality first and a cook second.
 
PAcanis said:
RR filled a niche.
You had Emeril and Bobby with their street cred. You had Paula and Giada with their roots. Alton with his Bill Nye the science guy approach. And you had Rachel, the approachable girl next door. Who most likely learned to cook like many of us, by watching our mothers or hanging out in the kitchen. At least that was her persona to me.
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I'd go a bit earlier than that. Michael Lamonaco, John Ash, David Rosengarten, Susan Feniger, Sarah Molton, Mary Sue Milliken, Nick Malgieri and, yes, Mario Batali and Emeril. (Never rated Bobby Flay)
Really good, talented chefs with abundant knowledge of cooking, preparing fantastic, but eminently practical dishes.
Then the whole thing went sideways...
 
I can’t think of a single tv chef I like watching. There are YouTubers I enjoy, like Diaries of a sushi master (Hiroyuki Terada) or Maangchi or even occasionally a bit of Babish or Guga.
But a programme with a whole hours worth of wittering away to then show you a maximum of three dishes, nope.

Edit: I thought of one, well two actually, Two Fat Ladies, I liked watching them. They were so imperious it was quite captivating. Like looking at a time capsule of how Brits of bygone days behaved.
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
Edit: I thought of one, well two actually, Two Fat Ladies, I liked watching them. They were so imperious it was quite captivating.
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That was a show where the cooking was secondary. I used to watch it just to see what offensive things they’d come out with each episode.

We used to get Rhodes Around Britain here and I liked watching him. That was a long time ago.
 
PAcanis said:
The Galloping Gourmet!
Now there was a drinke... err, cook :angelic:

The first cooking show I can remember watching on the TV.
I guess my mother figured it kept me busy.
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Man he was like Duck Van Dyke. He stumbled/tripped in every episode.
I remember he hung an eel from the rafters and skinned it.

Edit: His new show wasn't the same once he was sober.
 
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TastyReuben said:
That was a show where the cooking was secondary. I used to watch it just to see what offensive things they’d come out with each episode.

We used to get Rhodes Around Britain here and I liked watching him. That was a long time ago.
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I always enjoyed Gary Rhodes. His recipes always went the extra mile and I really enjoyed how he elevated whatever he was cooking.
He fell foul of the bish bash bosh style that swept in with Jamie Oliver which I think certainly has a place and encouraged a lot of men who wouldn’t normally cook to have a go but I was sad that a lot of the better chefs shows fell by the wayside as a result.
 
I just watched a Rachael Ray vid on youtube to see what you’re all talking about. It was the ‘White Ragu Pappardelle’ episode.
I thought she was pretty good at communicating what you need to do. If you couldn’t cook and followed what she said I reckon you’d get a pretty satisfactory dish out of it at the end and that’s a skill.

But her presentations style is too much for me. I can’t say I’m really into the ‘mindful cooking’ thing but this was too far the other way, I almost felt like she was attacking the ingredients. Like they’d better yield and do what she wants or they’ll be trouble!
I bet she’s surrounded by nice mild mannered people IRL cos they’d have to be 😂
 
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