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I’ve become pretty seriously addicted to a show called “Good Eats”:http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea. Supposedly it broadcasts on the Food Network, but I really don’t know. Probably six different people have independently recommended this show to me because they know I like science, cooking, and have a sense of humor.

I normally have mixed feelings about cooking shows. In my mind, I see a pretentious chef-school chef who has access to equipment and ingredients I’ve never heard of who in 24 minutes produces something I’d probably never eat, and couldn’t cook if I wanted to because of their quick treatment and step skipping. Now, I’ve seen a few that I’ve liked, but I never got that into them.

Good Eats, on the other hand, is right up my alley. The host, “Alton Brown”:http://www.altonbrown.com, is interested in keeping food simple, and prefers ingredients that are available to everyone. He even has shots of himself at the local restaraunt supply store or grocery store picking up the items. He also avoids recipes. Like myself, he feels that cooking should be an experiment, and that once you’ve got the basic idea of how to cook something, you can freely branch off on your own. He’s also a pretty silly, lighthearted guy, which is something I can relate to.

But most importantly, he describes some of the science behind the cooking. Instead of just telling you to do something, or worse, assuming you already know the technique, he shows you *why* a certain technique is important. He might use a “Hoberman Sphere”:http://hoberman.com/fold/index.html toy to demonstrate the molecular structure of bubbles in whipped cream, or puppets to describe how fat and water interact in a french fry. He even has food scientists and physicists appear on the show to explain certain properties of foods. I’m big on the ‘why’ of things, and I don’t feel comfortable using a cooking technique that I don’t understand. When you understand the why of the technique, the how often becomes apparent.

His simple, yet quality productions show you a basic recipe that includes all the correct techniques, setting you on the right direction for all your own experimentation.

Due to my aquisition of a large pile of his episodes, the last few days have been a cooking bonanza. I’ve made a few things based on his suggestions, but I’m now thinking more carefully about all of the things I cook, and imagining ways to improve techniques based on what is actually happening during the cooking process. We’ve made fish and chips, bruschetta, omelets, salsa, and had brownies in just the past few days. There is a reason my friend Barb calls this stuff ‘Food Porn’.

As you can see, I’m pretty pleased with Mr. Brown and his show. If you have the Food Network, you can probably just watch it. However, his shows are also available on DVD, or if you are an enterprising soul, you can download them via BitTorrent.

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