Pet peeves about cooking shows

caseydog said:
I do eat with the tynes pointing up, but not with a clenched fist. BTW, I only eat peas at home, so I can use a spoon. Eating peas with a fork is very frustrating.

CD
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I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life.
It don't improve the flavour none,
But it keeps them on the knife.


Spike Milligan
 
As long as you extend that courtesy to others, then that’s generally ok.

i wouldn't have it any other way ... i like knowing where i stand with a man
 
The Velvet Curtain said:
I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life.
It don't improve the flavour none,
But it keeps them on the knife.


Spike Milligan
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Funny, that came to my mind too...though I remember the 3rd line a little differently:
I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.
 
I went to a posh Grammar School where we were admonished if we didn´t know how to eat our peas with a fork - and that meant balancing them on the back. The fork was held in the left hand, and the knife, in the right. Holding them in the air was considered "ordinary" (a euphemism for lower class). It was all a question of etiquette.
I remember the first "Gala" dinner I ever attended at university. 7 courses, God knows how many bits and pieces of cutlery, and 7 different wines (one for each course). Fortunately, I was sat next to my professor who said " Just follow me".
That level of formality no longer exists, I´d imagine, except in Buckingham Palace, thank goodness. Whilst I´m not particularly happy watching people snarfing down their food as if it were the Last Supper, I´ve learned to eat like many Asian cultures (with my hands) and like many other Asian cultures (with chopsticks) and am perfectly happy with that.
 
Cooking shows don't actually TEACH anymore. I used to watch PBS cooking shows WAY back when. People like Madeline Kamen, Jacques, Julia, Yan, Jeff Smith, etc. They actually taught how to cook. Techniques and such.
 
karadekoolaid said:
That level of formality no longer exists
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I think what I like about that level of formality isn’t a feeling of being better than others, but of the ritual involved. It’s highly entertaining to me to have this little fork for this little dish, and that big spoon for that big dish, and all the fussy rules - it’s a lot like making tea a certain way, part of the enjoyment is the ritual of it.

Do we eat like that at home? Not at all - we eat off tray tables in the living room 99% of the time. When we go out, though, we do like a little of that fastidiousness, sort of like pampering ourselves with a little luxury.
 
msmofet said:
Cooking shows don't actually TEACH anymore. I used to watch PBS cooking shows WAY back when. People like Madeline Kamen, Jacques, Julia, Yan, Jeff Smith, etc. They actually taught how to cook. Techniques and such.
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That’s what I love about Pépin and why I go on about himself so much - that man is a born teacher, he can’t help it. Even if he picks up toothpick, he’s going to show you something interesting with it.

So many cooking shows are just demos - “I’m gonna put two tablespoons of oil in the pan…I’m gonna add a teaspoon of salt…I’m gonna turn this after three minutes.”

JP rarely does that. Even now, in his cooking-from-home videos, if he’s pouring oil in a pan, he’s more likely to tell you why he’s using that oil, or why the pan is that hot, or why he’s not covering the pan. He’s always explaining, not just demonstrating.

Add to that his usually funny/warm stories from being a kid/apprentice/chef and you get the whole package watching his stuff.
 
MrsDangermouse said:
Also we don't swap the cutlery between hands...generally the knife is used in the dominant hand and the fork in the other one.
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I'm the only one in my family who doesn’t switch hands while eating. BUT. My fork is in my dominant hand and my knife in the other. So you use your fork in the non-dominant hand to eat?

Edited to add that I'm left-handed.
 
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JAS_OH1 said:
So you use your fork in the non-dominant hand to eat?
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I'm right-handed and use the knife in my right hand and fork in the left - that's the way pretty much every right-handed person I know eats (for lefties its reversed). If I'm eating something with a spoon or a fork on its own then I'll use it in my right hand. If I'm eating a desert with a fork and spoon the spoon goes in the right hand and the fork in the left.
 
MrsDangermouse said:
I'm right-handed and use the knife in my right hand and fork in the left - that's the way pretty much every right-handed person I know eats (for lefties its reversed). If I'm eating something with a spoon or a fork on its own then I'll use it in my right hand. If I'm eating a desert with a fork and spoon the spoon goes in the right hand and the fork in the left.
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Ah. Yes, all the right-handed people I know eat with the fork in their right hand, but switch hands to cut food.

And I'm an odd lefty. I cut food when prepping dinner with my left hand but while eating I use my right hand to cut.
 
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