On Faking It, a program airing here on BBC America, the show’s producers quickly and thoroughly train a contestant for a new job—not totally unrelated, but usually more demanding than their current occupation—and then the person attempts to fool the experts in that field with their new skills, hence the title. Last week was a ballet dancer turned wrestler. Really interesting episode this week, I thought. They took a mild-mannered (and I daresay adorable) fast-food vendor and whipped him into a no-nonsense master chef. An acting coach was even called in to give him the right amount of swagger and bravado to lead a brigade of restaurant cooks. By the end of the episode, when he impressed the judges in a cooking competition, I was quite proud of him. And a little inspired.
Now I kind of want to take a culinary crash course of my own. On the web I found a promising school called L’Academie de Cuisine, which gives recreational cooking classes at its Bethesda location (and runs professional programs in Gaithersburg). Perhaps “Primary Skills Bootcamp” is what I need to get in shape?
Speaking of food, I haven’t abandoned my weekly experiments just yet. The weekend before last, I cooked up Jacques Pépin’s recipe for cheese fondue. I’m not exactly qualified to judge, but I didn’t really like the way it turned out. In the book, M. Pépin acknowledges that it’s made with the minimum of ingredients, resulting in an uneven consistency–the melted Swiss cheese sinks to the bottom of the pot, separating from the wine sauce. You sort of have to dredge around to coat your piece of bread with both parts of the fondue. It tasted great, but I’m used to a more traditional, consistently creamy texture.
5 replies on “Kitchen Cinderella”
I just watched that episode via TiVo this afternoon, and loved it – why do the Brits seem able to make really compelling and somewhat educational “reality” programs? Every Americanized version of a UK show sucks big time.
Meanwhile, Ed WAS adorable, wasn’t he? Love the double entendres inherent in him looking into the camera offering a sausage…
P.S. “Faking It” is actually not a BBC program, it’s produced by and airs on Channel 4 in the U.K., which is a commercial broadcaster. It’s also the home of Graham Norton and all those reality shows – Manor House, 1900 House, etc. etc. Interesting that BBC America shows these programs – it’s akin to NBC showing CBS programs in another country.
Hee. Yes, Ed was so sweet! (Even when he had to order the other cooks around.) That whole episode was fascinating. And thanks for sorting out the Faking It provenance. Duly noted.
LOL… watched it on TiVo last night myself, and also found Ed sweetly adorable, if a bit of a milquetoast until the very end.
I was so proud of him, though. I really hadn’t thought he would succeed at pulling it off, and certainly not so dramatically.
I feel so left out, lacking BBC America and all. But it sounds fun and all-around entertaining. I’d love to see it sometime.
I just wanted to say that — as completely random as this is — every time I watch Will & Grace, I think of you, Jeffy. Which is five days out of the week. (I’ll count the weekends too, ’cause I do miss you. ;))
Oh, and *ahem*, blogroll me, darling!