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Good Eats - Holiday Treats
Other // Unrated // August 26, 2002
List Price: $19.95 [Buy now and save at Foodtv]
[Intro is reprinted from first disc review] As statistics will show, food and eating are a popular pastime in America. From that fact, FoodTV sprang on to the cable television scene years ago and proceeded to make household names out of several chefs and television shows.
One of FoodTV's rising stars, who has not received the attention or praise that he deserves, is Alton Brown and his show Good Eats. His is not just your ordinary cooking show and Brown definitely is not your ordinary host. Like a good recipe, Good Eats blends equal parts of many elements (cooking, science and pop culture) to offer up a show that is entertaining and educational. With a background in cinematography, as well as food, the spiky-haired Brown is a mix of Quentin Tarantino film trivia and the scientific experimentation of Mr. Wizard applied to food.
Each episode takes a basic theme or ingredient (like chocolate, strawberries, or ham) and using the basic principles of food science, Brown creates several dishes from the ingredient. Aside from the many film and pop culture references, Brown has a personality and dry wit that makes him a likeable guy. He also seems down to earth. For the most part, the episodes take place in a set that is supposed to be his house and you feel at home with him. He seems like to slightly strange neighbor that's always doing strange things to his grill-like attaching a hair-dryer to turbo-charge it. Always interesting and often education, Good Eats is the perfect cooking show that shows you they why, along with the how.
With that introduction out of the way, let's take a look a one of the Good Eats DVDs:
Holiday Treats is the DVD for anyone looking for a sure-fire way to make a great turkey this Thanksgiving, use the leftovers in a few dishes, and make a fruitcake that people will actually eat. There are three episodes of the show on the disc, as well as a few extras.
Episode 1 - Romancing the Bird: Alton relates the tale of how a stranger died at their Thanksgiving table when he was a child because the Turkey was too dry. Determined to set things right he enlists the aid of his regular helpers to make a perfect turkey, just as his demented relatives start to show. His sister Marsha makes a return demanding an authentic Thanksgiving and in a scene straight from The Matrix, Brown offers to show her the truth. She has to choose between the blue blueberry and the red cherry. She chooses blue and they are whisked away to the woods where they meet with the local food anthropologist. There they learn that an authentic Thanksgiving might not be good eats. Through it all Brown dispels of the many myths and misconceptions that are ingrained American minds about cooking turkey, all in the name of making your next Turkey the best one in years.
Episode 2 - Behind the Bird: Picking up directly after the Turkey episode, documentary filmmaker Blair MacGuffin (secret inside joke for those who get it) is on hand to make a documentary about the show. A freak snowstorm strands the whole crew and Alton's demented family members in the house. As the food dwindles, the residents of the house become desperate. Alton, two crewmembers, and Blair have holed up in the basement after the remainder of the group takes Brown's sister Marsha hostage. They demand not only food, they want good eats and Brown is forced to create three dishes with the little amount of supplies and Turkey carcass available. More conventional in its recipe presentation, this episode stands as one of the wittiest and most enjoyable parodies of a film the series has done. After The Blair Witch became a huge success there were the inevitable parodies. Too bad they couldn't have all been this good. The episode is quickly resolved when Brown's mother arrives via a certain FoodTV star's helicopter.
Episode 3 - It's A Wonderful Cake: Finishing up the holiday trio, the much misunderstood fruitcake is taken for a spin. Years of cheap knockoffs and cheap gifts have caused America to look at the fruitcake as a pariah of Holiday cheer. With a little inspiration from his grandmother, Alton sets out to change all of that. Seemingly shorter than some of the episodes, it's low on parody and all about education. Still interesting, it's enough to make anyone want to make a fresh fruit cake for the holidays just so you can spray it continually day after day with rum.
More than just a recital of recipes, Good Eats presents you with all the information that you'll need to create not just the recipes you've seen but the knowledge to make your own. Combined with the witty and likeable presence of Brown, the numerous pop culture and film references will keep any viewer on their toes and laughing in their seat.
The Video: Again, the video on this disc is a full frame transfer from the original episode. Sharpness, contrast, and coloring are all perfectly done and any problems that seemed to plague the transfer on the Sweets disc are gone. With the audio/video sync problem fixed there are no complaints on this one.
The Audio: The stereo mix is a capable one with the title and episode music sounding good. The vocals on this disc are mixed at level much better than the Sweets disc as well.
Extras: What kind of extras can you have on a DVD for a cooking show? The recipes are included, of course. All the recipes for the shows are on the DVD and included in a foldout booklet in the case. The best extra is the Q&A with Brown that is included. Filmed on location of a special episode (parodying the Tom Hanks film Cast Away) Brown sits at a table and talks into a camera answering viewer's questions. For approximately 15 minutes he answers questions that have been written on note cards. His wry wit and knowledge shine again in this short section and you'll learn as much about him personally as you will about the science behind the episodes. Also included are commercials for the other FoodTV shows.
Overall: The perfect mix of pop culture and cooking-if there could be such a thing-Good Eats is the most entertaining and educational cooking show you'll ever watch. Brown has a perfect personality that lets him explain all the information and science needed to make your next Thanksgiving or Holiday feast full of Good Eats.
One of FoodTV's rising stars, who has not received the attention or praise that he deserves, is Alton Brown and his show Good Eats. His is not just your ordinary cooking show and Brown definitely is not your ordinary host. Like a good recipe, Good Eats blends equal parts of many elements (cooking, science and pop culture) to offer up a show that is entertaining and educational. With a background in cinematography, as well as food, the spiky-haired Brown is a mix of Quentin Tarantino film trivia and the scientific experimentation of Mr. Wizard applied to food.
Each episode takes a basic theme or ingredient (like chocolate, strawberries, or ham) and using the basic principles of food science, Brown creates several dishes from the ingredient. Aside from the many film and pop culture references, Brown has a personality and dry wit that makes him a likeable guy. He also seems down to earth. For the most part, the episodes take place in a set that is supposed to be his house and you feel at home with him. He seems like to slightly strange neighbor that's always doing strange things to his grill-like attaching a hair-dryer to turbo-charge it. Always interesting and often education, Good Eats is the perfect cooking show that shows you they why, along with the how.
With that introduction out of the way, let's take a look a one of the Good Eats DVDs:
Holiday Treats is the DVD for anyone looking for a sure-fire way to make a great turkey this Thanksgiving, use the leftovers in a few dishes, and make a fruitcake that people will actually eat. There are three episodes of the show on the disc, as well as a few extras.
Episode 1 - Romancing the Bird: Alton relates the tale of how a stranger died at their Thanksgiving table when he was a child because the Turkey was too dry. Determined to set things right he enlists the aid of his regular helpers to make a perfect turkey, just as his demented relatives start to show. His sister Marsha makes a return demanding an authentic Thanksgiving and in a scene straight from The Matrix, Brown offers to show her the truth. She has to choose between the blue blueberry and the red cherry. She chooses blue and they are whisked away to the woods where they meet with the local food anthropologist. There they learn that an authentic Thanksgiving might not be good eats. Through it all Brown dispels of the many myths and misconceptions that are ingrained American minds about cooking turkey, all in the name of making your next Turkey the best one in years.
Episode 2 - Behind the Bird: Picking up directly after the Turkey episode, documentary filmmaker Blair MacGuffin (secret inside joke for those who get it) is on hand to make a documentary about the show. A freak snowstorm strands the whole crew and Alton's demented family members in the house. As the food dwindles, the residents of the house become desperate. Alton, two crewmembers, and Blair have holed up in the basement after the remainder of the group takes Brown's sister Marsha hostage. They demand not only food, they want good eats and Brown is forced to create three dishes with the little amount of supplies and Turkey carcass available. More conventional in its recipe presentation, this episode stands as one of the wittiest and most enjoyable parodies of a film the series has done. After The Blair Witch became a huge success there were the inevitable parodies. Too bad they couldn't have all been this good. The episode is quickly resolved when Brown's mother arrives via a certain FoodTV star's helicopter.
Episode 3 - It's A Wonderful Cake: Finishing up the holiday trio, the much misunderstood fruitcake is taken for a spin. Years of cheap knockoffs and cheap gifts have caused America to look at the fruitcake as a pariah of Holiday cheer. With a little inspiration from his grandmother, Alton sets out to change all of that. Seemingly shorter than some of the episodes, it's low on parody and all about education. Still interesting, it's enough to make anyone want to make a fresh fruit cake for the holidays just so you can spray it continually day after day with rum.
More than just a recital of recipes, Good Eats presents you with all the information that you'll need to create not just the recipes you've seen but the knowledge to make your own. Combined with the witty and likeable presence of Brown, the numerous pop culture and film references will keep any viewer on their toes and laughing in their seat.
The Video: Again, the video on this disc is a full frame transfer from the original episode. Sharpness, contrast, and coloring are all perfectly done and any problems that seemed to plague the transfer on the Sweets disc are gone. With the audio/video sync problem fixed there are no complaints on this one.
The Audio: The stereo mix is a capable one with the title and episode music sounding good. The vocals on this disc are mixed at level much better than the Sweets disc as well.
Extras: What kind of extras can you have on a DVD for a cooking show? The recipes are included, of course. All the recipes for the shows are on the DVD and included in a foldout booklet in the case. The best extra is the Q&A with Brown that is included. Filmed on location of a special episode (parodying the Tom Hanks film Cast Away) Brown sits at a table and talks into a camera answering viewer's questions. For approximately 15 minutes he answers questions that have been written on note cards. His wry wit and knowledge shine again in this short section and you'll learn as much about him personally as you will about the science behind the episodes. Also included are commercials for the other FoodTV shows.
Overall: The perfect mix of pop culture and cooking-if there could be such a thing-Good Eats is the most entertaining and educational cooking show you'll ever watch. Brown has a perfect personality that lets him explain all the information and science needed to make your next Thanksgiving or Holiday feast full of Good Eats.
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