I found an article in the January 2013 Reader’s Digest and as I read it, I was nodding and saying “I know!” It’s “secrets” from top TV chefs, who always appear to cook effortlessly with the finished product always looking perfect. We’ve been filming our own cooking videos for the past year now and let me tell you, it’s harder than it might look. I (of course) am not a top TV chef, and I make plenty of mistakes on camera (but I like to think I’m just showing everyone that even when mistakes are made, the recipe can be saved!)
So when you’re cooking a meal or trying a new recipe and it doesn’t seem to be as effortless as what you might have seen on TV, relax and know that even those “top” chefs make mistakes or have more help then you’ll ever have!
13 Things TV Chefs Won’t Tell You by Michelle Crouch (January 2013 Reader’s Digest)….
#1 – Many TV chefs don’t write or develop their own recipes. Some don’t have time. Others are more focused on being on TV than on cooking, so they would rather pay someone else. And a few just don’t know how.
*Tammy’s Take….When we first started our cooking videos I did create a lot of our own recipes but week after week, on top of everything else going on in my life like laundry, household stuff, being a wife and mother, coming up with new posts every day, well, it was difficult to say the least. And you know what? I actually felt bad that I wasn’t so creative that I could whip up something new, delicious and cheap every week. After I read this I was like, “Oh, ok.” Now what I do with most of our recipes is find something that looks delicious and easy and then I modify ingredients if I need to and try to get that recipe in at a great price. So they might not be original, but I try to do my homework finding meals I can share that work for busy women on a budget.
#2 – If you want the food you make to look as pretty as mine, don’t fill the plate. Putting something small on a bigger plate always looks better, especially if you stack the foods or lay them against one another.
*Tammy’s Take….I have been working on my presentation of foods this year, trying to get better and more creative. My problem? I serve up the food, start to eat and THEN remember I forgot to stack for a prettier presentation! When you go to fine dining restaurants, you’ll notice presentation…somehow it makes the food taste better!
#3 When a chef forgets to say something important, we have to do what’s called a voice-over. That’s when you’re watching and all of a sudden, you don’t see the chef’s face. Instead, you see a close-up of the bowl or their hands and you hear them saying, “Now add a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon.” With the best talent, you’ll almost never hear a voice-over.
*Tammy’s Take….Ok, my problem isn’t in forgetting what I was going to say (ok, yes, I do have a problem with that!). I also have challenges in saying things I didn’t mean to, so Trig just edits it out! Thank goodness for editing!! You’d think it was easy to cook and talk at the same time, simply explaining what you’re doing….but it’s not as easy as it looks.
#4 Obviously, we’re not all going to sit around twiddling our thumbs waiting for a roast or a lasagna to cook. So there are people in a second kitchen behind the scenes cooking a bunch of versions of the same recipe so it will be ready to go at different stages. That’s called a swap-out.
*Tammy’s Take….So, I DON’T have “people” behind the scenes cooking or cleaning up and I DON’T have a second kitchen to be doing it in. When we first began filming our cooking videos I was trying to find recipes I could do quickly that didn’t have that much prep because we have a certain time frame when we’re filming. But even waiting for a pot of water to boil can take up valuable time. Now what we do is I’ll fix half of a recipe the night before and have all my food prepped before we start. That way we can film the beginning and then without having to wait for the food to cook, have a finished product to show you. I love our cooking videos but they do take a lot of planning, prep, cleaning up, and of course cooking. (I don’t mind though!) We also always have a printed version of all of our recipes. The TV shows make it all look so easy but I guess when you have “people” helping, it makes everything go faster. Wish I had “people” doing my cleaning, yard work and laundry!
#5 Sometimes, the dishes we taste on camera are stone cold because of a swap-out. So we may be saying, “Mmm,” but really it tastes awful. We just smile and stomach it.
*Tammy’s Take…My problem is usually tasting the food while it IS hot and then burning my mouth. I also take too big of bites and then have to try to chew quickly so I can talk.
#6 Sure, we burn things. When that happens, we just make sure to pick it up with the charred side away from the camera, and we never flip it over.
*Tammy’s Take…I was so happy to read this! We all make mistakes and I was glad to read even professional chefs can burn something. And I have to admit, this has happened to us before too.
#7 Sorry, but we are not going to tell you how bad a recipe if for you. While more chefs are acknowledging that we have a responsibility to people’s health, you’re never going to see calorie counts when we’re making chocolate cake.
*Tammy’s Take…I do try to cook meals that are fairly healthy. I have said though, when we’ve made something extra rich or calorie laden that it’s not the healthiest thing I’ve cooked. My philosophy is eat healthy most of the time, and indulge every once in a while. An occasional delicious but “fattening” meal is ok in my book. Notice I said occasional.
#8 Here’s how to enhance just about any dish: Add some acidity. Whether from fresh citrus juice or vinegar, acidity wakes up the palate and makes food jump and pop.
*Tammy’s Take…Even garnishing with citrus can add to the flavor of your recipe. A bit of orange, lemon or lime zest can really add a bit of kicked up flavor.
#9 Before I host a cooking segment, I go through every step of the recipe with the art director, prop stylist, and food stylist. They ensure I have every tool I need, they mise en place (prepare and measure out) every ingredient, and they make the finished dish look gorgeous. So keep in mind that it will take you a lot longer to follow this recipe at home-and it probably won’t look quite as perfect.
*Tammy’s Take….This reminds me of looking at models in magazines and wondering why the outfit doesn’t look as good on me as on them….airbrushing! (Well, and the fact that I’m NOT a model!) I do walk around the night before we film, talking out loud, going over the recipe, but I don’t have any stylists (obviously!) I have me and Trig (Trig is our media specialist who styles my posts and films our videos. He also designed our fabulous site and did a great job! He’s also a professional photographer and one of the best, along with his wife Charlotte, wedding photographers in Colorado!)
#10 Please don’t follow my recipes to the letter. A recipe should be a loose map to guide you, but since no two ingredients are exactly the same, you should be constantly tasting the dish and adapting as you go along.
*Tammy’s Take….I totally agree! I do try to talk about substitutions you can do with our recipes, emphasizing to use what you already have or using ingredients you like better. I also try to say to add more or less of spices and herbs, depending on your own preference. Taste as you cook.
#11 When I say something should be brown, I mean brown-not tan. Whether searing a pice of fish or baking bread, home cooks generally under-bake food. Really yummy, magical things happen when food turns brown.
*Tammy’s Take….True story-I made something with chicken and for me, it wasn’t cooked long enough but we needed to finish up so I tasted it and kept a smile on my face! I personally have a tendency to overcook proteins because I prefer my meats chewy and tough (seriously.) I worry about browning foods while we’re filming and probably don’t get the color right sometimes because if I do burn or overcook it, we have to start all over again.
#12 A garnish can make anything look better. Go ahead and throw some chopped fresh greens or herbs on top. They smell nice, create a beautiful contrast in color, and give the whole plate a little zing.
*Tammy’s Take…If the recipe tastes better with a garnish, I’ll include that in my pricing. If it’s just for show, I don’t because a lot of times, you can simply pull something out of the fridge you already own to create a “prettier” plate.
#13 In the restaurant, I cook in a very methodical way; I use something, and then I clean it right away. But in competitions like Hell’s Kitchen or MasterChef, the kitchens get destroyed. Afterward, there are dozens and dozens of dishes, anchovies on the floor, mayonnaise is splattered all oer the wall, and you can still hear the stove clicking because someone left the gas on.
*Tammy’s Take….OMG, don’t even get me started on how trashed my kitchen looks after filming and cooking three different meals in about three hours. I have seriously run the dishwasher three to four times afterwards! And there have been times after I’ve sautéed something, that the floor is slippery from oils, and I have to be careful not to slip and slide. When I cook for just us, I always clean as I go so that afterwards, we simply have our dinner plates to clean.
So, if you’ve watched a TV chef prepare something that looks fabulous and effortless and then it doesn’t seem to work as easily for you, this is why!