Cooking Shows and the Chefs That Do Them

Cooking shows offer everyone a great opportunity to create better desserts without leaving home. To help with the creations, there are cookbooks that coincide with most shows. Although, this is just a listing of the shows available in my television and cable area. I hope this might entice you to check your local schedules for other cooking shows.

Baking with Julia

Julia Child choose 26 of the best bakers for this series on PBS and Food TV. I just love watching her.

Cooking at the Academy

The Academy is the California Culinary Academy. In the episode I saw the other day on PBS, the chef dipped partially air-filled balloons in melted chocolate. Once the chocolate hardened, the balloons were carefully deflated. What remained were bowls made out of chocolate. Wow!

Cooking Secrets of the CIA

Sorry, there's no espionage on this PBS show. CIA is the Culinary Institute of America, which is where some of this country's finest chefs got their cooking degrees.

Cooking with Caprial: American Bistro Fare

I like Caprial Pence's cooking style on this PBS show. She's very easy going and she's always offering alternate ingredient suggestions.

Marcel Desaulniers

He's the noted chef who brought us the best selling cookbook Death By Chocolate. Although, I don't have an actual show listing for him, I've seen him dozens of times as a guest chef on other shows. He's not only is a talented teacher, but he understands and nurtures the love affair a lot of people have with chocolate.

Debbi Fields

Debbi Fields, of the Mrs. Fields' Cookies fame, is another good teacher. Chocolate and cookies (of course) are her forte.

The Frugal Gourmet

Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet, has been around forever, or so it seems. I've always enjoyed watching his cooking series on PBS and Lifetime, especially The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian and The Frugal Gourmet Cooks 3 Ancient Cuisines: China, Greece and Rome. I must say that I don't remember ever seeing him make a dessert but there are dessert recipes in his cookbooks.

Graham Kerr

I remember watching Graham Kerr's cooking show when I was growing up. I still have four of the cookbooks from his show The Galloping Gourmet. I think he looks better today in his show on the Discovery Channel. He's started a great movement towards healthier eating. Each day he proves that healthy food can be tasty food.

Great Chefs:Great Cities

Desserts complete every meal prepared on this Discovery Channel show. There's also a CD-ROM that goes with this cooking series.

The Home and Family Show

One of the segments on this Family Channel show, has Christina Ferrare cooking. She makes every dish (especially the desserts) look so effortless. She just throws it together and voila'; it's beautiful too.

Emeril Lagasse

I've not been able to see either of Emeril's two cooking shows (I don't get Food TV with my cable system). I have, though, seen him on other shows. I have also eaten an entire meal (including a decadent dessert) cooked by him at one of his restaurants in New Orleans. He is extremely good.

Martha Stewart Living

This truly is a Renaissance woman. She can do just about anything. Well that also includes cooking as part of her show on Lifetime TV.

Natalie Dupree Cooks

I really like the down-to-earth but classy style of this local (Atlanta, Georgia) chef on PBS. She's noted for making a mess. She then reminds us that we'd have more time to prepare the dishes than she does on her show. She has a very common sense approach to cooking, along with excellent presentation and taste.

World Class Cuisine of Italy and France

There are mostly main dishes on this Discovery Channel show but there are some desserts.

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