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As already mentioned, I am on a quest for Mother's Day food ideas this week and came across this recipe for a Limoncello Dessert via Rachael Ray. Though it sounds interesting, I was immediately disappointed to find out that there is nothing about the actual preparation that requires any form of culinary skill, and the ingredients are all items that come fully prepared. When it comes to making this dessert, the terms pouring, scooping, and arranging may apply, but definitely not cooking or baking. I honestly believe this is the epitome of why some people dislike Rachael Ray.
But conversely, this is also why some people love her. She (re)creates familiar items that (for the most part) sound relatively good, look relatively good, and taste relatively good. They are excessively easy to prepare, require very little to no culinary skill whatsoever, and result in a home-cooked meal or dish which is done in a short amount of time.
So, the debate continues. Is it better to have a television personality that teaches the masses that there are easy ways to prepare dinners, or should cooking shows simply be a showcase of taking the gastronomic arts to the next level?
Personally, I would think that a Mother's Day dessert should require a little more effort than simply scooping out some ice cream and drizzling it with Limoncello, but maybe that is just me. I do have to say though, if this is really all someone is capable of preparing - due to skill, time, or other reasons, is it really such a bad thing that the (admittedly quite lovely) little dessert wasn't really made from scratch?
(image: FoodNetwork.com)
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5-09-2007 @9:34AM Jon said... I don't like Rachael Ray, but this recipe is a terrible example. It's a mix of ice cream, sorbet, and limoncello. Of course those items all come fully prepared! It's possible to make your own sorbet or infuse your own limoncello, but that would be its own recipe.
If you linked to a recipe that uses cake mix, or pre-cooked chicken strips, or something along those lines, you might have a point. But this is just a fancy way to serve ice cream; of course it's a simple recipe.
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5-09-2007 @10:24AM Userless said... I don't see why we can't have both types of cooks on television. Sometimes you want quick and easy and sometimes you want to go all out. The post does seem to be a little trollish, but I understand the point.
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5-09-2007 @10:56AM Scott said... On her show most if not all of her recipes rely very little on pre-prepared stuff. Sure she uses some things like canned tomatoes or chicken broth/stock, but who in their home doesn't? I like her because she lacks the pretentiousness that some chefs have. I love Nigela for teh same reason. Well that and she's much hotter than RR. ;-)
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5-09-2007 @12:05PM Heidi said... What's sad is that people in this world apparently need to be told how to scoop ice cream into a bowl and pour booze on top of it. Our mean kitchen knowledge has sunk that low and the Food Network is confirming this by running this "recipe".
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5-09-2007 @11:58AM Gregg Sanford said... I've recommended her to my mother time and time again just simply because her recipes are easy. I like her program ONLY because you can actually watch the show and cook the food in just about the same time she does on TV. Other than that I can't stand her. She's annoying, plain and simple. She laughs at everything she says even if she didn't mean it as a joke. Man, i'm just glad she stopped saying "EVOO, that's extra virgin olive oil" and now just assumes we know... because who the hell doesn't?!
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5-09-2007 @12:28PM Matt said... It is the epitome of why I dislike her.
Rachael Ray is the poster-girl for what the Food Network has become: a continuous stream of pop-culture garbage that only serves to market the ideal of convenience held holy by our fast food culture.
Food is so much more than just nourishment. It is a way for us to express ourselves to and communicate with those around us and who came befefore us. It allows us to experience our heritage and culture in a tangible way. The smell and taste of meals we grew up eating reminds us of the people we shared those meals with before. Food lets us experience a world outside of our own as well -- by learning about and eating different cuisines we can share an experience with people we will never know and travel places we will never be.
Eating is such a sensual experience; we should not be content to waste our meals. Food television, in my opinion, should educate us about and help instill in us a passion for food.
Rachael Ray does neither. Her meals are one dimensional and bland. Yes, they have the requisite number of calories (and in many, if not most, cases much more) to keep us alive. And yes, they are easy to prepare. But there is nothing exciting or interesting about her food. Her 30 minutes of television are wasted on platitude; inspiration and education are things that don't sell t-shirts and day-time talk shows.
I realize that there are people who aren't passionate about food and don't want to be. That's fine; to each their own. But if you were to argue that she serves a purpose in teaching us the absolute bare minimum skills to cook a meal, then I will say that there are people who serve that role much better, and do so while still educating and inspiring people to care about their food. Michael Smith's "Chef at Home" series running on Discovery Home is brilliant for that. Even Wolfgang Puck has a decent no-prerequisite skills required show (that I think is still running on the food network). Turn on PBS and watch Jacques Pepin's "Fast Food My Way" or any of the other similar shows publicly broadcasted. Even the annoying Jamie Oliver can teach you the basics of cooking (and that food doesn't have to be so precisely copied from a recipe).
People also say that they don't have time to cook a "real" meal or "gourmet" food. That's ridiculous. You can prepare a flavorful meal that is more interesting and satisfying than any of the garbage she puts on her show in less than 30 minutes. And god forbid it takes longer. I'm a PhD student that works 12+ hour days and I find time to prepare a meal for me and my wife every day. It's a way for me to express myself to her and a way for us to share something good every day. I doubt preparing a Rachael Ray bastardization of an Italian dish can serve to provide the same kind of satisfaction.
Anyway, that's my $0.02.
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5-09-2007 @1:52PM Shad Genki said... I think that shows like 30-Minute Meals and Semi-Homemade are good at introducing novices to the joys of cooking and how easy it can be to make a meal that tastes great. Even someone who is average or above average like myself can enjoy some of the things these shows have to offer. Who wants to spend hours and hours every time you want to make a meal? Not me.
There's plenty of other shows that show you how to make something from scratch that may be more elaborate. All of these shows have their place. Like everything else, it all comes down to preference. If you don't like it, watch something else.
Also, I think that this is a poor stab at Rachel Ray. She makes plenty of meals and desserts from scratch. I also don't necessarily think that these cooks expect the average person to have things like okra and whatnot. It's good that they introduce these things where people can just go to the supermarket and pick up a small amount to try out. It's like gateway-cooking, right? :)
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5-10-2007 @12:34AM smashthesymbols said... There's room on Food Network for shows on both ends of the spectrum. It's good to have people like Rachael Ray there to help out kitchen novices and introduce them into the food world a bit. But it's also very important to keep the real chefs around to show people there's more to food than what's in their local supermarket. The problem comes when one is sacrificed for the other, which seems to be what's going on at Food Network these days. They're going too far to the Rachael Ray side and forgetting the rest. They need to find a happy medium between the two.
Now Sandra Lee, don't even get me started. She has no place anywhere. Rachael cooks simple food, Sandra Lee just dumps stuff on a plate and tries to pass it off as food.
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5-10-2007 @12:40PM Drew said... I think Rachel is talentless, end of story. Her show is 30 minute meals, but to tell the truth, it should be called 100 dollar dinner.
The fact that everything is prepared, raised the prices on a lot of the stuff that she makes. I can spend 7 dollars on a bunch of chicken cutlets, and get a good 20-25 cutlets out of it. She buys them premade, and gets 6. Where is the bargain in that?
I'll take Alton Brown over her on any day of the week, end of story.
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5-10-2007 @4:34PM Ling said... Rachael is MILES better than that Sandra Lee the Semi-Homemade Cook (scary - both her and her "recipes"). Rachael's recipes are more innovative, healthy and fun to make. She's got charisma and personality - she's real!!
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5-11-2007 @2:05PM Sam said... "she's a very nice Italian-American housewife"
LOL. She's nice but she's not a housewife!
"(she's not a baker which she will tell you when asked)."
And she will also tell you when not asked over and over again.
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5-11-2007 @4:47PM Jenn said... I like Rachael Ray. I think it is amazing what she has been able to do not having a traditional culinary background. I don't think she is anywhere near the likes of Sandra Lee who can't make a single thing with out pre-packaged stuff. I always see Rachael using freah ingredients...
I think there are places for all kinds of cooks and chefs. They all serve their purpose.
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5-12-2007 @10:19PM one year project said... We decided to cook our way through an entire recipe book by Rachael Ray- 365 Recipes, No Repeats, because it seems that Rachael Ray is everywhere. We're a quarter of the way through the year and have found that the majority of the food we have eaten has been pretty consistently good/ above average. When there are bad meals, they are dreadful, and it is generally the meals that are thrown together from processed food that are rubbish. On the other hand, we've had some great meals, which quality-wise seem to be more like what we'd expect from Jamie Oliver or Nigella Lawson. It's a tricky subject- Rachael Ray is so oversaturated, appearing everywhere you look that it's hard to be objective. We've eaten so much of her food now that we'd say that this book is ok, average. We could have chosen a better book, in terms of originality and high standards, but at least most nights dinner is on the table within 30 minutes or so.
http://oneyearproject.com
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5-14-2007 @12:41PM carol said... Give the girl a break. If you've ever watched her show & it seems many have, you'd realize the focus was on something a child could put together with little, if any, supervision for their mom....on Mothers Day!
I've served & have been served mud cakes/pies/ cookies (remember them?) that were made with just as much love. The ONLY difference is this recipe is edible! :)
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5-15-2007 @5:22PM marissa said... If you would have watched her Mother's Day show on Friday 5/11/07 (Rachael Ray Show), she had Paula Deen on showing how to bake a proper banana nut cake for your mama!
I had no clue how to cook except for my Mom's recipes before I discovered RR. What she's given me is kind of a license to experiment and color outside the lines when it comes to cooking. She also has a kickbutt line of cookware that is safe! No exposed aluminum, no Teflon or PTFE.
Give her a break and blame Al Roker and Oprah for giving her an in! =]
At least she uses her "power" for good. And do a little research and you'll find that she knows her stuff. She asks a little ditzy, but you can't get where she is today on luck alone.
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5-20-2007 @1:09PM DeAnna said... I used to watch her, but her show now annoys me. I don't waste time or energy hating her though. I just don't watch her show. The few times that I've tried, she has made unattractive unappealing food, flailed her arms around, made excessive hand motions while she talked, screamed at the top of her lungs, and used cutesy phrases until I ended up muting the tv. I do think she has a niche. A lot of people really do seem to enjoy her and her recipes. I also think that the reason that she doesn't bake is because well...she's not very precise. Baking takes precise measurement, and that's so not her strong point. She "eyeballs" everything. I'm sure if she did bake, it didn't turn out as she would have liked, because baking takes a certain amount of discipline.
All that said, she does what she's there to do. Her show is good for people pressed for time, or for beginning cooks.
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