10 Greatest Cooking Shows of All Time

by John Devore, Posted Dec 30th 2009 @ 5:30PM

Photo: Casey Kelbaugh for AOL

Americans love stuffing their faces and crashing out in front of the tube. Which is why the combination of the two has always proved popular.

Cooking shows are a staple of television programming, as essential to the medium as news broadcasts, sporting events and sitcoms. But unlike grandfatherly anchors droning, sportscasters shouting or wacky neighbors barging, cooking on television is a very rare form of mass instruction, with a sensual ebb and flow.

Celebrity chefs cheerfully chop, slice and saute, swearing the whole time it's easy. Anyone can do it, provided they listen up. These affable hosts crack jokes, add oil and set the oven to broil. And then eat, shoveling their delicious creations into their quivering maw.

Over the course of decades, these shows have remained beloved and rightfully so. Here are 10 of the greatest. ...

10. "Good Eats"
Alton Brown combines dry humor, a passion for food and a head for science into a succinct, yet entertaining show that's a love letter to cooking technique.

9. "America's Test Kitchen"
This plucky PBS show is about the kitchen: what to cook in it, what to cook it with and how to cook it. The hosts are serious-minded experts, but with a wink.

8. "Bizarre Foods"
Host Andrew Zimmern doesn't really show his viewers how to cook as much as he shows them how to eat. Fearlessly, with gusto, passion and enthusiasm.

7. "The Naked Chef"
Jamie Oliver brought a youthful, rock-'n'-roll sensibility to a show that featured simple, flavorsome dishes with exotic flourishes.

6. "Emeril Live"
Emeril isn't boring -- his food and his show sung with spice and soul. Perhaps too much the entertainer for purists, he nonetheless put the "show" in cooking show.

5. "Martha Stewart Living"
The Doyenne of Domesticity leaves some people cold, but her masterly skills, exquisite tastes and the unique way she challenged her viewers to aspire to her seemingly impossible standards makes her an icon of the genre.

4. "Yan Can Cook"
Martin Yan demystified the cuisine of an entire hemisphere, demanding Americans not only embrace Asian food, but cook it as well. And he did it with a clever twinkle in his eye.

3. "The Galloping Gourmet"
This Scottish lad did something pioneering -- he made you laugh as he told you how to cook. Graham Kerr was funny, unpretentious and taught a generation of men that one can be debonair whilst laboring over a hot stove.

2. "The French Chef"
It's almost cliche to venerate Julia Child, the woman who reinvented the cooking show and gave birth to generations of gourmets. She was poised. She was accessible. And her joy was infectious.

1. The Original "Iron Chef"
Like any great competition, this Japanese import was about bragging rights. Classically trained chefs pitted their skills against brash upstarts, improvising like jazz musicians and sweating bullets. And in the end, marvelous, inventive dishes were created, all for the love of the game.

Filed Under: Television/Film, Chefs, News
Tags: featured, top 10 cooking shows, Top10CookingShows

Chew on This

Royal Wedding Cake Details Revealed! - YumSugar

Make Your Own Pop Tarts - CHOW
Denny's Introduces a Maple Bacon Sundae - Eater
Whole Foods Opening Bars in Stores - USA Today
Rules Of Bar Etiquette -- For The Bartender - HuffPost Food

Reader comments (Page 5 of 9)

1-04-2010 @11:44AM All Time Favorite said... What does my all time favorite woman of cooking not even get mentioned? Miss Paula Deene. She is funny, she is down home, she is a joy to watch. Emeril on the other hand should not be on the list at all. I know 4 different people who have gone to his shows and all fo them said that he was rude, he paid no attention to the audience except when on camera and he has an ego so big that he can't fit it all inthe kitchen.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @11:49AM t-bone said... How y'all are? I'm glad for you to see me I guar-on-tee. Justin Wilson was my fav. the stories were truly priceless. Also really liked Jeff Smith, Test Kitchen, Julia Child and Cooking with Lydia, the little Italian lady. Probably leaving out some, but those are my favorites.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @12:56PM jerome robideau said... being a cook myself i love watching cooking shows and find alot to help me in doing different things.chef ramsey has great knowledge {foul mouth} but awsome chef i'd have to say the f-word is one of my favorite shows of his ,but one cooking show to this day opened my eyes as a teen was a italian chef who use to sing while he cooked and drank wine he was awsome chef just can't remember the show lol he was the one made me love cooking and be a cook.anyone remember him he was older but always sang while he cooked?
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @2:37PM Amanda said... Nigella Lawson's show on E! (and on in England) was a great show and beautifully shot.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @6:53PM Klh said... This list's numbers ten and one are inverted (IMO), Emeril was horrible (simply because he's an awful cook). The Frug was one of the best, even James Beard's show (in the 50's; the first of this kind, there was another later in his life too which was good) was technically better. I like Sara Moulton as well and Nigella, the Fat Ladies, Pepin, Justin Wilson, John Folse(way better than Legasse too). I was a huge fan of the Food Network pre-Emeril, afterward it was nearly unwatchable. It is true that Emeril had a large fan base, but I don't believe that he gave rise to the awesome food blogs in the sightest, he cannot cook without staff. I make it 10,2,9,3,5 with several great big omissions. A cooking show should teach and if it can be entertaining, makes for greatness. Iron Chef was difficult to place because you really couldn't follow what was happening half the time and the ingredients were really really weird. If there is a list of cooking cometition shows, it can rank high there.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @12:03PM jayne said... How can we not include Barefoot Contessa? She has such a way with food as if she's caressing it! And her good nature and the way she loves to entertain are great.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @12:09PM Judie Moyer said... I have been watching cooking shows on TV since about 1984. I totally disagree with your list except for The French Chef. Do you remember Justin Wilson? What about Lidia Bastianich? And Caio Italia? How about Sarah Moulton who had numerous shows starting with Cooking Live?
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @12:11PM totowatony said... list is pretty good, but i would flipflop julia and iron chef. no reservations over zimmerman for sure.
used to be 2 guys from the south with a little cooking show in the early days of cable, can't remeber the name, but they would cook hardly anything from scratch. they would use frozen, canned pre mixed packages, etc. show was very funny.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @12:09PM Judie Moyer said... I forgot about Jacques Pepin!! He is my absolute favorite!
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @2:08PM LL said... Yes, as others have said, Jeff Smith is on my list, too. I always watched his show. Remove Iron Chef from the list entirely, original or no -- can't stand that stuff.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @12:37PM Pete said... Jacques Pepin was the only TRUE chef , and the best !! - All the competition shows SUCK !! Bring back the pros !!
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @12:34PM Pete said... Bring back the old show "Great Chefs Of The World". I met Georges St. Pierre at The Culinary Institute Of America once when I worked there. I put a food order together for him for a demo he was doing. He's the guy who opened the show by popping the cork of a champagne bottle with a sword blade. He owns "Le Bec Fin" Restaurant in Philadelphia. Been there 40 years !!
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @12:39PM Chef Alfred Schrader said... You gotta love Emeril, how many guys can turn a T-bone into a carbon footprint ?
My sister went on the Paula Deen Reality Bus Tour. I gotta go on that, I want the black eyed peas. Al-
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-05-2010 @7:22AM Doug Evans said... I'll bet 90% of the people reading this have never seen Justin Wilson's PBS series. Not only is his cajon food fantastic, but his presentation is the best and most entertaining you will ever see! His daughter has a web site honoring her departed Dad.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @12:47PM Pete said... Paula Deen sucks! Big-mouthed, phony , nasaly , southern drawl, bimbo! Can't stand her voice. Y'all, THIS !!
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @12:53PM Charles Moore said... Jacque Pepin should be on the list. He produced great food. Andrew Zimmern just eats.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @2:19PM phil said... they missed Cajun Chef and Two fat ladies!
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

1-04-2010 @1:38PM Brenda said... I'm glad I don't remember most of the shows mentioned. Right now the food channel has wonderful chef's and the best cooking shows ever. So much easier then the olden days! I love Tyler Florence, Giada, Barefoot Contessa, the gal that does the 5 ingredient's or less show, Melissa D'arabian who cooks meals for 4 people under $10. I also like Paula Deen and Rachel Ray. I know I am missing so many others. It's more geared today for the working mom and for the busy family altogether. They are shows where the ingredient's are not complicated, don't take forever to fix and are good. Forget the old days let's focus on today's talent.
Reply