Ina Garten takes the gang from the TODAY show on a tour of a Paris market

You can spot Anericans a mile away because they're so loud and such bad dressers.

I kinda like Ina.

She looks like she eats a stick of butter for breakfast and a bowl of heavy cream for lunch.

Seriously, I stopped watching Today the day Ann Curry was canned and have never watched it since.

Jeez R3, that was like a million years ago.

You should really get over it.

It's not like they fired YOU.

Ina is the most stereotypical looking American woman. If they run out of flags they can hoist her up a pole for the medal ceremony.

I love Craig Melvin. He is boyishly handsome. He could read the phone book to me in that smoky voice of his. And I would love to tap his bodacious buttocks!

Alas! He's straight.

Al Roker does not look good. Hope he's well.

I like Savannah, and I'd love to paint the town red with Yoda.

Ina and Jeffrey were cute twenty-somethings. Would love to do Paris with them.

[quote] Al Roker does not look good. Hope he's well.

With all that rich food, Al is going to pack on the pounds!

OMG that fruit platter and hazelnut cake with raspberries at the very end, looked SOOOOOOOOOOO good!!

I feel a very personal connection with this thread because Ina Garten was a client of mine and I was just in Paris last week. Ask me anything.

Why does she always wear the same tired shirt? You would think with her money she could dress a little more classy.

How cool, R9.

So are the rumors about Ina being not very nice (and maybe even downright rude) to fans, true?

Datalounge posts from the past have hinted that she's only nice to her rich friends, but doesn't give a crap about the "little people."

R9 what's the best way for an American who doesn't speak ANY French, to navigate Paris?

I went there once before, not knowing any French, and I had a very difficult time.

I would love to go back, but I always swore that I would do it only after I learned French.

Well, I haven't learned French, but I still want to go back.

[quote] I would love to go back, but I always swore that I would do it only after I learned French.

The French would pretend not to understand you and would mock you.

Watching that segment gave me diabetes. The constant fawning and ‘Oh my God!’ is unbearable. I know breakfast tv is targeted toward house fraus but even 6 minutes of that saccharin bullshit is too much for me.

I've shopped at that same exact market and had a picnic at the Eiffel Tower with my finds--sandwich, cheese, fruit, fruit tarts and a bottle of wine. I love Paris!

I don't speak great French, only what I remember from high school and college. I've been to France probably 6 times and I always found the French delightful if I just TRIED to speak their language. They really appreciate it.

Craig Melvin is definitely hot.

That raspy voice really does it for me.

Not at all R11. She was very nice to me, and I made it known that everyone in my family loves her. She used to live on 77th street off of Madison Ave. The place where I worked had a huge side glass window. She would wave on her way home if we happened to see each other. She is as nice and friendly as she appears on TV.

Americans really overthink Paris. You don’t need French. The Brits and the Irish and Germans and the Spanish come along by the plane load with nothing more than Merci and get along just fine. Some of them just point and mine. I’ve seen a few Brits shout at them as though shouting translates! Despite the stereotype the Parisians are not rude. They put up with the shouters and the pointers much better than I would!

I always say hello, thank you and goodbye in French. A few times, they have smiled and acknowledged the effort. But mostly they do not. I have never encountered anyone who could not speak basic tourist English. I will say that I find the Parisians efficient! I’m not so sure they would have much time for indulging someone’s attempts to order or make small talk French.

Now that they have Craig do they still need Al?

Funny enough R12, I took french in school for years. But I live in Italy now, and learning Italian, I have forgotten most of my French. And living in a country already where I have to focus on communicating as it is, I just speak English in France. In the recent years, I have never had a problem really with French people and me not being able to speak French. Paris is very multicultural, like NYC, many different ethnicities. I don't think anyone is really living to drag you over the coals over speaking Freanch. Big shout out to 1er Etage (premiere Etage) B&B in Marais and Opèra. I have stayed at both on my trips. The Marais one is right across from some gay bars too. Super friendly, great little apartment like living, not crazy expensive, and cute little breakfast they provide to you on a tray. Start there. The rest of your trip should be fine.

FNART!

She’s gotten bigger.

R9, tell me you didn’t work for Weight Watchers.

I have some High School French and didn't have any problems in Paris except for one very stereotypical Parisian waiter, In fact I went to this cocktail bar for happy hour and the bartender asked me where I was from, when I said New York, he got real excited and started high fiving me and calling me "Yes mah Ni**er!" Not sure why, I'm not even black, but he was a big fan of NY

Those American morning news/chatter/infotainment shows are unbearable for me, all that fake laughter and fake comraderie and shiny blinding white teeth on display like at s horse show (and so early in the morning. And all of it lighter than a crumb of French meringue, and just fucking stupid to the core.

I don't mind Garden on her shows, but this was insufferable and embarrassing on behalf of loud brash Americans all over the world

I'd be Craig Melvin's cracker bitch all night long.

[quote]Why does she always wear the same tired shirt?

It's called a SHENT. (Shirt + Tent.)

R23 she actually looks smaller to me.

R25 is right. This clip is pretty cheesy and simplistic. Ina’s folksy tutorial about French life is actually pretty archaic. Paris is a great City with fantastic cultural infrastructure and breads, fruit, cheeses, inexpensive wines, charcuterie, etc. But it has its own forms of stress and pressure like most cities (things are often badly engineered and impossibly expensive to fix, there are a lot of harsh and rigid social norms, and you can find yourself in the middle of some really unfixable situations with labor and housing regulations). I know that’s not chat show fodder, but I’m surprised NBC is fluffing the Olympics with these goofy clips.

I do admire Ina. she’s a smart, ambitious porcelet, but she’s feeding these really rich and phony media types a pretty corny line. I bet there is also a rough “clipboard crew” keeping people away during the filming of this, by necessity.

[quote]This clip is pretty cheesy and simplistic. Ina’s folksy tutorial about French life is actually pretty archaic. Paris is a great City with fantastic cultural infrastructure and breads, fruit, cheeses, inexpensive wines, charcuterie, etc.

I'm half surprised the lot of them were not issued French berets with their baguettes.

Everything you need to know about French culture

"Le petomane!"

[quote] It's called a SHENT. (Shirt + Tent.)

A SHENTA for a YENTA!

Still a cunt looking down her nose.

I watch people shop all the time on YouTube. But I couldn't manage to get past the potatoe latke stall in this video. Too loud and drawn out. Lifeless.

I also couldn’t finish the video. Too saccharine

Everything is just so perfect in the world of TODAY.

Fruit and cheese platters, champagne, cloth shopping bags with embroidered logos, and best of all FREE SHOPPING at the market!

Followed by a short walk to a park where there's a private table setting for everyone.

Ah, life is good.

And people wonder why Americans are so fucking delusional.

“ Now I kind of get why Parisians get so irate with American tourists.”

Fuck them. We had to pull their nasty asses out of the German fire TWICE.

so fuck them and their apologists here.

R34, did you actually read that article? She’s stuck up because she publicly supports planned parenthood, vocally denounced Trump, and puts too much butter in her recipes?

Ok.

I love Ima Fartin's facial expression and the position of her hand in the thumbnail for the video. She looks like she's about to let one rip that will blow all of Paris away!

It took 38 replies but R38 stepped up with the traditional DL “we saved your asses in WW2!”.

Jesus - some of you are nothing if not predictable.

Does Ina really rip some mean farts?

How do you know, R40?

R41, r38 forgot to mention its the least America could do since France DID help us defeat the British to establish the country.

[quote]It took 38 replies but [R38] stepped up with the traditional DL “we saved your asses in WW2!”.

Talk about sounding ancient even by DL standards.

You know they're in Paris because of the piano accordion on the soundtrack.

The idea that Americans have of Paris is very twee and only exists at the center of certain very quaint, rarified arrondissement in the city. The rest of the city is sprawling, extremely multicultural, and very real - dirty, grimy, dangerous, sexy, evocative, engaging,, exciting.

[quote] The idea that Americans have of Paris is very twee and only exists at the center of certain very quaint, rarified arrondissement in the city.

We live thousands of miles away.

Most Americans haven't been to Paris.

What do you expect?

I really hate criticisms like this. People need to start somewhere. Not everyone can be advanced at visiting Paris by osmosis.

[quote]The idea that Americans have of Paris is very twee and only exists at the center of certain very quaint, rarified arrondissement in the city. The rest of the city is sprawling, extremely multicultural, and very real - dirty, grimy, dangerous, sexy, evocative, engaging,, exciting.

Well yes, R46. But make no mistake, the 6th or the 16th, they're equally as real for what they are as in the 19th for what it is. Instagram, TikTok, and what's left of travel writing beat into us that we must find the "authentic" experience and people so naive they don't even know how folkloric and gritty they are, that travel is not travel unless we discover the undiscovered, which chase is no less annoying and no less a sham than a fat American leading a troop of loud-mouthed American morning TV idiots around her favorite market in preparation for un petit déjeuner sur l'herbe.

Tourists will bombard you with questions wanting "the best", "the real", "the most authentic" so that they don't feel like tourists but instead feel they are privy to some rarified private world. I always send the most gushing and annoying ones to the worst tourist streets If they can't be bothered to do the least homework themselves and have real questions beyond "but where do I go to find the real [insert city name]? not the places with tourists" The fact is that tourists are becoming inescapable in Europe and that to avoid them you would have to go to the most boring suburb or the tiniest most remote village with nothing to see but people staring, wondering why these odd people are there.

I think it's hilarious that people debate about the authentic and real Paris, when it is basically a prefab third empire theme park designed by Baron von Of Hausmann. Paris is literally a construct.

It's funny when the French like to complain that American Tourists. When anyone who has dealt with French Tourists can also tell you how bad they can be.

And people will say, just try to speak a little bit of French! They'll appreciate it! And when you do they might... or they're just as likely to mock you or pretend they don't understand you.

Someone mentioned above that they never met one French person that couldn't understand at least some English... they all can. English is a mandatory subject in their school curriculum... they just like to pretend you're too stupid for them to understand.

UK here.

It’s not just Paris. I lived in London for many years, and there were countless examples of American tourists’ total ignorance of anything outside the US, as well as shock that Londoners come in all ethnicities. The confusion on an American tourist’s face on hearing a Black person with a London accent was a sight to behold.

The one thing I couldn't shake when I was living in Paris is that people were so mean, purely for sport.

Is Ina's FN show still on? I used to love getting home from work and watching when it would air around 5pm. That was 20 years ago.

She just signed a new seal, so yes. One of the few people who survived a better era of the Food Network.

Don’t ever be downwind from Ima Farten. When she lets one rip - pee you!!!!

Most French people are lovely, utterly charming (albeit verging on insincere), but when they decide to be cunty, they do it with a panache and a sangfroid which really shocked me when I lived there. The Germans are less charming and more openly blunt but also less liable to make you feel like a piece of shit on their shoe.

For what it’s worth, my strategy was to start conversations in French by saying “I speak French, but rather badly…”. Having managed expectations in this way, I was generally then charmed by people telling me my French was wonderful, and that I had a marvellous accent, and that I was a marvellous person for even trying. None of this was true, but it was nice to hear anyway!

I miss French markets a lot. There is no nicer way to shop. I spent some time in Alsace, in a ridiculously pretty little town, and the weekly trip to the market was a joy. Unfortunately, many of my neighbours preferred the convenience of a large hypermarket, which they had to drive to get to. They will miss the traditional market when it’s gone!

I like Ina; she really *is* your favorite pretentious aunt: the one who is kind of stuffy & judgmental about why you're not married/don't make more money/drive a crappy car, etc. but also makes that dish she knows you love (and she loves it too) and drinks too much wine and tells stories about her past exploits that are downright cringey.

I'm always amused how she's completely besotted with French & Italian cuisine, but acts perplexed or slightly suspicious of Mexican or Greek food, like it came out of a dumpster. I don't know if it's snobbish thing or a lack of experience. For my part, I'd love to say the Today Show episode where they all travel to Mexico & get a case of Traveler's diarrhea

The market seems pretty much like the Reading Terminal Market in Philly or the West Side Market in Cleveland or any number of other legacy markets in the US. The Today crowd are just gushing idiots, with all that chirpy "energy".

I don't know if we were so obviously 'Murican or what, but everyone just spoke English to us in Paris. I'd be speaking French to them and they'd be replying in English, lol. I just surrendered to it... and spoke French to my boyfriend instead.

Paris gets 50 million tourists a year. They know it's just easier to speak English.

[quote]. But I couldn't manage to get past the potatoe latke stall in this video.

r35=Dan Quayle

Does Ina speak French fluently?

It’s interesting how Hoda used to be seen as the staid counterbalance to the wacky Kathie Lee Gifford. Now she seems to lean into that KLG energy. She’s now the kooky wine aunt. She actually seems to embrace being a very loud, sort of basic, fun-loving American gal.

R52, this expat Brit has Americans down pat, and he also explains the Ugly American abroad:

“Tourists will bombard you with questions wanting "the best", "the real", "the most authentic"

That’s not tourist, that’s American tourist in particular. Living abroad you learn a lot about your own people. Americans are the ones who seek out the best and real all the time. They have to have the most authentic. They seek out the scene. They want to be seen at the scene in person or in photos. Other nationalities aren’t like that.

You travel to a supposed hot spot in any European country and it will be half Americans posting on Instagram.

But when people say “Parisian” I think they have a certain idea in their head. France colonized so many parts of the world, and like London, they all live in the Capital. And we are not talking immigrants. We are talking second third generation African / Asian /Indian French people - Parisians. In Paris There doesn’t even feel like a majority of any race.

R29 Did you read the bad things shes done in the article? Are you a cunt too, with an actual cunt? If so, die a thousand times.

Remember when this CUNT fucked over that dying kid who asked Make-A-Wish to get a chance to cook with her? She said NO, to a dying kid, THREE TIMES — til it leaked to the press. And then she blamed her staff and said, “Of COURSE he can cook with me!” But the kid passed on the opportunity. And then passed on.

I can’t watch her show anymore without thinking, “this fucking cunt.”

It looks like they’re remaking “Flabby Road”

She farts in French.

She wishes she were French, arrogant entitled rich cunt.

[quote]She wishes she were French

Why, though? Doesn't she have a fabulous life in the U.S.? It's the only place where she could have conceivably achieved her level of fame. She might just like to borrow some of their style--and buy a French property or two. Funnily enough, the only person I've ever known in Europe who was aware of "The Barefoot Contessa" and owned a few of her books was a French woman from Strasbourg.

I couldn’t watch the entire video. They are all insufferable.

[quote]The Today crowd are just gushing idiots, with all that chirpy "energy".

A perfect nutshell synthesis of American morning TV programs

Did they keep in the bit where Ina comes out of the W.C. while Savannah's about to go in and Ina says, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you."

I've watched a few morning shows in France and Italy and they have the same "chirpy" energy...I don't find it entrtaining.

entertaining

[quote] The market seems pretty much like the Reading Terminal Market in Philly or the West Side Market in Cleveland or any number of other legacy markets in the US. The Today crowd are just gushing idiots, with all that chirpy "energy".

In the op's link, Craig Melvin says, "Why does everything taste better in France?"

Al replies, "Because it's in France."

I think that sums it up.

It's not that they can't get the same shit in an American market (if not better).

It's that they're on an all-expense paid vacation, flying First Class, and staying in a luxury hotels, all on the company's dime.

That's what makes everything taste better.

Ugh.

Of course I read the entire article. From the start I was looking for something other than that tired Make A Wish story from fifteen years ago, but there was nothing I remember when it happened, liking Ina enough to think, she must have had her reasons. But that’s the ONLY thing that’s dogged her all these years. Everything else mentioned made me like her more. I’ve met her, she is lovely. Stuck up is the last word I’d used to describe her. She’s is very gay friendly too, obviously and just good people. She is very mindful and appreciative of the beautiful life she has that she has worked very hard for.

There are certain celebrities you meet who are just as they appear on TV. I was no one in her world at the time, but she was unguarded, open and just as nice as she comes across on TV.

And yes r76, they are chirpy, but Italy has Massimiliano Ossini. I enjoy having my morning coffee and watching him.

Can't she buy SHENTS in different fabrics and colors?

It's Ina's version of a CAFTAN.

I like a French market. But they're just markets; ultimately.

[quote]Can't she buy SHENTS in different fabrics and colors?

It's her brand r80. And it allows them to re-run shows ad infinitum while maintaining continuity through the seasons, years, decades. It's always the same at Ina's, it's always summer.

Jeffrey just loves her stinky farts.

I've watched the shows where Ina cooks with celebrities & she seems to be intimidated by them. Not totally cringey, but they fawn all over her & she seems uncomfortable, like she's the uncool girl hanging with the cool kids. Unless she's very much in her element, she seems kind of shy & uncertain which seems surprising for someone who's been in the biz as long as she has. But I'd take her any day over that insufferable Giada & loudmouth Bobby Flay

R79, why did he cut a lock of his hair?

He's very hot.

Ina Garten takes TODAY on an ingredient shopping trip in Paris

"Instead of Emily in Paris, it's IN A in Paris."

Maybe now we can FINALLY understand what Ina means by using the "good ingredients."

She never does explain that on her show.

Ina's gonna be farting up a storm, with all that fromage she bought at R87.

[quote]The Brits and the Irish and Germans and the Spanish come along by the plane load with nothing more than Merci and get along just fine.

Pronounced "mercy," no doubt.

R69 with Honda as Lennon & Al Roker as Ringo

R86 he starts by saying that when there is an issue that involves everyone men and when come together to protest. But when there is an issue the exclusively involves women only women really step forward. He cut his hair, as a man, as a sign of solidarity for something at the time involving Iranian women. Women around the world must have been cutting their hair in a sign of solidarity with Iranian women.

Massimiliano is the bees knees. The kind of chipper and cute that you don’t mind in the morning. He used to host Linea Bianca but now hosts una mattina on Rai in the morning.

^Ha, I noticed that too - "use GOOD Vanilla" "use GOOD ingredients!" as opposed to all the times I say to myself "now where did I put all those BAD ingredients?"

I don't know why her saying to use good ingredients is a mystery to everyone. Have you all never paid attention to how stupid people are? People will use cheap ingredients and then wonder why whatever they make tastes like shit. They act utterly bewildered that the $1 vanilla they used didn't make their cake taste like the bakery!

As a reminder of how stupid and lazy people are... remember when Food Network made all of their hosts take out one recipe and sub it in for something store bought that was assembled at home because thats what audiences wanted?

Do they still do that?

[quote]Remember when this CUNT fucked over that dying kid who asked Make-A-Wish to get a chance to cook with her? She said NO, to a dying kid, THREE TIMES — til it leaked to the press.

At the time, she got a lot of respect from DLers saying, "Now, THAT'S how you cunt."

[quote]It's funny when the French like to complain that American Tourists. When anyone who has dealt with French Tourists can also tell you how bad they can be.

My experiences with French tourists have been very different, R51. I live in a country adjacent to France, in a tourist destination city with lots of French tourists and lots of French people living here, on the short- and long-term. And I have met French tourists in many countries in Europe, the UK, and the US. Without exception my interactions with French tourists have been nothing but pleasant. Tour guides like them because they bother to inform themselves about what they plan to see and because they are almost universally polite and attentive; while other nationalities ham it up, make stupid jokes, ask asshole questions, get lost in their selfies, the French are acclaimed as the favorite audience for tour guides. Many times I see French tourists in my city and others trying to get their bearings, wondering aloud if a street is to the left or to the right, or wondering what some restaurant dish is; if I can, I set them right and they are nothing but grateful and charming. Generalizations are just that, but when they travel, the French are excellent fucking tourists to my experience.

Childless Ina Garten thrice denied a dying boy’s last wish and is also a major donor to Planned Parenthood. Does she have something against children?

R6- I liked FAT Al Roker

I do not like SKINNY Al Roker

R85- Who cares about them.

What about

MARTHA

MARTHA

MARTHA

She’s useless and miserable because she doesn’t have children.

Martha Stewart wears the same type of shent.

Ina is one of those lucky people who, after their partners can afford to support the family, don’t devolve into garden clubs and dinner dances.

Martha Stewart has excelled with a razor-sharp mind and a sheer force of will. Ina came to fame because she’s earnest and follows her interests and heart and people pick up on that easy authenticity. I’m not saying that Ina isn’t a product of marketing and PR, but she seems to truly enjoy what she’s doing.

Martha conquered and Ina insinuated.

And to the people who say that the Today crew is being too loud and making a spectacle of themselves, I would ask what the point of being quiet and retiring, attempting to blend into the market crowd, is. When you’ve got a camera crew following you around in public, acting too cool for school because that’s what you think you should is just plain stupid.

Where is Jeffrey in all of this? Did he stay home and have an orgy?

I assume Jeffrey is probably retired now. They have no reason to be apart so much anymore. Is he at their apartment in Paris? And how long did Ina work for the Carter administration?

No, R105, Jeffrey still teaches and is a Dean Emeritus at Yale.

Now Hoda, Savannah and Al get to take a tour of Versailles.

^OMG. I could have line produced these segments from my 7th grade World History Class.

That woman with the white shirt tied at the bottom is a total FRAU.

I bet she gets a very large FRAU demographic to tune in to watch her.

Hoda or Savannah ,R109?

What does FNART mean?

The release of gas and the subsequent flapping of the shent.

And Ina certainly releases the gas!

I was at an event standing near where Jeffrey and Ina were. I saw 3 or 4 women approach her gushing, saying they had just made one of her recipes “literally last night!” She was polite and more reserved than I expected, but it was clear she gets this constantly.

R114 My big sister is a huge admirer, and she has been to similar events and talks that have included Ina Garten. There is a strangely deceptive sense of familiarity many fans experience with Garten, and that is likely intrusive. I think her work is pretty technical but packaged and presented in this warm, convivial way (the production elements, specifically lighting and sound in that kitchen/library/studio are pretty amazing).

She looks “cozy” but likely has advanced as a food media presence through a combination of really pragmatic behaviors. I wouldn’t bother her in a social setting or any encounter because that’s actually an undignified way to act. I know people who gush and fawn at celebrities, and I’m embarrassed for them.

These NBC a clips are definitely goofy and not so interesting, but Garten is a technical presence and her food media is really clear and engaging. That part of her work is more interesting and much cooler than this Olympic puffery.

People visiting the Hamptons would find out where she lived, and just show up. Some bribed UPS or Fed Ex drivers! I think she lives most of the time in NYC now. When the Next Food Network Star was still a thing, she had the contestants come to her barn, and would not let them use her bathroom - I wouldn't either - so she had porta potties to accomodate them. I think she's gracious to all fault with all the fawning, but I totally get how she has to distance herself from over zealous fans.

[quote] There is a strangely deceptive sense of familiarity many fans experience with Garten, and that is likely intrusive

Well that's her fault, because that's exactly the image she wants to portray on television.

So you can't blame the fans when they think they know her.

She should take it as a compliment.

When she was a client of mine I had to ship something to her home. I still have that Hampton’s address on a card laying around somewhere. She told me they film in her actual house and they built the barn or at least turned what was there into a studio just to film the show. She doesn’t do that many new shows a year and she said they are a lot of work.

Ina’s recipes are SO good (fool proof) because she is one of the few on Food Network who will repeatedly test one recipe until it is absolutely perfect according to her. That is what most of her work is - testing her recipes over and over until they are perfect. What you see on the show are the perfected versions and it’s what fills her books. I don’t think people realize how rare this is anymore.

Her new show format, which is more like a talk show with minimal cooking, is not nearly as good as her old cooking show. I'm not interested in hearing her interview famous people. I guess she wants to do minimal cooking now that she's gotten older.

I've also noticed that she's recycling old recipes on her new show. She even did another charcuterie board on a recent episode for the 1000th time.

[quote]Ina’s recipes are SO good (fool proof) because she is one of the few on Food Network who will repeatedly test one recipe until it is absolutely perfect according to her. That is what most of her work is - testing her recipes over and over until they are perfect.

They really are. Her lemon chicken calls for exactly nine cloves of garlic — not six, not ten. I'm sure she tried it out many times with various amounts. The result is wonderful.

I would probably tweak that recipe and add a huge amount of garlic, R120.

I love garlic.

It's true. Ina's recipes are basically the only ones that ever always come out perfectly. The only recipe of hers that I have had a problem with, and apparently a lot of people have, is one of her brownie recipes.

Can’t stand her. She’s gassy as hell.

R122 I watched one of her shows where she tried to make Mexican Food, and it looked horrible!

You can tell that she didn't really know what she was doing, not to mention that none of the flavors and spices she used were really Mexican.

It was a train wreck!

Oh really, R124. Do you have a link or a recipe we can look at to see what flavors and spices were used that are not Mexican?

I tried searching on YouTube just a minute ago, but couldn't find anything, R125.

I had actually seen her show on television, on the Food Network.

Sometimes they have clips of it on YouTube, so I'm still searching.

Ina's recipe had — how you say — cucumber?

Here's one where she makes "Pork Pozole" with tortilla chips. Lol.

That's a new one.

Ina’s recipes are regularly reliable, but most are incredibly rich and basic. They’re perfect Karen cuisine.

Alternatively, Nigella Lawson writes her own recipes to this day and no doubt tries them multiple times to get the perfect result (maybe it’s the “alleged” cocaine?), exploring much more complex and unique flavor combinations and reinventing “the classics”. Plus, given her posh upbringing and journalistic background, her recipes are beautifully written in her own inimitable manner giving more weight to them being solely her own.

Is it not common to serve Pozole with tortilla chips? She uses the spelling with an "s..." is it Southwestern?

Nigella’s pronunciation of “microwave” takes the cake!

No, R130.

That would be tortilla soup.

Pozole is pork, chicken stock, guajillo sauce, onions, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper and hominy for the soup.

Then it's topped with shredded cabbage, radish, white onions, avocado, lime and cilantro for garnish.

R132, Interesting. I've never had it but there are a lot of recipes that include Tortilla chips in the recipe. It could be the Southwestern / Tex Mex version (hence the "s" spelling....

Or all of those recipes are just written by white women.

Here's a good recipe from a Mexican restaurant in Santa Barbara, shown on DDD.

I know, I know.

But it's fast and easy.

Agreed R129. Other chefs have to tell you how delicious something tastes and make exaggerated faces to mime the idea that their dish tastes good. Nigella Lawson tells you the occasion that is the perfect one for a dish and then starts describing the ingredients and process and I want desperately to be there watching and tasting. No one paints a better picture of food than Nigella, and reading the recipes and watching the videos are a close second to being in the room with her. She makes everything seem easy and breezy and her recipes are very well developed and produce the intended result. If I see her on TV, everything stops and I watch her with pleasure. She is the best.

Only Nigella could open a cooking show with “sometimes I just want to lie on the couch eating out of a bowl” - and really mean it.

[quote] Only Nigella could open a cooking show with “sometimes I just want to lie on the couch eating out of a bowl” - and really mean it.

My favorite Nigella cooking segment was when Anthony Bourdain went to visit the UK for his show, and he stopped at Nigella's house the day after he had a hangover.

She made a lovely shakshuka for him, with a slice of bread fried in fat.

It looked SO good.

Perfect hangover food.

[quote]They really are. Her lemon chicken calls for exactly nine cloves of garlic — not six, not ten. I'm sure she tried it out many times with various amounts. The result is wonderful.

Sorry, but that's just dumb. Garlic cloves vary greatly in size. The only accurate way to call for a specific quantity of garlic would be to show the weight or volume of the garlic--not how many cloves.

[quote]I've also noticed that she's recycling old recipes on her new show. She even did another charcuterie board on a recent episode for the 1000th time.

Let me guess -- she used "really good salami" this time.

Ina perhaps is not aware that “really good” only applies in certain circumstances of whence she is not obliged…

I agree that Ina's lemon chicken recipe is divine.

[quote] Sorry, but that's just dumb. Garlic cloves vary greatly in size. The only accurate way to call for a specific quantity of garlic would be to show the weight or volume of the garlic--not how many cloves.

Exactly. Weight is the most accurate measure.

[quote] Alternatively, Nigella Lawson writes her own recipes to this day and no doubt tries them multiple times to get the perfect result

Actually, Nigella is one of those I find whose recipes fail as much as they succeed. People are charmed by her writing and she gets away with it.

People are charmed by Nigella's good looks and her entire TV personality, using that mezzaluna cutter. Dipping things into a sauce and then dropping it into her mouth, like she's getting deep throat sex. It's a little silly, but she seems like an OK person.

^ don’t get me wrong, the recipes that work are solid, a handful are even excellent. But Nigella takes these flights of fancy in each of the books of hers I own. The recipes suggest something very tasty, but she tries to do things with the ingredients that they just won’t chemically do. But she likes the idea or the noble failure and shoves it into the book anyway. It’s where her lack of a background in professional food training lets her down.

But as I say, her talent for writing and onscreen enthusiasm makes people forget.

I find that two of cookbook writers - in terms of outcome - are Ina Garten in the USA and Rick Stein in the UK.

I don't trust the recipes of these celebrities who have to churn out cookbooks, one after another.

I like Claire Saffitz (YouTuber), but she apparently had a few mistakes (ingredients amounts) in her first cookbook. That's horrible! And she just shook it off like it was nothing. Now, she seems to be churning out cookbooks.

Kenji Lopez Alt does a lot of food experimentation and I learned how to make almost fool-proof boiled eggs (easy to peel) from watching one of his videos (YT). However, I tried his stovetop mac and cheese recipe w/evaporated milk and it really wasn't that good. I did use a good cheese and followed the instructions to a T.

Nigella isn’t a celebrity churning out cookbooks, she’s a respected and experienced journalist and her celebrity derives from her skills as a cook. She has always said that she’s a cook - untrained - not a chef.

[quote]My favorite Nigella cooking segment was when Anthony Bourdain went to visit the UK for his show, and he stopped at Nigella's house the day after he had a hangover.

I'm guessing it would've been hard to catch Bourdain on a day he *didn't* have a hangover.

Nothing beats a good ole Pioneer Lady Mug Cake. Fool proof! Just make sure to buy your sprinkles at Costco. cause you'll need a crate of them.

Anyone see her Covid Cooking segments where she made "Pantry Soup," with all of the stuff leftover in her pantry and one of the ingredients was - a can of soup?

[quote]I like Claire Saffitz (YouTuber), but she apparently had a few mistakes (ingredients amounts) in her first cookbook. That's horrible! And she just shook it off like it was nothing. Now, she seems to be churning out cookbooks.

She seems to be the current darling, but I have a couple of her cookbooks & I don't think her recipes are anything special. If I want special, I'll go to my Tartine Cookbooks, which I love.

But back to Ina, I don't think she's any great chef, but she knows her strengths and her target audience and she works them well. She's really an under appreciated marketing genius

I wish Ina would do a dance off with Deanna

[quote]Anyone see her Covid Cooking segments where she made "Pantry Soup," with all of the stuff leftover in her pantry and one of the ingredients was - a can of soup?

You got a problem with that?

[quote] Anyone see her Covid Cooking segments where she made "Pantry Soup," with all of the stuff leftover in her pantry and one of the ingredients was - a can of soup?

That's what Naomi Harper did in an episode of "Mama's Family." She, Mama, and Iola had a chili cookoff, Vint was the judge. Mama's and Iola's ingredients were just about the same. Naomi's ingredients included a can of chili.

Ina’s a glorified caterer.

[quote] Ina’s a glorified caterer.

She's not a "glorified" caterer.

She was an ACTUAL caterer. That's how she started her career.

She's not a trained chef and never worked in a restaurant

She was a caterer.

^ and she never pretended to be anything other than that. She has always made that clear.

On December 22, 1968, Jeffrey and Ina were married in Stamford and soon relocated to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She began to dabble in cooking and entertaining in an effort to occupy her time; Jeffrey served a four-year military tour during the Vietnam War. She also acquired her pilot's certificate.

After her husband had completed his military service, the couple went on a four-month camping vacation in Europe including time in France which sparked her love for French cuisine. During this trip, she was introduced to open-air markets, produce stands, and fresh cooking ingredients. Upon returning to the U.S., she began to cultivate her culinary abilities by studying the volumes of Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle and Julia Child's influential cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

She refined her home entertaining skills when she and her husband moved to Washington, D.C., in 1972.

In Washington, Garten worked in the White House; Jeffrey worked in the State Department earning his PhD at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. Garten was originally employed by the Federal Power Commission and later at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Eventually she was assigned the position of budget analyst, which entailed writing the nuclear energy budget and policy papers on nuclear centrifuge plants for presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

While she worked at OMB, Garten also taught herself to cook and entertain while buying and renovating old houses in the Dupont Circle and Kalorama neighborhoods. She used the profits from these sales to make her next purchase, the Barefoot Contessa specialty food store.

Garten left her government job in 1978 after spotting an ad for a 400-square-foot specialty food store called Barefoot Contessa in Westhampton Beach, New York. "My job in Washington was intellectually exciting and stimulating but it wasn't me at all," she explained four years later.

After traveling to visit the store she purchased it and moved to New York. The store had been named by its original owner in tribute to the 1954 film which starred Ava Gardner. Garten kept the name; it meshed well with her idea of an "elegant but earthy" lifestyle.

Three years later, Garten moved Barefoot Contessa to a larger property, and in 1985, she relocated the store to the newly vacated premises of gourmet shop Dean & DeLuca in East Hampton. Garten expanded the store over seven times its original size.

In 1996, Garten sold the store to two employees, Amy Forst and Parker Hodges. She retained ownership of the building itself. She took a one year sabbatical from the culinary scene and built an office for herself above the store. There, she studied the stock market and attempted to sketch out plans for potential business ventures.

By 2003, Barefoot Contessa was permanently closed when the property lease expired and negotiations failed between Garten and the new owners. Garten did not reopen the shop but kept the property for potential new tenants.

In 1999, Garten carried on the Barefoot Contessa name in her 1999 sleeper bestseller, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. Garten eventually sold over 100,000 copies in the first year. In 2001, she released Barefoot Contessa Parties!, and Barefoot Contessa Family Style followed in 2002.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine criticized Garten’s 2010 cookbook Barefoot Contessa: How Easy Is That? for its use of high-fat, high-calorie, and high-cholesterol meat and dairy ingredients, naming it one of “The Five Worst Cookbooks” of the year from a nutritional standpoint.

Garten established herself with her cookbooks and appearances on Martha Stewart’s show, and then in 2002 debuted her Food Network program. Garten was approached by Food Network with an offer to host her own television cooking show. She rejected this proposal several times, until the London-based production company responsible for Nigella Bites was assigned to the deal. She acquiesced to having a 13-show season, and Barefoot Contessa premiered in 2002.

Ina Garten goes behind the counter at Poilâne bakery in Paris

Poilâne is ridiculously expensive.

Chortle fart!

Who is the 8 year old who keeps posting fart jokes? Go take a nap, little boy.

Ina Fartin