who's your favourite chef ?

I have tons of cookbooks too, and they're mostly compilations. I'd have to go with Emeril and Paula Deen. And Michael Chiarello. I'm really stuck on watching him right now.

My vote goes to Jacques Pepin. He combines clssical French training with a common sense approach to food. His 'Fast Food My Way" cookbook has some delicious, fast foods that don't call for a lot of exotic ingredients. Plus, I'm a pushover for a French accent! Second choice: Lidia Bastianich (Lidia's Italian Kitchen) She really knows how to turn out authentic Italian food. I have two of her books and the food tastes as good as it looks. Bottom line, Joy of Cooking can answer just about any question you have about cooking and various ingredients. I use that book frequently.

I like Jamie Oliver for his no nonsense approach to food. If I'm doing a large dinner party I go for Gary Rhodes: - He's got style. Gordon Ramsey got the edge too! xx I agree with "Her", Nigella Lawson is interesting along with Delia Smith for Simplicity!

My favorite is James Martin , he cooks simple normal food.Plus hes cute too.

I also like Anthony Worral Thompson, Jamie Oliver and Rachel {don't know her last name but she has a program called Rachels favorite foods at home it's on saturday mornings on bbc 1] She does easy recipes that you remember from childhood .

Daniel Boulud is excellent and the guy that runs the kitchen at the SW Steakhouse at the Wynn Las Vegas.

Julia Child, who started the whole "TV chef" revolution. So many people owe their success to Julia. "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" is a must in your cookbook library.

I'm a huge Iron Chef fan. Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto and Cat Cora , but if I have to choose just one, I choose Cat Cora!

Frank Sinclair.

http://dollarrandomizer.com/?joinPAGE

A great question, heres my contribution:

Rachael Ray, who is so busy on the food network on cable,

$40.00 per day, Tasty Travels, etc. + her own syndicated

talk show on King World, backed by Oprah Winfrey's production

company, has got to be one of the most down to earth, common sense approach to any of us who have labored in the kitchen

preparing our favorite cuisines.

Rachael specializes in nutritious, very tasty meals, but the

difference is she puts out a good meal in less than a half hour,

and that to me is a unique accomplishment in itself.

The one thing she does not do is bake, as she never felt she could get used to following formulas, rather than recipes, so

she feels uncomfortable attempting to bake a cake, or even making cookie dough, or pie shells, but that is her business.

Rachael has by her own admission stated that she has attended

no cooking schools, and does not prefer to be called a chef.

She is a regular cook, with some great cooking experiences

under her belt, as her entire family were all in the food preparation

business at one time or another, her mother and grandfather taught her the tricks of the trade, and she just kicked it up a notch.

She has authored six cook books that I know of, and is working on the seventh.

Another great chef, who did go to cooking school, is Bobby Flay,

who also appears on the food network, in the Iron Chef America

series, and other series he has made, all on the food network

cable channel.

Bobby specializes in American southwestern cuisine, and knows

a thing or two about mole sauce, kicked up salsa picante, and all

the peppers that are on the market, and some that aren't.

Emeril Lagasse is another fine chef, who also appears on the food network, he has his own hour on the network, and presents some fine southern style cuisine, along with French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese(Emeril's heritage) cajun, French-Creole,

and Chinese and oriental dishes too.

He always produces tasty dishes, and shows them to the public,

in between commercial ads, which there are many.

I also have to mention Julia Child, she mentored many younger fine chefs, Sarah Moulton for one, and Julia raised the bar in food

appreciation awareness, as the James Beard for excellence award will attest.

Julia had many TV chef programs on the Public Television

Stations, as she constantly demonstrated her expertise with

the many different types of cuisines she chose to present.

Having her cook books in your food kitchen administration is always a good thing, she really knows her way around a kitchen.

Jacques Pepin is yet another fine chef, from France who chose to live and study food science in Columbia University, New York.

His food preparations are always top drawer, and he understands how the human tongue reacts to different flavors,

as he made a study concerning the taste buds and how they react to different food stimuli, really helped him improve his

own cuisine, he is an excellent chef, and serves on many review boards, long live chef Pepin.

These are some of my more prominent favorites in the world

of food preparation, there are, of course, others, Sandra Lee,

Ina Garten(A-1 chef, in my opinion) Giada DeLaurentiis,

Mario Batali, Martin Yan, Madju Joffrey, Indian cuisine specialist,

Ming-Tsai, Amy Colemen(great nutritionist/chef) to name a few.

As far as cook books are concerned, I think the "Joy of Cooking"

is one of the best for a single volume reference, unless you

get into east-west fusion cooking, or some other more exotic

cuisine, and there is always the Better Homes and Gardens

Cook book, thats been around since my mother was a small

girl.

But on the whole, Rachael Ray's cook books are very stimulating

tasty, easy to prepare, and very convenient on time spent on

preparation, she makes it all easier for any busy person on the go and has very little time for kitchen duties, she is the one to

fall back on, she has been there and done that.

Thats my message, good luck.

Donald H. Sites

sueanddon350@sbcglobal.net

Rachel Ray and Giada De Laurentis