Alton Brown

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Alton Brown

Born July 30, 1962 (age 44)
Los Angeles, California
Cooking style American, Southern
Education University of Georgia, New England Culinary Institute
TV Show(s) Good Eats
Iron Chef America
Feasting on Asphalt

Alton Brown (born on July 30, 1962 in Los Angeles, California) is the creator and host of the television show Good Eats, the main commentator on Iron Chef America, as well as the show Feasting on Asphalt all airing on Food Network. Brown is also an author of several cooking how-to books and a regular contributor to Bon Appétit and Men’s Journal magazines.

He is often described as a culinary version of Mr. Wizard or Bill Nye because he brings a scientific and humorous approach to his cooking shows. Bon Appétit magazine named him "Cooking Teacher of the Year" in 2004.

Contents

[edit] Early career

Prior to his cooking career, Brown received a degree in drama from the University of Georgia. He then worked in cinematography and film production. In that field, he is probably best known for his work as the director of photography for the R.E.M. music video "The One I Love." He also worked as a steadicam operator on the Spike Lee film School Daze.

At some point he noticed that he was very dissatisfied with the quality of cooking shows then airing on American television, so he set out to produce his own show. Not possessing the requisite knowledge, he enrolled in the New England Culinary Institute, from which he graduated in 1995.[1] Brown states that he had been a poor science student in high school and college, so he began to study the subject as he took cooking training and felt the need to understand the underlying processes of cooking.

[edit] Good Eats

Main article: Good Eats

The pilot for Good Eats first aired on the Chicago, Illinois PBS member station WTTW-TV in July 1998. Food Network picked up the show in July 1999, and as of 2007, still airs new episodes. Brown seems to take particular delight in making tongue-in-cheek references to pop culture in his episodes such as an episode on hamburgers in which Brown lectures an actor dressed as cartoon character Wimpy. For copyright reasons, the surname is changed to "Whimpy", but viewers may note that their initial meeting takes place in plain view of the Golden Arches. Episode titles include further references, such as "Mission: Poachable", "It's a Wonderful Cake", and "My Big Fat Greek Sandwich". A Good Eats episode takes about three days to produce, according to a special Good Eats episode "Behind the Eats."

Many of the Good Eats episodes feature Brown building makeshift cooking devices in order to point out that many of the devices sold at conventional "cooking" stores are simply fancified hardware store items that are sold at grossly inflated prices, and are not as effective as his "homemade" gizmos. For example, in the episode "Flat Is Beautiful", Brown uses a flat un-glazed quarry stone purchased at a hardware store as a substitute for a much more expensive pizza stone sold at a cooking specialty store. In an episode on barbecue, he made a barbecue smoker out of an electric hot plate, a pie pan, a flower pot (with basin), and a thermometer. He also used a similarly designed smoker in an episode entitled "Where There's Smoke There's Fish" to prepare a salmon. In an episode devoted to coleslaw called "The Long Arm of the Slaw", Brown makes a more convenient shredding device by attaching a cheese grater to a folded cardboard pizza box. In a contribution to Wired Magazine he described converting a paper shredder to function as a pasta machine. He has many times stated "You must think like MacGyver!" He has also expressed a penchant for items that are "multi-taskers" as opposed to "uni-taskers." For instance, in the episode "Choux Shine", he suggests that casual cooks should avoid purchasing a piping bag for applying a batter and instead use a plastic bag with a corner cut out. Brown repeatedly states that the only uni-tasker in his kitchen is a fire extinguisher. (There are a few exceptions: in his book, Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen, he says that he also has a green bean cutter for his pet iguana. Also, in episode "Olive Me," he reluctantly endorses the use of an olive pitter.)

[edit] Iron Chef America

Main article: Iron Chef America

In 2004, Brown appeared on Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters, the second attempt to adapt the Japanese cooking show Iron Chef to American television (a previous adaptation featured William Shatner and was produced for and aired on UPN; it was not well received). Brown served as the expert commentator, a modified version of the role played by Dr. Yukio Hattori in the original show. The show was extended with ten new episodes, advertised as both "New Battles" and "Season 2", which started July 10, 2005.

As the expert commentator, Brown is usually heard throughout the episode explaining to the audience what the competing chefs are doing, able to identify most cooking techniques and explain them long before anyone watching can. Occasionally, the camera will cut away from Kitchen Stadium to show Brown as he provides background information about the secret ingredient, such as the different sizes and types of shrimp or clams, or different cuts of meat. Brown rarely makes mistakes about his information, though he once mistook the green contents of a squeeze bottle to be a garnishing sauce when it was, in fact, soap. In another episode, Iron Chef Bobby Flay called out for the remaining time in the battle, and Brown responded with "35 seconds remaining", although 35 minutes actually remained.

Careful listeners might note changes in sound quality between some of Brown's comments in the show. This probably indicates dubbed comments, recorded after the conclusion of the live "battle." This is not unusual for shows recorded live, where loud noises often drown out voice commentary, which have to be re-dubbed in studio.

[edit] Feasting on Asphalt

Main article: Feasting on Asphalt

Brown's third series Feasting on Asphalt explores the history of eating on the move. In a quest for tasty edibles on the go, Brown and his crew crossed the United States via motorcycle ("As far as I’m concerned, there’s no better way to experience the road than from the back of a bike," according to Brown) in a four-part miniseries about the history of road food. Brown sampled food all along his travel route, often sleeping under the stars between meals. In his traditional style, he included the usual "history of food" segments documenting famous road trips (from the Odyssey to the Crusades, to Lewis and Clark, and Jack Kerouac) and interviews with many of the foodies he met en route.

Brown suffered a motorcycle crash outside of Las Vegas. His only injury was a broken clavicle. This injury was caught on camera and was shown in episode 4. Brown wrote on his website that "it was a low charisma event. No flames, no smoke... just a lot of dust and discomfort..."

Brown begins his trip in Mt. Pleasant, SC, travels on to the historic town of Washington, Georgia, then winds his way through South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and then to the California coast. The series premiered on Food Network on July 29, 2006, with subsequent episodes airing the following 3 Saturdays (August 5, 12 and 19), also at 9:00 PM EST/PST.

The mini-series has been picked up for a second run in 2007. This time 6 episodes will be filmed and they will trace the length of the Mississippi River through Alton's travels. Filming is set to take place during April and May of 2007.

[edit] Personal information

Brown lives in Marietta, Georgia with his wife DeAnna, daughter Zoey, a basset hound dog Matilda, and an iguana. [2] A few members of his extended family have appeared in Good Eats (such as his late grandmother, Ma Mae, and daughter, Zoey, who is known on the show as "Alton's Spawn"), but most of his "family" portrayed on the series is made up of actors and the show's production crew.[3] [4] [5] [6] DeAnna Brown has never been on an episode of Good Eats. Brown also portrays his frequently arrested evil twin brother "B.A." On the DVD release of the episode "American Pickle," Brown notes that many viewers ask him what his brother does for a living, suggesting that they are unaware that B.A. is simply the result of clever editing.

Brown loves apples — not only the fruit, but also the computer company, Apple, as he was interviewed by Macworld magazine.[7] [8] [9] Additionally, Brown frequently features Apple-branded computers on Good Eats. Although the Apple logo is usually masked, the computers' unique appearance makes them quite noticeable. [10]

He is also a connoisseur of cheese and vinegar and is also a motorcycling enthusiast [11], even basing an entire limited-run series around a motorcycle adventure (the aforementioned Feasting on Asphalt). He owns a 2005 BMW R1200RT which he bought used from a local BMW dealer.[12]

Brown was a contributor to the 2005 cookbook Food Network Favorites: Recipes from Our All-Star Chefs. He selected the nonprofit world hunger organization Heifer International to receive a portion of the royalties.

[edit] In popular culture

[edit] Books

On May 5, 2003, his first book, I'm Just Here for the Food, won a James Beard Foundation Book Award in the Reference category. He released a "5th Anniversary" edition of the book entitled I'm Just Here for the Food: The Director's Cut (released as I'm Just Here for the Food: Version 2.0), from publisher Stewart, Tabori & Chang [publisher of all of Brown's books]. According to Brown's official site, this revised edition features ten new recipes, 20 pages of additional material, a jacket that folds out to a poster, and a removable refrigerator magnet.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] See also

Other cooks and authors who use a similar scientific approach to cooking include Shirley Corriher (who sometimes appears on Good Eats) and Russ Parsons. Harold McGee preceded them in this science-based approach.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/ABFP/ABArticles/NECINews.htm
  2. ^ http://www.tv.com/alton-brown/person/219990/biography.html
  3. ^ http://www.tv.com/good-eats/show/21612/cast.html?tag=tabs;cast
  4. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0344651/fullcredits
  5. ^ http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/References/FamilyTree.htm
  6. ^ http://www.mutantnation.com/Alton%20Brown.asp
  7. ^ http://www.macworld.com/2001/03/bc/buzzbrown
  8. ^ http://www.gourmetfoodarticles.com/alton-brown.html
  9. ^ http://www.mutantnation.com/Alton%20Brown.asp
  10. ^ http://www.macworld.com/2001/03/bc/buzzbrown
  11. ^ http://www.roadfly.com/magazine/14/alton_brown.1.html
  12. ^ http://www.altonbrown.com/adventure/knowledge/motogear.html
  13. ^ http://69.36.34.245/cms/?pid=1000298
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