Back in the 90′s, I remember flopping down on the sofa at my flat after a day of college classes, ready to be entertained by Ready Steady Cook and Ainsley Harriot.

I have to admit that the recipes didnt look as tasty as the ones you see today whipped up by Nigella or Jamie, but the sheer entertainment factor – perhaps also the silly concept of two teams (one ordinary person each, unless it was a Celeb episode) called the Red Tomatoes vs the Green Peppers racing against the clock to cook in 20 minutes, with limited ingredients and one “famous chef” each to help (Aisley being one of them), it was television at its most couch-potato enducing.

In those days, Ready Steady Cook was hosted by the rotund Fern Britton, who was replaced by Ainsley (who stole all the attention anyway – Fern just sort of waddled from one cooking station to another) in 2000. As I moved from the UK in 1997, I was quite surprised that the show was still alive and kicking on BBC 2 in the same timeslot.

And after a bit more research, I found out that some changes had been made, in addition to Ainsley’s move from chef to presenter. One was that the food budget had been raised from the �5 if a Bistro bag (�7) or Gourmet bag (�10) was used. Sensible, as I dont think 5 quid can buy you much in London these days. Also, the show’s length had been upped to a lengthy 45 minutes!

What hasn’t changed is the studio audience voting with those giant flashcards with either a red tomato or a green pepper, or the grand prize, which remains at 100 quid TWELVE years later.

Technorati Tags: Ready Steady Cook, Ainsley Harriott, BBC2, Cooking show UK

While watching the holiday-appropriate “Turkey Challenge” episode of Iron Chef America, in which the contestants were each given the Thanksgiving bird to get creative within the show’s time slot, I watched half-interested as to who was challenging Bobby Flay (yet again) with Alton’s semi-sarcastic drawl in the background.

When I saw that it wasn’t Mario and that it was two affable ladies – a blonde in bright pink and a diminutive brunette with funky glasses, it got my attention. I realized after a while, that it was the Two Hot Tamales, also known as Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.

The most interesting dish of the show by far was the Hot Tamales turkey (yes, turkey) ice cream, which used the bourbon Wild Turkey, and (regretfully) turkey stock. As one of the judges aptly put it, high marks for originality, low marks for the proteiny taste. Much as I like Mary Sue and Susan, I have to say that they reached a little too much here – who on earth would eat a poultry-flavoured ice cream? I must say that the presentation was beautiful though, a chocolate ball crust in a chocolate turkey-shaped basket.

Their other dishes beat Mr.Flay’s multi-turkey breast renditions (all the same, different sauce) by a mile I thought, with things like turkey meatball soup and a scotch egg which looked absolutely scrummy. You don’t get to see of the humble scotch egg on television much, and I have to say that the last time I saw one was at a garage shop in a UK motorway.

Sadly, it was a tie (the injustice!!), and even if Alton said that that was “rare” for the show, I should really email them and say that the last time I watched it was also a tie.

But anyway, one good thing was that I got to see the Two Hot Tamales again, who I hadn’t seen in years and had actually forgotten about in the sea of the new breed of Celeb Chefs (or dare I say media whores?). Now you know who I’ll be blogging about next.

Technorati Tags: Thanksgiving, Two Hot Tamales, Iron Chef America

Check out the preview of the upcoming season of Top Chef. Who knows, from this batch of hopefuls could come the next celebrity chef.

Celebrity chef fans will also look forward to cameos by Martha Stewart, Jean-Georges, Eric Ripert, Rocco DiSpirito, and Wylie Dufresne.

Chef Jose Andres got slammed in an article for New York mag for what they called “the worst audition for celebrity chefdom.”

While fans did come to his rescue we do think the article is a pretty good sign of how “tv antics” can get grating — and end up ruining your professional reputation.

Check out this interesting directory of shows about chefs that ever aired on mass TV.

You’ll find little-known shows like the now-defunct 90′s drama “Chef!” to every possible permutation of a kitchen reality show that the human mind can conjure.

If anything it proves that our “taste” for celebrity chef shows is growing…and sometimes, veers towards the bizarre.

Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse is launching a a new cooking show called “Emeril Green.” It will teach viewers delicious ways to cook healthy, organic ingredients.

Check out Bobby Flay’s recipe for a perfect summer, with simple appetizers, to delicious grills, to no-cook desserts.

Watch this cool video of Adam Roberts of The Amateur Gourmet singing an ode to the chairman of Iron Chef.

Foodies will enjoy the new show, How’d That Get On My Plate. It’s hosted by Sunny Anderson and talks about how raw ingredients are processed into the forms we love: cheese, ice cream, chocolate syrup, what have you.

Sunny Anderson is the same celebrity chef behind Cooking for Real.

Read this intelligent and well-written article on celebrity chefs have capitalized on their ‘brand’ to create merchandise. It’s a good lesson on how to build a business empire — and a sobering look at how, as a chef gets more popular, he spends less time cooking and more time on appearances and TV tapings.