Watching old cooking shows on YouTube

[spinbaby]

I’m amusing myself this rainy day watching old cooking shows on YouTube—Julia Child, Galloping Gourmet, and a really young Martha Stewart. Tart tatin used to be quite the thing. And remember spun sugar? And huevos rancheros? And wild rice with fancy stuff in it? It’s funny how what used to be trendy now seems kind of quaint and old-fashioned.

[Arkansas Granny]

1. Our PBS station shows old Julia Child shows. They've recently shown the episodes with omelets

and French onion soup. I love them.

[BigmanPigman]

2. I remember my mom watched them

and my parents loved how Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet, would get a little "sauced" along with his food. It turns out it was an act. Kerr is still alive and writing his 31st book.

"The series was known for its lighthearted humour, tomfoolery and the copious use of clarified butter, cream and fat. A famous line of Kerr's on the show was his response to someone's criticism of his cooking: "Madam, you could go outside and get run over by a bus and just think what you would have missed!" He also liberally featured wine, serving it with most meals, using it in his dishes, and waxing poetic about its virtues. He would also raise a glass of wine to his lips as a cue to the director to cut to commercials, then would bring it back up to his lips right before the show came back on. This gave the impression to some viewers that he was drinking heavily during the taping. In reality he drank very little.[3]

"In an ongoing feature of the show, Kerr would make his way into the audience as the closing credits began and select an audience member (usually female) whom he would invite onstage with him to enjoy whatever dish he had just prepared. Another recurring feature at the end of each show would be a close-up of Kerr as he sampled the dish he had just cooked. To "oohs and ahs" from the audience, he would pull a face as though he was in ecstasy from tasting his latest creation."

[procon]

3. Cooking was a necessity in that era.

There weren't too many fast food places and convenience foods were stuff like Jello, Campbell soups or chips and dips. If you wanted a meal, you had to cook it yourself and those shows were very instructional for young women and housewife looking for something new and tasty.

My mother was a snooty socialite who hosted lavish meals where my sister and I were pressed into kitchen duty. She loved the Galloping Gourmet and we would all watch Graham Kerr, and we did learn new cooking techniques. He was an early pioneer in TV cooking shows, as was Jacques Pepin, but I don't think we watched too much of Julia Child.

[spinbaby]

4. The later show are good, too

I watched some of the Frugal Gourmet, who seemed obsessed with Italian gravy. And fuzzy old Martha Stewart shows in which she sports gigantic shoulder pads and earrings the size of hubcaps.

[catbyte]

5. I discovered a Thames TV channel with Mary Berry shows from the 1970's. And

please, please, please check out these gems from Fanny Cradock, especially this one. Make sure you watch it until the end. Her editorial comment about British housewives is a scream:

[Kali]

6. OMG

those eyebrows!!!

[catbyte]

7. And why do I get the feeling that she kept her lovely assistant, Sarah, locked in the basement

until taping?


Edited to add: OMG, did you see the mincemeat omelet drowning in powdered sugar?

[Kali]

8. I would really prefer not to think about that last one

Sarah is on her own!

[trof]

9. What. A. Hoot. Thank you.