obsessed with Alton

My family is obsessed with Alton Brown.

My children, as babies, found him fascinating. They still "videoit" whenever he is on. My brother, my father, they watch every episode whenever possible. Perhaps my children found him interesting because their grandfather was watching him during their formative years...I'm not sure. But, nonetheless, he is a unique TV personality.

My aunt even followed Alton all around the US on a trip that he wrote about in his book.

Unfortunately,I don't share the total obsession as I live on the farm. My cooking life is not filled with mushroom brushes or pate knives, but is instead filled with copious amounts of seasonal produce that needs to be put down immediately. Alternatively (or concurrently, depending on the season), I need to have multiple meals ready at particular times...although those times may change with the weather.

This is my small ode to Alton. Through his tv show, I finally learned to grill without tears.

I find that Alton is a bit scientific for me. I realize that flour by weight is indeed more accurate than flour by volume, but honestly, I don't care. Half the time my recipes are 50 to 100 years old and require different amounts of flour anyway. I mean, really, when we aren't grinding our own flour, the consistency is different.

And professionally, I can tell you that the gluten profiles in modern wheat varieties are different. Thus, all old recipes must be adjusted accordingly. But that is another blog.

Somewhere ('cause I can't find it online), Alton had an episode which talked about how men are bad barbequers. He didn't mean "bad" as in good...he meant bad as in didn't use separate plates and utensils and therefore transferred bad bacteria. And men didn't use meat thermometers. So he showed them how to grill by the clock...which helped me a lot.

Or maybe the whole episode was in my imagination. It doesn't matter anyway. I can now put a grilled burger/pork chop/chicken piece on the table cooked to the correct temperature on time just about every night.

However, it is 20:30 now, and supper was supposed to be ready for 19:30. And the cats have already tried to eat the whole thing.

Sorry Alton, there is no planning for farmers.