What is a Celebrity Chef?

I like watching celebrity chef cooking shows to get some new ideas. I find myself getting in a rut fixing the same things over and over again, and by watching these shows, I can get some new and different things to try.

Once when I was watching Rachael Ray show, there was a guest on who tried one her recipes every day for a year.

Rachael Ray was so impressed because she said she didn't even do that every single day. I know I would never be that committed, but do like to try things with a new twist to them once in a while.

@Monika - That is a good point. Does being a television star really qualify you to write a cookbook? But on the other hand the star could really have a genuine love for cooking. I guess the only way to really know is to check out their cookbook and see.

I have to say that I prefer celebrity chefs that make meals the average person can make at home. I don't have time to run around all day looking for a certain ingredient, or to spend four hours on dinner.

That doesn't mean I don't want to cook some yummy food though. So I really appreciate those chefs that show me how to do that fairly quickly and easily.

@Sara007 - I have to second the recommendation for Rachael Ray. She is definitely my favorite celebrity chef. I especially love her 30 minute meals. They really do only take 30 minutes, which is perfect if you're busy! Also, her recipes tend to be crowd pleasers. I always get a ton of compliments when I cook one!

I have to say that I'm OK with the idea of the celebrity chef. However, sometimes I think it's weird when people who are famous for other reasons all of a sudden put out cookbooks. It makes me wonder if they really have a passion for cooking or just want to capitalize on their celebrity and make some more money!

@wavy58 - I agree that some do go a bit overboard, but I think that they have to in order to keep the show from being boring. Really, how exciting can it be to just watch someone stand there and tell you to put in a teaspoon of cinnamon, add a cup of milk, and boil it for five minutes?

When celebrity chefs deliver a meal, they do it with flair. They want their audience to get more than information from the show. They want them to experience the process that they are so excited about, and they want them to feel their enthusiasm for the dish.

I love watching shows about food, but I find a lot of celebrity chefs annoying. Many of them are loud and make corny jokes. Some of them are overly enthusiastic, and some exaggerate their accents in order to appeal to those who like the way they talk.

Because I find them so irritating, I usually only watch shows that talk about the origins of certain dishes or snacks. These programs are not hosted by celebrity chefs, so I can watch them without wanting to throw something at the screen.

I subscribe to a celebrity chef's magazine, and I have learned a lot from it. In addition to recipes, there are simple tips for handling certain types of food and techniques that have helped me a lot.

I recently got married, and I needed all the cooking assistance I could get. My husband was amazed at how much I improved after reading the magazine.

Though I don't love every recipe in it, I usually wind up loving at least one recipe from each issue. Once something works for me, I make it routinely. My husband's new favorite dish came from this magazine.

It amazes me that celebrity chefs can make up to 18 million a year! It must have a lot to do with their personality and charisma, because I know some chefs who can make absolutely phenomenal food but only get paid $35,000 annually.

While most celebrity chefs make food that anyone at home could learn to make, I am most impressed by pastry chefs. They work with delicate ingredients that can fail at any moment, and they have to rely on their experience and knowledge in order to make beautiful, tasty pastries.

I have seen celebrity pastry chefs working with chocolate before. They always say that tempering the chocolate is a delicate process. You have to get it just the right temperature, or it won't turn out right.

This is something I would not attempt at home. I know that my cooking skills are limited, and I would fail. I just love watching the process done by someone who has the ability to make it work.

I really like some of the cooking games shows they have on the Food Network like Iron Chef and Chopped. It seems like a lot of the people affiliated with these shows have become celebrity chefs.

I am especially a fan of iron chef because they never fail to dazzle me. I can't say that I would want to eat every one of the dishes they have prepared, but it is incredible to watch someone who is so good at their craft demonstrate their skill so thoroughly. I wish I could hire one of those celebrity chefs as my personal chef just so I could watch how they worked.

Sometimes I think that celebrity chefs become celebrities by making the most predictable food possible. In many cases they offer middle of the road recipes with basic ingredients and preparations that will appeal to the widest number of appetites possible. This just makes sense. They are going for mass appeal.

I do not begrudge them for this, I just hope that adventurous cooks realize that there is a whole world of cuisine out there that the celebrity chefs never talk about. There are some really talented, ambitious and radical chefs out there who may never get a show on the food network but who are doing incredible work non the less.

@letshearit – I've also struggled with copying recipes from celebrity chefs that get shown on TV. A good idea is to actually buy one of their cookbooks, as I find trying to follow along with the show to be too hard. Also, they generally post their recipes online so you can refer to them later on.

I think that most famous chefs put a lot more work into presentation than regular folks really need to. One of the reasons I like Rachel Ray is her stuff is a lot more down to earth. You should try making her Rigatoni with Lamb recipe. It's delicious and takes around 30 minutes to prepare.

Has anyone had any luck trying out some of the celebrity chef recipes they do on TV?

I've been watching The Food Network for awhile now and like to tune in to see Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri do their thing. Honestly though, the recipes they use always seem a bit much to do at home.

I have heard that Rachel Ray does a lot of dishes that are more aimed for the beginner, so do you think there is certain dish of hers that would be easy to make?

I am a fan of Italian food and pretty much anything Asian. I am willing to try new things, as long as there isn't a ton of preparation involved.

@turkay1-- I agree with you, I think Food Network is the founder of celebrity chefs and I'm so glad they did. I've been watching Emeril Lagasse's show for years and I've even been to his restaurant in New Orleans.

I don't think celebrity chefs are overrated. It's not easy to be a chef and if you look at most celebrity chef's background, you'll see that they worked really hard to get where they're at. Emeril for example started working at a young age at a bakery to help support himself and his family.

Most celebrity chefs have also started off as average people and made their success with their own effort and patience. I think it's normal for celebrity chefs to open restaurants and publish cookbooks.

I think a lot of people benefit from their knowledge and improve their cooking skills thanks to them. Otherwise, you and me would never have access to see a top chef cook in front of us and teach us tips and methods that only someone who's been to a culinary school would know.

The first celebrity chef I watched on TV when I was young was Chef Chen. I loved how he would finish off every show saying "if Chen can cook, so can you!'"

I think he was one of the first celebrity chefs in the country and in the next decade, the whole idea just took off and so many new ones emerged. I think the chef contests on TV like "Top Chef" have contributed to this trend as well.

I do enjoy watching Chefs on TV and I know they became a celebrity chef because they are really talented and good at what they do. I do feel that a few of them are overrated though. I miss Chef Chen a lot! I think he was a lot of fun and also very down to earth. I wonder what he's up to these days? He's probably running a top rated restaurant in a famous city.