Top Ten Favorites - Cooking Show

  “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.” (Conan O’Brien)

Hello, my lovely friends!

    Cooking shows have always been our collective happy place, the ultimate background track to our long catches-up and lazy Sundays. I was thinking about how much comfort these specific hosts have brought us over the years, so I wanted to put our definitive top ten favorites all in one place. These are the ones that always make us feel right at home, no matter how chaotic the rest of the week has been.

    First up is Giada De Laurentiis in Everyday Italian, which honestly feels like a time capsule of us back in the day. We all used to watch her make those simple pasta dishes and convinced ourselves that we could effortlessly host an elegant dinner party on a Tuesday. Right next to her on the shelf of absolute icons is Nigella Lawson and Nigella: At My Table. There is just nobody else like Nigella. She makes the simple act of raiding the fridge at midnight look like a high-art form, and her show is pure comfort. Then, of course, we have Ina Garten in Barefoot Contessa. If any of us ever win the lottery, we are buying a house in the Hamptons and pretending to be Ina, casually asking if store-bought is fine while pouring an entire bottle of vanilla into a cake batter. She is the ultimate comforting presence, and her show is like a security blanket.

Then there are the shows that feel less like television and more like visiting family. Lidia’s Kitchen is exactly that. Watching Lidia Bastianich cook is like sitting in your own grandmother's kitchen, and you can practically taste the love and olive oil through the screen. When she does her little sign-off at the end, it feels like she is blessing your entire week. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, we have America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country. These are the ones we watch when we actually want to know the science of why our cookies keep flattening out. They are so wonderfully nerdy, methodical, and reliable. You just know that if they say a specific brand of plastic wrap is the best, it is the absolute truth, and you will find yourself checking the labels next time you go grocery shopping.

    Lately, Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines has slipped into the rotation too, mostly because her kitchen is so stunningly beautiful it makes you want to remodel your entire life. It is just clean, cozy, and filled with biscuits. Then there is Milk Street, which always pushes us out of our comfort zones a bit. It’s got that cool, global vibe that makes you want to run to the specialty grocery store to buy spices you can't quite pronounce. It is the perfect antidote to the same old chicken dinners we all make on repeat.

    Finally, we have the competition shows that are actually nice, which is the only kind of drama we have energy for these days. The Great American Recipe on PBS is a total hidden gem. It is full of real people making their family recipes, and everyone is so sweet to each other that you usually end up crying a little bit by the end of the episode. And to wrap it all up, the undisputed queen of cozy TV, The Great British Bake Off. There is truly nothing better than watching a bunch of lovely British people stress out about the structural integrity of a gingerbread house inside a rainy tent. It is the ultimate show to put on when you want to tune out the world, pour a big mug of tea, and feel like everything is going to be just fine.

    It’s crazy how a simple television show can carry so many memories of us sitting around, laughing, and dreaming up menus for dinner parties we’ll probably never actually host. But honestly, that’s the best part about these shows. They aren't really about the recipes at all; they’re just an excuse for us to slow down, get cozy, and share a little comfort. Next time you’re flipping through the channels and don't know what to put on, just pick one of these and pretend we’re all sitting on the couch together. 

Top Ten Favorites - Cooking Shows
1, Everyday Italian (Giada De Laurentiis)
2. Nigella: At My Table (Nigella Lawson)
3. Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten)
4. Lidia’s Kitchen (Lidia Bastianich!)
5. American’s Test Kitchen
6. Cook Country
7. Magnolia Table (Joanna Gaines)
8. Milk Street
9. The Great American Recipe (PBS)
10. The Great British Bake Off

Thanks for popping in. Whether you’re currently caffeinating or winding down, make it a good one. Let’s do this again soon —Ciao!