As the cliche goes, all good things must come to an end and as Alton Brown fans learned Friday that goes for good eats as well. After 249 regular episodes, AB closed out the series with three one-hour specials, the last of these “Turn on the Dark” gave us a look into the luscious world of dark chocolate.
Using the hour-long format showcased what most Good Eats fans have come to expect from the show and its host over the twelve year run: history, science, information all in fun and easy to digest lessons.
It was hard not to notice a few of AB’s lessons from the very first episode on chocolate, Art of Darkness, have changed. Most notably in the realm of making mousse. In the first show on chocolate we were introduced to an easy and wonderful mousse, which has served me (and others) quite well over the years. However, in the newest incarnation of chocolate, AB suggests to make the foamy delight using a nitrous oxide cream whipper. One knock on this part of the episode, he didn’t give a lot on the specs for said device. Leading me to wonder if one NO2 whipper is as good as any other.
Another area where AB has gone back and forth on over the years is in melting chocolate. In that early chocolate episode he advocated a basic double boiler setup because melting chocolate via microwave didn’t allow for stirring. In this episode he employed the nuke box saying a double boiler wasn’t as reliable and could lead to chocolate seizing. Gone as a melting device, too, was the heating pad method, one in which I have used with amazing results. The heating pad still remains valuable in keeping the newly melted chocolate warm and workable, however.
The latest method of melting chocolate introduced in this episode, via food processor, is an intriguing one and something I plan to give a whirl (ha ha) when I make the most delectable item from the new episode–chocolate covered cherries.
Enrobing items in chocolate caused my ears to perk up. I have long enjoyed chocolate covered pretzels and have made them on occasion. Yet, my coating always seems to run off. And leave it to our Mr. Brown to explain a method to remedy this problem! Reusable ice packets under a half sheet pan! Ingenious AB! So having this knowledge I am ready to tackle the coated cherries soon.
Once again, even at the end of the run, AB and Good Eats have given me a new weapon in my culinary arsenal. That, for me, encapsulates the show and AB’s devotion to it more than anything. He could have easily made three half-ass shows to cash in on its popularity, rather he chose to remain true to the show’s DNA and gave it his all to the end.
Great episode and truly a fitting end to a fine, well-loved program! Bravo AB!
Final thoughts…
On that note, it would be regretful of me not to write a little on the end of an era at Food Network.
For us long (long) time fans who found a quirky, yet smart, program that honestly taught its viewers how and why things happened in the kitchen, it was certainly a sad day indeed. There was never a cooking show like Good Eats before 1999 and after 2012 there will never be one to match it in stature.
Those of us early to jump on board saw GE go from being known as that unorthodox show with a peculiar (albeit adorable) host to a popular powerhouse, which still garners top ratings for Cooking Channel. I still remember when articles referred to the “cult following” of GE. And frankly, I enjoyed that low-key status we had back in the day. Having attended many events over the years, I saw the change and increase in its fandom from those diehard folks like myself, who tried applications, knew ABisms, quoted from episodes, and knew the characters to a mixture of us and people who casually knew AB was that guy with a cooking show. Yes, I literally heard someone ask that at a more recent event! While the increase of fans is always good, especially for Alton, it is always a little hard for the long-timers to get use to, like when your favorite out of the way vacation spot suddenly becomes the new “it” locale or your favorite musical band hits the mainstream.
All of us who watched from early on were lucky enough to grow along with AB. As the years passed and AB got a greater understanding of GE and his own abilities to educate, he took us along to bigger and better places in the journey. Even as he wound down the show, he offered a look back and retooled the very things that got him to where he is today with the Good Eats cookbook set. He never stopped to rest on his laurels once.
I can wholeheartedly say, that Alton has taught me more about food, cooking, food science than any one else. Sure, going to culinary school would have taken a fraction of the years I dedicated to GE, but they wouldn’t have been nearly as fun! Besides, in culinary school I would have never been required to make an eight hour drive to Atlanta for the 1oth anniversary show filming. That was just one highlight of being a fan of GE and AB.
We all know the special place in his heart AB has for his “precious snowflake” and most certainly this is a time he is sad for its ending as well. But I hope he will be reminded and take to heart all that the program has done for so many people. It was more than a quirky cooking show, more than a show about food and applying science to cooking, and more than a show with a cast of hundreds and nutritional anthropologist on call. It was (and will always be) the finest contribution to the genre by anyone! If you don’t think so, then look at AB’s George Foster Peabody Award. That award has only been bestowed on one other cooking show–The French Chef with Julia Child.
So as we bid Good Eats ado, we also wait for the next big thing from the mind of Alton Brown. I know, I look forward to whatever that will be because of all the wonderful projects he has given us over the years. Of course nothing can ever take the place of Good Eats, but who knows what awaits on the culinary horizon.
Thank you for the wonderful program, Alton. We love it and you.
May you be blessed in the next phase of your career and life.
– Lisa ox
