When his little talk was over, the book signing began. I've got to give the guy credit. He made a point to tell the organizers to allow people with small children to move ahead in line - a brilliant idea considering how long the wait was.
And he was on his feet the whole time. Yep, he didn't sit at a table, he signed books at a podium. We got to sit around while we waited for our numbers to be called for the signing, but he was on his feet from the time he walked into the room until it was over.
I haven't quite had time to cook anything from the book. Well, that's not exactly true. I've made a few recipes that are in the book, but I made them from recipes as they appeared on the Food Network website.Because, yes, the recipes are available on the website.
Browsing through the book, I can tell you that I already made the tres leches cake, the dulce de leche, and hummus. And yes, I liked all three of them.
I think I might have used his corned beef recipe the first time I corned my own beef, but that's some time ago, so I don't recall for sure.
But, as Alton (my new BFF) said, the recipes in the books are a little more detailed, with better descriptions and explanations. And of course, there's all the show information and little tidbits of science, and some humor, as well.
I've also made recipes from his other books. I wrote about the first Good Eats book (the early years) here and here, and I wrote about the second book (the middle years) here.
Yes, I'm a fan
Meanwhile, things I learned at the book signing:
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| Alton and me. We're buddies, now. |
- When he was a kid, he wanted to be a film maker.
- What he learned in culinary school was that you don't have to go to culinary school.
- When he first started working at Food Network, the on-air personalities who were nicest to him were Bobby Flay and Mario Batali.
- His favorite movie is Jaws.
- His favorite Iron Chef is ... all of them. He was pretty funny about it, but he wouldn't name a favorite.
- He will be on every episode of The Next Food Network Star next year, and he said the show will be "brutal." When someone asked for tips on how to get on the show, he said, "Don't do it."
- Alton Brown never eats the food on Iron Chef because during the original Iron Chef Masters series he became seriously ill and was hospitalized because there was an ingredient he didn't know about in one of the dishes - oysters. He didn't see it go into the dish, and the chef didn't mention it. So now he doesn't eat anything on the show.
- Trout ice cream is the worst thing he ever ate. Ever.
- His favorite secret ingredient on Iron Chef is one that hasn't been aired yet - yak.
- There's a dark chocolate episode of Good Eats coming up in the 1-hour format. And a new Thanksgiving episode. The Dark Chocolate episode got a round of applause.
- He has a science-based show in the works that is not about food. He also has a short series in the works for Food Network.
- He didn't know what a "hall pass" was. Now he does. I'm not sure he wanted to know.
- He will never, ever agree to compete on Iron Chef America. His reason? He doesn't want anyone else filling in for him lest they figure out how easy it really is (I doubt that it's easy.)
- His favorite place to ride though on Feasting on Asphalt was the Appalachia area.
- He won't autograph living things; he will sign your cast, but not your arm.
- He had a nutmeg in his jacket pocket. The nutmeg also got a round of applause.
- His favorite dessert to make is pie.
- To help him lose weight, he gave up drinking milk. Not that he had any problems with milk, but milk whispered in his ear about cookies or cake. Or more cookies. And, he said, everyone knows that a box of girl scout cookies is two servings. So when he gave up drinking milk, he found that he didn't succumb to the cookies or cake as much.
- The props on Good Eats purposely look cheap. And usually they are. The suction cups on the giant squid that shows up at the end of the squid show were made from a bathmat.
- He feels that giving up diet soda played a huge role in his weight loss. He says that drinking all that sweet stuff accustoms you to having a lot of sweets. So eating a giant bag of chocolate candies seems normal to your body - but it shouldn't be.
- There is a sock puppet template in the back of the new cookbook.
- Cooking Channel will be running all the episodes of Good Eats in the order they were originally aired.
- Alton Brown is afraid of monkeys. Or maybe just sock puppet monkeys.
- During Iron Chef, Alton can watch feeds from eight of the cameras. There are more. I think he said 13. After the taping, he dubs in information about important things that he missed during the live action.
- He referred to himself several times as a film maker.
- He didn't do well in science classes when he was in school, so he had to learn it all on his own when he saw how it applied to cooking.
- This book has all the recipes from the last shows of the series, except for the last three.
- He was a genuine guy. I'm glad I had a chance to see him in person. My number for the book signing was 310. He was starting to look a bit ragged by then, but he smiled and signed books and posed for photos. What more can I say? I'm still a fan.
To enter the contest, leave me a comment telling me what your favorite episode, character, or recipe was on Good Eats.
For an additional entry to this contest, tweet a link to this contest, and include @dbcurrie in the tweet. Leave me a second comment telling me that you have tweeted.
And that's it. Two entries per person, US and Canada only. Contest begins when this is posted and ends on Sunday, October 23 at the stroke of midnight, mountain time. Winner will be chosen randomly and will have 48 hours to respond before I pick another winner. Good luck!
The lucky winner is SARAH ! Congrats! And thanks to everyone who entered. These comments were so great to read.
