Good Eats: Reloaded Proves The Classics Never Go Out Of Style

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From 1999 until 2012, fans of The Food Network knew Alton Brown as the host of Good Eats.  Those who have read my Culinary FAQ know that I have identified Good Eats as the most informative how-to cooking show of all time.

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The 90s saw a vast array of how-to cooking shows flooded cable TV.  At any time of day, a person could turn on the television and see Emeril cook a gumbo or Sara Moulton spatchcock a chicken.  My favorite show, you've no doubt already guessed, was Alton Brown's quirky 30 minute show, Good Eats.

Brown's show was different in that he explained the science behind the cooking.  He would use visual props,  such as ping pong balls, to show the audience what the molecules were doing as the food cooked.  It was sort of Julia Child meets Mr. Wizard.

For the last six years, Alton Brown has hosted a number of other shows, such as Cutthroat Kitchen and Camp Cutthroat, which were really beneath him.  His time spent hosting Iron Chef: America wasn't bad, but his talents were definitely not being utilized to their full potential.  He moved from show to show, but never really captured the same magic as he had with Good Eats.

I was thrilled when I heard he was reviving Good Eats on The Cooking Channel.  Good Eats: Reloaded features Brown showing an original episode of Good Eats, and stopping the show to correct his younger self.  While most of the old recipes still hold up, parts of the shows are outdated.

For example, when he made the episode Fry Hard, cod was not sustainable, so he used other fish for his fish and chips.  Eighteen years later, cod is sustainable so he updated the recipe to use cod.  Likewise, technology has progressed a lot over the last two decades.  Thus, he interrupted the Steak Your Claim episode to recommend new styles of cooking thermometers which did not exist 20 years ago.

Throughout the shows, Alton Brown drops little hints that an all new Good Eats series is on the way.  While the updates are valuable, I suspect that the real purpose of Reloaded is to whet our appetites for the upcoming series.  No matter the reason for Good Eats: Reloaded, it does offer good information delivered with the same brand of humor the old show was known for.

Good Eats: Reloaded can be seen Monday nights at 9pm on The Cooking Channel.  I strongly recommend giving it a look.

Don't have The Cooking Channel?  You can buy the first seeds from Amazon Streaming by clicking on the picture above.