I, too like Ina, but I guess my fave is Sandra Lee. Her semi-home made is the kind of cooking i relate to. Racheal, is OK, I get tired of her same old cliche's, yum-o, evoo, sammy. Paula's thick southern accent (real or fake) gets to me and after numerous Yahls, I turn the channel. I don't watch the food channel as much as I used to. It just isn't the same. My Daughter really misses Ellie Kruegger as she was about the only healthy cooking show.

I'm an Ina Garten fan too even though most of her recipes are loaded with high calories and expensive ingredients. Hardly ever watch any of the others.

Ina is my favourite. I have all of her cookbooks and make some of her recipes regularly.

I like Tyler Florence, but he's hard to catch.
Both of Guy Fiera's shows we like as well.

There was a girl from one of our eastern provinces who apparently lost a ton of weight by eating Rachael Ray's recipes. I was given a couple of her cookbooks, but have never used them. This should be an incentive!

My favorite is Lydia Bastianich from PBS. She cooks just like my grandmother used to. My second favorite is Ina Garten.

I like Curtis Stone (Take Home Chef). That's the only cooking show I ever watch... and I really don't watch it for the cooking. He's easy on the eyes and it's always fun to see who he picks up at the grocery store. :-)

Gordon Ramsay. I like his genteel, polite, reserved & unassuming style.

HAHA, Softball! My first laugh of the day!

I would rate the TV chefs in terms of whom I'd like to sit down at the table with and enjoy their creations, not necessarily personality and how easy or interesting their cooking looks:
(1) The guy from "Cake Boss" (because it's CAKE!)
(2) Ina -- for the food and the view outside her home
(3) The Deen Brothers (because of the view, and I don't mean the view outside their home! LOL!)
(4) Oh yes! The PBS Italian chef, Lydia. Love Italian food! (Guy Fieri, tho, has a great chicken parmesan recipe that calls for brining the chicken in salt, sugar and water.)

Ina Garten and Lidia Bastianich. Lidia's recipes are like comfort food to me, since my mother was Italian-French. Ina's are simple and come out perfect every time. Some of the ingredients can be a bit pricey, but they're not hard to find. I love watching both Lidia and Ina because they have a very calm, simplistic and stress free way of approaching cooking and entertaining.

I really like Sunny Anderson, she cute and her recipes are easy to follow and I can get the ingredients at my local grocery store.
I like Ina also but can't always find some of the ingredients here.
I used to really like Rachel Ray but for some reason she drives me crazy.
I can not stand Paula Deen....she's too silly and loud.

Can't stand cake boss, but love the crew from Ace of Cakes. And I know everyone thinks Rachel Ray is too perky, but I like her anyway.

Michael Smith (Chef at Home, and Chef Abroad)
Laura Calder (French Cooking at Home)
Roger Mooking (Everyday Exotic)
Bobby Flay
Giada
Guy Fieri
... and so many more! I live for the Food Network!

Rachael Ray.....hands down. I like happy, perky people. She just took up running and ya all know I'm a runner. What's not to like. :0)

Lots of good ones, but the ones I dislike the MOST is that coupld from Memphis arghhhhhhhhhhhhh THE NEELEY'S

Right now...Lidia Bastianich. She knows her food, and is low keyed .

Worst...Rachel Ray, the queen of opening boxes and cans. Not a chef, she's a fast order cook.

I miss Ellie Krieger too! What happened to her?

I like them all. They make cooking look easy and the results are always delicious. My real favorite is Guy Fieri.

Tyler Florence! For the most part his recipes are fairly easy. I like Ina, too. I like most of them, but lately Paula's been getting on my nerves. When she first started that show she barely had a blender and a hand mixer.

I don't like the Neeley's because of their kissy-kissy cutsie-ness. I've made a couple of their recipes though, and they were awesome--especially the creamed spinach. They say "y'all" way too much, too.

My vote goes to Ina and Lidia............and anyone
who will prepare a meal for me!

ellie does food network commercials

Justin Wilson by far. RIP dude, you were the best. I learned a lot and expanded my culinary horizons by watching all of his shows. I wish I could get my video tapes back. I taped every show of his I could and made the mistake of loaning them... Knew I should have loaned only one at a time. Then learned to only loan a copy. (heavy sigh) Yep, Joos-tain learned me a lot.

Another favorite was an old show with Franco Palumbo called We're Cooking Now or something like that. But he's no Justin Wilson! Several recipes from that show are very popular when I make them. And I've seen others using the same recipe since and claim them as "her" recipe that "she" came up with. Yeah right.

Don't see the Food Channel so I don't know much of the current crop. I do like to watch some of Lidia Bastianich's shows, especially when Grandma is on there (boy does Grandma put Lidia in her place!) but her son "Joe" is such a snob and so wrapped up in himself and although her daughter is friendly enough and humble, she is just so stupid. She doesn't seem to be able to boil water without help. And it seems like Lidia's trying to groom the kids to take over the show for her. Too bad if that happens. But there's not many of her recipes I'd really want to make. I just enjoy some of the shows.

America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country are great shows to watch. I like some of the techniques and ideas. It's not snob-ish like so many I won't bother to name. Educational and entertaining.

There used to be a show on about pizza, I think it was called the Pizza Gourmet? He really made it look easy and was very low key about techniques.

One other older show was called Yvonne's Cookbook or something like that. It was on PBS. Very slender, black gal who had simple family style meals. Unpretentious and gave credit to the recipe providers. Didn't claim to be some fancy chef, just that her family liked her cooking. Nice show.

I tend to like shows that say it's OK to take shortcuts. Not everyone can be in the kitchen stirring a pot of sauce all day. Use fresh stock if you can, but you can sub canned. It's reality. That's why I liked the premise
of 30 min meals but the baby talk (yummo, sammy, etc) got to me. I don't mind the "evoo", she's pushing the health benefits of it and given the show is a quick meal with limited time, abbreviations are appropriate. I'm amused when I see people go so crazy over her saying "evoo" and those same people can't type out the word "son", they have to abbreviate it! LOL Oh the hypocrisy!

The old shows outclass the new ones for the most part from what I have seen. I even liked the Frugal Gourmet as a show to watch, but not for the recipes. The one thing I learned that I only saw once or twice but apparently he was known for it is the hot pan, cold oil - food won't stick mantra.

Cynic, I was just going to post that Jeff Smith was one of my favorite chefs, ever. I have most, if not all, of his books. He taught me the basics and started me on a love of cooking. I also loved Julia Child, her "The way to cook" is stained and dog earred.

I like Rachel Ray, she is a fun cook and when describing herself says that she is a cook, not a chef. She's right, and that describes me as well....and what I want to be, a cook.

We love the Dinner Impossible show. I've seen both Robert Irving and Michael Symon on it. The premise is to give the chef an impossible situation, limited access to groceries, a tight time limit, and expect some fantastic meals. Some are easier than others, bit we loved the dinner for Pixar employees with dishes from some of the most famous movies, but he had to cook with the guy who did Remy's voice on Ratatouille, and another kitchen neophyte.

I think our all time fav was fixing a meal for the people in the corporate luxury box at a football game. But he had nothing at all to work with, except about $300. He had t buy/borrow/beg all the food and all the equipment from the other tailgaters, and cook in the parking lot and THEN carry it all up to the luxury box.

Fun show.

I like Rachel Ray, she is a fun cook and when describing herself says that she is a cook, not a chef. She's right, and that describes me as well....and what I want to be, a cook.

I agree 100%. I don't often watch these shows but quite often some of those "chefs" just doctor up food to hide the fact they can't really cook. Some of the stuff they make looks like art instead of food and probably tastes about the same. LOL Actually I have eaten in a few of their restaurants and always thought the food was just meh at best and some was downright awful.

I do admire Anthony Bourdain for exposing the industry for what it is. I like his show No Reservations.

Friend Cynic.....Thanks for reminding me.....Justin Wilson was not only entertaining, he COULD COOK. I always fantasized about winning the lottery, having a big party and flying Justin is to cook for the crowd as the entertainment. I gau-ran-tee!!

Justin Wilson was like Paula Deen, but he also got carried away with the accent bit...and way over did it Honestly the cajun accent is lots of fun to listen to or hear and his was mostly so put on....I can't stand phony people and phony accents........Please Paula you are making yourself look like a dumb oss .......

I am enjoying the new cooking channel because they are introducing or reintroducing some of the oldies...believe it or not Julia is on there. Some of the FN stars in their earlier years.......It's been a lot of fun.

It all sort of reminds me of the road HGTV followed. It was a great channel when I first watched it 15 years ago. Ideas were simple and things that the normal person could accomplish without refinancing the house, now I find most of their shows are over the top when I can even find a real design or home improvement show on! Now they are mostly about buying or selling.

Ruthie...what new food channel, I must have missed it, or we don't get it yet.

I seldom watch cooking shows, however I have at some point in time seen most that you all have mentioned. The one that I would really not care to watch is the one named Lidia. She smacks her lips and makes too much noise while eating or drinking, at least she did on the shows I watched. I can't say I have a favorite.

Sue

Of the older TV chefs, I like Sarah Moulton. I still see her sometimes on either GMA or Today show.

I wish Alton Brown would teach me how to cook.
Does'nt mean I would ever LIKE to cook, I would at least know what I was doing for a change.

Of the newer ones, I like Mario Batali, Ina Garten and Giada deLaurentis. But I used to love to watch The Graham Kerr show and The 2 Fat Ladies, and Chef Tell, Martin Yan and Justin Wilson specials on PBS. And, of course, Julia Child. :o)

Patti, is this the creamed spinach recipe?

I hate watching the Neely's but I have tried a few of their recipes and they are delicious.

Here is a link that might be useful: spinach

Oh, how could I forget Sara Moulton, Alton Brown and the 2 Fat Ladies! Sara comes across as sincere, down to earth and neighbor-like. I like her cooking style but not a lot of her recipes. Alton Brown and the Two Fat Ladies have very few recipes I'd want to try, but find the shows very entertaining and often informative.

Dotmom, Justin Wilson was at one of the sports shows many many years back and a friend and I went to wander around and of course see his show. Well, as it turned out he had JUST left the show as we got in there and wouldn't be back for about quite a few hours. I thought he'd at least be out signing autographs or something but that wasn't the case. We wandered around and waited. Debated about how long to stay but finally gave up. That close. About the only person I've really wanted to see in person. Thought it would be interesting to talk to him a few minutes if it was allowed. Sadly he's gone, but a few of his shows are on YouTube. The ones I saw on there I remember watching.

Justin's measuring salt in his hand, throw in a little extra - just shows it's not a science. I got to the point I could smell something and tell if it needed salt. Some friends laughed at me when I measured with my hand and I said If Justin can do it, so can I and they said yeah right, so I took a measuring spoon and poured it in. 1 teaspoon exactly. He also got me using fresh ground pepper on garlic bread. And it are good, I garontee! I have a couple of his cookbooks. Received them as gifts. Not that I really needed them because I copied down a lot of his recipes that interested me. I still use them as a base for others. I just modify to suit my tastes. As a cook should.

And I enjoyed his speech. Sort of a Cajun Norm Crosby. And unlike so many, he poked fun at himself rather than feigning offense at every opportunity. Refreshing.

And the Two Fat Ladies were fun to watch. It was so obvious they didn't get along. Not sure how they got paired up. They'd snip at each other occasionally and was entertaining.

I also like the way ALton Brown interjects some humor and, like America's Test Kitchen, include some of the science and why, for example, some cookies are soft and some are crunchy.

One other I forgot is Nathalie Dupree. Again, the older shows were so far superior to those of today (and Alton & 2FL are old shows IMO)

I like Ina and Sandra and watch Paula but don't try her recipes except her meat loaf and it is the BEST! I think her first 2 cookbooks are the best, but then I think she started tweeking them to make another recipe. Rachel is just too much. She must fall into bed exhausted. I used to not be too crazy about Sandra Lee, but I really like her now. The Neely's are just too much--kinda like Rachel. Give me Ina any day!!!

Galloping Gourmet anybody?
My mom got me hooked on him, he made a wonderful Yorkshire Pudding! Yum.
On today's shows I like Guy and Gordon the best. They are so entertaining to watch.

Trin

I don't care for Sandra Lee or Rachael Ray. Paula Deen is next on my don't care for list.

I like Michael Simon from Iron Chef, and also Curtis Stone because he's super easy on the eyes and love his accent!! :-)

I also like Tom Colicchio from Top Chef. And I love Duff from Ace of Cakes.

My favorite? can I say me--LOL? I've cooked on TV a number of times, including a couple of times on Food Network.

But seriously, like many of you, I really like some of the old time TV cooks--Julia of course, Nathalee Dupree, Justin W. There used to be a local woman--can't recall her name--who had a PBS show on our local station who was very good. Think she was a high school teacher, and her husband was a chemist--wish I could recall her name. She was really good, and down to earth, as well.

Does anyone remember an obscure show called Cookin Cheap from Blue Ridge TV with Laban and Larry. Loved that show--they did real food, from viewers recipes, and like Ray Ray, they did all the prep right on camera, so you could see how the recipe developed in real time.

Sarah Moulton is a sweetheart--the NICEST person IRL. I love her. Like Lidia. Rachel may be perky, but she's got really good ideas for saving time in the kitchen. Ace is great, but I don't consider that a cooking show, so much as an art one (Buddy's bunch is embarrassing to watch--they're so rude and obnoxious)

Not so impressed with some of the current ones--HATE Paula Deen and Sandra Lee (really, tablescapes???? How pretentious when you're serving box mix cakes. And she drinks way too much on camera). Martha's recipes, when she started out, were a mess--she was well-known in the industry for NOT knowing what she was talking about. It's her staff that makes her food work, these days.

MagicAz--yes that's the recipe, but I left the red pepper flakes out.