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This is a DVD collection of shows from Alton Brown's show of the same name on the Food Network. I got volume 2 because it had the shows I saw on making good coffee, good pancakes, good eggs and grinding/ cooking your own burgers and meatloaf.

Brown isn't a 'chef', he's a cook and a fan of good food. He takes one subject per show and explains the hell out of it. He's funny, off beat, and smarter than fuck. When he isn't explaining the biochemistry of egg lipoprotients, he's poking fun at pop culture. Obviously he's not the world's most in demand cook, (not while Emeril, Boudain, Mario, etc are around) but he aims his stuff at those of us who just want to make FOOD, and make it better than what the food processors sell us.

I got this at Target, of all places. Apparently, they have an exclusive deal with the Food Network to distribute collected DVDs of some of their most popular cooking shows. A bargain at $20.

I don't have any of his DVDs, but I have to second your endorsement of Alton Brown. His is the best cooking show on TV by a long shot. I think he does have some culinary training, but his strong point is explaining things (often in great detail) as you suggest. He's the only one of the TV cooks who really explains the how and why of what he's doing.

His chili recipe is great too. Now I want chili.

Update: I just ordered collection #6 from the Food Network (Target, in the meanwhile is up to collection #3). One or two of the individual episodes haven't been all that great, but for the most part, this continues to be the best basic cooking education (short of going to culinary school) a normal civilian could hope for. With Brown's advice pointing the way, I've poached fish, rolled my own pizza dough, made a killer tomato sauce (and consequently a killer chicken cacciatore), seared a tuna steak on a grill (actually on a chimney starter), made pot roast without a pot, (and made a much better pot roast with one), steamed mussels, brined and stuffed pork chops, made lemon curd and mire poix and ganache, ground my own burgers and spatchcocked a chicken...all for the first time in my life. I even made 'real' oven baked mac and cheese.

If you want to learn how to cook, but are intimidated by all the Martha Stewarts and women's magazines recipes and food porn...this is a great (and highly entertaining) place to start.

My brother went to culinary school, and finds AB's stuff very informative. I probably watch five episodes a week. Great show.

Good info. Thanks, Lemon.