Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff. Lauren bog obam Here, a smartly dressed woman
Speaker 1: in a sunlit kitchen, gushes about her love of ricotta
Speaker 1: cheese as she blithely scoops ingredients, including the cheese, into
Speaker 1: a skillet warming on the stove. She ticks through the
Speaker 1: dishes she'll prepare today right before your eyes warm a
Speaker 1: rugula salad with walnuts, baked zd with butternut squash, and
Speaker 1: for dessert, a simple, yet decadent twall crisp layered with
Speaker 1: raspberry compote and whipped mask capone. Her thirty minute cooking
Speaker 1: show is one of your favorites, and for a moment
Speaker 1: you consider recreating this exact meal at home. But like
Speaker 1: most things made for TV, the delectable spread has a
Speaker 1: secret ingredient you probably don't have on hand, dozens of
Speaker 1: behind the scene hands that crep and stir the proverbial pot. Traditionally,
Speaker 1: all the cooking shows you'll see on TV begin with
Speaker 1: on site chefs who prep food in advance. Sometimes as
Speaker 1: many as twenty people will chop, whisk and season ingredients
Speaker 1: in a full service kitchen before a cooking show is recorded.
Speaker 1: The Food Network Kitchen, for example, has included five separate
Speaker 1: kitchens that each have a stove, oven, sink, and refrigerator.
Speaker 1: That way, chefs can prepare food for several cooking shows
Speaker 1: in advance. These prep kitchens, as well as being made
Speaker 1: for TV kitchens on some cooking shows, require fully stocked
Speaker 1: pantries too. For example, competition cooking shows like My Personal
Speaker 1: Favorite Iron Chef may require pantries with hundreds of items
Speaker 1: for each participant. Iron Chef America stocked two d and
Speaker 1: fifty items per chef, including nine types of flour, seven vinegars,
Speaker 1: and five kinds of salt, as well as thirty types
Speaker 1: of herbs and spices. Along with having the right ingredients
Speaker 1: on hand, chefs and off camera kitchens prepare swapouts, which
Speaker 1: are dishes at various stages of completion that can be
Speaker 1: used during a cooking show. The next time you watch
Speaker 1: an instructional cooking show, note the carefully orchestrated actions in
Speaker 1: specific segments introduction, preparation of ingredients, stovetop cooking, seasoning, adding
Speaker 1: extra ingredients to the dish, and plating. During many of
Speaker 1: these segments, you're likely to see the work of people
Speaker 1: in an off camera kitchen. Of course, even with all
Speaker 1: this help, it doesn't necessarily mean that the host of
Speaker 1: a cooking show has it easy, especially if they're recording
Speaker 1: with a live audience. The host still needs to cook
Speaker 1: and speak to the audience, often while a producer communicates
Speaker 1: by earphone and a studio director gives silent instructions from
Speaker 1: the floor. Cooking competition shows can be a challenge for
Speaker 1: the contestants too, although perhaps not in the same way.
Speaker 1: Take Food Networks Chopped, for example. The contestants on this
Speaker 1: show are tasked with creating edible dishes from a basket
Speaker 1: of mystery ingredients, and it can take up to twelve
Speaker 1: hours to film a single episode. Often the contestants aren't
Speaker 1: even cooking, they're being asked the same on camera questions again,
Speaker 1: or waiting for the judge's decisions. Whatever the format, instructional, competition,
Speaker 1: or a hybrid of both, understanding the way a cooking
Speaker 1: show works has a lot to do with uncovering what's
Speaker 1: going on behind the scenes. There are simply some things
Speaker 1: you can't fully understand by watching the end result. Today's
Speaker 1: episode was written by Laurel Dove and produced by Tyler
Speaker 1: Clang for more on this and lots of other tasty topics,
Speaker 1: visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production
Speaker 1: of I heart Radio or more podcasts my heart Radio
Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.