WEBVTT - Who Does the Cooking for Cooking Shows?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. Lauren bog obam Here, a smartly dressed woman

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<v Speaker 1>in a sunlit kitchen, gushes about her love of ricotta

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<v Speaker 1>cheese as she blithely scoops ingredients, including the cheese, into

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<v Speaker 1>a skillet warming on the stove. She ticks through the

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<v Speaker 1>dishes she'll prepare today right before your eyes warm a

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<v Speaker 1>rugula salad with walnuts, baked zd with butternut squash, and

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<v Speaker 1>for dessert, a simple, yet decadent twall crisp layered with

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<v Speaker 1>raspberry compote and whipped mask capone. Her thirty minute cooking

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<v Speaker 1>show is one of your favorites, and for a moment

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<v Speaker 1>you consider recreating this exact meal at home. But like

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<v Speaker 1>most things made for TV, the delectable spread has a

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<v Speaker 1>secret ingredient you probably don't have on hand, dozens of

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<v Speaker 1>behind the scene hands that crep and stir the proverbial pot. Traditionally,

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<v Speaker 1>all the cooking shows you'll see on TV begin with

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<v Speaker 1>on site chefs who prep food in advance. Sometimes as

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<v Speaker 1>many as twenty people will chop, whisk and season ingredients

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<v Speaker 1>in a full service kitchen before a cooking show is recorded.

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<v Speaker 1>The Food Network Kitchen, for example, has included five separate

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<v Speaker 1>kitchens that each have a stove, oven, sink, and refrigerator.

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<v Speaker 1>That way, chefs can prepare food for several cooking shows

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<v Speaker 1>in advance. These prep kitchens, as well as being made

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<v Speaker 1>for TV kitchens on some cooking shows, require fully stocked

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<v Speaker 1>pantries too. For example, competition cooking shows like My Personal

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<v Speaker 1>Favorite Iron Chef may require pantries with hundreds of items

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<v Speaker 1>for each participant. Iron Chef America stocked two d and

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<v Speaker 1>fifty items per chef, including nine types of flour, seven vinegars,

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<v Speaker 1>and five kinds of salt, as well as thirty types

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<v Speaker 1>of herbs and spices. Along with having the right ingredients

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<v Speaker 1>on hand, chefs and off camera kitchens prepare swapouts, which

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<v Speaker 1>are dishes at various stages of completion that can be

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<v Speaker 1>used during a cooking show. The next time you watch

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<v Speaker 1>an instructional cooking show, note the carefully orchestrated actions in

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<v Speaker 1>specific segments introduction, preparation of ingredients, stovetop cooking, seasoning, adding

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<v Speaker 1>extra ingredients to the dish, and plating. During many of

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<v Speaker 1>these segments, you're likely to see the work of people

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<v Speaker 1>in an off camera kitchen. Of course, even with all

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<v Speaker 1>this help, it doesn't necessarily mean that the host of

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<v Speaker 1>a cooking show has it easy, especially if they're recording

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<v Speaker 1>with a live audience. The host still needs to cook

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<v Speaker 1>and speak to the audience, often while a producer communicates

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<v Speaker 1>by earphone and a studio director gives silent instructions from

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<v Speaker 1>the floor. Cooking competition shows can be a challenge for

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<v Speaker 1>the contestants too, although perhaps not in the same way.

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<v Speaker 1>Take Food Networks Chopped, for example. The contestants on this

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<v Speaker 1>show are tasked with creating edible dishes from a basket

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<v Speaker 1>of mystery ingredients, and it can take up to twelve

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<v Speaker 1>hours to film a single episode. Often the contestants aren't

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<v Speaker 1>even cooking, they're being asked the same on camera questions again,

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<v Speaker 1>or waiting for the judge's decisions. Whatever the format, instructional, competition,

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<v Speaker 1>or a hybrid of both, understanding the way a cooking

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<v Speaker 1>show works has a lot to do with uncovering what's

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<v Speaker 1>going on behind the scenes. There are simply some things

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<v Speaker 1>you can't fully understand by watching the end result. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by Laurel Dove and produced by Tyler

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<v Speaker 1>Clang for more on this and lots of other tasty topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production

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<v Speaker 1>of I heart Radio or more podcasts my heart Radio

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