TV food and Steak Meurice

Although I care for very little of what's on the food television shows these days, I have tremendous respect for the generation that created the genre. Watching episodes of any of the old shows is always inspiring; and they were so much better than the dreck we see now. Julia Child is widely recognized as a pioneer of cooking shows, and her reputation continues to shine. But what about the Galloping Gourmet, Graham Kerr? He of the greatest cooking show of all time. He who made 455 30-minute episodes between 1969 - 1971? 455 EPISODES. (The punters on the Food Network can barely squeeze out 13 episodes a year now.)

The Galloping Gourmet was--simply enough--fun to watch. Kerr himself was a handsome bon vivant who made cooking exciting, enjoyable, and appealing. He gave his audience confidence as cooks and I would argue that he did this not by making 30-minute meals or fast and easy recipes, but because he very clearly expressed the pleasure he himself took from cooking and eating (who can forget his orgasmic expressions as he would taste his dishes, close his eyes and swoon). That he was sexy and awe-some was gravy. He captured then what very few cooking shows have done since. His show was #1 simultaneously in the UK, US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. No freaking kidding. But after a motor accident in 1971 he changed his foie gras and clarified butter-loving ways, befriended broccoli and pretty much disappeared.

My partner in crime and I are keen to cook through the recipes in Kerr's masterpiece cookbook. Having watched his show as children, we're curious now to taste and see what kind of cook Kerr really was; his persona loomed so greatly. Do the recipes taste as good as he made them look? Do they still work now in 2008? Or have times and tastes have changed?

Last night my squire brought over $4 worth of excellent locally-made morcilla (Argentine blood sausage) (plenty for 2 eaters) which we broiled and ate with a cast iron panful of bacon, onions and savoy cabbage while we hashed out the details of our project. The rules will trickle out as we write about our culinary adventures and discoveries. Steak Meurice, a signature of Kerr's, is first up.