Top Chef

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Niki Tehranchi
by Niki Tehranchi
12-Mar-2008
 

The new season of the hit Bravo TV series Top Chef is about to start tonight and I am so excited.

I learned how to cook late in life. In our home, I was never greeted with the smells of Khoresht or the sounds of kabab sizzling on the grill. Our kitchen was always the cleanest place in the house, almost as sterile as a hospital operating room. We hardly used it, just once in a while to brew coffee maybe, that was the extent of it. My dad believed (and still does) that eating in is depressing and always preferred to go out. My mom was happy as a lark not to have to cook since she had never learned it herself. To this day, she still relies on my grandmother to cook her favorite persian meals for her.

I had to learn how to cook for myself when I went away to college. The first year was horrible. I tried to make pasta and dumped the noodles in the water before it had boiled, so the whole thing ended up in a big pasty mess. I relied on those horrible frozen foods and tuna in a can. After a year of this, I decided it was time for a change. I got a cookbook and started experimenting with the recipes one by one. This improved not only my cooking skills but my shopping as well. I no longer ventured in the frozen food section and opted for fresh foods. If I was particularly in the mood, I would forego the supermarket altogether and instead have fun picking stuff from the Farmer and Fisherman's market.

I absolutely love cooking. It's not the eating part I enjoy the most. What I really look forward to is having my friends and family enjoy the meal (well hopefully anyway!). When they go for seconds, that's when I really get excited. Hubby always wonders how I would have the energy to put together a nice dinner after a hard day's work but the thing is, I don't consider it work at all. It is my relaxation. I love putting on some classical or jazz music, sip from a glass of wine while I cut and dice, stew and roast. Nowadays, I am having such a blast cooking everything from scratch for Ayatollah Crankyollah (my 7 month old). There is nothing so enjoyable as to watch his facial expressions (ranging from shocked to pensive to delighted...or alternatively to horror!) when I introduce a new food to him.

I am by no means what you can call a chef. I am still learning how to cook new meals every day, and I never had any formal training. But I really admire those who can re-invent old dishes in a new form, mix flavors that I could never dream of, and present it all in a wonderful plate that is akin to a work of art. Top Chef is something I follow religiously and a fun show that I would recommend for anyone interested in cooking. It's not a regular cooking show, showing you how to do the recipes at home. It's a competition between chefs, similar to another fun show Iron Chef.

In my neck of the woods, Top Chef airs on Bravo TV Wednesdays at 10. It is hosted by chef Tom Colicchio and the lovely Padma Lakshmi (who previously to this hosting gig was better known as Salman Rushdie's wife!)

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more from Niki Tehranchi
 
Anonymouse

Nah.

by Anonymouse on

JJ has a porn fetish.  Not that there is anything wrong with it :-) Hopefully he'll publish some more of Hajiagha's cartoons.  Poor guy has changed his subjects in his cartoons and we have not seen a women with toy cartoon in a long long time, yet he is still not published and is just being hounded. I was actually thinking of Midwesty who had blogged about pomegranette before but then I thought of your recent post.  I've actually asked before what we can make out of pomegranette paste other than fesenjoon and no one answered.  So I've been trying my own recipes on all kinds of foods.  I've added it to ash, vegetable soups and a variety of chicken dishes.  It adds texture and some hidden taste to the food (chicken so far).  You can add more or less depending on your taste.


Niki Tehranchi

Lovely Link

by Niki Tehranchi on

Thank you. I have some dear relatives coming over and staying with us for a few days for Norooz and this sounds like a fun thing to try together.  By the way, I love how the author makes the process of peeling and seeding the pomegranates so simple and neat instead of the messy ordeal it is!

Now tell me the truth, were you inspired at all in your search for pomegranate recipes by JJ's post of the anar anar girl ? LoL

 

 


Anonymouse

Iran invades your kitchen.

by Anonymouse on

I'm gonna try some of these pomegranete recipes.  They sound fluky but sounds good trying.

 //abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=4407967&page=1


Niki Tehranchi

100% in agreement

by Niki Tehranchi on

even during the cookfests that norooz, thanksgiving and christmas are, the sink is never filled with anything more than 2 items at a time.  I am kind of a maniac at this.  I approach it with the same organization (planning the menu weeks in advance, making to do list, with estimated times, preparing ingredients the night before etc) that I bring to my professional work.  Messy kitchen, messy house, messy office = messy result in all 3 cases


Anonymouse

Good cooks don't need to be messy.

by Anonymouse on

Niki my wife loves me for my cooking too.  Sometimes in a special case like a party of cooking several things at the same time things get messy but you should still be able to keep it in a manageable fashion.  I know some people see being messy as a sign of a good cook (even for making scrambled eggs) and many actually try to be extra messy to say I'm "really" good.  Some of those people are so messy that sometimes you can taste soap and other stuff in the food!


Niki Tehranchi

Never cook bi hosseleh

by Niki Tehranchi on

I cooked bi hosseleh once or twice and it ended up too salty or not enough, just like the poor girl who got eliminated last night.  Such a sour puss and bad attitude.  Here's a unique chance to mingle with arguably the best talent in the country and you purposely snub them, why?  She could have gotten some pointers.  Instead she forgets the salt altogether in the first challenge and put too much in the second.  Even Goldilocks was a better judge of saltiness! 

I worked in a restaurant (hostess) as a teen and the business is one that requires you to love what you do and to love working and interacting with other people.  So even though the mistake of the guy with the souffle was more stupid, she definitely deserved to go.

 

I would love to see an Iranian chef on any of those shows, it would be a delight.  Food is such a big part of our culture, I am surprised it is not represented more in our literature and cinema.  Let's have a short break with symbolic films with children or the plight of women in IRI and instead let's come up for once with our own Iranian version of Soul Food or Like Water for Chocolate, two great flms about cooking, culture, family and love, shall we?

 

 


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Top Chef

by yaz (not verified) on

I am very excited for the new season of Top chef as well.
I am a professional chef and a graduate of a Culinary institute 1986.
I use to cook professioanally even before that and ofcourse my specialies are Iranian. after along and hard night at work last night . I stayed up till 1 am. and watched the recorded first episode . thank you to Mina my daughter for recording it. that poor girl who got eliminated had know Idea what she was doing.
I think it's going to be a tough season this one .
I have met Tom Collicchio . He is a very nice man and very Sexy too.
But not as Sexy as my own husband Tim. He is also Chef.
Let me tell you Chefs , Cooks , Waiters and in general Restaurant people , we are all a rare breed that love heat and pressure . Strange!
You know what they say:
If you can't take the heat , Leave the kitchen.

Nikki keep cooking for your family and baby . You will be amazed how much fun it is to go to restaurants with kids that like to eat everything.

Noosheh Jan !


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Top Chef/Iron Chef/Good Eats

by Nazanin G (not verified) on

These are the best shows! I'm so happy you wrote about this. I agree that cooking is very relaxing and fun, even when attempting difficult recipes. One of the biggest challenges for me has been adapting recipes to the unique tastes (more like ridiculous demands!) of family and friends such as no carbs! no garlic! no salt! not spicy! This usually means having to cook several dishes for even the smallest gatherings, but it's no bother.
Thai is and will always be a favorite to cook. I think cooking with the Wok is the greatest fun. Food network has been my best influence. In particular, Good Eats because the science of the food is pretty amazing! For example, I never knew dark coffee has less caffeine than light roast.
"Best dishes" to ya Niki ;)


Niki Tehranchi

correction

by Niki Tehranchi on

it starts at 7 pm at least on the west coast

(yyyeeeaaahhh)

 

anonymouse: you are the only man i know that cleans up in the kitchen.  if i wasn't married, i think i'd be in love!

 

daryush: why?


Daryush

niki

by Daryush on

let's have tea together


Anonymouse

I don't watch that show.

by Anonymouse on

But I like cooking too.  I like to make my own recipes and mix and match as I see fit.  I do use recipes and cookbooks but after I learn them I try to make my own dishes.  If you have the right ghablame mahitabe cooking is much easier.

One thing I think good cooks should do is to clean up after themselves.  Some think they are cooking in a restaurant with dishwashers or like in this show you mention.  They throw things around, bing bang boom and make a mess and think they are doing something special, where they are not.  You make as much mess as you can clean up which means do it right and clean while something else is being cooked or prepared.  Probably by the time you're done, you only have one or two ghablame or dish that is being used.