The Food Network helped evolved the evolution of food that started November 23, 1993 and is celebrating its 20th birthday. It began with programs that preached about healthy foods, culinary news, cooking on electric stoves, picnic tables and live call-ins from the viewers. Once the network was up and running, it realized that it needed to search for talent for it to evolve into what it is today.
The person that started it all and is famous for ‘bam’ in order to wake people up was Emeril Lagasse. However, the longest reigning person on the food network is Bobby Flay; even though he dropped out of high school, he wanted to cook, develop and create dishes for his audience.
Several other chefs also came onto the Food Network throughout the years including Rachael Ray, Guy Fieri, Robert Irvine, Alton Brown, Tyler Florence, Giada De Laurentiis, Sara Multon, Mario Batali, Paula Deen, Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), and Sandra Lee. The host of the show was Mo Rocca.
There are several other chefs that came later, but these were the first of them all to kick off the network and make it what it is today. There are so many kinds of cuisines on the network to allow for home chefs to try out of bring some of their favorites to their friends and family.
Interesting facts about the network is that there are shoppers, cooks, and prep chefs that help collectively to make a show unique. Also, product labels are removed and replaced with dummy ones in order to avoid product placement. This is so that one brand is not being used more heavily than the others. The chefs would just say hot chocolate, for example, instead of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate.
New formats and shows created more branding for the network and shows became very interactive with the newest ones that we see on television today. There were also stories told about first memories on the network, compliments about each chef from others, and trivia also played an important role in the show.
To find out more about the chefs, recipes and view shows, visit The Food Network
Below is the most popular downloaded recipe from the Food Network Website.
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Prep Time:20 min
Inactive Prep Time: —
Cook Time:45 min
Level:Easy
Serves:6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Topping
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it’s free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.
Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.
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