All of you know how much I love to make fun of Gwyneth Paltrow. It is one of my favorite things to do. So, it was with great glee that I sat down to watch Gwyneth cooking chicken and how I was going to make fun of her for doing a bad job or making idiotic remarks or making the average person feel like an idiot. You know what? She did a good job. Yes, I am sure she practiced and obviously we aren't seeing the outtakes, but with the exception of calling every vegetable beautiful and using the abbreviation gorge instead of gorgeous she wasn't that annoying. In fact, if it is her goal to have a cooking show, she is not that far away from having one.
She knew what she was doing in the kitchen and had obviously cut things before and deboned a chicken. She never actually eats the chicken she cooks and looks like she is about to gag on the potato that was touching the chicken, but a quick cut and you never see her gagging in the corner of the kitchen. I was also pleasantly surprised and almost shocked that she called arugula by its American name instead of Rocket which is what the British call it.
The kitchen is depressing and cold and she is not much cheerier, but for once I really can't complain.
I watched it earlier today and thought her dinner looked good. I'd have to pay someone to de-bone a chicken for me, tough.
ReplyDeletearugula is what her pal mario batali calls it.
ReplyDeleteI thought cutting the chicken was impressive (I certainly don't know how) and the salad that she made looked delicious.
ReplyDeleteBut... I still hate her attitude and would never support her.
NOT WATCHING THIS EITHER...TO DE-BONE
ReplyDeleteA CHICKEN....YOU NEED A VERY SHARP THIN KNIFE...AND FOLLOW ALONG THE BONE..BELIEVE ME THIS ISN'T BRAIN SURGERY...IF I CAN DO IT...YOU CAN TOO..AND I HAVE 2 LEFT HANDS..AND FEET..
She wasn't as annoying as I thought she'd be--I have to give her props for not developing a fake British accent like Vadge.
ReplyDeleteI can almost believe that she does cook a bit--but eating, not so much.
"TO DE-BONE A CHICKEN...YOU NEED A VERY SHARP THIN KNIFE."
ReplyDeleteor, if you're Gwyneth, one of your fingers will do.
:D
I don't get why she is peeling fingerling potatoes. A light scrub is all they need, plus the skin is good for you. Not to mention, peeling potatoes absolutely sucks. And fingerling ones? Hell no. Never.
ReplyDeleteAlso she said she was par-boiling the potatoes to soften the skins. What skins? You just peeled them!
She annoys me so much, but the food was probably good.
I kept thinking the knife slipped and slit her wrist, but I guess it was her kabbalah bracelet.
ReplyDeleteShe need sto learn about food safety*
ReplyDelete*Yes, I realize that was probably edited and she has a whole team of dishwashers to disinfect her surfaces, but quality cooking shows - ahem, Alton Brown - will make a concerted effort to tll viewers about proper food safety.
Didn't watch it, won't watch it, don't need to watch it. Perhaps if she was cooking some elaborate recipe that used unusual flavor combinations, or utilized an amazingly different cooking method, I'd bite. However - cooking a chicken is about as basic as learning to take a shit in the toilet instead of your pants. Ya cook one chicken, you've pretty much got the program down.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristen S., I was going to say the same thing. Her hands touched the chicken then the salt shaker and it looks like she just wiped the cutting board off with her hand to cut up the gorge veggies. What's even more incredible is I watched the whole damn thing.
ReplyDeleteI de-bone a chicken by putting it in a rotisserie until the meat is ready to fall off at the slightest tug.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am with Babs, something new or unusual, teach me something or at the very least entertain me (yeah Giada, I mean you, hehe) or Alton. Hell, even Yan can cook or the Pedo priest were informative and entertaining.
If she's going to do a cooking show, she needs to learn how not to cross contaminate...That entire plate of herbs would have to be thrown out as she innoculated it with bacteria from the chicken. We never saw her wash her hands once.
ReplyDeleteLove the Alton, .robert! His show is always an education! His "Feasting on Asphalt" series was great.
ReplyDelete.ROBERT
ReplyDeleteNEXT TIME I'LL TRY THAT SOUNDS YUMMY..
AND BETH YOU'RE RIGHT....THE SKINS ARE SO THIN...AND VERY VERY GOOD FOR YOU...IN FACT ALL THE NEW CROP POTATOES HAVE VERY THIN SKINS...JUST A GOOD RUB WITH A VEGGIE BRUSH OR KITCHEN TOWEL WILL DO IT...
LOVE ALTON ALSO...HE MAKES FOOD FUN..
AND PLEASE REMEMBER ABOVE ALL GOOPIE IS AN ACTRESS...
There is something very, very creepy about Gwyneth Paltrow deboning a chicken.
ReplyDeleteI'm a chronic hand washer, I touch meat, I wash my hands; my knife touches the meat, I wash it. I gagged watching her cross contaminating everything. My OCD kicked in, and I almost went into the kitchen to wash my hands... LOL!
ReplyDeleteI had a very serious shudder after I watched her re-use the unwashed cutting surface that just had raw chicken on it.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I've done this recipe a few times. It's very easy and very yummy. The chicken makes for some great sandwiches after.
honestly,it looks easy and nice to cook with her the chicken and salad.
ReplyDeletenothing to say!
I would KILL her for that kitchen...
ReplyDeletei was surprised, when i watched this (i'm a cooking freak; i couldn't help myself), to actually learn something. the tip about "bashing" the potatoes. you parboil them to soften them a bit, drain them, then "bash" them around in the pan to rough up the outsides, and they cook up crispier. they probably absorb the oil better.
ReplyDeleteshe wasn't as annoying as i thought she might be -- and i subscribe to GOOP just for the absurdity. :)
The thing is is that if I want to learn how to cook I want someone who has dedicated their life to learning the art, not some pretentious actress (mediocre) who decides her buddy is a chef so she is qualified to give cooking lessons.
ReplyDeleteShe might/can be a very good cook but I'd really rather watch a professional in action.
It's very wierd to watch a vegetarian prepare chicken.
ReplyDeleteShe's making something she won't even eat, as she is a vehement vegetarian.
I don't think she's a vegetarian. She's one of those people who claim to be "practically vegetarian" but continue to eat fish and chicken. So yeah, not vegetarian.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I will agree about the cross contamination. It was freaking me out. I hate bird. I will not cook it. I'm utterly paranoid about what has and hasn't been touched. Bleurgh.
I think she is probably a nice person, but some of the stuff she does she doesn't seem to understand people find annoying.
ReplyDeleteKristen S... Alton is the BEST!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mary Lind...first of all, you never cut chicken on a wooden board, unless that's the only thing you use it for, and she also cross contaminated her olive oil, pepper grinder and the dish of salt. That salad had to create some upset tummies, at the very least. And why blanch the carrots...weird.
ReplyDeleteWash and scrub the chicken inside and out?? Bitch, please. I have a compromised immune system and not even I go that hog wild! I rinse and maybe dry - the oven does the disinfecting .. as far as I am concerned.
ReplyDeleteI so want to like Gwynnie. She is physically lovely. I like her voice and at times she seems like a human. And I have mass adoration for Blythe. And yet .. I cannot but long for Kabballah to open a kibbutz where Gwynie will just go to and stay - FOREVER! [Would it be too much to as for her to take Madonna as well??]
She usually just is so snooty. I don't know where she gets it from. Her parents seemed very likable.
ReplyDelete@Ells- I saw a comedy roast that included Blythe Danner (her mother) who is a well known actress in her own right and all she had to say for the camera as she sat in the audience was 'Hi, Im Gywyneth Paltrow's Mom!'
ReplyDeleteI think that explains her feeling of entitlement- yeah her parents are down to earth but maybe they put her on a pedestal she still is on top of. Hello Ben Stiller!
That being said I dont claim to cook so the cross contamination flew right above my head as well as the skinning potatoes, though the blanching carrots for a salad threw me, anyway, I enjoyed it more than some cooking shows I have seen, so good for her i guess.
I cut chicken and meat on wooden cutting board all the time and I haven't killed anyone yet. I hate plastic cutting boards. If you disinfect your wooden boards they are fine. Maybe there were some edits that didn't show her washing her hands. I thought it was a nice piece. And according to her newsletter, Gwyneth does not eat red meat, but she is not a vegetarian.
ReplyDeleteI want that 'depressing' kitchen.
ReplyDeleteYes, but is she going to eat it?
ReplyDeleteI agree that it does look like she knows what she's doing, and she appears to really enjoy it.
I still think that she has an eating disorder and I think this is one of her things. Cooking great meals with a lot of professionalism in a well equipped kitchen, and then NOT eat it. Lots of anorexics do it.
There was a study that found that wood boards are better than plastic. Something in the wood kills bacteria.
ReplyDeleteI love celebrity vegans.
ReplyDeleteShe doesn't cut the chicken on the wooden board. She cuts it on a plastic board - which magically disappears via a cut.
ReplyDeletede-boning a chicken is fun. a good quality boning knife is all you need.
ReplyDeletei haven't watched the vid yet, but am wondering why she would bone the chicken if she is roasting it, because it's so much tastier cooked bone-in?
I'm sure the parts where she washed her hands, cleaned the cutting board were just edited out.
ReplyDelete