imcooked - YouTube for Foodies

After my last post, which showed a video of cowbell-master Christopher Walken roasting a chicken, I thought it only appropriate to highlight where this genius piece of Hollywood cooking came from.

The answer of course is the new Cooking 2.0 website imcooked.com. It's basically YouTube for foodies. It runs on the same video sharing principles where users upload content, in this case their own videotaped attempts at culinary greatness, and share them for all to see. Personally, I think its a great idea especially for people wanting to showcase those sacred family recipes that have been passed down through the generations.

The site is still young so there isnt a ton of content yet and I found the video playback somewhat choppy at points, but overall I think theres lots of potential.

I contacted site creator Joseph Leibovic who when I mentioned the similarities to YouTube explained, "...thats exactly what we are going for...a YouTube like site for foodies. With the help of people like you - we can get there sooner than we think!"

Well perhaps I'll have to make my own video and post it soon - I'll let you know if I do. If anyone else has a video on imcooked.com already, please let me know and I'll be happy to post it.

Heres some more info on imcooked.com from their website:

"Started by Joseph Leibovic in May of 2007, imcooked.com came out of a passion for cooking and desire to find new recipes. He found that although entertaining, a lot of the recipes found on cable television were simply way too “gourmet.” So after a little research online, Joseph was fascinated that tens of thousands of “homemade” recipes were up on video sharing sites. Although he had visited these sites on a daily basis he never thought to search for recipes.

After a couple quick searches – a pattern started to appear. The content was there, but because of the sheer volume of videos on these video sharing sites finding recipes became too much of a chore. A simple search under pizza led to search results that contained pizza recipes – but they had to be sorted out from videos such as someone eating a whole pizza in 2 minutes, someone throwing pizzas off a roof, a girl answering the door naked for a pizza delivery guy - so on and so forth. It seemed obvious, User generated content is what people want to watch and those searching for food recipes shouldn’t have to dig for them. The idea for imcooked.com was born. A community in which users can generate only food related content.

Now members can share their recipes with the world absolutely free. You can easily become a popular chef if you keep at it and upload new recipes all the time. The possibilities are endless and what you do with it is totally up to you. Imcooked.com does not in anyway supply the content for our site.

Enjoy yourselves here at imcooked.com because we have every intention of turning this into a great cooking community. We urge you to film yourself cooking (or have someone film you) and upload it. Its really easy and lots of fun.

Cook it. Film it. Share it."

Chirstopher Walken Roasts A Chicken!

More Cowbell - I mean Chicken! OK its official, Christopher Walken needs to get his own cooking show. Before I knew Chrisopher Walken was into cooking I liked him as an actor , but after seeing this he's just gone up a couple notches in my book.


Here, Walken roasts a Chicken along with some pears (something I've never done before) and like a seasoned vet, gives his own helpful tips as he goes. Walken points out that he likes to season with a lot of salt (and he sure does) and provides his own clever way of not letting the pears stick to the roasting tray. I'm not sure he's ready for Iron Chef quite yet, but it's obvious that he's spent time in the kitchen and knows what he's doing. I think Bobby Flay should call him up and challenge him to a Chicken and Pear Throwdown.

One thing I was surprised by in this video was the kitchen that Walken was operating in. It seemed very basic and not outfitted with the latest and greatest kitchen gear one would think a celeb like him might have. Its actually refreshing to see that he's just a normal guy who roasts his own chickens and cooks for himself. Seems very down to earth. I wonder if he calls his family to the table by banging his cowbell!

The Food Network Taught Me How To Cook

I can still remember the first day I became hooked on the Food Network. It was about 3 years ago at University in London, Ontario, when I was sitting on my couch (most likely a tad hung-over) watching TV and debating whether or not to go to class.

Just as I was motivating myself to get up, I came across Rob Rainford smoking some medieval looking piece of meat, using his famous indirect heat technique on his show License to Grill. I was captivated. Not only did I miss my class but I spent the entire afternoon watching the Food Network until my roommates got home and began chirping me to change the channel.

Like them, I had been living off a well balanced diet of microwave hotdogs and frozen perogies. (Which don’t get me wrong, can still taste like a 5 Michelin Star dinner after a night at the pub!) But nevertheless, those days were soon to be over. I don’t know what it was. I had never been terribly interested in food or cooking before but it was as if a culinary light switch had been turned on in my head and my passion to cook ignited, all thanks to the Food Network.

Now, I’m not going to lie, part of me wishes I didn’t become a Food Network junkie until after University as broadening your culinary horizons and buying fresh can sometimes be hard on the wallet. On top of this, my newfound desire to cook only further fueled my frustration towards our student-ghetto landlord who refused to fix our broken oven. It only worked on one setting: nuclear. This baby was so hot; to cook anything you had to leave the oven door half-open. As a result, my roommates and I could often be found barbecuing ridiculous items like pies and homemade cookies.

Two weeks ago I cooked my girlfriend a four-course meal including, a cranberry-almond arugula salad, broccoli soup with goats cheese, Berkshire Pork with roasted veg, and a molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and raspberry coolie.

Pre Food Network - I had never even heard of arugula or knew what raspberry coolie was.

I can honestly say, the Food Network taught me how to cook.

Welcome!

Welcome to the first official post from The Food Network Taught Me How To Cook! This site is for all the die hard Food Network fans and all the foodies out there. My intention is for this site to be a resource for those looking for the latest news and reviews from your favourite Food Network shows, and to serve as a place for people to get helpful tips and recipes.

I welcome all comments and suggestions so please don't be shy!