Ted Allen
Ted Allen
Ted Allenis an American writer, cookbook author, and television personality. He was the food and wine connoisseur on the Bravo network's television program Queer Eye, and has been the host of the TV cooking competition series Chopped since its launch in 2009, as well as "Chopped Junior," which began in mid-2015. In April 13, 2014, he became the host of another Food Network show, originally called America's Best Cook; a retooled version of that show, retitled All-Star Academy, which debuted...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Show Host
Date of Birth20 May 1965
CityColumbus, OH
CountryUnited States of America
I've always hoped 'Chopped' would telegraph our enormous affection and love and admiration for chefs and food, but at the same time, we are inflicting extraordinary cruelty on them.
Six months ago, I was just a writer for Esquire, typing up in my little garret on the far north side of Chicago, and no one had any idea who I was.
I first got into food with my mother, just Southern cooking, really bad for you food (just delicious!) because I'm the first Yankee in my family, and everyone else was from the South.
We're not out to turn rugged straight guys into weenies who paint their fingernails.
The blood orange is a wonderful and beautiful juice. The survey found a lot of people really appreciated tart flavors.
Baking is problematic for me because I usually drink a lot of wine when I cook!
No, Queer Eye has a book coming out before mine, in the Spring of 2004, in which each of us has a section and we do a brief overview of our subject area.
It's a 12-hour cooking class for me on the set of 'Chopped.' You'd think I'd get sick of it, but it's a source of endless interest to me. The only thing I don't like about it is it's a long day and my feet hurt. Otherwise, I love it.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they cook for other people is to think that it has to be fancy and elaborate. This results in enormous expense and nine days of labor, plus you end up trying to assemble a croquembouche in front of your guests and everyone's experiencing flop sweat.
I mean I want people to enjoy their dinner, but I just love the process so much.
I know that the single guys on the cast (which is everybody but me), hmm, well a lot more people flirt with you when you're on TV.
The funny thing about Thanksgiving, or any huge meal, is that you spend 12 hours shopping for it and then chopping and cooking and braising and blanching. Then it takes 20 minutes to eat it and everybody sort of sits around in a food coma, and then it takes four hours to clean it up.
I love the trend in food and cocktails, with people working with natural foods and ingredients. You get such bright, fresh flavors.
One of the smartest things you can do on 'Chopped' is to take one of those ingredients and make a pickle out of it, because almost every dish benefits from that. I'm feeling like those intuitions are becoming more natural.