Cooking shows are great for people who love to cook. But what about the rest of us? If you can’t cook, you don’t want to watch a show full of recipes for dishes you’ll never make, or suggestions for ingredients you’ll never use. Fortunately, TV hasn’t forgotten about those of us who opt for the microwave over the stove top. This is just a sampling of the shows airing right now that let you appreciate cooking without obligating you to try it for yourself. All of them will make you feel better about your lack of culinary skills.
This cooking competition’s title takes all of the pressure off the table right away. You’re not a top chef, so you don’t have to worry about making food like they do. Top Chef: Just Desserts is nearing its final episode, but Top Chef: All-Stars premiers on December 1st. There’s a lot of people who want to be Top Chef! You might as well take the high road and leave it to them.
Cake Boss follows the operations of Carlos’s Bake Shop, where owner Buddy Valastro makes beautiful and delicious cakes better than anything you could possibly achieve. But don’t feel bad. He has a huge team, consisting of his entire extended family to help him make those cakes. You don’t have a team, and you probably don’t have as big of an extended family as he does. You can’t be blamed when you burn the cupcakes. You didn’t have a gaggle of cousins to remind you not to leave them in the oven for an hour.
Chefs have to complete challenges based around a trait necessary for a chef, like ingenuity, simplicity and innovation. In its three seasons there have been 19 episodes so far. That’s a lot of qualities to need. If you worked on obtaining one a year, it would take you 19 years. But the pizza guy can get to your place in about ten minutes. Easy decision.
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay hosts a cooking competition where contestants must prove themselves in a top restaurant, each trying to become the restaurant’s next head chef. While judging them, Ramsay is notorious for degrading and yelling at the contestants. You don’t want to risk becoming a mean person like him. It’s a lot safer to just microwave some soup.
