After Hours with Daniel Boulud

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Super Chef caught a few episodes of Daniel Boulud cooking with some of the best chefs in the South – Miami and New Orleans – on the third season of After Hours with Daniel on MoJo HD, airing on Sundays at 9:00pm ET/PT. What makes After Hours such good TV? After Hours isn't strictly a food or cooking show though Daniel cooks with the chefs he visits for a group of chefs and other local celebrities – who all gather to eat after hours. It is both about chefs cooking together, talking about food, but also entertaining, bringing a meal together, and the conversation that takes place around a table. Don't miss Daniel talking about Le Cirque and Pasta Primavera or trading blood sausage. The show puts food in context, appreciating the preparation and consumption. It makes you want to know more. While Daniel and the host chef are cooking there is minimal commentary other than from the chefs themselves. They know what they are doing and we get to watch masters. Some of Daniel's dishes are amazing and complex. He prepares an elaborate game terrine at Michael's Genuine Food and Drink in Miami, layering pheasant, partridge, duck and foie gras inside pastry. Later the guests are served thin slices revealing the circular pattern of the meats. Viewers might not be getting instruction in the usual sense, but they are getting insight into how chefs think about meals, how they get inspired, and how to bring different people together. In one episode, Daniel arrives to cook with John Besh baring two red fish he precedes to stuff and roast. John makes a perceptive point in an interview. He is surprised that Daniel has time to spend in New Orleans to cook with chefs and other guests. Later in the program, executive chef Olivier Muller from db Bistro Moderne, one of Daniel's restaurants in New York, presents the dinner guests with thin Alsatian tarts topped with bacon, onions, and cheese. That is the secret to Daniel's ability and his success. He stayed in New York for years training an accomplished crew, like Olivier, to run his restaurants before he ventured to Las Vegas, Palm Beach or elsewhere, and before he left his restaurants, even temporarily, to do After Hours. After Hours also shows viewers where the food for the dinner comes from. Daniel goes out with John to shoot quail. Daniel himself makes a good shot on camera, and then the quail end up in a gumbo. In another episode, Mark Zeitouni of Lido Restaurant at the Standard explores a local organic farm. Donald Link of Cochon visits his family crawfish and rice farm. He collects crawfish out of traps and they end up in crawfish pie and crawfish gumbo. In the episode at Cochon, Daniel turns to Art Neville and asks him about music in New Orleans: does he ever play around the table? Just then, homemade raspberry cordiale is poured interrupting the discussion. Luckily at August, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews starts blowing his horn to finish the meal. It is pure magic. The only question Super Chef has left: how do you get invited as a guest? Previous articles: Daniel Boulud Settles Lawsuit Daniel Boulud Likes Colbert;s Americone Celebrity Food Fight: Daniel Boulud 2006 James Beard Awards: Note Daniel Boulud Daniel Boulud v. Todd English: Initial Branding Daniel Boulud: Making It Big on Oprah;s O [Food Television - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef