Good Eats S1E5P1: A Bird In The Pan

[LilBo10]

hahaha 2001 reference! love it!

[Crunchy68]

I love the way he leans on the inside of the supposedly hot oven door at the beginning. LOL

[wackywankavator]

Does W ever advise on skimping?

[LootableCorpse]

space odyssey 2001 reference :P

[MysticKnight38]

pork and chicken also tends to be yellow in colour because their diet in mostly corn.

[sportykitty101]

doesnt that make the cuttingboard a unitasker? we all know that Alton only has one unitasker in her kitchen

[MarshmallowCharlie]

@sportykitty101 his*

[wanderingivie]

It's worth pointing out: This episode was made in 1999, and while the cooking techniques he uses are still golden, the bit at the beginning -about how there's very little difference between factory and free range chickens, is no longer true.

In fact, if you look at current episodes, he uses free-range chickens.

[cathavenfostermom1]

The comparison to free range and conventional chicken here is vary bias.

Conventional chickens are raised in such tiny spaces that they are debeaked to keep them from killing each other because they are constantly stressed.

This is painful for the birds. On top of that, the stress hormones get in the meat and that is very bad for humans. None free range birds are often killed in the cruelest ways imaginable. Go for free range because it is more humane and tastes better.

[Zidana123]

@cathavenfostermom1 "the stress hormones get in the meat and that is very bad for humans"

Not true at all! They're perfectly healthy for humans to eat. The only effect is that they fill the meat with the flavor of pain and fear.

Mmmmm... tormented poultry...

But in all seriousness, free range birds really are more tasty. And you get alot less instances of the randomly shattered bones surrounded by deep tissue bruising and bone shards. ick.

[wanderingivie]

@cathavenfostermom1

This is SEASON ONE. This episode came out in 1999, things were different back then. Actually, if you look at recent episodes (we're currently at the end of season 14, by the way) A.B. uses free-range chicken and beef. He even had an entire episode on sustainable fish, which isn't the same thing but it's related.

[Crich775]

Back when it was still acceptable to have a man with a pipe on television, good episode and delicious food. :)

[logiclovr]

@Tolbok she works at Bed Bath and Beyond, and I just realized how awkward it is that AB shops there so often. >.>

[logiclovr]

Using a magic 8 ball to tell if the bird is done... Different, but I'll go with it. :D

[C5Rigzz]

@logiclovr Hahah... it couldn't be any more hit and miss than my wife's method for cooking.

[vidman454]

i love how Alton leaned on a supposedly hot oven door

[Tolbok]

What is that "W" girls problem? Did somebody say the lords prayer backwards and resurrect that woman, whom someone decided to employ at kohls.?

[TimTheReaper]

@Tolbok she's the mistress of bitch. thousands of years ago, the five bitch sages gathered and foretold her birth. thousands of years later, all the bitch stars aligned and she was born and thus began making everyone's life a living hell BECAUSE SHE'S SUCH A BITCH.

rant provided by TeamFourStar's DragonBall Z Abridged episode 18.

[FrostbittenWolf]

@TimTheReaper

This was posted five months ago, and only three new episodes are up. TeamFourStar likes to procrastinate, doesn't it?

[TimTheReaper]

@FrostbittenWolf yeah, they do. but hey, their latest episode is funny as hell so i forgive 'em.

[WWOLFwts]

@TimTheReaper Agreed

[chimaera245]

@Tolbok every time he goes there it's her shift and her time of the month

[carmanshuey]

i um translated mise en place it doesnt mean everything in its place it means establishment but well its same concept so i wont get onto AB

[MWImmortalking]

He's resting his arms on an open oven door... lol fail. Love Alton tho.

[quequegs]

I'm glad Alton addressed the way chickens are grown but it's a complete contradiction to the Food Inc. expose.

[kiminokami]

@quequegs Food Inc. is not God.

[westkan]

Of course the producers of AB's program, the Food Network, or AB himself aren't going to air anything, but the party line of the corporate food production cabal. Beyond that a good episode about an alternative way to cook a chicken.

[dberk44]

That is why they feed chicken aspertame. Aspertame is a chemical that does not allow for the birds to feel full, so they eat and eat and eat. That is how they get the chickens to grow so quickly.

[ashleyhiatt]

Uhm. Yeah. It is illegal to give growth hormones to chicken, turkeys, pigs, etc in the US. It is only legal to give growth hormones to beef and dairy cattle. And we don't need to give chickens hormones. Commercial breeds have been bred to get so large so fast that they have to be slaughtered at 6-7 weeks old or they become crippled (mostly heart and leg conditions) by their own oversized bodies. If they got bigger any faster, they would be dead before they were large enough to eat.

[RedHilariousComments]

That sounds like adolescent mutant ninja chickens to me. Okay, maybe not ninja but the rest is true.

[Jedibron]

But commercial chickens etc are not being fed what they are designed to eat. Grains. While chickens will eat just about anything they are supposed to eat grass. That is excluded from their diet. The chickens you eat are sick chickens they are caged and eating bad food to get them to grow as fast as possible. Also they way they keep the bird kept will only continue to shrink the wink size.

[ashleyhiatt]

Chickens eat insects, vegetation, dead chickens and unhatched eggs. Commercial feed is neither particularly unnatural or unhealthy. They are more healthy than most pet foods are for dogs and cats (wheat, corn and sugar, the main ingredients in most and are TERRIBLE for dogs and cats).

And they don't cage chickens to make them grow faster. It's to keep them from pecking each other to death. They are kept indoors because outdoors most would die horribly from exposure, disease, and predators.

[ashleyhiatt]

BTW I do agree that the lives of factory farmed chickens are pretty bad. But that's because breeding for growth and size created sick crippled animals - probably in pain most of their brief lives. If you want chickens that had decent lives, buy heritage breeds rather than ones with slightly better food or shelter. "Free range" birds live in an overcrowded outdoor shed, and "organic fed" birds suffer from awful diseases because they aren't given antibiotics. Both are crippled sickly birds.

[Jedibron]

Yeah, of course it is also the debate on what and isn't healthy. There is evidence that flu vaccines are bad for you yet there is evidence they do the job. But generally if a bird or animal is eating what it is supposed to antibiotics shouldnt be need. As for cows. I think you certainly agree that something has to change.

[ashleyhiatt]

It's not much of a debate. There is evidence that vaccines work. Nothing but anecdotes saying they don't or are harmful.

There is also no evidence that a chicken eating grass won't get sick and need antibiotics. "Organic" chickens have a MUCH higher incidence of disease, and wild birds are still more prone despite "eating what they're supposed to." But a well bred chicken in a clean dry shed is less likely to get sick, even on a poor diet. A genetically weak chicken will get sick regardless.

[Jedibron]

Yes but there is a strong connection between autism and asthma along with vaccine usage. Both diseases dramatically increased with with mandirty immunizations.

[ashleyhiatt]

There is NO connection. There is an alleged connection between a chemical no longer used in a vaccine no longer given and autism. NO study has supported the allegation.

There IS a connection between thousands of children dying from preventable diseases and people like you tragically misinforming people by spouting rubbish about shots causing autism.

Please find a cause that doesn't kill people's babies, and do stop spewing nonsense about chickens, There's nothing wrong with chicken feed

[darkhawk123]

@ashleyhiatt

My understanding of scientific fact (which could always be wrong).

1. Excessive antibiotics given to food animals results in antibiotics in food which makes for stronger, more resistant diseases.

2. Vaccines DON'T cause autism. One study said that in the 80s (I think) and it turned out to be garbage after only the slightest peer review. Autism isn't even a disease in the sense that its "caught." Its a genetic anomaly.

3. Alton Brown is the shizz.

4. If wrong, please correct me.

[sharonlemur]

I love how helpful and descriptive your video info(s) are!

[jyeotis]

Did he lean on the oven door that was supposed to be cooking the chicken in the opening sequence?

[solanusdracon]

It's been already admitted these aren't real ovens. would you put a camera in a hot oven?

[rockyPants4000]

Actually he does have minicams that can take the heat of an oven. He describes it in later episodes.

[trumbachd1]

Isn't that Blaire McGuffin from the "Behind the Bird" Episode?

[draculasUncle]

I don't think resting your arms on an open oven door is safe

[pibeagles]

keep in mind that the oven is fake and can't get higher than room temperature--remember there is a camera in there!

[Narashava]

that over wasent on at the time. The oven he actually use it does have a camera in it.

[Goldenrod636]

Who is the actress that plays W?

[C5Rigzz]

Vicky Eng. In real life... she's Alton's chiropractor.

[mdhofstee]

I was thinking I recongized him from a future episode. If you look forward to season 11 and the Wing Episode thats Dr Lacy from that episode. That has got to be a good eats record for longest time between appearences of an expert.

[codetoad415]

Alton, you are the MAN.

[frankbombs]

HAHAHA

"Open the pod bay doors, HAL."

[koggi242]

ive gone off him a bit now I know he is a religion nutjob!

[JMAGProductionss]

he's a what?

[Lengsel7]

I'd say you're an anti-religion nutjob.

[Amouthfulofsin220]

having a set system of beliefs doesn't make anyone a nutjob. Anyways, what's happened in the world that a person can't believe in God and say so without being excoriated?!?

[koggi242]

I just find it hard to take people seriously who believe in fairy-tales.

Lets face it, would you respect someone who believed in Father Christmas?

No, you wouldn't.

It's the same thing for me and religion..

[kiminokami]

That is an adolescent way of thinking.

[bello787878]

shouldnt he have burned himself in the beginning?

[togimogi]

that guy on the lawn mower at the start looks like that smart disabled guy

[Psychochaos3]

Wait, there's something wrong with the opening sequence. . .

You should never shake a magic 8 ball. That would make bubbles.

[Dekagaru]

You people are crazy! You cant torture something that is not sentient! Chickens have no more feelings or rights than a head of lettuce! You cant abuse a carrot can you? Then you cannot abuse a chicken! You should not have feelings for something that cannot experience them itself!

[koggi242]

look up sentient in a dictionary, you twat!

[arizonaice8]

Of course chickens feel pain--they exhibit all of the relevant behavior. And the behavior is all the evidence we have for thinking any animal (besides ourselves) feels pain. Comparing a chicken to lettuce or carrots is biologically inept.

[kiminokami]

Chickens do not feel pain.

[Nospherith]

Correct. However, the capacity of a chicken to interpret pain in the same way that a human would, with emotion, is biologically inept.

[Cher298262]

Why does W always seem like she has a bug up her ass? she always seems like she's in a bad mood!

[Zaekk]

Comic relief, she gets more bugs in her ass later on in the show, its pretty funny later on.

[Cher298262]

oh ok. ya it does get funnier.

[zboishcha]

lol 'and make little dinosaurs' That sounds so cute!

[Nospherith]

My parents always undercooked chicken, so I've never considered roast chicken for years... until tonight. I made roast chicken using this method. Deviations were baking @ 425'F for 30 min, then 350 'F for 10 min instead of broiling under an ambiguous temperature. It was the best chicken I've ever had in my life!!! Delicious! Thanks Mr. Brown! ^____^

[tacomeet]

hahah 2001 space odyssey reference right off the bat.. AB rocks.

[burntheretic]

An alternative to those with tile counters who don't want to yellow their grout by using bleach is a 3:1 water:rubbing alcohol mixture. It sanitizes just as well without removing pigment from the grout. I used this before I started homebrewing. Nowadays I use ClickSan, which is a no-rinse sanitizer that's fantastic for prepping carboys and cleaning counters.

[altonbrownrox123]

lol they use a magic 8 ball for the chicken

[poker720]

ive had that payed trip to my bathroom its NOT FUN!!!!!!!!!

[Brunsfighter]

Yum, food!

[NoirMusic]

Wow someone in the meat industry had to pay him off...because commercial free range chickens taste identical to non-free range. Because they are the same thing. 20k chickens per coup, 2 coups, 1 padock 10x10 feet, and the doors aren't open tell the birds are 14wks (from birth), meaning they have 2 weeks to be free range. But guess what? They are never shown how to use the door, it is unlocked, not opened. Also any chicken that leaves the coup is destroyed for fear of bringing diseases in.

[zetzertzak]

He talks about what "free range" means in another episode....The Thanksgiving turkey episode, I think.

Yeah....meat is pretty nasty.

[DarkSoldier712]

Fry Turkey Fry is the episode in which he explained the difference.

[zetzertzak]

Also, all the chicken farms here in Arkansas are approximately 150x50 feet buildings that hold a couple thousand chickens from birth.

I've never seen chickens in a cage at any of the chicken houses around here.

[NoirMusic]

Take a tour at Tyson sometime...the 2 feet deep bird shit will give you an idea of just how screwed up things can get....

[zetzertzak]

I'm not saying they're all good housing conditions. But I won't pretend they're all bad either.

Go, Galliforms!

[NoirMusic]

I love small farmers, my extended family in IA are farmers...don't get me wrong. But the way commercial, large scale poultry is done is disgusting. The reason the public can't get in is because if they saw how the poultry lived, much less died, they would be eating carrots.  Cows and turkey are much worse....

[omfgapolarbear]

Great 2001 refrence

[mcklinyofscotland]

alton looks like he is in his 20's

[omfgapolarbear]

If i remember hes in his forties now, which would put him around his mid to late thirties.

[hinder1312]

how did you get good eats on you tube

[ChanKaiHong]

UBER CHICKEN WOOT =P (2.:57)

[ctarider665]

cute chicken

[lupinswitch99]

AHAHA BS, oh there is no hormones or antibiotics used in the USA Its illigal and yet a lot of the places that you get chickens from DO use that stuff, dont always belive what you see on tv the truth is twisted sometimes so that people will feel better about what they do.

[GreenManalichi]

Actually I have heard horror stories from the KFC chicken houses

[lupinswitch99]

Thats why i put 45 days of hell, thats 45 days how long a fryer chicken lasts before it is shipped out to the sloter house, im a vegetarian and against the crule things that KFC does

[mcklinyofscotland]

tell me please.

[NoirMusic]

Well I think it is the fact that most commercial chicken growers keep the birds in a 12x13" wire mesh cage, not to bad, except it is 2 to a cage. Of course we know chickens have a pecking order, but birds this confined try and kill each other, so they burn there beaks off with a wood burning tool, although the all corn diet they eat isn't lethal to chickens the way it is to cows it isn't good for them, and some breeds grow so big, so fast that there legs can't hold there own weight

[FrostbittenWolf]

Right... antibiotics used when we're in a food poisoning scare... criminal! Sorry dude but i'd rather not pour out half my fluids in uncontrollable diarrhea simply because you believe the stupid myths about domestic animal cruelty.

[ROEU812]

Great video.... actually "W" is his Chiropractor, they needed a villian type know it all, and AB said she was perfect for the part.

[Alrepa]

I love AB! but why is it that "W" hates him so much? and why doesnt she have a real  name?

[aznxmitsuko]

Later revealed W is Vicki Wong on Good Eats.  IRL she's Vicki Eng.

[kll510]

Wow the show has changed since season 1, it's alot funnier and more entertaining now.

[ma218]

I just got the 21 disc Good Eats DVD set, however with Youtube, I dont need them lol

[MoleSnyper]

ouch.

[DarkSoldier712]

I'd get the set myself if I could. But I'm that big of a GE geek, and I'm also a special features nerd.

[65comeback]

Thanks Alton, now I'm going to open MY oven and lean firmly on the inside of the door. LIKE THE SEARING PAIN?

[AshleyTatton]

Ahah, I love how many times he does things like that. The oven's supposed to be on yet he'll touch something that let's us know it isn't. I always wonder what kinda camera he has in the oven while it's on..

[cjl889]

Something similar happened when my family went to a fiends house for thanksgiving. About 3 hrs into cooking none of the people in the kitchen could figure out why the turkey wasn't cooking. It turns out they forgot to turn on the oven.

[niceworkmicrosoft]

@cjl889 It happens to everyone. We all get brainless sometimes