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Food Network, unwrapped

A peek into the kitchens at the cable channel's new studios in New York's Chelsea Market reveals what's cooking off-camera.

NEW YORK - It is midafternoon and George Stella is sweating out rehearsal under bright lights. He's perfecting his patter about snacking on low-carb cheese.

Over and over, Stella champions the benefits of fresh berries with a dollop of ricotta, each time better than the last.

A cameraman follows him around a set that might look like a cozy home kitchen to TV viewers but is clearly fake. A refrigerator with a see-through door is stocked with autumnal pumpkins, squashes and gourds. An unseen producer is talking in Stella's ear, telling him to move this way and that, and to fill the time with information and chat. Dead air is not good.

Just hours before, Food Network uber-chef, Emeril Lagasse, tapped into more than 20 local morning news shows across the country from the same small set, moving west from the Eastern time zone with the sun.

Unlike Lagasse, Stella is not yet a star. The former Florida resident and Disney chef is filming a second season of Low Carb and Lovin' It in the network's new studios in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. He is not used to the crowd watching, and he hasn't even seen his new set, which is still under construction.

While Stella rehearses, Giada De Laurentiis, host of Everyday Italian and granddaughter of movie director Dino De Laurentiis, films a segment of a wedding special in the test kitchens. She is not the least bit nervous and when the camera lights up, she flips on a smile as wide as a slice of cantaloupe.

In a nearby conference room, network staffers gather to wish two colleagues happy birthday. In the midst of gleaming stoves, classically trained chefs and all the bounty Manhattan provides, the celebrants blow out candles on store-bought cakes.

It's Monday at the Food Network.

The Food Network moved in July to its new digs in the Chelsea Market, a more than 100-year-old network of 17 buildings that once housed the manufacturing plant of Nabisco. The first Oreo was tested there in 1912.

Today, an 800-foot-long corridor on the bottom floor boasts bakeries, restaurants, a florist, seafood and produce markets, a kitchen suppply shop and other food-related stores. On the upper floors are the Food Network plus the offices and studios of Oxygen and New York 1, a 24-hour cable news station, and other businesses.

The market, which takes up the block of Ninth and 10th avenues between 15th and 16th streets, is on the edge of the formerly seedy, but now hip-and-happening lower-west-side Meat Packing District.

Two blocks south is the trendy new restaurant, Spice Market. Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's sumptuous vision of Asian street markets and their the food is packed each evening with basic black dresses and strappy sandals. Even in chilly October.

The Chelsea Market is seen as part of the reason for the area's return from the tough side. Rents are rising and designers, restaurants and retailers are moving in all around.

The Food Network, which is 11 years old this month, occupies more than 100,000 square feet on parts of three floors. There are 22 ovens in the test kitchens, a cheerful place with walls the color of melons, honeydew and cantaloupe. Light streams through a bank of Palladian windows that look out on the High Line, the abandoned elevated rail tracks that the city is considering turning into a park.

What luck, says sous chef Miriam Garron, to have this bright spot to work in. Especially in cramped Manhattan. The network has come a long way since the days of filming a show in the morning and showing it that night.

The crown jewel of the network's complex is a 100- by 85-foot studio built over the atrium of two buildings. It is here where an audience and band fuel Lagasse's energy, where Rachael Ray makes meals in 30 minutes and Sara Moulton shares her secrets. But on this Monday, workers scurry to finish Stella's set.

Otherwise, the cavernous room is tomblike. It's hard to imagine the roar of Lagasse's appreciative crowd.

The network is happy when some of its viewers think they are getting a glimpse into the kitchens of favorite chefs. But mostly, they are not.

That funky, reconditioned 1940s Chambers stove Ray uses is not her own, but rather part of a set that's dismantled and stored after she films a series of episodes. The curious labels on the canned food she is so fond of are fake, too. Food Network artists design those so that the show doesn't become an advertisement for Del Monte, Swanson or the like.

"A lot of people think that the set is Rachael's kitchen," says Susan Stockton, vice president of culinary productions. "I think that set is a lot like Fantasyland."

There are few cooking shows filmed in actual kitchens. Alton Brown's Good Eats is taped in his home in Atlanta and Paula Deen uses Gordon Elliott's place in the Hudson Valley for her Home Cooking. Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, is on location in the Hamptons. Most of the rest take place in network studios, which will unveil a new set for Emeril Live this month. All of the entertainment shows are filmed elsewhere.

Stockton oversees 24 people, many of whom are professional chefs. They make sure recipes on FoodNetwork.com are correct and that Bobby Flay has plenty of information at his fingertips when he is featuring Argentinian barbecue. The culinary staff participates in the network's newest venture, writing cookbooks. Food Network Kitchens: Making It Easy was published in August.

And they also prepare much of the food that makes our mouths water via the tube.

For a show on breadbaking, eight loaves might be needed to show viewers just one finished product, Stockton says. Each show is assigned a culinary staffer who makes sure the "talent" has everything he or she needs to pull off a segment successfully.

During Stella's rehearsal, Jay Brooks, in network-issued denim chef's jacket, reminds him which chunk of Gouda is for slicing and which is for display. Only once does he goof it up. Brooks rushes in with another piece, for continuity's sake.

The talent, Stockton says, has a lot to contend with during filming. There are distractions on the set that cannot detract from the energy level.

"You have to engage the viewer, which is tough when the cameras are on you and someone is talking in your ear," Stockton says.

That's why someone else is often searing meat and measuring milk.

In recent years, the Food Network has become two personalities. Traditional cooking shows are on during the day, freeing the evening for entertainment programming, such as Unwrapped, Iron Chef and $40 a Day.

Though the core audience has grumbled, Stockton says ratings tell programmers they have made the right move. Network executives say viewers want to have fun, not learn how to cook, after a busy day.

Approximately 85-million homes worldwide receive the cable channel, but it lags behind other specialty channels in viewers. Nielsen Media Research reported last year that the network averaged 621,000 viewers a day, while Lifetime garnered 1.8-million. CBS has an audience average of almost 11-million.

On this day, the show being taped by De Laurentiis in the test kitchen is aimed at the evening crowd, while Stella's program is daytime all the way.

Aaron Lazar and LeAnn Garris have won a contest to have the Food Network cater their wedding. She's a Southern Baptist from North Carolina and he's a Jew from New Jersey, but both live in New York. The challenge for Flay, Lagasse, Ray, Garten, De Laurentiis and other on-air talent is to come up with a menu that will satisfy both the bride, groom and their families.

Yes, they had a good food story, says Allison Page, director of programming, but it didn't hurt that both are telegenic. She's a model and he's an actor. By the time the program is complete, the network will have filmed on more than 30 days over several months, many more than most specials, Page says.

(The wedding was last weekend and the special will be shown in March.)

As De Laurentiis flashes that wider-than-wide smile at the camera, Lazar and Garris raise a toast in the background.

"Aren't they the luckiest couple?" she stage-whispers into the camera.

And that puts a fork in Monday.

A cooking demonstration and book signing by Suki Hertz, a recipe developer and food stylist for the Food Network, will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at Mise en Place, 442 W Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. Inkwood Books is sponsoring the event to promote the network's second book, Food Network Kitchens: Making It Easy (Meredith Books, $24.95). For more information, call (813) 253-2638.

Janet K. Keeler can be reached at 727 893-8586 or krieta@sptimes.com

Steak:

1 flank steak (about 11/2 pounds)

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon herbs de Provence

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Relish:

3 ripe medium tomatoes

1 bunch scallions, trimmed

8 whole garlic cloves, unpeeled

1 tablespoon balsamic or red-wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Toasted crusty bread, for serving

Position a broiler pan on the rack closest to the broiler and preheat to high.

Rub the steak lightly with some of the olive oil, and sprinkle with the herbs de Provence, and salt and pepper to taste. Put the whole tomatoes, scallions and garlic cloves in a large bowl; drizzle with about 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Turn the vegetables until they are lightly coated.

Carefully lay the steak in the center of the hot pan, arrange the vegetables around it and broil until the steak is brown but still tender to the touch, and the vegetables are charred, 5 to 6 minutes. Turn the steak and the vegetables, and broil another 5 to 6 minutes until the steak is medium rare (an instant-read thermometer inserted crosswise into the side of the steak registers 130 degrees) and vegetables are charred. Transfer the steak and vegetables to a cutting board.

Core the tomatoes, squeeze the garlic cloves from their skins and chop them both with the scallions to make a chunky relish. Transfer the vegetables and all their juices to a bowl and stir in the remaining 1/4 cup or so of the olive oil, the vinegar and the Worcestershire sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Slice the meat against the grain and on an angle, transfer to a plate or platter, and serve with the relish and toasted bread.

Serves four to six.

Source: "Food Network Kitchens: Making it Easy" (Meredith Books, $24.95).

Kosher salt

1 pound spaghetti or Chinese egg noodles

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 1-inch piece peeled fresh ginger

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 cup hot water

1 Kirby cucumber, halved and sliced

1 cup shredded cooked chicken

6 scallions (white and green parts), sliced

1/4 cup dry-roasted peanuts, chopped

Bring a large pot of cold water to a boil over high heat. When the pasta water boils, salt it generously, add the spaghetti or noodles, and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain and rise under cold running water. Put the spaghetti in a large bowl and toss with the sesame oil.

To make the peanut sauce: In a blender, drop in the garlic and ginger while it is running. When the chopping is complete, stop the machine and add the peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar and red pepper. Process until smooth, then - with the blender running - slowly pour in the water.

To serve, toss the spaghetti with the peanut sauce, then top with the cucumber, chicken, scallions and peanuts. Serves four to six.

Source: "Food Network Kitchens: Making it Easy" (Meredith Books, $24.95).