Good timing is needed when whipping up recipes in the kitchen -- and it is also the reason behind the co-production of Chef 'N' Show.
Chef 'N' Show is a new television program that gives Hocking College culinary arts students the opportunity to help chefs make food, and WOUB-TV offers Ohio University telecommunication majors the chance to help produce a show. Chef 'N' Show is the first partnership of this nature between WOUB-TV and Hocking College.
"All this is good timing because (WOUB has) been talking about doing a cooking series for a while," said Mark Brewer, WOUB associate director for telecommunications. "Cooking shows are kind of expensive to do, so when the folks from Hocking College called and asked about doing a show together, we met with them to discuss the idea."
The show first aired on Saturday, July 5. Each episode is broadcast on WOUB at 11:30 a.m. Saturdays and re-broadcast at 4 p.m. Sundays.
Chef 'N Show will run for 10 weeks, allowing the five participating chefs to each do two episodes focusing on Italian cuisine. The chefs pick an area of Italy and choose relevant dishes to prepare, and the culinary arts students put the ingredients together, Brewer said.
Originally slated to be one hour long, the shows have been coming up a bit short on time. But Brewer said the chefs are trying to pace themselves because they never have done this before.
"You spend hours taping for a half-hour segment," said Chef Doug Weber, part of Hocking College's School of Hospitality. "That was my first realization of what goes into a cooking show."
The taped shows also are an available course at Hocking College for people interested in receiving college credit through video-based coursework.
Weber said he is unsure whether Chef 'N' Show will work out as a college course via video, but said a lot of people have been watching the show, including his family in Perry County.
Monica Crookston, a Hocking College student, thinks the show is a great way to be better educated and involved with the program's technology. Crookston has been volunteering her time over the summer to help chefs prepare the taping of the shows.
"I was worried about what kind of kitchen we'd have, but it's really nice for a demo kitchen," Crookston said.
Hocking College acquired the kitchen set for the broadcast studio, and Blackburn Home Furnishing, 950 East Canal Street in Nelsonville, donated the appliances. Hocking College supplies all of the ingredients and necessities.
Brewer said teaming up with the college made producing a cooking show feasible because it splits the cost.
Crookston and fellow Hocking College culinary-arts student Kimberly Havens said a lot of work goes on behind the scenes when taping segments of a cooking show. They said the recipes for the two shows taped last Thursday all were tested the day before.
Chefs book the studio time at WOUB through Brewer, and he is uncertain if the show could have happened without the partnership.
"I'm not sure (WOUB) could pull off a show with all of this content without (Hocking College)," Brewer said. "And I'm not sure if (Hocking College) could do it without us and our technology."
While it is not yet determined if the show will continue past these 10 episodes, Weber said his 16 years at Hocking College have prepared him for Chef 'N' Show. "I figure it's time for me to move on to my new profession now -- a TV chef show," Weber said.
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Jennifer Lash
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Hocking College student Monica Crookston, left, prepares pasta dough for ravioli as Chef Doug Weber and fellow student Kimberly Havens work on other dishes for the taping of a Chef 'N' Show episode last Thursday. The show airs on WOUB Saturdays at 11:30 a
