Sara Moulton is the Food Network at its best. She’s instructive, witty and fun–watching her show is edifying without feeling that way. She embodies the spirit of a great teacher. And actually she reminds me of one of my favorite teachers from high school, Mrs. Stenner. Both are professional but with a great enthusiasm for their subject. Mrs. Stenner taught English; Sara Moulton teaches food.
Today’s theme is Italian food. Sara starts out on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx where, apparently, the true Little Italy can be found. She shops for pork chops and clams and yuks it up with the counterpeople. God, I love Sara Moulton.
Plus, she’s spunky. For example she just made linguini with clam sauce. Quote: “I love clams. I know this will sound terrible, but I think you’d be a moron to mess them up. They give up such a delicious sauce.”
While writing this essay, my computer froze and I had to start again. But with Sara that’s easy. She’s my muse. Here’s a tip from the last segment. The worst crime you could commit against pasta, according to Italians, is to rinse the noodles after you cook them. But when making lasagna or manicotti (which Sara just made), you bring the cooked noodles in the pot to the sink and start running cold water into it until the water turns cold. Then the noodles won’t stick.
In her free time, when not shooting profound Food TV shows, Sara is the executive chef at Gourmet Magazine. I bet she spends her nights curing cancer. Sara Moulton rocks.
I like Sara, but for my money give me either the Barefoot Contessa or Alton Brown.