Man v. Food & Cake Boss

With Top Chef in hiatus till Season 7 airs Wednesday June 16, Dave and I have had to find new shows to fulfill our cooking show cravings.  Two not so new, but awesome shows we've been watching are Man v. Food and Cake Boss.

Man v. Food is a Travel Channel food reality show about Adam Richman who travels all over the U.S. showcasing "big food" of different cities.  Each episode he goes to a different city trying anything from sandwiches, burgers, pizzas, burritos, or steaks.  What is special about these foods is that they are prepared in ridiculously massive proportions.  At the end of the show, he faces a local restaurant's food challenge.  Some amazing feats have been:

• 72 ounce steak with a bread roll with butter, baked potato, ranch beans, shrimp cocktail, and a salad in one hour.
• 6 "Atomic" chicken wings in a 150,000 Scoville unit sauce in 30 minutes without help of milk, icecream, or napkins.  After, he would have to wait 5 extra minutes without aid.
• Spicy P'haal, claimed to be "the hottest curry in the world" in one hour.  They had to wear a gas mask to cook it because the combination of peppers were so toxic.
• 180 oysters in on hour with only help of cocktail sauce.
• 12-egg omelet. The omelet, which includes beef brisket chili, salsa, sour cream, and cheddar cheese, weighs roughly five pounds and is served on a pizza platter in one hour.
• 2-gallon sundae consisting of 8 scoops of ice cream, 8 different toppings, and 8 servings of whipped cream, all served on a "kitchen sink" in one hour.

There were just some of his conquests.  Currently he is 24-14 with these challenges.  He has only attempted on Guinness World Book of Records attempting a 190lb burger with the help of 40 other people.  The burger was topped with 4 pounds of bacon, three pounds of tomatoes, three whole heads of lettuce, pickles, onions, and 10 pounds of assorted cheese.  He and his team had to finish in 2 hours but only ate 160lbs.  Only!

Check out more about this show here.

Another show we've been loving is TLC's Cake Boss.  It showcases Carlos' Bakery in Hoboken, NJ.  It is a family run bakery featuring Buddy, the head and owner going through the everyday trials and successes of his family and a cake business.  The show is only 30 minutes long showing the process of making on average 3 speciality cakes per episode.  Some notable cakes were a New York landscape featuring the statue of liberty, a burning building with a fire truck, and a roulette table.

To read more about this show and their awesome cakes click here.

I had to include this clip of Bridezilla.  She couldn't come up with a concept she wanted.  In fact, she wanted her wedding cake to feature funeral flowers.  Her mother wanted a more traditional white tiered cake.  Buddy compromised with both.  In the end the bride sabotaged the already beautiful cake.  You'll have to watch to see how unbelievable some brides can be!