Good Eats

Why did the chicken cross the road? Probably to escape Alton Brown, who's intent on defining the perfect broiled chicken, out of the oven and bathed in sauce in under half an hour.

Host Alton Brown ponders the potato and its main ingredient: starch. Baked potatoes, mashers and a potato/portobello gratin are examined.

Alton Brown cracks the mysterious egg case and pursues a higher understanding of the amazing ovoid's culinary powers. Land a non-stick pan, scramble, over easy, and consider eggs for dessert.

Exiled to bars, chopped and pre-packaged and drenched in noxious concoctions, the tossed salad deserves better. Alton Brown goes back to salad basics and pays homage to Caesar.

Searching for the perfect Southern-style biscuit, Alton Brown investigates flour and chemical leaveners, and he turns to his grandmother for a pointer or two ... not to mention a few pointed comments.

Alton Brown delves into the dark world of chocolate, picks a pod, roasts some beans, questions mysterious guests, visits his shrink, makes a mousse and strikes on the ultimate chocolate recipe.

Alton Brown heads down to Louisiana for a sack of rice, evaluates rice cookers, unlocks the secrets of saffron and rewrites the rules for the most versatile of all rice dishes: the pilaf.

Alton Brown journeys to the center of the onion, and after rediscovering a kitchen classic and debunking the mythology of tear-free onion cutting, he emerges with a darned fine bowl of French Onion Soup.

Don't miss the (gravy) boat as Alton Brown, armed with the right pan and whisk for the job, conquers the roux and leads the way to lump-free liquid love.

Part one of a recurring series looks at the king of pantry essentials: dried pasta. Alton Brown explores different styles, the best cooking method (water is key), the tools you really need (big), and a different way of saucing.

Alton Brown journeys from field to market to hardware store in search of the perfect steak and the perfect pan to sear it in.

Alton Brown dives deep into the watery world of fish and finds that with three cooking methods under your belt, you can cook just about any seafood.

You scream, I scream, but Alton Brown would rather make his own ice cream ... and sorbet and granita. He reveals the secrets of the pros and how to find an ice cream machine that delivers the goods without breaking the bank.