Six for the show

Most cooking shows tap moms or senior chefs as hosts, the better, its producers think, to give it an air of rock solid authority. Thus, you see silver-haired chefs on TV firing off instructions on how to whip their latest kitchen concoction.

Not Ka-Toque, which features six young hosts – Rosebud Benitez, Mitchie Sison, Dario Lopez, Jonah Trinidad, JL Cang and Nino Logarta.

The six are as young as the yuppie in the office next door. And by the way they talk and walk, they could easily be your kuya, ate, tito or tita.

They don’t fire off cooking terms as if they’re some kind of jargon from outer space. This would only make viewers – especially the young – scurry off to their PC for a marathon session with the Yahoo Messenger.

Instead, the six young chefs use Taglish words you and I understand, like gisa, laga, sandok, etc.

"I learned to use more Tagalog words," Benitez, a graduate of the Center for Culinary Arts, says.

And, instead of using ingredients you have to go to a high-end grocery to get, they recommend everyday things like the humble tomato, onion, garlic, etc. in their recipes.

Any market has these ingredients. And in these times of belt-tightening, a trip to the nearest market is more practical than a drive to some pricey grocery store.

"The secret is in keeping the ingredients fresh," Logarta, sous chef at the Chef Laudicho High-End Catering, relates. Tomatoes should be plump, vegetables should be as green as can be. It’s not where you buy it, but how good it tastes when it’s laid on the table that matters.

To show just how in tune it is with the televiewer’s budget, a recent edition featured recipes with holiday leftovers as ingredients. The same year-opener edition also offered tips on how to prolong the freshness of food kept in the refrigerator.

The show’s informal, come-as-you-are ambiance makes Saturday mornings what they’re supposed to be – laidback, fun and stress-free. And it’s just as well the QTV show is aired 11 a.m. to 12 noon. You’re just about to prepare lunch, and Saturday – with its promise of a lazy day weekend ahead – invites you to indulge in untold kitchen pleasures.

"The beauty of it all is that you can make mistakes. This way, you may just come up with a pleasant surprise," adds Trinidad, who specializes in Asian gourmet.

Who knows, you may also learn the ABCs of good cooking just by using your nose.

The nose knows, Benitez will tell you. In fact, you don’t even have to lift a finger to tell how good or bad a dish tastes. All you need is your sense of smell and knack for enjoying the food’s aroma.

The Ka-Toque gang has lots of other things to share. And, like an old friend, they’re willing to do it with a smile and a friendly invitation to come try the food.

After all, they have a tag to live up to: the words Lutong Barkada attached to the show’s name.

The six hosts may have been complete strangers before they got together. But today, more than a year after they passed auditions as hosts, no one would have imagined they started out as total strangers to each other.

And that’s a secret one need not leave behind in the kitchen.