Alton Brown's basically the Bill Nye of food. He's made a name for himself breaking down the science of cooking, from 14 seasons hosting Good Eats. He's even taken the show on the road, creating an "Eat Your Science" tour, which pairs culinary experiments with music, lasers and Brown's signature fast-talking explanations.
In fact, if you mention his name to most people, they'll immediately respond with, "Oh, I swear by Alton Brown's recipe for [Insert food here]" (referring to him by his full name, always). He's like your brainy uncle; the guy you'd want on speed dial when your Thanksgiving turkey's been cooking for four hours longer than the suggested time—and still seems not quite done—or when you're about to poach an egg and you're feeling really insecure about that whole "create a whirlpool of boiling water" part.
He's taught you how to cook—and delivered searing one-liners—but how well do you really know the self-described "gentleman scientist"? Test your knowledge (or, at the very least, impress people by dropping some knowledge the next time somebody tells you the only guac they'll ever eat is Brown's recipe).
1. His Bachelor's Degree Was 20 Years In The Making.
Before becoming synonymous with sabotaging chefs' dreams on Cutthroat Kitchen, Brown studied drama at the University of Georgia. But that wasn't what he intended to study.
"I had come here to go to the J-school, but they wouldn't let me in," he told the Athens Banner-Herald. "They rejected me, which is funny because a few years ago, they gave me a Peabody Award, which was pretty cool."
Brown started college in the '80s, leaving in 1985 just one credit shy of graduating. Over the years, the school restructured its graduation requirements, and he was cleared to cross the stage and accept his diploma in 2004.
2. He Directed An R.E.M. Music Video.
Remember that 1987 classic, "The One I Love"? (C'mon, you know you do—Michael Stipe with hair, random bolts of lightning overlaid with close-ups of drumming, brooding crooning.) Well, Brown was the director of cinematography on that video shoot, serving as the steady cam operator. He says the break was all "happenstance," because he was a specialist on operating steady cams, and the artist behind the video was a big fan of the tool.
3. His New Cookbook Is Shot Entirely On An iPhone.
It's been five years since Brown's last book tour, during which he says he took a break to explore other projects (like, ahem, Cutthroat Kitchen and Camp Cutthroat). His latest book, EveryDayCook, is supposed to be his most personal yet. It features all recipes he regularly cooks for himself—though they seem far from ordinary: nitrous pancakes, Smoky the Meat Loaf, and a 'Chocopacalypse' cookie. Every dish was photographed using a cell phone, because he's not a regular chef; he's a cool chef.
4. He's Dreamed Up Some Crazy Sabotages For 'Cutthroat Kitchen.'
When you host a show where chefs bet on ways to sabotage each other—doing everything from making meatballs while sitting in a kids' ball pit to forcing another to prepare scallops while his head's underwater (in a fish tank)—it could be hard to come up with fresh ideas. In case the showrunners do, Brown's got a few ideas.
"For instance, I would love to do a show where the sabotages aren't decided until after the chefs have shopped. Where we're changing the game as the game goes along," he told FN Dish. "Or another idea I like would be to give them more options: Which would you rather face? Why not give them the opportunity to choose the paths that they would take, like on an obstacle course?"
5. He Keeps This Mantra Above His Kitchen Door.
It reads "First, do no harm," and it's a reminder to start with the purest, highest quality ingredients possible. "My cooking now is about trying to find good ingredients and not messing them up," he told the Banner-Herald back in 2010.
6. He Has His Own Line of Bow Ties.
The star is such a bow tie fanatic—he owns roughly 200 of them—that he collaborated with Hook + Albert in 2014 to create his own collection of them, with names like "blueberry compote" and "sweet and sour."
He'll also gladly show you how to tie one, in case you're interested in rocking the dapper look.
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7. He's Broadway Bound.
Nope, not as Javier Muñoz's understudy in Hamilton. His "Eat Your Science" tour is doing a limited run at Barrymore Theatre in New York City during Thanksgiving week, playing eight shows total.
8. He Has An Unexpected Holiday Tradition.
Brown makes Christmas Soup every December. It has a chicken broth base that he loads up with kielbasa, kale and kidney beans, along with various seasonings. "Kids love traditions, so I say, let them make the soup so they can leave a bowl for Santa," he writes on his blog. Get the recipe here.
9. An Ingredient You Use All The Time Used To Stump Him.
In the early days of Good Eats—in which every episode had a theme, be it a single ingredient or a popular dish—Brown struggled to frame a show around avocados. He later returned to the idea, after taking some time to look at the ingredient more for what it can add to a dish beyond its flavor.
"That one really beat me until I thought that an avocado is mostly fat," he said. "So we did a show where we turned avocados into a butter, an ice cream and a cake frosting."
10. Three Things Inspired 'Good Eats.'
He came up with the idea in 1992, deciding he wanted to create a cooking show that was part Julia Child, part Mr. Wizard and part Monty Python. The idea wasn't fully realized until 1997, when the pilot was shot.
11. He's Voiced A Character in 'Spongebob Squarepants.'
That character was Nicholas Withers, the host of a fictional show called House Fancy. He's popped up a few times in the show's series, but Brown's debut episode featured Withers pitting Squidward against his nemesis, Squilliam, to determine whose house was fancier (and thus worthy of oceanwide fame, of course).
12. He's A Pilot.
Yes, as in, he flies airplanes for fun (and to jet to business trips). He told USA Today he flies a six-seat Cessna, and once sold a motorcycle to pay for the plane's $20,000-plus GPS system.
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