Chef Emeril Lagasse, host of Fine Living Network's Emeril Live. (Photo courtesy of Food Network) Watch Emeril Live on Fine Living Network.

Who knew that a kid who started washing dishes at the age of 10 in a local Portuguese bakery would burst with a "BAM!" into the culinary scene...opening a series of successful restaurants, hosting popular TV shows and becoming one of the most recognizable chefs of all time!

Seven nights a week at 7pm ET on FLN, viewers will find new episodes featuring master chef Emeril Lagasse and his unique style of gourmet cooking with a Creole twist. His popular show, Emeril Live!, which is taped in front of a live studio audience, is followed on FLN by The Martha Stewart Show at 8pm ET.

Emeril has filmed over 1,600 episodes of Emeril Live! since it began production in January 1997. The infamous "BAM!" started in the early, long days of production when it was just Emeril, a few crew members and no studio audience. The tired crew could hardly keep their eyes open after sampling Emeril’s dishes...so, the vivacious chef would yell "BAM!" as he continued to work in an effort to keep everyone on their toes.

Emeril says he learned to cook after watching his mom, Miss Hilda, in the kitchen. Some of his first dishes he prepared were vegetable soup and French toast. Later, he created a special dish in honor of Miss Hilda -- Portuguese pasta with a spicy tomato broth, Gulf shrimp, chorizo sausage and kale. The famed chef earned a degree from culinary institution Johnson and Wales University, and later received an honorary doctorate degree from the university.

Emeril’s home base is New Orleans, where he houses restaurant operations, a culinary test kitchen, and a boutique store for his signature products. His flagship restaurant, Emeril’s, opened in 1990 and still boasts an out-of-this-world banana cream pie, each made fresh daily with 10 bananas in every pie. Another staple on the menu at Emeril’s since the beginning is his New Orleans Barbecue Shrimp, cooked in a dark flavorful sauce made from shrimp shells and served with a freshly baked Petite Rosemary Biscuit. To be frank, everything at Emeril’s restaurants is made from scratch, from the Worcestershire sauce to the pasta, sausage and ice cream!

In all, he is the chef/proprietor of 10 award-winning restaurants in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami and Gulfport, MS. A signature at all of Emeril’s restaurants is the Chef’s Food Bar, which offers guests an up-close-and-personal view of the kitchen action.

Emeril joined the Martha Stewart family of brands in April 2008, when Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) acquired the assets related to Emeril’s media and merchandising business, including television programming, cookbooks, emeril.com website and his licensed kitchen and food products. He pens a regular column, "Kick It Up – Everyday with Emeril," in MSLO’s Everyday Food magazine.

Emeril is the food correspondent for ABC's Good Morning America and is the best-selling author of 12 cookbooks including Emeril's New New Orleans and Emeril's There's a Chef in My World. In September 2002, he established the Emeril Lagasse Foundation to support and encourage programs creating developmental and educational opportunities for children. Emeril is the first celebrity chef to have meals developed for NASA astronauts and the first person to have those recipes served in space.

When he’s not in the kitchen, Emeril is an accomplished drummer (who turned down a full scholarship to music school because he wanted to be a chef), and a fishermen who finds great pleasure in fishing the waters of the Gulf Coast, and an avid golfer. He lives with his wife Alden, son Emeril, Jr., and daughter Meril.

Learn more about Emeril Lagasse at emerils.com.

Get more information about the Emeril Lagasse Foundation on the next page.

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