Alton Brown is the cook/science-nerd star of the award-wining Food Network show Good Eats, where he demonstrates ingenious approaches to the everyday meal. He’ll teach even the most cooking-averse how to whip up dinner, using only the gadgets at hand. Brown is famously opposed to fancy, single-use cooking accessories, preferring the aisles of a hardware store, or the depths of his cluttered garage, to source his culinary tools. Thus, Brown has fun poaching chicken in a coffee maker, drying beef jerky via box fan, and tackling that most brag-worthy (and problematic) task: deep-frying your Thanksgiving bird. He’s goofy, smart, and eminently watchable, and he’s collected some of his crazy TV cooking stunt recipes in Good Eats: The Early Years (Stewart, Tabori, $37.50). Bring your safety goggles tonight, in case he gives a demonstration. (Ticketed event requires book purchase to admit two.) ADRIANA GRANT

Fri., Oct. 16, 6:30 p.m., 2009