PASADENA, Calif. -- There is so much that's not-the-usual about Food Network's new series "What Would Brian Boitano Make?" but let's start with the title.

This half-hour show, premiering at 1 p.m. today, is named after the song "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" from the 1999 "South Park" movie that treats the Olympic skater as a role model and stand-in for Jesus Christ in the saying "What Would Jesus Do?"

The song, which is also used in the Food Network show, imagines Boitano "in the Alps fighting grizzly bears." It's a catchy tune -- do a search and you'll find it on YouTube -- that sparked the imagination of younger TV viewers who may not have had an interest in Boitano as a figure skater.

"I wouldn't be so big about it if I didn't save the world in their song," said Boitano, who contributed a foreword to the recent book "South Park Guide to Life" ($12.95, Running Press). "They were nice to me, so I'm nice back."

Boitano, 45, brings his unique style to his Food Network show, which, while offering cooking and recipe tips, also features short, tangential cut-aways.

When Boitano says, "I have had goat cheese emergencies with warm goat cheese, but I'm not gonna talk about that now," the show cuts to a scene of Boitano, in a torn, bloodied T-shirt, running from a giant animated blob of goat cheese.

He's a man unafraid of innuendo, exclaiming as he opens his refrigerator door, "Now's the time to get out the meat of love. It's not what you're thinking."

Neither is the show, which wraps tales of Boitano's dinner party planning around his kitchen preparation as he makes dishes such as chicken paella burgers, pear and almond crostata, and bourbon bacon apple tarts.

At a Food Network party here earlier this month, Boitano said his initial idea for a series involved cooking and ice skating until a producer suggested he drop the ice skating aspect.

"I said sure. Usually everyone wants to do the reverse and just do ice skating," Boitano said.

He narrates the show, which is partially scripted, from a chair in his living room in San Francisco. In the Aug. 30 episode, Boitano tells viewers he was out with some roller derby girls -- cut to a scene of him with the girls in full regalia -- and he ends up inviting them over. The girls want to eat treats that involve bacon. So Boitano comes up with a menu, recipes and prepares food for the derby divas.

"I really wing stuff," Boitano said. "The dancing and stuff when I'm cooking is all unscripted. It's just me being a ding-dong."

Boitano said he became more interested in food after winning a gold medal at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary.

"I discovered cooking after I could start eating at 25 after the Olympics," Boitano said. "I started wanting to develop and find different ways of making different things. I never ate what I would consider a well-rounded, healthy diet before, but it opened a whole new world for me."

For his series he couples his interest in food with entertaining for what he considers to be as much a lifestyle show as it is a food show. Giving the show a "South Park"-inspired title is an effort to reach a younger audience.

"There are people who know me from the 'South Park' stuff who don't even know me from ice skating," Boitano said. "Kids who are 16 years old will say, 'Dude, you're an ice skater, that's so cool,' even though they showed me skating on 'South Park.' They don't even pay attention, and it's like you're a character on 'South Park' and that's all you are. It really crosses generations and demographic gaps, especially for Food Network."