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J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

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Re: J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

#91

Post by tptacek »

ahepp wrote: post #70
tptacek wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't ever use the vodka recipe any more; Kenji linked once to Stella Parks' pie crust recipe, which is a very simple water-based crust, and it's worked every single time for me. The vodka was just a neat trick, is all.

That's kind of my point though. I haven't seen sufficient evidence to confidently believe the vodka played a role in the crust. To be fair, I haven't seen sufficient evidence that no difference exists either. It just bugs me a bit that this is called "food science", when experimental design and significance testing are the core of what science is. At the same time, I don't want to be the science police and go around…

It's science in a different sense than you're using the word; it's cooking informed by science rather than by craft tradition. A good illustration of the distinction is in the debate between Marcella Hazan and Harold McGee, about the value of cooking with good virgin olive oil --- Hazan, from the Italian craft tradition, took umbrage at McGee's observation that heat denudes good oil of most of what makes it good.

(I may be misremembering some of the debate, so don't hold me to specifics).

McGee presumably didn't do "science" to reach that conclusion (I assume he got there axiomatically, like any good HN scientist would) --- though I'd note that Kenji frequently triangle-tests recipe specifics with panels, which is more science than most food writers employ. But he used science to get there. You don't get a journal article out of that, but it's a more scientific approach than the common alternative, which is why we call it that.

(Kenji graduated from MIT, for whatever that's worth.)

Re: J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

#92

Post by tptacek »

zerocrates wrote: post #14
tptacek wrote: post #5

His Youtube is very, very good. Two Kenji videos that changed my life a little during the pandemic, in that I now make these things all the time: Spanish tortilla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPYk9W9v-bI Oyakadon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcXzpCqKdUA I feel like --- I might be wrong here --- Kenji's origin story is the Cook's Illustrated vodka pie crust, which replaces water in the dough with vodka to mini…

Oyakodon is worth it just for the little chuckle over its name alone ("oya": parent, "ko": child, and the dish includes both chicken and egg). Like many sources describing this dish, Kenji mentions this basically immediately, as they well should. I'm a devotee of his book The Food Lab and his prior work there on Serious Eats, but haven't gotten into his videos much. I should.

It's also worth it because it is bananas easy to make, maybe the fastest possible chicken thigh cook, and there is something deeply magical about the combination of eggs, rice, and dashi/soy.

Re: J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

#93

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

prpl wrote: post #27
tshaddox wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s an interesting characterization, because I would have said precisely the opposite: I’ve seen that he consistently goes out of his way to denounce notions like “it’s not real X unless you make it with Y.” He’s pretty outspoken that it’s better to adapt recipes based on your own preferences, skills, and ingredient availability than to try to chase “authenticity.” It’s not uncommon to hear him say things like “it…

That's different though "it's not real X unless you make it with Y" is about authenticity. I did not bring up authenticity in the criticism. You are right - Kenji rarely cares about authenticity or tradition. That's fine. If you go through his old recipes though on SE, you'll see "The science of the best XYZ" or "Perfect XYZ" all over the place: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-5118015 I stopped following him…

Apparently this is news to you: nearly all writers do not get to choose their headlines, no matter the topic area. This goes from newspapers to books. If you're basing those views on the headlines vs the explicit content in his articles and videos, you've very much got the wrong end of the stick here. He goes out of his way to repeatedly emphasize "but you can do it how you like and that's ok" in everything he's done purely solo.

Re: J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

#94

Post by simondotau »

Camas wrote: post #84
annexrichmond wrote: post #44

I lost a lot of respect for Kenji after this incident: López-Alt wrote that “it hasn’t happened yet, but if you come to my restaurant wearing a MAGA cap, you aren’t getting served, same as if you come in wearing a swastika, white hood, or any other symbol of intolerance and hate.” He added, “MAGA hats are like white hoods except stupider because you can see exactly who is wearing them.” Both tweets have since been de…

I do tend to enjoy his content more when he doesn't mention politics.

This is true of most people regardless of their politics.

Re: J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

#95

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

Exuma wrote: post #45
ipsum2 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have been doing this for forever, it's not a new technique by Kenji.

I'm aware. I'm making fun of the fact he says it literally every time he peels ginger, which is like every video. I've heard him say the same line like 30 times.

That's basic pedagogy, he doesn't assume a highly familiar audience.

Re: J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

#96

Post by david-gpu »

zeroimpl wrote: post #66
notagoodidea wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure to understand the point made between European Spanish cuisine and the Colombian one ?

Presumably there’s some similar food culture between Spain and Spanish-speaking countries?

Not really, not at all as far as I can tell as a Spaniard. Cuisine in Spain is remarkably similar to that of France, though.

Re: J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

#97

Post by rdines »

Kenji is the best! Highly recommend his cookbook, The Food Lab. Several Kenji recipes are staples in our house. Kenji even convinced me that you can make a delicious quesadilla without cheese! https://www.seriouseats.com/cheese-free-sweet-potato-quesadi...

Re: J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

#98

Post by maroonblazer »

testfrequency wrote: post #65

I stopped following Kenji almost right at the time he decided to move to Seattle. There is something slightly obnoxious about him that I can't quite describe that really irks me about his attitude (slightly elitist, mostly deserved, but not great if you're someone who cares about these things). What is very interesting to me is how Seattleites are hanging on his every post and recommendation. Seattle has one of the l…

> Seattle has one of the least exciting and lackluster food scenes out of any "food city" I've ever lived in.

I'm a native of Washington, moved away in my teens and returned to Seattle 10 years ago, from Atlanta. Comparatively Seattle has a much less interesting food scene than Atlanta, and I don't think Atlanta is even considered to be a 'food city'.

Re: J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

#99

Post by adt2bt »

ethbr0 wrote: post #78
tshaddox wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s an interesting characterization, because I would have said precisely the opposite: I’ve seen that he consistently goes out of his way to denounce notions like “it’s not real X unless you make it with Y.” He’s pretty outspoken that it’s better to adapt recipes based on your own preferences, skills, and ingredient availability than to try to chase “authenticity.” It’s not uncommon to hear him say things like “it…

Ironically, I stumbled across an example pretty quickly: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CXTnq7srJRs&t=7m34s

Might be a good idea to clarify what you mean by example in this comment. Had to click into the video to realize you meant basically an example of him NOT being a food snob.

Re: J. Kenji López-Alt is Seattle’s reluctant powerful food influencer

#100

Post by adt2bt »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #95
Exuma wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm aware. I'm making fun of the fact he says it literally every time he peels ginger, which is like every video. I've heard him say the same line like 30 times.

That's basic pedagogy, he doesn't assume a highly familiar audience.

I don’t think GP is criticizing the pedagogy, but instead memeing.
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