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

seattletimes.com

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

#111

Post by zbentley »

UncleMeat wrote: post #83
dataviz1000 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What type of savage doesn't peel ginger with a spoon? Learned that from a Tibetan making momos. He would then use the side of a clever to crush the ginger before mincing.

I actually don't. Ginger is incredibly cheap and comes in quantities larger than I need for almost all preparations. The loss that comes from cutting it into a rectangular prism is worth the time for me, since I'm going to be throwing some of it in the trash anyway.

Don't throw the edges away; freeze them and occasionally boil them down with water to make ... well, anything really: tea (with lemon, for an upset stomach), soda (sugar + dry ice or a sodastream), syrup (sugar + boil until thick), or just a great way to make your house smell like ginger.

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

#113

Post by catillac »

afcapel wrote: post #24
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…

I'm a Spanish person, living abroad and with a penchant for cooking, and I was too very gratefully surprised by Kenji's Spanish tortilla video. Also by his other Spanish recipes such as Gazpacho[1] or Paella[2]. It's not that they are very orthodox recipes, cut and paste from a traditional recipe cookbook, but instead very good adaptations of them, taking into account ingredients availability and different contexts.…

I’ve been following Kenji for a very long time. One thing I like is on the subject of adaptations. I have made his beef stew a few times, it’s quite involved. But I love how the recipe on the site adapts over time to take into account how people in the comments find different ingredients and tooling. For example, his original recipe works great on his super nice restaurant quality oven, but not as much on your regular persons oven. He adapted the recipe for the audience to take this into account, which I absolutely loved.

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

#114

Post by kasey_junk »

hnick wrote: post #77
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…

If I may share a recipe, his par-boiled baking soda roasted potatoes are a simple but amazing addition to my kit. https://www.seriouseats.com/the-best-roast-potatoes-ever-rec... I doubt he invented it, but I don't doubt he tested and researched it exhaustively. For me it comes down to three things: the baking soda eating the exterior and making a "fluffy" (surface area) result, the infused oil for flavour without bur…

Those are far and away the dish that people are most shocked at how good they are when I serve.

But they are work… for what amounts to potatoes.

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

#115

Post by xref »

Exuma wrote: post #16

Kenji AKA Peel ginger with a spoon!!!

Huh I’ve only watched like 10 of his vids but he hasn’t mentioned it once, he just smashes with a Chinese cleaver and minces in all the ones I’ve seen.

What’s the benefit to dirtying both a spoon and a knife to mince garlic?

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

#116

Post by tptacek »

vitaliyf wrote: post #107
tptacek wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't believe I didn't know about Spanish tortilla before. Easily the best egg dish and also maybe the best way I currently know to prepare potatoes at home now. And they get better when they're cold! I've wasted my life! I've made dozens since last summer, and Kenji's technique in the video has been pretty much bulletproof for me. His extra-creamy scrambled egg is also a mainstay now: https://www.youtube.com/watch…

I am very surprised it's not a more popular dish in the US - it seems like it would fit well the Denny's, IHOPs or even some fast-breakfast drive-throughs, and work as breakfast or appetizer or dinner. It's on every menu in Barcelona - yes, served cold. A Spaniard taught me that mixing in some potato chips gives it some variety. He said he even sometimes makes it completely out of packaged chips.

The potato chip Spanish tortilla is supposedly a Ferran Adria thing.

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

#117

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

rootusrootus wrote: post #79
ethbr0 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watched for the first time just now. I love the PoV videos! It's really helpful to see just what the hands are doing, and no cuts. The biggest gaps in written IMHO tend to be (a) things people do but don't realize they do, (b) things people do but assume everyone else already knows, (c) things people do more efficiently but don't think to mention (obvious example: use a cook time break to clean prep-ware).

> I love the PoV videos! I would much prefer a stable camera video. The PoV videos are unwatchable for me unless I take dramamine.

Do you think using one of the newer action style cameras that does horizon leveling would help?

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

#118

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

systemvoltage wrote: post #105
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His wife is Columbian, IIRC.

Why does it matter if someone is Spanish to be able to cook Spanish food (or Columbian)? It is neither a sufficient, nor a necessary requirement.

Where did I say it was?

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

#119

Post by tshaddox »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #93
prpl wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It’s true that writers often don’t get to choose their titles, but in this case I wouldn’t consider it snobby or ridiculous even if he had chosen those titles himself. There’s simply no reasonable interpretation of titles like “The best X” or “Perfect X” other than as clear subjective claims based on the author’s own preferences. These titles very clearly are not philosophical treatises about how there are actually objective moral truths about different ways of preparing food, and any interpretation along those lines is either extremely misinformed or (more likely) made in bad faith.

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

#120

Post by systemvoltage »

drivingmenuts wrote: post #63
annexrichmond wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I usually prefer Chef John. I feel like his recipes are creative and practical, and he's also just a hilarious super down to earth person. He comes up with methods that pretty much get you 95% of the way there at a fraction of the time and cost. His Chicken Tikka Masala recipe is the best I've had (homemade or at a restaurant) and among the simplest. He also has a famous method for Demi-glace IMO, a lot of the m…

Personally, I’m torn between Chef John and Adam Ragusa. Both produce attainable recipes, but Ragusa goes a bit further with pieces about the history and cultivation of food. An excellent example is found here: https://youtu.be/hQD9-FBs2qQ

Homogeneity! He kept saying that in every video and it was so offputting. I get it it's a cool fancy word but I don't don't like his style too much. Adam's tech knowledge is top game though - he researches everything so deeply and provides historical context.
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