Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 215 posts

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#41

Post by myshpa »

robertlagrant wrote: post #31
myshpa wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What helped me when learning to cook vegan was focusing on the basics. I studied a few recipes (such as Indian curry) and identified the fundamental ingredients (onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, spices, and protein), creating a list of non-basic spices and other potential ingredients. I mastered the process of this basic recipe: browning the onions with cumin and bay leaf, no salt, adding garlic and the remaining sp…

The internet is amazing! I never thought I'd meet another person who cooks vegans!

:))

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#42

Post by 11235813213455 »

There are very few things I cook, only rice and lentils, all the rest of my food I eat it crude (mostly vegetable, or even eggs, for fish I leave it in lemon juice, typically sardines, lemon also work for leek or onions to make them less strong. So cooking mostly happens in my guts now, and for vegetable digestion is incredibly better when outside, under the sun. Cooking destroy vitamins and many things

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#43

Post by amykhar »

mabbo wrote: post #25

The absolute pinnacle of cooking video chefs today has to be J. Kenji Lopez-Alt[0], in large part because of his use of first person view. He straps a go-pro to this head and you see what he sees while he cooks. There's no cuts or retakes (unless he's waiting for something to cook or gets interrupted by his kids). There's no swaps. And it's all real- he's cooking dinner for his family. And it doesn't always go perfec…

He also taught me something pretty critical - you don't need a huge fancy kitchen to execute great food. Most of the work he does happens on a large cutting board, the sink, or the stove. When I moved into my current place with a tiny kitchen, I wasn't nearly as freaked out about it. I knew I would be able to work in it just fine.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#44

Post by marginalia_nu »

theshrike79 wrote: post #5

Most cookbooks tend to be like the meme about drawing an owl [0]. Mostly because the people making the instructions make assumptions about Stuff One Should Just Know and skip those bits in the instructions. On video you can actually see the consistency of things as they are cooked and maybe even hear what the process sounds like (frying spices in oil has a distinct sound if the oil is at the correct temperature). You…

A lot what separates good and bad cooking is tacit understanding that can't be explained in words. You need to practice to detect the nuances in flavor. It's really basic and doesn't make good edutaninment content.

I'd say 90% of being a competent chef is just down to knowing how to balance the basic flavor components; and to figure out how these things change during the cooking process.

With practice and experimentation you can learn to infer what is lacking by taste and make anything go from bland to amazing.

Spices and ingredients are much less important. They aren't unimportant, but they aren't what makes something decent into something great. You can make a head cabbage more delicious than most what you'll find in a cookbook if you get this right.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#46

Post by psukhedelos »

Is there any cooking content that takes into account cleaning up after? In my limited viewing experience the focus often seems to be prep and the cooking, ignoring the reality of the inevitable clean up.

Is there anyone focusing on recipes and how to cook that minimises / reuses cookware and through to a reset clean kitchen? When I cook I enjoy getting into a flow where I’m ordering the prep or modifying the recipe so I’m able to reduce dirtying extra dishes and aim to have minimal clean up afterwards. Ideally the clean up of the cooking is essentially done by the time food is being served.

I’m half serious and half amused at the idea of a cooking competition style show where participants must plate up, serve and then scrub.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#47

Post by throw0101a »

theshrike79 wrote: post #5

Most cookbooks tend to be like the meme about drawing an owl [0]. Mostly because the people making the instructions make assumptions about Stuff One Should Just Know and skip those bits in the instructions. On video you can actually see the consistency of things as they are cooked and maybe even hear what the process sounds like (frying spices in oil has a distinct sound if the oil is at the correct temperature). You…

> Most cookbooks tend to be like the meme about drawing an owl [0]. Mostly because the people making the instructions make assumptions about Stuff One Should Just Know and skip those bits in the instructions.

You may wish to look at cookbooks produced by America's Test Kitchen. They try to create instructions that are clear and easy to follow.

This is done via a 'beta testing' program which you can join:

> As a recipe tester, you will be emailed in-development recipes. Recipe testers will receive one recipe per month on average. You can choose what to test; you are not required to test any or every recipe (but we hope you’ll want to!). When you test a recipe, please take the survey that accompanies it to tell us what you think. We will ask you questions about ingredient substitutions, recipe clarity, yields, and timing. And you get to rate the recipe.

> Occasionally, we’ll ask you to help us check ingredient availability at your local grocery store. We do this to ensure that the recipes we develop use ingredients that are widely available to all of our readers.

* https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/5237-join-our-c...

* https://www.americastestkitchen.com/testing

* https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/7096-you-are-th...

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#48

Post by throw0101a »

bkovacev wrote: post #27

Here's a few more channels that I personally enjoy and recommend: - Ethan Chlebowski https://www.youtube.com/@EthanChlebowski - Adam Ragusea https://www.youtube.com/@aragusea I tried numerous recipes from both and learned quite a bit about the technique as well.

Jack Ovens is pretty decent (has a playlist of meal prep stuff):

* https://www.youtube.com/@ChefJackOvens

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#49

Post by bityard »

matsemann wrote: post #36

What I often miss is "the basics". After reading a recipe or following a video, I perhaps know how to make exactly that dish. But that's like a bootcamp programmer learning a single framework. I want to learn the concepts, how to apply them, how and when to break the rules, how to modify it and experiment with what I got. When I follow a recipe, and the result isn't pristine, how do I fix it? Should I add more salt?…

See if there are any legit culinary classes in your area. If you don't want to take a class, you could maybe get by reading the textbooks they use. It at least go to the library and check out their culinary selection.

A couple decades ago, there was a tv show called Good Eats by Alton Brown. If you can find the reruns, it has a lot of information for newbies, but it will take a long time to watch it all.

I'm not an amazing chef but I do okay when I put my mind to it. Like anything else, it takes some up front effort to learn the basics and experience to learn the rest.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#50

Post by teh_klev »

TheDong wrote: post #34
teh_klev wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you got the wrong end of the stick with that guideline. It's intended for folks who accuse others of not having read the article, not for self admission that one didn't read the article. Also the article is behind a paywall and even with all my own usual tricks I can't get at it to read in any sensible way (even archive.is). In this case the article's topic is fairly obvious that you could legitimately commen…

> all my own usual tricks I can't get at it to read in any sensible way archive.org works fine for it for me. Does the following work for you? https://web.archive.org/web/20230904034416/https://www.nytim...

How odd, my first attempt with archive.org didn't work (I got a blank page).

Seems to work now, thank you.

Post reply on HN