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Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

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Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#101

Post by veryfancy »

annexrichmond wrote: post #30
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…

It may have been Chef John who really popularized this first person angle

Chef John is a delight. Charming man, straightforward recipes.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#102

Post by civilitty »

dehrmann wrote: post #83
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…

Other than Salt Fat Acid Heat (mentioned elsewhere in this thread), any recommendations for building that baseline knowledge? Step-by-step videos are great for making that one dish, but are pretty inefficient for reaching a skill baseline.

I'd recommend The Professional Chef by the CIA.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#103

Post by veryfancy »

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…

Really dig Kenji’s low-stakes YouTube vids. He makes it look easy in a way that ends up actually being easy.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#104

Post by airwejtilawj »

aprentic wrote: post #88

That's kind of like asking any variety of, "Can X videos make us better at X?" Absolutely, but the more relevant question is if a particular cooking video or series, out of the vast set of "cooking videos" will make a particular viewer a better cook. Probably not. I'd suggest a few questions to determine if that's true. What is the specificity of the video? Some "cooking" videos only pretend to be about teaching cook…

Of course. The vast majority of "cooking" videos are intended for entertainment, not instruction. I can honestly say that the majority of what I know today about cooking I learned from Youtube, but the most popular videos on Youtube are the most shallow ones, the ones that do three second cuts between unrelated images and spend most of their time showing people's faces instead of the purported subject matter. For most cooking videos, 95% of viewers will never even consider actually doing any cooking based on what they watched. But in spite of that, Youtube is an incredible learning resource for the minority of users who actually want to use it to learn. Maybe that's the best we can hope for.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#105

Post by atomicfiredoll »

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?…

America's test kitchen has some playlists on basics[0] and technique[1]. There are other videos that cover basics too. And, sometimes you'll learn a new technique in a video for a dish you've never made before. You sound methodical; maybe you're baking, which is a little more scientific. (If that's the case Adam Ragusea[2] has some solid videos on showing how he got to his brownie and chocolate chip cookies iirc.) This is a case where videos can make you better, but you have to actually get your hands dirty and get a feel for things too.

At the end of the day, it's like learning a language: it's easy to get stuck in the learning/drilling/practice phase. Your actual goal is almost certainly to get to where you can immerse yourself in the skill and enjoy it as quickly as practical. If you want to make something fresh, give it a shot and be sure to taste things as you go. Sometimes it takes trial and error.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSDeoKpIsAk&list=PLnbzopdwFr...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uf3OmSyG6A&list=PLnbzopdwFr...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/@aragusea

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#106

Post by pfranz »

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 cuisine-based cookbooks have a bunch of chapters on ingredients, technique, equipment, and storage that easily get overlooked. Since it's difficult to share those things in a recipe format (but often come up in videos of preparation) I'm not surprised most people are finding them on YouTube.

I find cookbooks completely ignore is "kitchen management"--preparing a meal with entree and sides being cooked concurrently so they come to the table at the same time or reusing leftovers into new meals and meal prep. Thankfully, there's a bit of this on YouTube (mostly meal prep).

Like you mentioned knife skills are a giant ignored thing. I'm a huge proponent of sharpening your knifes (because odds are they've never done it) and taking a knife skills class. It pays dividends almost every time you cook, cuts prep time at least in half, and reduces frustration and friction to cooking.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#107

Post by matsemann »

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?…

I got a lot of great responses with tips to this. Thanks everyone! Will definitely check them out!

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#108

Post by gingerrr »

civilitty wrote: post #102
dehrmann wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than Salt Fat Acid Heat (mentioned elsewhere in this thread), any recommendations for building that baseline knowledge? Step-by-step videos are great for making that one dish, but are pretty inefficient for reaching a skill baseline.

I'd recommend The Professional Chef by the CIA.

This is a bit of a loaded recommendation - I own it and it's a fantastic compendium of literally all western cooking knowledge you might want to ever know.

It's also like 20lb and over a thousand pages and usually sells for textbook prices, so only invest in it if you really want to level up and have the time to read/work through it.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#109

Post by Spivak »

tengbretson wrote: post #94
dagw wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I'm a huge fan of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and Serious Eats is my go to web site before cooking just about anything, nothing I've seen before or since beats Alton Brown and Good Eats when it comes to video based cooking education.

Good Eats sets the standard for educational cooking content, but actually implementing the recipes Alton demonstrates usually results in a nearly day-long cooking project.

I'm not entirely sure what else you expect? Cooking takes a long-ass time, it is a day-long full-time affair. You can hide the real time by doing prep, outright fully preparing parts of dishes agreed of time, having multiple people or buying premade but someone is putting in those hours somewhere.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#110

Post by nsvd »

Spivak wrote: post #109
tengbretson wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good Eats sets the standard for educational cooking content, but actually implementing the recipes Alton demonstrates usually results in a nearly day-long cooking project.

I'm not entirely sure what else you expect? Cooking takes a long-ass time, it is a day-long full-time affair. You can hide the real time by doing prep, outright fully preparing parts of dishes agreed of time, having multiple people or buying premade but someone is putting in those hours somewhere.

Cooking one meal should not take all day in most cases. I cook myself dinner every night and it usually takes an hour or two, plus clean-up time.
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