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Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

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Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#111

Post by [deleted] »

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

[deleted]

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#112

Post by Camry »

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…

To me, Food Wishes is definitely the peak of practical home cooking videos in the tradition of Jacque Pepin. I feel like Kenji et al. make recipes tailored to hobbyist and for entertainment/spectacle, while Chef John makes recipes for the regular joe.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#113

Post by selimthegrim »

myshpa wrote: post #99
selimthegrim wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the fundamental parts of curry making is cooking the spices until the oil separates - that is until all the water boils off, and the tomato skins blacken. This is usually not explained terribly well in written recipes.

Yeah, I've seen the step, but decided to skip that to save time. Seems like I'll have to try that anyway. Thank you.

Yes, please do - roasting the spices in oil in a water-poor environment in the pan is important to the final flavor.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#114

Post by terribleperson »

Camry wrote: post #112
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…

To me, Food Wishes is definitely the peak of practical home cooking videos in the tradition of Jacque Pepin. I feel like Kenji et al. make recipes tailored to hobbyist and for entertainment/spectacle, while Chef John makes recipes for the regular joe.

Much of Kenji's Serious Eats era output was the results-at-any-cost hobbyist stuff, but he's gotten much less obsessed with perfection since then. Even among the Serious Eats/Food Lab recipes there are some very practical recipes, like the Foolproof Pan Pizza and any of the 'weeknight' dishes in the Food Lab.

I've cooked several Chef John recipes to great results (real aioli, peanut butter fudge, beef stroganoff), but Kenji's decision to always provide weight measurements makes cooking easier for me.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#115

Post by light_hue_1 »

myshpa wrote: post #55
r0b1n wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagreed. Practice is just one component in a cycle that makes us better: We watch something, think of something, read something. Then we try it out in practice. Then we observe or have someone else observe the practice and result. Then we take suggestions and improvements into account from that observation. Then we start over at one of the points above. If you only just repeat the "practice" step you'll get set in…

When it comes to cooking, it's hard to imagine someone getting progressively worse, especially when they are the ones tasting their creations. If it doesn't taste right, they'll naturally adjust and improve. The feedback loop is immediate and personal.

It's easy to imagine people getting worse over time. I see it regularly.

People don't do blind taste tests when they cook. They cook something and compare it to their previous memory. Then they slowly diverge and enter some crazy part of the space where no one should be cooking an ingredient that way. There's no notion of something tasting right on its own. You need to compare it against a better version of that dish.

It's easy for two people to cook exactly the same dish, following the same recipe, both of them to think it came out great, and then when they taste each other's to discover that one is dramatically better.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#116

Post by dagw »

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 takes exactly as long as you want it to. While I do sometimes love spending all day in the kitchen when the mood takes me, I can equally turn out a decent in dish in less than 30 minutes on my own, including all prep time.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#117

Post by episteme »

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.

Me and my wife cook meals with fresh ingredients every night and it takes between 20 and 40 minutes. Do you order takeout for every single meal? Did your family spend every day cooking all day growing up? I'm curious how someone can have this take.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#118

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

episteme wrote: post #117
Spivak wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Me and my wife cook meals with fresh ingredients every night and it takes between 20 and 40 minutes. Do you order takeout for every single meal? Did your family spend every day cooking all day growing up? I'm curious how someone can have this take.

I think it largely depends on what’s being cooked. My mother used to make bone broth at home, which is definitely an all day affair, but it became the basis for noodles and stew dishes for the rest of the week which took much less time…

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#119

Post by SilverBirch »

psukhedelos wrote: post #46

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 s…

Sorted Food do a tonne of “mid-week” recipes and they actually sell an app that lets you plan your weeks meals with recipes that reuse ingredients, so they very much cover the “minimise total effort” side of cooking.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#120

Post by senkora »

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.

I also like Brian Lagerstrom, who has a similar style to them: https://youtube.com/@BrianLagerstrom?feature=shared
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