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

131–140 of 215 posts

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#131

Post by caseyohara »

xormapmap wrote: post #124
Spivak wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm now realizing that I'm an elitist of a kind because when I say cooking I mean something totally different from "making something to eat" and more akin to dinner service. And that's what most of Alton's recipes are aimed at, not desperation dinners. And when you're doing this kind of thing for family dinner you and up using shortcuts like bagged premixed salad, bottled dressing, rolls from the bakery, premade dess…

> shortcuts like bagged premixed salad, bottled dressing ... At what point is something no longer a shortcut? Do you also consider the time it takes you to track, shoot, carry, & butcher an animal? Or do you take the shortcut of buying your meat? Do you grow your own wheat? Grind your own flour? Or are those shortcuts too?

This reminds me of a quote that's been around a while (about music production but perfectly analogous to cooking)

> I thought using loops was cheating, so I programmed my own using samples.

> I then thought using samples was cheating, so I recorded real drums.

> I then thought that programming it was cheating, so I learned to play drums for real.

> I then thought using bought drums was cheating, so I learned to make my own.

> I then thought using premade skins was cheating, so I killed a goat and skinned it.

> I then thought that that was cheating too, so I grew my own goat from a baby goat.

> I also think that is cheating, but I’m not sure where to go from here.

> I haven’t made any music lately, what with the goat farming and all.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#132

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

corinroyal wrote: post #125
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I've recently figured out that I've been looking at long cooking tasks wrong. Instead of blocking the whole time for that task I block out that time for another task and take breaks where I prep the next cooking step while the pot boils unattended. I had a big mental block on making sourdough starter, as it requires attention every day for three days, which I didn't figure I could manage. But now it's just something…

I noticed that’s something people don’t pick up on when they cook also, but some things really are all day affairs. Meaning my mom couldn’t leave the house for most of the day. Baking, certain stews, etc. function this way.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#134

Post by hamaluik »

dagw wrote: post #71
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…

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.

Have you checked out Adam Ragusea on YouTube? https://youtube.com/@aragusea

He continues on in a similar, if more modern, tradition as Alton Brown, I enjoy his videos and I have learned a lot from his videos.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#135

Post by pjmorris »

globular-toast wrote: post #14

Can't seem to read the article. Some JS crap is freezing the page and can't scroll down (Firefox). I've learnt lots from both books and videos. Being a "good cook" requires a few things: * Skill in common techniques, * Knowledge of ingredients, * Good tools, * Repertoire. Videos are great for learning techniques. I've got books that do an admirable job of teaching how to knead or whisk etc., but nothing beats seeing…

> Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking is a must-have.

I love McGee, but we only tend to pull it out when we have a history or science question, not so much when we're cooking.

A book we lean on heavily is 'The Flavor Profile Bible', Dornenberg and Page. The bulk of the book is an index of ingredients, listing ingredients/herbs/spices that pair well with each ingredient. We've profited from the videos mentioned here and we have our favorite cookbooks, but when we go to spice up the routine, this is the place we turn most often.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#136

Post by idontpost »

Spivak wrote: post #128
xormapmap wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> shortcuts like bagged premixed salad, bottled dressing ... At what point is something no longer a shortcut? Do you also consider the time it takes you to track, shoot, carry, & butcher an animal? Or do you take the shortcut of buying your meat? Do you grow your own wheat? Grind your own flour? Or are those shortcuts too?

No, obviously. Are you being deliberately obtuse or do you really not know what ingredients are considered culturally to be atomic and what is considered composite and therefore a shortcut? Like there is a floor and it's not very far down. * A cut of meat is atomic, that cut pre-marinated isn't. * Flour is atomic, a Jiffy box is composite. * Oil is atomic, bottled dressing is composite. * Potatoes are atomic, frozen…

[dead]

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#137

Post by freitzkriesler2 »

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…

I love serious eats. One of my favorite food blogs. Have yet to have a bad recipe from them.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#138

Post by eclipticplane »

theshrike79 wrote: post #60
throw0101a wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 recip…

America's Test Kitchen is the best there is, along with a few smaller independent-ish creators. I wish we had a similar system in Europe, especially for reviewing kitchen equipment.

Their equipment review posts and videos are a must-watch. Even if you don't end up picking the winner, they will point out the best/worst aspects of their winners and losers that almost certainly apply to the products you're looking at.

ATK is one of the few digital subscriptions I'm thrilled to pay for -- it pays for itself every year just in bad equipment purchases.

(E.g., knowing that their top picks for kitchen timers will last many years despite being twice the price as cheapo ones, or knowing that buying the cheap bamboo wooden spoons is actually preferable.)

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#139

Post by akavi »

Spivak wrote: post #123
episteme wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'm now realizing that I'm an elitist of a kind because when I say cooking I mean something totally different from "making something to eat" and more akin to dinner service. And that's what most of Alton's recipes are aimed at, not desperation dinners. And when you're doing this kind of thing for family dinner you and up using shortcuts like bagged premixed salad, bottled dressing, rolls from the bakery, premade dess…

What does "dinner service" mean to you?

I cook a fairly standard south Indian dinner of daal stew, rice + stir fried veggies a couple times a week in ~30-45 minutes of total work. Nothing preprocessed, premixed, or premade other than (and these are really stretching the definitions thereof):

* Asofoetida powder that's been preground and dried for me

* The rice has been polished and debran-ed (ie, turned into white rice)

* pressure cooked lentils (I make a big batch every weekend or so and freeze it into dinner sized portions)

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#140

Post by edgarvaldes »

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.

My wife is a great cook. Breakfast and dinner can be 20-40 minutes. But the main dish of the day (lunch) takes us between 45 and 120 minutes.
Post reply on HN