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Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

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Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#191

Post by afishisafish »

redhale wrote: post #163
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another YouTube cooking personality I really like is Internet Shaquille ( https://m.youtube.com/@internetshaquille ). His videos are very informationally dense without engaging in many of the typical YouTuber nonsense. And the ads are always at the end.

Yes, I love this guy's stuff. His style is very unique, expertly knowledgeable while still completely casual and humble. Like a very smart friend teaching you, rather than being in a class.

same category is French Guy Cooking (Alex)

Hacked his pyrolysis oven into a pizza oven (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJjr9lmUhZE)

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#192

Post by Bad_CRC »

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…

I got as a present a Star Wars themed cookbook and it's easier to thrown out the Empire than following some of the recipes.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#193

Post by dagw »

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…

And that's what most of Alton's recipes are aimed at, not desperation dinners.

It's admittedly been years since I last watched Good Eats, but that is not how I remember it all. Almost everything he demonstrated was just as applicable when throwing together a quick pasta dish as it is to making a full 7 course dinner.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#194

Post by Sander_Marechal »

brewdad wrote: post #172
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…

Find a life partner. One cooks the other cleans up. :) The clean as you go method works well with most recipes though. There are dishes that come together really quickly and you can’t walk away from or others that must be monitored constantly but most dishes have some downtime built in. Prepping all of your ingredients ahead of time makes a huge difference. I used to try and slice the veg for step 3 while step 2 was…

I really hate it when my wife cooks and she leaves me the kitchen looking like a bomb went off. And then I cook and I leave her maybe two pans and a knife.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#195

Post by Dowwie »

I can create delicious Korean recipes because of Maangchi. I can also create the perfect crispy breakfast potatoes because of J. Kenji Lopez Alt. Cooking videos gave me the confidence to try to replicate what is made. I never feel the same from cookbooks.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#196

Post by LeChuck »

corinroyal wrote: post #127
marginalia_nu wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 experimenta…

I found the flavor combinations and techniques easier to grasp than timing. That's what always gets me. Juggling two or three dishes with their own timing and requirements such that they all come out around the same time and one is not burning while stirring the other trips me up. After I practice a recipe a few times I get better at anticipating what it'll need when, but I'll never make the mistake again of cooking…

What works for me is figuring out which dishes (or partly completed dishes) can wait. Either on or off the flame. Most of the time only 1 or 2 dishes require exact timing. The rest can be (partially) prepared beforehand and reheated/finished at the end.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#197

Post by garof »

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.

Where Cooking Begins, by Carla Lalli Music. It's similar but less verbose than SFAH.

Re: Are cooking videos making us better cooks?

#199

Post by mbg721 »

darth_avocado wrote: post #149
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.

It really depends what you’re making. For example, some cuisines like asian food can take a very long time if you make it from scratch. Then there’s also a matter of balance, cooking a steak and sautéing some veggies can take minutes, at the same time if you’re trying to get a healthy balance of protein, carbs and veggies in all of your meals, then it can take forever unless you meal prep. An added component is how m…

I always thought of Asian food as being relatively quick to prepare--a stir-fry can be done in the half-hour it takes to cook a pot of rice. It really does depend on the dish.
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