food youtube channels that are not terrible

Where we try to forget about BATK and move on.

I like Chinese Cooking Demystified - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC54SLBnD5k5U3Q6N__UjbAw

Mostly:
Chef John http://www.youtube.com/c/foodwishes
Adam Ragusea http://www.youtube.com/user/aragusea
Kenji http://www.youtube.com/c/JKenjiLopezAlt
Pailin's Kitchen http://www.youtube.com/c/PailinsKitchen

I also enjoy a good Marco Pierre White stockpot how-to, but as has been said it's like being taught cooking by a retired Sith lord.

Kay's Cooking http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeKWgImK1RAD9IGjWZqxmIw

What?

Chef John seems to make interesting stuff but his prosody is extremely distracting. The uptalk!

Really liking J. Kenji, don’t know why he never showed up in our recs before since Babish mentions him on a regular basis

I’ve also been checking out What’s Eating Dan on the America’s Test Kitchen channel.

when i was young and impressionable, kenji taught me so much about cooking between his seriouseats articles and his book. i had to take a break from him b/c i found him to be one of the most insufferable twitter personas i had ever encountered. but the videos he's been doing under quarantine are excellent and remind me why i liked him in the first place.

I find Tiny Kitchen to be an incredibly powerful narcotic.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BCYSNL5P-1E

I’ve mentioned my appreciation for Mythical Kitchen as a cooking-adjacent improv comedy show on the BATK thread; I feel like Matty Matheson’s shows are almost in the same vein, although Matty is always making real food.

One thing I find interesting between these ostensible professionals is whether they add black pepper before cooking meat; some are like “don’t want any burnt pepper on your food” and yet many others just treat freshly ground pepper as an essential part of seasoning everything. I assume the real reason has nothing to do with “burnt pepper” and everything to do with best practices for working in busy professional kitchens, like a lot of the myths that Kenji Lopez-Alt and Alton Brown have busted over the years

Does anyone else do the POV approach like Kenji?

Not that I’ve seen. Part of why it works for him is that he goes so light on editing. I think for others that rely on heavier use of editing it could get really disorienting

kenji is the only one of these cooking show youtubers i like. also chef john but he's so oldschool that it doesn't feel right to lump him in with the others, totally different lane of appeal

i had to take a break from him b/c i found him to be one of the most insufferable twitter personas i had ever encountered.

he's even more insufferable IRL if you can believe that.

Here's something from left field you probably didn't expect to be recommended here:
Thu Tran's Food Party (no longer on YT, it got picked up by IFC)

https://www.ifc.com/shows/food-party

A kids' cooking show that's equal parts Amy Sedaris/David Lynch/Fort Thunder.

also chef john but he's so oldschool that it doesn't feel right to lump him in with the others, totally different lane of appeal

isn't that what this thread is for though? or do we need to start a different thread for non-terrible, uncool food youtubers?

i mean i think chef john is super cool in his own way but you know what i mean

oh no i wasn't saying he doesn't belong in this thread, just that he's not part of that current "scene" of youtube cooking personalities that seem to have overlapping followings

http://www.youtube.com/c/KabitasKitchen

Indian food and other things

(Kabita’s Kitchen)

he's even more insufferable IRL if you can believe that.

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, August 26, 2020 6:53 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh i can very much believe that

i def get a 'annoying redditor' vibe from him but his vids are too focused/streamlined for it to matter

i like this intentionally terrible guy more than babish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSR5RNqaJFk&list=PL803A87744721C14C

er...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSR5RNqaJFk&list=PL803A87744721C14C&index=59&t=0s

that’s pretty intentionally terrible!!

Practically unwatchable even!

How many channels has matty matheson been on? This guy’s everywhere

I didn’t know who that guy was until I saw his book. I immediately wanted to hurt him.

https://imgur.com/KHGkvqT.jpg

frightening

Matty is certainly an acquired taste. I’m extremely hesitant to try and diagnose where his shit comes from. I probably would have resented him greatly in high school.

If I had known Kenji in high school I probably would still strongly resent him today.

oh it was completely 100% based on the front cover photo

I like matty. Has that kind of off-putting energy that an addict in recovery can have,but seems genuine and good-hearted.

I forget not everyone has heard of him, guess he was canada-famous first

i had never heard of him and based on pictures i'm not exactly running to his content

I think the best introduction to mr matheson is probably trying out his newer content where he’s promoting his forthcoming HOME STYLE COOKERY book, when his kid joins him in the kitchen it’s actually cute plus the lol this guy’s a dad effect

I know it’s nowhere in the rules that you gotta eat how you cook on youtube, especially if your channel is mostly stunt cooking, but I feel like I lost a little respect for Mr Babish when I learned his regular diet was chicken salads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jAhGHxa3js

The Burger Show episode where Matty and Alvin compete at Babish’s house always kills me every time Matty chops into the carrot with that nice-looking knife

I used to work for MM before he was properly famous and seeing his face plastered everywhere fucking blows

(nothing substantive against him really, it was just a shitty time in my life)

"Action Bronson but worse" is a surprise celebrity turn

I haven't seen any of the content so I can't weigh in in that sense. But just imagine seeing your old boss from a really shit job pop up grinning in your youtube sidebar every day.

Babish is now the Babish Culinary Universe

We are LOVING Stump Sohla. I can’t wait to see what else they come up with now they have a full studio and crew.

(the latest one where she makes a 7 course tasting menu with only bodega ingredients was kind of a rerun of a bunch of Mythical Kitchen tricks)

(which is totally great actually)

not stating an opinion as to whether food52 is terrible or not terrible but i don't feel like working today and just refreshed my pie crust knowledge with this appropriately slow paced (v long) video. i have been improving over the past few years but i think i am brave enough to try mixing it by hand now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1fJ3GsmQBg

I’ve added Chilli Chump to my short list. He’s earnest and monomaniacal and that’s good enough for me.

Same for George Motz, the Burger Scholar, even though he sometimes gives me MAGA waves; maybe that’s just where he’s from.

I hope this livestream of sohla making thanksgiving food on babish lasts for a whole week

even though andrew keeps drinking blue moon which is just sad

this is just going to be the tombot talks about sohla thread

her one-handed boozy brunch today was very impressive and also made me miss going out for brunch, a lot

CLAIRE SAFFITZ IS BACK WITH A NEW CHANNEL

I dont know how OK people are with comedy cooking YTs but I love this guy (my partner HATES him fwiw).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwP6HyGavLs

That is fascinating. You seldom see it broken down that way.

She’s a really good writer

Yeah it really helps put it in perspective how even the biggest YouTubers with the possible exception of e.g. MrBeast are probably pinching pennies everywhere just like any small business

stevie otm, her voice really comes through.

$3500 seems excessive. More than excessive. I get that they're top quality, but maybe they didn't need to be. I doubt the relationships between money spent, video quality, and viewer engagement (i.e. ads served) are linear. To be fair, spending less would probably mean not employing four people per shoot which would mean doing more herself, and it seems like it's the workload as much as the money which did for her.

($3500 per video, that is)

the Country Life Vlog channel is incredible

xp $3500 as a break-even just comes off as wild. not a touring musician but that just genuinely made me curious what a "break-even" for a solo touring artist with a few crew would be.

Today’s offerings include the SYWGF podcast interviewing George Motz, Kevin Bacon on Last Meals, and Saquon Barkley on Hot Ones. My cup runneth over

I’m watching the staff of Sporked.com rate regional chips in a tournament bracket and I care about the results

Oooh I am interested in this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbOmNZBOlTg it’s over an hour though

This poor guy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2evcaW9ZTk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb7MfJ0x1pU

doing this recipe this weekend

This poor guy!
📹

i keep on thinking of the vlogger upthread who spent $3500 per vid. cue the dril candle tweet. however given that she previously used to be at bon appetit where i assume she got used to having professional production it makes sense to me that she'd want to fund that for her personal venture. so understandable. also good to throw some of that google ad money towards freelancers. but there are also so many channels that are have complete DIY aesthetics that have 1M+ subscribers.

ah well

it might be that she just wasn’t that good ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i liked the beans recipe that max read shared a few months ago but i struggled with her whole affect

I’m bored today and took time off from work to do something fun and social but those plans got overcome by events (OBE) so I am now waiting for a Sorted Food livestream to start.

The A Hot Dog Is A Sandwich podcast on Mythical Kitchen featured the founder of Milk Bar today and I am finding it very edifying. Recommended!

Today Matty Matheson made a Spice Bag

Sohla and Ham have their own channel!!! https://youtube.com/@sohlaandham?si=BuLh3FvFmvAX8NAx

This is fantastic news! They haven't been in my YouTube for far too long.

Love those two

Weird I only posted on here once, I watch nothing but food related YTs ha.

Sorted Food is great especially the "trying foods we dont know from random countries" bit where I like playing along to guess what theyre eating (they have suprising blind spots about a lot of SEA food that seems really common to me, but I guess thats a demographic thing). Not so much of a fan of their longer-form panicky "change stations" challenges and stuff.

Max Miller's Tasting History is great. Thanks to him I read the book all about the history of the biscuit! Cracking read if you're into that sort of thing.

Also a big fan of Lam Lim's Techniquely vlogs on America's Test Kitchen. She has foodie scientific rigour and a really calm and clear way of showing why things work the way they do that really helps make sense of some cooking techniques.

Other top mentions:
- James Hoffman's coffee videos
- How to Cook That by Anne Reardon (though she's fallen for the monification crap a bit too much in the last year)
- Andy Cooks (grizled ex chef NZer who flubs a lot and does good basics)

I tried some MPW but whats with his older-age whispery slowpseaking schtick? He never used to talk like this and I find it vaguely unsettling for some reason.

Ha! I also watch mostly food vids on YT but have not watched any of those (except for Andy Cooks, watched one on pizza by him where his female assistant came in and drank a massive glass of wine while he made super-average pizzas and it absolutely had no vibe), will investigate - thanks Trayce!

Yeah Andy's stuff is super-basic, but I like to watch him for cheffy technique. He's very bog-standard aus/nz foods though (spag bol, steaks, stir frys etc)

The Fallow channel is deservedly popular at the moment - lots of good, technique-focused stuff from the guys who run one of London’s most highly-regarded Modern British restaurants.

Middle Eats (husband and wife team doing a bunch of regional Arab cooking) is always good.

Probably more on the vibes-based, rather than practical, end of the spectrum but Life In Wetland is a nice Kerala-village-life-and-cooking channel.

Probably more on the vibes-based, rather than practical, end of the spectrum but Life In Wetland is a nice Kerala-village-life-and-cooking channel.

am 100% here for this, grew up round the corner from the sri krsna kerala resto in Tooting, still dream of their food

enjoying watching the new Alton Brown videos but unfortunately he reminds me of the abusive chef on The Bear

Ilona Maher’s Last Meals episode is GREAT

Josh has like an instant rapport with her and she’s awesome

Alton Brown has become pretty unhinged iirc

He’s awful! Was not a fan even back in the day, but now? No, no, no.

uh oh what did I miss

(the answer is "everything" because I've never read anything about the dude, but specifically it seems he did Something Bad?)

Very sketchy politics; racist/antisemitic comments, etc.

sigh. he did give off That Vibe.

glad that’s settled, time to get back on the thread topic tyvm everyone

to make up for my error, I offer Internet Shaquille. he's charming, gives crisp advice, and other than living in Phoenix seems non-problematic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Ao4uHUNGI

tombot are you no longer an Alton stan, honest Q

I hate his patronizing old wrong dad face. He is the uncle who cooks the bad burgers at the barbecue.

seriously his old recipes are wrong and his “science” was bullshit! Kenji might also be a pompous ass but at least he’s mostly right and not a wingnut

We are aligned on this!

Love Internet Shaquille, and also Kenji obvs. Love 2 watch a man with sky blue fingernails shakily make a grilled cheese at 3am with a headcam on, being monstered by his own dog. The best, no notes. This is television to me.

Sohla wrote an incredible piece about why she quit working for the NYT. I love her so much.

https://open.substack.com/pub/sohla/p/sorry-about-your-cookies

I’m watching James May, “Captain Slow” from Too Gear and current pub owner / gin entrepreneur, attempt Gordon Ramsay’s Beef Wellington

i like the "W2 Kitchen" guy and his overenthusiastic narration

Oh he’s good! Three episodes in and he’s already another fave. Definitely going to try his version of vegetarian mapo tofu

Bonus points for wearing a white dress shirt and no apron while cooking with chili oil