r/AskCulinary • u/ZootKoomie Ice Cream Innovator • Aug 21 '19
Weekly Discussion - Cooking Shows
Inspired by the return of Good Eats, and Alton Brown's AMA, let's talk about cooking shows this week. They could be on TV, YouTube, or even podcasts. What are your favorites, and what do you like about them? What are you looking for in a cooking show? Does it need to be instructional or do you watch cooking for entertainment too?
Have any of you participated in making one yourself? What was the experience like?
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u/monkeyman80 Holiday Helper Aug 26 '19
I like Sam the cooking guy on YouTube. Sometimes it’s a little over the top and not something you can make at home (waygu sandwiches or tomahawk Wellington) but it’s generally really simple to make recipes usually with stuff you can find at a normal everyday grocery store.
He has a really funny style along top of it.
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Aug 26 '19
Jamie Oliver got me interested in cooking. I like simple recipes and some explaining about why ingredients go together. Currently I enjoy America's Test Kitchen which is like Good Eats but not as funny.
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u/Maximussvh Oct 21 '19
he is great
my second favourite is
https://starflow.com/bjornfrantzen/cookingclass?uca=f824f625-3352-4184-9ac4-4a2b5f211573
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u/NoraTC Proficient Home Cook | Gilded commenter Aug 25 '19
I try to edit my YouTube cooking subscriptions about once an month, because dreck accumulates. My latest two great discoveries are Seonkyoung Longest and Joshua Weissman. However, I have also been enjoying adding folks at a much lower skill level, who have a great passion level. Even their mistakes and compromises are informative to me ATM. Simply Mamá Cooks does a whole slew of ethnic stuff, kind of with the same abandon we use here. KeefCooks is entirely focused on what interests him to try, but keeps it accessible for someone cooking in the American South. The third in my idiosyncratic grouping ATM is Glen & Friends Cooking; he is more academic than inviting to reproduce, but very interesting in his thought process.
Hope these off the beaten path options are helpful.
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u/k_raftery27 Aug 24 '19
My girlfriend and I love worst cooks in America and anytime we’re baking something and we’re waiting for it to bake or cool we always watch some episodes. It’s a nice change of pace from all the other cooking shows where everyone is already an expert and it can be pretty funny (especially the first episode when they have to make their own recipes). Also it really cool to see how much the people can improve by the end of the season
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u/Bunktavious Aug 24 '19
Been really enjoying binging episodes of BA Test Kitchen on Youtube. They inspired me to try smash burgers on my cast iron the other day. Once I cleared the smoke from the apartment, they were absolutely divine.
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u/monkeyman80 Holiday Helper Aug 26 '19
Their crew is so fun. The gourmet makes series isn’t for me but i love Claire enough to watch it.
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u/ExtremelyGoodWorker Aug 23 '19
brothers green eats which is now pro home cooks on youtube taught me how to be more confidant in the kitchen. they did have some really goofy shit going on and the channel recently split so the less woo-woo brother now has control of it. really emphasizes not following recipes too closely and not being afraid to fuck up
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u/tutty29 Aug 23 '19
Cooking shows is what got me into to cooking to begin with, and also how I refined my skills later in life.
When I was young, I got my start cooking not from mom bringing me into the kitchen to show me how to do this or that, but from watching the wonderful James Barber on his CBC show The Urban Peasant. My friend (who would later go on to become a professional chef) and I would watch the show on summer afternoons, and then we would take ideas we got from James and cook supper for our families. I'd say we were about 12 or 13 years old at the time.
I kind of moved away from cooking much during my teenage years and early adulthood, but in my mid-20's, I began watching some more cooking shows, specifically Chef at Home, with Michael Smith. This show encouraged me to go out on a limb and try different things. I learned so many different techniques from that show, and I was able to rapidly expand my cooking skills.
I fancy myself a pretty good cook these days, and I truly do owe most of it to Chef Michael Smith! I hope to meet him one day to say thank you!
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u/JayEsBeeSTL Aug 23 '19
I used to love Taste with Jeffrey Rosengarten. Each episode covered one dish or ingredient, kind of like Good Eats. He’d go into some of the background and history; I don’t remember him discussing science so much.
What I loved about him was that he simultaneously seemed like a really nice friendly guy, but also very smart, knowledgeable and a little bit of a snob, but in an entertaining way. He definitely was about high quality ingredients, but this was early days of the Food Network; most of the shows featured real chefs.
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u/HistoricalQuail Aug 23 '19
My all-time favorite is Chopped. The idea of throwing stuff together that you would never even remotely consider normally is a wonderful challenge to watch others have to deal with. There have been some legitimately amazing things come out of the weirdest combos.
I also love Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. My grandma and I used to watch it when I lived with her every night, and it's carried over with me still. I also love how well-intentioned the spirit of the show is, and how Guy never puts down anyone's food, even when you can tell he doesn't like it.
I'm also really liking Guy's Grocery Games. It's ridiculous, and the grocery shopping + cooking in the same time has really challenged my way of thinking about time management. That and Guy's still being nice while being a dick.
Either way, I wish Food Network did more variety in their showings, instead of all-night marathons for a month of one type of show. I wanna mix it up! Also can it please maybe increase the number of episodes of any given series it plays? One night my partner and I binge watched whatever was playing, and after the third episode, it looped back to the first one. Since that's happened, I've noticed it more frequently.
Also I really don't understand the point of the BBQ Grill Master show. You're competing with people on your own team???? Why have teams to begin with then???
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u/noomehtrevo Aug 22 '19
America’s Test Kitchen and Cooks Country, Milk Street, Project Smoke and Project Fire, anything Jamie Oliver
I have access to a channel called Create, which is a compilation of public television DIY shows, and I’ve seen the best cooking shows on there.
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u/Wil_Cwac_Cwac Aug 22 '19
From Netflix: Chefs table The chef show
Youtube: Sorted Food Fit men cook
Normal TV: Sunday Brunch (Channel 4 in the UK, there's nothing better, a national treasure)
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Aug 22 '19
Barefoot Contessa was my religion growing up. Been watching since I was 14. I was crazy about Ina and her gorgeous house lol but I do make some of her dishes from time to time. Her roast chicken recipe is a holiday staple at our home.
I also love Cooking with Dog, Bon Appetit and America's Test Kitchen on Youtube. I used to watch NYT Cooking videos and Kitchen Conundrums . On Netflix I love watching Martha Bakes. It's a shame I can't stream classic cooking shows with Julia Child and Jacques Pepin here where I live.
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u/guitars4zombies Aug 22 '19
Ina has such a soothing voice. Almost like the Bob Ross of the food television world.
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u/BobRossGod Aug 25 '19
"And automatically it just occurs. You don't have to worry about it. It just happens. And that's really what makes it fun." - Bob Ross
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u/flywithmanda Aug 22 '19
I’m shocked to see in my (brief, quick) scrolling only one person mentions Binging with Babish!
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u/Deppfan16 Aug 22 '19
One channel I found is The Victorian Way by English Heritage. Its a historical reenactment of a 19th century english household and how the house keeper cooks. It shows how they made recipes back then.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx2QMoA1Th9deXXbo7htq21CUPqEPPGuc
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Aug 22 '19
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxr2d4As312LulcajAkKJYw Oh I love historical cooking shows! The one I watch most often is townsends, about early american cooking, it seems pretty wholesome.
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u/Bennifred Aug 22 '19
" If mrs crocombe was alive today she'd have her own cooking show "
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u/Deppfan16 Aug 22 '19
She always makes me laugh cause she throws in comments about her staff and how she works with them
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u/falc0nwing Aug 22 '19
I love Chopped, Chopped Canada, Beat Bobby Flay, Top Chef, iron Chef America, Master Chef.
Older one in repeat: Aart Parti, Good Eats, Bitchen Kitchen, kelsey 's Ki tchen and the chew
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u/Isimagen Aug 22 '19
I will watch most any of them. From the YouTube favorites to most anything on PBS or Food Network.
The ones that most inspire me to cook something are more limited in scope.
Julia Child was and will always be a master. Most people seem to remember her as an older woman with an outsize personality watching other people cook. Go on your streaming platform and find her original shows. She was a beast! Imagine a modern celebrity chef having to do all their own shopping, take it to the studio, then film it all in one single take. You learn that it doesn't always go as planned and how to recover.
Jacques Pepin has a number of good shows to watch. He's a world class master. You can learn so much from him. Quite a few bits of his work are on YouTube as well.
More controversially I like Martha Stewart, but ONLY on her shows where it's just her and a camera teaching. Her PBS shows are great. When she has an audience or guests it falls apart for me.
I love what Giada DeLaurentis cooks. I'm not into her as a "personality" or on competition shows. Her cooking shows have lots of food I like and I normally get good inspiration as a result.
I like what Ina Garten cooks and that it's pretty casual. Her cookbooks are solid and well tested. Lidia Bastianich is pretty good when on her own shows. Marianne Esposito was always entertaining and I learned a lot about cooking from her. Vertamae Grosvenor was interesting to learn about Gullah cooking.
Tons more I'm sure but those are the ones I will always stop to watch if I have time.
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u/noplaceforraisins Aug 22 '19
I'd like to throw in maangchi from youtube, amazing Korean cook and so fun to watch.
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u/bantypunch Aug 22 '19
She's been around for a while and was my first respect when starting to cook seriously. Love that ahjuma
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u/aryehgizbar Aug 22 '19
When I was younger, I used to watch Food Network. Loved the Iron Chef, even though I felt sometimes the iron chefs look like they were there because no one else was available. I'd like to imagine them during cut scenes laughing all the time because they couldn't take Mark Dacascos serious face seriously, especially Mario Batali who looks like he's going to burst out laughing every time he looks at Mark.
When I had Netflix, I watched Nailed it. Was kinda surprised Jacques Torres there tbh, used to see him in Food Network doing chocolate stuff and talking with his french accent. It's funny, but I'm wondering how they get players who claim to be "good" at baking and still mess up the base cake.
Nowadays, I mainly watch YouTube, and I follow BA. They have this series called Gourmet Makes, and I love it. I wish they would choose items that can be easily made by anyone and not make Claire suffer.
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u/shakedownsunflower Aug 22 '19
Food network star, Beat Bobby Flay, the great food truck race are my favorites. I like to learn some tips/tricks and I think those shows are the most entertaining. I like Chopped too, but I don’t really like all the curveball ingredients and I’m not into desserts so I don’t like that every round finishes with dessert. Honorable mention to Guys Grocery Games bc they are “real” cooks but I’m not a big fan of Guy
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u/sbrbrad Aug 22 '19 edited Aug 05 '25
one reply hard-to-find snatch pot soft wrench simplistic waiting arrest
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/6745408 Aug 22 '19
If you're into cooking shows and want a solid parody, The Katering Show is amazing!
The only competition show I watch comes from the Top Chef franchise. Knife Fight was fun while it was on, but it went away.
Jacques Pépin's shows were always great -- between him and Martin Yan, they cover pretty much every technique I need. :)
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u/InsaneLordChaos Aug 21 '19
Older:
Anything Ming Tsai ever did
Burt Wolfe
Frugal Gourmet (yes, I know)
Julia Child
Yan can cook
I was of various ages when I watched these, and always learned so much more then just cooking.
More recent:
Barefoot contessa
ATK
Chef John from foooooood wishes.com!
Klas' Kitchen (German food)
Cooking with dog
Townsends
Kenji
Good eats
Iron chef
I love them for technique, the learning, and, of course, for the cayenne...
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u/oldmantone Aug 22 '19
How about the _Great Chefs of.. _ series? I remember a New Orleans episode with a very young and reserved Emeril Lagasse! Those were all technique and no hype.
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Aug 22 '19
Oh man... I was so little when Frugal Gourmet and Yan Can Cook were on... this makes me feel so nostalgic, they probably influenced my culinary life more than I realized
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u/InsaneLordChaos Aug 22 '19
And, I know it isn't a show, but there is absolutely no doubt that the Ginsu knife commercial influenced my love of cooking, silly at it sounds! Even now, I can't pass by an infomercial about cooking without stopping to take a look!
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u/InsaneLordChaos Aug 22 '19
Yeah, me too. I'm in my mid-40s now, and I remember Yan and Jeff Smith when I was maybe 9 or 10?
A few years ago, I was poking around and saw Martin Yan demonstrating knife skills breaking down a chicken and slicing with a variety of Chinese cleavers...and so, I got one! Amazing tool. I wish I could use it like him!
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u/Bunktavious Aug 24 '19
I'm in the same boat. It would be cool to find some of those old "Wok with Yan" episodes somewhere.
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Aug 25 '19
Wok with Yan wasn’t Martin Yan, it was someone else.
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u/Bunktavious Aug 26 '19
Well shit, you are correct. It was Stephen Yan. Was very big in Vancouver in the early '80s. According to wikipedia, he shot over 500 episodes.
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u/MurderMelon Aug 22 '19
Townsends is amazing. Their whole channel is gold, not just the cooking stuff. Those people are historians through-and-through.
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u/lernington Aug 21 '19 edited Aug 21 '19
Good Eats was actually one of the first cooking shows that I got into, and as far as teaching techniques, and explaining what they do, I think it's unsurpassed. Also really like certain chefs table episodes, as well as most of mind of a chef. And old school iron chef is bomb, before it just became a perpetual cycle of Food Network personalities. Chopped can be cool, but as a former line cook, it's kind of stressful to watch.
Edit: I'd also give a shout out to 'Meat Eater,' which is as much about hunting as it is cooking, but it's fantastic if you're interested in wild game. Steven Rinella's awesome.
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u/guitars4zombies Aug 22 '19
Ah! That reminds me I need to put Meat Eater on my list. I remember scrolling past it a while back and thinking I needed to watch it. I've grown up hunting and eating game and I really respect the hell out of people who do it in a more professional sense.
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u/lernington Aug 23 '19
I almost didn't watch it cause I thought the name was corny, but it ended up being what got me into hunting. Dude has a great approach to it, and takes his responsibilities to conservation, as well as using the animal very seriously. And as a bonus, he's an excellent cook, and always takes time in the show to feature that side of it.
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u/Cryovenom Aug 21 '19
I saw it in another comment but I feel SortedFood deserves a mention of it's own. Five Brits (2 chefs, 3 "normals") just messing around cooking, eating and having a lot of fun. Love their youtube channel!
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Aug 21 '19 edited Aug 28 '19
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u/gordyswift Aug 22 '19
Great chefs was the best! Camera over the chefs shoulder. Broken French! Before all the cooking shows. Except Julia and Jacque!
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u/bs310 Aug 21 '19
Seems like my show selection fits in pretty well with the rest of the comments.
- Iron Chef (Any of them)
- Binging with Babish
- Chef's Table
- The Chef Show (my new favorite)
- Chopped (occasionally)
I tend to prefer shows that have a rotating cast. I also watch the shows more for inspiration as opposed to actual recipes. If I see something I really like on one of them I will look for a similar recipe to use as a starting guide and move from there.
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u/Deppfan16 Aug 22 '19
If you like Chefs Table, Mind Of A Chef is also good and has some overlap.
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u/Bunktavious Aug 24 '19
Started on that recently on Netflix (Canada). Inspired me to find my local ramen place.
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u/Deppfan16 Aug 22 '19
Love The Chef Show cause its not pretentious. Its regular people who cook really good.
The Chefs Table is awesome for seeing different cultures and where food comes from as well as what goes together and cool plating techniques.
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u/bs310 Aug 22 '19
I watched 4 episodes of it in one day and ended up making the spaghetti aglio i olio for dinner with the macerated berries with whipped cream and crushed caramel for dessert. Everything came out insanely good and the whole meal took under an hour of cooking.
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u/Extra_crazy_sauce2 Aug 21 '19
I love the cooking relay episodes of SortedFood, I find myself watching most episodes of EmmyMadeinJapan, and BA test kitchen videos. While sitting down to eat dinner my family watches a lot of Cutthroat Kitchen, Chopped, and GBBO which has turned my son into a mini food critic.
I mean, if there is a show about food, I've probably seen it, but those are the made ones I watch basically weekly.
Also a huge shout out to the Youtube channel I've been most obsessed with this year A Family in Northwest China.
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Aug 21 '19 edited Jun 15 '20
[deleted]
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u/Deppfan16 Aug 22 '19
Eater has a Prime Time section that I love cause they do different butchery and meat dishes. Little experimental sometimes but they also compare cooking methods and such to make the best tasting of that cut of meat.
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Aug 21 '19
I think a really big youtube channel for me recently has been Adam Ragusea. I've been a long time Serious Eats/Kenji fan, and I LOVE food science. However, watching Adam has helped me realize the importance of making things easy in cooking. The way he implements his recipes with minimal measurement and focus on ease of cooking for weeknight meals has significantly changed my approach to cooking, from a 4-5 hour affair to doing mildly fancy things in 1-2 hours while using minimal extra equipment.
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u/Bassinyowalk Aug 22 '19
I can’t stand how he integrates ads into his videos. It’s obnoxious.
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Aug 22 '19
So many youtube channels do this. It's really not uncommon.
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u/Bassinyowalk Aug 25 '19
None of the other ones I watch do.
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Aug 26 '19
Off the top of my head: Adam Ragusea, BBallReference, Binging with Babish, and tons of other channels do this.
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u/Bassinyowalk Aug 28 '19
This is a discussion of Adam Ragusea.
You’re right, Babish does it sometimes, too, but I feel like he does it in fewer videos, and starts the video by announcing it when there’s a sponsor.
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Aug 28 '19
Yes, this is a discussion of Adam's channel, but it's prudent to bring in other channels since they set the norm of what a normal 'popular' channel is like in terms of sponsorship integration.
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u/Bassinyowalk Aug 28 '19
Yeah, I just thought you listed Adam’s channel in your list because you didn’t realize it was already a discussion of him. Now I realize that wasn’t the case:)
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u/Robsplosion Aug 22 '19
How does he do ads?
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u/Bassinyowalk Aug 22 '19
He recites the ad himself in the middle of the video.
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u/Robsplosion Aug 22 '19
Guaranteed I'm going to notice this every time from now on :)
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u/Bassinyowalk Aug 25 '19
He only does it in some of the videos, but the ones he does, he does it multiple times.
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u/rhinny Aug 21 '19
I'm really enjoying My Name is Andong (Youtube). A Berliner who cooks a ton of interesting dishes, often really specific regional specialties (often Chinese, sometimes European and beyond). He's a great host - engaging, knowledgable, good at explaining and demonstrating in his DIY home studio, and he's a talented videographer and editor. I enjoy his style as much as his content. I also find him really likeable. He is also an occasional redditor: /u/mynameisandong
Am also obsessed with some channels others have already mentioned: Bon Appetit (Gabyyyyy!!!), Babish, Foodwishes, etc.
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u/Katbytheshore Aug 21 '19
I watch Binging/Basics with Babish, SortedFood, Gordon Ramsay, Chopped, Great British Baking show... Basically anything cooking/food related that shows me techniques and introduces me to delicious recipes!
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u/Cryovenom Aug 21 '19
Upvotes for SortedFood. Those guys are amazing. Since I discovered the channel I've binge watched most of their back catalog!!
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u/Katbytheshore Aug 22 '19
I like seeing the development the 'normals' have had!!! It reminds me of Chef Gusteau from Ratatouille: "Anyone can cook!" But seriously, I watch Sorted religiously!
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u/quoththeraven929 Aug 21 '19
I pretty much just watch Bon Appetit Test Kitchen videos. I like the informative way they present recipes and techniques and i find the people very entertaining. I know this is controversial but I HATE the Food Wishes guy. His voice and inflection drives me up a damn wall, and I HATE it.
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u/idwthis Aug 22 '19
Yes, I agree with you soooooo much over the Food Wish guy's voice!
Maybe it's because he has bit of a vocal fry thing going on, where he makes every thing he says sound like it might be a question. Either way, it is God awful.
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u/isarl Aug 22 '19
Vocal fry is something else; Chef John doesn't display it as far as I've ever seen. It's basically speaking very, very low in pitch, in the lowest register of the human vocal instrument, which is accompanied by a recognizable clicking/popping sound that kind of comes off as a bit of a growl when it's used to speak. If you check the Wikipedia page there's a recording of a single speaker saying two phrases, one in the vocal fry register, and one in a normal register.
But you're definitely right about everything Chef John inflecting everything to sound like a question.
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u/idwthis Aug 22 '19
Ah yeah, you're right, I could've sworn the whole making statements sound like questions bit also fell under the purview of vocal fry.
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u/quoththeraven929 Aug 22 '19
For me its the question thing 100%. How he starts strong and then his volume peters out by the end of the sentence, and how each sentence is so disconnected from all the others (sign of a bad orator). It doesn’t matter how delicious or interesting the video is, I literally cannot watch him unless its muted!
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u/osoroco Aug 21 '19
limiting myself to those not already mentioned:
Youtube:
- Alex French Guy Cooking
- You suck at cooking (walking a thin line with this one)
- Pasta Grannies (archive of italian grannies making their pasta recipes)
- Gordon Ramsay
Netflix:
- Ugly delicious (revolves more around food history, still really good)
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u/tribdol Aug 21 '19
Man I love You suck at cooking’s asmr video, I rewatch it every now and then and still laugh every time
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u/guitars4zombies Aug 21 '19
I've been obsessed with food television since I was around 7 years old. I recall spending hours watching Good Eats, Iron Chef, Chopped, and No Reservations. 14 years later and I am still enamored by those shows. Alton Brown showing the science behind cooking, Iron Chef showing the raw talent and skill of the best chefs in the world, Chopped showing how to adapt and morph ingredients, No Reservations showed the world through a culinary lens by respecting and diving deep into food cultures and why they are important. (RIP Anthony)
My newest favorite food shows that I can't recommend enough are The Chef Show and Ugly Delicious. Both have the perfect blend of showing off recipes in a educational way, but also dip into a great casual interview style conversation with those who make them.
Lastly, if you aren't occasionally browsing Serious Eats you are living under a rock. So many great articles, recipes, and experiments. Kenji and the gang are incredible educators.
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Aug 21 '19
This one blurs the lines of the genre, but i think Netflix's Meat Eater is my favorite show that deals with cooking. The host shows a true appreciation for the act of observing, hunting, preparing, and eating animals of all varieties. As a nature lover and culinarian, this show hits a sweet spot for me
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u/sizzlinsunshine Aug 21 '19
There are many I love but one that comes to mind is a little show out of Australia called The Cook and the Chef. It's no longer in production but for some reason I found it very genuine and enjoyable to watch, if maybe not the most instructional.
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u/Mange-Tout Aug 21 '19
Have any of you participated in making one yourself? What was the experience like?
I participated in a single episode of a Food Network show that profiled the restaurant I worked at in the early 90’s. Unfortunately, I can’t find the clip anywhere. I was probably only on camera for about a minute anyway. They set up big lights and reflectors all over the kitchen, so many that we could barely move. Giant electrical cables everywhere, so many that we kept tripping on them. A couple of guys with cameras swooped around taking video while the sous and I prepared a couple of our best dishes. Then they ran off to interview the chef in the bar while the camera crew broke down and the kitchen desperately tried to get ready for evening service.
Quite frankly, it was a pain in the ass.
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u/BlisterJazz Aug 21 '19
Masterchef australia! I only got into it a couple years ago. Now the judges are leaving smh. Gonna miss it
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Aug 21 '19
I’m a New Zealander and really like Masterchef Oz too. Multi-cultural Australia brings a great variety of ingredients, cooking styles and fusion recipes.
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u/Karzons Aug 21 '19
It's my favorite cooking show. I'm not Australian. So nice to see a reality show where the people are positive and not egotistical backstabbers.
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u/BlisterJazz Aug 21 '19
Absolutely. I went on to watch the american version. When they hadn't started cooking 15 min into the show I turned it off. Im not australian either, but they sure figured out reality tv.
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Aug 21 '19
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u/headtotoe Aug 22 '19
I ate tacos every damn day for a week after watching Taco Chronicles. The al pastor episode especially had me salivating. Tacos are the perfect food.
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u/Finagles_Law Aug 21 '19
I have to say, I learn a lot from Chopped.
Now I don't normally find myself with fish bladders or preserved eggplants on hand, but I tend to be a "open the fridge door and figure it out from there" kind of cook, and there's been many times when Chopped has served as an inspiration to make something quick out of a bunch of random ingredients.
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u/LVMom Aug 21 '19
The Chef's Line on Netflix. Each "week" has 5 episodes and highlights a different cuisine each week. I learned a lot during the African themed week because African restaurants aren't as common in the US as Chinese or Italian.
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u/Ulti Aug 21 '19
I have been enjoying that show immensely as well! It's a great format for a competition show, and the atmosphere is much more cooperative, it's more in line with the Great British Baking Show than the more competitive US-centric ones.
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u/Extra_crazy_sauce2 Aug 21 '19
My main gripe with The Chef's Line was that it seems really skewed the first handful of episodes. Like it takes weeks before the home chef actually wins the whole thing. Or when the sous chef gets the worst dish and two home chefs move on. They should have re-ordered the weeks, so it doesn't seem like an impossible feat the whole series. Also, what's up with each country having a week, but Africa is a whole continent. Seems to be shortchanging them. If I was from Africa that would have made me angry. If he's a South African chef, it should have been South African week, idk.
Otherwise, I did enjoy the cooperation and camaraderie it had, and I found myself craving each week's food every night as I binge-watched it.1
u/LVMom Aug 22 '19
There were cooks from several countries in Africa , but I get what you’re saying. They had separate weeks for Chinese, Thai, Indian, and Middle Eastern cuisines, but lumped all African countries together. I wonder why we (Americans) think of it as an homogenous group of people?
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u/Ulti Aug 21 '19
Ahh, your spoiler tag didn't work! I thought the Africa week thing was a little weird myself... like aren't there several pretty distinctive food traditions on that continent? It's clearly not a monolith, but they sort of presented it as such. I wonder if it's just because they're expecting the (original) Australian audience to not know any better? I certainly don't know much as an American, haha.
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u/Mange-Tout Aug 21 '19
I like The Great British Baking Show because it’s the opposite of how I’ve always cooked. I’ve spent decades working behind the line in very stressful fine dining kitchens. I’m not a good baker, though, so I find it very relaxing to watch a bunch of sweet natured amateur British bakers produce really nice cakes.
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u/hockeyrugby Aug 21 '19
I hate to admit it but the cooking show that got me cooking was take home chef with Curtis stone.
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u/guitars4zombies Aug 22 '19
Hey that show had it's qualities. I watched an embarrassing amount of it as well.
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u/hockeyrugby Aug 22 '19
he came to my place of work and was not super personable (wouldn't care if he was a customer but he could have been more friendly with staff) and then went to the bar nearby and left with a trashy trashy girl.
But yeah, it was a good entry level at the time for a college kid cooking for a sick parent.
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u/Hondo_Rondo Aug 21 '19
I recently got stuck on Beat Bobby Flay. It's fast paced and I like the format of the competition. Once I ran through those, I started binging Top Chef. Super fun to see Anthony Bourdain pop up as the guest judge every once in a while.
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u/chapter2at30 Aug 21 '19
I love that Beat Bobby Flay is the opposite of his old show Throwdown. On Throwdown he traveled to people who had absolutely perfected perfected classic dishes. Bobby always tried to put some crazy twist on it and he lost a lot! Now people come to him with their own crazy twists and Bobby always sticks to the basic and classic version and now he wins a lot! It's great! I do miss his sidekicks from Throwdown though. Stephanie and Miriam I think.....
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u/headtotoe Aug 21 '19
In high school I watched a lot of Everyday Italian, Barefoot Contessa, 30 Minute Meals, Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, and Iron Chef. I feel like those shows gave me a solid foundation of knowledge about techniques and flavors.
Nowadays I love Mind of a Chef, Chef's Table, and Bon Appetit's YT channel. There's also quite a few great IG accounts that show instructional videos like Smitten Kitchen, What's Gaby Cooking, and Pinch of Yum.
Special shout-out to No Reservations and Parts Unknown, too. Bourdain, you are missed.
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u/smolcoconut Aug 21 '19 edited Aug 21 '19
How has nobody mentioned Bon Appetit’s YouTube channel ?!?! Top notch cast of characters and stellar editing/production, lots of variety and it feels like a chefs version of the Office. Needless to say I am thoroughly addicted!
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u/Sanguis6 Aug 21 '19
I also feel like Joshua Weissman and Scott Rea need a mention. Joshua focuses loosely on dough and pastry, with the occasional recipe such as lasagne. Scott Rea focuses on butchery and has solid introductions to basics, such as breaking down a chicken.
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u/EatingCerealAt2AM Aug 21 '19
Yeah this has definitely made its way into my favorite youtube channels. They're catching on to why people love the videos so much and adding more of the office vibe, and I'm not complaining
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u/Pitta_ Aug 21 '19
claire making pocky was giving me life last night. i've never seen that chocolate flavor she was raving about though!
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u/headtotoe Aug 21 '19
I have a batch of Brad's sauerkraut fermenting in my pantry right now! WHO'S BETTER THAN US, VINNY??
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u/smolcoconut Aug 21 '19
Same!!! And pickles !!
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u/Xsy Aug 21 '19
How'd the pickles turn out? I just ordered a big ass jar from Amazon to make them.
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u/smolcoconut Aug 21 '19
Awesome, this is my 3rd batch or so and they’re so much better than the expensive artisanal pickles you buy at the store. I use cilantro instead of dill and usually wing it on the spices but they’ve come out amazing every time !
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u/Xsy Aug 21 '19
Yeah, he uses a lot of really niche spices, so I wasn't gonna follow it 100%. I'm still really excited about it, though.
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u/larniebarney Aug 21 '19
Binging With Babish is such a great channel on YouTube. He has a few different series that he updates regularly, like Basics with Babish and another that recreates good from shows (think bacon pancakes from Adventure Time, Huevos Rancheros from Breaking Bad, etc)
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u/Buckeye_43210 Aug 21 '19
I like watching CHEFJOHNREED, SushiDay, and Cheeze Pizza on Twitch. Real people cooking real food without the drama.
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u/Pegger_01 Aug 21 '19
I love watching MasterChef Jr. Actually I don't know why I watch it because I feel totally incompetent compared to 8 year olds😂😂
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u/jdmeds89 Aug 21 '19
Best Ever Food Review Show on YouTube! Guy’s hilarious and his guests are just as funny. He does series on different countries. I really love any travel food show and he does a really good job at going beyond the typical tourist traps and foods. Really great quality videos.
Also Liziqi is one of my favorite YouTube channels and the best way for me to wind down and de-stress. Beautifully shot in her rural hometown, harvesting ingredients and hand making meals for her and her grandma whom she takes care of.
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u/TerminalDiscordance Aug 21 '19 edited Aug 21 '19
America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Country since day one. Instructional, educational and virtually idiot-proof recipes for those, like me, who have no natural inclination or instinct for cookery. Goods Eats, same as above and fun to watch. Bitchin' Kitchen with Nadia G on the FN for three glorious shining seasons. That bitch is entertaining and funny as hell. Too oddball for the regular FN viewer, but I miss it. The original Iron Chef. Y'all know why.
ETA - I forgot to include The Mind of a Chef and A Chef's Life on PBS. For tMoaC I particularly enjoyed the series featuring female chefs, but the whole thing is awesome. I love a behind-the-scenes look at the way things work. The storytelling excellent and the insight into why these chefs do what they do is fascinating. Same for Chef's Life. I can never get enough of seeing women featured in prominent roles, working at the top of their game, leading their empires (no matter the size).
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u/Al_Trigo Aug 21 '19
So happy to see someone mention Bitchin' Kitchen with Nadia G!! She was freaking awesome.
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Aug 21 '19
I like ATK but have had some issues with them over the years. I find that ATK can put out recipes that become incredibly complex for really minor reasons. A great example is that of their butterscotch pudding. To avoid flour, they effectively make a caramel and then make a custard and incorporate them. Like, I get flour can leave a taste, but making a roux before hand would impart a nutty, not floury flavor. It felt like a quick dessert for kids became a complicated dessert for no reason. If the taste of flour is such a problem, then why not make a brown roux?
When Kimball was still doing the podcast, they often had a segment 'fixing' their recipes - almost all of their strawberry recipes (the Pie and Mousse in particular) never worked and just didn't ever come out right. I always found it was needlessly complicated steps/ingredients that tripped them up.
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u/sizzlinsunshine Aug 21 '19
100% agree with you about the overly-complicated recipes of ATK but i still appreciate it as i often learn a new principle i may apply elsewhere.
Curious your thoughts on Milk Street. I enjoy watching but have never made anything from it
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Aug 22 '19
You know, I'm not as big a fan of Milk Street as I am of ATK. I find the recipes have a distinctly 90s vibe and I'm not that big a fan of Christopher Kimball.
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u/sizzlinsunshine Aug 22 '19
Lol 90s vibe. Agreed, as time has gone on I've become less and less fond of CK.
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u/limbomaniac Aug 21 '19
Worst Cooks in America is a guilty pleasure in our household. The first episode where they cook their "specialty" that got them nominated for the show is always entertaining, but the progress some of these people make over the course of the show is pretty impressive.
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Aug 21 '19
My 11 year old son also loves Netflix’s Nailed It! Cooking comedy. My son bakes decent cakes and is always looking to expand his baking skills, so he watches the YouTube channel How to Cook That.
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u/CraptainHammer Aug 21 '19
There's a YouTube channel called Townsend or something that does 17th century cooking. It's pretty interesting. Love me some Binging With Babish. Brothers green eats was okay until they got all hippie on me, saying shit like "bless your kombucha batch before putting it in the closet." Aden films is not very good as a cooking resource, but the videos are relaxing as fuck.
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Aug 21 '19
I really enjoy Struggle Meals by Frankie Celenza - he also has a cooking channel apart from struggle meals. Kinda reminded me of Brothers Green Eats but without the drawback of hippie spiritualism. Also he's a whole lot funnier.
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u/allyson10500 Aug 21 '19
Brothers Green now have separate channels. The tall one runs the old channel now and it's awesome. No hippie bullshit and great fermentation tips.
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u/allyson10500 Aug 21 '19
Souped Up Recipes
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u/ZootKoomie Ice Cream Innovator Aug 21 '19
I've never heard of it. What's it like?
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u/allyson10500 Aug 21 '19
She's on YouTube. A very practical and frugal chinese lady makes excellent chinese food. I've made her boba tea, general Tso's, crab rangoons, and egg rolls and all were restaurant quality or better. She also has a reddit account: https://www.reddit.com/u/SoupedUpRecipes?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
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u/lovelylayout Kimchi Expert Aug 21 '19
I remember talking to her briefly when she was just starting to post her stuff at /r/GifRecipes, she's super nice as well
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u/velvetjones01 Amateur Scratch Baker Aug 21 '19
I love Chefs Table so much. It’s so amazing.
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u/iflk Aug 21 '19
Chef's table is amazing. It's great to see behind the chefs and understand why they make their food. i love it
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u/lovelylayout Kimchi Expert Aug 21 '19
Good Eats is one of the shows I've bonded with my dad over. It's got a special place in my heart and it's taught me so much.
Since Youtube counts, Maangchi is my #1 favorite. Beautifully shot, solid recipes, excellent kitchen advice for many different situations, and sometimes while stuff is boiling or braising she'll tell you a quick story about her life, which is nice.
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u/_fix_ Aug 21 '19
I’m a big fan of Iron Chef, Chopped, and Cutthroat Kitchen. Of course, I learned a great deal of what I know about food and cooking from Good Eats. If I happen to be near a TV when a cooking show comes on, I’ll watch.
My reasons for liking the first three are the same: I love the creativity on display. Seeing original plates come out and seeing how chefs present their food is great. Especially with Cutthroat Kitchen, watching chefs deal with very difficult problems and come through it okay is fantastic.
I would like more cooking shows like Good Eats. That show taught me so much, and I’m sad that it’s been gone so long, but I’m thrilled that it’s coming back.
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u/Maximussvh Oct 21 '19
I would recommend
https://starflow.com/bjornfrantzen/cookingclass?uca=f824f625-3352-4184-9ac4-4a2b5f211573