Bon Appetit Test Kitchen

I've been obsessed with these videos for about 18 months, ever since the one where Claire and Brad make sourdough bread. I love Brad's stoner metalhead vibe, and the way the editing makes subtle jibes at his expense, and Claire's laser-guided on-it-ness. But I love em all really, though I went off Claire slightly after the Creme Egg one, because a) she hates the filling but the filling is delicious, and b) she tried to make a custard for the filling when it is not a custard, which was making my partner literally scream on the sofa next to me. The "Making Perfect" on pizza was my favourite TV event of 2019.

I wrote a thing for the Guardian lasy year on these YouTube cookery stars and interviewed Claire, and she was awesome. She is clearly pretty freaked out about everything that has happened since they started doing these videos. I also interviewed Babish for the piece, who was an absolute sweetheart, really earnest and heartfelt, and Scott Weiner of Really Dough, who really loves pizza.

i tried to watch the garlic ginger paste video last night but they went waaaay too overboard on the frenetic/jokey editing on that one

I got hooked thanks to Carla, so I hope she gets a TV show out of this, if that's still a thing.

Also, I swear by BA's recipes. If I have ingredients I don't know what to do with, or am looking for a recipe for a certain dish, I always check them first. We get a lot of courgette in our veg delivery, and I've been doing their Summer Squash pasta recipe to use it up, and it is delicious. And I'll second the recommendation for Molly's Adult's Mac'n'Cheese. Often if I'm cooking alone in the kitchen, I'll whack one of their YouTubes on in the background, to keep me company.

Rick Martinez is aces too, <3 his nail polish. And Carla's great. She did a fantastic interview with Pamela Adlon on the podcast recently.

Loved Claire eating matzoh while also having clearly baked a giant pan of bread. It's rough for Jewish bakers.

Brad’s visit to Tillamook made us wish we got Tillamook ice cream here out east.

― El Tomboto, Saturday, April 4, 2020 12:27 AM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've seen it at the Social Safeway, and I think at the Cathedral Heights Giant.

Will keep an eye out! Thank you.

I've been into the videos (thanks to Tombot actually), but since lockdown we've actually started making a ton of the recipes, they've been great for inspiration. I think between my wife & I we've done:

-focaccia
-Earl Grey tea bread
-banana bread
-buckwheat chocolate chip cookies
-Tahini billionaire bars (with spicy additions)
-spaghetti al limone (except not spaghetti, and this has really changed our approach to pasta tbh, using parmesan + pasta water + lemon for a sauce rather than drowning it in red sauce, although that's still delicious too)
-sour cream biscuits
-galette (used the dough for a caramelized garlic tart from the Plenty book)
-maybe more things, it's all a blur of cooking and youtube

Probably going to make that souffled omelet again, gonna see if it comes out as well with one less egg

Watched the sandwich video, I'd like to make that grilled cheese w salsa.

I did end up making Molly's best chicken noodle soup. It was a perfectly fine chx soup but no more than that. It's in the freezer for future use. Also Molly's adult mac'n'cheese which I will def make again even with having to use gluten free pasta, which is not ideal. Idk what else to try next, I never did find the curry pastes I wanted, or olek sambal to make Chris' spicy pork noodles.

this is great
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/summer-squash-and-basil-pasta

as is this
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/creamy-pappardelle-with-leeks-and-bacon

and so is this
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/kale-minestrone-pistou

I liked the dill in molly's soup. Actually, I've been using dill more in general since I made that soup.

My wife made Gaby’s pantry sandwich yesterday, it got an excellent review

Gaby was the only one who used good bread.

We definitely make stuff like Rick's soup & sandwich all the time, although imagine having the sort of approach to life that lets you use a tablespoon of butter per side for a grilled cheese.

I cannot fucking abide the cutesy editing on this show. I nevertheless made the burnt cheesecake and am going to do the choco birthday cake next. But I shut the video off as soon as it gets too much and then just go to the print recipe on the website.

if I ever make recipes from bon appetite - which I do fairly often.- I do it from the text on the website. for me the video viewing is just background while pottering around the apartment or laying on the couch too tired to concentrate on reading or watching a film or whatever.

I think the website has a pretty good hit-rate but their recipes have definitely done me dirty on multiple occasions. recently i made this chickpea recipe quite faithfully https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/quite-possibly-the-best-chickpeas and it was bad

Try it with garbanzo beans

I also hold a grudge against BA for killing Gourmet, which was far superior imo

i've been trying since this thread made me aware of it but man i just can't vibe with this channel at all.

I cannot fucking abide the cutesy editing on this show

The editing differs pretty vastly based on whomst's show you're watching!

Loved all the praise for the humble potato on Claire's tater tots vid

Brad made a cameo with Mythical Chef Josh, the guy who makes all the strongo nuevo cuisine that Rhett and Link attempt to eat on the Good Mythical Morning channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FEHKH6cxko

Sohla’s hot dog tacos from the freezer recipes episode (the one that just came out like two hours ago) looked really good, and I’m not even into hot dogs.

Sohla is great.

I like sohla and Carla, I can't stand the one that has to Skype her parents (they're Indian!) in literally every video. I find most of the guys unbearable and self regarding. I watch these way too often because I have an insatiable appetite for cookery videos but my favourite of the slick glossy channels is the food 52 woman who does the genius recipes, the recipes and tips are often excellent despite her having a skin crawlingly awkward screen presence. in the earlier videos she used to always taste the recipes and then do this disturbingly quiet "mmm" that I think the producers have told her to stop doing because it creeped people out. I fully recommend Manjula (opposite of glossy!) as the best source of Indian food and also the "late night" recipes by Kenji Lopez alt (though he does them with a head camera that makes me feel properly seasick and I wish he wouldn't, on more than one occasion I've had to switch to a different tab and listen to avoid needing to lie down after).

Sohla has proven to be great in a whole other way today

the short version of what's going on rn: a brownface photo of Rapaport has emerged, Sohla is calling for not only his resignation but a sea change within Conde Nast's internal culture. gutsy as hell

Oh shiii is this on their yt or her own media? Hang on

she posted about it on her Insta story is what I see from a quick google

yup

Molly’s posted something too

Anyway here’s the og brownface tweet and endless reply thread

I do not know why Adam Rapoport simply doesn’t write about Puerto Rican food for @bonappetit himself!!! https://t.co/rW0k5tjMoS pic.twitter.com/odZnFLz2gd

— chez tammie (@tammieetc) June 8, 2020

short thread from Carla

As the former food director of BA, I didn't do enough to make sure we covered Black cuisine and Black chefs in particular, and BIPOC recipes in general. I accepted the brand's definition of what the "mainstream" food trends were. I spoke up... sometimes. I should have done more.

— carla lalli music (@lallimusic) June 8, 2020

Oh, thanks for the explanation. I kept seeing subtweets about "food media" and wasn't sure what it was all about.

I have subscribed to Bon Appetit for 5+ years, but have never really bothered with any of their video/Instagram content and don't really know much about the people who work there beyond their print bylines.

Sohla’s IG is here

AND she’s the only one who can temper chocolate 😍 pic.twitter.com/AocbaOz7Ao

— Miriam Bale (@mimbale) June 8, 2020

lol Miriam <3

rapoport resigned. conde nast denies only paying white editors for video appearances

solidarity gets the goods

It says something about the current moment that not even the hyper chil idyll of BA is immune. (a good thing!)

Idyll or no, it's ultimately a capitalist venture in America

absolutely

Seems like p much the whole team is in messaging lockstep

I can't wait for the anonymized Buzzfeed piece or whatever

Rapo has always seemed a dick tbh, and the vibe in the kitchen has never felt too warm towards him

What happened to the guy who used to film those "24 hours working in a NY deli/Vegas restaurant" videos?

rapoport resigned. conde nast denies only paying white editors for video appearances

― Rik Waller-Bridge (jim in vancouver), Monday, June 8, 2020 7:42 PM (yesterday)

i feel like what happened here is that bon appetit realized how white their video stars were and to get ahead of the backlash they started throwing brown ppl in front of the screen (it was very obvious when they started doing this) w/o ever getting around to compensating its employees for the increased responsibility (extremely common at all media companies)

or put another way... i feel like what she really meant to say was, "only the white staffers here have salaries that accurately reflect everything they are asked to do" (claire being one exception who is on a non salaried contract)

Yup.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer/bon-appetit-adam-rapoport-brown-face-racism

Last August, she was sent on assignment to Philadelphia, for a feature with three Black chefs, but because the publication "doesn't have a great history of working with Black chefs," the chefs asked to work with all Black staff, El-Waylly said.

"There was no one on the food team that was Black, so they sent me instead because I'm the darkest one," she said, adding that neither she nor the chefs were given a heads up about the situation. "I arrived and I wasn't Black, and it was very strange for everyone involved."

OH. MY. GOD.