food youtube channels that are not terrible

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

Meyhem Lauren is my new favorite youtube chef (he’s on the munchies channel which is overall hit-or-miss)

Oh wait he has his own channel!!! YAY

omg his shirts. where does he get his clothes

my parents and i watch country life vlog religiously, in which an azerbaijani woman (turkic likely?) who lives on a farm makes traditional dishes using early 20th century techniques. often her husband helps her, her mom usually watches from the side and sometimes her children visit from the city. she always leaves a plate or two out for the ppl behind the camera. the dishes are similar enough to the persian / turkish / georgian food i grew up with to be recognizable but also different enough to provoke curiosity and conversation. there is no narration or dialogue, unless you count the times when grandma is facetiming relatives or begins to reminisce and ramble on about who knows what

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCIix6MklfJ

guess that link is busted, maybe this one works better?

youtube.com/channel/UCIix6MklfJFywa_36iDj8Sw

i love that kind of channel, and this is like my favorite kind of food, thanks for that one

I'm on hour 3 of watching this channel, very pleasant rainy Sunday viewing

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

I first got into his videos when he did a butter chicken for vice (i think) that looked hells of delicious. But I found a little of him went a verrrrrry long way and that his most recent videos (one is seemingly him having a breakdown after his sponsors quit the show after he made lots of jokes about diarrhea while making a meal) have strong "bad Chris Farley character" vibe.

George Motz kind of aggravated me till he started doing his episodes during lockdown and it was clear he is just bad dad joeks and his daughter was RHDE through every episode she had to shoot. Then I found him endearing.

There's a comedian who keeps appearing in the First We Feast shows who's always showing off his garage full of vintage VWs, and he seems immensely unfunny.

The Mythical Kitchen shows are pretty great. I don't think I'd ever cook anything they cook, but it's very entertaining to watch them, the man guy - looks like a nerd on roids - is funny, and he also clearly has unimpeachable cooking chops.

Sohla has been great of late. That any bean, any green, any pasta dish of hers has quickly become a mainstay here, and I'm glad she's on Babish's channel. I interviewed Babish for a story on his show and the BA vida a year or two ago, and he was very sweet and genuine. I slightly wonder if the grisly demise of the classic BA Kitchen period has besmirched the stars of their shows - loved Claire and Brad et al, but don't really wanna watch 'em in the light of what went down.

Sue Hulk - sometimes with Count Dankula (who has his own channel) is very very Scottish but they're so... real

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC0dEenZnbL

Oh, and you can't link to a channel like that. Nice.

oh, and there's snoring pug in the background sometimes too

Oh cool recommendation for the Nazi pug guy, I’ll make sure to check that out if I can get past that and literally everything else about him.

?

I honestly just found this funny scottish lady cooking stuff and didn't know anything about whatever you're saying? (even so, his historical heroes series looks interesting) - what am I missing?

oh god - ok, I'm googling... :(

forgot if i posted this elsewhere but i have been watching this lady since i started canning tomatoes (she uses a method that should not be used if you hate botulism but the process was fun to watch anyway.) here is a calamari salad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAirutWHbFA

Alison Roman has a new channel, very much along the lines of her NYT stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z84j41b5Z7s

Another miniseries from Sohla

finally im gonna learn how to make pizza on a shield

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IkskAAJ1rE

my parents and i watch country life vlog religiously,

Both my cats are completely transfixed by this channel now. It’s so good.

it's amazing, that one time when the guy made blue tea from purple basil and squeezed a lemon into it i screamed, 10/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_J4e58eoyY

haha Middle Eats came into my feed recently as well

He’s great!

I also like Nadia Gilbert for Middle Eastern stuff and Refika Birgül for Turkish.

I love Matty Matheson for ultimate no frills comfort food and his videos are fun
i dunno if he’s for everyone but i love him

i am def making these chicken wings holy shit

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

I've moved on to Tiktok chefs instead, specifically Cult Flav, who I am loyal to but they've clearly become influencers who probably have a book deal and possibly a tv show in their future, and the much more lo-fi @2peoplecooking, a lovely gentle couple who live in Asbury Park and have cooked together professionally and make nice Friday night dinners in their apartment and invite you in.

I'm a fan of Sohla and Ham El-Waylly, both together and separately. Sohla was a Bon Appetit test kitchen guru, both are now with NYT and have many things on the youtubes including the awesome challenge show where they are given a bag of something odd (like green jello or hot pockets) and have to make a 3 course meal in 45 minutes.