References
Channels
Ethan Chlebowski: former consultant, takes a technical approach. videos are hit or miss, recently moved to paris from raleigh and has changed up format a little. Mix of style, some very similar to Kenji in that videos usually focus on a recipe rather than a single technique/skill/ingredient, but with more editing and focus on technique. Also some in similar style to ragusea and internet shaquille thrown in. His 3 most recent videos are really cool too. How to make cacio e pepe easier then using that to make any sauce. Then the difference in onion dice size.
Babish Culinary Universe: basics with babish is the only segment that is worth it even so season 2 starts to trail off, the rest are just entertainment. Andrew was a filmmaker turned youtuber, name babish comes from the west wing. My favorite of his, sauces, part of season 1 basics.
Internet Shaquille: known for being a dick on twitter, but has relatively short vids focusing on specific topics. 2 good examples, chickpeas and burritos. He has a fulltime job in marketing or something so doesn’t post too often.
Kenji: early pandemic era stuff is real good (20-mid 21), quality has been dropping as he has been promoting his new book I feel. Kenji is a chef and food scientist, worked at Americas test kitchen and serious eats. Known for The Food Lab, a hefty book which takes a calculated/scientific approach to cooking/techniques. All his vids are POV which is neat. He has a lot of knowledge and talks about why he does what he does as he is cooking, but the video focus is a recipe rather than a single technique/skill/ingredient, this eggplant video is a good representation of his style.
Brian Lagerstrom: Former pro chef with a lot of bread baking experience. Real cool to see current restaurant level technique and dishes being made.
Chinese Cooking Demystified: American guy and chinese girl, recently moved from china to america but moving to bangkok due to covid policies. Really great chinese techniques and flavors from around china. They often go into depth of the history of a dish or technique. Trad stir fry technique and tofu frying.
Bon Appetit: There was a scandal in summer of 2020 and a lot of the hosts left, but I watch it still for brad leone. Brad has a show called it’s alive that started focusing on fermented foods but has grown to be more about homesteading stuff, still entertaining, and the early videos from 2016 to 2019 are real good, like this lacto-fermented hot sauce. Also has other videos which are really neat like this oyster one about how they are trying to restore shit in the new york bay area.
Munchies: Vice’s food channel, some quality food related entertainment. They have a huge series called How-To where they bring in famous chefs/restaurateurs to make dishes they are known for. Here is one on Xi’an Famous Foods hand ripped noodles.
America’s Test Kitchen: A lot of equipment reviews which are nice, these lengthy episodes that were made for tv, and my favorite What’s Eating Dan? (super worth it in depth scientific looks vids on foods but explores more than cooking). Similar to chef john from food wishes, they have a lot of videos and some of their older ones feature good overviews of trad techniques like this one of young Kenji before going to serious eats. But Dan is really the only current stuff on the channel that’s good, like lentils.
Food 52: Often features some of the old Bon Apetit crew like sohla and rick. Genius recipes series with kristen is good, but off-script with sohla is by far their best, really focuses on how a technique can be used to create different dishes, like braising. Sohla formally worked at serious eats and bon appetit and is now often featured on babish and food52.
Food Whishes: The original youtube chef, has tons of videos. Classically trained chef, good blog posts that accompany videos. I don’t go to him to specifically learn technique and skill, but if there is something I want to make (fondant potatoes, beef goulash, etc) he will have a good vid on it to serve as a reference.
ChainBaker: If you want to learn bread baking, start here with The steps of Baking. He is a small youtuber in the UK but puts out fantastic content.
Serious Eats: Kenji’s old employer, takes a technical approach usually. Has some old Kenji videos based around his book a decent technique playlist and some good general videos like this brownie one.
Rainbow Plant Life: not my favorite channel, but has good recipes and a mix of other videos, and is the only vegan channel I follow. Decent recipe, good general cooking knowledge.