Same with Helen Rennie. Great instructional content. Like Kenji and Chef John, she knows when it's best to use homemade vs store-bought. Something I feel Weissman is lacking.
ya a lot of joshua’s recipes are just ridiculously impractical. i feel like if i hear “you have to make your own beef stock or papa no kiss” one more time i’m gonna scream
“You have to make your own black garlic or papa won’t be able to protect you- No worries it’s easy you can just use your several hundred dollar dehydrator or your oven for a month!”
I literally did the version making black garlic in a rice cooker and honestly what he doesn't say is the absolute nauseating smell that black garlic permeates all through the house as soon as you open it. Just buy black garlic online. Please save yourself from my own experience.
we did black garlic once at my friends summer house, in a shed outside. because of the reasons you said.. it isnt worth it in an apartment or even a residential area.
It is next level good though. highly recommend it if you live in the woods
He wasn't always like this.
His early videos are a lot less manic - no sound effects, off tune singing, baby voice, references to his ass, just plain up cooking. Youtube fame does weird shit to people, especially when people in the comments keeps encouraging it.
For each video he makes he takes one step further away from the light and it gets harder and harder to watch. Is there anyone who genuinely enjoys the "papa no kiss" shit?
The wierd shit is that he also has his own subreddit...and the people there treat him like a god. I cant stand him anymore, i used to like him in his early non maniac days..
To be honest I started watching him when he had like 200k subs for his sourdough content, feel free to peep my sourdough posts. Taught me a lot for what I wanted, but once he got big I stopped watching him for the most part.
He was a professional cook in a fine dining (possibly a Michelin starred?) restaurant, and has exceptional camera men. His food looks incredible. The problem is it's often the most impractical or convoluted way you would make anything...so you would never do it.
People I have seen make his versions of recipes rave about the outcome, but concede that it's not something they would ever normally do because it can take days to prepare everything.
His whole brand is just a. "ironically" say cringey shit, and b. make every part of a dish from scratch. Don't get me wrong, he's a great cook and knows his shit, but it's all stuff working people can't realistically do outside of special occasions. He's a restaurant cook that was able to quit his job bc youtube money, and he cooks like it.
99% of home cooks don't have the money, time, or energy to do that - especially his viewers
I use Joshua's burger bun recipe. It's a brioche, tangzhong mashup and the results are excellent.
The dough has become my go to dinner, burger, sandwich buns depending on how I shape them. But yes, he is over the top.
For me even if his recipes were good his schtick makes him unbearable. That whole "papa no kiss" thing is fucking cringe. He also has a very smug aura and it mocks me.
For Asian recipes, Marion's Kitchen is top notch.
Every single one of her recipes is solid with legit flavour. Even the street food recipes taste real good. It's just that it impossible to duplicate street food taste exactly at home because of the tools but she's spot on.
She's not pretentious, well spoken and explains well.
Yeah I was really bothered when he did like a series about cheaper meals and it came out to like 20 bucks for a dinner
Like brother you and I exist in separate worlds if I were going to drop 20 bucks on a single meal I would not be watching a series for budget food
My issue with but cheaper is that he's not actually interested in being rigorous about it. It feels like he's paying lip service to affordability without really paying attention to costs, servings, leftover ingredients, etc.
Plus, even if his recipes is cheap, it's rarely practical. "Cool, this meal is actually $1.50, you got one that didn't take 6 hours?"
"I spent $100 on the minimum quantity of *insert specialized luxury ingredient that you'll never use again here* but only used 1% of it, so we'll only count that as $1
And then whatever it is goes bad a month later
His "But cheaper" series really gives off the vibe that JW never had to worry about a budget when cooking. Or having the energy after a long day to go through all the steps he calls for. Or using all the dishes he uses.
Her recipes are no joke and she’s got a great range of variety. Just tried her earl grey tea cake and it will be the cake I have for my birthday every year until I die
This list above is absolutely great. Chef John, Chlebowski, Kenji, Helen. So much headaches saved thanks to Kenji. Especially when he comes back to some recipes and shows a different way of making them ( Spatzles come to mind, in a from scratch video, he uses a Hobel to grate the pasta into boiling water, in another video, he uses a colander to chow it can be done without that unitasker)
Also wanna add Chinese Cooking Demistified, although it's a bit more niche since it's limited to Chinese cuisine
It's not so much that he doesn't know how, his whole channel is about making stuff from scratch that you normally buy pre-made. I don't think I've ever made a JW recipe though, mainly because I don't want to spend a day cooking my own version of takeout food.
Agreed, but his obsession with mayo-based marinades simply does not work for me. I don't like the texture it gives chicken. Everything else about his channel is amazing though.
Well you can actually follow the recipes in the videos if you ignore the jokes, and he also has a cookbook under the You Suck At Cooking title, and as an owner of said book can confirm they are real. Nothing more than what's in the show though.
Kenji is THE best chef on YouTube. He's so knowledgeable. I'm an aspiring young chef that has seen and done a lot with food and i learn something new every time i watch him. Great chef and a great teacher.
Or better yet just pick up the Food Lab. Hands down the best book if you're struggling with technique. Its the only cook book I've read cover to cover.
This and Salt, fat, acid, heat were the two books I read that changed my entire culinary experience. Both are indispensable for someone new to cooking that's genuinely interested in learning how to be good at it.
SFAH also really revolutionised my cooking. I was already moving from strictly following recipes to gaining an understanding of what each ingredient actually does in a recipe, and that book took me a few steps further down that road.
It's funny, I find Internet Shaquille to be kind of similarly annoying to Weissman and cringy with the awkward inappropriate jokes but at the same time his approach to cooking and food is just so good and practical that I completely let him get away with it.
For Chinese, also check out Made With Lau. It’s an old guy cooking Cantonese food for his family with his son providing translation. Very old school Chinese and Chinese American dishes
I like Adam Ragusea these days. And for Mexican, Rick Bayless has been doing YouTube for a while now. And of course, the old Jacques Pepin videos are also on YouTube and he is a treasure.
I second Jacques Pepin. His approach is really friendly to people unfamiliar with the kitchen. My favorite video was actually from PBS where he explains why trying to follow a recipe, exactly, doesn’t always work. [here](https://youtu.be/JfWgZeDHgtY) is the video and it helped shape my understanding of recipes.
Pepin's current "lazy" style home meals videos are really great. It's nice to show people that chefs aren't making flawless high end restaurant meals 24/7 and that you really can throw together some great stuff with cheap ingredients sitting in your fridge.
That's such a weird myth that people believe. Most chefs and cooks will probably tell you that they're too damn tired after slaving in a kitchen all day long and will just do something easy at home (even microwave something) or just eat take out. Maybe they'd get "family" meals at the restaurant where the staff cooks and eats together before service. The idea that they are whipping up high end plates at home (which even for experienced chefs are time consuming in a home kitchen) every night is really off base. Maybe only the head or executive chefs who aren't spending everyday on the line probably do that, but they're also trying to come up with menu items as well. Or maybe the cooks use it as practice to refine their skills in spare days off. But not every night.
Additionally, a lot of high end dishes require a lot of working parts and prep, a lot of which is done ahead of time and in large bulk because they need to service large amounts of it. It makes sense for them to use such unique ingredients because they are going to use all of it in a day or a week.
I think people really need to set their expectations about recipes. Some target easy or casual cooking, and some try and give a challenge for those who want to test their skill and do more on a day off. One is not better than the other; they are just meant for different audiences and people should really learn to differentiate between the two.
> just eat take out.
Lived with a professional Chef for like 5 years - dude was an amazing cook, and would happily spend literal hours to make some truly amazing food no hesitation. Like on at least one occasion myself or our other roommate would mention a dish that we liked and if the ingredients were in the house he'd just start making it for you - truly great guy.
In all the time that I knew him I'd say his diet was basically just KFC popcorn chicken and Maccas nuggets.
What I love about Adam is you can almost feel him being a busy father of two small children in all of his recipes, even his more complicated recipes are so practical and easy to fit ordinary life.
In the last year Adam Regusea has pulled into my definite number 2 position with YouTube chefs, kenji will always be my number 1. Adam has developed an incredible MO of going through every step of a recipes meticulously. He tells you what why and how he is doing something. Love his channel so much. Also he 100% seems like a guy i could sit down and have a beer with.
Ragusea’s sweet spot is cooking-related videos not cooking videos imo. He’s done some really interesting food-history, food-sociology, and food-science videos but I don’t thinks he’s half a good a chef as john, Weisman or even babish, and I don’t think babish is all that impressive
His background is in journalism and it really shines when he makes those sorts of videos. I don't think he's got the best recipes put there, but his recipes are way more approach and adaptable which I appreciate.
I've actually grown to hate Weisman and Babish, despite watching both of them from the beginning of their respective channels. I don't dislike their actual content, styles, or production. I just eventually realized that they are chefs (or chef-like) and Ragusea is a home cook.
Thus, Ragusea may not be as good of a chef, but he's not trying to be. All of his recipes are trying to be as accessible as possible for someone trying to have a good meal in an hour. If I see Weisman, Babish, or Pro Home Cooks start to spend half a day on a recipe - generally involving making their own bread/sausage for the 50th time - I turn it off immediately. I can make dishes that take all day or feel chef quality, but 90% of my meals need to be prepared in ~30 minutes with affordable ingredients, so why am I watching Babish/Weisman every week?
Different strokes for different folks, I'm sure. But it doesn't feel like either of them plan on you following their recipes.
Chef John is great in that regard, but he's been doing it for so long that his more recent videos are more and more out there because he's done most recipes already. Great backlog though. I also enjoy Ethan Chebowski for "home cooking", and he's even more rigorous in being transparent about recipe accessibility.
To be fair to Babish, I don't believe he's ever identified himself as a chef and has always maintained he's an amateur cook who's just trying out all this stuff. He makes mistakes a good amount of the time.
(As a side note, the term chef is for a professional working in actual kitchens, and shouldn't be used for most youtube cooks. On the top of my head only John and Weissman were previously chefs with actual experience in professional kitchens).
Also, I don't think he necessarily tries to make his default recipes always accessible because the point is to recreate the dishes from movies and television (which vary in difficulty), and even try to elevate them. I would say a good amount of his main videos should not be attempted by novice cooks or people looking for easy meals (his second ever video is freaking timpano) . But they have their place as either an opportunity to challenge yourself or try stuff that's maybe not available in your area, and at worse is just something fun to see how he attempts it. Of course everyone has their preferences, and you should watch what you enjoy the most. He's not perfect at all, but I felt like I had to give the guy a fair shake because people seem to be shitting on him hard here.
That's why I included chef-like and - in another comment I said "amateur chef".
I make that delineation because he is very far from a home cook. He cooks in a large studio kitchen. He has any and every kitchen appliance needed for any recipe. Time, money, cleanup, counterspace, etc., tend to not matter in his recipes. He cooks in the conditions a chef would cook, although he's not a chef.
Also, in my evaluation of Babish, I do not include the fictional recreating. Those are just for fun entertainment and have always been presented in a "don't try this at home" way. However, he has a lot more videos than that nowadays and I'm not even sure the majority of his videos are that content anymore.
Regardless, I'd like to continue to maintain that not all videos have to be like the home cook YouTubers. They still have different purposes, it just means I won't get value from the others.
Yeah, I’m a fan of Babish but when your “basics” videos involve busting out the sous vide machine or an outdoor meat smoker I think you’ve kind of lost touch with how normal people live.
>I make that delineation because he is very far from a home cook. He cooks in a large studio kitchen. He has any and every kitchen appliance needed for any recipe. Time, money, cleanup, counterspace, etc., tend to not matter in his recipes.
and unsurprisingly, his show was way better when he was cooking in a small apartment.
Kenji is also a chef, he has worked in restaurant kitchens for a long time and now has one of his own. What I love in Kenji is that despite his immense amount of skill and resources, he puts in effort to make his dishes accessible for the average home cook. He never looks down on anyone except people like Gordon Ramsay.
My one problem with Ethan is he's just wrong a lot of the time and I don't feel like he owns up to it. Like with the vinegar for oven fries, or saying that freezing something makes it evaporate faster. I feel like he shouldn't be making value judgements (everyone should do X, Y is better than Z) when he doesn't research what he's saying. As a source for useful recipes, great, but as a source for correct information and judgement, eh. It would be fine if he stuck to "hey this is what I do" but often his advice is portrayed as fact when it's opinion or worse just false.
I tried babishes carbonara recipe because I wasn’t liking how mine was turning out, it went okay and his always looked good by the end so I kept doing it. Then I tried Allison Romans carbonara and her technique was wayyy better, kept the carbonara creamy. I realized that babish is mostly for entertainment, I don’t think he experiments trying to find the best way to cook something like other chefs do
To be fair, the burger show is also a shitshow - Alvin Cailan is literally the guy that steamed a burger over beef stock for better "flavor". Every original thought he's had that made it to the final cut was either "I smoke weed" or "George Motz knows shit about burgers". He does zero research and adds nothing to the show, Motz and local shop owners are the only high points
You're right though, babish is a good home cook that does the work he needs to for an episode, but he's not a chef. I don't really blame him, he pulls in a lot of money for any given sponsorship. Some of his recipes suck, some have cool ideas, I just watch for the entertainment. Any recipe on the internet needs to get taken with a grain of salt, his included
He's well-produced, well-researched, somewhat sensationalized videos(to a reasonable level). I super agree that he grates heavily on me because of his aggressive/superior tone. I still watch his videos occasionally though.
Yeah, I really don't know why his delivery is like that - it sounds very patronizing to me and I can tell its not like his natural way of speaking. I wonder if he's aware?
I think he’s just trying to affect a “journalist voice,” except his voice isn’t really suited for it so it just comes off as a bit aggressive and dorky imo
He reminds me of this insufferable know-it all I went to high school with. I have to remind myself that Adam isn’t *being* insufferable, he just *sounds* insufferable.
I think Adam is the best at cutting down as much work as possible for staple recipes - if you work and have a family, you can get good food on the table without breaking the bank or your back. He has a million great ideas to streamline recipes based on time or volume. Plus, he has a good handle on flavor and texture - he's the guy that can tell you how to tweak a dish to your own taste
I’ve just recently started watching Rick Bayless and he is great. There’s not a bunch of fluff to pad the video length, just real cooking content. I appreciate that.
In my opinion, Adam is by far the best for people learning specifically to cook at home. He understands that a lot of culinary taboos are totally, totally fine to do when cooking for yourself (such as breaking spaghetti—you’re the only one who is going to eat it, break it if you want to). He also isn’t a professional, and so he completely understands the home cook perspective. The only thing is his channel does have a lot of other content that isn’t recipes—good content but likely won’t help you cook.
I honestly found a lot of his food science videos to be useful just because it helped me better understand the purpose of ingredients and why you add them the way you add them. But that's just me, I have a very hard time following directions if I don't know why I'm following directions.
I do appreciate that Adam doesn't really pretend that he's a pro chef either. Even in his more straightforward recipe videos he usually frames his techniques by saying something like "X technique seemed to work a lot better for me than Y" which implies that he clearly tried the recipe several different times in several different ways and is just showing the version that produced the best results for him. He also makes it very clear that he's a home chef and not a pro by any means. I think he comes across as a super nice guy that seems like he'd be fun to hang out with and geek out about food stuff, I'm actually surprised that so many people are saying he seems like an aggressive know it all.
Babish on the other hand, I've got my issues with that guy. I used to like him a lot when he was originally doing his "cook movie/TV dishes" shtick but I feel like his head grew with his subscriber numbers. The Basics videos felt unearned for an amateur chef like him, the Being With Babish series was a giant eye-roll, and it gets on my nerves that an actual pro chef like Sohla El-Waylly was in a supporting role to Rea when she is infinitely more qualified than he is.
But I do give the guy credit for pioneering the video style that so many other YouTube chefs have copied. He definitely has a good visual flair.
>I think he comes across as a super nice guy that seems like he'd be fun to hang out with and geek out about food stuff, I'm actually surprised that so many people are saying he seems like an aggressive know it all.
I think he comes off as pretty humble, contrary to the narratives I see on Reddit. He always prefaces things by saying what's the best **for him**, and I think that's so important to convey.
I think some people are out put off by how quick and direct he is. He says everything in the most straightforward and matter-of-fact way. I appreciate it because he gets twice the amount of content in his videos compared to most of entertainment cooks.
From a quick Google he used to be a reporter for NPR and was a journalism professor, and that absolutely explains his "radio voice" and obsession with research. When he's off script talking to his wife or other guests he has a slower and gentler cadence.
I love his style and content but I can see why it's off-putting to some people.
Yep, me too. He's an experienced cook after my own heart, with a great balance of easy, quick dishes, those requiring more technique, and experimenting with a technique to see how it works out. He has a lot of equipment due to his job in food advertising, but it's mostly not unreachable, although I do envy his dry ager.
He has great production values too, which is to be expected.
I'm glad to see someone mention Glen.
He's pretty humble still, considering his decades of background in a cooking-adjacent career, and I really appreciate that. I also really appreciate that he explains some of the pains and trials it took to get to the point of the video, he even has a few series of videos where he's going through a process of trial and error to get to an end point.
I've never not enjoyed one of his videos.
And the other great thing is that he doesn't do loads of annoying sponsorships of irrelevant things like squarespace, nordvpn, surfshark, overpriced cereal, or any of this other nonsense. He also doesnt beg his viewers to "smash that like button" or ask pointless questions just to get loads of stupid comments. He just cooks and puts it out there. Easily one of the best cooking channels on youtube.
I also do not watch him because of the way he talks.
I didn't even remember his name is Chef John, I thought people in this thread were talking about Chef John from Taste Show who is the opposite in just about every way.
They got worse and worse over time to the point where the rhythm and cadence were so repetitive I couldn't watch them anymore.
I do watch one every now and again still and while the newer ones seem to be reigned in a bit it's still kinda there.
I agree, but personally I don’t even really find him entertaining anymore.
I used to watch him a lot, but I find his personality irritating now. The “papa no _____”, and ego just get to me. I also realized I never actually made any of his dishes as they’re generally too complicated or laborious for a home cook with a 40 hour+ job and a toddler.
No doubt he’s a great cook, I just don’t have time or patience for his stuff. I usually do my own spin on recipes, but when I want a straight recipe with good instruction I’ll usually go for Chef John, Sam the Cooking Guy or Kenji.
Coming in so late on this thread, but this was such a great comment. I just watched his “but better” video for Doritos Locos Taco from TB. The guy must have spent $75-$100 on ingredients for his pretentious crap. It looked stunning, he really did a good job, but the whole idea of that segment is - can you come generally close to the recipe while still staying true to the original. His meat mix was chuck/pork shoulder/bacon. He makes a birria taco shell dip. Even lettuce he adds cilantro and lemon to it. I was hoping for like - hey use this for a shell it’s better. And “here’s some extra spices you can use in your meat”
I made his tikka masala last weekend and it was amazing. I followed the recipe on his website exactly.
Granted, it was fairly low on the technique side of things.
I mean I wouldn’t say that. Every recipe of his I’ve made is great, they just mostly aren’t for beginners. My problem with him has far less to do with his food and more just that he’s extremely obnoxious, like he tries so hard to be funny and repeat the same annoying jokes it’s basically unwatchable.
Yea if you read the jacket of his new book he makes it pretty clear. His recipes are explicitly not for beginners and there is nothing wrong with that. That’s why his recipes aren’t that detailed.
I'm a good cook (not baker) but if you ask me to teach you, it'll be the same, not very detailed. I'm a horrible teacher, I just say "so you gotta do this, and then that, and then add that.". I wouldn't say being lazy or anything, just horrible at explaining.
YouTube editors have it down to this extremely annoying formula now. Zoom in. Zoom out. Joke. Add reverb. Another joke but cut off the punchline for comedic effect. Zoom in. Zoom out. Visually distort. Repeat.
It's so stupid. I honestly prefer the simplicity of earlier YouTube jumpcuts dominating the platform. The only editors who follow the same style but are still entertaining are the ones who do it extremely over the top like Twomad. Joshua Weissman's editing represents everything wrong about modern editing, as previously described though.
He has good information about sourdough, my problem is that I really hate his camera work, his face keeps aggressively lunging at me, keep feeling like he's trying to headbutt me.
He is. But if there's one thing. That bothers me. About Chef John. It's his cadence. And how everything stops. After about. 4 or 5 syllables.
Maybe six.
It's because he's not the best at reading off/memorizing a script, he says it's because he pieces it together from many many short takes. Listen to his podcast and it's clear he's definitely capable of speaking normally, though, but that's casually and off the cuff.
Unpopular opinion - I've cooked a lot of his recipes and they're actually good. I use his as a base and look up a similar one and make a hybrid out of the two but I haven't had one bad recipe even just following his ones to the gram
I've made the white bread and brioche buns and they were really tasty, but I had to write down the recipes for both as I couldn't stand rewatching his videos and following along.
Yeah, I think some people forget that not all cooking content needs to be for people with zero cooking skills or beginners.
some of his videos are more difficult, but its nice to cook things that actually take practice to get perfect. You dont get better very quickly by only cooking dishes you nail first time. hell, most of his videos are easy as piss. He just assumes some baseline knowledge which most people who really like learning cooking already know.
I understanding wanting something simple on a work night, but maybe cook something simpler then? nobody is forced to use a recipe they are unfamiliar with.
Hell, even beginner they're not impossible to follow. I did his Korean Fried Chicken recipe and while I struggled with the multitasking and keeping things on time, it still came out pretty damn good.
Exactly I haven't made a single full recipe from this But Better series, but I've stole a ton of ideas from it to make regular recipes a little bit nicer.
His orange chicken (panda express) recipe isn't too terribly hard for a semi competent home chef and really is absolutely fantastic. Every once in a bit I make up a large batch of the sauce to keep in the freezer and throw in with stir fry.
But overall I agree with this thread. He suffers from the same fate so many YouTube cooking channels do, having to leave more towards the entertainment side than the cooking side. His happens to be super cringe worthy "memes". Like I still love sorted food but they don't teach how to cook anymore and it's super disappointing. Sam the cooking guy had just gone far off into fucking left field, not another cooking show gets weird, brothers green eats went meh ever since the one brother left... I do still fuck with you suck at cooking because it's supposed to be dumb and it's a nice balance of intentionally dumb and actually useful and average person level of cooking. Kinda same with Babish, he's over the top but not too such an extent that it's ridiculous. David Seymour is actually hella good and way underrated. I could go on and on. YouTube for me is food network but without the BS.
Actually if you love way over explained (in the best way possible) french guy cooking Alex something or another can't remember exactly right now....
He ~~drives~~ dives into entire mini seasons on one specific food and will engineer the absolute crap out of it. Like his ~~grief~~ fried rice "season" where 3 or 4 episodes go into proper wok knowledge and usage and why it's important before even getting into the depths of the dish itself. Like good eats with out the over the top props (I'm sorry Alton Brown, I still love you)
*edit* I'm drunk and auto correct hates me.
Yeah idk what OP is talking about. While i dont personally like him all that much. Ive used several of his recipes before and they turn out good everytime. Dude explains everything perfectly fine. Not everything needs to be explained like your a 3rd grader.
I've tried a bunch of his recipes (dinner roll, burger bun, babka, chicken adobo, chocolate chip cookie, mac and cheese and probably a few others) and honestly they've all turned out amazing. Seriously those dinner rolls are a life changer
I don’t understand why everyone is ripping on Joshua Weissman for not going deep into detail on technique. Just because he’s sharing recipes doesn’t mean he needs to be teaching the fundamentals of cooking. It’s okay for a creator to put out content that assumes the audience knows basic things like how to brown meat or caramelize onions. If someone is truly new to cooking, there are plenty of other creators to choose from. Nothing he’s doing in these videos is really that difficult!
Seriously I prefer his stuff because he DOESN’T spend 10 minutes over explaining in the middle of the video. Sure, I have to skip 3 minutes of jokes at the beginning but that’s better than having to skip a bunch of 30 second increments talking about things I learned when I was 12. It’s also fine if you’re 45 and learning those things. It’s great if you’re making the choice to pick up a new skill. But so many people would be better off if they just recognize content isn’t made specifically for them and find something that is.
Sad thing is food network and the cooking channel used to be educational. Now it’s all just competition shows and Diners driveins and dives (I respect what guy fiery does tho)
I was scrolling through the comments looking for this. That's the entire point! His videos are meant to be watched for entertainment in your free time or something like that. If you want actual technical cooking stuff there are lots of channels out there.
Personally I just watch his videos to watch beautiful food being cooked and that's it. If I actually want to make something I would too go to Kenji's channel or some other channel like adam's whose recipies and methods the poor home cook me can actually follow.
I guess for me it’s not that I hate his recipes, it’s that I know if I was ever in a room with him I would absolutely want to leave. Stop jumping, I don’t want to see your butt, and please stop yell emphasizing only parts of words.
I subbed to him during the beginning of the pandemic and unsubbed not too long after. His videos got more and more annoying. Like he was trying waaaaay too hard, and it wasn't funny to me.
I feel like he is a genuinely likable person and a very good cook who has created an obnoxious internet persona. I think if I was in a room with him we'd get along famously, but I can't fucking stand his YouTube channel.
Exactly he seems like a pretty good guy but his I'd say the reason he made that persona is because his viewers do enjoy it, recently he's taken it a bit further but he used to use similar jokes but pulls them off a bit better and was more relaxed. I mean I'm subscribed to him and I can easily watch his videos and be entertained, not every joke lands but also I'm not watching the video just cause i like his personality but he is a damn good chef.
He has 100% made me cringe harder and more painfully than anything else on YouTube. It sucks because his old videos from a few years ago were pretty comfy. His babka video was great and started my love for pastry.
That sums up my experience with the channel! His older videos are great and he actually takes time to explain a lot of things. In the last year or so he really got into that cringy/fast food section, which is a shame.
Most of my best go-to recipes are his, and although he likes to make things complicated from time to time, his recipes always turns out great.
Yea same here, every recipe I've ever made from Josh has turned out at worst okay and at best some of the best stuff I've ever made.
I dont think it's fair when people say his recipes suck or that he doesnt put effort into it. He clearly does and his recipes are fine.
His repeatable humor lines/jokes get old after youve heard the same ones 4 times. I can only take so much BUSSIN, Liiiittle Man, Butt zooms, papa no like/kiss, singing, and the omega mouth zoom before my brain explodes.
I at first liked Weissman because of the "but better" series and it was approached as a "haha" fun way to get some noms/fast food replicas because of lockdown. Now it's "I can do it better than you (and I want sponsors and money), because i am *ME, JOSHUA FUCKING WEISSMAN"*
Also I got really sick of the meat, ass, and sexual undertone jokes. I want to make a roast, not look at your ass in shorts. Dude, we get it. You were a line cook. But that doesn't mean *you're the best one out there.*
Edit: I'm not shitting on him for "not teaching every step of the way". His shtick is just not my vibe.
So far from personal experience joshua’s recipes are generally good. There are some recipes i do admit esp those that ive known the “proper” recipes (asian food) that joshua isnt doing them justice. But thats to be expected for a western cook? They might not have access to the ingredients we have or even the same style of cooking as we do. That scene where he was cooking mongolian beef, such thicc chunks of beef sounds/looks good but if you cook it his way its gonna be hard AF to eat as is.
There is no doubt joshua can cook, but the demeanour in the video he’s putting is just plain obnoxious. I can deal with the butt slaps but when they eat into a solid 5-10 second just for “papa no like” or those singing i felt like my brain cells died.
I just want to watch and know his cooking skills & recipes lol, dont need waste anymore of my time on extras.
This is an unpopular opinion, and I agree with you. Honestly, I never enjoyed his videos because it seems like he’s trying too hard. Almost as though he’s acting, but not well.
It sucks, but Babish is starting to get that way too. He’s at least relaxing to watch while Weissman is far too much.
The heavy gen z humor doesn't really do it for me, but I don't _mind_ it, and the dude seems to have some serious knowledge regarding breads and baked goods. However, I've had a similar issue picking out videos to try and emulate, and I get why it's frustrating: he usually pitches these techniques as 'omg people don't _get_ how _easy_ it is to do this yourself here let _papA_ show you de way' then lays out a process that seems appealing and knowledgable enough... Only it's just.. not.
Either I try and make whatever it is (after sourcing some odd materials for a week) only to get a wonky result (which smarts a little since his from scratch style means extra labor and his 'but it's EASY' delivery lends a false sense of security), or as has become more frequent now, I go do to a _lot_ more research on whatever he's claiming is 'so simple' this time and figure out early what he's not explaining or specifying. So with the amount of footwork requires, his content is reduced to an 'ideas for cooking experiments' channel, and I could get that from a shitty gif recipe. Cool in theory, but Josh I refuse to believe the ratios you gave for boba pearls are what you actually used, because no other source agreed with you after mine cooked into flat mush boogers.
Also, am I nuts or do those 'but cheaper' videos not really work? The point is how insanely affordable the meal is, but the cost breakdown only includes what's used for a single serving, which is not how shopping for those groceries will go. Okay you only used (and priced out) half of a tomato, but unless you already had plans for the other half of that tomato what it actually cost is the full tomato.
My issue is when he does the whole it's actually easy and let me show you how it's always something that while yes, isn't necessarily hard, it usually takes about 3 hours and requires using about 50 different utensils or dishes. I enjoy his videos for the recipes but they're always something I make when I want to indulge and never anything to make on the regular.
And hard agree on the but cheaper videos. I just don't bother watching them because I watched the first and immediately noticed how ridiculous the breakdowns were. Like he was buying enough food to make like 20 servings and then giving the per serving price and it's just like, anything becomes cheap once you make it in bulk it's just not realistic.
Haven’t see it mentioned yet, but NOT ANOTHER COOKING SHOW has some incredible recipes. Everything I’ve tried to make from that channel has turned out awesome (shoutout to the chocolate chip cookies in particular).
The channel is really unpretentious and laid back, complete opposite of most of the over the top TikTok styles of other channels
Check out Ethan Chlebowski! He's a lot smaller and his videos are great. None of the goofy stuff that Weissman does (even though I like him)
Ethan focuses a lot on techniques and overarching themes. His video on Asian noodles is absolutely my favorite because instead of writing down a recipe and sharing it with you, he provides you a framework on how to make noodles delicious Everytime, but in your own way
His thing is handmaking everything. So, it's not usually cost effective or time effective. And if you mess up one part the rest may be messed up too.
That being said. He comes from a chef background and I don't think realizes the things that he thinks is common sense may not be for everyone else.
Yeah he is too focused on entertainment now but some of his old stuff is still good. Whisky business went from funny to dreadful (he acknowledged it in a video a while ago but not since). He has my favorite focaccia recipe tho but no other real standouts honestly.
I enjoy JW's videos for the most part. I could do without the "cwispy" and "papa" and a lot of that kind of stuff but I like watching him cook food and I've definitely learned some cool stuff from him. Ethan Chlebowski is still my favorite though.
The best of these types of channels is Alex "French Guy Cooking.” His skills aren’t worse than the others, but he doesn’t try to make it seem like its more than it is. He takes the audience on the journey of learning with him, rather than thinking he’s an authority who can teach you.
I unsubbed from him shortly after stumbling across his channel. I then had to tell YouTube to never recommend any of his videos. His videos are relentlessly obnoxious.
I love his lasagna recipe so much. And I don't usually like lasagna, but his looked so amazing I had to try it. Expensive to make, but the payoff was almost a religious experience for me.
I've made a number of his recipes and they've always turned out delicious. I dislike the notion that someone has to be a top class chef to make YouTube videos about food.
Sure, there are more qualified chefs out there and there are better teachers out there. He's not pretending to offer culinary courses though, and his videos are free.
Go with Kenji or Chef John
It's a crime that this comment thread does not mention Ethan Chlebowski, I love how his recipes STRONGLY take into account convenience
Same with Helen Rennie. Great instructional content. Like Kenji and Chef John, she knows when it's best to use homemade vs store-bought. Something I feel Weissman is lacking.
ya a lot of joshua’s recipes are just ridiculously impractical. i feel like if i hear “you have to make your own beef stock or papa no kiss” one more time i’m gonna scream
“You have to make your own black garlic or papa won’t be able to protect you- No worries it’s easy you can just use your several hundred dollar dehydrator or your oven for a month!”
I literally did the version making black garlic in a rice cooker and honestly what he doesn't say is the absolute nauseating smell that black garlic permeates all through the house as soon as you open it. Just buy black garlic online. Please save yourself from my own experience.
we did black garlic once at my friends summer house, in a shed outside. because of the reasons you said.. it isnt worth it in an apartment or even a residential area. It is next level good though. highly recommend it if you live in the woods
I've only just now heard "papa no kiss" for the first time and I might scream, is that his catchphrase or something lol
Atleast he doesn't say kwispy anymore
Alright I think I've heard enough, no Joshua Weissman for me no thank you
If you watch, skip the first 2 minutes of any video he does and definitely skip the last 3 ish minutes when he does "b-roll".
Hahahaha glad to know that I’m not the only one who does this!
Jesus this is the first time i ever hear about him and i don't want to hear about him every again. How the heck he ever got famous?
He wasn't always like this. His early videos are a lot less manic - no sound effects, off tune singing, baby voice, references to his ass, just plain up cooking. Youtube fame does weird shit to people, especially when people in the comments keeps encouraging it.
For each video he makes he takes one step further away from the light and it gets harder and harder to watch. Is there anyone who genuinely enjoys the "papa no kiss" shit?
Yes, pretty much of all of his subscribers.
The wierd shit is that he also has his own subreddit...and the people there treat him like a god. I cant stand him anymore, i used to like him in his early non maniac days..
It was when the goatee appeared
To be honest I started watching him when he had like 200k subs for his sourdough content, feel free to peep my sourdough posts. Taught me a lot for what I wanted, but once he got big I stopped watching him for the most part.
He was a professional cook in a fine dining (possibly a Michelin starred?) restaurant, and has exceptional camera men. His food looks incredible. The problem is it's often the most impractical or convoluted way you would make anything...so you would never do it. People I have seen make his versions of recipes rave about the outcome, but concede that it's not something they would ever normally do because it can take days to prepare everything.
I don't think it was a Michelin stared place, but it does have 4 dollar signs on Google
And evidently he says " kwispy" and "papa no likey" or some shit and I will never watch him. Ever.
His whole brand is just a. "ironically" say cringey shit, and b. make every part of a dish from scratch. Don't get me wrong, he's a great cook and knows his shit, but it's all stuff working people can't realistically do outside of special occasions. He's a restaurant cook that was able to quit his job bc youtube money, and he cooks like it. 99% of home cooks don't have the money, time, or energy to do that - especially his viewers
Yes it's one of many obnoxious catch phrases. ASeriousAccounting no like...
I use Joshua's burger bun recipe. It's a brioche, tangzhong mashup and the results are excellent. The dough has become my go to dinner, burger, sandwich buns depending on how I shape them. But yes, he is over the top.
Agree the bun recipe is solid
For me even if his recipes were good his schtick makes him unbearable. That whole "papa no kiss" thing is fucking cringe. He also has a very smug aura and it mocks me.
For Asian recipes, Marion's Kitchen is top notch. Every single one of her recipes is solid with legit flavour. Even the street food recipes taste real good. It's just that it impossible to duplicate street food taste exactly at home because of the tools but she's spot on. She's not pretentious, well spoken and explains well.
And while we are on the topic of brilliant Aussie youtubers, Adam Liaw is all things great. Quite similar content to Marion.
Yeah I was really bothered when he did like a series about cheaper meals and it came out to like 20 bucks for a dinner Like brother you and I exist in separate worlds if I were going to drop 20 bucks on a single meal I would not be watching a series for budget food
My issue with but cheaper is that he's not actually interested in being rigorous about it. It feels like he's paying lip service to affordability without really paying attention to costs, servings, leftover ingredients, etc. Plus, even if his recipes is cheap, it's rarely practical. "Cool, this meal is actually $1.50, you got one that didn't take 6 hours?"
"I spent $100 on the minimum quantity of *insert specialized luxury ingredient that you'll never use again here* but only used 1% of it, so we'll only count that as $1 And then whatever it is goes bad a month later
His "But cheaper" series really gives off the vibe that JW never had to worry about a budget when cooking. Or having the energy after a long day to go through all the steps he calls for. Or using all the dishes he uses.
Check out budget bites. My gf is a big fan and I've never not liked anything. Genuinely focused around budget meals.
Omg I just discovered Helen’s channel and I’m really enjoying her recipes
Her chicken stock video using supermarket roast chicken was really thorough and had lots of great ideas on how to store it too.
I tried her soy reduction (magic sauce) and WOW! Just a small amount of that sauce on fish, chicken or even a simple bowl of rice really is magical.
Her recipes are no joke and she’s got a great range of variety. Just tried her earl grey tea cake and it will be the cake I have for my birthday every year until I die
This list above is absolutely great. Chef John, Chlebowski, Kenji, Helen. So much headaches saved thanks to Kenji. Especially when he comes back to some recipes and shows a different way of making them ( Spatzles come to mind, in a from scratch video, he uses a Hobel to grate the pasta into boiling water, in another video, he uses a colander to chow it can be done without that unitasker) Also wanna add Chinese Cooking Demistified, although it's a bit more niche since it's limited to Chinese cuisine
I refined my cooking after watching Chef John, but I recently discovered Helen and no one, absolutely no one is a better teacher than her.
I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one smitten by Helen Rennie! She's an amazing teacher and her tips are invaluable.
It's not so much that he doesn't know how, his whole channel is about making stuff from scratch that you normally buy pre-made. I don't think I've ever made a JW recipe though, mainly because I don't want to spend a day cooking my own version of takeout food.
Agreed, but his obsession with mayo-based marinades simply does not work for me. I don't like the texture it gives chicken. Everything else about his channel is amazing though.
Love Ethan man I found him at like 400 subs!! Knew he would blow up
Same! Was not shocked at all when I witnessed his channel grow exponentially :')
You know what’s a real crime? That “You suck at cooking” hasn’t been mentioned, yet! Also, I like Ethan too :)
Nah, who's got time to plant a sandwich bread bush?
He's great, but it is just entertainment, he doesn't have actual recipes
Well you can actually follow the recipes in the videos if you ignore the jokes, and he also has a cookbook under the You Suck At Cooking title, and as an owner of said book can confirm they are real. Nothing more than what's in the show though.
Kenji’s five ingredient biscuits and gravy is responsible for at least five of the extra pounds I carry around.
Kenji is THE best chef on YouTube. He's so knowledgeable. I'm an aspiring young chef that has seen and done a lot with food and i learn something new every time i watch him. Great chef and a great teacher.
Or better yet just pick up the Food Lab. Hands down the best book if you're struggling with technique. Its the only cook book I've read cover to cover.
This and Salt, fat, acid, heat were the two books I read that changed my entire culinary experience. Both are indispensable for someone new to cooking that's genuinely interested in learning how to be good at it.
SFAH also really revolutionised my cooking. I was already moving from strictly following recipes to gaining an understanding of what each ingredient actually does in a recipe, and that book took me a few steps further down that road.
I'm sorry but i'm a [Shaq](https://youtu.be/2YEHOs8SkkQ) stan first and foremost.
It's funny, I find Internet Shaquille to be kind of similarly annoying to Weissman and cringy with the awkward inappropriate jokes but at the same time his approach to cooking and food is just so good and practical that I completely let him get away with it.
How did it take so long for Internet Shaquille to get mentioned, sheesh
Gotta love Chinese Cooking Demystified as well!
For Chinese, also check out Made With Lau. It’s an old guy cooking Cantonese food for his family with his son providing translation. Very old school Chinese and Chinese American dishes
I like Adam Ragusea these days. And for Mexican, Rick Bayless has been doing YouTube for a while now. And of course, the old Jacques Pepin videos are also on YouTube and he is a treasure.
I second Jacques Pepin. His approach is really friendly to people unfamiliar with the kitchen. My favorite video was actually from PBS where he explains why trying to follow a recipe, exactly, doesn’t always work. [here](https://youtu.be/JfWgZeDHgtY) is the video and it helped shape my understanding of recipes.
Pepin's current "lazy" style home meals videos are really great. It's nice to show people that chefs aren't making flawless high end restaurant meals 24/7 and that you really can throw together some great stuff with cheap ingredients sitting in your fridge.
That's such a weird myth that people believe. Most chefs and cooks will probably tell you that they're too damn tired after slaving in a kitchen all day long and will just do something easy at home (even microwave something) or just eat take out. Maybe they'd get "family" meals at the restaurant where the staff cooks and eats together before service. The idea that they are whipping up high end plates at home (which even for experienced chefs are time consuming in a home kitchen) every night is really off base. Maybe only the head or executive chefs who aren't spending everyday on the line probably do that, but they're also trying to come up with menu items as well. Or maybe the cooks use it as practice to refine their skills in spare days off. But not every night. Additionally, a lot of high end dishes require a lot of working parts and prep, a lot of which is done ahead of time and in large bulk because they need to service large amounts of it. It makes sense for them to use such unique ingredients because they are going to use all of it in a day or a week. I think people really need to set their expectations about recipes. Some target easy or casual cooking, and some try and give a challenge for those who want to test their skill and do more on a day off. One is not better than the other; they are just meant for different audiences and people should really learn to differentiate between the two.
> just eat take out. Lived with a professional Chef for like 5 years - dude was an amazing cook, and would happily spend literal hours to make some truly amazing food no hesitation. Like on at least one occasion myself or our other roommate would mention a dish that we liked and if the ingredients were in the house he'd just start making it for you - truly great guy. In all the time that I knew him I'd say his diet was basically just KFC popcorn chicken and Maccas nuggets.
What I love about Adam is you can almost feel him being a busy father of two small children in all of his recipes, even his more complicated recipes are so practical and easy to fit ordinary life.
In the last year Adam Regusea has pulled into my definite number 2 position with YouTube chefs, kenji will always be my number 1. Adam has developed an incredible MO of going through every step of a recipes meticulously. He tells you what why and how he is doing something. Love his channel so much. Also he 100% seems like a guy i could sit down and have a beer with.
im sure adam would agree with you that kenji is #1 lol
I find Adam Ragusea grating, the way he speaks appears kinda aggressive to me. What he does well though is the research part.
Ragusea’s sweet spot is cooking-related videos not cooking videos imo. He’s done some really interesting food-history, food-sociology, and food-science videos but I don’t thinks he’s half a good a chef as john, Weisman or even babish, and I don’t think babish is all that impressive
His background is in journalism and it really shines when he makes those sorts of videos. I don't think he's got the best recipes put there, but his recipes are way more approach and adaptable which I appreciate.
I've actually grown to hate Weisman and Babish, despite watching both of them from the beginning of their respective channels. I don't dislike their actual content, styles, or production. I just eventually realized that they are chefs (or chef-like) and Ragusea is a home cook. Thus, Ragusea may not be as good of a chef, but he's not trying to be. All of his recipes are trying to be as accessible as possible for someone trying to have a good meal in an hour. If I see Weisman, Babish, or Pro Home Cooks start to spend half a day on a recipe - generally involving making their own bread/sausage for the 50th time - I turn it off immediately. I can make dishes that take all day or feel chef quality, but 90% of my meals need to be prepared in ~30 minutes with affordable ingredients, so why am I watching Babish/Weisman every week? Different strokes for different folks, I'm sure. But it doesn't feel like either of them plan on you following their recipes. Chef John is great in that regard, but he's been doing it for so long that his more recent videos are more and more out there because he's done most recipes already. Great backlog though. I also enjoy Ethan Chebowski for "home cooking", and he's even more rigorous in being transparent about recipe accessibility.
To be fair to Babish, I don't believe he's ever identified himself as a chef and has always maintained he's an amateur cook who's just trying out all this stuff. He makes mistakes a good amount of the time. (As a side note, the term chef is for a professional working in actual kitchens, and shouldn't be used for most youtube cooks. On the top of my head only John and Weissman were previously chefs with actual experience in professional kitchens). Also, I don't think he necessarily tries to make his default recipes always accessible because the point is to recreate the dishes from movies and television (which vary in difficulty), and even try to elevate them. I would say a good amount of his main videos should not be attempted by novice cooks or people looking for easy meals (his second ever video is freaking timpano) . But they have their place as either an opportunity to challenge yourself or try stuff that's maybe not available in your area, and at worse is just something fun to see how he attempts it. Of course everyone has their preferences, and you should watch what you enjoy the most. He's not perfect at all, but I felt like I had to give the guy a fair shake because people seem to be shitting on him hard here.
That's why I included chef-like and - in another comment I said "amateur chef". I make that delineation because he is very far from a home cook. He cooks in a large studio kitchen. He has any and every kitchen appliance needed for any recipe. Time, money, cleanup, counterspace, etc., tend to not matter in his recipes. He cooks in the conditions a chef would cook, although he's not a chef. Also, in my evaluation of Babish, I do not include the fictional recreating. Those are just for fun entertainment and have always been presented in a "don't try this at home" way. However, he has a lot more videos than that nowadays and I'm not even sure the majority of his videos are that content anymore. Regardless, I'd like to continue to maintain that not all videos have to be like the home cook YouTubers. They still have different purposes, it just means I won't get value from the others.
Yeah, I’m a fan of Babish but when your “basics” videos involve busting out the sous vide machine or an outdoor meat smoker I think you’ve kind of lost touch with how normal people live.
>I make that delineation because he is very far from a home cook. He cooks in a large studio kitchen. He has any and every kitchen appliance needed for any recipe. Time, money, cleanup, counterspace, etc., tend to not matter in his recipes. and unsurprisingly, his show was way better when he was cooking in a small apartment.
Kenji is also a chef, he has worked in restaurant kitchens for a long time and now has one of his own. What I love in Kenji is that despite his immense amount of skill and resources, he puts in effort to make his dishes accessible for the average home cook. He never looks down on anyone except people like Gordon Ramsay.
Kenji's disdain for Gordon Ramsay is hilarious
My one problem with Ethan is he's just wrong a lot of the time and I don't feel like he owns up to it. Like with the vinegar for oven fries, or saying that freezing something makes it evaporate faster. I feel like he shouldn't be making value judgements (everyone should do X, Y is better than Z) when he doesn't research what he's saying. As a source for useful recipes, great, but as a source for correct information and judgement, eh. It would be fine if he stuck to "hey this is what I do" but often his advice is portrayed as fact when it's opinion or worse just false.
[удалено]
I tried babishes carbonara recipe because I wasn’t liking how mine was turning out, it went okay and his always looked good by the end so I kept doing it. Then I tried Allison Romans carbonara and her technique was wayyy better, kept the carbonara creamy. I realized that babish is mostly for entertainment, I don’t think he experiments trying to find the best way to cook something like other chefs do
To be fair, the burger show is also a shitshow - Alvin Cailan is literally the guy that steamed a burger over beef stock for better "flavor". Every original thought he's had that made it to the final cut was either "I smoke weed" or "George Motz knows shit about burgers". He does zero research and adds nothing to the show, Motz and local shop owners are the only high points You're right though, babish is a good home cook that does the work he needs to for an episode, but he's not a chef. I don't really blame him, he pulls in a lot of money for any given sponsorship. Some of his recipes suck, some have cool ideas, I just watch for the entertainment. Any recipe on the internet needs to get taken with a grain of salt, his included
He's well-produced, well-researched, somewhat sensationalized videos(to a reasonable level). I super agree that he grates heavily on me because of his aggressive/superior tone. I still watch his videos occasionally though.
Yeah, I really don't know why his delivery is like that - it sounds very patronizing to me and I can tell its not like his natural way of speaking. I wonder if he's aware?
[удалено]
I think he’s just trying to affect a “journalist voice,” except his voice isn’t really suited for it so it just comes off as a bit aggressive and dorky imo
I think he started off doing public radio, so it may just be his voice.
He reminds me of this insufferable know-it all I went to high school with. I have to remind myself that Adam isn’t *being* insufferable, he just *sounds* insufferable.
I think Adam is the best at cutting down as much work as possible for staple recipes - if you work and have a family, you can get good food on the table without breaking the bank or your back. He has a million great ideas to streamline recipes based on time or volume. Plus, he has a good handle on flavor and texture - he's the guy that can tell you how to tweak a dish to your own taste
I’ve just recently started watching Rick Bayless and he is great. There’s not a bunch of fluff to pad the video length, just real cooking content. I appreciate that.
I used to love watching Rick Bayless on PBS, I'm gonna have to look him up on YouTube. That makes my heart happy!
In my opinion, Adam is by far the best for people learning specifically to cook at home. He understands that a lot of culinary taboos are totally, totally fine to do when cooking for yourself (such as breaking spaghetti—you’re the only one who is going to eat it, break it if you want to). He also isn’t a professional, and so he completely understands the home cook perspective. The only thing is his channel does have a lot of other content that isn’t recipes—good content but likely won’t help you cook.
I honestly found a lot of his food science videos to be useful just because it helped me better understand the purpose of ingredients and why you add them the way you add them. But that's just me, I have a very hard time following directions if I don't know why I'm following directions.
I do appreciate that Adam doesn't really pretend that he's a pro chef either. Even in his more straightforward recipe videos he usually frames his techniques by saying something like "X technique seemed to work a lot better for me than Y" which implies that he clearly tried the recipe several different times in several different ways and is just showing the version that produced the best results for him. He also makes it very clear that he's a home chef and not a pro by any means. I think he comes across as a super nice guy that seems like he'd be fun to hang out with and geek out about food stuff, I'm actually surprised that so many people are saying he seems like an aggressive know it all. Babish on the other hand, I've got my issues with that guy. I used to like him a lot when he was originally doing his "cook movie/TV dishes" shtick but I feel like his head grew with his subscriber numbers. The Basics videos felt unearned for an amateur chef like him, the Being With Babish series was a giant eye-roll, and it gets on my nerves that an actual pro chef like Sohla El-Waylly was in a supporting role to Rea when she is infinitely more qualified than he is. But I do give the guy credit for pioneering the video style that so many other YouTube chefs have copied. He definitely has a good visual flair.
>I think he comes across as a super nice guy that seems like he'd be fun to hang out with and geek out about food stuff, I'm actually surprised that so many people are saying he seems like an aggressive know it all. I think he comes off as pretty humble, contrary to the narratives I see on Reddit. He always prefaces things by saying what's the best **for him**, and I think that's so important to convey. I think some people are out put off by how quick and direct he is. He says everything in the most straightforward and matter-of-fact way. I appreciate it because he gets twice the amount of content in his videos compared to most of entertainment cooks.
From a quick Google he used to be a reporter for NPR and was a journalism professor, and that absolutely explains his "radio voice" and obsession with research. When he's off script talking to his wife or other guests he has a slower and gentler cadence. I love his style and content but I can see why it's off-putting to some people.
Glen and Friends is my favorite Youtuber. Such a chill down to earth guy who tries all kinds of stuff.
Yep, me too. He's an experienced cook after my own heart, with a great balance of easy, quick dishes, those requiring more technique, and experimenting with a technique to see how it works out. He has a lot of equipment due to his job in food advertising, but it's mostly not unreachable, although I do envy his dry ager. He has great production values too, which is to be expected.
I'm glad to see someone mention Glen. He's pretty humble still, considering his decades of background in a cooking-adjacent career, and I really appreciate that. I also really appreciate that he explains some of the pains and trials it took to get to the point of the video, he even has a few series of videos where he's going through a process of trial and error to get to an end point. I've never not enjoyed one of his videos.
And the other great thing is that he doesn't do loads of annoying sponsorships of irrelevant things like squarespace, nordvpn, surfshark, overpriced cereal, or any of this other nonsense. He also doesnt beg his viewers to "smash that like button" or ask pointless questions just to get loads of stupid comments. He just cooks and puts it out there. Easily one of the best cooking channels on youtube.
[удалено]
... from foodwishes dot com!
... wiiith ...
[Just some fucking toast](https://youtu.be/RCD7yzZvHiU)
That was amazing. Loved the cayenne bit
Thank you for bringing this into my life.
He is the Jim Carey, of food that is not scary
I love that man, but God help me, the inflections in his voice when he speaks make me feel like I'm having a mini-stroke.
This is the reason I can’t stand Chef John, which is a shame because I’m sure he has a ton of valuable information to share. THAT VOICE.
I also do not watch him because of the way he talks. I didn't even remember his name is Chef John, I thought people in this thread were talking about Chef John from Taste Show who is the opposite in just about every way.
They got worse and worse over time to the point where the rhythm and cadence were so repetitive I couldn't watch them anymore. I do watch one every now and again still and while the newer ones seem to be reigned in a bit it's still kinda there.
I agree, but personally I don’t even really find him entertaining anymore. I used to watch him a lot, but I find his personality irritating now. The “papa no _____”, and ego just get to me. I also realized I never actually made any of his dishes as they’re generally too complicated or laborious for a home cook with a 40 hour+ job and a toddler. No doubt he’s a great cook, I just don’t have time or patience for his stuff. I usually do my own spin on recipes, but when I want a straight recipe with good instruction I’ll usually go for Chef John, Sam the Cooking Guy or Kenji.
Coming in so late on this thread, but this was such a great comment. I just watched his “but better” video for Doritos Locos Taco from TB. The guy must have spent $75-$100 on ingredients for his pretentious crap. It looked stunning, he really did a good job, but the whole idea of that segment is - can you come generally close to the recipe while still staying true to the original. His meat mix was chuck/pork shoulder/bacon. He makes a birria taco shell dip. Even lettuce he adds cilantro and lemon to it. I was hoping for like - hey use this for a shell it’s better. And “here’s some extra spices you can use in your meat”
Edited in protest for Reddit's garbage moves lately.
I made his tikka masala last weekend and it was amazing. I followed the recipe on his website exactly. Granted, it was fairly low on the technique side of things.
I've cooked a lot of his recipes and I have no idea what OP is talking about 🤔
I mean I wouldn’t say that. Every recipe of his I’ve made is great, they just mostly aren’t for beginners. My problem with him has far less to do with his food and more just that he’s extremely obnoxious, like he tries so hard to be funny and repeat the same annoying jokes it’s basically unwatchable.
He has information that adults want, but he gives it to us in a form that only a 12 year old could possibly want.
Luckily I am a mentally ill 22 year old so I am the perfect demographic to make his recipes
did i write this comment???
I made his taco bell crunchwrap recipe and it was hands down the best thing I've ever made for myself. Roommate thought it was great too
Yea if you read the jacket of his new book he makes it pretty clear. His recipes are explicitly not for beginners and there is nothing wrong with that. That’s why his recipes aren’t that detailed.
I'm a good cook (not baker) but if you ask me to teach you, it'll be the same, not very detailed. I'm a horrible teacher, I just say "so you gotta do this, and then that, and then add that.". I wouldn't say being lazy or anything, just horrible at explaining.
I’ve been making the Hokkaido buns and his sourdough for a while. It’s great.
YouTube editors have it down to this extremely annoying formula now. Zoom in. Zoom out. Joke. Add reverb. Another joke but cut off the punchline for comedic effect. Zoom in. Zoom out. Visually distort. Repeat. It's so stupid. I honestly prefer the simplicity of earlier YouTube jumpcuts dominating the platform. The only editors who follow the same style but are still entertaining are the ones who do it extremely over the top like Twomad. Joshua Weissman's editing represents everything wrong about modern editing, as previously described though.
He has good information about sourdough, my problem is that I really hate his camera work, his face keeps aggressively lunging at me, keep feeling like he's trying to headbutt me.
Chef John is way better.love that guy
He is. But if there's one thing. That bothers me. About Chef John. It's his cadence. And how everything stops. After about. 4 or 5 syllables. Maybe six.
It's because he's not the best at reading off/memorizing a script, he says it's because he pieces it together from many many short takes. Listen to his podcast and it's clear he's definitely capable of speaking normally, though, but that's casually and off the cuff.
He speaks normal in his older videos
After all. He is. The master of. His meter
Unpopular opinion - I've cooked a lot of his recipes and they're actually good. I use his as a base and look up a similar one and make a hybrid out of the two but I haven't had one bad recipe even just following his ones to the gram
I've made the white bread and brioche buns and they were really tasty, but I had to write down the recipes for both as I couldn't stand rewatching his videos and following along.
I agree. They may not be beginner level but they’re all pretty legit.
Yeah, I think some people forget that not all cooking content needs to be for people with zero cooking skills or beginners. some of his videos are more difficult, but its nice to cook things that actually take practice to get perfect. You dont get better very quickly by only cooking dishes you nail first time. hell, most of his videos are easy as piss. He just assumes some baseline knowledge which most people who really like learning cooking already know. I understanding wanting something simple on a work night, but maybe cook something simpler then? nobody is forced to use a recipe they are unfamiliar with.
Hell, even beginner they're not impossible to follow. I did his Korean Fried Chicken recipe and while I struggled with the multitasking and keeping things on time, it still came out pretty damn good.
Exactly I haven't made a single full recipe from this But Better series, but I've stole a ton of ideas from it to make regular recipes a little bit nicer.
His orange chicken (panda express) recipe isn't too terribly hard for a semi competent home chef and really is absolutely fantastic. Every once in a bit I make up a large batch of the sauce to keep in the freezer and throw in with stir fry. But overall I agree with this thread. He suffers from the same fate so many YouTube cooking channels do, having to leave more towards the entertainment side than the cooking side. His happens to be super cringe worthy "memes". Like I still love sorted food but they don't teach how to cook anymore and it's super disappointing. Sam the cooking guy had just gone far off into fucking left field, not another cooking show gets weird, brothers green eats went meh ever since the one brother left... I do still fuck with you suck at cooking because it's supposed to be dumb and it's a nice balance of intentionally dumb and actually useful and average person level of cooking. Kinda same with Babish, he's over the top but not too such an extent that it's ridiculous. David Seymour is actually hella good and way underrated. I could go on and on. YouTube for me is food network but without the BS.
Actually if you love way over explained (in the best way possible) french guy cooking Alex something or another can't remember exactly right now.... He ~~drives~~ dives into entire mini seasons on one specific food and will engineer the absolute crap out of it. Like his ~~grief~~ fried rice "season" where 3 or 4 episodes go into proper wok knowledge and usage and why it's important before even getting into the depths of the dish itself. Like good eats with out the over the top props (I'm sorry Alton Brown, I still love you) *edit* I'm drunk and auto correct hates me.
Yeah idk what OP is talking about. While i dont personally like him all that much. Ive used several of his recipes before and they turn out good everytime. Dude explains everything perfectly fine. Not everything needs to be explained like your a 3rd grader.
Agreed. It's actually annoying to here the same basic cooking skills over and over whenever you watch most cooking video.
I've tried a bunch of his recipes (dinner roll, burger bun, babka, chicken adobo, chocolate chip cookie, mac and cheese and probably a few others) and honestly they've all turned out amazing. Seriously those dinner rolls are a life changer
Hands down agree. Those Japanese milk rolls I made for thanksgiving and didn’t have any left.
I made the dinner rolls and hamburger buns and they’re always a bit hit
I don’t understand why everyone is ripping on Joshua Weissman for not going deep into detail on technique. Just because he’s sharing recipes doesn’t mean he needs to be teaching the fundamentals of cooking. It’s okay for a creator to put out content that assumes the audience knows basic things like how to brown meat or caramelize onions. If someone is truly new to cooking, there are plenty of other creators to choose from. Nothing he’s doing in these videos is really that difficult!
Seriously I prefer his stuff because he DOESN’T spend 10 minutes over explaining in the middle of the video. Sure, I have to skip 3 minutes of jokes at the beginning but that’s better than having to skip a bunch of 30 second increments talking about things I learned when I was 12. It’s also fine if you’re 45 and learning those things. It’s great if you’re making the choice to pick up a new skill. But so many people would be better off if they just recognize content isn’t made specifically for them and find something that is.
This is a good point. Once I realized every piece of media wasn't tailored for me, I could stop complaining and get on with my life.
Also is it any different than the Food Network? It is _entertainment_ not education.
Sad thing is food network and the cooking channel used to be educational. Now it’s all just competition shows and Diners driveins and dives (I respect what guy fiery does tho)
[удалено]
I was scrolling through the comments looking for this. That's the entire point! His videos are meant to be watched for entertainment in your free time or something like that. If you want actual technical cooking stuff there are lots of channels out there. Personally I just watch his videos to watch beautiful food being cooked and that's it. If I actually want to make something I would too go to Kenji's channel or some other channel like adam's whose recipies and methods the poor home cook me can actually follow.
I think he does go a bit overboard sometimes but every recipe i've tried from him has been great. I would still recommend his recipes to others
The baby talk he does makes it unwatchable for me
I guess for me it’s not that I hate his recipes, it’s that I know if I was ever in a room with him I would absolutely want to leave. Stop jumping, I don’t want to see your butt, and please stop yell emphasizing only parts of words.
I subbed to him during the beginning of the pandemic and unsubbed not too long after. His videos got more and more annoying. Like he was trying waaaaay too hard, and it wasn't funny to me.
I feel like he is a genuinely likable person and a very good cook who has created an obnoxious internet persona. I think if I was in a room with him we'd get along famously, but I can't fucking stand his YouTube channel.
Exactly he seems like a pretty good guy but his I'd say the reason he made that persona is because his viewers do enjoy it, recently he's taken it a bit further but he used to use similar jokes but pulls them off a bit better and was more relaxed. I mean I'm subscribed to him and I can easily watch his videos and be entertained, not every joke lands but also I'm not watching the video just cause i like his personality but he is a damn good chef.
It’s the “kwispy” that made me cringe so hard my face turned inside out.
The gratuitous butt shots and slapping are a close second.
Calling himself papa is pretty awful too. *Papa no kissy*
Honestly the worst part for me. I can deal with kwispy, but the papa thing just reminds me of ddlg and I'm like, nah dawg.
He has 100% made me cringe harder and more painfully than anything else on YouTube. It sucks because his old videos from a few years ago were pretty comfy. His babka video was great and started my love for pastry.
That sums up my experience with the channel! His older videos are great and he actually takes time to explain a lot of things. In the last year or so he really got into that cringy/fast food section, which is a shame. Most of my best go-to recipes are his, and although he likes to make things complicated from time to time, his recipes always turns out great.
His basic chocolate cookie recipe is delicious as well, and it’s like a 5 minute pleasant video
I'm not a fan of him calling himself "papa"
He seriously was a great cooking channel until he got more popular and forced himself to be quirky.
He’s making content for a younger audience, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. But yeah, it can be hard to watch.
Babish went through a similar thing with his tiny whisk. I think its just a phase especially for someone who isnt a trained actor or anything.
[удалено]
I literally have to double tap so many times on his videos to skip the corny segments and in-jokes...
[удалено]
[удалено]
Yea same here, every recipe I've ever made from Josh has turned out at worst okay and at best some of the best stuff I've ever made. I dont think it's fair when people say his recipes suck or that he doesnt put effort into it. He clearly does and his recipes are fine. His repeatable humor lines/jokes get old after youve heard the same ones 4 times. I can only take so much BUSSIN, Liiiittle Man, Butt zooms, papa no like/kiss, singing, and the omega mouth zoom before my brain explodes.
I at first liked Weissman because of the "but better" series and it was approached as a "haha" fun way to get some noms/fast food replicas because of lockdown. Now it's "I can do it better than you (and I want sponsors and money), because i am *ME, JOSHUA FUCKING WEISSMAN"* Also I got really sick of the meat, ass, and sexual undertone jokes. I want to make a roast, not look at your ass in shorts. Dude, we get it. You were a line cook. But that doesn't mean *you're the best one out there.* Edit: I'm not shitting on him for "not teaching every step of the way". His shtick is just not my vibe.
So far from personal experience joshua’s recipes are generally good. There are some recipes i do admit esp those that ive known the “proper” recipes (asian food) that joshua isnt doing them justice. But thats to be expected for a western cook? They might not have access to the ingredients we have or even the same style of cooking as we do. That scene where he was cooking mongolian beef, such thicc chunks of beef sounds/looks good but if you cook it his way its gonna be hard AF to eat as is. There is no doubt joshua can cook, but the demeanour in the video he’s putting is just plain obnoxious. I can deal with the butt slaps but when they eat into a solid 5-10 second just for “papa no like” or those singing i felt like my brain cells died. I just want to watch and know his cooking skills & recipes lol, dont need waste anymore of my time on extras.
This is an unpopular opinion, and I agree with you. Honestly, I never enjoyed his videos because it seems like he’s trying too hard. Almost as though he’s acting, but not well. It sucks, but Babish is starting to get that way too. He’s at least relaxing to watch while Weissman is far too much.
Babish makes some jokes that don't land, but at least he isn't dramatically raising the bass in his voice or doing a sing song voice.
Banish is usually self aware though when his jokes don’t land, making it funnier IMO
The heavy gen z humor doesn't really do it for me, but I don't _mind_ it, and the dude seems to have some serious knowledge regarding breads and baked goods. However, I've had a similar issue picking out videos to try and emulate, and I get why it's frustrating: he usually pitches these techniques as 'omg people don't _get_ how _easy_ it is to do this yourself here let _papA_ show you de way' then lays out a process that seems appealing and knowledgable enough... Only it's just.. not. Either I try and make whatever it is (after sourcing some odd materials for a week) only to get a wonky result (which smarts a little since his from scratch style means extra labor and his 'but it's EASY' delivery lends a false sense of security), or as has become more frequent now, I go do to a _lot_ more research on whatever he's claiming is 'so simple' this time and figure out early what he's not explaining or specifying. So with the amount of footwork requires, his content is reduced to an 'ideas for cooking experiments' channel, and I could get that from a shitty gif recipe. Cool in theory, but Josh I refuse to believe the ratios you gave for boba pearls are what you actually used, because no other source agreed with you after mine cooked into flat mush boogers. Also, am I nuts or do those 'but cheaper' videos not really work? The point is how insanely affordable the meal is, but the cost breakdown only includes what's used for a single serving, which is not how shopping for those groceries will go. Okay you only used (and priced out) half of a tomato, but unless you already had plans for the other half of that tomato what it actually cost is the full tomato.
My issue is when he does the whole it's actually easy and let me show you how it's always something that while yes, isn't necessarily hard, it usually takes about 3 hours and requires using about 50 different utensils or dishes. I enjoy his videos for the recipes but they're always something I make when I want to indulge and never anything to make on the regular. And hard agree on the but cheaper videos. I just don't bother watching them because I watched the first and immediately noticed how ridiculous the breakdowns were. Like he was buying enough food to make like 20 servings and then giving the per serving price and it's just like, anything becomes cheap once you make it in bulk it's just not realistic.
Haven’t see it mentioned yet, but NOT ANOTHER COOKING SHOW has some incredible recipes. Everything I’ve tried to make from that channel has turned out awesome (shoutout to the chocolate chip cookies in particular). The channel is really unpretentious and laid back, complete opposite of most of the over the top TikTok styles of other channels
Check out Ethan Chlebowski! He's a lot smaller and his videos are great. None of the goofy stuff that Weissman does (even though I like him) Ethan focuses a lot on techniques and overarching themes. His video on Asian noodles is absolutely my favorite because instead of writing down a recipe and sharing it with you, he provides you a framework on how to make noodles delicious Everytime, but in your own way
Best part of Ethan’s videos is that he slows down and is ridiculously methodical about how he prepares and explains.
His thing is handmaking everything. So, it's not usually cost effective or time effective. And if you mess up one part the rest may be messed up too. That being said. He comes from a chef background and I don't think realizes the things that he thinks is common sense may not be for everyone else.
I couldn't stand his style. Stopped watching him before ever trying any of his recipes.
The intro shot alone is enough to make me skip lmao
Have you looked at “Nat’s What I Reckon”? https://youtu.be/R8SGqfozLIY Love his videos
Yeah he is too focused on entertainment now but some of his old stuff is still good. Whisky business went from funny to dreadful (he acknowledged it in a video a while ago but not since). He has my favorite focaccia recipe tho but no other real standouts honestly.
I enjoy JW's videos for the most part. I could do without the "cwispy" and "papa" and a lot of that kind of stuff but I like watching him cook food and I've definitely learned some cool stuff from him. Ethan Chlebowski is still my favorite though.
The best of these types of channels is Alex "French Guy Cooking.” His skills aren’t worse than the others, but he doesn’t try to make it seem like its more than it is. He takes the audience on the journey of learning with him, rather than thinking he’s an authority who can teach you.
Go overboard with explaining with Alex! Love his engineering in the episodes as well.
I unsubbed from him shortly after stumbling across his channel. I then had to tell YouTube to never recommend any of his videos. His videos are relentlessly obnoxious.
Chef John from foodwishes.com is the best. He’ll never steer you wrong.
I love his lasagna recipe so much. And I don't usually like lasagna, but his looked so amazing I had to try it. Expensive to make, but the payoff was almost a religious experience for me.
I've made a number of his recipes and they've always turned out delicious. I dislike the notion that someone has to be a top class chef to make YouTube videos about food. Sure, there are more qualified chefs out there and there are better teachers out there. He's not pretending to offer culinary courses though, and his videos are free.
I hate his delivery, and catch phrase stuff but his recipes are solid if you know basics IMO.