Learning to Cook from Youtube

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Ranges from everywhere between the impractical, "Now, any small Artisanal Asian market in your city should have this exotic spice, then just put the meat in your smoker for 48 hours" to the useless, "Now, put your roast in the oven and cook until it's done and you'll have a perfect roast every time!"


I want to get better at cooking, but I watch all these videos and go, "I'm not doing any of that bullshit".


Is there anyone on YouTube who provides actual, practical cooking advice for the average guy? I know of Babish and what's name that calls himself Papa all the time and Gordon Ramsay, who when I looked up his scallop instructions, said put them in the pan and the video ended.....

Anyone decent who doesn't do it for a living and therefore isn't sponsored by $15,000 worth of cooking shit and ingredients like I can just stroll down to the fishmonger to get the Catch of the Day?

[Display Name]

“Sam The Cooking Guy” usually does pretty simple stuff.

[pinja]

Those "simple 3 ingredient meals" with 30 spices and 12 herbs make me rage in front of my microwave.

[Sephiroth]

The aforementioned Sam the Cooking Guy
The Barbecue Pit Boys
Sorted Food
Binging with Babish
And of course Gordon Ramsay

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

I have two go-to channels.

Food Wishes – Probably as close as it gets to a "Cooking for Dummies"-type channel, as everything is presented as simply as possible. He does do it for a living, but generally avoids rare ingredients (and offers suggestions for substitutes when he does) and I can't remember him using anything more than basic kitchen pots, pans, and appliances.

J. Kenji López-Alt – another guy who breaks things down to as basic a level as possible, and will often demonstrate recipes in real time so you can follow every step.

[xCompackx]

Binging with Babish is a great channel for cooking; his Basics with Babish series will show how to make a dish and then ways you can experiment and spice it up. I actually tried making my first Carbonara from his video on it.

[BlackoutCreature]

Here's who I follow -

Glen and Friends Cooking

Food Wishes/Chef John

emmymade

Spain on a Fork

I also like Tasting History with Max Miller and Townsends, but their thing is more cooking historical dishes, which can range in complexity from pretty easy to "isn't that herb extinct?".

I've also learned a lot of shortcuts and substitutes in my day, so if you need to find a more available alternative to something, ask.

[Bo Rida]

Tiktok but meals by Mitch.
But very British. American's and their cups make finding something useful extra difficult and I assume it goes the other way.

[Mozenrath]

Not sure if it's going to be your thing, but Barry Lewis can be useful. His channel used to be called "My Virgin Kitchen" since the whole idea was that he was a total neophyte to cooking, but he changed it eventually, probably since by that point, he had become more known by his own name and, well, had years of experience cooking, rendering the other name sort of inaccurate.

It's various levels of skill, plus some gimmicky stuff that's more general interest than directly applicable, like buying the cheapest ingredient versus much more expensive ones, and seeing how the dishes made from it will compare, usually simple stuff like grilled cheese sandwiches or cookies or the like.

[BlackoutCreature]

Oh, here's another site I use sometimes that's good for simple cooking - You Suck at Cooking.

[Natural Born Farmer]

The Wolfe Pit

He does some more elaborate recipes but his whole schtick is cheap stuff that can be made pretty easily.  Gotten some awesome bachelor meal ideas from the channel.

Binging With Babish is also a mix of stuff that's meant to be a challenge for the chef, and super easy stuff that most people just haven't thought of.

Magic Slow Cooker is also full of easy ideas if you've got a Crock Pot.

[Sir Woodrow]

Nat's What I Reckon is a good one, and it's full of swears too