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I've been following Kenji since his earliest days on SeriousEats. He's great, and I'm so glad he has had the opportunity to change all of our lives for the bett

by jghn 5y ago

I've been following Kenji since his earliest days on SeriousEats. He's great, and I'm so glad he has had the opportunity to change all of our lives for the better. I'm not a fan of watching video content, much prefer reading text. My Kenji consumption has dropped by quite a bit since he's moved to mostly Youtube. He's doing what he wants/loves though, and that's what matters.

sondr3 5y ago
I agree with you in that I prefer written material most of the time, but for food I actually prefer video over text. Mostly because it allows me to see and get a feel for the workflow, the timings and such that are impossible to get across from just a recipe. Especially for baking videos have been great because when it says “should be tacky to the touch but not sticky” it’s always “how sticky is sticky, what is tacky, how do I know what it feels like etc” and seeing a baker doing it helps immensely. Once I’ve gotten a good grasp for the process though I far prefer using a recipe.
- jghn 5y ago
  Fair point. If there's a new-to-me technique or something else tricky I 100% agree. As in sometimes I have the opposite complaint where even reading a recipe it's still unclear what I should be doing. For instance there are times when I finally see a recipe made on Americas Test Kitchen/Milk Street/etc I realize I've been doing it wrong. I suppose what I'm saying is I want the text recipe first, and perhaps the video. From what I've seen on the Youtube channel the video is provided and sometimes the written recipe.
- ethbr0 5y ago
  Watched for the first time just now. I love the PoV videos! It's really helpful to see just what the hands are doing, and no cuts. The biggest gaps in written IMHO tend to be (a) things people do but don't realize they do, (b) things people do but assume everyone else already knows, (c) things people do more efficiently but don't think to mention (obvious example: use a cook time break to clean prep-ware).
  - rootusrootus 5y ago
    > I love the PoV videos! I would much prefer a stable camera video. The PoV videos are unwatchable for me unless I take dramamine.
    - ethbr0 5y ago
      Desktop, laptop, or mobile? I was watching on mobile, so had a stable reference for most of my field of view.
    - jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
      Do you think using one of the newer action style cameras that does horizon leveling would help?
      - rootusrootus 5y ago
        Yep, anything that stabilizes the picture would help immensely. It's when the camera is panning around showing what he's looking at while my head is actually stationary that it triggers severe motion sickness.
      - kenjilopezalt 5y ago
        I use a gopro 9 with the strongest stabilization setting. I haven’t tried horizon leveling yet but that’s a good idea to test.
        jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
        You continue to impress me with how you take what you do and your values so seriously. I honestly made the comment above with the intent to ping you with the suggestion after your current social media storm faded a touch. Thanks for teaching me how to feed myself better over the last few years.
        Gatsky 5y ago
        Never ceases to amaze me who is on HN. Thanks for all the steak science.
- bobf 5y ago
  If you're interested in baking, I imagine you already know of Claire Saffitz - but if not, she was previously at Bon Appétit and now has a great YouTube channel on desserts/baking that your description of things like "tacky" vs "sticky" etc being more directly/usefully explained in a video context. And yes, I 100% agree that Kenji has been an amazing culinary content creator, researcher, and resource for years. Look at his recipes and insights on turkey/prime rib/etc for holiday meals, noodles, cookies, and more as a few outstanding examples. He reminds me a lot of many of the best things about Alton Brown and Jacques Pépin - a scientifically/analytically fussy approach to cooking and baking, but in the right ways - not in the "fussiness without usefulness" (or without useful explanation, at least) route that many chefs take.
yen223 5y ago
I've gotten more educational value out of his cooking videos, where he straps on a GoPro and cooks a dish, than from most recipe posts. There are nuances about the cooking process that textual recipes simply lack the bandwidth to capture.
jshmrsn 5y ago
He is working on a new book, focused on cooking with woks. So more reading to be done some time soonish.

by jghn 5y ago

sondr3 5y ago

I agree with you in that I prefer written material most of the time, but for food I actually prefer video over text. Mostly because it allows me to see and get a feel for the workflow, the timings and such that are impossible to get across from just a recipe. Especially for baking videos have been great because when it says “should be tacky to the touch but not sticky” it’s always “how sticky is sticky, what is tacky, how do I know what it feels like etc” and seeing a baker doing it helps immensely. Once I’ve gotten a good grasp for the process though I far prefer using a recipe.

jghn 5y ago
Fair point. If there's a new-to-me technique or something else tricky I 100% agree. As in sometimes I have the opposite complaint where even reading a recipe it's still unclear what I should be doing. For instance there are times when I finally see a recipe made on Americas Test Kitchen/Milk Street/etc I realize I've been doing it wrong. I suppose what I'm saying is I want the text recipe first, and perhaps the video. From what I've seen on the Youtube channel the video is provided and sometimes the written recipe.
ethbr0 5y ago
Watched for the first time just now. I love the PoV videos! It's really helpful to see just what the hands are doing, and no cuts. The biggest gaps in written IMHO tend to be (a) things people do but don't realize they do, (b) things people do but assume everyone else already knows, (c) things people do more efficiently but don't think to mention (obvious example: use a cook time break to clean prep-ware).
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  > I love the PoV videos! I would much prefer a stable camera video. The PoV videos are unwatchable for me unless I take dramamine.
  - ethbr0 5y ago
    Desktop, laptop, or mobile? I was watching on mobile, so had a stable reference for most of my field of view.
  - jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
    Do you think using one of the newer action style cameras that does horizon leveling would help?
    - rootusrootus 5y ago
      Yep, anything that stabilizes the picture would help immensely. It's when the camera is panning around showing what he's looking at while my head is actually stationary that it triggers severe motion sickness.
    - kenjilopezalt 5y ago
      I use a gopro 9 with the strongest stabilization setting. I haven’t tried horizon leveling yet but that’s a good idea to test.
      - jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
        You continue to impress me with how you take what you do and your values so seriously. I honestly made the comment above with the intent to ping you with the suggestion after your current social media storm faded a touch. Thanks for teaching me how to feed myself better over the last few years.
      - Gatsky 5y ago
        Never ceases to amaze me who is on HN. Thanks for all the steak science.
bobf 5y ago
If you're interested in baking, I imagine you already know of Claire Saffitz - but if not, she was previously at Bon Appétit and now has a great YouTube channel on desserts/baking that your description of things like "tacky" vs "sticky" etc being more directly/usefully explained in a video context. And yes, I 100% agree that Kenji has been an amazing culinary content creator, researcher, and resource for years. Look at his recipes and insights on turkey/prime rib/etc for holiday meals, noodles, cookies, and more as a few outstanding examples. He reminds me a lot of many of the best things about Alton Brown and Jacques Pépin - a scientifically/analytically fussy approach to cooking and baking, but in the right ways - not in the "fussiness without usefulness" (or without useful explanation, at least) route that many chefs take.

yen223 5y ago

I've gotten more educational value out of his cooking videos, where he straps on a GoPro and cooks a dish, than from most recipe posts. There are nuances about the cooking process that textual recipes simply lack the bandwidth to capture.

jshmrsn 5y ago

He is working on a new book, focused on cooking with woks. So more reading to be done some time soonish.