Though I don't do a lot of cooking, I find myself watching a fair amount of cooking videos on YouTube. I like to know how things are made, including many things I would never in a million years attempt to prepare in my kitchen. I also like a lot of online chefs for their presentation skills. I think anyone who has to make videos that teach you how to do anything could learn from watching Alton Brown.
I've also occasionally binged on Laura Vitale, Sam the Cooking Guy and Chef John. I'm really just watching Chef John to see if there's any food on the planet he doesn't think needs a shake of Cayenne Pepper.
Lately, I've been watching Adam Ragusea, who I think is very good and very informative with the "explaining" part of his job. He's a special master of getting in and out of a commercial for his sponsor without it being too intrusive.
I like when he explains why he doesn't agree with a lot of other chefs and most of his explanations make great sense to me…like he did this whole video about why he thinks it's foolish to deep-fry in a home kitchen. Here, he discusses what kind of cheese does or doesn't belong on pizza and this video is all about why some people like spicy food. (I spend much of my life avoiding spicy food…and chefs who think every food on the planet needs a shake of Cayenne Pepper.)
Last year, he did a deep dive into the controversy about Monosodium glutamate, which you may know better by its initials: MSG. I have no opinion on this matter, in large part because I don't feel qualified to form an opinion on it. Well, I have this much of an opinion: I'm sure it's very bad for some people but as a person with many food allergies, I feel that way about everything we consume. There are certainly foods you eat that are very good for your body that would do great damage to mine.
Our video link today is Mr. Ragusea's look at MSG. He didn't convince me it was good or bad, nor was that his mission. But he did convince me I didn't know as much about it as I thought I did…