TV/YouTube "Chefs": Your Top/Bottom Three

Hopefully this will be fun and informative (c;

Based on recipes you have “actually” tried, who are your 3 best and worst?
For me…

Best:
1.) Pati Jinich - Love Mexican, and everything I have tried has been exemplary, but she often calls for stuff I can’t get. Honorable mention here is Rick Bayless.

2.) Pailin’s Kitchen - Thai stuff that has so far always been amazing, but same concerns as above. Honorable mention here is Souped Up Recipes.

3.) Helen Rennie - Sometimes too detail oriented for me, her stuff has always been really good. Honorable mention here is Lindsey Farr.

Worst:
1.) Chef John (Food Wishes) - While he spends a lot of time telling me how good his food is… it isn’t. Sometimes OK, way too much less than good.

2.) ATK / Cooks Country - Sometimes they get it, other times not. Most recipes seem like compromises, and food/gear ratings are really hit and miss.

3.) Adam Ragusea - Not a chef… he likes what “HE” likes, and it is not always what I like.

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Good category, but I’m a bit too ignorant on these people. I do like Bayless for countless Mexican street-style dishes, and even for true basics like how to put together a really good picante or good basic avocado/guac.

I don’t know most of the other folks you’ve mentioned, but I’ll give props to Chef John for basic buttermilk biscuits that always turn out great, and to ATK/CC for their cookbook (got cheap at Sams or such) for really great explanations as to why stuff works well and other stuff didn’t. But I’ll admit from watching the ATK/CC shows, a lot of their info is picayune or, in some cases, not just very good.

Great thread start, though, Scott. Thanks!

Likes:
Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. They work best together, though I do like them each separately. I would watch JC reruns on PBS as a kid. It was much more interesting than Sesame Street!
America’s Test Kitchen. Mostly the older episodes because sometimes they get too fussy (especially Dan). But I pretty much learned to cook from Cook’s Illustrated and the ATK books, so I do enjoy the shows.
Maryann Esposito/Ciao Italia. She’s does a great job explaining the culture and regions where certain dishes come from.
Rachel Khoo. Especially Little Paris Kitchen. I’ll never complain about not enough counter space again!

Will watch but don’t love
Lidia Bastianich. She knows what she’s doing, but she’s not as interesting as the ones mentioned above.
Food Wishes/Chef John. Most recipes look good, but some seem a little contrived. And that freakishly small spoon is unnerving. But he is entertaining.

Can’t stand
Anything on Bon Appetit. They are so casual and silly that it’s hard to watch.

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Funny you mention Bon Appetit being silly. Two of my daughters love watching Brad Leone specifically because he is so silly. That and the fact that we ferment a lot of stuff and he does, too - although one of them is quick to point out when he goes astray of ServSafe guidelines.


This guy just came to mind: Alvin Zhou. He’s got another channel for recipes and food gadget testing where he actually talks, and he also does stuff on Tasty’s channel, but I like this channel if I just want to chill out and relax.

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