Beware of recipes on Youtube

[georgevan]

I made a sausage and potatoe recipe that I think was posted by an amateur that didn't know what he was doing. Way to greasy and too much seasoning. Did anyone ever experience anything like that?

 

[msmofet]

I never really follow a recipe. I pick and choose what ingredients to keep according to my tastes.

 

[Andy M.]

Wasn't it Abraham Lincoln who said, "Don't believe anything you read on the internet."?

 

[blissful]

There are really BAD videos and blogs all over the internet, along with really GOOD ones too. Decide carefully if you trust them. Do they have a lot of followers and recipe over a long time period, or is this their 10th recipe in life? It costs less than $100 for some server space to write a blog (and less), and nothing to put up a video, so anyone can do it.

When I was learning about beekeeping, I watched a lot of videos. I saw one, this young woman wanted honey and somehow she thought the bees made honey year round, so first thing in the spring, she opens her supers and is surprised that there is no honey even though she waited ALL WINTER. There are no flowers in winter, so how they'd make honey is beyond me (I was learning) but she earnestly thought she would have a big spring harvest of honey. As she sat there crying about no honey I wondered why I'd even watched the video to the end. So if something doesn't seem right, it might not be right for you.

 

[pepperhead212]

I personally think that for every good blog for recipes, or gardening suggestions (the two things I look at more than anything else), there are ten out there by people that don't know anything about the subject (the nicest way I can put it), and I'm probably being generous. I rarely look at things on YouTube, unless it's by someone I know as reputable on the subject.

I used to see this frequently on those food shows on PBS - some of the cooks looked like they hadn't even been in a kitchen before, and I figured that their spouse must have given some huge donation, for them to get a show! Now, this isn't even necessary on the internet - anyone can do it. I actually saw someone suggesting something on some gardening site where she said "I haven't tried this yet, but..." Well why is she suggesting something - just repeating what she heard someone else say? This is probably what many things are like.

 

[dragnlaw]

Don't feel bad georgevan, I just got caught with that recipe for stuffed cauliflower. My bad.
There are quite a few people I follow their blogs and I've never had a problem with their recipes. But videos on Youtube are a different thing.
If you are not sure about them, doesn't hurt to ask around!

One of our members has delicious recipes and quite a few videos Matej, at Cook We Will visit his site, I think his explanations, directions are great!

Many blogs do step by step pictures to go along with the recipe. Many blogs have videos. Watch the videos against the posted recipes, it's not hard to spot gross errors.
Here's a few more I'm sure you've seen mentioned here...
Recipe Tin Eats
Chef John with Food Wishes & Allrecipes
Woks of Life a great American Chinese family

egads - I could go on and on!

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

As I told a young lady who asked me why I was being so mean and nasty to a certain woman on our message board, "It's the internet honey. It ain't real!"

 

[dr morbius]

I got a recipe on youtube for cheesy muffins, and it's a terrific recipe. I added grilled onions to it, and now my cheesy onion muffins get oohs and aahs when I make them (deservedly so, if I must say so myself). I would second what's written above: check out how many previous videos the poster has, and how many views your intended recipe has. There's a comment section, often, and you can look at that to see how people have fared in the past with the recipe.

And Chef John is on youtube (Food Wishes). Chef John is a culinary demigod.

 

[rodentraiser]

I was going to say, I have no hesitations about doing a Chef John recipe. The only ones I wouldn't do are the ones I already know I wouldn't like. And the nice thing about his videos is he often tells you why you're doing something, not just what to do.

 

[Linda0818]

I think in the past I've made a couple of recipes that didn't really turn out the way I thought they would. But most of the time I won't use anyone else's recipes (on Youtube or otherwise) unless I feel the ingredients will all work together. I can usually tell, just by seeing the ingredients going in and how the recipe is constructed, that it's going to be a bummer.

 

[Badjak]

I might look around the internet when I either don't know how to use an ingredient or if I lack inspiration.
I tend to prefer written content though. Again unless I am not familiar with a certain technique.

There are some very nice sites, but also a lot of people copying and pasting the same recipe and a lot of rubbish

What type of food do you really like @georgevan ?
I'm sure people here can help with finding good sites and helping with the recipes.

I mainly cook SE Asian. Not sure if that's to your liking?

 

[larry_stewart]

The problem is anyone can post anything on the internet ( which is a good thing, the more the merrier), but everything has to be read with some skepticism. You learn to find reliable sources over time, but still eventually get burned every now and then. If im ever trying anything new, I try to find multiple sources, compare them to see if they are basically saying the same thing. Once it passes that test, use my past experiences , common sense and knowledge to hopefully make a good judgment prior to waiting time and money on something that will not be very good. My wife is always sending me recipes to proof read, prior to making. She doesnt have the ability to judge a recipe by just reading it. I do, but still mess up every now and then. I do like seeing pics and / or videos just to get a better idea of the way things are being cut up, a general idea of the "medium sized" onion or tomato they are using ( as my medium isn't always their medium). How 'browned ' something should be ( according to their recipe). Many times, a poorly written recipe doest do a good job of describing important details, and thats where videos and pics come into play.

 

[dragnlaw]

I was going to say, I have no hesitations about doing a Chef John recipe. The only ones I wouldn't do are the ones I already know I wouldn't like. And the nice thing about his videos is he often tells you why you're doing something, not just what to do.

One of the most important things... why

I think in the past I've made a couple of recipes that didn't really turn out the way I thought they would. But most of the time I won't use anyone else's recipes (on Youtube or otherwise) unless I feel the ingredients will all work together. I can usually tell, just by seeing the ingredients going in and how the recipe is constructed, that it's going to be a bummer.

I'm getting better at it but really really slow and many times it is just the main ingredient that attracts me and 'being different' from most ways of doing it.
I'm certainly not adept at translating into something viable.
I try to stick to the recipe (for the most part) - whcih is why I must trust them.

Edit: yes, agreed dr morbius, quite a few good bloggers post on youtube.

 

[georgevan]

I might look around the internet when I either don't know how to use an ingredient or if I lack inspiration.
I tend to prefer written content though. Again unless I am not familiar with a certain technique.

There are some very nice sites, but also a lot of people copying and pasting the same recipe and a lot of rubbish

What type of food do you really like @georgevan ?
I'm sure people here can help with finding good sites and helping with the recipes.

I mainly cook SE Asian. Not sure if that's to your liking?

I like anything that tastes good. I found a recipe for pepper steak on ytube and it was great. I am realizing that south east Asian recipes are mostly in the sauces that makes them taste good. I don't care for any recipe that is heavy on the tomatoes.

 

[dcSaute]

as one gains experience in "cooking" one tends to recognize - - - "OMG that's too much xxxxx!"

I'd venture to say 80%+ of "recipes" posted are not precisely tested/described.
somebody cooked something and then posted a bunch of 'estimated' quantities/amounts . . . and when followed to the imaginary amounts . . . does not work.

 

[jennyema]

Never trust Pinterest or Youtube

 

[larry_stewart]

I've had personal experiences with both a DIY meal delivery plan and a food blog. Both have their recipes go through multiple ' recipe testers' to work out the bugs prior to being published or distributed . I think most professional sources of recipes do something like this. That being said, you tube and other platforms are like the Wild West where anyone can post anything. Need to take things with a grain of salt and skepticism unless coming from a known, reliable source. I 've learned some great recipes , techniques ... from unknowns, and have seen some really crappy things too. In time you get the skill of being able to judge a recipe before actually trying it. And even then, you still get burned every now and then. I remember when I started cooking, I used to watch the PBS cooking shows. The guy was cooking a vegetarian dish, and back then, it wasn't so common for a cooking show to do vegetarian things. Got my pen and paper out and copied down the recipe ( no internet back then). It looked pretty good, but had like 30 + ingredients ( no exaggeration). I went to the market, got everything needed and started preparing dish. When I got halfway through, I realized it was a lost cause. I knew it was going to be horrible, but no way to turn around or salvage the dish. I completed it, took one taste, and into the trash it went. I wish I had that skill back then.

 

[Andy M.]

There are a couple of things you can do to protect yourself from bad recipes. The first is easy, visit only trusted sites. Friends and experience tell you which ones those are. The second is to use your own cooking knowledge/experience to recognize good recipes.

I mostly use recipes for ideas of new dishes. Then, as I make a dish I try to judge what's right in quantities and combinations to make the recipe.

 

[ConnorWood]

As a newbie in the kitchen, I stumbled upon this thread and found it super insightful! Thanks for the heads-up on the potential pitfalls of YouTube recipes. It's like navigating a culinary minefield! Personally, I've had mixed experiences with online recipes. While some have been absolute gems, others turned out to be total flops. It's like rolling the dice every time you hit that play button! One thing's for sure, though: it's all part of the cooking adventure!

 

[ConnorWood]

By the way, has anyone tried using recipe apps or websites like getlikes com/ I'm curious to hear your thoughts on those!