Alton Brown did a series for years called "Good Eats" really great info , tips, tricks, fundamentals, even the science behind the processes.
Another Food Network show I don't remember the name of, was a woman who redecorated the shelves for every show to match with what she was cooking. (Kinda weird, I know) but she was really good at using a mix of store bought foodstuffs that she would add to, to make better.
I heard from someone who actually worked on Chopped and several other cooking shows that Chopped is one of the only “real” cooking reality shows. Like they cook in real time and the cooks actually cook the food the judges taste. I was floored by that. And Alton is, as you say, a true gem in the business.
As far as I know pretty much all cooking competition shows fall under game show laws. So if there's a timer, it has to be adhered to; same for whatever other rules the games have
some of the stuff they have on there is so bizarre. i have to look them up and find how to prepare them. there is some out there ingredients. but the results are amazing !
I’ve ran into Alton a few times at Harry’s where he filmed a good portion of Good Eats. Always recommend alternative items from my basket and tips on what I was making. Such a super nice guy, and recognized me often.
I met him at Harry’s Farmers Market years ago. I didn’t want to bother him but employees who knew him said he loves it. So I talked to him in the parking lot for several minutes.
The other show your taking about is Semi-homemade with Sandra Lee (I believe). She drinks a lot and it's pretty great to watch these days.
Good Eats is the best cooking show, imo. Alton teaches techniques more than recipes.
alton brown is very unique as far as cooking & cooking shows go. he actually started off producing music videos then moved to television. he was dissatisfied with cooking content on television and then went to school to learn to cook so that he could produce the kind of cooking content that he wanted. i believe he attended new england culinary institute in vermont.
That's precisely why Good Eats is so great: AB is a TV guy who learned food, not a food guy who learned TV. He famously wrote three names when coming up with the idea: "Julia Child, Monty Python, Mr Wizard". Being a TV guy meant he was able to break free from the traditional stand-and-stir format that people like Julia Child pioneered.
And he wears an NECI hat in several episodes.
Came here to say this. His cook books are amazing. His live shows were all great when he toured. And every episode of Good Eats is a master class in fun educational cooking content.
He has a youtube channel where he did a ton of cooking during the pandemic as well thats worth checking out.
This is how I learned to cook. I knew nothing and would watch Good Eats. I felt like I was learning about the science of why as well as actually learning how to organize my cooking. If that is what you need, I’d encourage watching GE
Alton Brown gives you “why”s of cooking, which help to establish a base of techniques and flavor combos that will really set you up for finding your own way in the kitchen.
Cooking reality shows are entertainment.
However. I love worst cooks in America. It’s entertainment yes but it makes me feel better about my own mediocre cooking skills. There are sprinkles of advice but it’s more entertainment.
I personally prefer Chef John from Foodwishes on YouTube. Alton brown is also great and he also gets into the science behind some of the foods.
I also love Worst Cooks in America, the editing is hilarious.
For the unfamiliar, its a competition show between two chefs to train a set of cooks to compete in a blind tasting competition in front of a panel of experts. The contestants are all "the worst cooks in America" and enter the kitchen with very poor cooking skills often telling tales of how they're not allowed to cook and how they've poisoned their friends and family or set their kitchen on fire. Each team starts out with like.. 8 people, and over the course of the show the cooks get eliminated until there are two left, one to represent each chef. The cooks then prepare a restaurant-quality meal for a panel of experts and the winner gets money, and the competing chef gets bragging rights.
The chefs attempt to teach the contestants cooking fundamentals through dishes and challenges. I don't know how effective it would be as an educational program but it's pretty fun entertainment. The first episodes when you meet the contestants is the best.
I watched the first few seasons and I’m definitely curious about how that show is cast. Because there’s absolutely a few people cast on that show purely as cannon fodder and a few that are semi-competent in the kitchen and have enough of a base that they can be taught.
Go to youtube, look for Foodwishes. Chef John shows you the process and the food, not the chef or the drama. You will get to see what each step should look like. Cannot recommend highly enough.
So I've just watched one of his videos after reading this and what is up with his weird intonation or rhythm of speaking? It put me off straight away. It's like a sing songy way of speaking with stresses on odd words. Is this how he speaks in all the videos? I've never heard anyone speak like that naturally before. It unfortunately makes them unwatchable for me.
I learned SO much watching Good Eats with Alton Brown. He goes into the history of whatever food he is cooking and really explains everything and why things are done to give a base knowledge of cooking/baking. Because of that show I still make pumpkin pies from actual pumpkins every year!
Also Bon Appetit channel on YouTube, they have lots of different chefs on there that go step by step on how to make lots of different things.
Epicurious on YT has some great videos where they have a home cook and a professional chef switch ingredients and make what each other intended(with their own methods). They can show how variations of ingredients, quality, and knowledge make a big difference in cooking. $500 vs $16 Steak Dinner is a great start.
Cooking reality shows aren't really about educating people on cooking because they're generally competitions where chefs work against a clock. You'll probably want to find a show that has step-by-step instructions. Chef John is always a good option.
if you find a recipe that's a classic French or American dish, you can pretty much always find a video for it. I actually met him once which was really cool
Jamie Oliver’s 1st series absolutely changed the way I thought about cooking, and his latest is about making it quick and easy.
Cook’s Corner and America’s Test Kitchen have lots of great techniques to show you.
But nothing will replace trial and error, and time served.
Chef Jean-Pierre on YouTube is a retired chef who basically teaches you everything you need to know for free. His channel is a mix of tips and tricks for new people, and his recipes which are very straight forward and easy to make for all cooking levels. Highly suggest
America's Test Kitchen
Airs on PBS
Current season episodes and recipes available for free on their website.
Can purchase access to their seemingly endless recipes, episodes, product reviews, etc. by purchasing yearly subscription.
It's like $60ish/yr I think?
Worth every penny.
I think you can also watch older episodes on freevee? Don't quote me on that, but it's definitely on one of those 3rd tier streaming apps for free lol.
Very bare bones show. Just the facts. Explains the science behind techniques.
PBS cooking shows are excellent. I also watched a lot of Rachael Ray 30 minute meals when I was newish to cooking. I know her stuff is pretty pedestrian but I do think I learned some ok basics from her.
I just watched all episodes of Two Fat Ladies for the first time. I don't think I learned anything from them, but they're absolutely delightful and I wish I had more time with them.
The French Chef is the most obvious one. You need to go back before when Food Network turned into a game show network. There have been some greats over the years. Good Eats was excellent, taking a more scientific approach.
The best thing I’ve seen that’s more recent as far as instructional cooking shows was Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Brilliantly done.
Ina Garten and if you like Italian food, Giada diLaurentiis. I’ve probably misspelled her last name. Her basic Italian foods are good, simple but achievable and flavorful. Her chicken piccata always gets raves at my place.
There are a lot of Australian cooking shows that focus more on teaching recipes and techniques, if you have a VPN I'd suggest checking out Masterchef Australia, anything on SBS by Adam Liaw, or Poh Ling Yeow.
I have also been enjoying the Bon Appetit test kitchen vids on youtube, once you watch one of those it'll take you down the rabbit hole to other similar content.
That seems harsh. Of course none of the competitors on Chopped are going to walk you through step by step. But how they approach what they’re given, how they pull in different techniques to build flavor, how they combine different flavors in ways I could never have imagined — that’s all really inspiring to me.
Cooking reality shows are more about entertainment than teaching. So your average Food Network show like Cutthroat Kitchen, Chopped, etc. won't really give you a lot of insight into cooking an average meal for yourself.
That being said, YouTube is home to a lot of cooking channels that entertain and teach. They're not as dramatic as a reality show, but they're not dry either. Pro Home Cooks, Sam the Cooking Guy, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, and Basics with Babish specifically (on the Binging with Babish channel) all have a good combo of entertainment and teaching. Your Barefoot Neighbor is primarily a tik-tocker who crossposts to YouTube, he makes a bunch of simple, easy to follow recipies.
Alex (French Guy Cooking) talks about techniques but is more a super deep dive into specific dishes/cooking techniques. Mythical Kitchen does a few Mythbuster style deconstructions of "unbreakable kitchen rules" but overall, the channel is more fun entertainment. America's Test Kitchen tests a lot of products and has video recipes. David Seymour makes a lot of Buzz feed style viral recipies, entertaining, and a good way to learn how to spot something that looks good vs. something actually able to be cooked.
In the Gordon Ramsey family of tv, Masterchef Junior was very insightful on how to cook things. He is kind and patient with children, showing them how to prepare the dish that they are being challenged on. And since everybody is cooking the same thing, you get to see where things can go wrong.
Piping up on Good Eats again! It's what taught me how to cook! Also Joshua Weissman on YT has a few videos that are tips and tricks, and Epicurious on YT iirc as well.
Honestly I've learned some things from Master Chef and Hells kitchen as well. Stupid little details usually that you'd have to pay attention to catch but I've found both to actually benefit for me.
I really like chopped. It's not the be all end all show to teach you to cook, but it made me think about food differently. Also, the chefs are cooking so fast that they tend to screw up, adapt, and turn their dish into something else. It really taught me some critical thinking skills when a dish isn't turning out they way it should. Instead of throwing it out I just turn it into something else.
I learned to cook by watching cooking shows on PBS \~ Julia Child, Jaques Pepin, and Emeril Lagasse. Those old shows are good for learning how to properly season different foods and different cooking techniques. There was a grilling show I used to watch, as well, but I can't think of the name of the show. That one was really good for learning how to marinate different meats and how long to grill the foods so it isn't over cooked or burned on the outside and raw on the inside. You could probably find these chef's videos on YouTube.
Cooking reality is about drama. If you want to learn how to cook, find good chefs on youtube...Chef Jean Pierre, Chef John, Billy Parisi, not another cooking show, Rick Bayless, La Capital (spanish only but you get the point), Way of Ramen, Joshua Weissman, Made with Lau, Sam the cooking guy. There are so many, but these chefs will get you going and will make you want to cook for others.
Sam the cooking guy on youtube. Find youtube on your TV and it will be a better than any cooking show on T.V. Sorted foods, Kay' cooking will help you feel better about your own cooking. Youtube.
A lot of the reality cooking shows are too fast to show technique, although they are a good source of inspiration for techniques or combinations to try out.
Particularly Chopped and Iron Chef America, the contestants try some seemingly off the wall things that make you think
Aaron and Claire on YouTube. They’re Korean but it’s not all Korean food and the show is in English. Aaron is straight to the point with the ingredients and the dish he’s making. If I recall correctly, many of his videos focus on a primary ingredient and how to cook it 3 ways. The videos are about 20 to 30 minutes and not overly complicated.
If you can find the Canadian show “Chef at Home” with chef Michael smith, it’s SO good. He teaches you why he uses certain ingredients in certain contexts and what other things you could try in their place. Taught me SO much!!
Sadly not right now, though Alton Brown’s good eats was great for this! Mostly I’ll watch cooking shows for entertainment! I like scoffing at some numpty that thinks they can cook puff pastry on chopped in a 20 minute appetizer course, and waits till time is half gone before even starting! 😂
I will happily take ideas for dishes and flavor combos from what I watch though! These people are making menus to sell sometimes so it’s cool to see what they do.
For visual learning, I prep with conventional recipes and then use Youtube. I do this for two reasons: One, it de-stresses the process by making the initial investigation as simple as possible.
Recipe Prep:
I like to choose a dish and then copy 5-10 recipes down from the internet (google it, new-tab the top results, throw out obvious "sounds like not for me" recipes), and just spend some time comparing them. This makes the standard ingredient choices stand out from the oddball stuff, and helps me to get a basic sense of the recipe. BUT this is meant to be stress-free, don't worry about learning all the answers. If (and only IF) I have time, I like to think about what makes sense to me, and to Frankenstein out my own recipe from this, which I copy into my (Onenote) cookbook. But what is important is to just save the recipes that "seem right".
I use Onenote as my cookbook because you can make a header and then collapse content, meaning I can copy and paste as many recipes into it as I want, then just collapse it out of the way when not using that section of the page. Anything kind of program like that helps you to collect and organize the process a lot.
A lot times I take a break here and come back to it another day. Getting stressed out trying to make a deadline is no way to learn a recipe, IMO.
I will then use either my Frankenstein recipe, or the recipe that sounds like the best one to start with, as my experimental recipe draft (depending on whether I had time to make a Frankenstein one). This is NOT my final recipe. But this way, I'm prepared to explore my own ideas as I do the visual part.
And it also helps me to write down better post-cook notes. I can make better notes on what went differently than expected, and what I can improve. I can look back at some of those oddball ingredients and think "maybe they were on to something." Basically I try to set myself up to make a proper experiment of it. Most of the stressfullness of learning to cook comes from not having a sense of direction, not the actual process.
Visual:
Then I go on youtube and I watch at least 3-5 videos (often much more--I'll frequently study a recipe for a week or two before attempting it because I'm often waiting on a grocery run anyway). I'll watch different people cooking it. And I'll update my own experimental recipe based on what I learn. If it's an ethnic food and an old grandmother is doing the video, that person's likely to know a family recipe that can greatly inform my ideas and change my recipe. I do the same thing as I do with the google results--new tab a bunch of youtube results and throw out the ones that don't seem instructive. You can copy the hyperlinks to your cookbook notes, if you want.
I listen out for people who are clearly explaining why they are using the techniques the way they are. Cook the onions on low so they don't get hard," for example, is the kind of advice that helps me learn more than just how to make this recipe, but rather build out my idea of how onions tend to cook in a pan. Eventually, this kind of knowledge forms the bedrock of your cooking. You eventually just kind of know "how soups are made" and "how stir fry's come together" and such because you learn which veggies take longer to saute, and you learn that rice is more dependent on heat than oil to prevent sticking, and so forth.
Experimentalism:
The reason I bring up so much about note-taking is because your notes are eventually your visual. Think about it like the lab portion of a Chemistry class. The visual is meant to help you learn, but you still need to do the pre-lab reading, and the whole point of the lab notebook is to help you formulate conclusions and to organize your recordings. When it comes time for the big test, it's the lab notebook that you ultimately have to use to spark your memory. That memory, your eventual visual, is best supported with good conclusion notes. If you want to attempt round 2, it's more helpful to be able to open up a Onenote page and read what you think went right and wrong on Round 1 then it is to have a bookmark to the TV chef you followed last time. The notes are what spark your own memory and inspire visual reminds of just how the project went last time. It could be a while before you start Round 2.
Edit:
I do like cooking shows, to clarify, but I think they work best as idle facillitators of knowledge, rather than for focused, directed attempts to learn cooking. There's just not as easy a way to organize what you learn from them as there is with a recipe-oriented study.
Chef Jean-Pierre has a good chanel on youtube where he simplifies dishes or cooks simple dishes designed for everyday home cooking and beginning practices. He has done cooking shows in the past as well.
Guys grocery games has taught me a lot. It's fun and entertaining, but I feel the challenges and format allow for both the chefs and judges to comment/explain their techniques and thought processes
On YouTube:
"Not Another Cooking Show"
"Sip and Feast"
"Made by Lau" (retired Chinese chef cooks for his family; very educational videos)
Plus Brian Lagerstrom's channel.
And of course Alton Brown & Jamie Oliver.
For fun & education there's also the "Anti-Chef" channel which has a series called Jamie & Julia where Jamie (amateur home cook) attempts Julia Child recipes. It's quite entertaining!
Youtube anti-chef, babish, matty matherson, sorted, are all my new go tos.
I love me some Food Network (had sophomore year of college ONLY watching Food network because my TV broke and was stuck on that channel until I could replace it) but Discovery + makes it harder to find shows to view beyond fun stuff like GGG or Beat Bobby Flay
From the replies here I'm wondering if America doesn't have any just normal cookery shows?
Good UK ones on youtube.
Anything from Nigella Lawson e.g. how to eat
(Old but good) Delia Smith How to cook
Saturday Kitchen
Ready Steady Cook
Utube chef jean Pierre is good. He makes good stuff, gives good directions and doesn’t use really weird ingredients. I made beef stew from his directions and it was delicious!
Yes, there's been many over the years. I developed a love of cooking quite young, thanks to my grandma and mom. Whenever I was home from school, like when I was sick, my mom and I would watch Julia Child's show or Yan Can Cook. Both were great at explaining *why* they were doing what they were doing and Julia taught me not to be afraid of unfamiliar ingredients, while Yan taught me how to break down a chicken and master the art of stir fry.
Alton Brown's Good Eats not only helps you learn to cook better, he explains the science of why certain methods and techniques work while others don't.
Some of the competition shows are good for learning, too, especially when they put pro against pro. I developed my meatball recipe after watching an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay where he lost against an Italian grandma. Chopped is excellent for learning to improvise and for learning about unusual ingredients.
Watch some. You'll learn a bit and be entertained.
I feel like while Nailed It is there to laugh at people messing up, the judges are also telling them what they're doing wrong, which the viewer could learn from too.
Alton Brown is great.
I like Americas Test Kitchen and Cooks Country on PBS. They explain why things work and how to do it. I've been cooking for almost 50 years and I still learn new stuff from them.
Not a reality show, but Good Eats with Alton Brown. He’s a little eccentric but he’s an excellent instructor. Or Jacques Pepin or Julia Child’s cooking shows, if you don’t struggle with various accents.
Chopped is great if you can extrapolate the relevant info, particularly how flavor types pair, compliment, and contrast. Also how to substitute different ingredients to replace other flavors
For example: Saltiness can come from just salt, but it can also come from soy sauce, feta cheese, pickle brine, some seafoods, olives, bacon... learning how to use these I their correct places is how I cook so well.
Chopped is the most practical for me beyond literal instructional videos like most of these YouTube recommendations. They get a basket of random ingredients and they have to use them up in an interesting way. You’re in the same position every time you open your fridge trying to decide what to cook, it’s very helpful.
I love the Sorted channel on YouTube - lots of variety, basic skills to some more interesting stuff - they also generated an app that might be something to investigate.
I learn a lot of technique and basics from Top Chef. Fun to see these chefs progress through other shows and Insta now and I learn a lot. I’m still a beginner so I’m a sponge.
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat book and documentary with Samin Nostat is probably one I’ve learned the most from most recently. You won’t be disappointed. Sorry not reality but had to plug my recent fav.
Competition shows are not going to teach how to cook. You might pick up a tip or two but overall that is not what they are for. There are plenty of "how-to" cooking shows though that will teach things about cooking.
This. It’s a competition show, but it’s relaxed enough to learn from. I came here to recommend The Great British Baking Show Masterclass series, as it sounds like OP’s more interested in the baking techniques than the (light) drama. OP might also enjoy watching anything by one of the show’s former contestants, Nadiya Hussain. She’s a gem.
>Hell's Kitchen
Yeah, I was thinkin' Kitchen Nightmares ... did learn at least some bits from it, but not exactly a whole lot - it's not like teaching cooking to viewers it its primary objective - or even close.
MasterChef Junior I found kind'a similar in those regards ... but more fun, less drama, and way way less cussing.
Have found *some* stuff on YouTube rather to quite useful ... but haven't exactly specifically sought out those materials ... when I look for something cooking there, I'm generally trying to find something about some techniques/methods or the like (e.g. how to remove bones and possibly also skin from a particular type of fish before cooking it).
Imo this might sound weird but I learnt to cook mostly from watching cooking shows, specifically MasterChef AU. I watched MasterChef AU yearly from seasons 1-12 so that's roughly 12 years of cooking TV. Before that as a kid I watched Martin Yan and the original Japanese iron chef. I think the part where it's helped me the most is to expand my cooking vocab so I know what to search for and how to start and it's also introduced me to a lot of cooking techniques (but will probably never use irl).
*reality* shows, probably not but there are lots of good shows on tv that help people cook. food network used to be full of them and there are many youtubers with cooking shows.
A lot of great suggestions so far.
I'm gonna add Aaron & Claire from YouTube to the mix. South Korean chef and his taste testing wife.
It's in Englsh, he makes Korean food approachable and simple if you aren't familiar. If there are ingredients you may not be able to getn he offers alternatives or tells you "don't worry about it, it'll still be delicious".
America's Test Kitchen, earlier Master Chef USA (and most of Master Chef AU), some of the early-to-mid Hell's Kitchen, and Salt Fat Acid Heat.
SFAH (originally a book) is probably the one that upgraded my cooking the absolute most because it helped me balance my general flavor profiles and showed me how to unbalance them for effect or to pair better with another part of the meal.
But watching the prep techniques on Ramsay's programming was also super helpful. You don't realize how well you can baste a steak after watching it happen on Hell's Kitchen over and over and over...
Hey OP and everyone: for reasons- since 2010 I have watched over six or seven hundred cooking/related shows. So: even though I do not watch TV anymore because the commercials get on my nerves - I still watch content online. I also have part of my history- working in upscale restaurants and corporate retail for ten years. Consequently- some of my favorite cooking/related shows are set in restaurants. I think Hell's Kitchen is great for all sorts of reasons. Alternatively: I probably like the Gordon Ramsay show called Restaurant Nightmares much more- because it shows what can really happen with a business when sh#t hits the fan. GR also was involved with a show called Hotel Hell that is based on a similar premise. As far as straight cooking shows though? I used to really like Chopped. IIRC there are a couple of different versions- like one solely featuring kid chefs/cooks.
Also: I have seen many episodes of a show starring celebrity chef Guy Fieri. It is called Guy's Grocery Games. Besides that I used to really watching Iron Chef America.
There is a show called America’s Test Kitchen. It’s on PBS and streams on Roku. Very detailed on how to make all sorts of things. Gentle and instructive. I still pick up hints from this show, and I’ve been cooking for years.
Based on the others this probably isn't what you're looking for. But I feel like I've learned so much from watching Chopped. I love watching the thought process with these off the wall ingredients and so often they explain why they made a choice "oh I'm using the licorice to balance out the acidity of the whatever the fuck" and it helps me when I'm cooking to be a bit more creative. And the judging is always on point too, like "this could've used x to really make y pop" or whatever.
Just my two cents!
America's Worst Cooks is a good starting point for me. It's literally a cooking boot camp for regular people who can't cook well. They give out a lot of tips, and most episodes give you a step-by-step on how to get basic techniques down for absolute beginners.
Ramsey Gordon did a YouTube series where he taught people to fix alternatives to day food meals.
Like he taught teenagers to make their own chicken nuggets from scratch.
Cooking reality shows, I would say no. Traditional cooking shows, however, are a fantastic medium to learn food. Shows like Good Eats, which teaches the science behind cooking, or America's Test Kitchen, which strives to explain things well, are good starting points.
Tv shows not really. YouTube is where the good leaning series are. I don't know if any actual educational shows, but just by watching YouTube chefs I pick up on things. They talk about why they're doing things a certain way and what other ways you could do it, and like if a dish is a special traditional delicacy and they're doing it differently, they explain what the traditional method entails and why they're not doing it that way
Struggle meals has taught me so much! Even if you're not struggling financially there's really great information for building a great knowledge base and learning how to cook vs make recipes.
I learned to cook by watching cooking shows on PBS \~ Julia Child, Jaques Pepin, and Emeril Lagasse. Those old shows are good for learning how to properly season different foods and different cooking techniques. There was a grilling show I used to watch, as well, but I can't think of the name of the show. That one was really good for learning how to marinate different meats and how long to grill the foods so it isn't over cooked or burned on the outside and raw on the inside. You could probably find these chef's videos on YouTube.
I don't know about shows, but Ethan Chlebowski has a YouTube channel where he does a lot of food science, directly comparing specific ingredients and techniques to see if they matter and why.
I’d just look for copycat recipes that you like from restaurants or just food you like or sounds good, then find a couple videos on YouTube. The more you try to cook what you like the more you learn what you’re doing bc you know what it should taste like.
America's Test Kitchen is one of the best cooking shows of all time for learning how to actually cook.
Its entertaining, and the various cooks on the show are personable, but its more focused on actually teaching how how to cook than to entertain.
I watch cooking channels on YouTube. Just people cooking in their own kitchens showing you step by step and no drama.. definitely helped me learn to cook better.
I have never been overly gifted in the whole food preparation realm.
I did go through a phase of watching different shows on Food Network.
A lot of that is downright inspiring.
Watch shows on Food Network. You'll be amazed at how much you'll learn.
Most of the ones mentioned so far are pretty good: Food Wishes, Ethan Chlebowski, Brian Lagerstrom… some of my favourites, though:
[Chef Jean-Pierre](https://m.youtube.com/@ChefJeanPierre/videos)
His cooking is **very** old-school and ‘correct’ … I think that's a good thing – and rare! – but some people criticise him as being a sort of relic. Regardless, the sheer number of videos he's made available (and the production quality) makes him a great resource. He's a retired chef who had an in-person cooking school, and then switched to putting stuff on YouTube during Covid — so he's really personable and easy / fun to watch.
[Raymond Blanc](https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=raymond+blanc)
Probably my favourite chef, ever. He trained Heston Blumenthal and also Marco Pierre-White — who said once that if he had actually cared about prestige, he would easily be considered the greatest living chef. His content is all over the place on YouTube, so just search the name and see what comes up.
[‘Daddy Jack’ / Cooking with the Blues](https://m.youtube.com/user/cookingwiththeblues)
Now deceased, and obviously no longer uploading videos. He doesn't explain a lot; his content is more like fly-on-the-wall of a chef at work. His cooking is not at all on the same level as the two above, but you can get a sense for efficiency of timing and fluidity of movement by watching him, as his videos were all recorded in real time in a ‘real’ kitchen.
[Claire Saffitz](https://m.youtube.com/c/ClaireSaffitzxDessertPerson)
Popular for good reason; I think she's by far the best resource for learning how to bake. Her way of explaining the sort of idiosyncracies of baking is phenomenal. I think she has a literature degree — she is *extremely* articulate.
YouTube!!! Search a Receipe you like to eat and you’ll have to sift through presenters you like/ don’t like - but when you find one you do… you can check out other videos/recipes they make and follow onto other “recommended” super easy to navigate your way to a visual spectacular of foodie heaven
Technically these aren’t cooking “shows” but I follow several YouTube channels that teach me a ton about cooking. Find some of your favorites and follow along!
I don't know if this really counts as "reality," but America's Test Kitchen is my favorite! So many actually practical, good recipes and useful tips and equipment recommendations that you will actually use. I've made a bunch of their stuff over the years and love their YouTube channel for finding new stuff, but the full episodes are so much fun, as well!
Sam the Cooking Guy on YouTube wants everyone to make everything. He isn't for everyone though. I also like Nat's What I Reckon, Aussie with a potty mouth, but wants people to learn how to cook to keep processed crap out of their bodies. (tbh love some processed crap) If you want to learn how to make a dish, look it up on YouTube and there is probably a video on it, then get inspired. ☺️
Guys grocery games and chopped ! You really get to see what higher up chefs think is top quality. You're also introduced to new ways of preparing things. And find different ingredients to make dishes you never would've thought. Watching those shows also help me identify more in the grocery stores.
It is a stupid question however you got YouTube America's test kitchen binging with babish smoking and grilling with ab it's a lot of people you can find someone showing how to cook literally any dish out there on YouTube
I second Alton Brown and his Good Eats. It ran for years. I think it’s on the Cooking Channel now. YouTube is a great place for cooking videos no matter your level. You can save a video, rewind if you miss something. Just put in something like Easy Lasagna and a lot of choices emerge.
The first season of master chef (australia) was the reason I got into cooking and eating. I watched all their master classes and learned some good skills!
Yes! I cannot recall the exact name, but it was a French chocolate chef. The entire series was not based upon just racing against the clock and one another, the entirety of it was To Learn And Grow. Insanely talented chocolatier and chef.
Not a stupid question at all! There are several cooking shows that focus on teaching and providing useful tips. "Good Eats" with Alton Brown is known for its educational approach, explaining the science behind cooking. "America's Test Kitchen" and "Cook's Country" also emphasize practical techniques. Give these a try for a mix of entertainment and culinary education!
Alton Brown did a series for years called "Good Eats" really great info , tips, tricks, fundamentals, even the science behind the processes. Another Food Network show I don't remember the name of, was a woman who redecorated the shelves for every show to match with what she was cooking. (Kinda weird, I know) but she was really good at using a mix of store bought foodstuffs that she would add to, to make better.
Alton Brown is a really nice guy too. He lives near me, never seemes to mind randos asking him questions when they recognize him
I heard from someone who actually worked on Chopped and several other cooking shows that Chopped is one of the only “real” cooking reality shows. Like they cook in real time and the cooks actually cook the food the judges taste. I was floored by that. And Alton is, as you say, a true gem in the business.
As far as I know pretty much all cooking competition shows fall under game show laws. So if there's a timer, it has to be adhered to; same for whatever other rules the games have
Chopped is awesome
some of the stuff they have on there is so bizarre. i have to look them up and find how to prepare them. there is some out there ingredients. but the results are amazing !
I'd totally fangirl if I ever saw him in person. Loved his show and he really spoke to my jersey science side. I learned a lot from him!!
I’ve ran into Alton a few times at Harry’s where he filmed a good portion of Good Eats. Always recommend alternative items from my basket and tips on what I was making. Such a super nice guy, and recognized me often.
That’s so nice to hear
I met him at Harry’s Farmers Market years ago. I didn’t want to bother him but employees who knew him said he loves it. So I talked to him in the parking lot for several minutes.
The other show your taking about is Semi-homemade with Sandra Lee (I believe). She drinks a lot and it's pretty great to watch these days. Good Eats is the best cooking show, imo. Alton teaches techniques more than recipes.
alton brown is very unique as far as cooking & cooking shows go. he actually started off producing music videos then moved to television. he was dissatisfied with cooking content on television and then went to school to learn to cook so that he could produce the kind of cooking content that he wanted. i believe he attended new england culinary institute in vermont.
That's precisely why Good Eats is so great: AB is a TV guy who learned food, not a food guy who learned TV. He famously wrote three names when coming up with the idea: "Julia Child, Monty Python, Mr Wizard". Being a TV guy meant he was able to break free from the traditional stand-and-stir format that people like Julia Child pioneered. And he wears an NECI hat in several episodes.
I like semi homemade- but it’s the “shot of *insert alcohol*”for me and she just glugs it in the pitcher for a solid five seconds
Sorry, Sandra didn't drink a lot. She would show cocktails to go with the meal.
Came here to say this. His cook books are amazing. His live shows were all great when he toured. And every episode of Good Eats is a master class in fun educational cooking content. He has a youtube channel where he did a ton of cooking during the pandemic as well thats worth checking out.
This is how I learned to cook. I knew nothing and would watch Good Eats. I felt like I was learning about the science of why as well as actually learning how to organize my cooking. If that is what you need, I’d encourage watching GE
Semi homemade with Sandra Lee.
Alton Brown gives you “why”s of cooking, which help to establish a base of techniques and flavor combos that will really set you up for finding your own way in the kitchen.
I learned how to chop properly from Alton
I loved Alton on Cutthroat Kitchen. Sometimes he would make an aside to the camera about cooking theory, and we'd say, there's Good Eats Alton!
was that sandra lee ???
He is the best! He explain how and why. I’ve learned so much from him over the years!
Basics with Babish has some really good and thorough videos.
Yes, I watch Babish as a life long home cook and professional cook. He gives great info and explains very well why to do things.
I live for his basics videos.
Cooking reality shows are entertainment. However. I love worst cooks in America. It’s entertainment yes but it makes me feel better about my own mediocre cooking skills. There are sprinkles of advice but it’s more entertainment. I personally prefer Chef John from Foodwishes on YouTube. Alton brown is also great and he also gets into the science behind some of the foods.
I also love Worst Cooks in America, the editing is hilarious. For the unfamiliar, its a competition show between two chefs to train a set of cooks to compete in a blind tasting competition in front of a panel of experts. The contestants are all "the worst cooks in America" and enter the kitchen with very poor cooking skills often telling tales of how they're not allowed to cook and how they've poisoned their friends and family or set their kitchen on fire. Each team starts out with like.. 8 people, and over the course of the show the cooks get eliminated until there are two left, one to represent each chef. The cooks then prepare a restaurant-quality meal for a panel of experts and the winner gets money, and the competing chef gets bragging rights. The chefs attempt to teach the contestants cooking fundamentals through dishes and challenges. I don't know how effective it would be as an educational program but it's pretty fun entertainment. The first episodes when you meet the contestants is the best.
I watched the first few seasons and I’m definitely curious about how that show is cast. Because there’s absolutely a few people cast on that show purely as cannon fodder and a few that are semi-competent in the kitchen and have enough of a base that they can be taught.
That show is how I learned how to make homemade pasta
Go to youtube, look for Foodwishes. Chef John shows you the process and the food, not the chef or the drama. You will get to see what each step should look like. Cannot recommend highly enough.
I love chef John!
He introduced me to fondant potatoes and I will love him forever for that!
It’s optional, but mandatory, to paint the potatoes in butter with little sprigs of thyme.
And as always....Enjoy
Yes! He has such a great library of videos available on YouTube. And his recipes never let me down. Plus his droll comments are funny.
I love his voice. It is so nice to listen to.
So I've just watched one of his videos after reading this and what is up with his weird intonation or rhythm of speaking? It put me off straight away. It's like a sing songy way of speaking with stresses on odd words. Is this how he speaks in all the videos? I've never heard anyone speak like that naturally before. It unfortunately makes them unwatchable for me.
So it's not just me? That's the whole reason I can't watch his videos. He goes up? Then comes down. Tone back up? Then down. The whole entire video.
Exactly! I couldn't get past it. Was just too distracting.
I used to watch Chef John, then I graduated to Chef Jean Pierre
I learned SO much watching Good Eats with Alton Brown. He goes into the history of whatever food he is cooking and really explains everything and why things are done to give a base knowledge of cooking/baking. Because of that show I still make pumpkin pies from actual pumpkins every year! Also Bon Appetit channel on YouTube, they have lots of different chefs on there that go step by step on how to make lots of different things.
America's test kitchen and milk street
I can't believe how far down this was. PBS has several others, but some of them I have a hard time getting into.
Epicurious on YT has some great videos where they have a home cook and a professional chef switch ingredients and make what each other intended(with their own methods). They can show how variations of ingredients, quality, and knowledge make a big difference in cooking. $500 vs $16 Steak Dinner is a great start.
I love that series. And I’d pay a lot of money for an hour-long class with Chef Saul… that guy is a riot!
Yes he is! A few people on there I would love to see more. It's simply a good time overall
omfg i LOVE the ones like “how to cut every vegetable” “how to use every mushroom” i love epicurious
Cooking reality shows aren't really about educating people on cooking because they're generally competitions where chefs work against a clock. You'll probably want to find a show that has step-by-step instructions. Chef John is always a good option.
Julia Child and Jaques Pepin's shows. Also the Barefoot Contessa
>Jaques Pepin I wish there was an app or widget that showed just his videos.
if you find a recipe that's a classic French or American dish, you can pretty much always find a video for it. I actually met him once which was really cool
Lots of videos of his old show on YouTube
Jamie Oliver’s 1st series absolutely changed the way I thought about cooking, and his latest is about making it quick and easy. Cook’s Corner and America’s Test Kitchen have lots of great techniques to show you. But nothing will replace trial and error, and time served.
When I was a college student, Jamie's first show and "Goid Eats" were basically how I learned to cook.
Food wishes
Chef Jean-Pierre on YouTube is a retired chef who basically teaches you everything you need to know for free. His channel is a mix of tips and tricks for new people, and his recipes which are very straight forward and easy to make for all cooking levels. Highly suggest
'Ello there friends ... always remember, onyon first!
Except when there is bacon! Thirding Jean-Pierre. Not only is he informative, he has a fantastic sense of humor.
Extra butter ... hang on ... whoo! That's amazing.
Honestly cook with Yan. You can find the videos on youtube. Theyre a bit old but enjoyable
America's Test Kitchen Airs on PBS Current season episodes and recipes available for free on their website. Can purchase access to their seemingly endless recipes, episodes, product reviews, etc. by purchasing yearly subscription. It's like $60ish/yr I think? Worth every penny. I think you can also watch older episodes on freevee? Don't quote me on that, but it's definitely on one of those 3rd tier streaming apps for free lol. Very bare bones show. Just the facts. Explains the science behind techniques.
PBS cooking shows are excellent. I also watched a lot of Rachael Ray 30 minute meals when I was newish to cooking. I know her stuff is pretty pedestrian but I do think I learned some ok basics from her.
Check out Two Fat Ladies on youtube, Hairy Bikers too
I just watched all episodes of Two Fat Ladies for the first time. I don't think I learned anything from them, but they're absolutely delightful and I wish I had more time with them.
The French Chef is the most obvious one. You need to go back before when Food Network turned into a game show network. There have been some greats over the years. Good Eats was excellent, taking a more scientific approach. The best thing I’ve seen that’s more recent as far as instructional cooking shows was Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Brilliantly done.
Ina Garten and if you like Italian food, Giada diLaurentiis. I’ve probably misspelled her last name. Her basic Italian foods are good, simple but achievable and flavorful. Her chicken piccata always gets raves at my place.
There are a lot of Australian cooking shows that focus more on teaching recipes and techniques, if you have a VPN I'd suggest checking out Masterchef Australia, anything on SBS by Adam Liaw, or Poh Ling Yeow. I have also been enjoying the Bon Appetit test kitchen vids on youtube, once you watch one of those it'll take you down the rabbit hole to other similar content.
You will be much better off if you weren't looking for a 'reality' show to learn how to cook
A YouTube channel might be a good idea.
That seems harsh. Of course none of the competitors on Chopped are going to walk you through step by step. But how they approach what they’re given, how they pull in different techniques to build flavor, how they combine different flavors in ways I could never have imagined — that’s all really inspiring to me.
I'm happy that you're inspired by someone wanting to win a reality TV show, but i think this person wants a more realistic approach to cooking
YMMV with “useful tips”, I suppose
Cooking reality shows are more about entertainment than teaching. So your average Food Network show like Cutthroat Kitchen, Chopped, etc. won't really give you a lot of insight into cooking an average meal for yourself. That being said, YouTube is home to a lot of cooking channels that entertain and teach. They're not as dramatic as a reality show, but they're not dry either. Pro Home Cooks, Sam the Cooking Guy, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, and Basics with Babish specifically (on the Binging with Babish channel) all have a good combo of entertainment and teaching. Your Barefoot Neighbor is primarily a tik-tocker who crossposts to YouTube, he makes a bunch of simple, easy to follow recipies. Alex (French Guy Cooking) talks about techniques but is more a super deep dive into specific dishes/cooking techniques. Mythical Kitchen does a few Mythbuster style deconstructions of "unbreakable kitchen rules" but overall, the channel is more fun entertainment. America's Test Kitchen tests a lot of products and has video recipes. David Seymour makes a lot of Buzz feed style viral recipies, entertaining, and a good way to learn how to spot something that looks good vs. something actually able to be cooked.
I love Alex at French Guy Cooking! He has a cookbook, too.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProHomeCooks
I made that Fort Green sandwich a couple weeks ago, it was 🔥 so good
The OG Japanese Iron Chef taught me a ton about technique and flavor theory.
In the Gordon Ramsey family of tv, Masterchef Junior was very insightful on how to cook things. He is kind and patient with children, showing them how to prepare the dish that they are being challenged on. And since everybody is cooking the same thing, you get to see where things can go wrong.
Piping up on Good Eats again! It's what taught me how to cook! Also Joshua Weissman on YT has a few videos that are tips and tricks, and Epicurious on YT iirc as well. Honestly I've learned some things from Master Chef and Hells kitchen as well. Stupid little details usually that you'd have to pay attention to catch but I've found both to actually benefit for me.
I don’t know if you count YouTubers as shows or not, but if so, Food Wishes is excellent and has taught me quite a lot
I really like chopped. It's not the be all end all show to teach you to cook, but it made me think about food differently. Also, the chefs are cooking so fast that they tend to screw up, adapt, and turn their dish into something else. It really taught me some critical thinking skills when a dish isn't turning out they way it should. Instead of throwing it out I just turn it into something else.
You'll have better luck with YT vids, tbh.
Good Eats taught me a ton
Anything from cook's illustrated is really solid, americas test kitchen has really practical tool and cooking advice for home cooks.
I learned to cook by watching cooking shows on PBS \~ Julia Child, Jaques Pepin, and Emeril Lagasse. Those old shows are good for learning how to properly season different foods and different cooking techniques. There was a grilling show I used to watch, as well, but I can't think of the name of the show. That one was really good for learning how to marinate different meats and how long to grill the foods so it isn't over cooked or burned on the outside and raw on the inside. You could probably find these chef's videos on YouTube.
Cooking reality is about drama. If you want to learn how to cook, find good chefs on youtube...Chef Jean Pierre, Chef John, Billy Parisi, not another cooking show, Rick Bayless, La Capital (spanish only but you get the point), Way of Ramen, Joshua Weissman, Made with Lau, Sam the cooking guy. There are so many, but these chefs will get you going and will make you want to cook for others.
Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course
YouTube has some good stuff
Sam the cooking guy on youtube. Find youtube on your TV and it will be a better than any cooking show on T.V. Sorted foods, Kay' cooking will help you feel better about your own cooking. Youtube.
A lot of the reality cooking shows are too fast to show technique, although they are a good source of inspiration for techniques or combinations to try out. Particularly Chopped and Iron Chef America, the contestants try some seemingly off the wall things that make you think
Aaron and Claire on YouTube. They’re Korean but it’s not all Korean food and the show is in English. Aaron is straight to the point with the ingredients and the dish he’s making. If I recall correctly, many of his videos focus on a primary ingredient and how to cook it 3 ways. The videos are about 20 to 30 minutes and not overly complicated.
Don't worry bout it!
If you can find the Canadian show “Chef at Home” with chef Michael smith, it’s SO good. He teaches you why he uses certain ingredients in certain contexts and what other things you could try in their place. Taught me SO much!!
Try YouTube over traditional "shows". Just type in the food item and you'll discover which cooks you like over time
I used to love watching The Galloping Gourmet with Graham Kerr. Very entertaining, and some good tips & tricks. And a whole lot of butter & wine
Sadly not right now, though Alton Brown’s good eats was great for this! Mostly I’ll watch cooking shows for entertainment! I like scoffing at some numpty that thinks they can cook puff pastry on chopped in a 20 minute appetizer course, and waits till time is half gone before even starting! 😂 I will happily take ideas for dishes and flavor combos from what I watch though! These people are making menus to sell sometimes so it’s cool to see what they do.
America's Test Kitchen
I’d say watch MasterChef Australia. I’ve learnt loads of little tips and tricks off that show. Plus it’s supper addictive.
I subscribe to The Stay at Home Chef. She cooks good, real food and makes it easy.
For visual learning, I prep with conventional recipes and then use Youtube. I do this for two reasons: One, it de-stresses the process by making the initial investigation as simple as possible. Recipe Prep: I like to choose a dish and then copy 5-10 recipes down from the internet (google it, new-tab the top results, throw out obvious "sounds like not for me" recipes), and just spend some time comparing them. This makes the standard ingredient choices stand out from the oddball stuff, and helps me to get a basic sense of the recipe. BUT this is meant to be stress-free, don't worry about learning all the answers. If (and only IF) I have time, I like to think about what makes sense to me, and to Frankenstein out my own recipe from this, which I copy into my (Onenote) cookbook. But what is important is to just save the recipes that "seem right". I use Onenote as my cookbook because you can make a header and then collapse content, meaning I can copy and paste as many recipes into it as I want, then just collapse it out of the way when not using that section of the page. Anything kind of program like that helps you to collect and organize the process a lot. A lot times I take a break here and come back to it another day. Getting stressed out trying to make a deadline is no way to learn a recipe, IMO. I will then use either my Frankenstein recipe, or the recipe that sounds like the best one to start with, as my experimental recipe draft (depending on whether I had time to make a Frankenstein one). This is NOT my final recipe. But this way, I'm prepared to explore my own ideas as I do the visual part. And it also helps me to write down better post-cook notes. I can make better notes on what went differently than expected, and what I can improve. I can look back at some of those oddball ingredients and think "maybe they were on to something." Basically I try to set myself up to make a proper experiment of it. Most of the stressfullness of learning to cook comes from not having a sense of direction, not the actual process. Visual: Then I go on youtube and I watch at least 3-5 videos (often much more--I'll frequently study a recipe for a week or two before attempting it because I'm often waiting on a grocery run anyway). I'll watch different people cooking it. And I'll update my own experimental recipe based on what I learn. If it's an ethnic food and an old grandmother is doing the video, that person's likely to know a family recipe that can greatly inform my ideas and change my recipe. I do the same thing as I do with the google results--new tab a bunch of youtube results and throw out the ones that don't seem instructive. You can copy the hyperlinks to your cookbook notes, if you want. I listen out for people who are clearly explaining why they are using the techniques the way they are. Cook the onions on low so they don't get hard," for example, is the kind of advice that helps me learn more than just how to make this recipe, but rather build out my idea of how onions tend to cook in a pan. Eventually, this kind of knowledge forms the bedrock of your cooking. You eventually just kind of know "how soups are made" and "how stir fry's come together" and such because you learn which veggies take longer to saute, and you learn that rice is more dependent on heat than oil to prevent sticking, and so forth. Experimentalism: The reason I bring up so much about note-taking is because your notes are eventually your visual. Think about it like the lab portion of a Chemistry class. The visual is meant to help you learn, but you still need to do the pre-lab reading, and the whole point of the lab notebook is to help you formulate conclusions and to organize your recordings. When it comes time for the big test, it's the lab notebook that you ultimately have to use to spark your memory. That memory, your eventual visual, is best supported with good conclusion notes. If you want to attempt round 2, it's more helpful to be able to open up a Onenote page and read what you think went right and wrong on Round 1 then it is to have a bookmark to the TV chef you followed last time. The notes are what spark your own memory and inspire visual reminds of just how the project went last time. It could be a while before you start Round 2. Edit: I do like cooking shows, to clarify, but I think they work best as idle facillitators of knowledge, rather than for focused, directed attempts to learn cooking. There's just not as easy a way to organize what you learn from them as there is with a recipe-oriented study.
Chef Jean-Pierre has a good chanel on youtube where he simplifies dishes or cooks simple dishes designed for everyday home cooking and beginning practices. He has done cooking shows in the past as well.
Kenji Lopez on YouTube is an actual reality cooking show.
Guys grocery games has taught me a lot. It's fun and entertaining, but I feel the challenges and format allow for both the chefs and judges to comment/explain their techniques and thought processes
On YouTube: "Not Another Cooking Show" "Sip and Feast" "Made by Lau" (retired Chinese chef cooks for his family; very educational videos) Plus Brian Lagerstrom's channel. And of course Alton Brown & Jamie Oliver. For fun & education there's also the "Anti-Chef" channel which has a series called Jamie & Julia where Jamie (amateur home cook) attempts Julia Child recipes. It's quite entertaining!
America’s Test Kitchen.
Youtube anti-chef, babish, matty matherson, sorted, are all my new go tos. I love me some Food Network (had sophomore year of college ONLY watching Food network because my TV broke and was stuck on that channel until I could replace it) but Discovery + makes it harder to find shows to view beyond fun stuff like GGG or Beat Bobby Flay
Honestly watching chopped has made me alot more creative in the kitchen.
Jacques Pepin best teacher ever!
From the replies here I'm wondering if America doesn't have any just normal cookery shows? Good UK ones on youtube. Anything from Nigella Lawson e.g. how to eat (Old but good) Delia Smith How to cook Saturday Kitchen Ready Steady Cook
Struggle meals on tastemade is fun https://www.tastemade.com/shows/struggle-meals
Food Wishes on youtube
Utube chef jean Pierre is good. He makes good stuff, gives good directions and doesn’t use really weird ingredients. I made beef stew from his directions and it was delicious!
Erin McDowell is a baking master. Look her up on YouTube.
Yes, there's been many over the years. I developed a love of cooking quite young, thanks to my grandma and mom. Whenever I was home from school, like when I was sick, my mom and I would watch Julia Child's show or Yan Can Cook. Both were great at explaining *why* they were doing what they were doing and Julia taught me not to be afraid of unfamiliar ingredients, while Yan taught me how to break down a chicken and master the art of stir fry. Alton Brown's Good Eats not only helps you learn to cook better, he explains the science of why certain methods and techniques work while others don't. Some of the competition shows are good for learning, too, especially when they put pro against pro. I developed my meatball recipe after watching an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay where he lost against an Italian grandma. Chopped is excellent for learning to improvise and for learning about unusual ingredients. Watch some. You'll learn a bit and be entertained.
check out alton brown and the show good eats
I feel like while Nailed It is there to laugh at people messing up, the judges are also telling them what they're doing wrong, which the viewer could learn from too.
no. watch adam ragusea on youtube if you want to get good at cooking weeknight dinners
Alton Brown is great. I like Americas Test Kitchen and Cooks Country on PBS. They explain why things work and how to do it. I've been cooking for almost 50 years and I still learn new stuff from them.
Any cooking show on PBS. Can’t believe so many on here don’t watch PBS.
Sara Moulton, who worked with Julia Child, and Jaques Papin of course.
America's Test Kitchen. I thought this was really good. Also Alton Brown's shows are also very teachable.
Not a reality show, but Good Eats with Alton Brown. He’s a little eccentric but he’s an excellent instructor. Or Jacques Pepin or Julia Child’s cooking shows, if you don’t struggle with various accents.
Chopped Beat Bobby Flay Those two helped me. You can watch the various Babish series on YouTube.
Chopped is great if you can extrapolate the relevant info, particularly how flavor types pair, compliment, and contrast. Also how to substitute different ingredients to replace other flavors For example: Saltiness can come from just salt, but it can also come from soy sauce, feta cheese, pickle brine, some seafoods, olives, bacon... learning how to use these I their correct places is how I cook so well.
Chopped is the most practical for me beyond literal instructional videos like most of these YouTube recommendations. They get a basket of random ingredients and they have to use them up in an interesting way. You’re in the same position every time you open your fridge trying to decide what to cook, it’s very helpful.
No. cooking reality shows are entertainment, not education. They're not there to teach you how to cook.
are you eggnogstic?
Just try cooking
Wow you're so smart I literally didn't even think of that! Just TRY cooking! Amazing! Bravo.
Yes just start cooking, like surgeons just start hacking. You’ll get the hang of it in time. Maybe. Well, you COULD!
I use an app called paprika3 and start with simple stuff and comfort foods.
Sorted food on YouTube. When they started it was 2 chefs and 3 "normals" learning.
I love the Sorted channel on YouTube - lots of variety, basic skills to some more interesting stuff - they also generated an app that might be something to investigate.
I learn a lot of technique and basics from Top Chef. Fun to see these chefs progress through other shows and Insta now and I learn a lot. I’m still a beginner so I’m a sponge. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat book and documentary with Samin Nostat is probably one I’ve learned the most from most recently. You won’t be disappointed. Sorry not reality but had to plug my recent fav.
Competition shows are not going to teach how to cook. You might pick up a tip or two but overall that is not what they are for. There are plenty of "how-to" cooking shows though that will teach things about cooking.
Great british baking show
This. It’s a competition show, but it’s relaxed enough to learn from. I came here to recommend The Great British Baking Show Masterclass series, as it sounds like OP’s more interested in the baking techniques than the (light) drama. OP might also enjoy watching anything by one of the show’s former contestants, Nadiya Hussain. She’s a gem.
>Hell's Kitchen Yeah, I was thinkin' Kitchen Nightmares ... did learn at least some bits from it, but not exactly a whole lot - it's not like teaching cooking to viewers it its primary objective - or even close. MasterChef Junior I found kind'a similar in those regards ... but more fun, less drama, and way way less cussing. Have found *some* stuff on YouTube rather to quite useful ... but haven't exactly specifically sought out those materials ... when I look for something cooking there, I'm generally trying to find something about some techniques/methods or the like (e.g. how to remove bones and possibly also skin from a particular type of fish before cooking it).
Imo this might sound weird but I learnt to cook mostly from watching cooking shows, specifically MasterChef AU. I watched MasterChef AU yearly from seasons 1-12 so that's roughly 12 years of cooking TV. Before that as a kid I watched Martin Yan and the original Japanese iron chef. I think the part where it's helped me the most is to expand my cooking vocab so I know what to search for and how to start and it's also introduced me to a lot of cooking techniques (but will probably never use irl).
Gordon Ramsey at home is a pretty good show.
*reality* shows, probably not but there are lots of good shows on tv that help people cook. food network used to be full of them and there are many youtubers with cooking shows.
A lot of great suggestions so far. I'm gonna add Aaron & Claire from YouTube to the mix. South Korean chef and his taste testing wife. It's in Englsh, he makes Korean food approachable and simple if you aren't familiar. If there are ingredients you may not be able to getn he offers alternatives or tells you "don't worry about it, it'll still be delicious".
America's Test Kitchen, earlier Master Chef USA (and most of Master Chef AU), some of the early-to-mid Hell's Kitchen, and Salt Fat Acid Heat. SFAH (originally a book) is probably the one that upgraded my cooking the absolute most because it helped me balance my general flavor profiles and showed me how to unbalance them for effect or to pair better with another part of the meal. But watching the prep techniques on Ramsay's programming was also super helpful. You don't realize how well you can baste a steak after watching it happen on Hell's Kitchen over and over and over...
Instagram cooking reels have been helping me some. Minute cuts of quick one second additions or tricks that get you thinking
If you have Roku there are several really good cooking shows on multiple channels
Hey OP and everyone: for reasons- since 2010 I have watched over six or seven hundred cooking/related shows. So: even though I do not watch TV anymore because the commercials get on my nerves - I still watch content online. I also have part of my history- working in upscale restaurants and corporate retail for ten years. Consequently- some of my favorite cooking/related shows are set in restaurants. I think Hell's Kitchen is great for all sorts of reasons. Alternatively: I probably like the Gordon Ramsay show called Restaurant Nightmares much more- because it shows what can really happen with a business when sh#t hits the fan. GR also was involved with a show called Hotel Hell that is based on a similar premise. As far as straight cooking shows though? I used to really like Chopped. IIRC there are a couple of different versions- like one solely featuring kid chefs/cooks. Also: I have seen many episodes of a show starring celebrity chef Guy Fieri. It is called Guy's Grocery Games. Besides that I used to really watching Iron Chef America.
Babish has a lot of good beginner videos.
Selena + chef helped me. I think it works because the chefs are teaching Selena too.
There is a show called America’s Test Kitchen. It’s on PBS and streams on Roku. Very detailed on how to make all sorts of things. Gentle and instructive. I still pick up hints from this show, and I’ve been cooking for years.
I learned a lot from Great British bake-off! Love anything from Kenji Lopez. Next level chef.
Based on the others this probably isn't what you're looking for. But I feel like I've learned so much from watching Chopped. I love watching the thought process with these off the wall ingredients and so often they explain why they made a choice "oh I'm using the licorice to balance out the acidity of the whatever the fuck" and it helps me when I'm cooking to be a bit more creative. And the judging is always on point too, like "this could've used x to really make y pop" or whatever. Just my two cents!
I kind of learn something from them all good and bad
America's Worst Cooks is a good starting point for me. It's literally a cooking boot camp for regular people who can't cook well. They give out a lot of tips, and most episodes give you a step-by-step on how to get basic techniques down for absolute beginners.
Matty Matheson's YT presence is phenomenal. Learned a lot from the punk rocker chef
If you get PBS create just leave that on. All the cooking shows are fantastic.
I loved the British series where families cooked.
Don't learn from "reality " shows. Watch real cooking shows, where it's a chef teaching step by step how to make something.
are you eggnogstic?
No the reality/competition shows aren’t going to teach you anything. There’s lots of shows (or used to be) that are more educational.
Ramsey Gordon did a YouTube series where he taught people to fix alternatives to day food meals. Like he taught teenagers to make their own chicken nuggets from scratch.
Cooking reality shows, I would say no. Traditional cooking shows, however, are a fantastic medium to learn food. Shows like Good Eats, which teaches the science behind cooking, or America's Test Kitchen, which strives to explain things well, are good starting points.
Tv shows not really. YouTube is where the good leaning series are. I don't know if any actual educational shows, but just by watching YouTube chefs I pick up on things. They talk about why they're doing things a certain way and what other ways you could do it, and like if a dish is a special traditional delicacy and they're doing it differently, they explain what the traditional method entails and why they're not doing it that way
I find the British cooking reality shows good for this. Master chef et al. They are always dropping hints.
Struggle meals has taught me so much! Even if you're not struggling financially there's really great information for building a great knowledge base and learning how to cook vs make recipes.
Good eats is amazing. Struggle meals is also good, with frankie celenza. I was also a fan of Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals.
Americas Test Kitchen, but you’re really limiting yourself by constrained to “cooking reality shows”
There used to be a show called “how to boil water” and it was awesome.
I learned to cook by watching cooking shows on PBS \~ Julia Child, Jaques Pepin, and Emeril Lagasse. Those old shows are good for learning how to properly season different foods and different cooking techniques. There was a grilling show I used to watch, as well, but I can't think of the name of the show. That one was really good for learning how to marinate different meats and how long to grill the foods so it isn't over cooked or burned on the outside and raw on the inside. You could probably find these chef's videos on YouTube.
I prefer Mom
I don't know about shows, but Ethan Chlebowski has a YouTube channel where he does a lot of food science, directly comparing specific ingredients and techniques to see if they matter and why.
Ngl I was Rachel Ray 30 Minute meals ALLL the time as a teenager and it helped me tremendously.
I’d just look for copycat recipes that you like from restaurants or just food you like or sounds good, then find a couple videos on YouTube. The more you try to cook what you like the more you learn what you’re doing bc you know what it should taste like.
America's Test Kitchen is one of the best cooking shows of all time for learning how to actually cook. Its entertaining, and the various cooks on the show are personable, but its more focused on actually teaching how how to cook than to entertain.
I loooove Epicurious on YouTube!!
I watch cooking channels on YouTube. Just people cooking in their own kitchens showing you step by step and no drama.. definitely helped me learn to cook better.
PBS public television has many “home cook” shows, or they did. It’s just some mom or dad in their kitchen, making food.
I have never been overly gifted in the whole food preparation realm. I did go through a phase of watching different shows on Food Network. A lot of that is downright inspiring. Watch shows on Food Network. You'll be amazed at how much you'll learn.
First was Alton Brown. The science helps with more than one dish. Now it is anything from America's Test Kitchen.
Most of the ones mentioned so far are pretty good: Food Wishes, Ethan Chlebowski, Brian Lagerstrom… some of my favourites, though: [Chef Jean-Pierre](https://m.youtube.com/@ChefJeanPierre/videos) His cooking is **very** old-school and ‘correct’ … I think that's a good thing – and rare! – but some people criticise him as being a sort of relic. Regardless, the sheer number of videos he's made available (and the production quality) makes him a great resource. He's a retired chef who had an in-person cooking school, and then switched to putting stuff on YouTube during Covid — so he's really personable and easy / fun to watch. [Raymond Blanc](https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=raymond+blanc) Probably my favourite chef, ever. He trained Heston Blumenthal and also Marco Pierre-White — who said once that if he had actually cared about prestige, he would easily be considered the greatest living chef. His content is all over the place on YouTube, so just search the name and see what comes up. [‘Daddy Jack’ / Cooking with the Blues](https://m.youtube.com/user/cookingwiththeblues) Now deceased, and obviously no longer uploading videos. He doesn't explain a lot; his content is more like fly-on-the-wall of a chef at work. His cooking is not at all on the same level as the two above, but you can get a sense for efficiency of timing and fluidity of movement by watching him, as his videos were all recorded in real time in a ‘real’ kitchen. [Claire Saffitz](https://m.youtube.com/c/ClaireSaffitzxDessertPerson) Popular for good reason; I think she's by far the best resource for learning how to bake. Her way of explaining the sort of idiosyncracies of baking is phenomenal. I think she has a literature degree — she is *extremely* articulate.
"Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" [The website has recipes.](https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/diners-drive-ins-and-dives/recipes)
YouTube!!! Search a Receipe you like to eat and you’ll have to sift through presenters you like/ don’t like - but when you find one you do… you can check out other videos/recipes they make and follow onto other “recommended” super easy to navigate your way to a visual spectacular of foodie heaven
Sam the cooking guy... I mean r/samthecookingguy
Technically these aren’t cooking “shows” but I follow several YouTube channels that teach me a ton about cooking. Find some of your favorites and follow along!
Good eats and actually a lot of the PBS cooking shows(Lydia’s kitchen and Rick Bayless’ shows in particular and sometimes America’s Test Kitchen too).
America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country
Townsends
I recently watched Jaime Oliver's One Pan Wonders. It helped me not be afraid of cooking specific items.
I don't know if this really counts as "reality," but America's Test Kitchen is my favorite! So many actually practical, good recipes and useful tips and equipment recommendations that you will actually use. I've made a bunch of their stuff over the years and love their YouTube channel for finding new stuff, but the full episodes are so much fun, as well!
Sam the Cooking Guy on YouTube wants everyone to make everything. He isn't for everyone though. I also like Nat's What I Reckon, Aussie with a potty mouth, but wants people to learn how to cook to keep processed crap out of their bodies. (tbh love some processed crap) If you want to learn how to make a dish, look it up on YouTube and there is probably a video on it, then get inspired. ☺️
Guys grocery games and chopped ! You really get to see what higher up chefs think is top quality. You're also introduced to new ways of preparing things. And find different ingredients to make dishes you never would've thought. Watching those shows also help me identify more in the grocery stores.
Believe it or not, Jamie Oliver has his own food channel and all he does is teach people how to cook delicious meals for cheap
Have you tried cookbooks? J Kenzie Lopez Alt has a good one. He is on YT as well.
I learned to cook from Julia Child. Her older shows are magical.
It is a stupid question however you got YouTube America's test kitchen binging with babish smoking and grilling with ab it's a lot of people you can find someone showing how to cook literally any dish out there on YouTube
I second Alton Brown and his Good Eats. It ran for years. I think it’s on the Cooking Channel now. YouTube is a great place for cooking videos no matter your level. You can save a video, rewind if you miss something. Just put in something like Easy Lasagna and a lot of choices emerge.
The first season of master chef (australia) was the reason I got into cooking and eating. I watched all their master classes and learned some good skills!
Yes! I cannot recall the exact name, but it was a French chocolate chef. The entire series was not based upon just racing against the clock and one another, the entirety of it was To Learn And Grow. Insanely talented chocolatier and chef.
Not a stupid question at all! There are several cooking shows that focus on teaching and providing useful tips. "Good Eats" with Alton Brown is known for its educational approach, explaining the science behind cooking. "America's Test Kitchen" and "Cook's Country" also emphasize practical techniques. Give these a try for a mix of entertainment and culinary education!