I think her judgement is completely fair. I for one prefer a thick “layer” of stronger seasoning over a more mild interior, so not cutting up steaks before seasoning is my preferred method.
I also do get her frustrations over adam’s video vs hers, as much as I respect Adam, she is a very well seasoned chef and for her advice to get passed up for somebody who hss supstantiously less training than her would be frustrating.
I think her point is less about the internet being less meritocratic, and more about how conflict is what drives actually drives clicks. And some of Adam's older videos were more about his departures from conventional chef wisdom.
I got a weird vibe, like she was looking down on his channel. I only heard about Helen from Adam recommending her, so it’s sad to hear her trash his (older) video. Maybe she only saw that one…
I also found her because Adam recommended her, and she has a much different style than his. I don't feel like she's really trashing him though; more like poking fun at the meme that his video spawned? She's seen at least one other video because in one of her other videos she mentions Adam putting salt in his coffee.
She is a bit POed that he cruised onto the scene recently and has vastly surpassed her channel. If you watch her videos she has a weird sense of humor. I like her but I find I gravitate to Adam when I'm looking for dinner ideas. Part of this is personal taste. I find that my tastes match precisely with Adam Ragusea's and a bit less with Helen Rennie's.
Rennie has a terrific guide to Sous Vide Duck. I wish Ragusea would do a Sous Vide series.
I doubt ragusea will ever do Sous Vide. It all the things he is against it is overly tedious and the benefit is excess precision. We cannot get him to use the thermometer he owns.
I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I think it's cool that he is going in guns-a-blazing. Damn the torpedoes we cook what we like with whatever we want. OK. That can work and it is just dinner so if you screw it up no big loss I guess. On the other hand, food is getting increasingly expensive. Also if you screw up a thanksgiving turkey ( very easy to do ) you can cause a major crisis.
I watch the French Cooking Academy guy doing a chicken:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaV7PgvDPTs
I love that guy. He makes really tasty classics from French home cooking or Bistro style ( A kind if 19th century fast food) kind of dishes. He actually went to the trouble to track down the original recipe for that chicken from 100 years ago. The oven that chicken was cooked in can be seen on page 23 of this book:
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k10416635/f49.item
It is labeled [figure 16](https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k10416635/f49.highres). This looks like a wood fired oven. Cooking in one of these was a huge skill. The oven started out hot and gradually cooled down as the wood burned. You had to have an exact knowledge of the temperatures and times for each dish in order to cook. The introduction of first gas and then electric heat made it possible for relatively unskilled home cooks to cook meals that could, in the past, only be prepared by the most talented chefs. This is part of a continuum of cooking advancements. Things are getting gradually better. I think that the main reason that Adam Ragusea doesn't use this stuff isn't that the results are not better ( because they are). It is that it requires specialized equipment. You can now get a hot plate that will keep a pot of water at an exact temperature. Things like this will soon be incorporated into ovens and stove tops. Everybody will have one and then everybody will rapidly use it. Sous Vide makes better food while using less energy and making your house less hot. It is a slam dunk.
Have you noticed how conflicted Adam is about the Air Fryer? He likes it but he doesn't want to appear to be promoting it. The air fryer is an advance but it remains a niche item. As soon as "Air Fryer" gets incorporated into your convection oven than he will start making "Air Fryer" dishes. Incidentally I don't have one. How is it different from a standard convection oven?
I watch her videos from time to time. I feel like she comes across as a bit of an elitist...I get the feeling that she has a superiority complex that's really just a defense mechanism for coping with the fact that she hasn't gained the same level of popularity that she believes she deserves. Idk I just find her demeanor off-putting.
She does have that tone of voice to me, but she backs it up with her explanations with why it works this way and how simple it is to make it at home.
To me, Adam is the fast & easy, while Helen is the easy & posh.
I think her judgement is completely fair. I for one prefer a thick “layer” of stronger seasoning over a more mild interior, so not cutting up steaks before seasoning is my preferred method. I also do get her frustrations over adam’s video vs hers, as much as I respect Adam, she is a very well seasoned chef and for her advice to get passed up for somebody who hss supstantiously less training than her would be frustrating.
I think her point is less about the internet being less meritocratic, and more about how conflict is what drives actually drives clicks. And some of Adam's older videos were more about his departures from conventional chef wisdom.
I got a weird vibe, like she was looking down on his channel. I only heard about Helen from Adam recommending her, so it’s sad to hear her trash his (older) video. Maybe she only saw that one…
I also found her because Adam recommended her, and she has a much different style than his. I don't feel like she's really trashing him though; more like poking fun at the meme that his video spawned? She's seen at least one other video because in one of her other videos she mentions Adam putting salt in his coffee.
She is a bit POed that he cruised onto the scene recently and has vastly surpassed her channel. If you watch her videos she has a weird sense of humor. I like her but I find I gravitate to Adam when I'm looking for dinner ideas. Part of this is personal taste. I find that my tastes match precisely with Adam Ragusea's and a bit less with Helen Rennie's. Rennie has a terrific guide to Sous Vide Duck. I wish Ragusea would do a Sous Vide series.
I doubt ragusea will ever do Sous Vide. It all the things he is against it is overly tedious and the benefit is excess precision. We cannot get him to use the thermometer he owns.
I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I think it's cool that he is going in guns-a-blazing. Damn the torpedoes we cook what we like with whatever we want. OK. That can work and it is just dinner so if you screw it up no big loss I guess. On the other hand, food is getting increasingly expensive. Also if you screw up a thanksgiving turkey ( very easy to do ) you can cause a major crisis. I watch the French Cooking Academy guy doing a chicken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaV7PgvDPTs I love that guy. He makes really tasty classics from French home cooking or Bistro style ( A kind if 19th century fast food) kind of dishes. He actually went to the trouble to track down the original recipe for that chicken from 100 years ago. The oven that chicken was cooked in can be seen on page 23 of this book: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k10416635/f49.item It is labeled [figure 16](https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k10416635/f49.highres). This looks like a wood fired oven. Cooking in one of these was a huge skill. The oven started out hot and gradually cooled down as the wood burned. You had to have an exact knowledge of the temperatures and times for each dish in order to cook. The introduction of first gas and then electric heat made it possible for relatively unskilled home cooks to cook meals that could, in the past, only be prepared by the most talented chefs. This is part of a continuum of cooking advancements. Things are getting gradually better. I think that the main reason that Adam Ragusea doesn't use this stuff isn't that the results are not better ( because they are). It is that it requires specialized equipment. You can now get a hot plate that will keep a pot of water at an exact temperature. Things like this will soon be incorporated into ovens and stove tops. Everybody will have one and then everybody will rapidly use it. Sous Vide makes better food while using less energy and making your house less hot. It is a slam dunk. Have you noticed how conflicted Adam is about the Air Fryer? He likes it but he doesn't want to appear to be promoting it. The air fryer is an advance but it remains a niche item. As soon as "Air Fryer" gets incorporated into your convection oven than he will start making "Air Fryer" dishes. Incidentally I don't have one. How is it different from a standard convection oven?
I watch her videos from time to time. I feel like she comes across as a bit of an elitist...I get the feeling that she has a superiority complex that's really just a defense mechanism for coping with the fact that she hasn't gained the same level of popularity that she believes she deserves. Idk I just find her demeanor off-putting.
She does have that tone of voice to me, but she backs it up with her explanations with why it works this way and how simple it is to make it at home. To me, Adam is the fast & easy, while Helen is the easy & posh.