Cooking Inspiration: Do You Watch Cooking Shows on YouTube?

Like Dana and her obsession with Jamie Oliver's back episodes and Nigella Lawson clips, we often turn to YouTube for a little dose of inspiration and extra time with our favorite food gurus. What about you?

Until all the networks get on board with posting entire shows to their websites, we'll settle for the short clips that somehow make their way onto YouTube and similar sites. We spend the majority of the time just wandering from clip to clip with no real aim beyond finding ones we haven't seen before.

However, sometimes we have a vague recollection of a particular technique or recipe from a particular show that we'd like to see again. It can take a bit of searching with clever key words, but most of the time, we can find the clip we're looking for. This is particularly helpful if the recipe doesn't fully explain the technique being called for.

Do you find YouTube and other internet video sites useful for watching cooking shows?

Related: New Look for the Food Network

(Images: The Food Network)

Comments (7)

YES! Tons and tons of good eats, Gordon Ramsay's f work series, jamie oliver's videos, and top chefs!

posted by reggiesoang on February 10th 2009 at 1:52pm
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oh yes. the good eats episodes are particularly well organized... thank god for likethehat!

posted by youreacigarette on February 10th 2009 at 2:23pm
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I look for particular techniques, which also leaves me thankful for likethehat. I rarely watch a whole cooking show, because usually most of it is not interesting to me.

But I'm totally making Nigella's chocolate cherry trifle this weekend.

And I use youtube for Martha Stewart-style demos (eg, how to tie a kind of bow, when written instructions just don't cut it).

posted by renata on February 10th 2009 at 2:45pm
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I love looking up Good Eats episodes when I want to get the real scoop on an ingredient or technique. I wish it was available on Hulu or iTunes!

posted by SisterRae on February 10th 2009 at 4:58pm
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The only one I have ever bothered to watch on youtube is Good Eats. But really I watch it more because I find it hilarious than for cooking tips (Alton Brown's recipes seem to be pretty detailed on the Food Network site)

posted by walkneverending on February 10th 2009 at 6:54pm
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Some friends of mine run a diy cooking show on youtube. You can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WNx3wdS6pI&eurl=http://cookinshow.wordpress.com/

There are only a few posts (they're relatively short too which is nice) and they're pretty good.

posted by a_difabio on February 10th 2009 at 10:35pm
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I would feel a little guilty about watching shows on youtube since the cooks I love aren't getting any money for it! Instead I just check stores for half off sales on DVD sets. Alton's show is totally worth buying, because you never know when you'll want a second look at how to butterfly a chicken...

My internet inspiration is mainly places like this or tastespotting.

posted by Kaete on February 11th 2009 at 2:10pm
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