The Bon Appétit test kitchen staff is, and has been, highly rated, and I’m here to join the chorus. I watch these videos more than I watch anything else. And guess what? I don’t even have a kitchen, I can’t follow along, and I know that I will never, ever make the vast majority of the recipes.
I’m going to be very honest with myself. I am an absolute sucker for homey-ness. Every Sunday, since I was little, is my time to get my crap together. I clean up, I get the work for the week done, and I throw on something calming to watch. For the past year or two, this means watching as the lively but soothing team makes approachable recipes and banters with each other in a gorgeous, huge, busy, and sun-lit test kitchen. The BA channel has a long list of beloved shows that cure my weekend crankiness. Here they are, folks, nice and quick:
Let’s start out with possibly the most popular of the group: Gourmet Makes. The adorable Claire Saffitz attempts to recreate our favorite childhood snacks but struggles so much along the way that the episodes end up being about 30 minutes long. They rock, she rocks, and her pain somehow cures mine.
Next up: It’s Alive with Brad. Budding ceramicist, refined lumberjack, and all-around fun guy, Brad Leone, delivers this classic with personality coming out the wa-zoo. The basis of the show is that he ferments things, but that concept usually gets lost in the glorious chaos.
I don’t know the exact name of this one, so let’s call it “Chris Morocco Tastes Stuff.” The basis is that Chris, who is a supertaster, tries to recreate recipes based only on touch, smell, and taste. It’s kind of gross and kind of stressful, and it makes me feel bad about my lack of attention to detail, but gosh darn is it entertaining.
All of the Ways to Cook a (fill in the blank). Honestly, I’m not sure about the title of this one either, so stay with me. This is a weird one. Alex Daleny, an underrated test-kitchen staffer, summons up all of the ways to cook a (egg, steak, etc). It’s a production nightmare and I love it.
BA’s Best is the most basic, but we’ll call it “simple.” The staff makes food, and they do it well. Pretty classic cooking show kind of stuff, but I can’t get enough of it. Making Perfect is the creme de la creme (hire me, BA). The biggest stars of the test kitchen come together over the course of a lot of time, and a lot of effort, to make the perfect (pizza, thanksgiving meal, etc). It makes me want to be 29 with spunky friends to drink wine with me. What a life to live.
Some final thoughts: The BA test kitchen is everything I could ever want in anything. Good friends, laughter, aprons, dutch ovens, laughter, subway tile, sunshine, happy stress, and lots of laughter (and food). Give this Youtube channel a shot next time you need to seriously wind down.
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