One medium that Tina and I have often thought we could do more in is video, considering the fun we had briefly flirting with it earlier in the year.  Sure, producing it was more of a challenge that I expected, and while Tina is a natural in front of the camera, I am something of a demented ape behind it… but we had a good time!

More importantly, it seems like other people are having a good time doing cooking shows, too.  Even without straying into the innovative world that’s emerging in Google+ (the stuff of a future article, I think), there’s an absolute wealth of fabulous, earnest and occasionally hilarious entertainment still to be found on the good ol’ Youtube:  people striving for fame, simply sharing who they are, or doing something extremely weird and charming.

And since it’s Thursday, and we’re heading into the end of a week where we might all benefit from people smiling at us they do their best — or whatever bleak interpretation of “their best” they come up with — it’s time to pick three more of our favorite YouTube-based cooking shows:

Cooking For Dads

As soon as you see Rob Barrett you know, without even the slightest hint of a doubt, that this is a man who really wants to be on the Food Network.  That the majority of his YouTube videos are actually clips of his appearances on local affiliate news do nothing to challenge that impression.

But the video above really shows the man’s potential, demonstrating the three key skills needed to easily slide onto the FN’s schedule:  comfort on camera, the ability to grossly over-produce even the most trivial of segments, and the stick-to-it-iveness to ride a joke right into the ground.

And, aside from the media-friendliness, isn’t that exactly what you’d expect from your Dad, if he got on TV?

Manjula’s Kitchen

On the other hand, meet every mother of every friend you’ve had from a different culture, whose cooking secrets your friend couldn’t care less about.  Watching Manjula for five minutes perfectly captures the experience being taught traditional, cultural family cooking:

• The slow, painfully thorough instruction on ingredients
• The quiet, matter-of-fact yet friendly guidance on how it all works
• The surprisingly simple recipes that result in heart-rendingly good food
• The underlying, quiet dullness that must drive their kids nuts
• The irresistible sweetness of the woman — I mean seriously…!

It’s the complete package, and manages to perfectly capture the feeling of standing around one afternoon and learning from someone who’s been cooking for years.

Vegan Black Metal Chef

And then, you know, there are people who really, really want to be different.  There are airs of Bitchin’ Kitchen to the Vegan Black Metal Chef:

• Low-budget, but well-produced
• Juxtaposing an unexpected lifestyle against a traditional cooking show:  punk, for Bitchin’ Kitchen; Death metal for VBMC
• Lots o’ swearing
• Punchlines on a regular enough interval to suggest a staff of writers, all hoping for a viral break

None of which causes me to judge them harshly — indeed, far from it, because the show is both genuinely funny and instructive.  VBMC haven’t been around for very long, and honestly I don’t know if non-stop death metal — even the ironic kind — is enough to hold an audience; however, with that said, how many other people are finding completely weird ways to do a cooking show?

And the tempura looks good!

BONUS ACTION!

DON’T WATCH THIS AT WORK, OR HONESTLY EVER:  Cajun Sexy Cooking

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEynlzYRpK8

PALATE CLEANSER:  Dave Can Cook RETURNS!

Yeah, I know.  You can’t really top Dave, his strange stories, his awesome accent, his sudden and bizarre shifts in aspect ratio… but we have to keep trying.