#beef shank recipe

[delicious-in-kitchen]

Sriracha Stout Braised Beef Shanks over Gouda Polenta by Domestic Fits

[22-titanium]

I accidentally deleted my old post about Vietnamese Spicy Beef Noodle Soup (Bun Bo Hue). My bad!

Recipe is here!

[sikfankitchen]

Osso Buco with Beef over Risotto 🍽️ (Recipe's in the link) Enjoy! 😋

[eatengood]

Beef Shanks Recipe

Discover a delicious beef shanks recipe that brings comfort to your table. Learn how to prepare tender beef shank recipe with simple steps and tips! Let’s get cooking this recipe!

[cheffrybistro]

Wild Boar Delight: Cheffry's Bistro's Signature Pappardelle Pasta Perfection

Experience a symphony of flavors with our Best Wild Boar Pappardelle Pasta at Cheffry's Bistro. Immerse yourself in a culinary journey where each bite tells a story of quality ingredients and skilled craftsmanship. Our chefs at Cheffry's Bistro meticulously prepare this signature dish, showcasing the perfect blend of tender wild boar, al dente pappardelle pasta, and a rich, savory sauce. Elevate your dining experience with the best in taste and sophistication. Join us for a culinary adventure that transcends the ordinary, only at Cheffry's Bistro.

[leog4u]

My fav algerian recipes

wrote this out for a friend but i figured i'd share here.

The best part about algerian cuisine is its all very common stuff, and easy to make. Garlic, onions, beef, garlic, cumin, tomatoes. That's most of the dishes. The one thing you'll need is harissa, which is sold in more and more supermarkets, and easily available online. You can make your own, but most algerians just get the yellow tube lol.

M'thewem - A chickpea and meatball stew with very little "broth", served with bread you dip and grab with. very filling, freezes and keeps well. You brown lamb neck or shank or whatever is cheapest, and the meatballs are just your average ground beef, but seasoned with Stuff. the video has a diced red onion, but i prefer yellow/white https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V5xgnQRmzg

"Omlette" - It's actually just spanish tortilla, but we have that. here's a vid, literally all you need is potatoes and eggs, but goes great with bread. One of the best parts of it is again, it's very easy and Incredibly filling, and easily feeds a crowd! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPYk9W9v-bI

Shakshuka - a pepper, tomato, and harissa dish that's very basil forward. its really good and very different then the recipe all the white youtubers keep doing thats based on the moracan version. this vid is close to what I do, but you can include small pieces of potato and a Lot of basil. You can expedite the process by just cutting up your veg and potato and cooking them down on the frying pan, adding water so they dont burn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJuyS_tyz_M

Merguez - SO I...dont know if you should make merguez from scratch cause it's expensive. i dont even make it. on top of spices you need harissa, but the price comes in from Needing fatty lamb/mutton and beef. It's unfortunately non negotiable, using anything else is like giving somebody a steakhouse burger recipe and they sub with 99% lean turkey. unfortunately it's my favorite thing on planet earth. serious eats has a recipe thats close to what i think is ideal https://www.seriouseats.com/homemade-merguez-sausage-recipe

None of the supermarket pre-packed brands do it justice, go to a butcher and hope they have it. I've noticed it's been getting more and more popular, so if you live in a metro area, try and find it.

merguez is like, the greatest thing ever. its great with eggs, it's great with salad, but the best, and most Most Primo Mmm-mm! way to eat merguez is in a hoagie roll with french fries and more harisa as a sandwich. A seasoned salad of diced cucumber, tomato, red onion, and olive oil goes excellent with it.

[sirenjose]

Analysis of the Food/Diet of the Lower Class in the Victorian era

(It was a bit tricky for me to find sufficiently detailed answers about the time and group I was looking for, as I wanted a bit more than the basics. Apologies for any mistakes)

Bread was a staple of the lower-class diet, such as wholemeal, rye bread, unleavened bread (like oatcakes), etc.. For the poor, it was often made of cheap-quality flour and likely denser than modern bread.

These could be supplemented with whatever vegetables that were cheapest as well as locally available at that time of year. Onions were among the cheapest (half penny for a dozen, cheaper if they were bruised) and available all year. They were more expensive in late spring, at which point they could be substituted by leeks. Watercress was another cheap staple (halfpenny for 4 bunches from April to January/February) and were regularly eaten at breakfast. Cabbage was cheap and easily available, along with broccoli, with lettuce and radishes available in summer. Carrots and turnips were inexpensive staples, especially in winter, and they along with cabbage were often used in stews and soups.

As for fruit, apples were the cheapest and most commonly available (from August to May). Cherries were also fairly cheap (from May to July). Pears, blackberries, and plums were available throughout autumn. Then there were gooseberries, plums and greengages (in late September), raspberries, and strawberries. Not all fruits were affordable, like oranges, which were imported from Spain in winter but were expensive and often given as gifts, and pineapples, which were a sign of wealth.

Potatoes were another staple and were prepared in various ways, including boiled, mashed, roasted, or fried. They grew well in Britain’s mild weather, making them easy to produce and sell, meaning they were cheap and thus became a frequent meal.

In terms of meat, the lower class ate it infrequently, maybe once a week, with the worst off even less often. Pork was 1 of the most common types of meat, when it could be afforded.

As a result, the poor made the most of it (using and eating every part of it). For example, a cook would boil a piece of beef or mutton with vegetables one day (probably Sunday, the only day many people had off from work), then return to the boiling pot the next day and skim the fat off from the top to be used for frying or pie crusts. Then he or she could set the liquid back to boiling, adding a stingy amount of oatmeal (one recipe recommends a tablespoon of oatmeal for every pint of liquid) to produce another nourishing meal from the broth. Recipes call it a pot liquor soup; we’d more likely call it gruel.

Gruel, made by boiling grains, like oats, rice, or barley, in water or milk, was a common food option for the poor as it required minimal ingredients and was easy to prepare. It often served as a breakfast or basic meal.

Porridge refers to a thicker and more substantial version of cooked grains, usually oats, in water or milk. It was typically cooked for a longer amount of time, resulting in a creamier and heartier consistency. It was also a popular breakfast choice due to it being nutritious and filling.

They tended to buy cuts and trimmings of meat no one else wanted, which were referred to as “block ornaments”. Examples included sheep’s organs, shanks, gristly bits, and heads. Most of these cuts were tough or didn’t have much meat on them, but they could produce a filling broth. Tripe (lining of stomach of animals like cattle, sheep, and pig), liver, meat on the bone (shin or cheek), and offal (aka organ meats like brains, hearts, sweetbreads, liver, kidneys, lungs, and intestines) were also cheap.

Chicken was rare, as the birds were kept for eggs, and usually not eaten unless the bird stopped laying eggs.

Later in the Victorian era, bacon became a popular choice at breakfast (alongside kippers aka a type of fish made from herring, eggs, and porridge).

Drippings was another common part of the lower class diet. Drippings refer to the fat that is collected as a result of cooking meat. When meat, such as beef, pork, or poultry, is roasted or grilled, the fat present in the meat melts and drips down into the pan or tray. This fat is then collected and saved, typically in a container or jar, for later use. They add flavor and richness to dishes and are commonly used for making gravies, sauces, or to enhance the flavor of roasted vegetables, as a few examples.

Since meat was a luxury, the lower class tended to go for cheaper proteins, like eggs and legumes.

Many East End homes kept hens in their backyards, with a couple hens able to produce up to a dozen eggs per home per week. Hard cheeses like cheddar was produced countrywide and so available all year round, meaning it was able to enter the diet of the lower class. It was a good protein, kept well, and even stale it could be eaten toasted with bread.

Regarding legumes (ex: beans, peas, peanuts, lentils, etc…), they were a cost-effective source of protein, fiber, and nutrients. Dried legumes were more affordable and available all year round. Beans (good from July to September) were a staple for many lower class, often cooked in stews, soups, or baked dishes. Peas (affordable from June to July) and lentils were also commonly consumed.

In terms of drinks, tea was very common. It became more affordable with the help of increased trade, improved transportation, and advancements in production methods. The poor drank tea that tended to be weaker, as they reused the tea leaves several times before disposing of them. Black tea was common, the most popular being those imported from countries like China and India.

Milk was widely consumed but not usually in large quantities, due to cost and adulteration fears (aka fear of contamination). Beer was also common (made with low alcohol content so you didn’t get drunk), even for women and older children, as water wasn’t safe to drink back them (easily contaminated, but the brewing process killed off the germs). Coffee was another option, but it tended to be more expensive than tea, beer, or milk.

Sugar became cheaper at least after 1874, but still tended to be relatively expensive, especially for those on lower incomes. Thus it remained more of a luxury item and consumed in mostly smaller quantities or for special occasions.

Butter, like sugar, would’ve also been considered a relatively expensive item, and thus not as widely consumed. Instead, they used cheaper options of fat, like lard and dripping.

Nuts were another slightly more expensive item. But there were some options if a poorer individual could afford them. Chestnuts were the most common (favorite street snack in chestnut season, running from September to January). There were also filberts and hazelnuts (available from October to May) and walnuts (seasonal). Imported almonds and brazil nuts were more expensive, but commonly consumed around Christmas as a “treat”.

Even if they could afford things like sugar, butter, or nuts, the lower class likely would’ve typically used their income on more basic necessities and things they needed for their job or life.

Individuals were paid on Saturday, and that plus the absence of refrigeration affected the weekly menu. It’s possible the lower class at least may have possessed basic cooking utensils, like a skillet, pot, or kettle. The ‘best’ and relatively most expensive meals were taken on Saturday evening and Sunday, though the poorest would often buy food at the end of Saturday trading, at the cheapest possible prices. Menu choices became cheaper through the week: purchases of food would diminish in quantity as the food budget shrank, and meat would often only be purchased once a week, though vegetables and fruit were usually purchased and consumed on a daily basis.

The very poor might purchase cheaper older fruits, vegetables, and meat on the verge of edibility, though this didn’t really diminish the nutrients in them much.

The lack of refrigeration facilities meant that meats eaten hot on any one day were almost inevitably consumed (cold) on the second day. Any more leftovers were, due to incipient spoilage, curried or hashed on the third day. Spices and the higher heat involved in frying the hash would disguise any taint to the meat and lessen the chances of food poisoning.

Men worked on average 9–10 hours per day for 5.5-6 days a week, giving a range from 50–60 hours of physical activity per week. Factoring in the walk to and from work increases the range of total hours of work-related physical activity up to 55–70 hours per week. They likely required around 5000 calories a day.

The daily wage for poor miners back then may have been around 3-4 shillings, with the weekly wage then around 18-24 shillings. In dollars, 3-4 shillings was likely around $1. In today’s money, 3-4 shillings a day may be around £4 to £5 or $5 to $6.

[thetrashiestoftrash]

Toast spices (recipe said cinnamon, cloves, star anise, fennel, and I added sesame seeds, allspice, peppercorns, and a cardamom pod just to try it out).

Once toasty, add aromatic veggies (onions and ginger first, then garlic). A little salt helps break 'em down as they cook.

Apple!

Not shown: adding about four pounds of beef shanks and some leftover chicken from the freezer. This is a great soup to start when cleaning the litter box or any other smelly chore, because everything smells like toasted spices and garlic and onions and ginger instead.

And now it's gonna pressure cook for about an hour! I'm going (roughly) by the Alton Brown recipe, but he's anti-Instant Pot, so his directions to cook for 30 min are intended for a manual pressure cooker that maintains a higher, more consistent pressure. I just add extra time to compensate.

[eardefenders]

Ukrainian Borscht (Український борщ)

So I've only ever had cold beetroot soup so I looked around the internet to find a Ukranian Borscht and I found this old recipe on a reddit sub for good Ukranian food. It was highly rated in the sub and it does look like it'd be very good!

This is the second prepared food mentioned in the series. Transcribing the image below for anyone who can't load images or is using a screen reader.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp butter

1 cup chopped onion

1 tsp minced garlic

3/4 pound beets (weighed without tops, Peeled and shredded

1 cup shredded celery root or chopped celery

1 cup grated parsley root or 2/3 cup chopped parsley

1 cup grated parsnip

2 tsp sugar

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 can (1 lb) tomatoes, broken up

1 tbsp salt

1 quart diced potatoes

2 quarts beef stock

1 pound shredded cabbage (6 quarts, loosely packed)

2 cups diced cooked beef (brisket or shank meat)

Chopped Parsley and Sour Cream

Heat oil and butter in heavy saucepan. Add onion and garlic. Saute about 5 minutes. Add shredded or chopped vegetables (not cabbage), the sugar, vinegar, tomatoes and salt. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, add potatoes and stock to soup pot. Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are just tender. Add cabbage, cooked beef mixture, and diced beef. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 20 to 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with sour cream and parsley.

Enjoy!

[viapu-com]

Get ready to up your dinner game with Succulent Secrets' top-notch Beef Shank recipe! Unleash your inner chef and dive into juicy, aromatic flavors like never before. Stay tuned! 🥩🔥🍴

[delicious-in-kitchen]

Braised Beef Shank with Polenta by Firsthand Foods

[kineats]

Hi!! Do you think I could get some recipes for the Indoraptor from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom? I have celiac’s so nothing with gluten please!

Oooohhh neat~!! They're a medium game hunter and obligate carnivore, so gluten would definitely be bad for them anyway! Let me see what I can getcha~

Easy Stovetop Steak and Fancier Steak with Peppercorns

Beef Tenderloin in a Red Wine Sauce (instead of flour use any starch in like, half the quantity)

Easy Roast Duck

Brown Sugar Mustard Chicken

Baked Pork Tenderloin

Enchilada Sauce (good on any roast meat)

Braised Pork in the style of Boar

Roast Turkey Legs

Easy Rack of Lamb

Beef Shanks with Vietnamese Glaze

Crock Pot Beef Shanks

ACTUAL Wild Boar with Mushrooms

And cause our flesh vessels need veggies:

How to use Eggplant as Meat Alternatives

[justforbooks]

This slow cooked shredded beef is fall apart tender and juicy. Perfect for big batches. Enjoy it in tacos, sandwiches, pasta, rice, and more❗

You can use any type of beef, but for this recipe, cheaper cuts with lots of fat and tendons near the bones work best. This is what makes the meat really juicy and tender. For example, short ribs, beef cheeks, beef shank or oxtails. The best part❓ Every time I reheat it, the flavour intensifies, making it taste even better❗🥩🍖😋

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[mariacallous]

As the granddaughter of four Polish Jewish immigrants to the United States, I, understandably, grew up eating cabbage. The hallway in my grandparents’ apartment building in Borough Park, Brooklyn always smelled of the stuff — a musty, slightly unpleasant, heavy odor. On Shabbat and holidays, my mother cooked cabbage the way her mother did — stuffed with beef and rice and simmered in a sweet and sour tomato sauce. We had it raw, too, in coleslaw — grated cabbage, green pepper, and carrots mixed with white vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and mayonnaise. My relationship with this vegetable began and ended with these dishes.

Recently, however, I was presented with several new ways of looking at and eating cabbage, which led me to suspect that we’re living in the time of cabbage 2.0.

Eldad Shem Tov, a chef at Lamalo (Hebrew for “why not?”), a Middle Eastern restaurant in Manhattan, has taken cabbage to the next level with a slow-cooked whole head of red cabbage. When the dish is brought to the table, you could swear that the server is bringing you a roast beef. But when you cut into it, you discover that it is a creative take on a simple, pedestrian vegetable — one that Jews have been eating for millennia.

According to Jewish food historian Gil Marks in his Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, cabbage entered Jewish cooking around 2,300 years ago, by way of the Greeks. It was even mentioned in the Talmud as being among “the six things that heal a sick person.” Marks describes cabbage as the most common cooking odor of the shtetl (remember my grandmother’s apartment building?!), where it was “boiled, braised, stewed, and pickled for sauerkraut.” According to Marks, not only is cabbage one of the oldest cultivated vegetables, but it was also the “food of the poor.”

But now you can buy a head of it for $26 at this Manhattan restaurant. And it’s nothing like what my grandmother made.

“Cabbage is nourishing and comforting, and it can be enjoyed by a meat lover and a vegan as well,” said Shem Tov. “Cabbage can be treated in so many ways — you can eat it raw, you can chop and sauté it. You can treat it like a roast, like meat, or like fish. It is an underestimated vegetable, but it is becoming more interesting for chefs to prepare and for diners to eat.”

In his version, which the restaurant calls a cabbage “shank,” a head of red cabbage is bathed in a braising liquid made of onion stock, verjus (an acidic juice made by pressing unripe, sour fruit), pomegranate molasses, a bouquet garni (bundle of herbs), and chamomile tea. It is then roasted for 12 hours in the oven and finished with silan, a sweetener made of macerated dates. The sweet and sour ingredients bring a vibrant flavor to the long-roasted cabbage. The dish is soft, succulent, deeply colored, and intensely flavored. It is no longer the lowly cabbage of the shtetl — it has been treated like royalty.

Shem Tov is not alone in his interest. Israeli-British chef Yotam Ottolenghi has numerous recipes for cabbage in his cookbooks, and he recently told me that he is working on a roasted cabbage dish for his new, yet unnamed, cookbook that features vegetables. Michael Solomonov has a hummus dish topped with sautéed cabbage in his most recent book, Israeli Soul. Einat Admony’s latest book, Shuk, features a cabbage cake filled with meat, rice, nuts, and raisins, and Adeena Sussman’s Sababa has a “melted cabbage” dish that is topped with butter and crème fraiche. You didn’t find that in the shtetl.

What does the future hold for the cabbage? Admony posited that question recently on Instagram, where she wrote, “Might cabbage be the new cauliflower?” It’s certainly popping up in all sorts of unusual ways. Stay tuned. 

[nbula-rising]

Birria Tacos (Quesabirria) prep time: 15 MINUTES cook time: 4 HOURS 15 MINUTES total time: 4 HOURS 30 MINUTES

Ingredients

Birria Sauce 5 dried ancho chiles 5 dried guajillo chiles 2-3 Chiles de árbol (see note 1) 1 Tbsp oil 1 large onion, peeled and diced 4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped 8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 2 Tbsp tomato paste 1 inch ginger, peeled and roughly chopped ¼ cup apple cider vinegar 1 cup beef stock 1.5 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 Tbsp dried oregano 1 tsp thyme 2 tsp coriander powder 2 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 2 cloves, ground into powder

For Stew 3-3.5 lbs chuck roast, cut into large chunks Salt to taste Pepper to taste 2 Tbsp oil 4 cups beef stock

For Tacos 15-20 white or yellow corn tortillas 2 cups shredded Oaxaca or mozzarella cheese ½ white or red onion, diced Bunch of cilantro, chopped Lime wedges, to serve

Instructions

For Birria and Consommé Dry toast and rehydrate the chilis: Cut the stems off and make a slit along the side to open them and discard the seeds. Dry toast them in hot pan for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant (don’t burn them, as they can turn bitter). Put them in a bowl, pour in a cup of hot water, and let it sit for 20 minutes. Sauté the veggies: Heat oil and Sauté the onion, garlic and tomato until softened. Then transfer the veggies to the blender.

Make Birria Sauce: In the blender, blend above veggie mixture along with rehydrated chilis, spices and herbs (oregano, cumin, cinnamon, coriander powder, ground clove, thyme, salt and pepper), apple cider vinegar, ginger, tomato paste, and 1 cup of beef stock. Blend it till the mixture in completely smooth. Prepare and sear the meat: Cut the chuck roast into large chunks and generously season it with salt and pepper. We always like to sear the meat before putting it in the stew, as it adds tons of flavors. Heat the oil in the stew pot (or instant pot on saute mode) and brown the meat on all sides.

Cook the stew:

Stovetop: In a big stew pot, combine the meat with the Birria sauce. Add in 4 cups of beef stock. Cover and cook over low heat on the stovetop for 3 to 4 hours, or until the meat is completely tender. Keep an eye on the stew and stir it every 20 minutes or so, as not to burn the meat at the bottom.

Crock Pot Birria Tacos: Combine meat and sauce in a large crockpot, along with 4 cups of beef stock. Cover and slow cook on low for 9 hours, or until the meat is completely tender.

Instant Pot Birria Tacos: Add in Birria sauce along with remaining 4 cups of beef stock, and give the mixture a quick toss. Cover and seal the lid. Pressure cook on “Manual” for 45 minutes, followed by a quick release.

For Birria Tacos Reserve the fat on top of the stew to fry the tacos. (very important, DO NOT discard it, you would need this fat to make the Birria tacos crispy)

Shred the meat: Taste and adjust the seasonings like salt and pepper. Remove the beef from the consommé and shred with two forks.

Dip Tortillas: Heat a large griddle or skillet over medium heat. Add a small amount of oil to the griddle and swirl it around. Dip a corn tortilla into the reserved fat from Birria and lay it on the hot pan.

Assemble the taco: Quickly top it with shredded cheese along with a spoonful of shredded meat, and a little chopped onion and cilantro. Don’t overfill the tacos. Especially with the cheese, which will ooze out of the tacos while they are frying if you add in too much. You will get the hang of it after frying few.

Fry Tacos: Fold tortilla over, in half. Fry for several minutes, until crispy and browned on both sides, flipping once. Remove to a plate for serving.

Serve: Sprinkle remaining chopped white onion and cilantro on top. Serve with a cup of consommé broth, for dipping.

Notes

Chiles de árbol can be pretty spicy and hot. Use according to your spice tolerance. Start with just 1 if you prefer a milder stew. Alternately, if you prefer spicy, add 3 or more árbol chilis.

You can follow the same recipe with other cuts of beef like shank, short ribs or oxtail. Or, try different meats like goat or lamb. If you have a Blackstone griddle, this is a perfect recipe to cook on it. After a griddle, a good cast iron skillet is a good choice.

To Make Ahead: The Birria meat and stew can be cooked a few days in advance. Refrigerate in an airtight container for 3-4 days. To Freeze: Birria meat and consommé may be frozen in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw completely in the fridge before rewarming, to make tacos next time in the future.

[talenlee]

Chefclub's Absurd ASMR Shittiness

Chefclub are a food channel on youtube that presents an example of what happens in a world of algorithmic content. Chefclub make videos about food that are not so much recipes as much as they are creative fiction in the storytelling medium of recipes. Before the spread of AI Generated Media, Chefclub were already doing a bunch of things for Algorithmic Purposes, with long compilation videos mixing up short sets of videos, deliberately edited videos designed to present a recipe ‘construction’ that in many cases misses steps or changes ingredients mid-video for better visual effect. Then these videos are chopped up and reconstructed into repeated versions of themselves with different components, and every new platform presented gets another ChefClub permutation, like a mould filling all the gaps.

If you’ve ever seen someone hollow out a brick of bright yellow American cheddar to wrap it in burritos, and somehow it maintains all structural integrity through this, then you have seen something that owes its connection to ChefClub.

Then a friend came to me and told me Chefclub made an ASMR video.

I suppose, given the content of this video, content warning: This ASMR video has multiple disconcerting shifts in volume levels, resulting in a relaxing audio landscape being interrupted with some prominent thonk sounds. There’s also some meat ‘squishing’ sounds that might be unpleasant, and I suppose, also, given the range of audience for ASMR, it’s just straight up a whole video about preparing a piece of meat, which means a content warning for food.

#ASMR hammer beef shank burritos in the wild 🥩🌯

Watch this video on YouTube

Also, content warning, this article isn’t going to be terribly insightful, I’m just going to complain about it.

ASMR, if you’re not familiar with it, is a media form on Youtube that works on trying to stimulate a hard-to-describe shiver/shudder effect that happens in the listener due to ranges of sensory stimulation that typically are isolated to intimate/quiet experiences, sometimes with a background of white noise. What causes or activates ASMR in an audience is pretty wildly varied, and thanks to this variety there are a host of different forms the media takes. Even when just limiting it to Youtube, there are ASMRtists who specialise in creating narratives and some who focus on just pure videos of stimuli designed for extremely long form presentations you’re meant to fall asleep for.

(Hey, uh, is there going to be a problem with a bunch of people falling asleep wearing earbuds these days? Just wondering.)

Anyway, ASMR is a media format that can include a wide variety of things. There’s almost no wrong way to do ASMR. Watching any given ASMR video you’ll probably pick up on the trends that are important to replicate the form! Which is what makes this video, made by algorithm-chasers with access to good sound equipment so baffling in its incompetence.

First of all, there’s just the way that the narrative presented in the video seems like a lie. That’s not important, not really, after all, I watch ASMR videos about a guy pretending to be the Joker running a blackjack game and neither of those things are particularly related to reality (except, I suppose, blackjack exists). But in the video it’s ostensibly about showing you a cooking process and how it’s executed, and the fact that the food preparation shown seems to be secretly hiding steps like ‘and then we continued to cook the food or swapped in other food that was already made’ feels a bit of a cheat for something that positions itself so naturally.

This isn’t making fun of the chef, by the way. That chef probably knows exactly what he’s doing and why he’s doing it that way. This is about the editing and construction of the video.

The sound mixing is dreadful for it too, with everything positioned with just a little too much gain. Ambient sound is overwhelming and varied, which means to compensate, the sounds of the actual execution of the cook are all amped up to make sure the microphone catches them. This includes a sequence where the chef drops a bundle of sticks which is a single one-off sound event with the gain turned up. There’s a relaxing calm quiet of the surrounding environment and then suddenly THONK. But that’s not even the worst abrupt noise interruption because again, with the gain turned up to make sure you hear it over the background noise, the video then centres the chef roughly scraping the bottom of the cast iron with an axe, a sound that is not particularly enjoyable or well mixed.

Following that there’s a moment where a bone gets pulled out of the meat. But it doesn’t come easily so they slip with the grip and THONK hit the board on the bone again, interrupting this turned-up sound scape with another sudden burst of volume. Then when it’s done you get the turned-up audio of the chef gasping and grunting wetly, but don’t worry, then there’s the audio of him tearing apart the meat with his hands (so it has definitely had time to cool). Making Guacamole? better make sure to keep the mic turned in way close to the inside of the skin so that when you scoop out the insides you get the sound of a knife being dragged across an abraded surface, aka ‘scratching pops and crackles.’ The poor chef through this whole process is breathing heavily with the restrained gasps of someone trying hard to not be heard on mic. Don’t worry, though we also get a mic pointed at his face while he’s gulping in huge mouthfuls of air then BLOWING straight towards the mic.

Making fun of this video, step by step, isn’t even really worth it because who cares per se, if you like this genre that it’s hashtag advertising itself to, you probably already know that you won’t like it just based on the opening seconds of loud, clattery sound. But what makes this really fascinating to me is the way that ASMR is a format which Youtube has almost perfected in terms of algorithmic content, with creators generating whole empires out of simple iterations on the generalised formula.

But it is interesting to see how that formula can be executed badly by people who understand formulas but not forms.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Media