Watch real people cooking in real life, in real time, realistically

August 29, 2011 10:56 AM

Any cooking shows (preferably available on youtube, or in any case for free) that features some real-time cooking? I don't require sitting through four hours of braising footage, but I just want to have a reasonable sense of how much time other people put into prep and such, which means no mise-en-place chopped vegetables at the start of the thing.
posted by Busoni to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

Best answer: even though i don't like her... rachel rays 30 minute meals is pretty close to the real thing...
posted by fozzie33 at 10:57 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Search youtube for "depression cooking with Clara" and for "Manjula's Kitchen." Both are pretty close to what you're looking for.
posted by Gilbert at 11:22 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

there are people who chop vegetables as fast as it takes a tv host to show you them in a bowl, and there are others (me) who are absolutely crap with a knife. i am not a fancy chef...i generally hurl it all together in 15 minutes or less...
posted by sexyrobot at 11:40 AM on August 29, 2011

Best answer: Watch Julia Child make omelettes. It's like magic.

Also if you can find Jacques Pepin's 'Fast Food My Way'. The objective of the series is to show that good food can be made quickly.
posted by hydrobatidae at 11:49 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Pasquale's Kitchen, and Pasquale' Kitchen Express are good examples. Sadly, Pasquale has moved on to the great Opera House in the sky, but there is stuff available. While he does prepare a little in advance, it's fun to see him prepare a salad, an appatizer, a main course, and a side dish, all in about 20 minutes.
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 11:50 AM on August 29, 2011

Best answer: French Cooking in Ten Minutes. This series transfixed and inspired me when I first saw it on TV many years ago.

Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals.
posted by essexjan at 11:55 AM on August 29, 2011

MeteFilter favorite Cooking With Dog does a fair amount of chopping onscreen in the middle to later videos. But everything seems to be in one inch pieces.
posted by oflinkey at 12:24 PM on August 29, 2011

Search youtube for "depression cooking with Clara"

Oh man, Gilbert. I'm disappointed; I thought this was going to be a web series about a depressed cook named Clara. :(
posted by BeBoth at 1:04 PM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

Epic mealtime? May only be useful when preparing meat & alcohol based dishes though.
posted by chojomojo at 4:50 PM on August 29, 2011

Gordon Ramsay did a Cook-Along Live in both the US and UK - the UK one was better, but it was a pretty accurate cook time start to finish.
posted by guster4lovers at 10:22 PM on August 29, 2011