Dine & Unwind is a series dedicated to your indulgence, whether that be through dining, sipping or simply having a good time.
Strict movement restrictions are being applied across Vietnamese provinces in light of the latest COVID-19 wave, and they’ve drawn many of us from the eateries back to our kitchens.
But God didn’t make all of us equally great home cooks. In fact, you might be looking at grocery bags full of ingredients right now with no clue what you can make out of them. And that’s okay! Even the best chefs could find themselves needing a little inspiration sometimes.
Vietcetera has previously published a few easy Vietnamese recipes — including the nation’s beloved dessert, chè, but there are even more resources on the internet. Whether you’re craving for Chinese or Mexican food, there’s a recipe for it online, and chances are someone has demonstrated it on YouTube — the world’s largest video sharing platform.
For when you’re in the kitchen and need a pick-me-up, here are six culinary channels on the platform that we highly recommend.
Vietnamese cuisine
Culinary Frank
“Neat”, “tidy” and “pleasant” are the three words most used to describe Frank Pham’s channel Culinary Frank by the audience themselves. The secret to Frank’s calming presence? His videos are in ASMR style and feature a neutral color palette.
With a recipe collection meticulously sorted by occasion or country of origin, it’s not an exaggeration to say that Frank is a living cookbook. And while he can whip up a dish from many cuisines, as a Vietnamese citizen in Australia, Frank always has a soft spot for home food.
Vuong Anh’s Cooking Journey
Like the name suggests, Vuong Anh quite literally takes her audience on a cooking journey away from the confines of the kitchen, to the different lands where her ingredients are freshly available.
Not only will her content satiate your hunger but also ignite the globetrotter in you.
Asian cuisine
Honeykki
While Honeykki is South Korean, she can create an appetizing dish from any part of the world. In fact, her specialties are eye-catching desserts and foods from famous movies.
Honeykki having lovely classical music playing in the background is also a huge fan favorite.
Cooking with Dog
This is perhaps the most unique channel on this list, where the chef is a mysterious Japanese lady whose name isn’t disclosed, and the host is her poodle Francis.
Francis actually passed away in 2016, but he lives on in the memories of the audience and our chef, in the form of two adorable stuffed toys always next to her.
Cooking with Dog started in 2007 and has uploaded over 350 videos to this day. That’s probably enough Japanese recipes for a lifetime!
Western cuisine
Tasty
With over 4000 videos containing short and sweet instructions, divided into tens of series, you could say Tasty is Cooking 101 for simple Western recipes.
If you’re hoping to introduce Western cuisine to a Vietnamese starter, some great dishes to start with could be steak, pasta or chicken and waffles.
Bon Appétit
If Tasty is for beginner home cooks breaking into Western cuisine, then perhaps Bon Appétit would be the more advanced Cooking 201.
You’re in for challenging lessons with series such as Gourmet Makes, Reverse Engineering and Making Perfect. After tuning into their episodes for a while, you might even impress yourself with how much you improved thanks to the tips and knowledge gained here.
With files from Tin Tin