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When was the last time you cooked a meal based on a YouTube recipe? Watching food porn is very different from actually getting into the kitchen and doing some cooking, so we challenged the ThoughtLeaders team to do exactly that.
We’ve made no secret over the years of our love for Adam Ragusea. He even made a guest appearance on series one of our podcast (if you haven’t listened to that episode yet, you can catch up here.) On his channel, Adam describes his approach as follows:
I cook in my house, and I show you how you can too. I like to use my head when I cook, but I have no time for being fussy or fancy.
We decided to take on Adam’s recipes in our first team Taste Test. The challenge was to each pick and cook a recipe that had featured on Adam’s channel. Here are some of the best results:
This was not David’s first rodeo when it comes to making Adam Ragusea style pizza. He’s long been a devotee of the home pizza recipes that first made Adam’s channel famous. This time around, David treated us to a step by step breakdown of the action:
And the crunch on that pizza? Here you go:
Here's what Amit had to say about it:
Why did you choose that recipe?
I love cooking and trying new recipes but I wanted to choose to make a food that we all take for granted as something we all just buy in the supermarket. I also love learning the basics of something as diverse as ice cream, and now that I have this “skill” I can’t wait to try crazy ice cream ideas.
Have you have ever made a recipe by that chef before?
Oh yes, Adam is definitely one of my favorite YouTube chefs and he’s pizza skillet recipe is one of my favorites.
Do you have experience cooking something similar?
I made ice cream before, but the other techniques were usually much more complicated and time consuming.
How easy was it?
Very easy! I think the reason people never consider making ice cream themselves is because the usual recipes often require some special equipment or they're really time consuming. With this ice cream recipe all the equipment you need is two bowls and a hand mixer. I think getting the same kind of texture that I saw in the video was a bit of struggle, but even though it wasn’t the same, I was really happy with the results I got. I was a little skeptical it would be as easy as it looked like, but if you stick to the steps in the video, this is honestly going to be a new staple in my home!
How did it taste?
Really good! I added some pistachio halva (sweet tahini) to add an interesting twist to the vanilla extract and I was super happy with the results.
Would you cook it again?
Definitely, the only issue there is that you can’t make a small batch, so I’m waiting for the next occasion to make this much ice cream.
Marks out of 5:
I’m gonna give this a 4.5 just because the texture wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, but I’m sure this is one of those recipes that get better as time goes on.
Here's a quick video of Amit's process:
Here’s Shoshana’s take on the recipe:
I am a gnocchi lover. My dining companion is a gnocchi skeptic. Adam Ragusea, like many Americans, has a very odd way of pronouncing the word “gnocchi” but I wasn’t going to let that put me off. I’m a sucker for any recipe that has brown butter in the title, even though here the butter never truly browned. The crispy sage was delicious and I appreciated this unconventional twist on gnocchi, even if part of me missed the creamy sauce element. Also, Adam assured me that half of the recipe would be a perfectly substantial portion size, but then again Adam isn’t five months pregnant. After spending an hour in the kitchen lovingly tending to my gnocchi, I was still starving at the end of the meal, and my dining companion was still not converted.
Would I make it again: Yes! (but next time I would make the whole thing just for me).
Marks out of 5: 4
The finished product:
Not sufficiently satisfied with ONE recipe, Elsie decided to make things doubly hard for herself for cooking and combing TWO of Adam's best loved recipes. She even got a new stove fitted for the occasion.
Here are Adam's originals:
And here is Elsie's take on these recipes, with some gratuitous shots of her puppy which (in our eyes) made this a significant improvement on Adam's videos.
Elsie's verdict?
Best steak I’ve ever cooked because of the method plus sauce. The steak recipe is genius. I never thought to do that w season the board and stick the steak on it at end, but actually was juicier and wasn’t over seasoned, and it didn’t burn the seasonings either! I will always make steak like that moving forward. I did my own version of the Demi glacé in 6 hours vs this 12-24 hour recipe he suggested, and I didn’t use chicken bones and shank, I JUST used beef leg bone, so I’m surprised mine came out good, but it was bomb. Absolutely 5/5 for both.
How did the recipe go? Well, this video does all the talking:
I think that means it was a 5 out of 5?
Eitan’s verdict:
This was my first time cooking one of Adam’s recipes and I was not disappointed! I choose the schnitzel because I’ve been eating it my whole life and it’s definitely one of my favourite meals. As well, I’m always curious to see if a better recipe exists than my mom’s (sorry Adam, you came close). The schnitzel itself was nothing new for me, but the cucumber salad however, was an excellent side addition and something I am definitely going to include next to my schnitzel from now on! Overall, the whole meal tasted great and I would have to rank it a perfect 5/5.
Avi’s take:
We asked Avi what on earth we just watched, and he said this:
I chose to do the Adam Ragusea salmon video because I have salmon once a week and I am always looking for new recipes to spice up my fish evenings. I have made his pizza in the past and that came out AMAZING! Having said that, I have made some if not all his salmon recipes at some stage however, he has a nifty trick or two here and there which was great to see! The version I decided to make was the soya, teriyaki and GARLIC spice. It was super straightforward and easy to make there were no challenges at all and his window analogy was super helpful to cook a perfect medium well salmon! It came out amazing and I will for sure be repeating this recipe in the near future as well as the other ones he mentioned. Finally, I rate this recipe a solid 5 out of 5, give it a try!
The finished product:
Look at that crust! Check out the dedication to detail with the (Adam inspired) cast iron pan.
We asked Ariel for his take on the recipe and this is what he had to say:
It was epic. 5 out of 5.
So there we have it - a man of few words but with some serious cooking skills.
We asked Max how it was and he sent us this:
Adam, watch your back! Max has his sights set on YouTube stardom, and he’s coming for your foodie throne!
Thanks for joining us on this wild ride through Adam Raguseau’s recipe archive. Be sure to check out his channel here, and if you have any ideas for what YouTube chef we should put to the test next time, let us know!
