The Best Little Cooking Videos On The Internet

New York Times columnist Mark Bittman has made dozens of the best little cooking videos on the Internet—and they’re free for the watching.

FREE & EASY | Last January, after 13 years, Mark Bittman, The New York Times food columnist who is now formerly known as The Minimalist, stepped away from the weekly production of his immensely popular how-to-cook column and instructional videos. And though he says he may put on his Minimalist apron from time to time in the future (he left this gig to join the NYT’s opinion pages and Sunday magazine), the 200-plus easy-cook videos he made during his Minimalist period (none more than five minutes long) are screen gems for Frugalbits readers looking for quick, doable, interesting things to cook.

Bittman’s Minimalist recipes “use minimal technique, minimal time or minimal ingredients,” he explained in his farewell column, noting that over the years plenty of them involved “exploring traditional recipes, and gently—I hoped—Americanizing them, without—I hoped—robbing them of their souls. Thus there were a fast cassoulet, a simple bouillabaisse, quick paella and, eventually, the 45-minute turkey.” In tweaking these classics, Bittman observes, “one could argue that I robbed all of them [the original recipes] of their souls, but cooking is compromise, after all. We almost never have the time, the ideal ingredients or equipment, or all of the skills we’d like.”

See Bittman Cook

To get started with Bittman in the kitchen, check out The Minimalist’s Greatest Hits posted on this New York Times video gallery, then go directly to YouTube where 100-plus Bittman quickies are available for your viewing pleasure, including one of my all-time-favourites called “Actually Grilled Cheese,” which you can also watch above. —Ruth Rainey

For those who want to cook it old school, Mark Bittman has written at least 10 print cookbooks; you can find them listed on his website www.markbittman.com

Photo: Evan Sung via The New York Times