Silencio

You. I rely on you. All of you. Because it’s thanks to you, that I know things about food in the Capital Region.

There’s only one of me. But there’s a lot of us. And when you talk, I listen. Or at least I try. Sometimes I can be a bit interrupty, especially if I’m fired up about something. But it was the Masticating Monkey who first turned me on to The Flying Chicken, Mr. Dave has been an endless source of knowledge about regional foods, and Chantelle the ice cream fanatic pointed me towards the amazing fruit flavors at Samascott. And the list goes on.

This latest find comes from Danielle Sanzone, who is awesome. Although her Twitter feed isn’t quite as active as it used to be. I can’t blame her though. Twitter is awful these days. Anyhow, what she shared with me happens to be from the YouTubes.

If you do decide to read on, get ready to have your productivity sapped for the day.

Albany is a small town. Does anybody out there know Cooper Nelson in real life? Well, he has a YouTube channel that Danielle shared with me called Silently Cooking. And it’s fantastic. It’s beautiful. It’s mesmerizing. And it’s inspiring.

Here’s the conceit.

Who has time for a 15 minute instructional cooking video? Especially when most of that time is just some talking head blabbering about something that isn’t cooking. These videos have personality without the personalities. The food, and the experience of cooking it, are front and center.

But they are far from silent. The sounds of the cooking are all there. It’s just that Cooper himself is silent as he’s preparing each recipe.

Danielle sent me Cooper’s video on making guacamole.

But I love watching Cooper work with dough. Even though he’s not a professional cook, he moves in the kitchen with tremendous confidence, and has great technique. So this pork dumpling one is fantastic.

Although my favorite might be the eggs florentine. Because, holy cow, those eggs are beautiful. And if you’ve ever tried to photograph cutting into an egg, you know just how hard it is to get it right. Plus, I love his simplified technique for hollandaise.

So there it is. I’ve killed your productive Friday. Now I’m off to a meeting. Remember, it’s not too late to get signed up for the Tour de Cider Donut: Champion Edition tomorrow. Just gas up your car, grab a pen, $4 in cash, and meet me in Schoharie.