4 Levels of Pesto Pasta: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2023
- We challenged chefs of three different skill levels - amateur Billy, home cook Joe, and professional chef Fatima Khawaja - to make us their preferred pesto. Once each level of chef had presented their creations, we asked expert food scientist Rose to explain the choices each made along the way. Which pesto looks better than the rest-o?
Director: Lisa Paradise
Director of Photography: Jeremy Harris
Editor: Manolo Moreno
Director of Culinary Production: Kelly Jenke
Producer: Tyre Nobles
Culinary Producer: Jessica Do
Culinary Associate Producer: Katrina Zito
Line Producer: Jennifer McGinity
Production Manager: Janine Dispensa
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Assistant Camera: Lucas Young
Audio Engineer: Rachel Suffian
Production Assistant: Amanda Broll ; Sahara Pagan
Culinary Assistant: Leslie Raney
Researcher: Vivian Jao
Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araújo
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
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I really like this episode, it feels like you've got a level 1 chef who's actually cooking, and the level 3 chef is making something that I as a normal person look at and think "yeah I could do that"
I don't think the level 3 should do something to make you think (yeah I could do that)..... what's the point of being an experienced professional if anyone could do it?
but I like the fact she made the actual dish, instead of some fancy caviar and truffles and gold flakes with something that remotly resembles the dish.....
@belalabusultan5911 dishes like these, you cant do much to them even if you're experienced.
being a professional isnt always about going over the stop and super complicated. Sometimes, keeping it simple but letting the ingredients truly shine in their best light is the right move. Attention to quality on a dish with so few ingredients IS professional. lots of people cant do that and bury the ingredients in pomp and circumstance@@belalabusultan5911
@@belalabusultan5911I’d rather them make a perfect basic version with a slight twist than trying to do some goofy shi as if they can reinvent the wheel
@@belalabusultan5911something like pesto is hard to overcomplicate to the point of a home chef not being able to make it. It’s mostly the effort of fresh pasta and finesse that makes the level 3 pesto dish higher level
You know what I love about the level 1 chef? He used spinach which is much cheaper and comes more in a package than basil which I usually have to buy 2 or 3 packs at a time to make pesto for the family. He also used almonds which are also cheaper and more likely to be in your cupboard. He may be a level 1 chef but he is a chef for the people
He’s for the people 😤
Just get pine nuts. They are awesome in salads
I've found that sunflower seeds are a better pine nut alternative than almonds
The people's pesto
@@masterchief7301 OUR pesto
I took a pesto making class in Italy last year. The chef told us that the traditional way to use the mortar and pestle was to scream “Die die die die die” while grinding. Still not sure if he was messing with us, but I yell it out to this day.
And still no police visit?
he was probably saying "dai" which is like "come on"
this is so funny! "dai" (pronounced like "die") means "come on" in italian
as an Italian, you can replace the "DAI DAI DAI" (which in Italian means COME ON LET'S GO) with any sort of profanity of your liking (which would be the TRUE traditional way but he probably didn't want to expose you to the finer parts of the Italian language), as long as it gives you the motivation to pound the living daylights out of it.
Picture your enemy.
i love that the level 3 chefs recipe is finally achievable
And fairly simpler than level 2 I think
@@Sertifi what an ungrateful comment.
Yeah, I mean, pesto ain't complicated.
@@SertifiWhat do you want someone with 50 years experience? There's not many people actually like that I'd guess since not many people dedicate that long to one thing.
why do they need someone with "more creds"? Just because she was featured for an episode with a relatively simple recipe does NOT mean she's unqualified. I'd rather a pro that lets a simple dish be its best than someone who turned it into something that shouldn't even be called "pesto". @@Sertifi
People forget that pesto in general does not necessarily have to be made with basil to be a pesto. That's specifically pesto alla Genova. So the one guy using almonds and spinach is not as taboo as they made it seem
I’ve seen a pesto made with bread and vinegar.
theres a pesto from sicily wich has almonds and tomatoes
Pasta Grammar featured a video about Pesto variety
Fair point, BUT: they all obviously aimed for the pesto genovese.
so i'd say its still fair to judge him on that - its not a sacrilege, its just less good.
People don't forget, that spinach has almost no flavour; basil is both bright tasty and fragrant
I find it ironic that level 2 "smack-talked" (that's an exaggeration, but still) level 1's choice of adding spinach to his pesto, only to add sun-dried tomatoes himself, which is a far more dominant, overpowering flavor. Don't get me wrong, I thought they both looked good - it's just ironic.
They did the same thing on the Cacio e Pepe video. Not a fan of them.
His pronouns are He/him I believe not they/them
In Italy the pesto with sun-dried tomatoes exists, it's called pesto siciliano (Sicilian Pesto), even if the way it was made in this video was wrong, while the spinach version doesn't
Level two chef also did not need to mise en place his ingredients before adding it to the food processor 💀
@Joeyc55 Even if that's the case, they/them still applies to everyone regardless of preferred pronouns. This is a non-issue
"Why crowd the party with spinach?" proceeds to use dried tomatoes. I can't even...
i remember his other pasta episode he said if his water tastes like the ocean after salting he did it wrong. now he says it needs to. someone learned. 😂
Joe had me like, "Woah, that's little heavy on the salt... that's actually a lot of salt... TOO MUCH SALT"
I was like STOOOOOPPPP 😭😭😭
1:58 - It's harder than you thought because you have the lemon in backwards. The right way to use that juicer is to put the cut side facing into the cup so the curved press inverts the skin and gets maximum juice out. If you do that, it works great with little effort.
You are my soulmate.
The lemon also looked too big, cutting into quarters would have helped
I came looking for this comment and you delivered, thanks. Turn that lemon around.
At the risk of sounding mean, this episodes had TWO level 1 cooks and one chef. Her pesto had my mouth watering.
Playing my usual "just look at the three plates and decide which to pick" game: congratulations Billy.
I know he's a level 1 chef but we can't be having those extended fingers out while he's chopping with the knife. Otherwise he did amazing as did the other chefs!
He put pasta in water that wasn’t even hot
Well you also don't cut basil on a cutting board, because all the aroma is left on it.
It's a bit of a misconception that you need your water to be boiling before you put pasta in it anyway. Kenji Lopez has a good article on it at SeriousEats. Do mind that this only counts for dried pasta
I was cringing when I saw him do that but his pesto looked good.
thats what finger nails are for 😅😅 if you know you know
Joe may not be a pro and probably has lots of stuff to learn but I really appreciate the attention he puts to detail and how he applies common sense
Billy Level 1 wins this round! The subs he made and techniques he used made this look the most appetizing, and while I love pine nuts in my pesto, I'm totally willing to try almonds.
Just needs to watch those fingers! Had me scared when cutting the spinach.
Pine nuts are honestly so much better. Plus the pre minced garlic is lazy
The winner of this recipe round is... Rose's 10/10 Pink leather jacket. 😍
What
Finally! Someone who appreciates Rose and her jackets!
I love it that levels have a real meaning this time : cooking efficiently for yourself ("why the f would you have pine nuts at home"), cooking something sexy for friends - or foes with weak kidneys, and the ultimate afternoon activity for mortar enthusiasts.
I'm so glad you brought Fatima out! She has a lot of wisdom to share and just a fresh approach to the dishes she's made so far!
Good example illustrating that chefs aren''t food scientists. "Not adding lemon juice because it's going to oxidise", that doesn't make any sense. There are other reasons as why most people don't add lemon juice to their pesto but it litterally stops vegetable matter from oxidising,,,
I follow The Pasta Queen and she always says the water should be salted like a ‘well seasoned soup’. Really upped my pasta game, my sauces come out perfectly now!
Between the "zhuzzher" and those blue-ass eyes, Billy is a strong contender for my new fave Lvl 1 chef 😳
I wish they made three plates and tried each others on camera. I mean you always love your own recipe….
Both the Level 1 and 3 chef's dishes look great.
The Lv. 3 lady really followed the classic recipe, and I must say that the faster version of the Lv. 1 guy looked and sounded not bad at all.
And I may be biased as an Italian, but that chicken breast lying on the gnocchi to me was painful to look at (but if others like that dish, all the power to them - it's a healthy exta proteins after all 🙂).
I love level 3 chef. Idk why but seeing her use pestle and mortar is so nice. I really like simple thing and I think it requires many skills to perfect the basic and fundamental.
Edit: she made her own pasta . Now that’s real professional.
i’ve been starved, i have seen every single one of these videos so YESS i’m so excited. literally what i fall asleep to sometimes lol
I like pesto, but I tend to get grief when I make it because I don’t use any nuts. However, given my nut allergy, I use pumpkin seeds. I also use spinach in addition to the basil.
I think they're really upping the quality of this show. The level 1 chefs are more like you're average beginner cook and the level 3 chefs are making things that are... actually appetising and to a degree doable?
I love that fatimas dish is achievable fancy dinner here i come
Whoo Fatima Khwaja is back! I still have the bun kebab recipe in the back of my mind to cook. Gonna try this too now.
Level 2 chef hit the nail on the head by roasting his garlic. Roasted garlic is the most underused hidden gem for many Italian sauces....
you should do a series for cocktails! Amateur to enthusiast to bartender to mixologist
0:50 seconds and I am like "OMG be careful you're going to cut off your fingertips! OMG! OMG!
Thank you for this suspenseful documentary!
Yesssss 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Level one kid killed it...great job Billy! 🍝
I'm glad level two is back with his same energy as last time even after the backlash.
You can mix the pasta water with the pesto before mixing it in with the pasta. Binds it together and makes it more workable, less chunky.
These all look great and plausibly "authentic" (pesto is variable in Italy too!); the amount of salt chef 2 used is a bit puzzling tho, especially for an already salty condiment like pesto.
Fatima's dish is simple, traditional and I think best tasting 🥰 Love that pounding with pestle and mortar. I just love to pound 😁
I can feel the Italian chef reactions on the horizon 💀
I prefer using an immersion blender for pesto. Perhaps not as good as a mortar and pestle, but it's easy and achieves a nice consistency.
Loved this level 1, a sweetheart
I do have an awful lot of Basil in the garden right now that won't survive the first frost...I am also a pesto addict, might make all three
As always rose is amazing 🫶🏼 love level 4 explanations
Rose always has it together. Cooks/Chefs come and go, but Rose takes it to another level.👍
the level 3 chef saying she associates penne with baked ZITI lol
I use kale to supplement my pesto sauce. I still put basil for the traditional flavor.
This pesto sauce making is just so good and its really challenging i can fell that. Thanks a lot for sharing and keep up the good work you are doing. i am not a pro chef but can include myself as a home cook
Thanks a lot and a lot of love from Planet ayurveda
Best series
All of these look delicious. Love this series. One thing I’d change is just get rid of chicken (because I’m vegetarian) but it all looks delicious
Level 3 lost me when she only added ONE garlic clove 😂
man its been years since ive seen this channel, are the legendary trio doing okay?
Just jumping in to say that flash blanching fresh spinach (30s in boiling > ice bath) for my pesto has been a game changer--light, delicious, works as vegan if you want (and I'm not even a big spinach person).
Level 1 chef is so adorable, he reminds me of my husband when he was younger!!
How about that! I just recently made pesto for the family. My mother has never had homemade pesto or homemade pasta, so I served it as a basic sphagetti pesto served next to some beautiful sirloin with a gorgonzola sauce.
I love how the pro chef never uses a "level" to describe themselves lol they're like "wtf is level 3? I'm a professional chef"
Why the level 1 chef better at cooking than me 😭
Then just be good at making food like it takes patient and skills
its 12am and now im hungry
I was hoping that somoeone was going to taste all three of the dishes. But I did love watcvhing this. Was passing time a little before I start making my pizza from scratch. Have not done it in 8 to 10 years, so will see how it comes out!
One day would love to make pasta from scratch. I just won't be doing it with Kitchen Aid.
Billy’s pesto made me want to cry for real. And Fatima really did her thing. She taught me new things today.
Level 2 looked delicious but adding tomatoes seems more like a red sauce with basil than a pesto.
Is this a new batch of chefs?
Just waiting for the Italian food channels to react
More Fatima, please.
They all look tasty
It’s cool that we have 3 new chefs, I like them all.
Me wondering why he’s calling a blender a zuzzer 🤔
Me seeing the zuzzer 🤨
Me hearing the zuzzer 😮
I’m a huge fan of this show
first guy was all level 2 lmao xD
Everyone actually did a great job
i knew bruh was a fr level 1 chef when i saw how he was cutting that spinach i really fw this episode
Billy's terrific!
8:48 All three dishes look good. 🤤
Level 2 not using the lemon squeezer like that😂
Like it's not that hard to look at the holes in the bottom 😭
Italian here: all 3 chefs are cooking alternative versions of the original "pesto genovese".
Remember: LESS IS MORE!
Why add tons of other ingredients? They will just cover the pesto flavour!
1) wrong ingredients (almonds, spinach) but, i have to say, simple enough
2) chicken and dried tomatoes??? why??????
3) chili oil.... no need to say anything else.
You sound like a fake Italian
I happy to see new faces. Thank you.
Woah I literally just made this dish😂❤
*1:30* cracked me up! ☺
Don’t show this episode to your Italian friend, he might never recover from this
@@shepardice3775 until she started pounding that pesto like it’s offended her mother’s potato salad
I'm going to make this later on today
level 2 doesn't even put the lemon in the juicer the right way.
As someone who studied Hospitality, I'll have Billy's pesto pasta, it's cheaper than the others and quicker to make plus it looks AMAZING.
Was Billy a part of Kick TV back in the day or did I dream that?
honestly all these chef are great only because they make it to their own living life style , cause at the end of the day , my money , my choices , my food my rules , so basically either take it or leave it
Is anybody mouth-watering because pesta is the best pasta sauce ever
Oh, too bad about the level 1 guy... I wanted to learn how to make pesto in the air fryer.
Argentine pesto uses spinach,it can be blander than basil, but still tasty. The almonds, that got me. I default to walnuts before using pine nuts, sometimes cashews if that's the only thing on me.. but _almonds_ ?
I don't get why Epicurious never let's them taste each others plates.
Level 2 has a good sense of humor lol
This episode is all over the place. Scrap all of them, Scrap em all.
I think this is the first time that the pro chef's dish looked the tastiest, though they all did a good job 🤤
The level 3 chef does exactly my Mother-in-law and wife who were born in Italy, as the chef said simple is the best not to mention scratch made rules, ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Some new faces for sure
My mother made the gnocchi herself but she was Level 3 (4 to me). I liked all 3.
I would gladly eat any of these, and they all look great, but I prefer pesto with gnocchi over regular pasta, so based solely on that, I would go with Joe's.
You sound like a lovely person
Level 2 seems like he's doing things just because he thinks it's the correct way to do it. Instead of doing things because he wants to do them and enjoys it.
I think he’s doing what the show told him to do
protect billy at all costs
I’d like to send my résumé for a level one chef. Been a level one chef for 20 years.
1:58 not knowing how to squish a lemon, big brain energy
Billy topped in my eyes.
Looks delicious even tho traditionally pasta with pesto usually uses dry pasta.
i love Billy
Level 1 cutting spinach made me so scared for his fingers
Level 2 smack talking and juices the lemon upside down....🙃😂 level 1...the shju shju ????WHA????🤣🤣🤣🤣 Mortar YES YES YES