Netflix’s new must-watch foodie tv shows + a few tips we’ve learned!

Written by Valérie Goulet

Are you just like me? Do you binge-watch every new cooking show? Have you seen every tv shows of Jamie Oliver, Anthony Bourdain, etc.? Do you like to try new food and do you follow a lot of Facebook pages such as Tasty? Then we think alike!

I love to watch new culinary series, but I have to tell you that I need to be in the perfect mood to get into it! Which means I shouldn’t be disturbed and I need to make sure I am not hungry because I don’t want to miss a thing! I watch the show as if my life depended on it!

ON NETFLIX “SALT FAT ACID HEAT”

You’ve probably heard of the new tv show on Netflix “Salt Fat Acid Heat”!?

Samin Nosrat, the mind behind the book and the tv show “Salt Fat Acid Heat” doesn’t have to be someone else to be interesting, she naturally is. A little like Julia Child, I immediately felt under Samin’s spell. She has also published a book named “Salt Fat Acid Heat; Mastering the element of good cooking.” It reminded me of the title of Julia Child’s book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”!

As soon as I began watching, I was conquered by the spectacular images taken by drones, the calm in the pictures and the fresh air that gives the tone to her tv show.

The show begins with the perfect recipe to get me hooked; she makes beautiful fresh “Porchetta” pasta, where she gets her ingredients from local markets. This simplicity is what stands out from the first minutes of this great tv show. I find myself in Samin, when she creates the dishes, searches for the ingredients, and meets with her guests.

This tv show, as the title suggests, is divided into 4 chapters. Each one features one culinary item. The episode about the salt is really interesting as she brings in a different perspective, one we never had with salt like we did with sugar.

It’s easy to go to the grocery store to buy transformed salt, but we don’t truly know how it’s made. I was surprised to learn that it’s more challenging to produce salt in Japan that it’s in France. We could also believe Japan’s salt doesn’t stand out from France and its “fleur de sel”, but the salt factory visit in Moshio is fascinating. We learn that the Japanese salt comes from seaweeds who are dried by the wind of the sea and then are boiled in concentrated seawater to get the final result.

MY FAVOURITE SEGMENT: SAMIN’S COOKING TESTS

What I love the most of her 4 chapters is when she does cooking tests. With the salt, I learned that as soon as you come back from the butcher, you can salt your meat and leave it in the fridge. The salt will pull out the meat’s juices, which will become tastier! I can’t wait to use this technique!

Stronger and bitter salts should be used for large pieces of meat while the fine and delicate salt should be used for vegetables and salads.

Going back to one of Japan’s essential ingredients; miso paste. This ingredient which is used in their many dishes is made from crushed, boiled, and fermented soybeans and a few other ingredients. It can take up to 3 years for miso paste to be ready! I have been using miso paste for a long time now and never knew it was made with so much care or that it was invented way before 2019! I loved learning more about it with this show. The part about soy sauce is also captivating! Nowadays, only 1% of the producers of soy sauce use the wooden barrel method to ferment ingredients!! You press it through a filter, and then you can taste it! It’s beautiful to see! Commercial soy sauce takes 3 months to produce while traditional soy sauce can take years. The longer the process, the more complex and the tastier the soy sauce will be. Sometimes, it can even have caramel and maple aromas! Enjoy it like a good wine!

Salt Fat Acid Heat is so well produced that it’s satisfying and moving at the same time, plus you don’t’ feel like you’re watching a real documentary.

There is no season 2 scheduled as of now, but I wish there were! I really like Samin and her thirst for discovery because it’s perfectly in line with my values! If you had a crush on her too, you should follow her, especially on her personal Instagram page!

She is also a columnist for the New York Times Magazine Cooking and their “IGTV Instagram”. You can also find a video about the 8 Persian ingredients you need to have in your pantry to try her recipes! I love it! I’ll make sure to give her recipes a try!

The recipes on the show are also available on their website, I really want to try the soy-braised short ribs recipe.

Do the profusion of cooking tv shows and documentaries inspire you or discourage you from cooking? Personally, it inspires me a lot! Some people would feel overwhelmed by the abundance or the constant competitive spirit that brings the food scenes on the screen. I don’t! The only negative point is that I save a lot of recipes that I want to try, but I wouldn’t have enough of a lifetime to cook and taste them all! Such a good problem!

STREET FOOD ALSO ON NETFLIX

Another documentary series that’s on Netflix since last month and which is also interesting is Street Food. As the name says, it’s about street food! We are far from hot dogs, pretzels and other classic food you can find on the streets of NYC!

Each episode is dedicated to a special place in Asia: Bangkok, Osaka, Seoul and Singapore are the cities of this culinary trip! I couldn’t wait to dive into this series from the makers of “Chef’s Table”. I already knew it would be a success! I liked the humanism showed in Street Food, and you should watch it if you haven’t yet!

Do you have any suggestions of food tv shows I should watch?

This post was translated from French to English by: