Slow format cooking videos and Instagram stories on Highlights are changing the way recipes are shared. And we like it
Ranveer Brar says making videos has been liberating because he can be himself
In the world of two-minute recipe videos that are a fast and effective way to engage with larger audiences, thankfully there are chefs and content creators who believe in giving each dish and ingredient, the time they deserve. Frame-by-frame, recipe-by-recipe, they lure you into falling in love with food and the process of making it. All in real-time. No template, no format, no structure-just recipes, woven with stories; where the dish is the real star.
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Long, and short of it
Chef Ranveer [email protected]
What can you do with food when you have spent 26 years of your life, learning, making, sharing and discussing food? Three years ago, Ranveer Brar decided to break a norm and make long-form recipe videos, sharing stories, tips and tricks he learnt from the those who make the dish at grassroots level. Experts advised him to stick to a two or five minute format; Brar refused. “You get only one chance to tell a story,” he says, “so you don’t want to regret not giving the dish the time it deserves. Some poetry needs four pages, some are told in four lines. Also, after being in the industry this long, you are answerable to your conscience. It’s not about hitting a million followers, but about building a connect.”
Brar thinks information is at the core of a recipe; what you add to it is makes the difference. “We live in a world of data and information. You type one dish and there are 500 recipes for it. For me, recipes are a medium of connecting to a dish. Gone are the days of cooking with 500 gm of this and 200 gm of that. Channeling my experience into a dish, gives it a perspective is important. People don’t mind spending a couple of minutes more if they are genuinely connected to what’s being said, and I’m glad we’ve stretched the membrane a bit.”
On television, it’s about sticking to the theatrics. “But, when I realised that I could be me, cook and leave it to the audience to embrace what they want, it was liberating.”
Cook on the go
Chef Swayampurna Mishra@lapetitchef
The author of the cookbook, My Indian Kitchen, makes cooking videos on the go—literally. She wakes up and thinks of what she wants to make for her family and while cooking it, takes a video. From ghee-laden paratha to brioche and Chetinadu chook and dhaba paneer, she makes all of this while juggling duties of being mom to a year-old baby.
“Making videos on the go actually started because I got a lot of requests from the audience. Given that my current kitchen is under renovation, it’s not conducive to YouTube video making; so, I found it easier to make videos as I cooked my daily meals. I don’t have a format, they are not stylised; it’s all very real life. I think that’s what people connect with,” she says.
What started casually, is now a regular feat because requests keep pouring in through DMs on Instagram. “If I go even two days without sharing a video, I get hundreds of messages asking me if everything is okay.
Even when the kitchen is up, I plan to continue to keep the videos impromptu and real. The recipes I make are easy-to-cook and match what people are looking for. Someone, somewhere, is waiting for me to cook.”
Of stories and highlights
Saee Koranne Khandekar@skoranne
Since the lockdown, Khandekar has shared about 75 recipes via Instagram
Culinary consultant, home chef and author, Khandekar has been writing about food for 12 years. She shoots recipes on her phone as she makes them for family. These pictures are not styled. She then posts them step-by-step on Instagram, with detailed captions and notes at the end about how to make something eggless, or offers troubleshooting advice, and information on seasonal variations. These are then saved to Highlights for further reference.
Khandekar’s baingan dish video
While her background in instructional design and publishing gives her recipes a structured approach, Khandekar steers clear of giving quantities wherever possible, especially where the recipe need not be bound by them. “I feel this is more empowering and freeing for a cook, novice or seasoned chef. Also, I prefer to share a possibility; not a singular recipe that will yield the same result every single time.
That, I reserve for my commercial cooking assignments.” Khandekar only shares quantities down to the last gram for baking or mithais. “When it comes to grilled chicken, or misal for instance, what I find interesting is the method. What must one look out for; what changes in the cooking will result in different flavours? There can never be one single recipe for any dish; it’s the job of the person who shares the recipe to say that if you don’t have celery, use coriander stem,” she adds.
Since the lockdown struck, she has shared about 75 recipes via Instagram. In return, Khandekar receives the warmest of messages. Pictures, of course, of food that readers have tried, and culinary traditions that are now part of their own family repertoires. She gets told that people look at her Highlights to plan dinner. “All of these are very special to me,” Khandekar tell us.
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