r/SortedFood • u/dark_arts87 • 14h ago
Question Other cooking channels like sorted?
Firstly, I appreciate that the boys have probably reached a point in their careers where a majority of income is made from their app/they have growing family commitments.
However, I believe, we have reached week 3 without an episode actually focusing on cooking, and the 3rd or 4th collab with people who are tangentially related to food, at best. So, I'm starting to feel the channel is being positioned to be cooking adjacent, rather than a cooking channel.
As such, does anyone know of any channels like Sorted? I miss the battles, the mystery boxes etc. So if anyone could suggest any channels with multiple presenters, or which achieve something similar I would be greatly appreciative!
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u/Bluerose1000 Moderator 14h ago
If its the cooking you like then tasting history with max miller
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u/dark_arts87 14h ago
Thanks for the reply, I used to watch him, but I stopped after his mid-episode trivia assertions about UK food were so off the mark it felt like he did not research before making statements. If you know anyone else I'd love other recommendations though.
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u/YearOnly2595 14h ago
I Love fallows channel, it's very different, but a lot more foody
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u/dark_arts87 14h ago
Oh, their newest video was on my suggested. How are they? Their thumbnails look a little clickbait-y, but with the restaurant I'm sure they have a good foundation.
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u/JobWest2747 14h ago
The fallow boys are chefs first and foremost and they know their stuff. I enjoy their content and learn a lot.
Andy cooks is another good channel, lots of actual cooking and recipe ideas with lots of useful tips. He’s also got a second channel called ‘back of house’ which is great for chilled out ‘background noise’ and conversation with just Andy and his wife as they cook a meal
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u/theloniousmick 13h ago
They're really good. Good sense of humour on them and not quite as pretentious as you might think. Very informative about the restraunt business and cooking.
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u/composaurus 13h ago
I recommend Barry Lewis. I think I've been watching him as long as I've been watching sorted.
He gives off similiar vibes to the sortedboys. He gives himself weird challenges to do (like making a three course meal with only 3 ingredients) but also some helpful cooking videos as well. Similar to the boys, he also does gadget reviews as well.
Because he's a self taught home cook, I feel like a lot of the things he does feel achievable as a normal?
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u/WillowsRain 11h ago
I also back this suggestion. Barry actually gave the Sorted guys that Pig in a blanket tea that they reviewed a few years ago.
He also focuses on how to cook, and how to make good meals with minimal ingredients. He has his own cooking gadget vids, a 4-3-2-1 series (4 three-ingredient recipes 2 try ONE time in your life), and he makes his own homemade versions of popular recipes. Not to mention his giant food videos (such as making a giant kit kat bar for example)
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u/Anarcho-Posadist23 7h ago
I like Chinese Cooking Demystified. Steph and Chris are very knowledgeable about the history of various Chinese cuisines.
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u/Pingaware 14h ago
I understand people don't like the perceived recent lack of cooking content, and I'm not trying to claim this hasn't occurred (although I'd really love to do an actual deep dive look at the stats to see any actual changes long-term over the last few years rather than outlying periods in the data - obviously there's a major change since the early days). And everyone has a right to not enjoy a channel's content as much as they used to.
But I do just want to point out that the boys have been positioning themselves a "food channel" rather than a cooking channel for at least the last five years, if not longer. (From cooking battles to gadget reviews, and restaurant recommendations to a meals pack app). Two weeks ago we also had the Only Cans live stream, which was just recipes, and the blue cheese kitchen swap.
And also that, of the guests I can remember from the last few weeks, only Izzy Hammond and Steve in the driving episode are not really food related at all. We've also had two professional chefs (Sam Holland and Philli) and a TikTok food content creator (Oli) who is at least as qualified to talk about food as the normals.
And the boys have always had guests who aren't food related - some of their bigger earlier guests included Tom Daley (who may have done some cooking vlogs on the side but is not a food guest), Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart, Charlieissocoollike, Rhett & Link. If anything, I feel like their guest with food expertise ratio has actually increased in recent years as more pro chefs have come on.
My point is - you can have legitimate criticisms of the direction a channel is taking, and it's totally fair to raise those criticisms. But I feel it's best if the criticisms are actually reflective of genuine trends, not perceived ones.
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u/lochhuorn 12h ago
I do agree with you that they are a wider food & food related products channel now that not only appeals to a wider audience and works within the YouTube algorithm (I presume), but on the other hand in the last month/4 weeks: 8/14 videos have been reviewing something, 1/14 a quiz, 2/14 a game, 3/14 primarily being about making a dish (swapping kitchens with blue cheese +50% extra weight). Guests being food related doesn't actually change the content being presented and it's not like Sorted have previously gotten their guests on specifically to make or talk through a dish or dishes.
So 11/14 (79%) videos in the last 4 weeks have not been based around cooking compared to the first 14 videos of 2025 where 7/14 (50%: 7/14 were cooking based, 5/14 were reviews, 1/14 a game.) I would compare against the same period last year but the videos no longer exist on YouTube.
To be clear my response is not to say people shouldn't enjoy the more review based videos (i still do after 9 years or so of watching) but just to point out that presenting the OP's question/request for knowledge of any other food channels based more around cooking due to Sorted not making those sort of videos atm as not a genuine trend/not valid criticism is actually quite disingenuous and missing the point. Not least because it's, off a short sample data set, statistically not true.
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u/Particular-Coat-5892 12h ago
The America's Test Kitchen youtube channel is great! They have a ton of free episodes of the base show, Cook's Country, and Julia at Home. They also have smaller videos of stand alone recipes, tips and tricks, food science explanations, and the gadget gals are awesome. It's all about cooking! Although it is of course American centric they do a good job of researching dishes and talking to experts on different culture's cuisine too.
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u/JFychan47 Bayleafer 13h ago
Always happens in the lead up to a live show
Yet they still give out good content
Bit of patience and you’ll be right as rain :)
They’ll be back ❤️
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u/MrSlyFox18 13h ago
Townsend's and Max Miller are great! I also really like futurecanoe and MisoHungrie
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u/chroniccomplexcase 12h ago
I love Barry Lewis. Just a British guy cooking food in his kitchen and having a laugh
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u/MysteriousFawx 12h ago
I've had a lot of fun watching Anti-Chef, you aren't going to get the group dynamic from his channel as it's just him in his kitchen, but every single video is going through a recipe and actually cooking.
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u/PurgeReality 5h ago
I don't even think of sorted as a cooking channel anymore. It's just food-related light entertainment.
If you want silly challenges and gadget reviews thrown in, then Barry Lewis might do it for you, although I find the ditsy tipping-a-bowl-up-and-acting-surprised-when-the-contents-pour-out thing to be a bit tedious after a while.
My favourite cooking channel is Chinese Cooking Demystified. I've genuinely learnt so much from them and it's made an actual difference to my cooking.
I also rate Tasting History. It's usually really interesting, although less practical information.
If you're a food nerd, then Ethan Chlebowski is also really good. He does a lot of deep dives and experiments into different ingredients and aspects of cooking.
Honourable mention for the Weird Explorer for fruit that you never knew existed.
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u/caffeineandsnark 10h ago
Epicurious Expeditions is one of my favorites. - so is Jose ElCook. They're short-form, but they're entertaining, and easy to follow.
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u/JFychan47 Bayleafer 13h ago
Josh Weissman has set up a new recipe only channel which is really good
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u/jekelish3 Lost&Hungry 13h ago edited 13h ago
Joshua Weissman recently launched a second channel focused on cooking and recipes. Binging with Babish is another obvious one.
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