I am Andrew Rea (aka Babish), creator of Binging/Basics/Being with Babish. My second cookbook hits shelves today, and I pretty much owe my entire career to the Reddit community, sooooo amA (ask me ANYTHING)!

Is Brad Leone as charming in real life as he seems on YouTube?

Even more so

Impossible. I don’t believe it.

Believe it, sister - he's a lil more relaxed off camera, he's a way better cook than I am, and he's a mountain man that could carry you into the sunset like you were a baby lamb.

When you released the poutine vid, did you expect that many angry people on how you made your poutine?

I love your videos btw, ur amazing :- )

Aw thanks! And yes I totally did - anytime I'm making something very specifically regional, I know I'm getting myself in trouble.

Will we ever get a Basics episode about making your own worcestershire sauce?

Are you trying to make me sprain my tongue?

Have you had a formal cooking education or is all your cooking self thaught ?

All self-taught! My hope is that people can watch the show and think "this guy is kind of a doofus - if he can do it, I can do it"

How much blood is there between you and Brad Leone for stealing Vinny?

Nah, we're still (happily) all boys!

Hey Andrew, big fan of yours. I've got two questions.

• From all meals you've made, which turned out most challenging to you?
• And which was most delicious?

Keep it up, I will surely continue to watch you on YouTube :)

Definitely hand-pulled noodles - Jess was there for the whole process, and she'll tell you that I was a man apart by the end of those two days. The most delicious was probably the mojo pork from the Cubano episode, and it's got a contender coming up soon: I put my own spin on Mirage's glazed pork chops from Apex Legends, and it was far and away the best pork I've ever made!

What is your go to comfort food?

I'll call it by its fancy name: pasta al burro. Which is just pasta and butter. I grew up on it, and if it's late/I'm a lil tipsy/went to the gym that day, I might indulge in a childhood favorite.

What’s a food trend you wish would die?

Also what’s a food trend you wish would become popular?

Die: burgers that are too big to fit in your mouth, or even physically pick up. Over-the-top instagram foods that would make you hellaciously ill if you were to eat them (double-deep fried, cheese-stuffed, served on a mountain of tater tots etc). Rainbow bagels.

More popular: offal. Savory pies. Using your fucking turn signal.

Is your soothing voice going to be coming to Waze anytime soon?

I've wanted to do that for the longest time...

What was your least favorite episode?

Whether because of a food you didnt like, a recipe that wasn't worth the hassle, or even the backlash you got because of how you prepared someone's hometown staple.

Either apple pie (because I was stoned af doing the voice-over and you can DEFINITELY hear it), or the Harry Potter special (because I'm a dingus and didn't realize the pumpkin pasty was savory).

Definitely going to rewatch the apple pie episode now.

I'm really wondering how much the views for that episode will spike today.

Lil spike there!

I have never heard of you before. Mind describing yourself in 3 words?

Bearded cooking man

What cheap kitchen appliance works just as well as the expensive version?

Cast iron for sure - Lodge Logic pans are about as good as they get, and they're generally around $30 depending on the size. Nonstick as well, T-Fal Professional is relatively inexpensive and absolutely crushes All-Clad etc. Cutting boards - OXO utility board is still one of my faves.

Things that cost more/are worth the money though? Stainless steel pans, enameled cast iron, knives, stand mixers!

What is your "White Whale" recipe?

Reese's turkey-stuffed-in-a-monkfish thanksgiving

What is the most frustrating dish you’ve made for a video and why?

Probably the Ube Roll actually - took a solid 8 tries to get the color right and make it roll without cracking! Hand-pulled noodles was definitely the most labor-intensive, but I felt more accomplished having made a bowl of noodles I stretched myself...even if I didn't do it very well.

Well ya know what they say, if every pork chop were perfect we wouldn't have hot dogs.

Pork anus*

What popular foods do you hate?

Cilantro, cilantro, and even though it's used pervasively in myriad cuisines and cultures...cilantro :( it's genetic, I can't help it!

What’s the best meal you’ve ever had?

Oof probably Le Bon Georges in Paris - white asparagus with hollandaise, duck pate en croute, hamburger steak, cognac for dessert. Fucking unbelievable.

Love your show!

Who would you say is your biggest inspiration in cooking?

Thank you! Gotta be Alton Brown, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, and the folks over at America's Test Kitchen - all huge minds and vast resources of cooking knowledge.

What is fast food you love even as a professional chef?

Arby's roast beef, curly fries, and a jamocha all day

What's your routine for keeping that luscious beard in top shape?

Every day: trim, shampoo, condition, oil, brush (100 strokes)

100 strokes

Okay no need to brag Andrew...

Gotta go till your arm gets tired!

What kitchen items can you not live without? Besides tiny whisk, of course.

A wicked sharp knife, a big ol' fuck-off cutting board, an enameled cast iron dutch oven, a heavy metal spatula, and a wooden dowel - the possibilities are endless.

Gordon Ramsey collab? A man can dream right?

You and me both!!

Hey Andrew!

I know you've made videos on weeknight meals, which are a really great resource.

I was wondering if you have any plans to make a basics on meal prep days, lunch prep etc?

Definitely wanna do one of those in the future! Just trying to figure out exactly what I'm going to be able to add to the conversation; I don't want it to be too simple, nor too complex, and I'd like to come up with some tips that mealday preppers haven't heard of yet. Will definitely be coming soon!

whats the best/cheapest recipe you can make on a crockpot for 2 people?

Probably pulled pork - crock pots run pretty hot, even on the low setting, so anything you let cook all day while you're at work is going to have the everloving shit braised out of it. Might as well use something super-tough and full of delicious connective tissue that can handle it!

Really liked the episode you did with the young family and the girl in the wheelchair who was your biggest fan. Fantastic to see the lengths you and your contacts went to to make her day. Must admit I spent a lot of the video crying because of it. Please keep on doing things like that, it was amazing!

Do you have plans to do similar videos?

Hey thanks!! EDIT: link to the video they're referencing

Definitely, plenty more episodes of Being coming up - among which are buying my brother his dream car (coming out this Friday!), and surprising a family that's been affected by cancer in a very similar manner to mine.

In a previous AMA done by the the late Anthony Bourdain, he said stated that one of his guilty pleasures is the Mac and Cheese served at fast food restaurants. What is your guilty pleasure that would be considered a “faux pas” among the culinary community?

Airplane food. Call me Elaine Benes, because...I kinda like it.

If the moon was made of spare ribs would you eat it??

Hey! What if...hey!

You often feature either strange, rare, or extremely rare ingredients in your videos.

Which was the hardest one to source and is there a specific store you swear by?

Trying to source durian during the off-season was a goddamn nightmare - the only one I managed to find was whole, frozen, and in fucking Bay Ridge brooklyn (at the time, I lived in Harlem, so that was a trek). For most hard-to-source ingredients nowadays, I'm able to hop over to chinatown! They got all the coolest stuff there.

Have you ever taken a stab at tossed salad and scrambled eggs?

I discovered during one of my past keto diets that it is surprisingly good. Just let the eggs cool a little bit.

Definitely gonna do that essential tribute to Frasier in the very near future!

I'm sure this is a long shot but.... Would you be up for getting some beers at a brewery (Buckledown brewing) close to the bookstore you'll be at in Lagrange, IL next week?

Regardless, thanks for all you do. You are the epitome of what we need in society today. Humble, funny, inspirational, etc.

Aw man that's so nice!! Thank you - and thank you very much for the invitation, but after the show, I'll be meeting a bunch of my girlfriend's family for the first time 😬wish me luck!!

How and where do you get or come up with the recipes that you use in your videos?

They're basically a mishmash of my favorite recipes/ones that I've found through research, and totally depend on the subject matter: for instance, apple strudel from Inglourious Basterds was the result of reaching a whole bunch of blogs where folks were posting their oma's secret recipes, and creating an amalgam of the things I learned there. Milk steak, however, was just me messing around the ol' kitchen late at night!

Do you have a favorite noodle dish?

All.

Seriously though, probably something spicy, broth-y, meaty - ramen or noodle soups from the Golden Mall in Flushing

Have you gone to any real Chinese sit down restaurants in NYC? If so what’s your favorite?

Pinch Chinese has been a nice place to visit for lunch!

Hey Babby,

1. My boyfriend and I love your watch collection, but we always cringe at the idea of cooking while wearing an expensive watch. Do you ever get scared you'll ruin one of your (admittedly awesome) watches?

2. You've collaborated with a few youtubers and chefs in the past. Is there any chef/youtuber you'd love to collaborate with but haven't been able to yet?

Lastly I would love for you to try your hand at a Francesinha (in my humble foodie opinion, it's the best sandwich in the entire world).

I love your show and watch every single episode! (and I will buy your book) Cheers :)

1. Yeah it's a fear, but nothing tends to get on/in the watches! I figured if my arms are one of the more visible elements of the show, I might as well make them fucking baller.

2. Alton Brown, Chef John, Doug DeMuro, Definitely Gordon Ramsay - I want him to tear me a new one

That looks delicious - at the very least, I'll definitely try it myself!

Hey Andrew, thanks for doing this! Your show is great, and it just keeps getting better.

Two questions:

• Favorite season of The West Wing?
• Has your voice always been that smooth and dreamy or did you do some sort of vocal lesson routine?

Cheers!

Hey thanks!!

• West Wing's Season 1 finale/Season 2 premiere episodes are some of the greatest hours in television history
• If you go back and watch my first episode, then listen to my most recent, you will notice that it's gotten noticeably deeper, which is kinda freaking me out.

How did you think dunking your finger into a vat of boiling mash was going to turn out?

^{Sorry but it was fucking hilarious}

Hah I didn't realize people would take that seriously/that I was such an amazing actor! That vat was actually bubbling from fermentation, and was room temperature - if it were actually boiling, I mighta lost that finger!

How do you find time to cook quality meals when you have a 9-5?

Meal prep is a must - you gotta have things either laid out or mostly prepared, so you're not cranking in the kitchen for 2 hours each night after a full day of work. Prepping individual meals or making big-batch recipes with multiple leftovers-applications (red sauce, whole roast chicken, meatloaf) is very helpful as well!

Do you and Dan (from Cook's Illustrated) have a thing going on?

I certainly hope so

Thanks for doing this!

When you hit the gym, do you use protein shakes, or craft a protein-nutrient diet?

And how do you figure out what to make to eat every day?

Thanks for coming! I've actually been pretty garbage at going to the gym lately - prepping for this book tour meant marathon-shooting/editing 7 episodes in a row! This past Saturday, I woke up and realized I hadn't left my house in 6 days. It's been kinda intense.

But to answer your question, I generally toss a scoop of soy protein in a blender bottle after the gym.

As for making things to eat every day, it's really what looks good at the grocery store! I tend to cook very simple meals for myself (protein, vegetable, grain), and save the wacky creative energy for the show!

Omg I love you! What’s your go-to drunk MacDonalds order?

I love you more! 10 dank nuggs, buffalo sauce

Favorite go-to spot to eat in NYC?

When I'm trying to be healthy, I appreciate that there's almost as many Dig Inn's as Starbucks nowadays - when I'm trying to sit down, I love Alvin Cailan's place The Usual (not just because he's my friend, it's legit awesome) - when I'm splurging, I hit Del Posto

What are your thoughts on Good Eats: The Return?

Way overdue but glad it's finally with us

What are your plans for this brewpub? I’m excited for it and I don’t even live in NY

It's going to be a brewpub, coffee shop, and production studio all in one - you'll be able to come in, have a beer, try some snacks from the show, grab a t-shirt if you want, and watch me make the show live whenever I'm filming. We also have a concept we're developing for a talk show, where you can be an audience member by visiting the brewpub on the right day/time! It's going to be a little YouTube ecosystem you can walk right into and be a part of.

It's also going to have some fucking sexy beer brewed by one of the best craft breweries in America, Southern Grist, and a rotating selection of coffees.

Right now the front-running name is "The Babish".

Of course there are the typical pastas and sandwiches, but what's an underlooked meal that is surprisingly simple and easy to make when you don't have any time/energy? Looking to stock the fridge with more variety!

Hmm that's a tough one! I'm a New Yorker, so if I'm short on time, I'll admit that I just hit up Seamless 😬I guess stir fry and/or fried rice, you can generally whip it up with what might be in the fridge/freezer, and in no time flat! Oh and risotto - you can make it in a pressure cooker for a faster, no-stir method over on Serious Eats, check it out!

Do you miss being super popular on reddit, and has the shift in popularity on reddit affected you?

I used to see every single video you posted reach the front page, now I dont see any videos from you posted on here.

Nah, /r/videos is more about finding the coolest new stuff happening in the world of internet videos, not sharing something that most folks in the community already know about - happily, it hasn't affected my viewership, as I've built my own audience on YouTube thanks to Reddit's acting as a springboard! Something for which I'll always be extremely grateful!

Also, /r/bingingwithbabish is a lovely community where folks share their recreations, memes, and any other fun content they come across

Have you ever played Cooking Mama?

I think it'd be super fun to watch you play the game and recreate the recipes.

There's another YouTuber who's done it but I don't think he's updated the series in quite a while.

I've not! I'm gonna be doing a lot of flying over the next week, so I will definitely get that downloaded to the ol' Switcheroo

What food/dish from a movie/show is at the bottom of your backlog that you keep putting off or refuse to recreate?

It was hand-pulled noodles for the longest time - finally got that one behind me. I mentioned this elsewhere, but Reese's turkey-stuffed-in-a-monkfish is going to have to happen eventually...I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to it.

What's the 'low hanging fruit' of cooking that beginners might ignore or undervalue?

Keeping it SIMPLE - lots of people (including myself) attempt to cook well above their "pay grade" when they're just starting out. Figure out the basics of how and why food behaves the way it does, and the rest will fall into place!

What’d your favorite midnight snack? Btw your videos are amazing!

Thank you!! Dark chocolate and peanut butter, especially if I'm...partaking. In something. Green. That you set aflame.

Weed.

Who is your favorite guest on your channel?

Gotta be Jon Favreau - I mean he gave me the carving fork from Chef for godssakes!

How's life going?

Hey thanks for asking! Pretty fucking crazy - the last three weeks (and the two weeks to come) have been the busiest of my life, but this is my absolute dream job, so you certainly won't hear me complain :)

Do you clean your workspace as you go along or is it usually a big mess all at the end?

Definitely try to clean as I go along, but things inevitably pile up - I'm a procrastinator in and out of the kitchen!

What is the most common misconception about you?

That I wear a bald cap - this is 100% real scalp, fellas.

But for serious, that I'm a chef: I'm not, I'm an enthusiastic home cook, and if you watch the episode of The Burger Show where I get put through my paces in Alvin Cailan's kitchen, you'll know that I haven't earned that title.

How long does an average video take to produce? Like, do you do a brainstorming session and think of 10 recipes and work on the research and sourcing all at once? The videos with multi day recipes always impress me, so I wondered how long developing those takes.

Also, I used to enjoy cooking, but your videos have inspired me to go and play around with cooking and now I love cooking. It’s so much more fun now, so Thank you!

I'm a horrible procrastinator, so I'm generally conceptualizing/shooting/editing/finishing any given episode in the days before its release. Really need to work on my organization and planning if I wanna expand this organization!

I'd say any given episode of Binging takes between 20-30 hours tail-to-snout. We film Basics in batches, since it requires a small crew to operate multiple cameras, so we marathon for a week 4x a year, knocking out 8-12 episodes at a time, which are then edited a la carte. Being is a whole other animal, since it generally involves a huge amount of planning and travel, so I couldn't count the hours on that one if I tried!

Any fan meeting planned in the future?

Book tour's going on now! 10 cities over the next 10 days!

Hi Andrew! Congrats on your book release and other successes. My fiancé Alex and I are huge fans and love to wind down in the evenings watching BWB.

We're getting married November 9th in Knoxville, TN! Wanna come??

Thank you!!

Oof we are ships in the night - I'll be in TN in a few days for the book tour, and will probably be too exhausted to travel much more after that! Thank you for the invite though, and congratulations!!

How often do you cook for your friends? And do you have a favorite dish you like to prepare for friends/family? I love cooking and I love eating my food, but I love sharing my food more than anything.

I throw dinner parties once in a while - my July 4th parties are outta control. Last time, I made pimento cheese double smash burgers, reuben hot dogs, german potato salad, watermelon salad, and brownie sundaes for dessert. I've learned to keep it simple - people generally don't want to be challenged at a dinner party, and they'll be way more impressed with an amazing burger than a conceptually aggravating 10-course tasting.

Sharing your food is one of the best parts of cooking!! Keep it up!

Would you ever do a Rochester NY episode?

Went to Rochester for an upcoming episode of Being! And I did garbage plates a while back - but I'm always down to laud the Flower City (birthplace of Kodak, Susan B. Anthony, and John Lithgow) whenever I can in the future.