![With the help of her son Charlie, Zoë François, a baker/cookbook author, and seasoned cooking class instructor in online videos has started hosting videos live on Instagram. ] Shari L. Gross • shari.gross@startribune.com Zoë François, a baker/cookbook author, is a seasoned cooking class instructor in online videos. Since the pandemic began, she started hosting videos live on Instagram. She might have 700 people watching at once and asking for help and tips throughout t](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/F4EPPDAFV42NLCCTDF3B5SRPRY.jpg?&w=1080)
While restaurant dining rooms and bars remain closed during Minnesota's stay-at-home order to combat the spread of the coronavirus, many local chefs (and mixologists, too) are using virtual platforms to share their talents. Shaped by cooking programs from Julia Child to the Food Network, they're hosting their own instructional shows right from their personal kitchens. Uploaded mainly to Instagram, these home videos help chefs reach new audiences, even as some of their restaurants sit idle.
Whether they first came to it out of a sense of duty or a sense of boredom, whether they're using it as a marketing opportunity or a way to bring awareness to a cause, most of these budding home video stars say they are driven by a devotion to their craft.
Here's our guide to the best cooking videos by Twin Cities chefs.
Karyn Tomlinson
Credits: Former head chef at Corner Table in Minneapolis; the first woman named "Queen of Porc" as the winner of the national Grand Cochon whole-hog cooking competition (2018).
What you'll learn: Inspired by the efficiency of French cooking, Tomlinson shows how to make ingredients stretch. One episode is devoted to roasting a chicken — and then making stock out of the carcass. Every video recommends a wine pairing from New France Wine Co.
When/where: "Karyn's Quarantine Kitchen" posts three to four days per week on Instagram TV (IGTV) at instagram.com/katomlinson.
Sameh Wadi
Credits: Chef and co-owner of World Street Kitchen and Milkjam Creamery in Minneapolis, and Grand Catch in St. Paul; "Iron Chef America" competitor (2010); guest judge on "Top Chef Middle East" (2020).
What you'll learn: Wadi asks his Instagram followers to vote on what he should cook next in his "Social Deliciousness" series. He makes dishes from his Palestinian heritage and other Mediterranean cultures: Greek spiced lamb chops, kofta meatballs with tahini and pomegranate, "crispity" chicken with olives and lemon.
