Video duration: 142 seconds
Global video hits: 1483
CHOW wades into shark's waters of perfection: the burger. Josh Ozersky, author of The Hamburger: A History and editor of New York magazine's Grub Street, confers with Gail Simmons of Top Chef and Food & Wine magazine. For Ozersky, it's the burger at Veselka in New York. Video by CHOW.com.
Video duration: 595 seconds
Global video hits: 198
Meet John and Barbara Stephens-Lewallen: They harvest seaweed. Operators of the Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company in Philo, California, the Stephens-Lewallens are farmers/fishermen of another stripe. Their catch includes bladderwrack, sea lettuce, kombu, and nori.Video by CHOW.com
Video duration: 392 seconds
Global video hits: 1824
Wedding cake designer Shinmin Li started baking wedding cakes after training in fine art. It's not that jarring of a change, if you think about it. Li owns I Dream of Cake in San Francisco, and spends her time obsessing over cake consistency, design details, and whether her clients will eat the finished product. Video by CHOW.com.
Video duration: 472 seconds
Global video hits: 847
An oven built by hand, tile by tile. Four pizzas on the menu, with no fancy-pants toppings. Anthony Mangieri does one thing at Una Pizza Napoletana, and he does it the very best way he can. Video from CHOW.com.
Video duration: 501 seconds
Global video hits: 682
It's very simple: alcohol, wormwood, and some anise characteristics. But not simple at all: The carefully calibrated mix of aromatics and herbs that goes into the absinthe made by Lance Winters of St. George Spirits took extensive testing to get just right. Video by CHOW.com
Video duration: 678 seconds
Global video hits: 380
Sonoma County beekeeper Serge Labesque treats his bees with respect, though that's probably not all that's needed to save the world's swarms from Colony Collapse Disorder. The sticky stuff's far-reaching power includes healing burns and adorning a fine panna cotta recipe. Video from CHOW.com.
Video duration: 120 seconds
Global video hits: 1666
Fatty, soggy, and burnt are words you never want to hear applied to your bacon. Scott Vermeire of Prather Ranch Meat Co. offers a quick and easy primer on bacon perfection. He also addresses the very important question of flipping: when to do it, and how often. Video by CHOW.com.
Video duration: 520 seconds
Global video hits: 216
Arno Holschuh, barista at Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco, discusses the big and the little: the surface area of the bean, the thousand small cuts that will kill your espresso, and why Starbucks is not so bad. Video by CHOW.com