Joshua Weissman Wants You to Stop Cooking This One Viral TikTok Recipe

Chef and cookbook author Joshua Weissman is begging you to please stop making that viral baked feta pasta recipe that’s all over TikTok.

“There’s a lot that I’ve seen on social media where I’m like, ‘That should not exist,’ and I wish there was a way for me to wipe it out free from the internet and so people have never seen it,” the viral chef, who has 10 million followers between TikTok and YouTube, tells Glamour over the phone. “That baked feta tomato thing is just not a true pasta sauce. It just feels too quick and easy. Making a carbonara takes just as long—actually less time—to make and tastes significantly better.”

Still, if you disagree with Weissman, he kindly invites you to tell him to “eat socks.” Cooking what you love and finding what process works for you is exactly the selling point of his new, #1 New York Times best seller, Joshua Weissman: An Unapologetic Cookbook.

“People in food are really opinionated, and everybody has an idea on the one way to do something,” Weissman explains. “Philly cheesesteaks are like a religious territory for so many people, yet there are huge parties of people that will say, ‘Oh, well, you know, this is the only way to make it,’ when in reality there are multiple ways to make it that are equally delicious.”

He adds, “Cooking unapologetically means you’re cooking something that you enjoy because you like to eat it. And if anyone else has an opinion about it they can politely, eat their socks.”

Joshua Weissman: An Unapologetic Cookbook

$18.00, Amazon

Basically, you do you! But if you are interested in taking some advice straight from Weissman, here is Glamour’s latest installment of How I Eat at Home.

Glamour: What are four staples that are always in your fridge?

Joshua Weissman: Okay. In my fridge, I would say definitely number one is butter. I don’t think there’s a single chef in the world who would not put that right in front. So, butter, cream, gochujang, of all things, and probably just cheese in general.

Story continues

Gochujang is a Korean fermented chili paste used in a lot of different things that we eat. If you’ve ever been to any wing place and there’s like a spicy chili wing, a lot of the time, it’s either sriracha or gochujang. In my opinion, gochujang is definitely superior and has more flavor to it.

$.00, Amazon

What do you listen to while cooking?

I’m a simp for Drake—and you can quote that.

What do you cook on date night?

If time allows, I like to do coursed-out stuff for a date night with a little bit of an amuse-bouche and then a small plate followed by a protein.

For the main, I would probably do something nice like a pork secreto, which means secret in Spanish. It’s a Spanish Iberico pork that is a cut of meat that you really can’t get anywhere else, that most butchers throw away but it’s really fatty. It’s kind of like the wagyu of pork, if you will.

When you go grocery shopping, what’s something that you can’t help but pick up?

I have a big problem with impulse buying. I don’t even go to the store that much anymore. Normally I send people out, thankfully. If it’s me, I’ll impulse buy at least 10 items. It’s kind of a problem. I think my favorite impulse buy would be specialty olive oils or aged soy sauces. Any kind of Picual olive oil would be my favorite type.

$30.00, The Little Shop

What tool gets the most use in your kitchen?

My knives, easily. All my knives are by independent knife makers. I don’t have a particular favorite, but I would love to shout-out Bernal Cutlery in San Francisco.

If you were known as the expert of one thing on TikTok, what would it be?

I mean, cooking in general, but aside from that, probably both savory cooking and also baking bread, specifically.

What’s your favorite kind of bread to bake?

Oh, just a classic like a country sourdough loaf. I used to bake bread and bring it to restaurants that I wanted to get a job at. I would go in and cook for free so that they can see how good you are, and I would always bring a fresh loaf of my sourdough bread to give to the chefs. like, “Oh, yeah, I just happen to have this on hand, haha,” and I would get the job.

Food as a résumé. I like it. What’s the ultimate gift you bring to someone hosting a dinner party?

Honestly, caviar. Everybody gets excited about it. It’s a fun sort of expensive thing to do. I really like Regalis Foods’ Platinum Osetra.

$85.00, Regalis

For someone like me who has never had caviar before, how would you recommend getting into it?

If you’ve never had caviar before then you should try my favorite method, which is literally just your favorite potato chip. No flavors—just salt and pepper or just salt. Dip your chip into some crème fraîche, coat it with some chives, and then pick up a nice dollop of caviar with your caviar spoon and eat it like chips and dip.

The utensil for picking up your caviar should either be a mother-of-pearl spoon or a wooden spoon—no other material. Plastic is acceptable, but it’s ugly.

Originally Appeared on Glamour