YMMV / Binging with Babish

• Do Not Do This Cool Thing: In the Krabby Supreme episode, he spends a good deal of time lampshading how nightmarishly, over-the-top unhealthy the monstrosity is — for context, it's a deluxe quad bacon cheeseburger which is then tempura-battered, fried, then battered and fried again — only to get to the taste test and be incredibly embarrassed to have to admit it's delicious.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Tiny Whisk (which is exactly what it sounds like) has become by far the most popular utensil used on the show.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The Eggs in a Nest episode was notably regarded as "a Frasier episode" by a YouTube commenter. Just less than a week after that comment on February 4, John Mahoney, the actor who played Frasier's father, passed away. Said episode also featured Moonstruck, another film Mahoney appeared in.
  • Any of the moments between Andrew and Jess became this after they broke up in 2022.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Regarding John Mahoney's death mentioned above in Harsher in Hindsight, the following week, Andrew paid tribute to Mahoney by finally finishing and releasing the long-awaited Frasier episode. The video even ends with a departing sentence: "For John Mahoney — Thanks for making us laugh", alongside Andrew opening a Ballantine beer, Mahoney's character Martin Crane's favorite drink.
• Heartwarming Moments: Now with its own page.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the Timpano episode, during Andrew's deranged sleep-deprived ramblings he claims "it's way worse to lose your hair than to go gray". Both things have since happened to Andrew and not only has he gotten over it, but he claims his current baldness has gotten him more dates than when he had hair.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Babish always saying "kosher salt" is essentially his equivalent to You Suck at Cooking's "pepper pepper pepper."
  • As Babish often makes some of the more complex food ingredients from scratch, many fans joke about him actually farming his own crops, raising his own animals and hunting down wild game for the "Babish versions". Reaching its logical conclusion when the response to Babish announcing his own cookware line was awe that he actually made his own pots and pans.
• Nausea Fuel: Some of the nastier recipes fall under this. The worst example (so far) has to be milk steak, which almost made Andrew throw up. He even described both the flavor and texture as "the stuff of nightmares".
  • Possibly one-upped by the Family Guy Car Panini, a sandwich involving vienna sausage, Cadbury Creme Eggs, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and crushed Doritos. Not only did it immediately fall apart, covering the inside of Andrew's car with a greasy, salty, chocolatey mess, he refused to even swallow the first bite, preferring to spit it out almost immediately. Furthermore, in a series-first, Andrew is utterly stumped on how to make this abomination of a sandwich actually edible, asking the viewers to chime in with their suggestions.
  • Kenan & Kel's Cold Cure managed to disgust Andrew even when he was sick with COVID-19 and as a result couldn't taste anything.
  • The Overnight salad from Saturday Night Live. Aside from looking hideous, it had ingredients that barely meshed together and he immediately spat them out after one scoop. He remarked that it was the defining dish to end a year like 2020.
  • The Root Beer Noodles from The Simpsons. An absolutely unholy combination of noodles, cheetos and hot dogs all boiled in root beer. The whole thing was revolting enough without also being "alarmingly sweet", and Andrew visibly struggles to keep one mouthful down.
  • Babish's first attempt at the "Every Meat Burrito" from Regular Show causes this from Babish's description of the monstrosity he's cooked and Babish's disgusted reaction after tasting it; he legit pukes it out.
• Nightmare Fuel: The Lobster Scrambled Eggs from Seinfeld had him kill a live lobster on screen... but the lobster kept moving for much of the episode, even after its brain had been removed. Babish is pretty sure it was possessed.
• Play-Along Meme: Occasionally, Andrew's voiceover will criticize his on-screen actions in third person ("Andrew, what are you doing"), invariably leading the comment section to treat "Andrew" and "Babish" as separate people and joke about how much they liked the playful banter between them.
  • With Andrew using fake movie clips made by himself and the BCU crew in solidarity of the 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, many commentors have reminisced about the false movies depicted as if they were actual films.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The Frasier episode had shades of this, due to it being made in response to John Mahoney's death, but the real kicker was the last recipe Andrew featured in the episode: Martin's barbecue pudding chips. Andrew tries one, and calls it horrible. The Stinger also counts: Andrew cracking open a Ballantine beer before having another barbecue pudding chip.
  • His "Hot Pepper Challenge" video, in which he discusses the death of a friend who died of ALS.
  • The 2 Million Subscriber episode has a bit of these, most notably with Andrew discussing how love of cooking came from his mother, who passed away when he was young. Also not helped that his first attempt at the The Every-Meat Burrito was very terrible, having him retch twice.
  • Episode 100 of Basics with Babish is Curry, filmed before the pandemic and featuring Indian chef Floyd Cardoz. Unfortunately, as the opening explains, Floyd had passed from COVID-19 before the episode was released.
• Unconventional Learning Experience:
  • While the show is intended primarily for entertainment, it's also a good way to learn about cooking, as the page quote indicates. Not the case with the "Basics with Babish" sub-series, which is intended to be educational.
  • Andrew sometimes manages this himself, deciding that the cheese crisps from the Burger Cookoff and the Himalayan ketchup from the Ultimeatum are things he needs to try again.
  • The 2019 April Fool's Day episode, despite being a goof on real onigiri, still provided good instruction on making a batch of unconventional jelly donuts.

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