Food TikTokers You Should Know: The Crazy Comedian Vintage Recipe Tester

It’s not unusual to find people on TikTok or Instagram putting old recipes to the test — often with great trepidation. It is unusual to find someone who combines the zinging one-liners of Rodney Dangerfield with the oddball charisma of Ed Grimley (Martin Short circa 1984) or Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens circa 1983). 

Meet B. Dylan Hollis, a man who may not need much introduction based on the size of his followings: He has 8.2 million TikTok followers, 1.1 million subscribers on Youtube, and 396,000 followers on Instagram (no recipe testing here, just pics and videos, sometimes playing the accordion). His recipe-testing videos are universally short and generally follow the same template:

• screaming recitation of the recipe name and era when it was created
• joke about said name of dish or concept
• jiggling pompadour a la Conan O’Brien
• incredulity when reading certain ingredients
• sour face when tasting the abomination he’s made

But Hollis is not just making fun of old recipes. He clearly knows his subject; he’s finding these arcane recipes somewhere (he collects them apparently) and he’s genuinely taking the time to test them out, one by one  — since 2020 as far as we can tell. It’s hard to deny his charisma; his eyebrows have a life of their own, the double entendres fly, and the pace is rapid-fire.

Below, I’ve selected three recipes that demonstrate his skills. You’ll get the idea 10 seconds into any of them. But I bet you’ll click to see a second one too.

 

Who: B. Dylan Hollis

https://www.tiktok.com/@bdylanhollis

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDkEssvZ2uu_ntlIGy64GIg

https://www.instagram.com/bdylanhollis/

 

What: Vintage Recipes

 

Jellied Meatloaf from 1931

@bdylanhollis

What could go wrong? #baking #vintage #cooking #jello

♬ original sound – B. Dylan Hollis

0:08 “Who’s mooing now,” he screams at a pan of ground beef.

0:18 “You know what stings more than a knife Mr. Onion? Rejection!”

0:51 “It’s a cat food recipe!”

 

Ration Cake from 1942

@bdylanhollis

I have no words for what came out of the oven #baking #vintage #cooking #cake

♬ original sound – B. Dylan Hollis

0:02 “So it’s the ‘40s and we don’t have any butter, sugar, milk or eggs and we need to bake a cake!”

0:29 “Looks like barbecue sauce, smells of death.”

0:54 The sour face he makes at the end of many of his videos.

 

Water Pie from 1929

@bdylanhollis

Hands down the worst so far #vintage #baking #cooking #recipe

♬ original sound – B. Dylan Hollis

0:02 “Can you make a pie with 4 ingredients? Yes, I could also eat my mattress.”

0:21 “Add 3 gills of water… is this written for a fish?”

0:36 “Finished a bit early… like my ex.”