I usually start with Food Wishes, Serious Eats, or the New York Times. Julia Child for French food, Just One Cookbook for Japanese food. Budget Bytes when the bank account is looking a little thin. Dessert Person when I have a lot of time and want to knock the socks off my friends.
brian lagerstrom on youtube is in high rotation in my house. he came from kitchens and researches his recipes really well. my only quibble is that his delivery style is a little frantic but easily solved if you crank the video speed down to 90% or grab his recipes directly from his website
I watch a lot of Brian’s videos but only recently tried to make a recipe. I’d agree that it’s a bit fast-paced, but I prefer that to an extra long video with a bunch of filler.
As you say, it’s best to just follow the recipe and check the video as you go for technique if needed.
The recipe(s) (beef burgers on homemade buns) turned out fantastic, despite my wife’s attempt to sabotage the buns by preheating the wrong oven for a cake she was making.