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In a mostly dark dorm room, a narrow beam of light illuminates the makeshift table: a white towel spread over a bed. A pair of hands prepares filet mignon, using just a cutting board, basic utensils, a crockpot, and a blowtorch. The hands sear a slab of tenderloin steak with a flash of blue flame. A Nicki Minaj–Ludacris mashup is punctuated by the sounds of fast-paced cooking: the grinding of sea salt, a flick of a cap of oil, the sizzling of the steak in a crockpot with melted butter, a heap of garlic, and a twig of rosemary.
The final scene: A knife glides into the perfectly tender and crispy filet mignon, prepared without ever leaving the dorm room bed.
This 15-second video, by TikTok user Lazy Pot Noodle, has amassed more than 2 million views and even garnered the attention of renowned chef Gordon Ramsay.
In a response video, Ramsay takes on the voice of a sports coach, cheering and predicting the young chef’s next move: “Yes! Stop it! Basting. Beautifully done. Butter,” he shouts, squinting at the steak bathed in butter. “Oh my god, this kid knows what they’re doing!”
When it’s ready, Ramsay announces that it’s time to take the steak out, and the student follows right on cue. “Baste it with the resting juices,” he instructs. Like clockwork, the hand does exactly that. “Kids, what happened to the $3 ramen?” asks Ramsay. “We’ve been upgraded to a five-star steak!”
As Ramsay observed, we’re now living in the golden age of dorm-room cooking. Thanks to social media platforms facilitating the exchange of cooking hacks, students have figured out how to adapt recipes to the dormitory, without kitchen appliances. They’ve become masters of crock pots, easy-bake ovens, cheap cutting boards, and portable electric burners, while maneuvering in a tiny space. While campus cooking is hardly a new trend, this generation of college students has a fresh stage and audience—even celebrity chefs may tune in—to swap notes, recipes, and typical internet babble.
@lazypotnoodle Filet in my dorm 🥩 łink in bió! #collegedorm #dormhacks #tiktokmademebuyit #foodtok #college #foodtiktok #steak ♬ Area Codes x Did It On Em by L BEATS – DJ L BEATS
Some of these dishes stretch the boundaries of what was thought possible for on-campus cooking, like the filet mignon. Yet much of the genre is also focused on practical, affordable meals that can be easily replicated outside of the dorm room, broadening the possibilities for all budget- and space-constrained chefs. These low-budget, accessible, and creative dorm-room meals are opening up new possibilities for all cooks with limited kitchen access, from low-budget travelers staying in hostels to anyone struggling with housing insecurity to housemates tired of waiting for their turn to use the oven. All it takes is an easy-bake oven, and a dash of confidence, to prepare a delicious, kitchen-free meal.
Students have become masters of crock pots, easy-bake ovens, cheap cutting boards, and portable electric burners, while maneuvering in a tiny space.
Students have become masters of crock pots, easy-bake ovens, cheap cutting boards, and portable electric burners, while maneuvering in a tiny space.