Brooklyn Beckham has come under scrutiny with his latest cooking video, which sees the aspiring home chef fry chicken using “at least $25 worth of avocado oil”.
On Tuesday, Beckham, 24, the eldest son of David and Victoria Beckham, shared his newest recipe video, which was created in partnership with Chosen Foods’ avocado oil, to Instagram. “We’re going to make some fried chicken with Chosen Foods,” Beckham tells viewers at the start of the video while holding a bottle of the brand’s avocado oil, which retails from $15 to $25.99 per bottle.
In the caption of the video, where Beckham confirmed the recipe is a sponsored ad for the brand, he wrote: “Fried chicken with @chosenfoods. 100 per cent Pure Avocado Oil and their Classic Avocado Oil Mayo are the best. I love Chosen Foods for frying because of its high smoke point and neutral flavour. #chosenpartner.”
In the step-by-step recipe clip, Beckham filmed himself pouring milk, various seasonings and flour into a glass dish before whisking the concoction. He then proceeded to soak two chicken breasts in the mixture, before making a dry flour and seasoning mixture in a different glass bowl.
The 24-year-old could then be seen pouring a liberal amount of oil into a shallow pan, with Beckham ensuring the pan was filled with several inches of the avocado oil before frying the two chicken breasts and eating them with a thumbs up.
Beckham’s video has divided viewers, however, due to the amount of oil used by the former photographer to fry his chicken breasts.
“That’s at least $25 worth of avocado oil,” one viewer suggested in the comments, while another speculated the amount was worth closer to “$48 of avocado oil”.
Someone else wrote: “Why on earth are you deep frying in oil that costs £15/$20 per bottle? I realise this is a paid promo but do something a bit more logical like make a mayo from scratch with it, rather than dump that much into a pan to fry some chicken! #cozzielivs Brookie babes x.”
According to another person, although avocado oil is “great for frying” because it has the highest smoke point of any oil, “normal people” use the “most affordable avocado oil” and “reuse it”.
“Fried foods require sooo much oil, so for normal people, we have to use the most affordable avocado oil AND you can strain it and REUSE it, so if you find a $10 bottle and you use it two times, then at least it’s about $5 per use,” they wrote.
“Making the simplest food with the most expensive ingredients,” someone else commented.
Others called out the food “waste” in Beckham’s cooking video, with one person writing: “A whole bottle of oil for fried chicken breast? What a waste,” while another said: “There are people dying in the world from starvation - you used enough oil and milk for about 20 people. But you wouldn’t understand that.”
Although many viewers were critical of Beckham’s latest recipe, some defended the former model from backlash on the basis that he likely received the oil for free as part of his partnership with the brand.
“If he’s been given it or paid for it he can do what he wants with it,” one person commented.
Another said: “Love using avocado oil to fry with. Avocado oil fries stuff so evenly and tastes wonderful! Keep doing your thing Brooklyn! Maybe one day you’ll have your own restaurant,” while someone else wrote: “If some people can afford it and some people can’t, what’s the problem! Leave him alone, in all this misery there is one guy happy at what he is doing! Also going to any restaurant and getting the food he is cooking would cost double! I hate moaning drama.”
One fan also encouraged Beckham to “never stop” making his cooking videos, writing: “I absolutely love your cooking videos, please never stop Brooklyn!”
This is not the first time that the 24-year-old has sparked a debate with one of his recipes, as he recently faced scrutiny over his recipe for grilled cheese, which saw him roast the sandwich with a blow torch, and for his recipe for spaghetti bolognese after viewers noticed a wine cork in the pot.
In January, the aspiring chef also faced backlash over an “expensive” ingredient used in his recipe for a creamy truffle tagliatelle pasta, which involved creating a sauce using a generous helping of truffle before adding extra black truffle shavings as a garnish.
The Independent has contacted Chosen Foods for comment.
