Why is it pretentious? I didn’t comment without watching? I’ve seriously considered and compared multiple of his videos to other videos to find the best recipe and his always looked inferior on comparison. Look up his Chile relleno video.
Obviously you gotta make it, then eat it to know whether a recipe is good? You are just looking.
It’s pretentious by almost overtly missing the message of this article, which is: you don’t have to be the best home chef, your food doesn’t have to be the best. Part of that is that “best” is subjective, especially when it comes to food and taste, but more so: Kenji promotes an idea that having some basic kitchen skills and an understanding of the ingredients you’re cooking with is more valuable than the “best” recipe, because it gives you a foundation to develop a dish that is the best in your subjective option.