TASTE THE LOVE

November 27, 2002 7:09 AM

Cooking has never been so endearing.....and I am now certainly a convert to using the internet for recipes. So far I have racked up a madras, pasta and now I'm gunning for casserole recipes. Truly a delicious use of the net, n'est pas? ( first link via FlipFlopFlyin)
posted by Frasermoo (26 comments total)

Epicurious.
posted by four panels at 7:14 AM on November 27, 2002

Awww! I like this frame best.
posted by JoanArkham at 7:22 AM on November 27, 2002

Food TV good internet recipes

I like the internet recipes, but you never know about the testing of the recipes. Two of my favorite mags with limited internet recipes are:

Saveur. Mmmm, gastroporn -(Best. Term. Ever. I wish I could take credit for it.)

America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated- Best cooking magazine out there. Tested to death, clear and delicious.
posted by CoolHandPuke at 7:53 AM on November 27, 2002

casserole recipes

You mean hotdish?
posted by rocketman at 8:14 AM on November 27, 2002

And of course the immense RecipeSource -- new home of the Searchable Online Archive of Recipes (SOAR). My usual method is to find 5-10 recipes for whatever dish I want to make, then mix-n-match ingredients until I come up with the Ultimate Recipe (tm).

It appears that they're still working on bringing the site over from SOAR, so please be patient if it's slow. It's worth it.
posted by some chick at 8:15 AM on November 27, 2002

I like the zen-like enthusiasm behind these somewhat trashy, bachelor-pad recipes from the monkey (who actually looks more like a dog or a bear if you ask me). I also feel really hungry right now.
posted by 111 at 8:21 AM on November 27, 2002

Wtf? I was hyped about the ilovepasta link. I checked it out, and their recipes are all for sauces, not for pasta.
And they tell me that the best pasta in the world is made in the USA? Qu'est-ce que fuck? I wanted good pasta recipes. I appreciate recipes for sauces too, but you would think a site from the National Pasta Association would tell you how to make pasta.
It's not like it is hard to do.
posted by Fabulon7 at 8:27 AM on November 27, 2002

If you thought that, then you didn't notice that the National Pasta Association is a group of American pasta manufacturers. They have no interest in you making your own pasta - they want you to buy theirs. And of course they say the US makes the best pasta....
posted by nickmark at 8:42 AM on November 27, 2002

I'll second Puke on Cook's Illustrated - I had the chance to meat their editors last year *cough* and it's been a long time since they put out a turkey of an issue!
For internet, allrecipes is a good one. I've gotten a couple duds, but being able to search by ingredient means I've tried things I would never have considered otherwise. I also highly recommend getting a couple paper cookbooks, especially The Joy of Cooking.
posted by whatzit at 8:57 AM on November 27, 2002

For the culinarily challenged, I would also reccomend (in addition to the Joy of Cooking) How to Cook Everything by Marc Bittman. Somewhat more modern than Joy, but authorative and destined to be a classic.
posted by CoolHandPuke at 9:16 AM on November 27, 2002

How to make pasta.

It's pretty easy, really.
posted by anapestic at 9:25 AM on November 27, 2002

I heartily second the recommendation of How to Cook Everything. I've used it extensively and have not found one dud yet. Look for the copies with the cd-ROM enclosed, and you'll have the best of both worlds - the entire book's contents, fully electronic and searchable. NPR's The Splendid Table is another good source for recipes and general food info ... not to be confused, of course, with The Delicious Dish. Good times.

And I third the Cook's Illustrated mention. If, like me, you dig the science aspect of cooking , you should also like Good Eats on Food TV (warning, slow site) -- it's kind of like a light-hearted TV version of Cook's.
posted by boomchicka at 9:39 AM on November 27, 2002

You shouldn't make pasta in a food processor, says my old Italian great grandmother. It ruins it. Always knead by hand. Something about air. I don't have a food processor, so I've never actually scientifically tested her theory.

I did notice that the site was by pasta manufacturers, but the labour-intensiveness of making your own pasta compared to the ease of buying it, coupled with the egg/no egg distinction would ensure they have nothing to lose by telling you how to make basic pasta dough. I think it is their moral obligation as so-called lovers of pasta.
posted by Fabulon7 at 9:48 AM on November 27, 2002

Nice call Boomchicka, Good Eats is the best cooking show on TV! The way they make food science immensely interesting and informative is great.
posted by CoolHandPuke at 9:59 AM on November 27, 2002

The cookbook I refer to over and over and over again (even more than the Joy of Cooking) is Cookwise. It goes into great detail about why recipes work or don't work and how to fix or improve what you're cooking. Written by a biochemist, it's really more of a cooking reference book than recipe source, but it will be front and center in my kitchen on Thanksgiving.
posted by turbodog at 10:09 AM on November 27, 2002

It won't teach you how to cook, but I can't let this thread pass without recommending A.J. Liebling's Between Meals, one of the best food (and drink) books ever written.
posted by languagehat at 10:15 AM on November 27, 2002

Love that himonkey. I've been surfing the web all AM hunting down great recipes for comfort foodies. Casserole, muffins, that kind of thing. Thanksgiving booty. So far today I've made nut muffins, which are heavenly - sweet and chewy and dense, and scotch bars, and shortbread, and fresh cranberry jam, and cornbread dressing with chestnuts and sausage, all from recipes I've found online. I am a recipe whore.

I have yet to try this, but my latest culinary find/conversation starter is salmon cooked in the dishwasher.

Languagehat, I am buying that book. Today. I want to eat like that.
posted by iconomy at 10:42 AM on November 27, 2002

For great food writing, I don't know if you can get any better than M.F.K. Fisher. (Her How to Cook a Wolf is about eating in hard times, but brilliantly written and worth reading anytime....and it has a really great gingerbread recipe.)

I also really like Jeffrey Steingarten, who's the food columnist for Vogue. (and whoever would have thought there was such a thing?) His collection of columns, The Man Who Ate Everything, is funny, well-written, and fascinating. My favorite chapter is the one where he tries to make his own ersatz "spring water" in his kitchen with distilled water and eyedroppers full of mineral supplements.
posted by Vidiot at 11:27 AM on November 27, 2002

Betty Crocker's What's On Hand is a good recipe source. Tell them what you've got, they tell you what you can make.
posted by Lusy P Hur at 12:32 PM on November 27, 2002

The cooking monkey seems to be quite an fan of mama stamberg's cranberry relish which is a public radio tradition. NRP has a nice selection of recipes hiding among their features, but, you have to dig to find them. The lemongrass oil recipe tucked away with a crabcake recipe is great to have around the kitchen. A bonus to the recipes on the NPR site is that you can frequently listen to interviews or features that are related to the recipes. Here's there recipe archive.
posted by amphigory at 1:00 PM on November 27, 2002

I've been looking all the hell over for sour salt to use in Eastern European/Russian recipes. Enter The Great American Spice Company. Not only sour salt, but sumac too. And big whomping containers of it! Mmmmm sour food.
posted by elgoose at 1:44 PM on November 27, 2002

While I usually turn to Epicurious first, I often check Fabulous Foods-- particularily if I am looking for something a bit more basic. (Check out their Top Ten Foodie Books for 2002.)
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:33 PM on November 27, 2002

Mmm, the monkey's apple crumble recipe is actually not right if you check with the original as linked on the final page. Not enough sugar used. Shame, as it suggests a lack of quality control.
posted by Duug at 3:12 AM on November 28, 2002

Well, look who's in The New Yorker today! (password req):

Many online old-timers favor one Thanksgiving recipe site in particular: the one for cranberry relish at "Hi! Monkey" (www.himonkey.net). The recipe itself is an odd - some say addictive - amalgam of sweet (cranberries, sugar and onion) and sour (horseradish and sour cream) that is attributed to Susan Stamberg, a National Public Radio correspondent. But the site is as well loved for its charming host, a terry cloth primate known only as Monkey, as for its cuisine.

Monkey walks you through the recipe preparation and also offers a photo montage of "the relish in action." There is even a page of poetic tributes to the creamy concoction. Monkey's alter ego, Marzi Pecen of Dallas, said that the site attracts thousands of visitors daily during the holiday season.

"It's somewhere between an online tradition and a cult," Ms. Pecen said by e-mail, adding, "I do get a fair number of messages from cranberry-deprived countries wondering just what I am talking about."
posted by sparky at 7:14 AM on November 28, 2002

Since no thread is complete without a Google link, how about googlecooking.
posted by djfiander at 8:36 AM on November 28, 2002

FYI: The cranberry relish recipe propagated by Susan Stamberg on NPR and later by himonkey.net was actually concocted by former NYTimes cooking honcho Craig Claiborne in 1959.

It's also disgusting.
posted by Vidiot at 7:00 PM on November 28, 2002