Fellow Cooks of Metafilter, Enlighten Me!
October 29, 2024 3:24 PM Subscribe
I'm looking to expand my horizons, so: What recipe sites do you follow? The ones where every recipe you've tried has been at least very good and most you've tried have made it into the regular rotation? The ones that absolutely nail the deliciousness-to-effort ratio? The ones that expose you to dishes you never knew about, or never thought you could make at home?
I have one site that meets these criteria (once upon a chef), but would love to have more. Type of cuisine doesn't matter. I'm just looking for the real winners.
I have one site that meets these criteria (once upon a chef), but would love to have more. Type of cuisine doesn't matter. I'm just looking for the real winners.
Seconding SK. She has recipes with sets of ingredients where when you look at them you think (or at least this is me) really? and then you make the recipe and it's amazing. Also great comments from the community on all kinds of aspects of the recipe and occasionally Deb chimes in.
Also BudgetBytes. Well tested recipes.
posted by bluesky43 at 3:31 PM on October 29 [15 favorites]
Also BudgetBytes. Well tested recipes.
posted by bluesky43 at 3:31 PM on October 29 [15 favorites]
Yep, Smitten Kitchen and Budget Bytes. For both, I subscribe to their (free) weekly newsletter. I don't think I've ever had a bunk recipe from either.
posted by BlahLaLa at 3:32 PM on October 29 [3 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 3:32 PM on October 29 [3 favorites]
Another vote for Smitten Kitchen - always always good.
Also The Woks of Life
posted by maupuia at 3:33 PM on October 29 [14 favorites]
Also The Woks of Life
posted by maupuia at 3:33 PM on October 29 [14 favorites]
My husband watches a lot of YouTube cooks such as binging with babish
Lots of good tricks - sometimes it’s not the recipe it’s the technique
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:33 PM on October 29 [4 favorites]
Lots of good tricks - sometimes it’s not the recipe it’s the technique
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:33 PM on October 29 [4 favorites]
If I want to know that the recipe is going to be exactly right, it’s always Serious Eats, King Arthur Baking, and Cook’s Illustrated (the latter is behind a paywall). If there’s some kind of approach-to-cooking matrix I am definitely way off in one corner with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and Christopher Kimball.
From the realm of single-writer blogs, I wouldn’t hesitate to make something from Minimalist Baker, School Night Vegan, Mississippi Vegan, Sweet Simple Vegan, or Nigella Lawson (who regularly features very well-vetted recipes from new cookbooks, which is handy; she is not resting on her laurels).
posted by bcwinters at 3:43 PM on October 29 [12 favorites]
From the realm of single-writer blogs, I wouldn’t hesitate to make something from Minimalist Baker, School Night Vegan, Mississippi Vegan, Sweet Simple Vegan, or Nigella Lawson (who regularly features very well-vetted recipes from new cookbooks, which is handy; she is not resting on her laurels).
posted by bcwinters at 3:43 PM on October 29 [12 favorites]
Sally’s baking addiction (some people say her recipes are too sweet, but I actually find her use of sugar to be strategic and focused on texture/moisture, so idk)
“What to cook when you don’t feel like cooking” is a paid substack with some free recipes, and literally all of the recipes I’ve tried have been super delicious. (Caveat, personally I find the author a bit annoying even if her work products are AMAZING, but I think it’s because I’m jealous of her wealthy-coastal-elite lifestyle?)
posted by samthemander at 3:45 PM on October 29 [4 favorites]
“What to cook when you don’t feel like cooking” is a paid substack with some free recipes, and literally all of the recipes I’ve tried have been super delicious. (Caveat, personally I find the author a bit annoying even if her work products are AMAZING, but I think it’s because I’m jealous of her wealthy-coastal-elite lifestyle?)
posted by samthemander at 3:45 PM on October 29 [4 favorites]
Smitten Kitchen is always my choice. I think the biggest factor for me is that I’ve never had a dud. Trying new recipes can be exhausting so knowing that it will be successful is important for me
posted by raccoon409 at 3:47 PM on October 29 [3 favorites]
posted by raccoon409 at 3:47 PM on October 29 [3 favorites]
Seconding a lot of the ones here, and adding one I haven't seen - Spend with Pennies. I didn't grow up cooking much or around that much actual cooking, so I use this for lots of "basic" recipes.
posted by brilliantine at 3:49 PM on October 29 [4 favorites]
posted by brilliantine at 3:49 PM on October 29 [4 favorites]
Budget Bytes. Nothing really earth shattering in here, but all affordable and approachable recipes that are pretty much all delicious.
posted by Teadog at 3:55 PM on October 29 [6 favorites]
posted by Teadog at 3:55 PM on October 29 [6 favorites]
nthing Smitten Kitchen and Budget Bytes.
For me Smitten Kitchen is more "we're going to do this thing the right way no matter what it takes" and can get fussy and complex, but everything I've tried to do has been good. The recipes I've used haven't had hard-to-source ingredients and I don't think Deb's going for that kind of thing - more like if you want to make green bean casserole for Thanksgiving without using canned soup. My first source to browse if I want to make some kind of pie or baked thing but I'm not sure what yet. I don't make them very often, but Deb's recipes for knish, apple pie, and NY cheesecake are what I use when I make those things.
Budget Bytes is some kind of sorcery using a lot of things you most likely have in your pantry already and making them into something surprisingly interesting in a half hour. I'll go here when I have some vague notion of what I want to make, like "something with chicken" or "some kind of pasta" - there's filters for those kinds of things in the search.
posted by LionIndex at 3:56 PM on October 29 [5 favorites]
For me Smitten Kitchen is more "we're going to do this thing the right way no matter what it takes" and can get fussy and complex, but everything I've tried to do has been good. The recipes I've used haven't had hard-to-source ingredients and I don't think Deb's going for that kind of thing - more like if you want to make green bean casserole for Thanksgiving without using canned soup. My first source to browse if I want to make some kind of pie or baked thing but I'm not sure what yet. I don't make them very often, but Deb's recipes for knish, apple pie, and NY cheesecake are what I use when I make those things.
Budget Bytes is some kind of sorcery using a lot of things you most likely have in your pantry already and making them into something surprisingly interesting in a half hour. I'll go here when I have some vague notion of what I want to make, like "something with chicken" or "some kind of pasta" - there's filters for those kinds of things in the search.
posted by LionIndex at 3:56 PM on October 29 [5 favorites]
nthing Serious Eats and The Woks of Life.
One I turn to repeatedly for Japanese home cooking is Just One Cookbook. Although I have to admit the recipe I've made the most often is Japanese Milk Bread. And Japanese Potato Salad.
posted by needled at 4:40 PM on October 29 [6 favorites]
One I turn to repeatedly for Japanese home cooking is Just One Cookbook. Although I have to admit the recipe I've made the most often is Japanese Milk Bread. And Japanese Potato Salad.
posted by needled at 4:40 PM on October 29 [6 favorites]
The Mediterranean Dish. As you might expect, lovely dishes with a Mediterranean twist.
posted by Rivvo at 4:44 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
posted by Rivvo at 4:44 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
Tori Avey for Jewish and Mediterranean food, with lots of kosher and holiday meal planning options. The only cooking site I read the preamble essay on.
posted by skookumsaurus rex at 5:01 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
posted by skookumsaurus rex at 5:01 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
Chinese Cooking Demystified is on Youtube but is very good for Chinese recipes (and Just One Cookbook, mentioned above, for Japanese). I find Larousse Cocina (in Spanish) is ironically usually reliably good for Mexican recipes or reference (Mexican recipes that aren't Americanized or aimed at a very low ability level are not that easy to find). Kenji Lopez-Alt for American food and most everything else (my first step when looking for a recipe is to simply search the name of the dish + Kenji).
posted by ssg at 5:15 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
posted by ssg at 5:15 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
@Joshua Weissman (try to catch his cookbooks on sale, I picked up the first one for 2.99 on Amazon ebook)
@LifebyMikeG (previousy known as "ProHomeCooks")
posted by kschang at 5:21 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
@LifebyMikeG (previousy known as "ProHomeCooks")
posted by kschang at 5:21 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
I still pay for Epicurious, which also still gives you access to Bon Appetit recipes. It's $40 a year so it feels like a minimal expense. I would not just make a recipe at random and expect it to be good, but all the recipes I've made have been good ones and I like searching for specific things.
posted by edencosmic at 5:22 PM on October 29
posted by edencosmic at 5:22 PM on October 29
Dassana's Veg Recipes is good for vegetarian recipes— primarily Indian, but not exclusively.
Korean Bapsang (link goes to delicious braised potatoes) is another favorite.
Both these and Woks of Life have nice sections on herbs/spices/seasonings/pantry items that describe what basic supplies you need for their cuisine and how they are used more generally.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:27 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
Korean Bapsang (link goes to delicious braised potatoes) is another favorite.
Both these and Woks of Life have nice sections on herbs/spices/seasonings/pantry items that describe what basic supplies you need for their cuisine and how they are used more generally.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:27 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
Rainbow Plant Life. The recipe developer, Nisha, uses her experience with Indian cooking to develop rich and deep flavors in vegan meals. She also covers fundamentals--the best way to get crispy tofu, how to make tempeh taste delicious and not bitter, how to make basic dips, sauces, and dressings to enhance your meals, etc.
posted by MagnificentVacuum at 5:56 PM on October 29
posted by MagnificentVacuum at 5:56 PM on October 29
Recipe Tin Eats. A really wide variety of recipes/cuisines and I'm almost never disappointed in the results.
posted by ambulanceambiance at 6:02 PM on October 29 [9 favorites]
posted by ambulanceambiance at 6:02 PM on October 29 [9 favorites]
We've been vegetarian for maybe a year, and Cookie And Kate (R.I.P. Cookie!) hasn't failed us yet.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:39 PM on October 29 [2 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 6:39 PM on October 29 [2 favorites]
Many great sites here! A hearty second for Minimalist Baker, and I’ll add 101 Cookbooks to the list.
posted by marlys at 6:43 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
posted by marlys at 6:43 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
If I had to pick a single source it would be smitten kitchen. Like others, have had zero duds and everything I’ve made has been excellent.
posted by Parkaboy at 8:34 PM on October 29
posted by Parkaboy at 8:34 PM on October 29
I've been getting a lot of vegetable-related inspiration from Justine Snacks--some of her recipes are actually too involved for me to make on a normal weeknight if I make them verbatim, but there can be a core idea about flavor combinations that I wouldn't have thought of myself, that I can pull out into a simpler version (like if I just make the base dish and not the homemade dressing or seed crackers or whatever to go with it). (When I do feel like going all-out and following one exactly, the results have 100% been worth it.) And her Instagram is also great to follow, her chatty confidence from her videos is infectious!
posted by rivenwanderer at 9:46 PM on October 29 [3 favorites]
posted by rivenwanderer at 9:46 PM on October 29 [3 favorites]
America's Test Kitchen's recpe are wonderful. And after you find one in a video that you like, you can Google the online text recipe then input that URL into archive.is and see an unlocked version.
(Before someone complains, I went ahead and bought their online service after a while. But this is a perfectly solid way to test things.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:38 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
(Before someone complains, I went ahead and bought their online service after a while. But this is a perfectly solid way to test things.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:38 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
For desserts I only use Bravetart. Some are a bit complex , but everything I’ve made from it over several years has been over the top good.
posted by waving at 11:21 PM on October 29 [5 favorites]
posted by waving at 11:21 PM on October 29 [5 favorites]
I love Chef Jean Pierre's channel - I think his decades of experience in working in top end restaurants and then running a cooking school show. As somebody who was never taught cooking , I have learnt a lot from his videos.
posted by rongorongo at 2:39 AM on October 30 [1 favorite]
posted by rongorongo at 2:39 AM on October 30 [1 favorite]
Nth-ing SK, as well as Sally’s Baking Addiction.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:03 AM on October 30 [2 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 3:03 AM on October 30 [2 favorites]
Post Punk Kitchen (and Isa Chandra Moskowitz, specifically) got me into cooking back in the early 2000s and has been a giving tree ever since.
The first time I ever made matzoh ball soup it was because a former housemate had left behind this on VHS when moving out. I was broke, 24, in a new city, and had nothing better to do than make batch after batch after batch of matzoh ball soup. Friends from that era will still sometimes call me Motz, a shorthand for "matzy'all".
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 4:11 AM on October 30 [1 favorite]
The first time I ever made matzoh ball soup it was because a former housemate had left behind this on VHS when moving out. I was broke, 24, in a new city, and had nothing better to do than make batch after batch after batch of matzoh ball soup. Friends from that era will still sometimes call me Motz, a shorthand for "matzy'all".
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 4:11 AM on October 30 [1 favorite]
I will gently push back on the America’s Test Kitchen / Cook’s Illustrated recommendations because while the results are usually great I think they absolutely fail at the “effort to deliciousness ratio” mentioned in the post. In my experience they are fussy and particular, with extra steps that may improve the final product but only very incrementally. I legitimately think that for almost any one of their recipes you could get something that’s 90-95% of the way there with 50% of the effort. A very experienced cook could look at the recipes and decide what’s not needed but that just makes things even more complicated.
Serious Eats is similar in concept but to me the execution is friendlier and less fussy. I tend to go to them for ideas or basic techniques if I’m not sure of the best way to go about something. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s recipes, whether on Serious Eats or elsewhere (particularly his YouTube channel) are always great.
posted by malthas at 5:10 AM on October 30 [2 favorites]
Serious Eats is similar in concept but to me the execution is friendlier and less fussy. I tend to go to them for ideas or basic techniques if I’m not sure of the best way to go about something. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s recipes, whether on Serious Eats or elsewhere (particularly his YouTube channel) are always great.
posted by malthas at 5:10 AM on October 30 [2 favorites]
Maangchi taught me and a lot of other non-Koreans how to cook Korean food from scratch. She was the OG Korean food-wise.
posted by whitelotus at 5:33 AM on October 30 [5 favorites]
posted by whitelotus at 5:33 AM on October 30 [5 favorites]
I use The Kitchn , very few duds have come from following their recipes.
For baking especially, David Lebovitz has a lot of great things. Not updated very often though.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 6:18 AM on October 30
For baking especially, David Lebovitz has a lot of great things. Not updated very often though.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 6:18 AM on October 30
More votes for Serious Eats and Woks of Life. I also find myself using The Mediterranean Dish quite a lot, and Maangchi. (Not linking because they are all already mentioned).
Vidar Bergum, a Norwegian in Istanbul, is a another good source for Middle Eastern recipes and flavors.
For YouTube lessons, everything Sohla (link to her homepage which has the YouTube links). She has great recipes, but her videos go beyond that -- she is a really good educator. And fun.
The Guardian has an excellent food section, it is free, but I think you can get their Feast app for a small amount.
First I thought of writing why I don't like some of the other sites many people here are recommending. Then I thought that would be mean and useless. Then I thought I could explain my choices in case it could help your search: I am a picky eater in the sense that I eat nearly all ingredients and all cuisines, BUT I prefer simple foods with few ingredients. I'm like a 3-year old, in that I want to see and understand all the ingredients, not have ten things mashed together and covered with cheese in a casserole or something equivalent.
This is not a hard and fast rule, there are several stews I like, and I will happily spend a whole day making borscht with three different meats. It's more of a general principle.
posted by mumimor at 6:50 AM on October 30
Vidar Bergum, a Norwegian in Istanbul, is a another good source for Middle Eastern recipes and flavors.
For YouTube lessons, everything Sohla (link to her homepage which has the YouTube links). She has great recipes, but her videos go beyond that -- she is a really good educator. And fun.
The Guardian has an excellent food section, it is free, but I think you can get their Feast app for a small amount.
First I thought of writing why I don't like some of the other sites many people here are recommending. Then I thought that would be mean and useless. Then I thought I could explain my choices in case it could help your search: I am a picky eater in the sense that I eat nearly all ingredients and all cuisines, BUT I prefer simple foods with few ingredients. I'm like a 3-year old, in that I want to see and understand all the ingredients, not have ten things mashed together and covered with cheese in a casserole or something equivalent.
This is not a hard and fast rule, there are several stews I like, and I will happily spend a whole day making borscht with three different meats. It's more of a general principle.
posted by mumimor at 6:50 AM on October 30
Food52, especially whatever recipe they have deemed "genius".
Middle Eats for Middle Eastern recipes. Serious Eats has a Palestinian food 101 series by Reem Kassis that is excellent. I also refer to Palestine in a Dish.
Made With Lau for traditional-ish Cantonese food taught by a patient old school Chinese grandfather.
Also, you can't really go wrong with the old PBS cooking shows available on YouTube like Yan Can Cook and Jacques Pepin.
posted by toastyk at 7:15 AM on October 30 [1 favorite]
Middle Eats for Middle Eastern recipes. Serious Eats has a Palestinian food 101 series by Reem Kassis that is excellent. I also refer to Palestine in a Dish.
Made With Lau for traditional-ish Cantonese food taught by a patient old school Chinese grandfather.
Also, you can't really go wrong with the old PBS cooking shows available on YouTube like Yan Can Cook and Jacques Pepin.
posted by toastyk at 7:15 AM on October 30 [1 favorite]
I will gently push back on the America’s Test Kitchen / Cook’s Illustrated recommendations because while the results are usually great I think they absolutely fail at the “effort to deliciousness ratio” mentioned in the post.
ATK is not particularly like this these days, and hasn't really been since the Christopher Kimball-era version. (However if you see the bespectacled old bald white man and the video is in SD, it may well be exactly as malthas describes.)
Looking over the recent videos on the YT channel though, you're more likely to see Lan Lam discussing basic techniques and concepts, or Dan Souza showing you terrific shortcuts to use like his "Absolute Easiest Ever Biscuits" recipe or his five minute butter sauce.
Even the main show recipes often feature lower effort "weeknight" dishes, such as this One-Pot Weeknight Pasta Bolognese (which my whole family is obsessed with and takes maybe 30 minutes.) Even their weekend/holiday recipes often favor time-saving hacks these days, like this shrimp and sausage gumbo that uses a simple hack to cut the time it takes to make a good roux in half. It's really, really good.
I wouldn't recommend their sister show Cook's Illustrated for what you're looking for at all, as they focus more on making the classic/ultimate versions of regional classics, with much of the fiddliness and time consuming techniques that implies.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:52 AM on October 30 [1 favorite]
ATK is not particularly like this these days, and hasn't really been since the Christopher Kimball-era version. (However if you see the bespectacled old bald white man and the video is in SD, it may well be exactly as malthas describes.)
Looking over the recent videos on the YT channel though, you're more likely to see Lan Lam discussing basic techniques and concepts, or Dan Souza showing you terrific shortcuts to use like his "Absolute Easiest Ever Biscuits" recipe or his five minute butter sauce.
Even the main show recipes often feature lower effort "weeknight" dishes, such as this One-Pot Weeknight Pasta Bolognese (which my whole family is obsessed with and takes maybe 30 minutes.) Even their weekend/holiday recipes often favor time-saving hacks these days, like this shrimp and sausage gumbo that uses a simple hack to cut the time it takes to make a good roux in half. It's really, really good.
I wouldn't recommend their sister show Cook's Illustrated for what you're looking for at all, as they focus more on making the classic/ultimate versions of regional classics, with much of the fiddliness and time consuming techniques that implies.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:52 AM on October 30 [1 favorite]
Sip and Feast - Every recipe I've done has been awesome. Jim has a YT channel as well, which is how I found him in the first place. Italian/American recipes with a few other cuisines occasionally.
Love Kenji's videos as well - but his kitchen drives me nuts with all the kids toys and stuff on the floors.
I still love ATK and Cook's Country videos, because they give lots of tips and reasons for doing things that I did not previously know.
posted by sundrop at 11:54 AM on October 30 [2 favorites]
Love Kenji's videos as well - but his kitchen drives me nuts with all the kids toys and stuff on the floors.
I still love ATK and Cook's Country videos, because they give lots of tips and reasons for doing things that I did not previously know.
posted by sundrop at 11:54 AM on October 30 [2 favorites]
Great question!
I love many of the sites named here but for very reliable and simple and tasty I unfortunately think cooking.nytimes.com is the best.
posted by latkes at 12:03 PM on October 30
I love many of the sites named here but for very reliable and simple and tasty I unfortunately think cooking.nytimes.com is the best.
posted by latkes at 12:03 PM on October 30
Nthing quite a few of these - Smitten Kitchen, Mediterranean Dish, Budget Bytes - and adding a slightly different one: SkinnyTaste. It's Weight Watchers based but it's really good. I have never made anything from there that wasn't great and some of her recipes are on permanent rotation in my kitchen. And, it's healthy.
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:09 PM on October 30 [2 favorites]
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:09 PM on October 30 [2 favorites]
I need to nth Woks of Life, I don't use recipes a lot, having learned from my southern Chinese family without measurements, and when I don't remember quite right, they are always right on. When people ask me for recipes of how I do it, I send them there.
posted by advicepig at 1:10 PM on October 30
posted by advicepig at 1:10 PM on October 30
Another vote for smitten kitchen and serious eats, plus the '[dish name] + Kenji' approach
posted by knapah at 2:22 PM on October 30
posted by knapah at 2:22 PM on October 30
I used to rely on Smitten Kitchen, but she's updating a lot less these days. I have more or less cooked my way through a lot of RecipeTinEats as a result - I find Nagi's recipes are a similar level of effort to deliciousness.
posted by tautological at 3:22 PM on October 30 [2 favorites]
posted by tautological at 3:22 PM on October 30 [2 favorites]
Mod note: [Nice! This yummy question has been added to the sidebar and Best Of blog!]
posted by taz (staff) at 1:15 AM on November 3
posted by taz (staff) at 1:15 AM on November 3
Some great Tex-Mex recipes and other country cooking can be found at Homesick Texan; one of the few sites I have thought worthy of ponying up a subscription fee for.
posted by TedW at 10:54 AM on November 3
posted by TedW at 10:54 AM on November 3
nth-ing Smitten Kitchen, America's Test Kitchen, and Cook's Illustrated
Smitten Kitchen is a modern style website that I think does what you're looking for, and one of my go-tos. Wide-ish variety of cuisines, and deep archives. You could spend a lot of time just there.
I also really like America's Test Kitchen and their Cook's Illustrated magazine/site. High quality recipes. I've rarely had a loser, or a hard time figuring out the instructions. Seems like they actually do test these things.
> malthas: will gently push back on the America’s Test Kitchen / Cook’s Illustrated recommendations because while the results are usually great I think they absolutely fail at the “effort to deliciousness ratio” mentioned in the post.
>
> DirtyOldTown: ATK is not particularly like this these days, and hasn't really been since the Christopher Kimball-era version. [...] wouldn't recommend their sister show Cook's Illustrated for what you're looking for [...]
I agree with respondent DirtyOldTown here. ATK is a lot more about accessibility and low-effort-for-results these days. And I think they actually put work in to seeing that their recipes are easy and efficient, and they actually evaluate whether the techniques and "fussiness" they're using are worth it in terms of the dish results. In addition to the videos that Dirty mentions, they have a series of easy/quick-prep books like "Best Simple Recipes" and "Slow Cooker Revolution". (I know this because I have some on my shelf.)
> ...or never thought you could make at home?
Now that, IMHO, is a Cook's Illustrated thing, and I think I would recommend it, if I'm reading OP's post right. They have effective and well-written recipes for serious stuff, and they're building your skills along the way so that you can take on more advanced dishes. I wouldn't call them "fussy", more "detail oriented" and "doing it right". They use higher-effort techniques, but not without reason. So the "deliciousness-to-effort" ratio is there. And there's a pedagogical aspect to them. Like, they're not just giving you a few new recipes to execute; their magazine is kind of a long-term educational program for teaching you to *cook*. I've gotten a lot out of reading them over the years.
Plus, ATK and Cook's Illustrated are well written. Like, they have an actual copy editor, pleasant prose surrounding the recipes per se, a recognizable house style, and the print version of Cook's even comes on nice paper and tasteful typography. I prefer reading Cook's Illustrated in print; one of the few magazines I hold on to the back issues of.
posted by apjanke at 11:22 PM on November 5 [2 favorites]
Smitten Kitchen is a modern style website that I think does what you're looking for, and one of my go-tos. Wide-ish variety of cuisines, and deep archives. You could spend a lot of time just there.
I also really like America's Test Kitchen and their Cook's Illustrated magazine/site. High quality recipes. I've rarely had a loser, or a hard time figuring out the instructions. Seems like they actually do test these things.
> malthas: will gently push back on the America’s Test Kitchen / Cook’s Illustrated recommendations because while the results are usually great I think they absolutely fail at the “effort to deliciousness ratio” mentioned in the post.
>
> DirtyOldTown: ATK is not particularly like this these days, and hasn't really been since the Christopher Kimball-era version. [...] wouldn't recommend their sister show Cook's Illustrated for what you're looking for [...]
I agree with respondent DirtyOldTown here. ATK is a lot more about accessibility and low-effort-for-results these days. And I think they actually put work in to seeing that their recipes are easy and efficient, and they actually evaluate whether the techniques and "fussiness" they're using are worth it in terms of the dish results. In addition to the videos that Dirty mentions, they have a series of easy/quick-prep books like "Best Simple Recipes" and "Slow Cooker Revolution". (I know this because I have some on my shelf.)
> ...or never thought you could make at home?
Now that, IMHO, is a Cook's Illustrated thing, and I think I would recommend it, if I'm reading OP's post right. They have effective and well-written recipes for serious stuff, and they're building your skills along the way so that you can take on more advanced dishes. I wouldn't call them "fussy", more "detail oriented" and "doing it right". They use higher-effort techniques, but not without reason. So the "deliciousness-to-effort" ratio is there. And there's a pedagogical aspect to them. Like, they're not just giving you a few new recipes to execute; their magazine is kind of a long-term educational program for teaching you to *cook*. I've gotten a lot out of reading them over the years.
Plus, ATK and Cook's Illustrated are well written. Like, they have an actual copy editor, pleasant prose surrounding the recipes per se, a recognizable house style, and the print version of Cook's even comes on nice paper and tasteful typography. I prefer reading Cook's Illustrated in print; one of the few magazines I hold on to the back issues of.
posted by apjanke at 11:22 PM on November 5 [2 favorites]
For baking I've had the most consistent success with King Arthur Baking's recipes, especially the ones that have been featured as "recipe of the year."
posted by pmdboi at 10:03 AM on November 6 [1 favorite]
posted by pmdboi at 10:03 AM on November 6 [1 favorite]
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Serious Eats
posted by Sparky Buttons at 3:27 PM on October 29 [34 favorites]