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It would be amazing if there was something that would convert recipes to the format used on Cooking For Engineers. It’s so intuitive and easy to read. I never w

It would be amazing if there was something that would convert recipes to the format used on Cooking For Engineers. It’s so intuitive and easy to read. I never want to look at steps to make a recipe again. Scroll to the bottom to see what I’m talking about: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/108/Banana-Nut-Bread http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/108/Banana-Nut-Bre...

hahajk 5y ago
That’s pretty cool recipe formatting, but man that site has the least appetizing food photography I’ve seen in a long time.
- umvi 5y ago
  It's for engineers. Function > Form
yummypaint 5y ago
This is a great way to represent recipes! It looks like it would also allow more info to be fit on a notecard compared to just text
dicroce 5y ago
Damn, that is awesome. We need an AI to convert text instructions into this format.
- dfithian 5y ago
  I created this app to scrape a website's HTML for recipe and ingredients and create a grocery list. It works for recipes in many formats. https://mo-nomz.herokuapp.com https://mo-nomz.herokuapp.com
duckmysick 5y ago
Modernist Cuisine has recipes with a similar format. They also have an ingredient list with baker's percentage using the largest ingredient by weight as the baseline. Example (second image) https://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/pressure-cooked-vegetable-risotto/ https://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/pressure-cooked-vegetab...
stuartbman 5y ago
I use CookBook which scans websites, and OCRs cookbooks with good success! I have all my regular recipes on there now https://thecookbookapp.com/ https://thecookbookapp.com/
- mdaniel 5y ago
  For those similarly unable to find the pricing, it's hidden under a link on the Sign Up page: https://help.thecookbookapp.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360002594516 https://help.thecookbookapp.com/hc/en-gb/articles/3600025945... Currently, some different money for recipes as a service, and the weird price of $41 for a "lifetime" subscription It will interest this audience that they have a public roadmap, too: https://roadmap.thecookbookapp.com/cookbook https://roadmap.thecookbookapp.com/cookbook
- mrestko 5y ago
  Looks cool but did a very poor job of importing the first recipe I tried.
  - Larrikin 5y ago
    I use Paprika which doesn't ever seem to have problems for me. They offer a significant sale every year for Thanksgiving.
    - eklbt 5y ago
      I'm a paprika user as well. Recently found "Mela" on the App Store. Not as many features(yet) but the UI is so much better than Paprika.
      - Larrikin 5y ago
        I'd like an alternative to Paprika that is updated more often, but the lack of Android app makes Mela an immediate non starter
        5y ago
mdaniel 5y ago
It actually seems to mix visual metaphors though, since "Butter and flour a loaf pan" and "Preheat oven" are temporally top-to-bottom, until it gets to the ingredients, when it switches to (depending on how one interprets it) temporally left-to-right or a dependency tree, but without any visual indication that change has happened I would actually expect the whole process could be laid out in graphviz since all of those are dependencies of the ultimate outcome (heh, "enjoy"). I originally thought it may be a DAG, but I can recall a few recipes that explicitly have a looping step in them
- JackFr 5y ago
  Honestly it’s cute and clever, but not especially useful. I find it doesn’t really add anything and is clever fir it’s own sake. I know tastes differ, but personally I think it’s terrible.
badwolf 5y ago
Oh! I love this recipe card style - Thanks for that!
rm_-rf_slash 5y ago
Still a lot of text to get up and go, even if the context can be helpful. Personally I am a fan of the Food Network recipes online, especially Alton Brown’s. Straight to the point with no fluff, and maybe a Good Eats segment if you’re lucky.
- morsch 5y ago
  There's a Recipe Card button in the top right; doesn't get more compact than that. Though I think I'd struggle cooking an unfamiliar recipe using only the card, like you said, the context is helpful (and so are some photos, I might add).
djhn 5y ago
That is amazing. How is this not famous yet? Its even social media friendly!
fouc 5y ago
You should link to the "recipe card" mode to show it better: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/108/Banana-Nut-Bread/trn http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/108/Banana-Nut-Bre...
- artursapek 5y ago
  That is very good dataviz
- JonathanBuchh 5y ago
  It looks like my window to edit my comment is over, but I would have linked to the recipe view if I had know about it. Thanks!
- robbyking 5y ago
  This is amazing! I have ADHD so I often find my self taking a non-linear route to following a recipe: Step 1, Step 3, Step 4, oops! Step 2, now where was I? Is that salt or baking powder in the bowl?
6gvONxR4sf7o 5y ago
The job isn't over until we have gantt charts!
- bloopernova 5y ago
  Specifically Gantt charts created from Org-mode inside Emacs :)
cutoff 5y ago
Thanks for sharing. I made digital recipe viewers to replace the old binders in our restaurants’ kitchens. They’re old iPad minis on Mosyle’s free MDM plan. I made an HTML/CSS website hosted on Netlify/GitHub, created a home screen shortcut on the iPad using a web clip, and hide all other iOS apps so that they can only launch the recipe viewer. Everyone thinks I made an “app” because it launches in full screen thanks to the MDM. One of our kitchens doesn’t have Wi-Fi, but once the recipe viewer is launched, it doesn’t need connection anymore since it’s a single HTML page and the refresh button is hidden. The recipes on my “app” use HTML tables fairly similar to the tables on the link you shared. I didn’t know HTML tables could be formatted like they are on cookingforengineers.
GrumpyNl 5y ago
Great thing about those recipes its not only the layout, it has the volumes in grams.
- midasuni 5y ago
  How on Earth would you measure volume in grams?
  - rembicilious 5y ago
    Easy! water 150ml = water 150g /pedantry I think the op means it’s nice that the ingredients are given by weight because it is more accurate than volume.
    - midasuni 5y ago
      The sample recipe states 90ml of butter, last time I checked it was solid. I have no idea how you would work that out. Wiki says it’s 911g/l so I guess you use about 80g which is easy enough to measure, but why not list the weight (for cooking on Earth weight and mass are interchangeable) I’m not sure why it’s talking about “cups”, I thought americans used “gallons” or “fluid ounces” for volume? It also has one ingredient that has accuracy to 3sf in its weight (167 grams) which seems rather excessive for cooking. In theory you can use volume to measure things like flour, although it is trickier than using weight as you have to smooth it over.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
pinerd3 5y ago
woah that is cool
dfithian 5y ago
Similar app which converts recipes to a grocery list! https://mo-nomz.herokuapp.com https://mo-nomz.herokuapp.com
chaxor 5y ago
This is nice. I have always been interested in seeing a database which had consistent units and ingredients as well, such that pulling the full database and doing visualizations could be easily done. This would also make the adjustment to the batch size for each recipe on each webpage much simpler. "Want 1 Liter of dough for 2 banana bread loafs? Just change the amount output field and watch the values change". Type of thing. Obviously I know heat transfer effects need to be taken into account and such for some things, but it would be at least a start . Then the real mass/heat transfer and such engineering fun can begin.
Ntrails 5y ago
Maybe I'm an outlier, but holy hell I cannot read that format at all.
jka 5y ago
If you like this kind of representation for recipe preparation steps, you might also enjoy "Cookbook for Nerds": https://www.cookbookfornerds.com/ https://www.cookbookfornerds.com/
- jka 5y ago
  (nb: may be inaccessible at the moment via https; worth trying http if so)

hahajk 5y ago

That’s pretty cool recipe formatting, but man that site has the least appetizing food photography I’ve seen in a long time.

umvi 5y ago
It's for engineers. Function > Form

yummypaint 5y ago

This is a great way to represent recipes! It looks like it would also allow more info to be fit on a notecard compared to just text

dicroce 5y ago

Damn, that is awesome. We need an AI to convert text instructions into this format.

dfithian 5y ago
I created this app to scrape a website's HTML for recipe and ingredients and create a grocery list. It works for recipes in many formats. https://mo-nomz.herokuapp.com https://mo-nomz.herokuapp.com

duckmysick 5y ago

Modernist Cuisine has recipes with a similar format. They also have an ingredient list with baker's percentage using the largest ingredient by weight as the baseline. Example (second image) https://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/pressure-cooked-vegetable-risotto/ https://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/pressure-cooked-vegetab...

stuartbman 5y ago

I use CookBook which scans websites, and OCRs cookbooks with good success! I have all my regular recipes on there now https://thecookbookapp.com/ https://thecookbookapp.com/

mdaniel 5y ago
For those similarly unable to find the pricing, it's hidden under a link on the Sign Up page: https://help.thecookbookapp.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360002594516 https://help.thecookbookapp.com/hc/en-gb/articles/3600025945... Currently, some different money for recipes as a service, and the weird price of $41 for a "lifetime" subscription It will interest this audience that they have a public roadmap, too: https://roadmap.thecookbookapp.com/cookbook https://roadmap.thecookbookapp.com/cookbook
mrestko 5y ago
Looks cool but did a very poor job of importing the first recipe I tried.
- Larrikin 5y ago
  I use Paprika which doesn't ever seem to have problems for me. They offer a significant sale every year for Thanksgiving.
  - eklbt 5y ago
    I'm a paprika user as well. Recently found "Mela" on the App Store. Not as many features(yet) but the UI is so much better than Paprika.
    - Larrikin 5y ago
      I'd like an alternative to Paprika that is updated more often, but the lack of Android app makes Mela an immediate non starter
      - 5y ago

mdaniel 5y ago

It actually seems to mix visual metaphors though, since "Butter and flour a loaf pan" and "Preheat oven" are temporally top-to-bottom, until it gets to the ingredients, when it switches to (depending on how one interprets it) temporally left-to-right or a dependency tree, but without any visual indication that change has happened I would actually expect the whole process could be laid out in graphviz since all of those are dependencies of the ultimate outcome (heh, "enjoy"). I originally thought it may be a DAG, but I can recall a few recipes that explicitly have a looping step in them

JackFr 5y ago
Honestly it’s cute and clever, but not especially useful. I find it doesn’t really add anything and is clever fir it’s own sake. I know tastes differ, but personally I think it’s terrible.

badwolf 5y ago

Oh! I love this recipe card style - Thanks for that!

rm_-rf_slash 5y ago

Still a lot of text to get up and go, even if the context can be helpful. Personally I am a fan of the Food Network recipes online, especially Alton Brown’s. Straight to the point with no fluff, and maybe a Good Eats segment if you’re lucky.

morsch 5y ago
There's a Recipe Card button in the top right; doesn't get more compact than that. Though I think I'd struggle cooking an unfamiliar recipe using only the card, like you said, the context is helpful (and so are some photos, I might add).

djhn 5y ago

That is amazing. How is this not famous yet? Its even social media friendly!

fouc 5y ago

You should link to the "recipe card" mode to show it better: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/108/Banana-Nut-Bread/trn http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/108/Banana-Nut-Bre...

artursapek 5y ago
That is very good dataviz
JonathanBuchh 5y ago
It looks like my window to edit my comment is over, but I would have linked to the recipe view if I had know about it. Thanks!
robbyking 5y ago
This is amazing! I have ADHD so I often find my self taking a non-linear route to following a recipe: Step 1, Step 3, Step 4, oops! Step 2, now where was I? Is that salt or baking powder in the bowl?

6gvONxR4sf7o 5y ago

The job isn't over until we have gantt charts!

bloopernova 5y ago
Specifically Gantt charts created from Org-mode inside Emacs :)

cutoff 5y ago

Thanks for sharing. I made digital recipe viewers to replace the old binders in our restaurants’ kitchens. They’re old iPad minis on Mosyle’s free MDM plan. I made an HTML/CSS website hosted on Netlify/GitHub, created a home screen shortcut on the iPad using a web clip, and hide all other iOS apps so that they can only launch the recipe viewer. Everyone thinks I made an “app” because it launches in full screen thanks to the MDM. One of our kitchens doesn’t have Wi-Fi, but once the recipe viewer is launched, it doesn’t need connection anymore since it’s a single HTML page and the refresh button is hidden. The recipes on my “app” use HTML tables fairly similar to the tables on the link you shared. I didn’t know HTML tables could be formatted like they are on cookingforengineers.

GrumpyNl 5y ago

Great thing about those recipes its not only the layout, it has the volumes in grams.

midasuni 5y ago
How on Earth would you measure volume in grams?
- rembicilious 5y ago
  Easy! water 150ml = water 150g /pedantry I think the op means it’s nice that the ingredients are given by weight because it is more accurate than volume.
  - midasuni 5y ago
    The sample recipe states 90ml of butter, last time I checked it was solid. I have no idea how you would work that out. Wiki says it’s 911g/l so I guess you use about 80g which is easy enough to measure, but why not list the weight (for cooking on Earth weight and mass are interchangeable) I’m not sure why it’s talking about “cups”, I thought americans used “gallons” or “fluid ounces” for volume? It also has one ingredient that has accuracy to 3sf in its weight (167 grams) which seems rather excessive for cooking. In theory you can use volume to measure things like flour, although it is trickier than using weight as you have to smooth it over.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

pinerd3 5y ago

woah that is cool

dfithian 5y ago

Similar app which converts recipes to a grocery list! https://mo-nomz.herokuapp.com https://mo-nomz.herokuapp.com

chaxor 5y ago

This is nice. I have always been interested in seeing a database which had consistent units and ingredients as well, such that pulling the full database and doing visualizations could be easily done. This would also make the adjustment to the batch size for each recipe on each webpage much simpler. "Want 1 Liter of dough for 2 banana bread loafs? Just change the amount output field and watch the values change". Type of thing. Obviously I know heat transfer effects need to be taken into account and such for some things, but it would be at least a start . Then the real mass/heat transfer and such engineering fun can begin.

Ntrails 5y ago

Maybe I'm an outlier, but holy hell I cannot read that format at all.

jka 5y ago

If you like this kind of representation for recipe preparation steps, you might also enjoy "Cookbook for Nerds": https://www.cookbookfornerds.com/ https://www.cookbookfornerds.com/

jka 5y ago
(nb: may be inaccessible at the moment via https; worth trying http if so)