5 ms·

"hey bot, I have {foodstuffs} available, I need to make dinner for n people. Give me some options in the x style" Probably one of my most-used prompts, and it'

"hey bot, I have {foodstuffs} available, I need to make dinner for n people. Give me some options in the x style" Probably one of my most-used prompts, and it's batting close to 1.000. Every now and then it will make a mistake, like forgetting the salt, putting a step in the wrong order, or the like, but far less often than you'd think. If you already have even a middling amount of kitchen experience, it's a fantastic use case.

Retric 3y ago
Seems like an oddly high risk process. Not only are you risking bad taste from major missing ingredients like salt, but also ruining things with the wrong temperature/ cooking times. A reasonably comprehensive cookbook like The Joy Of Cooking or something specific to your preferences seems like less effort overall vs Google or a LLM.
- binarysolo 3y ago
  I would treat it analogous to asking ChatGPT to code for you (but for food) - some times it works great, other times you gotta nudge it a bit. The tool is currently best used by people who already know how to code/cook and don't want to spend too much cognitive bandwidth, but have the skills to mofidy as needed.
  - Baeocystin 3y ago
    That's pretty much exactly how I see it, too. Offload a good chunk of the scut work, but I'm sanity checking the results. Still a strong net positive, at least in my experience.
- weaksauce 3y ago
  > Not only are you risking bad taste from major missing ingredients like salt, but also ruining things with the wrong temperature/ cooking times. they are operating under the assumption you are a decent cook. any decent cook will know how to taste for salt and what is safe temperature wise. if you blindly follow instructions you are not a decent cook.
  - Retric 3y ago
    I don’t read “have even a middling amount of kitchen experience” as being a decent cook. IMO, a decent cook doesn’t really need full recipes they can just wing it based on a basic idea, but it takes a long time to get to that level.
    - albertsondev 3y ago
      It... really doesn't, though? Cooking is hardly by any means trivial, and achieving recipe-quality results based on a quick skim and winging it from there is certainly more difficult, but I'd argue that anybody who can't make something decent without religiously following a recipe isn't even of "middling kitchen experience". I may be biased though, "skim a recipe and wing it" is my default style anymore after all.
      - Retric 3y ago
        I’m not talking about skimming a recipe and wringing it. Think easting something in a restaurant then replicating something similar at home the next day just based on the flavor. Doing that for a few things is easy, but it takes significant time to get to that level across a wide range regional cuisines.
- Baeocystin 3y ago
  It really, honestly isn't a high-risk process at all. You just have to think a little bit. All I can say is try it yourself and see. For me, half the fun is seeing what it comes up with based on what I feed it, especially if I encourage fusion cuisine. I've hit some real winners that way. Also, portion adjustments are quite useful, as I mostly only cook for one or two people. Scaling isn't always linear, so that's been a helpful step.
- s-lambert 3y ago
  Cooking times don't seem very reliable to me anyway, every recipe I try takes longer than it says in the recipe.
  - Retric 3y ago
    That likely comes down to your preferences or equipment.
    - Baeocystin 3y ago
      That, and recipe writers lie like a rug when it comes to time. :D https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27632835 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27632835
  - radlad 3y ago
    I am more skeptical of the ingredient proportions than the cooking times...
- coding123 3y ago
  It is more likely going to have a pretty good grasp on ingredients that pair well than a random unrated post in allrecipes.com. Likely won't pair hot sesame oil with milk, for example. (someone please tell me that's not a thing).
- liveoneggs 3y ago
  The Joy of Cooking is my favorite cookbook but only certain editions. Buying the wrong one is pretty high risk.

Retric 3y ago

Seems like an oddly high risk process. Not only are you risking bad taste from major missing ingredients like salt, but also ruining things with the wrong temperature/ cooking times. A reasonably comprehensive cookbook like The Joy Of Cooking or something specific to your preferences seems like less effort overall vs Google or a LLM.

binarysolo 3y ago
I would treat it analogous to asking ChatGPT to code for you (but for food) - some times it works great, other times you gotta nudge it a bit. The tool is currently best used by people who already know how to code/cook and don't want to spend too much cognitive bandwidth, but have the skills to mofidy as needed.
- Baeocystin 3y ago
  That's pretty much exactly how I see it, too. Offload a good chunk of the scut work, but I'm sanity checking the results. Still a strong net positive, at least in my experience.
weaksauce 3y ago
> Not only are you risking bad taste from major missing ingredients like salt, but also ruining things with the wrong temperature/ cooking times. they are operating under the assumption you are a decent cook. any decent cook will know how to taste for salt and what is safe temperature wise. if you blindly follow instructions you are not a decent cook.
- Retric 3y ago
  I don’t read “have even a middling amount of kitchen experience” as being a decent cook. IMO, a decent cook doesn’t really need full recipes they can just wing it based on a basic idea, but it takes a long time to get to that level.
  - albertsondev 3y ago
    It... really doesn't, though? Cooking is hardly by any means trivial, and achieving recipe-quality results based on a quick skim and winging it from there is certainly more difficult, but I'd argue that anybody who can't make something decent without religiously following a recipe isn't even of "middling kitchen experience". I may be biased though, "skim a recipe and wing it" is my default style anymore after all.
    - Retric 3y ago
      I’m not talking about skimming a recipe and wringing it. Think easting something in a restaurant then replicating something similar at home the next day just based on the flavor. Doing that for a few things is easy, but it takes significant time to get to that level across a wide range regional cuisines.
Baeocystin 3y ago
It really, honestly isn't a high-risk process at all. You just have to think a little bit. All I can say is try it yourself and see. For me, half the fun is seeing what it comes up with based on what I feed it, especially if I encourage fusion cuisine. I've hit some real winners that way. Also, portion adjustments are quite useful, as I mostly only cook for one or two people. Scaling isn't always linear, so that's been a helpful step.
s-lambert 3y ago
Cooking times don't seem very reliable to me anyway, every recipe I try takes longer than it says in the recipe.
- Retric 3y ago
  That likely comes down to your preferences or equipment.
  - Baeocystin 3y ago
    That, and recipe writers lie like a rug when it comes to time. :D https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27632835 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27632835
- radlad 3y ago
  I am more skeptical of the ingredient proportions than the cooking times...
coding123 3y ago
It is more likely going to have a pretty good grasp on ingredients that pair well than a random unrated post in allrecipes.com. Likely won't pair hot sesame oil with milk, for example. (someone please tell me that's not a thing).
liveoneggs 3y ago
The Joy of Cooking is my favorite cookbook but only certain editions. Buying the wrong one is pretty high risk.