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How to Cook With the iPad

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 06:27:47 +0000

I hate cooking the same things over and over. Being a bachelor, I tend to get in that rut at times. It just seems easier to cook simple meals that you can whip up from memory in an instant. That gets old pretty fast, though. I started looking at alternatives not long ago, trying to come up with some new ideas for my dinner menus. After coming across the BigOven app earlier, I have a feeling my iPad is going to be used quite often down in my kitchen.

BigOven is far more than just a recipe finder. Once you find a recipe you’d like to try, you can bring up the list of ingredients. Let the app help you figure out which of the items you don’t have on hand, and then create a grocery list in seconds. You can then sync the list to your iPhone or Android device and head to the market. That alone is worth the cost of the app to me. I have trouble figuring out what I need to buy and how much of it I need once I hit the store.

If you have no idea what you want to cook up, tap a couple of ingredients you like and let the app find matching entries for you. With more than 170,000 to choose from (and more being added daily!), I’m pretty sure you’ll find something that works for you. You can even submit your recipes, photos and reviews.

I plan to grab this app for myself tomorrow, and will report back to let you know if my culinary skills have improved.

How to Cook With the iPad

How Do You Create a Recipe?

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:44:28 +0000

How Do You Create a Recipe?

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Dustin Woodard joined us for the Gnomedex conference this past August. During our Show and Tell period, he informed us that he was previously an employee of AllRecipes. Even though he’s no longer with that company, there is still one very cool feature on the site that he tends to use quite often.

Let’s say you only have a few ingredients on hand, but can’t think of anything to cook. Plug those items you do have into the website, and it will return a list of recipes that you could use them for! Never get stuck not knowing what to cook again. Let the Ingredient Search guide you!

Being a bachelor, I don’t always cook a full meal for myself. Likewise, I don’t always buy a ton of ingredients when I shop. Perhaps I should take a look at this site myself, and come up with some new ideas!

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How Do You Create a Recipe?

What are you Having for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner?

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:52:30 +0000

What are you Having for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner?

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My wife is the person who prepares most of our meals. I can’t really cook at all. What happens if you have all these different ingredients lying around, but you’re not sure what you can use them to create? There’s a new website that I found where you can easily figure this dilemma out. Head over to SuperCook. Simply enter in some ingredients, and the website will search through the databases of recipes that have been uploaded. You’ll receive results telling you what you could whip up in the kitchen.

Supercook returns recipes you can actually make right now with the ingredients you have. It even tells you exactly how many recipes you can make, broken down into ‘Starters’, ‘Entrees’ and ‘Dessert’ categories. With Supercook, finding a great recipe is no longer a hassle, simply put in all the ingredients you have at home and Supercook will instantly provide you with hundreds of recipes that are all within your reach. If a recipe requires ingredients you do not have, Supercook takes the guesswork out by clearly listing the additional ingredients you will need. This eliminates wasted time spent browsing through recipes to determine whether or not a recipe is right for you.

You can be a Super Cook, too. Check out the “my kitchen” area. You can sign up for free, and store the ingredients that you normally have on hand. This is such an easy and excellent way to come up with something new… without having to go to the store.

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What are you Having for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner?

Garlic Recipes

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:45:02 +0000

Garlic Recipes

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I love garlic. Face it, garlic is one of the cheapest and easiest ways (not to mention yummiest!) to season foods of all kinds. Here are several different uses for garlic.

Within pasta dishes, when no sauce is readily available and you’re limited on the food thats in the house, try adding minced garlic to pasta. Use with salt and pepper and a knob of butter, and although a little dry, the pasta will be far more edible than if eaten unflavored.
On foods using cheese, it might sound stupid and ridiculous, but when garlic and cheese are combined the outcome is generally well received, toast or crackers that have been rubbed with garlic before hand and then had cheese applied are a nice change.
On pizza, when a person thinks of ordering a takeaway, a pizza is usually thought of (at least in this household). The majority of peoplethink of margarita, either with or without pepperoni, when garlic is added it brings a whole new outlook on the pizza itself, and is always very well enjoyed by most who eat it.
In bread, (when I say in bread I in no way mean the typically thought of garlic bread which is must like thick toast with garlic butter on the top), I mean freshly baked bread which has had minced or lazy garlic mixed right into the dough. this kind of bread makes for very interesting sandwiches, toast, and even croutons.
In mashed potatoes, I always get a mixed response to this, some people say ‘well what the hell are you doing that for’ and some people say ‘ohh thats a great idea’. I live in Sheffield England, and every Sunday we have the typical British sunday dinner. I always prepare my Yorkshire puddings, mashed potatoes and stuffing with garlic. of course, I have no meat or gravy so I am forced to produce some interesting flavors on the dish, and garlic certainly is one of the better ones. I know I for one can’t have mashed potatoes without garlic puree any more. I am a self confessed garlic addict.

Here are some additional tips, when cooking with Garlic:

Pasta w/garlic and butter and add white wine
Don’t burn your garlic, it’ll make it taste awful.
Only cook garlic long enough until you can smell it.
Fresh Garlic ftw: don’t use powdered.
Roasted Garlic Mashed potatoes for the win!
Margarita style Pizza – chesse pizza in the USA.

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Garlic Recipes

How to Cook at Home

Chris Pirillo — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 02:45:53 +0000

How to Cook at Home

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Here are some tips sent in by Michael, who works as a Culinary Chef. They are designed to help make cooking at home easier for you, and more enjoyable!

Read the recipe. Use it as guideline… not merely as a set of instructions. Most recipe books will give you only general instructions about the exact method they used to create the item pictured or described. I have come across many instances where certain measurements have been left out or a complete step altogether. While this may be frustrating please remember that trying new recopies is an adventure into new tastes and new cooking techniques. Though I wouldn’t suggest this with time-tested family recipes handed down though out the years.
“mise en place”, A French cooking term for “to put in place”. This is a basic cooking term that means be prepared. Have a clean working area, have the correct utensils ready, have the correct ingredients, etc. Set yourself up for success. There is nothing worse than finding out you don’t have a crucial part of your recipe while in the midst of cooking and having to run to the local vendor to get it. Think ahead before you begin.
Know your knife. This is fundamental for safety. Have a sharp knife! While it is a potentially dangerous tool it is not as dangerous as a dull knife. A well kept blade will easily slice, while a dull one will force you to put more pressure on the blade and may result a cut or even a trip to the hospital. In general if you want to buy a good kitchen knife that is relatively safe and wont dull I would suggest one with a serrated edge, or a high end forged blade.
Get to know your appliances. What type of stove top range do you have? Gas or Electric? Convection oven or standard? Hopefully you have had the opportunity to know that not every stove top and oven distribute heat the same way. While a gas burning device is the best for conductivity an electric or ceramic range top can work just as well, just differently. Microwaves if you use them, look for one with a variety of settings and high wattage. Any other kitchen gadgets you may wish to own (mixers, food processors, i.e.) try buy the best that you can afford and go with a reputable brand. Quality is King. And If in doubt: always read the manual.
Teflon(non stick)-vs-Metal pots and Pans. If you aren’t aware of this already please, and I mean please for the love of all that is holy do not use a metal utensils on a non stick pan! This is akin to scratching your fingernails on chalkboard only that you would rip off part of the chalkboard itself. Use either a heat tempered plastic or rubber utensil with non-stick pans. I may also add that if you get a non-stick pan too hot it will degrade the coating. Culinary professionals use metal pots and pans for 90% of their use and only use non stick pans for delicate items like eggs or crepes.

BONUS TIP!!!!
Experiment a little. Say you try a new recipe and you didn’t like a certain ingredient. Can you think of something that you would like to replace it with. Maybe you didn’t like the texture or didn’t like the method that it was cooked under. Well be free to take the liberty to create your own version of that particular dish. This is what cooking is all about. Practice, and you will find out you can satisfy your own taste buds.

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How to Cook at Home