We live in a very technologically advanced age so it seems fitting that I tell you about some of my favourite smartphone and tablet apps. As well as recipes from some of the nation’s best loved chefs there is also a cheeky little app for those days when you don’t want to stay in cook and would rather eat out and let someone else worry about the preparation and clean-up.
Epicurious
This is a free app for android devices, iPhones and iPads and allows you to search through up to 27000 recipes. It comes from the popular Epicurious.com and is very easy to use. You either search by dietary restriction, protein, ingredients, season or cuisine. I prefer to use it on my iPad because it looks much better on the bigger screen and feels like a normal cookbook.
Foodspotting
This is known as the food lover’s ultimate guide to restaurants and with good reason. It is socially interactive and lists users recommendations of the best dishes in the best restaurants and eateries found in your local area. If you come across a meal that you particularly love then you can take a picture of it and upload it to share with the other Foodspotters. Best of all it is free and available for Blackberry, Android, iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone.
How To Cook Everything
Mark Bittman the New York Times columnist and renowned food writer has really revolutionised the world of digital cookbooks with this app. It comes with 2000 recipes, 400 illustrations and many special features suitable for all budding chefs and cooks. It is easy to use and it made for iPod Touch and iPhone, but the iPad version is my favourite. As well as a notes tab with every recipe, it also includes voiceovers by Bittman, step-by-step tutorials and a built-in timer.
Michel Roux Jr., Fine Dining with The Master Chef
Fans of Masterchef The Professionals will love this app as much as I do. It takes users into his kitchen and is the perfect at home guide for recreating 67 of the world famous chef’s favourite dishes. It features 6 videos comprising to cook along with and very detailed sample menus from all of Roux’s 3 restaurants. All the recipes are handily organised into different sections such as puddings, meat, fish, bread and salads and all come with beautiful photographs. A great feature is that there are wine pairings for the recipes. Although it costs £4.99 it is more than worth it.
Appetites
This is an app that allows you to interactively cook along with famous chefs to cook great recipes following step by step video classes. It features an HD version of the videos, starter guides and specialised holiday packs.
Gordon Ramsay Cook With Me
If you are a fan of Gordon, you’ll love this app. Gordon helps you out as you cook along with him, minus the famous yelling and swearing. It includes 56 videos in high quality and you can filter recipes by difficulty, ingredients and season or by how long it takes to cook. It also includes Gordon’s 101 tips in 10 video clips. It is available for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
So there you have it – my top 7 kitchen apps for the tech-savvy chef! With these apps you’ll be able to cook like a professional, learn new recipes and share your culinary creations with the world. Enjoy! And remember: happy cooking!