The Gannet

Superbowl science snacks

This weekend is Superbowl Weekend in the States, when most citizens (regardless of their interest in football) will gather around the television to (a) watch the Pittsburgh Steelers battle it out with the Arizona Cardinals, and (b) gorge themselves on beer, chicken wings, beer, burgers, beer, hot dogs, pizza, beer, nachos and more beer.  Typical Superbowl fare is high in fat, low in subtlety, and can be devoured using one hand (the other is reserved at all times for... yes, beer).   Wired magazine's Wired Science editors asked America's leading molecular gastronomists (British: Heston Blumenthal) to come up with their own take on Superbowl fare.   The resulting recipes including Pizza Pebbles, Puffed Sauerkraut, and Beer Ice Cream With Pretzel Crust, and read more like chemistry lessons than a cookery lesson, but the ingenuity and the accompanying photographs - are much admired by The Gannet.

Recipe Software for Macs

  Neiman Marcus Recipe Computer 
  Originally uploaded by lilia_ahner

I have been frustrated recently in my efforts to find the perfect cook's software to run on Mac OS X.  My criteria isn't that demanding (so I thought). I have been looking for a programme that:

• Easily imports and categorises recipes.
• Has a menu planning facility.
• Creates shopping lists based on menus.

There seems to be maybe a dozen recipe and menu packages for Mac out there.  A few of them do all three of the above.  But what I found was there are very few that do it well.  This is when I should start to admit that my criteria is, actually, a bit more demanding than I thought.  As I've spent so much bloody time trying to find the perfect package, I thought I'd share my research here.  Maybe one of you knows of a programme that I haven't found yet.  Or maybe this will save you some time and money. I've listed each programme and a list of criteria (demanding - me?) that I used to evaluate them.  I actually made a spreadsheet and compared the features and cost of them all.  I am my father's daughter, after all!

Mac Gourmet (version 2.1.4)

• Cost: $24.95 /free 20 session trial
• User interface/presentation: 9 out of 10. Great OSX look, customisable with a choice of seven 'skins' and a variety of colours.  Chefs view for anyone crazy enough to have a computer in the kitchen.
• Importing/adding new recipes: Easy import wizard integrates with Services menu to make internet import easy, text importer works just as well.
• Adding photo/illustration to recipes: Yes and they are displayed at a decent size. 
• Recipe scaling: Yes
• Metric/US switching: Yes 
• Dietary information: Space to add your own if you have it.
• Menu Planner: No.
• Shopping List: Yes, but pretty basic. Combines ingredients but doesn't sort them.  Takes several steps to add new recipes.
• Notes: I had high hopes for Mac Gourmet because it looks so good and the import wizard is slick, but the lack of a menu planner and the rudimentary shopping list let it down.