That’s a Spicy iPhone: The Quad Tests Cooking Apps

Downloaded Apps
Downloaded Apps
Isn't my wallpaper cool? | Screenshot from Allan's phone.

     Forewarning: if you are stuck in a kitchen-less BU dorm, this article is not for you. This article is for everyone lucky enough to have access to a sink, an oven/stove-top, a refrigerator, enough money to go grocery shopping, an expensive superphone, and unlucky enough to have no idea how to cook anything (like me).

I downloaded “Whole Foods Market Recipes“, “170,000+ – BigOven“, “AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner“, “Epicurious Recipes and Shopping List“, and “Trufflehead” hoping they would provide me with the resources to host a dinner party. Turns out they did, but the one resource they couldn’t provide me with were friends so it was a total flop.

“Whole Foods Market Recipes” searches for recipes based on courses, categories, and special dietary restrictions. The special diets option was awesome, and no other app I used had it. Trust me, being able to filter recipes to cook for a vegan was mega-helpful, especially since I’m surrounded by aggressively vegan college students all the time (even though I may have messed up the dishes and de-veganized them anyway, but that’s besides the point).

“170,000+ – BigOven” was okay. It was pretty, but difficult to navigate. The name of this app might be a lie. I didn’t count so they could totally be lying about that 170,000+ recipe thing; take it with a grain of salt. Coincidentally, a grain was the exact amount of salt I used because I cooked meringues with this app, which turned out fine. I actually have it on good authority that this app provides access to way more than 170,000 recipes, just as it claims. I didn’t even know that many recipes had been invented! Then again, I really only eat pizza and ice cream so I’m not the most knowledgable with these sorts of things.

“AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner”, despite the lame name, was actually the best app I used—despite the weird texture it gave to the quinoa I cooked, that dish turned out delicious. Then again, everyone loves quinoa so that’s not surprising.

“Trufflehead,” an app aided by a significant number of BU grads, was surprisingly helpful despite my suspicious that the interface is an homage to Problem Solverz.

This is all I have to say about “Epicurious Recipes and Shopping List”: I’m sure the recipes are great (mine was grabbed from Gourmet magazine), but you’d never know because the shopping list sucks.

My plan was this: using these apps I would plan a dinner, shop for ingredients, and cook according to the instructions they provided.

Allrecipes app
Quinoa! Quinoa! | Screenshot from Allan's phone.

I loved the Allrecipies app because decision making intimidates me and I didn’t even have to pick what food to make. I picked the categories I wanted (prep time, main ingredient, meal type) and out came a list of recipes that met the critera. The simplicity of the app is only upset by the sheer simplicity of whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com, but is less vulgar if you can’t stomach it. Perfect for children! Though, it didn’t let me make a shopping list.

BigOven
Well this is just beautiful. | Screenshot from Allan's phone.

While it may have less recipes than Allrecipes, the 170,000+ app claims to have almost as many. It let me search for a meal by name, ingredients, or type, and seemed pretty powerful. Besides searching for a dish I couldn’t do much else; the rest of it is only usable upon registering to the BigOven website. I couldn’t make a shopping list or save a recipe as a favorite without creating an account. LAME. I just want to use your app, I don’t want you spamming my email with “Weekly Updates of Hot New recipes”. Let’s get on the ball, here. C’mon guys. Without registering this is just one crap app.

Whole Foods
"Luxury groceries" is an absurdity I cannot accept. | Screenshot from Allan's phone.

The Whole Foods app turned up barely any good results, and they all sounded gross. For instance, it suggested I make a salad using black eyed peas. I hate the Black Eyed Peas! Plus, the shopping list almost dictates your shopping at Whole Foods, and if you’re a BU student, you’re not shopping at Whole Foods for two reasons: 1) they’re all too far away (the closest one I know of is next to the Berklee campus), 2) you’re not a yuppie (I hate yuppies). So I just stopped using it. I may sound like a snob, but so are people who shop at Whole Foods.

Trufflehead
GOOD LORD MY EYES! | Screenshot from Allan's phone.

Trufflehead, despite being less-than-aesthetically pleasing and slow and suggesting I make a salad with avocado (seriously, have you ever paid $4 more for a salad than you should? It’s because they threw avocado on it. It’s a total California thing and messes up flavors so just don’t even get involved with an avocado if you’re not making guacamole) was the closest to a real cookbook. It gave a list of the necessary kitchen tools and taught how to prepare the foods the way the recipe asked, a challenge to some. This app can stand in for my crazy, awful highschool Cooking 101 teacher who forced the class to watch Mrs. Doubtfire while reciting all the lines under her breath (true story), an excellent feature not found anywhere else.

Epicurious
Epicurious's shopping list of lies. | Screenshot from Allan's phone.

Epicurious was alright. I’ll get to it in a second.

So I went shopping with the apps that had good recipes and provided grocery lists (Trufflehead, Epicurious), while writing the AllRecipes list by hand because it didn’t have a grocery list but did have a nice recipe for quinoa and let me reiterate just how great quinoa is. So I went and bought all my ingredients just as the apps directed.

Here’s where Epicurious was really great: it provided the only shopping list where I could check off items as I found them. What a stress reliever while shopping and also what a common feature that all those other apps should’ve had, c’mon guys. And here’s where Epicurious was really awful: I picked a cheesecake recipe, added it to my shopping list, and not only were some items duplicated but all the ingredients for the graham cracker crust weren’t even on my list so I got ready to bake a pretty cake but had no crust so I couldn’t. Essentially, Epicurious cakeblocked me, so I hate it.

But on the other hand, AllRecipes and Trufflehead both worked out great. These two get my seal of approval. AllRecipes is free, while Trufflehead is $1.99, but don’t let that small cost dissuade you because it’s less than a watered-down coffee at the Einstein Bros. Bagels in the basement of CAS and is worth it tenfold. The recipes also led to great dishes according to everyone I cooked for, unless they were just humoring me which I wouldn’t doubt because I don’t trust anyone.

About Allan Lasser

Allan Lasser is a CAS senior double majoring in Computer Science and American Studies. He publishes The Quad, but that doesn't mean you can send him angry/solicitous emails.

View all posts by Allan Lasser →

6 Comments on “That’s a Spicy iPhone: The Quad Tests Cooking Apps”

  1. Hello, Allan. Glad you found Trufflehead useful.

    One heads up: Trufflehead does allow you to check off grocery items as you find them. If you tap an item in the shopping list, you can cross it out (a line goes through it and the item sort of greys out) so you know it’s in your basket.

    Just thought you’d like to know…

    Deborah Chud
    Trufflehead founder

  2. Allan, thanks for mentioning BigOven in your roundup.

    But as the CEO and founder, I can GUARANTEE you are 100% off base with your unsupported musing “it might be a lie”.

    We definitely have 170,000+ recipes accessible via the app.
    In fact, at this writing, we are crossing 200,000 recipes on BigOven and accessible via the free app.

    I’m sorry you found the app difficult to navigate. Can you be more specific? To find a recipe, click “Recipes” then “Find a recipe”. You can search by keywords and more.

    – Steve Murch
    CEO

  3. By the way, to test the veracity of our claim (170,000+ recipes), please visit http://www.bigoven.com and hit simply Enter (no keyword in search).

    You’ll see approximately 200,000 recipes are returned. Feel free to access any one of the pages, and you’ll see recipe results. Or, do a broad search like “chicken” and you’ll see thousands and thousands of results.

    So, we hope you either update your speculation or retract it. The claim is accurate.

    – Steve Murch
    CEO, BigOven.com
    voted “Best Recipe App”, Readers Choice, About.com

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