Whether you’re a chef, or just enjoy cooking some delicious meals — you might want to divert your attention to YummySoup! for a while, which is a cookbook app for your Mac. But how, exactly, does a cookbook app work? It’s quite simple: you just gather and store some delicious recipes for fast and easy access when needed. And if you know how to use iTunes, you’ll be able to easily use YummySoup! thanks to its similar user interface.
Also, keep on reading, because we have three licenses to give out for this app.
As mentioned above, the interface in YummySoup! is very similar to iTunes’ and countless other Mac apps — making it very easy to navigate. The recipes can be stored in folders or smart folders for easy navigation, and these recipes can even be rated pretty much like songs in iTunes, along with a preparation difficulty bar and cooking time.
You can manually input these recipes into the app, or download them from internet using sources like the food network. But since the app has an auto-downloading option, you can just set it up to the website (the developer’s recipe server), and will download by itself the latest recipes available for your enjoyment. You can also contribute some recipes to the developer’s server for everyone else to enjoy via the publish button.
Once you have the recipes stored, you can view them directly on the Mac, even in a Front Row-style full screen. But since most of us don’t have Macs in the kitchen (or fear placing them there!), you can easily print them out. Then, perhaps you create your own specialized binder. Also, just as easily you can email these delicious recipes to someone dear (or awful ones to your enemy!).
An interesting feature is the grocery list, where you can create one by selecting an ingredient from a drop down bar (all the ingredients from all the recipes appear there), or via the search box. Once they have been added, select the measurement and amount needed. The grocery list can be printed or emailed, too. The disappointment is that you cannot choose an existing recipe for allowing the list to update itself with the necessary ingredients.
UPDATE: The author of the app has clarified this for me — you can easily add a recipe’s ingredients to a grocery list just by right-clicking it into the desired list. Thanks for clearing it up, Ken.
These kind of apps require an excellent way to navigate just using the keyboard. All the keyboard does by itself within the app is go up and down on the recipe list — there’s no way to switch recipe folders or sources by just using the keyboard. Some of you may be thinking in what’s wrong with that. Well, let’s say someone decides to take a Mac into the kitchen — will you prefer keyboard navigation, or take the heat and use both a keyboard and mouse when cooking?
Even though it may not be perfect, it’s one of the best Mac cooking solutions out there — the price is pretty reasonable, too, at $20. In a few words, this app’s pretty good for any Mac-wielding, cooking enthusiasts out there — myself included. Now let’s see how the next version will improve on everything.
Extra! HungrySeacow Software has donated three licenses of YummySoup! to randomly give out to Mac Recon readers. All you have to do for entering is to post a thoughtful comment about the app, and the three winners will be chosen this Friday at random. Good luck! Giveaway is now closed.
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[tags]Apple,Mac,Software[/tags]
Michael on March 13th, 2007 at 10:13 am says:
Oh man, I would love a copy of this software. I love to cook new crazy foods that I’ve never cooked before, and typically, I’ll search through foodtv.com and a couple of other sites to find out generally what is going on in each dish, then go into the kitchen and make up my own recipe. I see recipes as more of a map than actual directions. One way of getting from point A (a grip of raw meat) to point B (a rediculously delicious and perfectly cooked lambchop) This would be fantastic for quickly checking a couple of recipes and then using the full screen mode (with the lappy safely away from a sputtering tomato or bechamel sauce) to check back on the ‘greids.
Arjun Muralidharan on March 13th, 2007 at 10:44 am says:
As a student, I could really use this app. Figuring out what to eat can be a tedious task, and help is always welcome.
While there aren’t any other really good options out there (I know of), and after the MyDreamApp idea of a Mac Recipe manager was scrapped, this seems to be the benchmark of it right now. I would appreciate if they did more with the meta-data of a recipe, a computerised way of meal planning according to nutritional data would be a huge step forward for many of us.
Travis on March 13th, 2007 at 8:01 pm says:
I have, strangely, been looking for something like this.
Yasir Faheem on March 14th, 2007 at 2:01 am says:
WOW! I love this program! Having this I could rely more on myself then fast food!
Ankur on March 14th, 2007 at 7:33 am says:
The developer has done a nice job with the interface. It seems like a cross between the iTunes and NetNewWire interfaces.
The features to auto download / upload recipes is also a great idea.
This reminds me of Connoisseur, another recipe app, though in terms of UI, this does seem to be more… aesthetically pleasing?
Galley on March 14th, 2007 at 9:11 am says:
While I have no desire to cook anything, (ever), this does look like a very nicely-designed app. Good luck to them.
Scott on March 14th, 2007 at 11:06 am says:
I am a big fan of the iTunes layout. Being able to rate, categorize and search your recipes is really all the user needs. Adding the grocery list features - brilliant. I will wait until Friday before purchasing a license (in case I win) but am definitely interested in the product.
Frank on March 16th, 2007 at 7:53 am says:
The giveaway has ended. All comments posted after this will no longer be eligible for it. You can view the winners here.
Good luck!