Mark Bittman’s iPhone Application Makes Cooking and Grocery Shopping Pal

Posted on Sunday, 11 April | Comments

Mark Bittman’s kitchen tome, How To Cook Everything, was recently released as an app for the iPhone, and I downloaded it this afternoon. The app has the entire contents of the book: 2,000 recipes and 400 illustrations, plus a bunch of other stuff. The app is incredible (iTunes). Although the database of recipes, tips, and articles robust, it’s the way in which the app walks you through every step (from buying groceries to cooking) that makes this app really conducive and helpful. The best part - however - was how easy it makes grocery shopping. Just select the recipe you want to cook, and it provides a comprehensive grocery list with check boxes and everything. I hate the grocery store (especially the one near my apartment - “D’Agostino’s”, which I appropriately call “G’AGostino’s” - but I digress); this app make it bearable. The grocery list feature is great. Here are some screenshots: The app costs $1.99, and it was well worth every cent. It’s a very popular app; here are what some people are saying:

This may seem like a bargain not to believed — all of How to Cook Everything (and then some), for less than 10 percent of the price. Indeed, according to the App Store HQ, it’s a limited-time offer, so…don’t be late for dinner, folks. As of this morning, Bittman himself had not yet downloaded it. “I was just going to plug in my phone and get on that!” he laughed. “Listen, my real hope is that this app will attract hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of new people to cooking for themselves.” - Slashfood Mark Bittman’s longtime kitchen favorite, “How To Cook Everything,” has just been released as an app for the iPhone and iTouch (and will run on the iPad too). The app has the entire contents of the print volume: 2,000 recipes and 400 illustrations, plus a bunch of other stuff. - Huffington Post Read Bittman’s columns in The New York Times on your phone if you don’t want to spend $1.99. Or get a bungee cord for your book and try hauling it around. - LA Weekly: Squid Ink It lacks a good conversion tool for weights and measures. There is neither a basic table for sorting out how many ounces are in a quart, nor more sophisticated functionality for converting measurements from volume to weight or the U.S. standard system to metric. In a subsequent conversation with Mark Douglas at the online food magazine Culinate (which collaborated on production of the app with Bittman and publisher John Wiley & Sons, I was informed that these will likely be added in future software update. Also coming up is interactive functionality that will allow app owners to upload their own food photos into the app and view images taken by others. - The Food Section

This is hard to pass up — the Mark Bittman ouvre, How to Cook Everything, which is $21 and change over at Amazon, for the bargain basement price of $1.99 in an iPhone app — that is, if you’ve already spent hundreds on the iPhone itself. - Chew Wise