Greatest food and cooking websites

[OahuAmateurChef]

What food and cooking websites are most dear to you? Which web sites do you check on a regular basis and that you pride in being a source of your culinary talent?

For me, I only stick to a few. Hopefully this thread will expand those horizons.

I love foodnetwork. Great place for recipes after watching the demonstrations on TV.

No need to link this forum, but I am rapidly growing in love with it as a way to ask those cooking questions that my girlfriend or parents don't know the answer to.

I also like looking for recipes at cooks.com and recipezaar.com. Sometimes you get a gem of a recipe, sometimes a dud.

I've been watching TopChef every week. I also browse the blogs here.

So how about it? What links do you love?

[Stephanie Brim]

I'm partial to blogging and I do it myself, but I need to find some good food blogs. Perhaps this thread would help me find some.

Believe it or not, http://emerils.com is a good place to find recipes as well.

I've been watching TopChef every week. I also browse the blogs here.

I also watch it. I'm currently waiting to see if any of these guys redeem themselves. This season has been a disappointment for the most part in the food category, at least to me. In the episode where they had to do a tasting menu for a party of 60, I have no clue what Josie and Marisa thought when they decided to do that 'refresher'. So, so many things were in that walk-in that they could have used. There was duck confit for the love of... It just irks me that they continually seem to be making choices that make no sense whatsoever.

Then there's the episode with Bourdain. The Thanksgiving dinner episode. I'm still recovering from my "what in GOD'S good name are you doing" thoughts. Cutting edge. I understand that Elia was a bit off her game that episode and so did they. I kind of get where Michael was coming from with his three starches, and I'm glad they gave him the credit he deserved on that amuse-bouche he pulled out at the beginning, but the cheese plate at the end of the meal made no sense. As to Marcel...I'm still shaking my head over the fact that he didn't go with roasting the roulade instead of trying to do a sous vide. Without the proper tools it would of course be hard to pull that dish off...which is why he should have modified his idea slightly instead of complaining to the judges about the lack of an immersion circulator. Tony was great at putting them all in their places. I'd give anything to have him eat my food and do the same thing to me. Seemed to be a bit of a wake up call for some of them. They needed it. I think we all do once in a while.

Oh, and I'm not saying that I could do better than them under those conditions. I'd be too nervous to do anything most likely. They just seem to be making some very elementary mistakes that they shouldn't be making at this point. They also need to exhibit more teamwork. I know that it's a contest, but working together at this point and making it truly hard for the judges would show people that they have what it takes to be the Top Chef.

But anyway, to get back on topic, I've been needing some good culinary blogs to browse through. The Top Chef blogs are great and I have a feeling that they'll be getting some trackbacks from me soon.

[Suzanne]

Really, now, what do you expect me to say? The best site, bar none, is this one!

Seriously, though, I've been a member of various food discussion boards, and this is the only one that had retained its sense of community throughout all the years. Others were too ego-driven, or money-driven, or just got too unpleasant to post on. I'm still on others that have their ups and downs, some only for industry professionals (not the general public).

[chrose]

I'm with Suzanne on this one. I don't really bother with other boards. Maybe if I need something quick I'll do a search otherwise I have a fairly extensive library that keeps me filled with info.

[Mezzaluna]

I've flitted to other boards trying to make sure I get a broad perspective on things. I'm always amazed at how many recipe boards are out there that feature dishes made with canned soup and other highly-processed foods. I've even noticed that some of the recipes are cut-and-pasted from other similar sites. Sooner than later they'll all be focusing on the same 25 recipes that contain a can of mushroom soup or a "seasoning packet" of some type.

There are exceptions, to be sure-SlowFood.com is one that comes quickly to mind. I also find good food and recipe chatter on the recipes forum at SlowTalk.com (the message board from SlowTravel- not affiliated with SlowFood).

But nowhere else can I get cheerful, patient help with how to make a good chocolate truffle tart from a pastry chef; or down-to-earth advice on choosing good knives from someone who isn't selling them; or talk with another home cook from Hawaii, the Netherlands or Singapore.

[cakerookie]

I go to other boards but to be honest when I have a food question it goes here. Been here long eough to know that the people here know their stuff and I trust the advice I get here completely. I may go to other boards but Cheftalk is my favorite always has been and always will be!

Rgds Rook

[aguynamedrobert]

Hum.....well I have many that I like to go on but of course I am biased and I choose MINE lol www.chocolateguild.com/vb
But I am a chocolate man and like to chat with people that like chocolate as well...I do like this forum though as well...I am on it a lot

Robert
www.chocolateguild.com/vb

[kuan]

Cheftalk rocks! Me too, I've been around and I always come back here.

[blisstone]

I think that I circulate between theese sites.

This one of course, Chocolate and Zuchini, À la carte, Bon Appetit. Last week I dicovered that wikipedia has a cooking section so I am going to probably checkk it out for a while to see if its a good reference tool.

Bliss

[mredikop]

Lately I am a big fan-boy of Todd English so I have been spending tons of time reading through his recipes. I also like All Recipes, Epicurious, Food and Wine, Leite's Culinaria, Chef Talk and Food Network

[castironchef]

google

Seriously, it's the first place I go when I wish to research a food, a recipe or a technique. Never been disappointed.

Well, once. In his two-part book "The Kitchen and The Cook," Nicolas Freeling mentions a mad German cook with a "fleischklobber," which he describes as a large, flat meat pounder. I've yet to find an i'net mention of such a beast, at least by that or any similar name I've tried.

[aguynamedrobert]

Now does everybody like more of the Recipe type websites or do you like to Forum type websites? I am a forum fan myself...

Robert
www.chocolateguild.com

[Dr. Zoidberg]

they've already mentioned recipezaar.com, Allrecipes.com, foodnetwork.com. This one is one of my absolute favs...

[Suzanne]

Oh, yeah -- Leite's Culinaria is a great one! And I say that not just because he's a friend. Great content, great look, and he follows all the rules about getting permissions, etc.

For discussion boards, I've followed the progression of the old Chowhound to eGullet back when it was a dot-com, to Mouthfuls. Each is its own particular type of community. ChefTalk is the one that has stayed constant.

Frankly, I don't follow the blogs -- no time to look at everything out there! But I can probably come up with a few I think are worthwhile.

[mredikop]

Originally Posted by Suzanne

Oh, yeah -- Leite's Culinaria is a great one! And I say that not just because he's a friend.

You know David Leite? That's awesome! I have spoken with him on the phone and they bought some aprons from us with their logo on them for sale on the site. I think he is very clever and talented in his writing.

I also like to look through the archives on the Chefwear website from Featured Chef submissions.