This month we rounded up some of the best cooking sites on the Internet. Whether you’re serious about your food, just like to play, or find yourself looking for something totally new and different, you’ll be tempted by these top websites - presented in no particular order. Find your own favorite!
#1 - Serious Eats
This site features gorgeous photography and daily updates. You’ll love it not only for the recipes, but also the latest food news, entertainment, and commentary. There are also restaurant reviews from all over the world. And those of you serious about food will want to join the community, where members start their own discussions and chew the fat with fellow serious eaters.
In their words:
Serious Eats is a website focused on celebrating and sharing food enthusiasm through blogs and online community. Our unique combination of community and content brings together the distinctive voices of food bloggers, compelling original and acquired food video, and spirited, inclusive, conversations about all things food- and drink-related.
#2 - Cooking With Amy
Proof that a foodie blog doesn’t have to be fancy, this cooking website features a simple layout to showcase the awesome west coast flavor. Based in San Francisco, Amy Sherman publishes recipes, restaurant and product reviews, contests, essays and insight into culinary news. As the author of the Williams Sonoma New Flavors for Appetizers book, she knows what she’s talking about.
#3 - Bitten
Mark Bittman, the author of How to Cook Everything writes this New York Times food blog. And if you want to cook everything, this is the site for you. Here’s you’ll find recipes and tips from the very basic to the ultra gourmet. The site also echoes the sentiments of Bittmans new book, Food Matters, which examines a look at the intersection of diet, personal and planetary health.
#4 - Slashfood
This AOL site features multiple bloggers with multiple daily stories. This results in an amazing array of perspectives, recipes, and stories. There are literally thousands of posts to peruse. Whatever you’re looking for, you can find something about it on Slashfood.
#5 - Smitten Kitchen
Self described as ‘fearless cooking from a tiny kitchen in New York City’, the Smitten Kitchen could turn even the most 7/die hard kitchen hater into a foodie. It’s that good. Not only are the recipes fresh and simple, but the step-by-step photos are so tempting you are almost pulled into the kitchen against your will. Whoever writes this blog not only can cook, but also write, and take amazing photographs.
In the words of the smitten:
What you’ll see here is: A lot of comfort foods stepped up a bit, things like bread and birthday cakes made entirely from scratch and tutorials on everything from how to poach an egg to how to make tart doughs that don’t shrink up on you, but also a favorite side dish (zucchini and almonds) that takes less than five minutes to make.
What we’re wary of is: Excessively fussy foods and/or pretentious ingredients. We don’t do truffle oil, Himalayan pink salt at $10 per quarter-ounce or single-origin chocolate that can only be found though Posh Nosh-approved purveyors. We think food should be accessible, and are certain that you don’t need any of these things to cook fantastically.
#6 - 101 Cookbooks
101 Cookbooks is written by a true food lover - someone with over 100 cookbooks - who decided it was time to stop buying, and start cooking. This site chronicles a cookbook collection, one recipe at a time. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Every time I try to methodically go through my cookbooks, trying new things, I get to about page three.
I think a lot of us can relate :
101 Cookbooks started in early 2003 when I looked up at my huge cookbook collection one afternoon and realized that instead of exploring the different books in my collection - I was cooking the same recipes over and over. I seemed to buy a new cookbook every time I stepped out the front door - always with good intentions. I would regularly go through my collection of books and magazines and carefully tag each recipe that piqued my interest. I ended up with shelves full of books brimming with Post-it notes and drawers full of recipes clipped from my favorite magazines - neatly organized by course, flavor, region, or ingredient.
#7 - Chocolate & Zucchini
Clotilde Dusoulier is French and loves tilapia - what’s not to like? Just spending time on this site makes you feel a little more chic. The author says that ‘chocolate and zucchini’ is a metaphor for her cooking style. The zucchini stands for health and freshness - the chocolate for sweets. She’s even found ways to incorporate the two together in both sweet and savory recipes.
In her words:
The blog was created in September of 2003 as an outlet for someone who feared her friends might tire of hearing about what she cooked/ate/baked/bought, though they didn’t seem to have a problem with being fed dinner. One thing led to another, a bit of media attention was received, articles were submitted to and published by newspapers and magazines, a book deal was signed, a dayjob was quit, and a new life as a full-time food writer began.
Okay - I apologize if I’ve completely distracted you from whatever worthwhile thing you had been doing before. But cruising cooking sites is worthy too! Especially if you actually get in the kitchen afterwards and dish up something delicious.
Bon Apetit!
PS - Don’t forget to come back and let us know which were your favorites!
