Friday iFAQ: MacGourmet
Every Friday we publish a list of inFrequently Answered Questions and answers to help you, the Crazy Apple user, get more out of your Crazy Apple products.
This week: Mariner Software’s most non-baseball-related program: MacGourmet.
Q: I really want to learn to cook Julia Child.
A: You mean cook like Julia Child.
Q: No, no. I said it right.
A: Next!
Q: I have many hundreds of recipes. But I also have the worst memory.
A: What makes you say that?
Q: What makes me say what? No, only kidding. Seriously. I’ll make some awesome soup–
A: Mmmmmmm…. Sooooup…. Gaaaaaahhhhhh….
Q: Focus!
A: Hmm, yes, sorry. So, you make some awesome, delicious, wholesome, soul-warming, thick and tasty potato soup with bacon and chives…
Q: Hey! No, I usually make vegetable soup or minestrone. And it’ll turn out well, but two weeks later I don’t remember what I did and I have to make up the recipe from scratch.
A: Well, I have the answer to all your problems, friend! Try MacGourmet! Not only does it store, categorize, and allow you to publish your recipes to the web1, but it also calculates nutritional data for all your chowders, consommés, mulligatawnies, minestrone, noodle soups, rice soups, stews, broths, cream soups…
Q: And casseroles!
A: Wha? Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, if you can call a casserole cooking.
Q: I can and do, my friend.
A: You know what casserole is? It’s soup gone wrong. It’s lazy soup. It’s soup without the love. Casserole, bah!
Q: Will MacGourmet help me categorize my casseroles?
A: Sure! Sure! Why not? Do whatever you like! I suppose you can store your favorite recipe for rat poison in there too, but that doesn’t make it right.
Q: What about roasts? Are you okay with roasts?
A: With gravy?
Q: Yes.
A: Carry on.
Q: So, can I use MacGourmet to keep track of my different recipes for roasts, and sort them by the person from whom I learned the recipe?
A: Yes. It’s good at things like that. And it will help you plan out your meals for the week and generate a shopping list so you can buy everything you need in one fell swoop.
Q: Hey, that’s great!
A: Yeah! so, let’s say you were going to make Arroz Caldo. It would tell you how much ginger you needed, how much rice, how much chicken, how much broth… How long to cook the rice to get it niiice and tender, but not mushy, how to delicately season the chicken…
Q: Yep!
A: How to serve the dish on a rainy day, so that it warms the soul of the person eating it…
Q: That’s just what I’ll do!
A: *sigh* Namimiss ko naman. Babalik sana ako.23
- with MobileMe account, sold separately [↩]
- Ano? Hindi ka mauronong managalog? [↩]
- What? you don’t speak Tagalog? [↩]
And with a plugin, you can publish your own cookbook. MacGourmet rocks!
What I need is software that takes a list of ingredients that I happen to have lying around the house, and tells me what tasty and nutritious meal I can make. For example: three packages of ramen, five cups of leftover caesar salad, two cans of chocolate syrup, a half pound of mozzarella, a quart of milk, a bag of corn puffs, and a pint of rum. Can MacGourmet do that? Because I really don’t want to have to go to the store this week…
Hey Ace! Check out iPhone app for Whole Foods Recipes. It has an “on hand” search feature for recipes. And–wait for it–it’s free!
Gee, thanks, Sue–I’ll check it out. I owe you one.