# asking for recipes



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I just wanted to point out something and don;t want to offend anyone because i know people mean well. But when someone asks on the forums if anyone has a recipe, it isn;t helpful to tell them to look on Google.

There is every possible crap recipe on google, and they are mixed in with very good ones. But we can assume that if someone on the forums gives a recipe, it's one they;ve tried and works. We can ask for clarification if parts of the recipe are not clear. It's an entirely different thing.

*We all know about google*, that's probably how we found the forum in the first place. 
If we wanted a random google recipe we would have looked.

Also how many people write here on these forums to say the cake or whatever they found on google came out bad? Many! Because internet is not reliable. Any idiot can post something on internet and there is more bad information than good. Here there is, at least, a little accountability, despite the screen names.

So if you don;t know a recipe someone asks for, probably someone else will. Hopefully no one will just do a google search and post a random recipe, at least not without saying how they found it and that they haven't tested it.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

And before posting any recipe it would be a good idea to review the above sticky on the use of copyrighted materials.


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## allie (Jul 21, 2006)

I have asked on many forums about a recipe for something I want to make. I can't tell you how many times I've had someone actually google a recipe for me. If I ask, it's because I don't want to waste money and time on a recipe that might not work. I have no problem with someone giving me to a link and telling me they have made the recipe before and it's a good one or someone who is more experienced than I am telling me why it will or won't work. I can google myself but have learned over the years that recipes aren't always accurate.


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## amazingrace (Jul 28, 2006)

As long as we're ranting...

It urks me no end when someone posts: "Hi, I'm a culinary student. My assignment is to make *this or that* (or a variation thereof), does anyone have a recipe?" -- in effect, asking the contributors to the forum to do his homework for him(or her). It seems to me the whole point of being in school is to learn how do it yourself, to research the ingredients and work up your own recipe! Now, those people should be sent to Google!!


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## allie (Jul 21, 2006)

I have to agree with you on that! As I tell my own school-aged children, if I wanted to do homework, I'd be in school myself. 

It also bugs me to have people posting recipes or links to recipes when they're only spamming for traffic to their own site or blog. Either contribute something useful or do what I do most of the time, read and learn and be quiet!


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I don't mind the students. I get the impression they aren't given the tools to find things themselves (that is, nobody shows them how to go about it, what is a good source, what is a bad source, etc), and who says word of mouth isn't also research. Actually, google is the last source i'd want MY students using! It's too hard to figure out what is crap and what is serious.

But i get annoyed when someone posts a specific question and gives it a title that is so generic you have to open the post to find out what it's about. The title should tell you what the question is about. Generic titles like "help" or "i have a question" annoy me. At least say Help me with a banana bread recipe or i have a question about chocolate. If i never make banana bread or am not interested in chocolate I won't open your post, and if i do or am, then i will. It saves all of us time.


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## rexxar (Jan 22, 2010)

i hate that student help topics if they haven't done any reaserch but we i'll help them out if i can 

:bounce:
:bounce::bounce:
:bounce::bounce::bounce:
i love these things


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## jock (Dec 4, 2001)

It bugs me that some people are not willing to do any kind of rsearch to find recipes and instead expect others to do it for them. 

There are dozens of good sources for recipes including the library for those on a budget.

If someone posts and says, "I have looked in a number of places for a recipe and I'm confused by the variations (or whatever) and I need help" I think that's very reasonable. But to say, in effect, "I haven't made any effort to open a book and I want you to do it for me" is annoying.


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## [email protected] (Mar 16, 2008)

Good post. Good advices so far. I hope everyone will read this....make it a sticky or something...

Personally, I do not give advice on recipes I have not tested because I am the sort of person who would pick my meat or seafood from the freezer and look at the internet for ideas. Then go to my pantry and see what I have. Even if I can substitute a certain ingredient for something else, I still will not follow a recipe to the letter because it is just me not to do it. Most of the time it turns out really well and husband and dog asks for seconds. :bounce:Yes, doggy get his share of people's dinner around here...:chef:

Besides, my husband is well trained... one word from me and he does what he wants. It works every time. But this is another story for another time....


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

It sounds like you take this as a class instead of as a social network between people who like food. If i understand what you;re saying, one should check out dozens of recipes and compare them before asking.

I, and many here, would rather ask my friends, hey, do any of you have a tried and true recipe for this? We get to know each other and most people here like food and have good ideas about what is a good recipe. 
And if you think that puts people out, then why would they bother to answer? It's not obligatory, after all. If i answer a request for a recipe i do it because i *enjoy* sharing recipes. That's the whole point of a forum as opposed to a cookbook. We participate because we like to. And if we don't like to, we just read the answers others post, and enjoy it that way. No sweat.

But in any case, saying "check on google" is not helpful. We all know google. We don't need to be reminded.

I have plenty of Italian/English dictionaries in book and internet form, but when i want to know what a word means and my Italian husband is here, i'll just ask him. It's easier, I can ask questions about his answer like about specific usage and nuance, and it's part of a relationship! Telling me "look it up" would be ridiculously didactic and I might use the dictionary to bop him on the head!


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## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

Good point and I'm with you! Thanks.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Siduri, you are hilarious. But I love your logic  Books are meant for many uses, keeping doors ajar when they want to blow closed, flattening a book you may have left outside in the rain, tossing at cats when they are clawing the furniture, occasionally- reading, but yes - best for bopping people on the head  

If a person has a problem making a recipe work for them - they should post it in detail - and state what your problem was. Someone will have a solution.

If you need a recipe for a dish - ask. But the "Google It" answer (which I'm ashamed to say I've done myself) is no solution. If you have a good, well used recipe - share if you care to.

As to the culinary students wanting homework answers - perhaps they haven't been taught how to use resources. Maybe they haven't had access to a good enough education to teach them how to research it for themselves. They've taken the trouble to find this forum - that gains a point in their favour. They've more than likely looked at many forums to find the one where they think they may find a decent answer - so we could, in reality, take that as a compliment. Sure, you'll get the odd one who is looking for someone to do their homework. I notice those posts don't get many answers.

K - lecture over and hopping off my soapbox


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Deleted...my oops


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

:lol:

Yeah, but don't get me wrong. I have tons of cookbooks, as i do every kind of book. I often read cookbooks while i have breakfast if i'm alone. I do research recipes frequently. But not everyone can afford to have good cookbooks, some are novice cooks and are making their very first wobbly steps to learn to cook something and not just heat it up (and we want to make this easy for them, right?), and many recipes are not in any of my cookbooks - which is when i, for instance, ask if anyone knows how to make a good topfenpalatschinken or eszterhaszytorte. 

I do look on google, of course, but I got fed up after scrolling through about fifty recipes for topfenpalatschinken, most of them in german, and all very different from one another. No way to know if any particular recipe is any good, has been actually tested, is full of typos or not, etc. To get a cookbook published, you have to have a certain minimum level of quality (though there are plenty of bad mistakes in published books too) and you have to pass some sort of screening by the publishers who don't want to be known for publishing bad cookbooks.

Internet, however, is a whole 'nother story! Any fool can put things on internet. You will find every sort of crap, every sort of stupid information randomly mixed in with pearls of quality. But to get the most hits, to be the first one on a google search, you need to know how to design websites, but don't need to know anything about cooking!


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

I agree with actually reading the cookbooks - it just painted a very amusing picture of you bopping your well meaning hubby on the head with one, is all.

When you brought up the topic of topfenpalatschinken I went a-googling too. Got no solid answer either - very frustrating. The 'net is a mixed blessing.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

>you have to have a certain minimum level of quality (though there are plenty of bad mistakes in published books too) and you have to pass some sort of screening by the publishers who don't want to be known for publishing bad cookbooks.<

Boy of boy, Siduri, we could argue that point. But maybe you've been lucky, and have only been exposed to cookbook publishers who maintain those standards. The fact is, though, many don't.

As to googling, I sometimes use it sarcastically. F'rinstance, one of my least favorite things is when somebody starts a post, "I've searched everywhere for X and can't find....." Uh, huh. So I google X and lo and behold, there are 7500 entries. But before doing that I search our own archives, and, wadda ya know, there are 16 threads on that very subject---including one only two posts down on the list.

I guess "everywhere" doesn't mean the same thing to everybody. 

As to the questions from students. Yeah, I share the opinion that they need to do their own homework. But I also have to wonder, given the volume of such requests that we get, exactly what is it that they're teaching in the culinary schools?


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Once a poor student was asking how to roll out pastry without using waxed paper because his teacher expected him to do it and when i asked if she hadn't shown him how, he said no. I am also a teacher (not of cooking), and i see that often colleagues have this idea about students that they're stupid, but they don't bother to teach in a way they will understand. Being in the field and knowing what i know, i generally give the student the benefit of the doubt. And if he's asking, it means he does want to know. 

Also, for term papers, I refuse to accept any references that are internet sites - only professional journals are acceptable. One of my first assignments is to analyse a random internet "article" and find the defects in it. 

Finding 7500 entries to a google search is tantamount to not finding any. How can you possibly pick one out of that mass of stuff! I do admit i have a hard time searching things on the cheftalk forums. It seems to use different criteria than google, you can't use the what do they call it, boolean method, the AND and OR and - etc. 

About the books, well yes, i have seen plenty of crap books out there, but i don't buy those. But at least someone has edited the english in most reputable publishing houses! And not all cookbooks actually get published.


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## kcz (Dec 14, 2006)

I don't find googling to be much help in finding recipes, but epicurious.com is a great resource, IMHO. At least some of the recipes have already been tested by BA or Gourmet, and the reviews and comments by previous users are extremely valuable in tweaking the recipe. I'm not usually disappointed when I use one of their recipes.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I find googling for recipes quite productive generally. Bing is supposed to have a specialized recipe search but I've not tried it.


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## jock (Dec 4, 2001)

I guess I'm outnumbered here but I still think people should make some kind of effort first. Trying something out first and then asking for advice is fine but (IMHO) looking for shortcuts is, what? I dunno, a bit presumptuous, perhaps?

I get the whole sharing thing and I know that's what this forum is about. I too enjoy sharing what knowledge of cooking I have aquired over the years. Of all my posts on this site only a handfull have been recipes shared and fewer still asking for recipes. Perhaps there's a lesson there?? I'll leave the sharing of recipes to those who have no qualms about it.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I wouldn't question your preferences. I wouldn't want to imply you should do otherwise. We each have our own reasons for posting - mine is I like to write about cooking! (Yeah, i should write a book - maybe some day).

On the whole I think I've only asked for a few specific recipes among all my hundreds of posts. But I have _given out_ dozens of actual recipes. I'm not suggesting you or anyone else should do the same. But the question is not so much whether someone should answer posts with their own recipes. Nobody obliges us to share recipes and i know many people don't like to give out recipes (many aspire to publish eventually - as do I, some just like their specialties to remain _theirs_ -fair enough), but simply that answering "did you look it up on google" is stating the obvious and if people don't like to search on google, they won't just because someone suggests they do. Moreover, as i say, coming up with 7500 recipes is practically as useless as coming up with none.

I *have* actually looked up recipes on google, with mixed results (fortunately I have enough experience i can see if a recipe has glaring defects- not so for a novice cook - but i can't tell if it has minor defects. And most recipes don't specify how _these_ corn muffins, say, are different from, _other _corn muffins, and try putting corn muffins on google and tell me how you decide which recipe to try! Now *that* would be useful information!).

I did a search a couple of years ago because i was doing my daughter's wedding cake (3 tiers, 6 layers, chocolate with chocolate raspberry ganache).

I got hundreds of sites. I chose a few that looked ok, and did many test recipes. Most were duds. Waste of good ingredients, waste of time.

I finally found a forum (i didn't know forums existed) and posted my question and got referred to the Cake Bible, I bought it and got all I needed from that and from Beranbaum's blog for specific answers to specific questions. That is a referral to a specific source. Not generically to google. It turned out to be the perfect answer.

It could also have been a specific recipe, which someone else_ had actually tried and it had actually worked_. This is useful information, what a forum is for, i think. If i had known about that forum before, I would not have wasted time on stupid random websites' recipes. How many cakes would i have had to try out before finding one that was actually good? And one that was good as a small cake may not have held up in the 100 degree heat and under the weight of 6 heavy layers!

I also wanted a recipe for corn muffins with actual corn in them. I got a good recipe from the forum, one that someone had tested, one that met the criteria i had asked for. These are the experiences that make us continue to post and enjoy the forums. But this is not an appeal to everyone to give out their recipes. On the other hand, if we wanted a random internet recipe, we would have already looked.

Ok, sorry folks, i do get wordy - see what i mean by "liking to write" - not like i don't have anything to do! off to work now...


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

_Finding 7500 entries to a google search is tantamount to not finding any. How can you possibly pick one out of that mass of stuff! _

That was merely overstating the case, Siduri, to lend dramatic hyperbole to an otherwise bald tale---or however Gilbert & Sullivan phrased it.

Besides which, nobody would wade through 7500 listings even if they were there. But the first four or five would at least provide a starting point.

The unfortunate part of googling for recipes is that most of the time they send you to recipe dump sites. And the problems with most of those are legion.

You seem to be missing my point, however. Somebody who has not used the search engines and the Cheftalk search function is a long way from having "looked everywhere." Most of the time, a request that starts that way really means, "I haven't bothered to look, cuz I depend on you people to take care of my needs."

_I got hundreds of sites. I chose a few that looked ok, and did many test recipes. Most were duds. Waste of good ingredients, waste of time._

I'm not disagreeing about the problems with the internet. But, if you haven't run into this same problem with cookbooks, then, again, you've been lucky. There are many cookbook-published recipes that do not work, or which have glaring errors of commission and ommission.

_About the books, well yes, i have seen plenty of crap books out there, but i don't buy those._

And what's your criterium in those cases? Do you actually read an entire book before buying it?

_But at least someone has edited the english in most reputable publishing houses!_

Don't hold your breath on that one. Most publishing houses, nowadays, if they even do it, farm out copyediting. And the abilities of those freelancers runs the gamut. But even among the good ones, cooking (or whatever the subject) isn't necessarily a specialty, and their editing can be far off the mark.

In my last book, my editor and I actually ignored nearly 80% of the copyeditor's suggested changes.

_And not all cookbooks actually get published. _

Just in the interests of accuracy, if it hasn't been published it's a manuscript, not a book.


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## shipscook (Jan 14, 2007)

There was a thread some time back on what makes you crazy on various forums?
The topic here was discussed along with one that really gets to me!

That is, people who post replies without reading the ones already in place--often they are repeating the same thing over and over?

A nice reply would be "I agree with so and so" or "that's the way I do it to".

Nan


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## gerdosh (Feb 4, 2010)

You are absolutely right! I avoid Google for recipe search but I have a few reasonably reliable links to recipe site--none of them great.


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## left4bread (May 8, 2009)

I didn't read any posts in this thread but the first, but 
OMG!!! saying "google it" is soooo 2005!

It's a glib thing to say. If you think the person is just being lazy and wanting you to filter search engine responses for them, by all means, call them out on it. I just think the phrase is used too often by people who don't know the answer or are just trying to belittle someone using only two words (not necessarily on this site, mind you. I mean in general). Saying "google it" to a worthless post BUMPS a worthless post. Why bring it to the top?

And I should note that I deal with computer issues a lot and google does help, but countless times I've searched a query and clicked on links leading to forums discussing my problem only to find that the response given to the poster trying to fix the same problem I am having is...
"google it"
Well, I did, and now here I am stuck in this stupid loop of googling a query with top hits that responds with "google it". It's annoying. It's breaking the internet.

Anyhow, the internet is not perfect and full of jerks like me . But better to just ignore the post. It sends a message.
/soapbox /rant
sorry, pet peeve. love you!

_EDIT:_
okay, after reading other responses I see where it is going and, sure, it's obnoxious. A quick check at the poster's thread count is a good indicator of how much effort is being used ("this is my first post and I need a really awesome spaghetti recipe"). Also, if the poster is articulate and is obviously looking for legitimate help with a recipe (what better place to come?), then "google it" is rude. 
If it's just a one sentence question from a "student" wanting crib notes, then I would think there would be a more floral and literate way to reply to their question.
I once helped someone write a book report for a book that they hadn't read. It was soooo hard to keep a straight face... They didn't know that I hadn't read the book either... catch my drift?


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## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

Come on, get off your high horse. 

"Googling it" is the future. Where else can you find 1000 ways to try someone else's version when they maybe didn't even try it themself? If bs recipes can't make the rounds, we must be prejudiced. Give the fictional recipes equal opportunity. (Just somebody else, please, and let me know how it turned out). 

I value what people here say a heck of a lot more than some anonymous copy and paster.


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## left4bread (May 8, 2009)

Actually, that's what I was trying to say.


If I missed the sarcasm in the "high horse" reference, I apologize.
If I sounded like I was on a high horse, I apologize. It wasn't a high horse, it was a soap box.


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## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

I ride a low horse. It is more a huge slug, as I'm in western Oregon. I was agreeing with you totally. Sorry that I didn't explain myself well. My last sentence was what I meant for real.  I think I'm known here as a guy who used to be pretty reasonable but flipped out. I find I have a lot of explaining to do nowadays.


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## [email protected] (Mar 16, 2008)

Searching recipes via google is fun and straightforward, well, at least according to me.... I love to do this especially when I have something in the fridge I would like to cook that day or scheduled a particular meat for the day. Ideas, suggestions, whateverelse it is called, comes in the form of recipes, sometimes, even how to serve them. I copy and paste in my word processor, but make use of ingredients what I have in my fridge or pantry I can substitute, mainly because I am lazy to go out anymore for the week when I have already done my big shopping. Mixed results in searching for recipes or even testing them comes in different flavours too. Success and failure of a recipe depends on the measuring of ingredients.
Does anyone know too that "measures" are only approximations? If a recipe calls for 1/2c of sugar or a pinch of salt, do you really think those are enough or just-just? Taste it. Some recipes may need more (or less) sugar or more than a pinch of salt to your taste, or even more than 2 tomatoes...the list goes on and on...test and learn. And take note.

I do not and cannot criticize any recipes I find via google because I think and do, but that is just me, what do I know??? I am not a chef -- I am an aerial photographer who just happen to love cooking.

.


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## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

I'm an A cup. Pretty good for a guy.


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

I don't usually respond to recipe requests.
If they post what their recipe is, and ask what can be done to improve it, is it okay, what went wrong, etc., I'm more than happy to help if I feel I can.
Recently someone posted about pizza, saying that they think their problem might be their cheese.
I hinted that if they told us what they were currently doing they would probably get a better response.
Still waiting.......

......and so I haven't replied.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Interesting thread. I too get annoyed by people asking others to do something that they themselves could probably handle. For a couple of decades I've run various automotive, vintage racing related email lists. Every month the mailing list manager sends out a monthly reminder with basic list instructions and such, including a link one can click on to unsubscribe. And every month without fail at least one person replies to this message asking to be unsubscribed. Sending that reply takes them a lot more time and effort than just clicking on the link. Sheesh.

Anyway, I don't usually respond to folks just outright asking for a recipe. Sometimes I do. More likely I'll comment on my experience with a similar recipe, or if I know of a tested recipe point them in the right direction.

In truth I'll likely be asking for recipes in a month or so myself. She Who Must Be Obeyed has decreed that we will have chocolate volcano cakes for dessert after Valentine's Day dinner. I've made them before, fairly simple. I'll probably use a web search engine to review a handful of recipes, maybe pick up a hint or tip along the way. But I won't just ask you folks to give me a recipe. That's one I can deal with myself.

In early April, though, my wife's folk dancing group will be involved with a Scandinavian dance workshop. There's going to be a potluck involved, chances are I'll prepare a dish. But I know very little of the cuisine from that area. Sure, I could bring smoked salmon and aquavit, or swedish meatballs, but I have a feeling those dishes will be well represented. So when the event get closer, I'll likely turn to ChefTalk for some inspiration, "authentic" recipes, some background information and such.
And hopefully folks will respond with useful replies.

Or that thread will degenerate into a slugfest about whether or not Swedish meatballs are really Swedish. We shall see.

Bring on the lingonberry jam!

mjb.


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