There are two things I learned the first year I took up cooking: it takes many failures to create a successful dish, and it’s okay to bring the computer in the kitchen. With the advent of online recipe archives, I’m not shy about placing the MacBook next to the cutting board. SousChef capitalizes on this, and hopes to become the proverbial apron your computer needs to help you cook. And frankly, it’s a great help.
The SousChef app has an easy-to-navigate interface, with options for searching for recipes based on what’s in your fridge, categorizing them by cuisine, adding in substitutes, and making a grocery list. You can sort all recipes by name, rating, category, or cuisine, and if you find one you want to share, there are built-in settings for publishing straight to Blogger, grabbing an HTML snippet, or emailing it via your default mail application. Editing existing recipes is also a breeze--simply click each category and type, without worrying about formatting. The app also taps into a cloud database of recipes, so there is a constant flow of new dishes for you to try. And if you have a family recipe you want to keep private, you can opt out of sharing with the cloud.
There aren’t too many cooks in the kitchen when your partner is SousChef.
Inputting recipes is a cinch. Normally, recipe apps don’t play nice with copy and paste, but I took recipes that I had clipped in Evernote and copied them into the appropriate areas without any hassle. But while the formatting stayed the same, the photos did not copy over, which I need so I can see how the process is supposed to look. SousChef also limits you to one photo per recipe, unfortunate considering visual references are essential in the kitchen, especially for novice cooks.
SousChef’s best feature is its ability to direct you in the kitchen. When you’re ready to begin creating your culinary confections, SousChef will launch your Mac’s built-in Speech app. The app will switch to a full-screen display with large font and dictate the directions as they’re written, so you don’t have to worry about scrolling through with floury fingers. It gives credence to the app’s tagline that it’s your “digital cooking assistant,” so kudos to SousChef for delivering on that.
The bottom line. With its ability to organize recipes, pull new ones from the cloud, and dictate directions, SousChef is the ideal companion for novice cooks looking to get their bearings in the kitchen.
SousChef
Mac OS 10.5 or later, minimum resolution of 1024x768
Categorically organize recipes, pull new ones from the cloud, set up Speech to have your Mac dictate directions to you.
No add-on for clipping recipes from the browser; only allows one photo per recipe.
rleef77
February 02, 2012 at 9:47am
I love SousChef for Mac. I've used it for a long time now and was really excited when they announced they were releasing an iPad app. So, I paid the $4.99 thinking, "I love their Mac app, I'll love their iPad app". Not so much. You can not do any of the functions on the iPad that you can do in the Mac app and at first you couldn't even sync between the two. Then they came up with some crazy way of syncing with DropBox and that was a huge flop.
I have since left SousChef and downloaded The Recipe Box from the app store. All the same features as Souschef on my iPad. Who wants to lug their computer into the kitchen anyway?
