Food is one of my favorite hobbies - both eating it and cooking it. Over the years I've accumulated shelves full of cookbooks, but these days they're gathering dust in a corner of my kitchen. The Web has replaced every one of them except for The Joy of Cooking, which I still prize for its "About..." introductory overviews.

 

The wealth of recipes on the Web is nothing short of astonishing. What's more, the wide variety of types of recipe websites is amazing, as well. There are large commercial sites, personal recipe collections, sites built by the submissions of people like you and me, and more. Much more. Let's take a look at some 47 recipe sites that I've visted over the past couple of years, and check out representative recipes from each of them.

 

Submission Sites

 

These sites were quite possibly the first "Web 2.0" sites that the Web spawned - meaning that their collections are compiled from submissions by their visitors. As such, they can be wildly inconsistent, but most of them contain nuggets of pure culinary genius.

 

Cooks.com

Here's the mothership, the 800-pound gorilla, the big kid on the block. Its gigantic collection definitely ranks in the aforementioned "wildly inconsistent" category, but enjoy an afternoon perusing its 25 categories, and you're sure to find a gem to cook that evening. After all, what other site can boast 205 different recipes for "Porcupine meatballs?"

Focus: Broad range; good ethnic-food representation

Sample: Yummy Porcupine Meatballs

 

Recipe Archives
This is primarily a collection of recipes from the Usenet newsgroup rec.food.recipes, plus the occasional recipe from other rec.* and alt.* food and cooking-related newsgroups, such as rec.food.preserving and alt.food.sushi; cf "inconsistent," above.
Focus: Broad range; good ethnic-food representation
Sample: North Carolina Chopped Barbecue

 

Recipe Source
This giant submissions site holds well over 70,000 recipes, and has a great collection of often-obscure ethnic recipes.
Focus: Broad range; good ethnic-food representation
Sample: Ryba W Sosie Chrzanowym (Polish for Fish in Horseradish)

 

Recipe Spin
At a mere (?!) 7,190 recipes, this site isn't as comprehensive as some, but its fine ethnic-recipe collection makes it well worth a visit - though finding some more-obscure ingredients might be frustrating.
Focus: Broad range; good ethnic-food representation
Sample: La Paz Batchoy (Filipino pork dish)

 

VegWeb.com
Vegetarian cooking may not be your cup of miso, but there are more than a few treats hiding on the pages of this sunny site.
Focus: Vegetarian
Sample: Just Like Chicken Strips

 

Next: Submission Sites (continued)

 

 

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Submission Sites (continued)

 

foodgeeks.com: If sharing and discussing recipes is your idea of a good time, join this online community.

 

Copykat Recipes
This moderate-size site has an active forum community, and in addition to recipes provides cookbook reviews. Although it's occasionally hard to navigate, it's worth it to find the "KidsKuisine" section.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Chicken Spaghetti Bake

 

All Chefs
Another big site, with "over 40,000 free recipes to choose from," although its ethnic-recipe selection is not as good as some other large collections.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Maryland Corn Chowder With Oysters

 

All Recipes
This visitor-submission megasite claims to be "the world’s largest community of home cooks — over 10 million strong," and includes "more than 40,000 free recipes."
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

 

foodgeeks.com
These folks describe themselves as a "free online community designed for food geeks to share recipes and information about cooking and ingredients." It also includes a wiki-style "Food Encyclopedia," plus forums.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Chicken Jerusalem

 

Best Cook Recipes
This site is especially attractive if you're goal is to find a unique spin on cakes and other sweet things.
Focus: Broad range; baking
Sample: Cake for Mother

 

Next: Submission Sites (continued)

 

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Submission Sites (continued)

 

FirehouseChef: This submission site has a unique constituency: firefighters.

 

1001 Recipes 2 Send
Despite its name, the last time I checked this site it had 4,436 (simple) recipes, plus tips, food-related stories, links, and more.
Focus: Family fare
Sample: Brownie a la Mode

 

Great Recipes Online
Not the largest visitor-submission site, but onpe with more than its share of good stuff.
Focus: Family fare
Sample: Loosemeat Sandwitches

 

RecipeDude.com
This moderately large collection of vistor-supplied recipes includes one section devoted entirely to South Texas Cuisine
Focus: Family fare
Sample: Quarterback Quesadillas

 

State Fair Recipes
This site is exactly what its name suggests: a collection of recipes from state fairs. Find out what they're muching on in the heartland.
Focus: Family fare
Sample: Sunnydogs

 

The Red Kitchen
No, this site has nothing whatsoever to do with communisim - and what could be more American than a recipe that begins, "Finely crush the candy canes"?
Focus: Family fare
Sample: Peppermint Bark

 

FirehouseChef
The contributors to this submission site are all firefighters, and the recipes in it are as hearty and stick-to-your-ribsian as you might imagine.
Focus: Family fare
Sample: Kielbasa and Cheesy Potatoes

 

Next: Personal Sites

 

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Personal Sites

Like many personal recipe sites, Mimi's Cyber Kitchen has plenty of personality.

 

While submission sites draw from the expertise of their many visitors, personal sites - those with recipes compiled by a single cook - are, well, more personal.

 

A Spoonful of Sugar
The hostess of this site confesses that "I make bread if I am in a bad mood. Thumping dough around is very therapeutic!" She also provides a high percentage of baking and chocolate recipes.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Beef Stifado with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

 

Awesome Chef Recipes
While this collection may not be as awesome as its name suggests, it has the unique feature of providing its recipes and instructional articles in English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Classic Sauted Sole Meuniere

 

Chronicles of a Curious Cook
Many of the recipes in this interesting site are take-offs on recipes published elsewhere - and, yes, they're all credited appropriately.
Focus: Broad range:
Sample: Grandma Alice's Baked Chicken

 

Frank's Recipes
I'll just quote Frank: "As a Chef for over 30 years, I have amassed an extensive collection of recipes. My Recipe Archive now contains over 23,000 recipes and growing." The sie also includes Includes a "Volume Cooking" section with recipes for up to 100 servings, plus how-tos, a culinary dictionary, extensive online catering course.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Vealburgers for 100

 

Mimi's Cyber Kitchen
This moderate-size personal recipe collection also includes how-tos and other writings, plus a large set of Web links.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Carrot and Leek Soup

 

Reluctant Gourmet
A fairly large site that adds a blog, videos (Windows Media Player required), how-tos, gear discussions, and more to its recipes.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Maple Shallot Vinaigrette

 

Next: Personal Sites (continued)

 

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Personal Sites (continued)

 

Alicia's Recipes: Luckily for us, it appears that Alicia has plenty of time on her hands.

 

Alicia's Recipes
How can you not love a personal site that has one section devoted to One section called "Left Over Ham" and another that contains "Waffle recipes that have collected from boxes, box tops, cans, packages, newspapers, magazines, church recipe books, and friends."
Focus: Family Fare
Sample: Cabbage Salad with Lime Jello

 

Cheesebugers in Paradise
This section of a sailor's blog begins with the quote, "The first and most important point to remember is that eating should be a pleasure - do not eat purely for health, you won't live much longer, but it will feel like an eternity."
Focus: Family fare
Sample: Dorothy's Fantastic Embarrassingly Easy Disappearing Fudge

 

cooksrecipes.com
This is the biggest personal site I know of, containing "over 18,000 recipes and growing!" It has 28 categories and a small forum - and note that the "Pet Recipes" has nothing to do with frying Fido.
Focus: Family fare
Sample: Mackerel Cat Munchies

 

Nickaduck's Recipe Nook
Here's a nice, well-rounded, and surprisingly large list of personal-favorite recipes.
Focus: Family fare
Sample: Marinated Flank Steak with Horseradish Sauce

 

Real Man's Cookbook
A he-person's approach to cooking. Sample quotes: ""Welcome to the Real Man's Cookbook. Where you will find that cooking is not just for the ladies anymore," and "Be a man: EAT BEEF!"
Focus: Family fare
Sample: Grilled Steak

 

Shoebox Recipes - A Family Recipe Collections
This large personal site features regular eats for regular Joes. And Joannes.
Focus: Family fare
Sample: River Chili

 

Next: Compendia

 

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Compendia

 

Recipe Zaar: If you can't find something good here, you're just not trying.

 

And then there are recipe sites that are simply compendiums of recipes from a variety of sources - and they can be very capacious, indeed.

 

About: Food & Drink
The About.com site is a vast resource, and its Food & Drink section is not only strong on good ol' American eats, but in ethnic cuisine, as well. This site is gigantic; it includes videos, how-tos, gear discussions, and 25 major subsections - and each subsection also has its own subsections.
Focus: Broad range; good ethnic-food representation
Sample: Greek Sweet Easter Bread: Tsoureki Paschalino

 

Free Food Recipes
This site contains pretty much what its name suggests. It's ethnic selection is unusally strong, with 52 diffferent categories, including Bengali and Pennsyvanian Dutch.
Focus: Broad range; good ethnic-food representation
Sample: Koenigsberger Klops

 

Recipe Zaar
Another biggie: "211,000 recipes - 73,000 photos - 14,000 cookbooks." Plus, there's menu-planning advice and active forums with world-wide membership.
Focus: Broad range; good ethnic-food representation
Sample: Baseisei (Fijian Taro Salad)

 

YumYum.com
Another more-is-better site, with "over 20,000 easy to follow free recipes for your enjoyment," all arranged is a dizzing array of categories.
Focus: Broad range; good ethnic-food representation
Sample: Kadin Budu (Ladies' Thighs' Croquettes)

 

Next: Compendia (continued)

 

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Compendia (continued)

 

The Food Network: There's far, far more to life than Emeril.

 

bbc.co.uk Food

Foregt all those jokes about boiled everything - this British site has some killer stff, including chef's blogs featuring 51 different chefs.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Mince and Tatties

 

Culinary.net
Here's an eclectic collection from a wide range of commercial contributors. For example, they've got recipes from The Catfish Institute, Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk, and Omaha Steaks.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Catfish With Spicy Fireworks Rub

 

EasyGourmetRecipes
"Our easy-to-follow restaurant recipes have been submitted by some of the finest chefs across the United States." Take a look - they're not jiving.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Sea Scallops With Basil Beurre Blanc

 

Food Network.com
This is a huge and thorough companion to the popular cable network, containing recipes, gear discussions, travel, how-tos, celebrity chefs, and hella more.
Focus: Broad range
Sample: Colcannon

 

Next: Miscellany

 

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Miscellany

 

WildRecipes.com: If you've ever wanted to learn how to scramble brains, here's the site for you.

 

Finally, there are some websites that are just too strange, unique, or ... well ... themselves to pass up.

 

beercook.com
All about cooking with beer, with tons of other beer-oriented content. Many chefs regularly contribute to this rich site.
Focus: Beer, beer, and more beer
Sample: Beer Bean Burgers

 

Bert Christensen's Weird & Different Recipes
Surprisingly large collection of just-plain-strange stuff. Includes weird art and submissions, plus helpful how-tos such as "Basic Preparation of Pig Heads, Feet, Tails, Ears and Snouts."
Focus: Odd food
Sample: Seal Brain Fritters

 

Eat Dangerously
Subtitled "The 'blow health out of your ass!!!' Cookbook," this marvel of subtlety contains a lamb chops 'n' cheese recipe withe the note, ""Meat and cheese together! Wash it down with a cigarette and you can literally feel it clogging your arteries. Don't worry though, you've got tons of arteries."
Focus: Unhealthy food
Sample: Lamb Chops Stuffed with Gorgonzola

 

WildRecipes.com
As their intro says, "If you have a dish you love eating, but your family and friends think it's repulsive, this is your chance to share it with the world"
Focus: Guilty pleasures
Sample: Potato Chip Sandwiches

 

Next: Miscellany

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Miscellany

 

Mamta's Kitchen: A true labor of love by a talented family.

 

Julia Child: Lessons with Master Chefs
Sample high-end recipes from the companion cookbook to the TV series, and watch video from the series, as well.
Focus: Gourmet cooking
Sample: Shrimp Étoufée

 

Mamta's Kitchen
This family-developed site focuses on Indian food, requests submissions from its readers, and has a forum.
Focus: Indian food
Sample: Naan

 

Really Big Recipes
The next time you need to feed 100 people or more, here's your resource. Includes a useful - for this site especially - link to Recipe Converter.

Focus: Food for crowds
Sample: Mega Meatloaf for 1000

 

Recession Recipes
Humorous writing and recipes about cooking when you're seriously broke.
Focus: Food on the cheap
Sample: Bran Gruel

 

Oh, and in case any of you are keeping score at home: six feet, two inches; 210 pounds...