Practical Alchemy: of Internet inspiration
While the Practical Alchemy archives consist of a scant six entries, it's understandable that you'd feel as though it's not your end-all be-all resource when it comes to making a meal. I've got a couple other great Sparky-approved™ websites that I browse through for recipes, pairing ideas, or just general inspiration to give my creativity the jump start it need sometimes. And by sometimes, I mean always.
Click through to see a listing of some of my favorite online cooking resources, and then share your own in the comments!
Foodpairing.be - My ultimate inspiration source for when I have a new or fresh ingredient I want to build a menu around. Enter any food and it will give you a web of food pairings showing what flavors it mixes well with. I could spend hours in a well stocked pantry playing with Foodpairing and mixing small bites of multi-flavor glory.
Michael Ruhlman's blog - Michael's writings have been a both an inspiration and a guide for me in learning how to cook. Both Ratio and The Elements of Cooking were instrumental in getting my alchemical juices flowing. His blog is a random smattering of divine photos of food by his wife and delicious ideas which makes it a must-subscribe.
Friendfeed Foods Group - Friendfeed is a great online community offering a way to share and discuss your online activities. The foods group is an eclectic mix of recipe ideas, kitchen gadgets, and random questions about food and cooking.
All Recipes - A sometimes hit or miss resource given its user generated nature but always a great browse. Like Friendfeed, All Recipes, a community based around food, allows members to post recipes and keep their own food blogs. Often when I just want to figure out the ratio of ingredients for a particular sauce or preparation, I'll look at the top few results on All Recipes and average their ratios as a starting point.
Slashfood - Slashdot's culinary little sibling, without the scathing comment culture of its more famous sibling, Slashfood is another random smattering of food-related content that's great for inspiration when you want to figure out what to make for dinner.
Cookthink - Cookthink is a new-to-me resource I uncovered while researching for this article. Like Foodpairing, it offers culinary inspiration based on the input of a user. Unlike Foodpairing, Cookthink offers full recipes and techniques rather than solely flavor pairings and substitutions.
And there you have my five favorite foodie sites on the internet with a bonus link that is sure to be a favorite soon. Leave your favorite online food resource in the comments to share with fellow Weekly Geekers.
--Sparky
