Tag: Food & Drink »

Cooking is one of the most valuable life skills out there. It's also one that's very easy to miss out on for too long. Cooking Basics is an app that teaches its users the absolute basics (right down to how to mash potatoes properly) while also offering some great recipe ideas. These ideas can easily be applied elsewhere, too, ensuring that users have the foundations to be great cooks.

Laid out much like an interactive book, Cooking Basics is easy to browse. Its introduction offers up a series of class for learning the basics. These include lessons on how to set up the kitchen appropriately, how to chop safely, and how to measure accurately. In many of the cases, tasty recipes are used to illustrate a point as well as immediately teach the user how to prepare certain meals.

Delving further into the app demonstrates how much more information is contained within. A series of basic tutorials cover simple things like how to tell if pasta is cooked and how to peel fruits and vegetables effectively. It's all then reinforced by the huge selection of recipes. There's no fine-dining here, it's all about typical meal ideas that people would actually want to cook regularly.

All kinds of scenarios are covered here, from breakfast to supper and with plenty of light snacks in between. It's a great mix that covers loads of ground. Each recipe is clearly described with step by step instructions ensuring users know what they're doing at all times, as well as focuses placed on specific techniques. A shopping list feature as well as timer settings make things all the simpler. When it comes to identifying a specific leaf or vegetable, the app clearly labels them so it's easy to learn as one goes along.

Using various different forms of media, from videos, audio clips to images and text, Cooking Basics is an ideal starting point for beginners. There are great recipes for experienced cooks too, but I'd lean towards only truly recommending this to newbies, given the price. Nothing quite beats the satisfaction of cooking a great meal all by one's self and it beats takeout or ready meals easily. For $7.99, this is a great, fun and healthy step to take for the apprehensive chef.

It's summer time for many of us which means it's the ideal time for a barbeque! So, it's pretty good timing to see the launch of grill maker Weber's official recipe app: Weber Grills.

Weber Grills offers over 75 different recipes, delivered to your iOS device every Friday, just in time for the weekend. Each recipe comes with full-color photos, a list of ingredients, recipe notes, reviews and the option to share via e-mail. In each case, they're ideal for making on any kind of grill.

A prep school section goes one step further in aiding keen chefs with guides to all the essentials such as knife skills, food preps and how to tell when something's cooked thoroughly. Videos of how to master favorites such as steak or ribs are also included.

For the keen barbequer, Weber Grills should prove an invaluable source.

It's out now and it's free.