Gobble up these websites (From Gazette & Herald)

Gobble up these websites

From basic skills to fancy dinner parties, the internet is a great resource for budding chefs. This week, I have gathered a selection of the best food and recipe sites on the web.

Cooking By Numbers - http://www.cookingbynumbers.com Rating: 4/5

The idea of this site is that you select food items that you have available in your cupboard or fridge, and then the site will tell you what you can make. The selection you are given begins with recipes for which you have all the ingredients, but also includes recipes that you can cook if you get a couple of extra items. An added bonus is the cooking skills section, which gives you step-by-step guides to everything from separating an egg to jointing a chicken. The site is easy to use, and a handy tool for when the cupboard is looking a little bare.

BBC Recipes - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ Rating: 4/5

As well as recipes featured on BBC television, this site has additional recipes submitted by readers. The site has a good search facility, where you can search by programme, chef, recipe name or ingredient. There is a recipe binder facility where you can store recipes that interest you, and add notes to them for future reference. You will also find information on healthy eating, cookery courses and cooking for children.

Top Secret Recipes - http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/recipes/Rating: 3/5

This site publishes recipes that are cloned versions of the secret formulas behind some of the leading brands. A new recipe is featured each week, but an archive of some of the previously featured recipes is also available. The site is American, so not all the brands may be immediately recognisable to a British audience, but you will find versions of things like McDonalds Big Mac Sauce and Starbucks Frappuccino. The site as a whole is perhaps slightly confusing to navigate, but with a little perseverance, there is a lot of original information on offer.

Recipes4us - http://www.recipes4us.co.ukRating: 4/5

Recipes in this site are divided into sections, such as main course, dessert, Chinese or barbecue. Within each section, you will find further sub-categories, such as vegetarian, fish or beef. Within each category, recipes are listed by the time it takes to cook them, which is a handy feature. There is also a search facility for finding more specific recipes. Additional features include useful conversion charts for American and English food names as well as imperial and metric measures, a glossary of food terms and a UK food shopping directory

About food - http://www.aboutfood.co.uk Rating: 3/5

This site has the subtitle "Culinary Adventure and Discovery" and takes a more in-depth look at food, with a searchable library, a calendar of food-related events and television schedules, and a directory of food suppliers. There is a restaurant search, but this appears to be a weaker area of the site at present, as the several searches that I tried produced no results. An additional feature is a selection of "spotlight" features on subjects such as barbecuing, celebration food and allergies.

Just for fun: Mensa Workout: http://www.mensa.org/workout.html

If, after creating your culinary masterpiece, you find time to get out of the kitchen, then you might like to try the "Mensa Workout". Here you can take a test, consisting of 30 Mensa questions, which lasts for 30 minutes. Unfortunately, your score on the test won't qualify you for Mensa, but there is membership information on the site for those who believe their IQ is in that exclusive top 2pc!

Do you have your own favourite site, or is there a particular subject area you think should be covered? E-mail me at lucy.barrow@ycp.co.uk, and we will try and include it in a future column.

Updated: 16:27 Wednesday, April 02, 2003