Brøderbund's Williams-Sonoma Guide to Good Cooking
A must have for Culinary Enthusiasts

I love to cook!

Over the course of my life, I have collected more than 300 cookbooks. Not one is valued more than my copy of Brøderbund's "William Sonoma Guide to Good Cooking." What a terrific product!
Over a decade of computing I have tried several other electronic cookbooks. Some of the recipies were great, but the programs tended to be drab and dull. Basically they resembled an electronic version of 3 by 5 file cards.  

Enter Williams Sonoma Guide to Good Cooking. This unique program is truly a cooking
enthusiasts multimedia extravaganza.

With more than 1000 super recipes, the Williams Sonoma Guide to Good Cooking
represents the state of the art in electronic cookbooks. I purchased my first electronic
Cookbook, the Micro Cookbook, in 1985 soon after I purchased my first computer.

In fact I used it as once of the reasons to purchase my first PC. "After all honey, I need
some way to organize my recipes......"
Micro Cookbook is still published today. In fact there are quite a few available. I own six.
None of them really impressed me until I loaded Williams Sonoma Guide to Good
Cooking.

One of the major advantages of the program are the beautiful photos of the food you are
preparing. Presentation in cooking is really important. Seeing what the dish should look
like makes the cooking experience quite enjoyable.

With music, video clips and the most attractive interface I've ever seen this program is a
must have.
The opening screen depicts a kitchen with several items on the table. There are various
metaphors that represent books.

The "books" include Recipes, Glossary of Terms, Favorite Recipes, Recipe Finder, A-Z
Index card box, and a menu planner. When your pointer touches the item, its label glows
showing you that it is ready too be selected. Click on the item, and off you go.

Let's say you open the Glossary and look up Anaheim Chili Peppers. A general
explanation of chili peppers is shown as well as a picture of the chili itself. An explanation
of an Anaheim is given and finally a Habanero is discussed. "This chili pepper is 30 times
hotter than a jalapeno!" (Totally true!)

Look up mincing garlic, music, lights, camera.....A lovely voice tells you how to prepare the
garlic for mincing, and a video shows you exactly how to do it. WOW!
You can print out the instructions in seconds. Just click on the print icon on the right of the
screen.
The other modules essentially work the same way. A-Z will allow you to search a virtual
index card file to find the recipe. A terrific feature unique to Williams Sonoma Guide to
Cooking is the Recipe Finder. You can locate recipes by entering:

An ingredient or ingredients--e.g Potato, Rice, etc.
By meal course-- e.g Soup, Appetizer, Side Dish, etc, Salad
Cooking Method--Frying, Broiling, Stir Fry, Roasting, etc.
Cooking Time--30 Min, 60 Min. Etc.
Several other search options are available as well.

A Favorite Recipe Icon allows you to store the recipes you want to use repeatedly from
the list instead of trying to remember what they are.
Finally, there is a menu planner which allows you to build entire menus from the recipes in
the cookbook.

As an amateur chef, I am impressed with how well organized the entire program is and the
quality of the recipes listed in the database. I've made several of the recipes several
times. The Baked Apples and Roast Loin of Pork recipe is a hit with my guests. I make
the terrific Bananas Foster Recipe as a desert with the loin of pork, or the
Blackberry-Strawberry Meringue Shortcake when the berries are in season.

Oh yes, one of the search modules is a seasonal module that gives you recipes that have
seasonal items as part of the ingredients!

I understand that Brøderbund has added additional modules to go with the program and I
will review them in the near future.

The program is the best recipe program I've seen. There is only one feature which I would
like to see added to a future release. The program does not allow you to store your own
recipes in the current format. This is a standard feature in other programs, and I would
like to see it incorporated in a future release.

This exceptional program sells for $39.95. If you love computers and cooking, this is a
must have program.

Date Page Last Updated

04/25/07