Look & Cook

Lately I have been binge watching Chopped (I linked to it, just in case you want to get addicted too). I am totally mesmerized by how the chefs can transform seemingly impossible ingredients into something delicious and elegant. I decided to check out the Look & Cook app with unrealistic hopes that perhaps it might turn me into a Chopped like chef. Unfortunately, the app cannot produce such miracles but it does provide a fantastic cook book experience. Here's a quick overview of why you'd want the Look & Cook app in your kitchen. 

Origins

The app was developed through a collaboration between Kinetic Art and Israeli Chef Meir Adoni. The design firm is an Israeli start up that specializes in making cooking apps. The app was released in 2012 and originally had a price but is now free. 

Layout and Content

The app is beautifully designed. It has a clean layout that is easy to navigate. The app is designed to highlight the stunning images of the various recipes. Once you have selected the recipe you would like to work with, breadcrumb menus are located at the top and bottom for the user to quickly navigate back to the main menu or the full recipe. The app breaks each recipe into three sections: Look, Cook, and Tools. Each section offers the cook a different experience. The Look section displays beautifully shot images of all the ingredients in the selected recipe. The Cook section starts with a full description of the recipe and ingredients and then breaks it down into a step by step process. The Tools section offers a huge array of kitchen gadgets that correlate to the recipe. 

Within the app, you receive 52 recipes that range from brunch, dinner with the guys, vegan and more. There are more than 100 professional cooking techniques and kitchen hacks. The app also recommends over 1000 kitchen gadgets to add to your supply. 

Features

There are some great features with this app that make it incredibly useful in the kitchen. It has a voice command that allows you to turn the page of the recipe by talking to your tablet. This way your sticky or wet hands won't need to touch the ipad. The app allows you to switch languages between French, Hebrew and English as well as selecting either metric or imperial measurements. The step by step break down of each recipe is accompanied by images that show you the before and after of performing each step. For more difficult steps, a video of how to perform a cooking technique is included. A timer is embedded within the steps that require the cook to watch the clock. The timer allows the cook to set the timer that will then go off when the cook needs to respond. The app also allows the cook to share recipes via email. The interactivity of the app is perfect for its genre. There is nothing that seems gimmicky or unnecessary. Each of the interactive features adds to the cooking experience and is useful to the cook. 

Improvements

Overall, I am very impressed with this app. There are a few things that I think would allow the app to be even better. I would love an option to annotate your recipes so that you could note any changes that you would like to make to the recipe. I think a social function to the book would also be great. Having cooks rate the recipe would add community to the app. I also find cooks comments on the recipe about adaptations they made very useful. You also need wifi connections for videos and they stream slowly making the video experience less enjoyable. 

Rating

I would highly recommend this app. It is slick and gorgeous. As a person who likes to attempt ambitious recipes, this app gives me confidence that I might actually be able to deglaze a pan and properly sear a steak. The app is now free thanks to the enormous marketing potential the tool section provides. Even if the app cost money, I would recommend it for anyone that enjoys cooking. This (to me) is the future of cook books. 

The video below is a review of the app:

- Meagan Thornton-