How Likely I Am to Try an Online Recipe, Based on Its Description
An informal analysis of promises
When I was young, I had to rely on recipe books or magazine clippings for my baking. Nowadays, there is an endless assortment of recipes online. You can find a recipe for anything. The question is: can you trust them to be good?
I have learned that there are often tiny clues that an online recipe may turn out delicious, or disgusting. I once tried to bake a cantaloupe pie (learn from my mistake and … don’t) after a writer insisted her boyfriend ate a piece and said it was good. For the record, I am no longer taking anyone’s boyfriend’s claims about food as culinary fact.
However, if a recipe is on a site where people can vote for their favorites, four hundred five-star reviews is probably a good indicator of quality. Here are a few other statements that can lead me to try a recipe — or run for the hills.
Most likely to try
“Comes out perfect every time!”
“Total crowd-pleaser. Everyone loved it, even that one annoying relative who claims to hate everything.”
“Easy, tasty, with ingredients you actually have in your pantry.”
“Really. Your relative who hates everything called you up later and asked for the recipe.”
Possibly may try
“Has a lot of ingredients you’ve never heard of and will never be able to locate. But tasty.”
“Recipe requires three mixing bowls. Just kidding! It requires five.”
“Your relative who hates everything asked you to make it, but refused to eat it.”
“Is it food? …probably.”
“Total crowd-pleaser. If the crowd you’re trying to feed it to is raccoons.”
Least likely to try
“Just like your lunch lady’s cooking. Okay, well, maybe not that good.”
“I fed it to people, and the emergency room doctor said it probably didn’t cause their food poisoning. But it’s the one thing they all ate.”
“I made it and even the raccoons didn’t want it. They went back to eating garbage.”
“This recipe is for a 36-layer cake, starting with chocolate and ending with … okay, I’ll admit it. I didn’t really make this 36-layer cake. I gave up and bought brownies from the supermarket. You will, too.”
