How Online Recipe Reviews Are Useful

Do You Read an Online Recipe's Reviews?

January 16, 2011

Although I never write any, I like to read the reviews on recipes from websites like Food Network and Epicurious. I find you can learn a lot about a recipe from the reviews, as well as get ideas for interesting substitutions. How about you?

Source: Thinkstock

14 Comments

fuzzles 2 years 18 weeks

Roaring, Isn't it? I almost pea-ed my pants laughing. ;)

RoaringSilence 2 years 18 weeks

fuzzles! That is amazing ahahah ALL the comments for that recipe are hilarious! They remind me of the funny youtube comments on all of chow's videos... they have some amazing instructions sometimes, but sometimes it's useless crap like "how to get a bartender's attention" or "how to fry an egg" or "how to cool water for coffee"

susanec 2 years 18 weeks

OMG, the peas. Or corn or spaghetti. Wow. That's why I skim the comments for pertinent info and ignore the rest.

bluesarahlou 2 years 18 weeks

Here's how I got around the fact that I don't like peas . . . Eliminate the peas. Substitute 5 loaves of toast instead. Spread pealess pea mixture on toast. Enjoy. Serves 3. :rotfl:

fuzzles 2 years 18 weeks

You must. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/english-peas-recipe/reviews/index.html

fuzzles 2 years 18 weeks

I read this on another website a while back. Someone was commenting on Paula Deen's recipe for English Peas, which, I crap you not, involved butter and opening two cans of English peas. The most legendary recipe comment. Ever. "This was outstanding! I did make a couple of modifications. I eliminated the butter, and in place of the peas I substituted one can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs."

tigr3bianca 2 years 18 weeks

I definitely read reviews to get a feel for how the recipe turns out. I don't like allrecipes but I do use epicurious and Chow. As for changing the ingredients, if I changed most of the recipe, I won't rate it. If most the reviewers changed the recipe in a certain way, I'll try it that way.

AmberHoney 2 years 18 weeks

Yes, but I dislike the people who change all the ingredients and claim their version is better. That's not a review that's an I did a better job, pat on back comment which serves no purpose to others. Which is prevelant on Allrecipes.com; and I love the site.

RoaringSilence 2 years 18 weeks

Only if it's a user submitted recipe, such as the ones on allrecipes.com. (even though a lot of times many of the reviews are only about how people substituted pretty much all the ingredients for something else.. what's the point in that?) If it's from a professional website, I trust the publishers more than the commenters. My favorite websites for recipes are chow.com and marthastewart.com.