Mom’s Bourbon Chocolate Cake

April 6, 2020 4:29 AM

Open Source Cookbook - Open source recipes to be used in a quarantine during a global pandemic - "This cookbook is meant to be an open source toolkit that everyone and anyone can access during a time of heightened need. There are recipes from chefs, line cooks, home cooks, mothers, fathers, nonnas, popo’s and everyday joes." At launch, it features recipes from Toronto's top chefs and restaurants.
posted by dobbs (25 comments total)

Technical question first - is there a way to turn off that really weird animation that plays in the background on the intro page? It makes it difficult to read.

....That sesame panna cotta sounds good.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:37 AM on April 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

If you want to skip the animation (splash page), direct link to the book as a Slides File or PDF -- but note those links may not be updated when the book is.
posted by dobbs at 4:41 AM on April 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

Seriously, the front page here needs a content warning for photosensitivity, though not for me personally. The cookbook itself looks interesting but that has got to be one of the worst front pages, graphically, I've ever seen.
posted by bright flowers at 6:17 AM on April 6, 2020 [7 favorites]

Unreasonably annoyed that somebody thinks Google Sheets is an acceptable web page.
posted by mhoye at 6:26 AM on April 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

Basic recipes can't be copyrighted. Recipes are already open source. I appreciate the sentiment of this project, but the way it has been executed is a little nuts.
posted by gwint at 6:42 AM on April 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

that animation is triggery as fuck. whoever thought that was a good idea?
posted by scruss at 6:46 AM on April 6, 2020

Some days I wonder why I bother sharing things on Metafilter. This is one of them.
posted by dobbs at 6:46 AM on April 6, 2020 [5 favorites]

As a public service, I've emailed them to turn off the animation.

I was tactful enough to just say it was distracting. It's actually the worst thing of its kind I've ever seen-- sickening and literally makes the page intermittently unreadable.

I tried it on my cellphone. It's there, not as bad, but still pretty bad.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:49 AM on April 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

dobbs: I'm sorry about all this. I read Hacker News too and I don't like when the main conversation is about the page's technical issues and not the content. In this case the front page really is so bad though. I do encourage people to click through to the PDF. It's like a cross between a cookbook and a zine? I guess? I don't really do zines. Looks cool though, artsy.
posted by bright flowers at 6:50 AM on April 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oh, the cookbook itself is great, Dobbs! I think that Nancy had the right move asking them to turn that introductory animation off, though, since they may be inadvertently scaring off some people who might very well enjoy the cookbook.

I legit am going to be making that sesame panna cotta I mentioned in my first comment. For reals.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:00 AM on April 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I've been recently reminded of the whole world of vernacular cookbooks, particularly in America and I imagine Canada. You know the kind, from the 1950s, a mimeographed collection of recipes from the local Lutheran church's lady auxilliary. Probably was done as a fundraiser and contains some horrible jello salads but then also a lot of recipes with soul and history, good stews and cornbread and simple fruit salads.

These collective documents are highly prized by food historians because they give a window into vernacular cooking of the day. Often highly localized cultural cuisines too, like African Americans cooking in Kansas or actual country Creole folks in Louisiana. Me, I like them for the community spirit they embody, often illustrated with a few pages on the frontispiece or bits of filler text to pad out the book. They feel like real things made by real people.

This web cookbook has that feel too. Partly in its unpleasant presentation; it's a reflection of modern trends in Web design but also the moment of anxiety we are all feeling with Covid-19. But look past that to the contents, the global mixture of foods. Pizzas, simple and complex. Etouffee. Vegan chocolate mousse. Pozole. Mac and Cheese. All this in Toronto, a true mixture of North American cuisine.

We should do a Metafilter cookbook.
posted by Nelson at 7:06 AM on April 6, 2020 [6 favorites]

These recipes look delicious.
posted by esker at 7:21 AM on April 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

As soon as I read "Open Source Cookbook," the voice immediately shouted in my head: "IT'S A COOKBOOK!"
posted by Melismata at 7:28 AM on April 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

We should do a Metafilter cookbook.

Some enterprising MeFites did this and I've made the excellent pimento cheese recipe that's in it, do endorse.
posted by missmobtown at 7:51 AM on April 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

I too love local cookbooks, particularly of the low budget fund-raiser sort, and I think there's much more to a recipe than just a list of ingredients and procedures — that's the part that can't be copyrighted — the best recipes have a context to them and a good recipe book gives you an idea, intentionally or not, of that context.

This project has a little of the same contextual feel of some of those church-basement cookbooks. I'm not sure if that's what they were consciously going for with the Courier typeface (I think they were shooting for something punk/zine-y), but to me it's reminiscent of the pre-desktop-publishing amateur bookmaking era: reproduced on an office ditto machine or an incandescent static-charge Xerox, probably with a comb binding and a hand-drawn cover. The kind of thing that would make a professional printer or typesetter cringe, but gets the job done.

The use of Google Slides as a sort of CMS even fits this paradigm; yes, it's cringey in a way, but it gets the job done.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:17 AM on April 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

It's a cookbook. Reimagined.
The cookbook. Reinvented.
We've reinvented the cookbook.

They've finally hacked the cookbook. Open Source, DRM-Free. Guys, they reinvented the cookbook! The Digital Liberation is Here. Power to the People! Big Brother has left the kitchen!

I'm in Fear Of Missing Out.
posted by SoberHighland at 9:50 AM on April 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Ultimate Open Source Guide For Foodcraft Hackers
posted by star gentle uterus at 10:39 AM on April 6, 2020

Jfc. Recipes look good and few of these burns are as clever as they think they are. Thanks for posting.
posted by ominous_paws at 10:54 AM on April 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

Without trying to be a curmudgeon in any way...

1. I love to cook and some of these recipes are wonderful.
2. All hail the power of sharing in times of need (and beyond).

However, I question the "This cookbook is meant to be an open source toolkit that everyone and anyone can access ...". I am fairly certain there are many people who simply do not have access to many of the ingredients, gnocchi boards, and or various pieces of equipment liberally mentioned in many of the recipes. Equally, the price of Tiger Shrimps of that grade? Are you kidding? Here at Chez Underpants we are truly blessed to have the majority of spices in the cupboards so that is not the issue. Many people simply do not...

I would not say this is 'Linux-like', more 'iPhone 10 with lots of Apps installed and a sequined case'. Not forgetting the wild and trippy initial screen which nearly made me vomit and not click through to the truly juicy bits.
posted by IndelibleUnderpants at 12:03 PM on April 6, 2020

I've been recently reminded of the whole world of vernacular cookbooks, particularly in America and I imagine Canada. You know the kind, from the 1950s, a mimeographed collection of recipes from the local Lutheran church's lady auxilliary.

There's a YouTube channel, Glen and Friends, that actually does try out recipes from cookbooks just like that (An "emergency cake", for example). Not all of his recipes are from old cookbooks, but it's a special treat every Sunday!
posted by thebots at 1:28 PM on April 6, 2020

I don't hate the animation. It's ugly, but in an intentional way, and it reminds me of an architecture school classmate's video art project that was also a collection of small contributions from many people. Which is a good association in these times.
posted by sepviva at 1:33 PM on April 6, 2020

Several recipes so far have very inaccurate lists of ingredients, so read through the recipe. it'sa nifty collection of recipes, but I'm self-isolating and the ingredients would mostly require a grocery trip.
posted by theora55 at 4:43 PM on April 6, 2020

I enjoy this. Thank you.
posted by pipoquinha at 7:55 PM on April 6, 2020

There is a real range in the style of recipes being shared there.

I am currently 36 hours into the basic sourdough recipe (I cheated a bit by having a starter I had already started) and it is so complicated! I currently have timers for every 25 minutes to remind me to fold the dough. I have high hopes for the outcome, though.

In case anyone is worried about sourdough having read that, or other similarly complicated recipes, this was what I ended up doing this week when there was no bread AND no yeast in the shops or the house:

Get 30g of plain flour and 30 g of water. Mix well.

12 hours later, mix 60g of flour and 60g of water, and then combine with the previous.

12 hours later, chuck half away (or mix with a pinch of baking soda and fry in butter like a weird pancake) and combine another 60g of flour and 60g of water.

You may need to do it a few times, but the principle is always the same: Xg of starter, Xg of water, Xg of flour, combine and leave. After the first few times, you can start to feed it every 24 hours. I think plain flour is easier to digest, so after a few goes switch to feeding it white bread flour instead.

Once you’ve built some bubbly mess in a jar, this is the simple recipe I’ve used in the past.

Just make sure to keep a little bit of starter aside, and feed it in the same ratio. Once you’ve fed it you can keep it in the fridge for ages.

If it goes slimy/vinegary, tip off the slime and don’t worry. If you think you’ve killed it through neglect, chuck most of it and re-feed a few times in the same ratio every 12 hours. If it doesn’t come back, maybe you really did kill it, but they are surprisingly tough. And easy to start again!
posted by fizban at 8:13 AM on April 10, 2020

But maybe I’ll be back in about 24 hours saying how wonderful that other sourdough is!
posted by fizban at 8:13 AM on April 10, 2020