Search

Join Culinate! Login or Register

Cook it all, anywhere

The How to Cook Everything iPhone app

By Kim Carlson

April 19, 2010

Years ago when we started Culinate, we were four upstarts with an idea.

Actually, that’s not quite right.

We were four longtime friends with backgrounds in software, books, food, and marketing — and we had a lot of ideas.

Foremost, we wanted to join the conversation about food that was happening everywhere in this country, from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, in cities and towns all across the United States.

We had begun to take a hard look at what we were eating — not just how it tasted, but where it came from and who produced it — and we knew others were doing the same. We wanted to learn more by asking questions about food, online, every day, and publishing the work of farmers, academics, journalists, and cooks who are trying to make sense of how we eat today.

All of the book’s contents are in the app.

But honestly, we were wary of building a business based on online advertising alone. So while we plowed ahead with the publishing side of Culinate — the member pages, stories, columns, recipes, and book features that make it an engaging and fun place to work every day — behind the scenes we were building other relationships and working on other efforts to create a sustainable business.

From the start, we knew that in addition to publishing good food content, we wanted to help cookbooks go digital in a way that allowed readers to be able to access their favorite cookbook recipes whenever they wanted.

We love cookbooks, and we knew this made sense. Plenty of people want to cook, but they need help fitting it in — which might mean checking a recipe on the train after work, and swinging by the market on the way home. Cookbooks are beautiful and engaging — but not always as portable as we might like.

Over the years, our vision has adapted to new technology, but basically it remains the same: We want to help people plan, shop for, and cook good food. And we want to help publishers take cookbook content beyond the book.

Now, we’re pleased to announce an iPhone app that accomplishes all of that. Culinate has partnered with John Wiley and Sons to bring one of our favorite cookbooks, Mark Bittman’s best-selling, award-winning, incredibly useful How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition), to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The How to Cook Everything app contains all the book’s content — including 2,000 recipes and recipe variations — plus easy-to-use search and shopping-list capabilities that don’t require wi-fi. This app is truly useful anywhere, anytime; online or offline, it’s all there.

Finally, this is only the beginning of a whole string of awesome cookbook titles — old and new — that we hope to bring to the digital world. Tell us, what would you like to see make the move to the iPhone, iPad or other digital devices? Help us assemble a virtual bookshelf of your favorites.

And, honestly, if you love the book and you use an iPhone or iPad, buy the HTCE app. I doubt you’ll be sorry.

Sift

Food-waste apps

How to get the most from your food

The Culinate Interview

Mark Bittman

The minimalist

All Books

Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Express

404 Inspired Seasonal Dishes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less

The Culinate Interview

Ina Garten

The barefoot contessa

Tags

how-to,
htce app,
Mark Bittman,
shopping,
techniques,
technology,
add tags…
(please login to add tags)

There are 25 comments on this item

Add a comment

1. by dgreenwood on Apr 28, 2010 at 12:58 PM PDT

I just bought this app having seen it on the featured apps list on my iphone. It is awesome! The search and shopping list aspects make it worth having even though I own the paper version. Please consider Molly Stevens “All About Braising” for a future app. And wouldn’t Michael Ruhlman’s “Ratio” be a nifty app to have. The chef’s cheat sheet on your phone. I’m loving that idea...

Keep up the great work! You got this just right.

2. by Kim on Apr 28, 2010 at 1:23 PM PDT

Thanks — we’re glad you like the app. And thanks for the idea for All About Braising; we’re keeping a file of possibilities for future development, and we’ll add this to it. As for Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio, it already is an app! $4.99 on the iTunes store.

3. by sarajane on May 3, 2010 at 3:07 PM PDT

It would be wonderful if you developed a version of this app for droid! :) just sayin...

4. by anonymous on May 9, 2010 at 9:32 AM PDT

Marcella Hazan’s books would be marvellous, IMO. Love this app!

5. by Rick on May 12, 2010 at 11:52 AM PDT

Kill for a Droid App of this. Any chance??

6. by Sam on May 15, 2010 at 2:25 PM PDT

One more vote for an Android version of this app...

7. by Emily Turner on May 17, 2010 at 10:59 AM PDT

Will this app be updated to work with the full screen on the iPad? I’ve been using my iPad to read recipes when I’m prepping and cooking. I love not having to pick up anything to read the recipe.

8. by John on May 21, 2010 at 8:17 AM PDT

An app for the Harold McGee book might come in handy, too.

9. by anonymous on May 22, 2010 at 10:54 AM PDT

another vote for Android - and Marcella Hazan!

10. by Rebecca Albrich on May 26, 2010 at 2:54 PM PDT

How about Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone as an app? That one is a old friend in my kitchen.

11. by Lee Ann on Jun 2, 2010 at 12:50 PM PDT

Yet another vote for an Android version of this app, please!

12. by anonymous on Jun 8, 2010 at 8:14 AM PDT

Is there an app for Bittman’s vegetarian cookbook?

13. by James Berry on Jun 8, 2010 at 8:29 AM PDT

@anonymous: There’s no app for the Vegetarian book... yet :)

14. by OpusOne on Jun 8, 2010 at 8:52 AM PDT

@anonymous: Also, if you really don’t want to wait, there is a simple search setting feature in the HTCE App to find all vegetarian recipes and filter out others—which still gives you hundreds of wonderful recipes.

15. by Jennifer O. on Jun 11, 2010 at 10:49 AM PDT

Piling on to the HTCE for the droid voting, just in case it helps you build a case for revenue potential.
Good luck!

16. by anonymous on Jun 26, 2010 at 3:23 PM PDT

Would love this for the iPad. Would also love to have Bittman’s Vegetarian book for the iPad.

17. by anonymous on Jul 14, 2010 at 8:54 PM PDT

dear people, hello! i just found your site via HEAD BUTLER.
i would like to see <i>in any form</i> James Beard’s THEORY & PRACTICE OF GOOD COOKING.
love,
julie
i use a nokia85, actually.

18. by anonymous on Jul 27, 2010 at 1:11 PM PDT

Droid, please...;)

19. by Nancy Zachariasen on Dec 10, 2010 at 10:53 AM PST

Another plea for the Droid.

20. by Victoria Johnson on Jan 24, 2011 at 2:36 PM PST

Droid Pretty Please...

21. by anonymous on Jan 24, 2011 at 5:14 PM PST

Another request for Droid version. May as well get going on a Droid tablet app too, for when it overtakes iPad....

22. by anonymous on Mar 18, 2011 at 10:03 AM PDT

How to Cook Everything works great as an app--very well designed-- but as a vegetarian I still REALLY want HTCE Vegetarian as an app.

23. by OpusOne on Mar 23, 2011 at 11:44 AM PDT

Anonymous (#22)... we are working on it (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian) and hope to announce a release date very soon!

24. by anonymous on Feb 23, 2012 at 7:19 AM PST

Can I just say, “you folks at Culinate ROCK!” I’ve had you on my screen for two years now, and I love every newsletter, and almost every recipe you post. Just wanted to say “thanks” and let you know what you do is so wonderful, and you are so appreciated! Suzi C.

25. by Kim on Feb 23, 2012 at 8:45 AM PST

Suzi C., thanks for that generous comment. We appreciate your sentiments!

Add a comment

Think before you type

Culinate welcomes comments that are on-topic, clean, and courteous. For the benefit of the community we reserve the right to delete comments that contain advertising, personal attacks, profanity, or which are thinly disguised attempts to promote another website.

Please enter your comment

Comment

Format: Bare URLs are automatically linked; use this style: [http://www.example.com "place text to be linked here"] for prettier links. You may specify *bold* or _italic_ text. No HTML please.