On a shelf in my parent's kitchen in Connecticut sits a well-loved copy of The Fannie Farmer Cook Book, a now barely-held-together cooking guide that came into my family decades ago. The yellowed pages are filled with sticky notes designating favorite recipes; loose sheets of paper containing additional recipes thought up over the years; and hand-written notes on the pages in my mother's almost illegible scrawl. I know every family has some version of culinary nostalgia, either in the form of a cherished book or a tin filled with recipes on index cards. But for me—the Internet-dependent contemporary cook—most of my culinary inspiration comes via hasty Google searches while standing in the grocery store, inquiring which herbs pair well with roasted chicken. Traditional cookbooks are on the way out—as a Times article from a few years ago points out—being replaced with Internet search engines and, now, cooking and food-based apps for our smartphones and tablets.
So when I was approached to try out Sara Jenkins's new iPad app, I was curious to see how this form of recipe delivery would integrate into my routine. East Village-by-way-of-Italy chef Jenkins—who owns Italian-inspired restaurants Porsena and Porchetta—recently launched the new iPad app, New Italian Pantry ($3.99 for the iPad on iTunes). Chef Jenkin's app centers around the concept that if you have certain pantry staples on hand in your home at all times, you can riff off those core ingredients to produce a variety of dishes just by adding fresh vegetables and proteins. Stock items like garlic, dried pasta and beans appear in lots of recipes, which should come as no surprise given Jenkins's Italian heritage. Other items like salted capers and Aleppo chile pepper are less common in America's kitchens, but chef Jenkins explains each item's meaningfulness through embedded videos throughout the app.
Michael Harlan Turkell's beautiful food photography—which you can see in the gallery above, though that barely scratches the surface—leaps off the screen and makes you want to immediately cook and devour each of the dishes. I attempted two: White Bean Puree with Artichokes and a Risotto with Pancetta and Leeks. Both recipes were easy to follow and didn't have an overwhelming amount of ingredients outside of the basic pantry items. They tasted great too, of course, and even my boyfriend—whose culinary "adventurousness" means an "exotic" sushi roll—went back for seconds and thirds of the artichokes. The cannellini bean recipe, as well as others, show up in several other recipes throughout the app, making for some flexibility if you want to make a big batch for future applications.
Final Product: White Bean Puree with Artichokes (left); Risotto with Pancetta and Leeks (right). (Nell Casey/Gothamist)
I'm not a professional, but I do know my way around a kitchen, so I didn't have difficulty following along with chef Jenkins's instructions. For the less confident cook, built-in features like timers, videos and photographs—what does "score the pork" actually look like, for example—will be helpful guides as they hone their techniques. What I like best about Jenkins's app, however, are the personal touches, like anecdotes about each recipe that give some insight and background into each dish, not unlike family notes in the margin. I do wish, though, that there were a space for the user to take their own notes for the future when they may try a recipe again.
Other apps allow for a more interactive experience, like iCookbook ($4.99 on iTunes, Windows, Android)—a two year winner of the Appy award for Best Cooking App—which has a Notes feature built-in to each recipe and also allows cooks to share over 2,000 recipes via email and Facebook. The app also has a feature where users can add their own recipes to be stored on the app, eliminating the need for loose leaf recipes and internet browser bookmarks. Like Jenkins's, Mark Bittman's well-rated How To Cook Everything app ($4.99 for iPad/iPhone on iTunes) also includes kitchen how-to's and built in timers, plus tons of recipes.
There are literally thousands of cooking apps available, from recipes to tutorials to handy kitchen pad timers. PBS did a nice roundup of their favorites, as did CBS Local, but ultimately it will come down to what kind of a cook you are and what you need out of an app. If you're looking for something not only functional and practical but also beautiful and personal, you'd do well to invest the money in Jenkins' app. As for the future of cooking guides, it's clear that apps are going to stick around for as long as we're glued to our tablets. But I do look forward to the day I can add my own notes to the family Fannie Farmer; until then, I'll just have to leave all my personal food commentary on the internet.
To promote Sara Jenkins's New Italian Pantry, Porsena is hosting special prix fixe tasting dinners where diners can sample some of chef Jenkins's dishes and also get promo codes to download the app for free. The next dinner is April 3rd; follow New Italian Pantry on Facebook and Twitter for reservation information and other dinner date announcements.
