Recipe Software
by Ronda Yoder
A Cook’s Books: Cost $39.95 This program was developed by a Mac user, Tony Cate, who is a programmer and cook. He developed this program in his spare time. His company is 3 Cats and a Mac (http://www.3caam.com/products.html). Tony has strived to make the program as Mac friendly and follows the Mac interface guidelines closely. The program allows for import of recipes from many cookbook sources and text files. This is well done in most cases. Overall, I like the software. It has some limitations; primarily for me, the inability to print a cookbook. There are other little things that I would like to see done better, like auto-complete of the food item being entered. It shows great promise and is cleanly implemented, especially for a piece of software that started out as a hobby.
MacGourmet Deluxe: Cost $24.95 & $44.95 (Deluxe). This program was originally developed by Advenio Software (www.advenio.com), a company started by two Mac programmers who have been developing Mac software since 1994. The developer of MacGourmet, Michael Dupuis, still controls development of the software and offers a downloadable version of MacGourmet from his website (www.macgourmet.com). In addition to the main software, there are three plug-ins for Nutritional Information, Meal Planning, and Cookbook Printing. Earlier this year, Mariner Software (http://www.marinersoftware.com/sitepage.php?page=130) began offering a boxed version of MacGourmet which includes all the plug-ins, in one package. This version is called MacGourmet Deluxe. Michael continues to make revision updates to MacGourmet, but is also working on an iPhone/iPod Touch version called MacGourmet To Go, which should be out soon. The software also has an online Support Board where MacGourmet users can ask questions and swap recipes. The Cookbook plug-in is particularly helpful, as it allows the user to develop a complete, designed cookbook, then upload the cookbook to a print-on-demand site for publishing. Individual recipes can be printed on regular paper or index cards. The boxed version of the software is much more economical, if you desire all the plug-ins. If you aren’t interested in the plug-ins, the downloadable version is the least expensive option of them all. I like the presentation/appearance of the data entry screens, the ability to access the different plug-ins, and a number of the little things that make software easier to use. Overall, this is my favorite of the three software programs.
CookWare Deluxe: This software was developed using FileMaker, so it is a more complex database than the others. It was developed by Digital Fried Chicken (http://www.digitalfriedchicken.com/), which also produces a number of organizer databases for the home: Pet care, Car care, medical records, Magazine organizer, Inventory management, etc., which range from $10-26. There are also two sets of additional recipes that can be downloaded (small fee). Cookware Deluxe recipes and shopping lists can be emailed to others, as well as to your iPhone/iPod Touch. Also you can make cookbooks to download to the iPods that allow Notes. This software is very detailed in what it can do, but it does limit a couple things that I would like to see. The author gives a good rationale for not including nutritional information, but I’m not sure it holds up. One of the really nice things about the software is the number of recipes that are available for a small fee. I would like to see compatibility with importing more recipes, but the reason that doesn’t work well has to do with the foundation of FileMaker on which the software is written. The author has really addressed with all his software programs, many of the needs for utilitarian record-keeping that we all face.
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