I’ve tried out countless apps for the iOS platform but few have every stayed on my phone as long as Paprika, a recipe manager that’s already been widely praised in other reviews over the last few years. I won’t attempt to add to the accolades here, but I can’t imagine a food or tech blog without mentioning the tool I use the most in the kitchen.
What has impressed me most about Paprika is its ability to seamlessly sync across phone and tablet and restore all of my recipes even when one of my devices gets wiped. The embeded cloud service, which is independent from Apple’s iCloud, is provided for free simply by purchasing the app. This is a great backup for a single device user, but it becomes incredibly powerful when you have multiple devices. I use Paprika on my iPad to search for new recipes, sort and organize my collection, and make a shopping list for the grocery store. While I am out at the market I can access the same list on my iPhone that I made on the tablet and mark off things as I go down the isles. Even better, since the iPhone version is as full featured as the tablet, I have all of my recipes in my pocket which I can reference if I happen upon a good deal. Kale on sale is great, but it’s even better if I know all the other ingredients for making my favorite salad and what I might already have in the pantry.
When I get back home, I switch back to the iPad, check the meals I have planed out on Paprika’s calendar and “pin” the active ones to the task bar along the bottom of the app. This ability to mark your current recipes with a pin is a relatively new and welcome feature in Paprika that I have found is an elegant solution for swapping between main dishes and sides while working at the stove. As I’m cooking I can set a timer within the app by simply clicking any text in a recipe that indicates “minutes” required for a given step, or I can just add my own custom timer which will run along the bottom task bar. The large screen format of the iPad works well as a cookbook and the glass screen lets me avoid the sauce stained edges commonly found along the margins of my cookbooks.
Most of my recipes come from online websites and magazines and Paprika lets me browse these from within the app and automatically clip recipes and pictures for addition to my collection. Once a recipe is captured from within the app you can give it your own star rating, mark your favorites, assign multiple categories, or add notes about your modifications. I usually snap a picture of what I’ve cooked if it comes out well enough to warrant posterity and then I replace any stock images that I may have clipped in the original. The gallery above includes some screen shots from my phone where you can see my various customizations such as categories for “crockpot” and “cooking for one” as well as a picture of my finished scallops made at home.
- bits of grass - 