The Accidental Locavore has been in the middle of judging for Toque’s 2011 Food App Awards, so make sure you check in on December 8th to see who the winners are. In the meantime, I’ve been taking Michael Rhulman’s Ratio for a spin. My father and others I know are crazy about the book this app is based on, but since I don’t own the book, the Locavore can’t really say whether the app is better than the book or vice-versa.
The idea behind both is that most food preparation falls into certain ratios. Once you know what the rules (ratios) are, you’re free to mess around with the ingredients. So if you want to make cookies, it’s helpful to know that it’s 1 part sugar to 2 parts fat to 3 parts flour. What’s not helpful is that the default number of cookies you’ll be making is 6. Now, when was the last time you broke out the mixer to make 6 cookies? To up the number of cookies, there’s no way to change it to 24 cookies, you can only do that by changing one of the ratio ingredients (8 ounces of sugar will give you 24 cookies according to this).
Another issue is how to figure out how many egg yolks there are in 6 ounces (hollandaise sauce). Do you know? The app lacks a measurement option for units (like yolks). There are all the usual options like saving your favorites, making notes, and of course, sharing on Facebook or email (does anyone actually do that?).
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Ratio
Developer/Seller: Rhulman Enterprises
Cost: $4.99
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
Website: http://ruhlman.com/apps/
