Tips for Better Searching? - Food Blogs and Recipes

I may be the last person on earth to start to realize the wealth of blog knowledge there is out there - really it's the sheer number of recipes (or recipics as we like to call 'em) that can be great introductions to an ingredient or a new spin on an old favorite. I've found that the detail and quality of commentary on these blogs often exceeds what you'll find on a site like Epicurious or the Russian roulette that is recipezaar or allrecipes.

The problem is, that like a nut, It's hard to get to the good stuff. If I search for a recipe for chard, I tend to get all the recipe sites as hits rather than blogs themselves. I know that there is a great interconnectedness as one recipe often jumps from one blog to another as people put their own spins on favorites like the no-knead bread. I just haven't guessed the Google-fu to target my query. Searching for a dish by name often gets more specific results, but I'm often thinking about what to do with kohlrabi than wondering about the best way to make risotta al salto from start to finish. It seems inefficient to bookmark blogs I like and then use their search function.

Does anyone scour the food blogosphere for recipes on a regular basis? Have any tips to ferreting out the best results for your searches?

My chard and I will thank you for it.

There is a Food Blog Search that some bloggers maintain using Google technology. Google has a blog search, but it searches all blogs, not just food related blogs.

I have 100+ food blogs that I follow in my Google Reader. I star a lot of recipes that pique my interest. Google Reader has a search function, but I find it to be a bit slow sometimes.

My trick is to use the Google Image Search feature - the recipe sites don't use images, and often, the better blogs will have a foodporny shot that gives you a better idea of what you're getting into. I have to say, I don't follow blogs as often as I probably ought - but a blind image search of an ingredient or technique sometimes pays off.

That Google Image search tip is a good one - hopefully the blogger who is careful with their photography during their attempt at a recipe will be careful getting the recipe instructions right.

I like honest food blog recipes - 'I messed this up because..' will tell you more than any kitchen tested book recipe.

Also, try searching through the past food blog events - like Is My Blog Burning? where the host picks a food and hundreds do a recipe with that food (or food topic).

They have their own search engine (it googles their own food site list)
http://www.ismyblogburning.com/the-big-fat-food-search-engine.

Still, manual, random clicking gets me inspired too: http://kiplog.com/food/foodlinks.htm

Yes, but there are some of us who don't post pictures with our recipes, or at least not every recipe. And I search for recipes all the time on blogs and sites that don't have photos. I think the writing tells you what you really need to know, as to whether or not the cook is careful or knowledgeable (because anyone can download good images -- there's no guarantee that the image is the cook's preparation -- I see blogs all the time with photos I've seen a dozen other places).

Make sure the recipe hasn't just been cut and pasted from somewhere else (it's usually easy to tell, as the same identical recipe will show up in the first 10 responses to a search), read what the blogger's experience was, and then look at the recipe and see if it seems carefully crafted and reasonably likely to be successful.

If you subscribe to various blogs through Google Reader, you can do a search for whatever you're looking for in Google Reader, only bringing up relevant blog posts from the blogs you subscribe to.

I have a delicious account that I use only for recipes. As I find something interesting, through a feed I follow or a link from a friend or whatnot, I apply tags for some of the main ingredients and/or cuisine, bookmark it, then later when I want a recipe for kohlrabi, I can just look at the things I've tagged with kohlrabi. It is a bit more upfront work, but I find it very useful and flexible (for example, I can bookmark recipes from non-blog sites or from blogs I don't follow.)

Besides that, I also find the food blog search mentioned above to be quite useful.

You can try doing a search in http://www.tastespotting.com/ or http://foodgawker.com/.

jlanevo8 wrote:You can try doing a search in http://www.tastespotting.com/ or http://foodgawker.com/.

Thanks to all for the many suggestions. These in particular are pretty cool (gets at what Mhays was trying with the image search, but seems to target blogs).