Pointless Ramblings of a Verbose Cook w/a Loooong List of Food Aversions...

LTH, I'm sorry, I cannot relate too much, I don't have any key words, phrases,ingred that prevent me from picking a recipe, except one,recipes without a photo.I will seek out a recipe so I can make That dish, so it will have a "Face". The way I look at it, it is like a person without a name. You have had some very interesting blogs lately and look forward to what others have to say. Thanks LTH, Patty

When it comes to titles, I tend to gravitate to those with words such as "cheese, cheesy", or "garlic, garlicky" etc. Also whatever food kick we're on at the time, presently orzo, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, to name a few, so that plays an important part in the title for me. I'm with Avon lady on the pictures, love to see the finished product. Not too much a fan of "spicy", so I tend to swerve away from recipes with that word in the title.

Spicy & Hot are key words for me and like Dixie'sMom I tend to go towards garlicky and cheesy too. I never heard of hot dish until I lived in North Dakota. I have a local cookbook from there and so many things are titled hot dish. That really doesn't do anything for me but, I'm PA Dutch girl at heart!♥ Enjoyed your thoughts, nice blog!

Hot, spicy, cheesy, garlicy, decadent, rich, gooey, grilled, fresh, wild caught, Mediterrean, Asian, Carribbean, Mexican, Italian, French, Greek, I guess these are a few of the buzz words that capture my attention. Looking through my recipe box, and favorite recipes in various cookbooks, these are some of the words that jump out at me. Like you, LTH, I avoid, hot dish, casserole, one dish, speedy, jiffy, church pot luck, and a few others. Not that these aren't good, but it's not something that is jumping off a page and grabbing me. Interesting blog, thanks for approaching the subject.

oh yeah, I like photos too. I'm very visual and want to see what something is intended to look like. Not that mine always does, but it's a guideline nonetheless.

I like to try recipes without photos so I can be the first to post a pic! otherwise, I'm not drawn to certain recipes for their names, but I do love a good description below recipe listings. Even though they're always cut off and end in dot dot dot... And are NEVER the same description as on the actual recipe page. That's still what I look at.

I do a search by ingredients. Once I get the results I sort them by rating. From that point I scroll through and see what catches my eye. No words or phrases in particular. (Usually because when I'm looking by ingredients I have on hand I have NO idea what to make as it is!) I then start by reading the reviews. Sometimes I choose a recipe and make it as is...other times I find several similar recipes and then take what I want from each of them and call it a meal. I dont care much if it has a photo or not since most times I take one of the finished product and post it anyways.

I think one of the things that catches my eye is if the recipe has a sort of geographic reference - most recently, Aargau Carrot Cake. I've never heard of "Aargau" anything, but I feel like I broadened my horizons by trying it! I'm fascinated by Asian/Indian food, mainly because my dad was in China-Burma-India during WWII, so I imagine he might have eaten some of these dishes (key word - "Imagine", because all he had were a few army rations and rice, and to this day he won't eat rice, NO MATTER WHAT!) But still, it's that emotional attachment to some far off place that he visited, and I probably never will. "Portuguese", "Morrocan", "French Canadian", "Newfoundland"...all places I'm interested in for various reasons, so I'm interested in authentic recipes as well as those inspired by those regions' cuisine. As for what I'm not interested in - Japanese cooking, "gourmet" - because it sounds snobby to me, and "deep-fried" because I always try to do a baked version and it's never as good! ;)

Another thought provoking topic. I tend to come to recipes either via a search by ingredient, or after reading someone else's review. The name is almost an after thought for me. As long as a recipe isn't heavily based on prepackaged or prepared ingredients (for cheese biscuits, I don't want a recipe that starts with refrigerated biscuits.)I really like it when I know the part of the country the submitter is from because I am fascinated by the same ingredients being used i nsuch different ways.

i love making casseroles, so they catch my eye often :) my b/f doesn't like them but i always have, oddly enough. but "hot dish" seems worse :P i look at anything "garlic", "marinated", "easy" or "quick", "balsamic", "cheesy", "berry", "(vegetable)", "wine", "spicy", "(something in spanish)" ...most often when I do a search its for some recipe in particular and I sort by rating. and i keep it quick because i'm always busy busy busy! names that I can't pronounce or i haven't heard of are the ones that i stay away from :) not that its me, but i get nervous to try a lot of new dishes because my b/f is pretty picky. I also try to stay away from "fried", "gourmet", "campbell's", "carrot", "salmon", "(pizza anything, besides actual pizza)", when you see the same recipe with "V or VI" after it.... i too check out the recipes with no photo so i can post :)

Hot dish-adventures in good eating. However, I think this might be a regional thing as I live in Minnesota-the home of hot dishes(and jello salad). When I am cruising for a recipe I tend to stay away from anything "gourmet". I find most of them expensive to make. I tend to scan a list and read the recipe description. I also tend to stay away from recipes with "best" or "ultimate" cuz it is like "says who". I am not afraid to look at a recipe with low or no ratings especially if they have 1 rating. One of my faves had a one star rating because none of her guests asked for the recipe. So there you go, your ratings blog and this blog combined.

"Chocolate" draws me like a magnet; even if zucchini is the next word!

I often pass by recipes with 'casserole' in the title. Sometime about it just conjures up mushy slop - maybe good tasting slop, but slop nonetheless! If there are 15 of the same recipe (IE Cake I, Cake IV, Cake III, etc), I look for ones with unusual titles! (They have to be different and therefore better, right?) I gravitate to recipes that I think I can make look 'pretty' for my camera. Things that can be single servings.

You know, looking through my reviews just now, I realized I make a lot of recipes that state what they are very simply. I don't make things that are named 'Gloopglop' (which may in fact be mac and cheese). If it's mac and cheese and it's called Mac an Cheese, I guess I'm more likely to look twice.

Does it bother anyone else that the photos on the Home Page Photos page are hard to recognize. It would be so great if the name of the dish was printed under each photo.

I just type in the dish that I'm looking for and then sort by rating...and just read through them until I find one that doesn't require a trip to the store. I'm sure I'm missing out on some great recipes with more unusual names.

I usually search by the main ingredient. I tend to avoid the gourmet and names I cannot pronounce. My family is very picky and those types of recipes usually have some "different" spices and flavors. If I were cooking just for myself, it would be another story.

I look for the number of reviews. If a lot of the good cooks at AR have tried something and given it 4+ stars, I am more willing to try it. You have already made all the variations and changes that I might have tried. The names may call out to me but reviews make the difference.

The names of dishes really don't influence me one way or the other, unless I can't tell at all what the dish is by the name - then I probably won't look at the recipe. I live in Minnesota but grew up in California and to me it's a casserole, not a hot dish. (And I call fizzy beverages soda, not pop but that's a whole new topic isn't it?) I rarely make casseroles anyway - most of the ones that seem to taste really good are way too fattening, so I avoid them for the most part.

I was drawn to this article by the title. :) My husband is from WI, near the Minnesohhhta border, and I had to learn to refer to my "casserole" recipes as "hot dishes" so my in-laws would know what I was talking aboahht.

I don't care about names for the most part. I look purely at stars. Long names vaguely annoy me but not so much as that I won't try them. "Easy" makes me wary but I always look anyway because sometimes easy IS good after all. And goodness sakes, I love casseroles... I'm a one-dish-meal diva. Ya'll are on your own with that one.

I always search out recipes with few or no reviews just because I like the potential challenge, and they usually don't have photos so I can submit one, even though I'm not the greatest photographer. Titles mentioning cheese, bacon, onions, garlic, zucchini, spinach, water chestnuts or cocout tend to grab my attention also since those are my favourite ingredients to work with. Also sweet and savoury combinations (alas, there are some that don't work...).

I'm all about the photos! I seem to find most recipes by looking at all the pictures. The title doesn't mean much to me (unless it has 'chocolate' in it!). However, the ingredients do. I love casseroles/hot dishes! I grew up with them living in the midwest and they are comfort food to me. Perfect for a blustery Minnesota winter!

I like titles with the words: garlic, cheese, easy, skillet, broccoli, casserole. I'm surprisingly not all about the pictures. I guess its because my dishes never come out looking like them. :) I think "easy" is probably the main one that catches my attention.

I'm averse to anything with "supreme" in the title.

I do like "spicy" or "kickin," though!

I always want to see recipes with photos, first of all. Then I check out the ingredients and if I spot one that seems weird or I don't have on hand or won't ever buy, I'll go back and look at the next recipe. usually when searching, I have something in mind so I keep going until something stands out. I'm also very picky and don't like "weird" ingredients! ha.

I love me a title with some fun adjectives thrown in, though I generally end up going through all or most of the recipes that come up when I search to check out ingredients and individual reviews. That being said, I also like to give my own recipes fun names =)

I'm a newbie here and just discovered the blogs. The topics are, well, topical! Personally I dislike "magic jello/marshmallow," chili mac, and pics that are beautiful but do not jibe with the recipe (gorgeous cupcakes, but cake recipe only specifies 9 x 13 pan: change cooking time/temp, add/subtract, no changes, whatever.) Yes, I can usually figure out what needs to happen, but if the poster has experimented and developed their own (yeah--whatever that is!) perfect recipe, any wisdom is welcome. Appreciate recipes that, in the original post, list options (more/less garlic, spices, veggies, meat subs, diff cheese) rather than having to peruse many many reviews to pick and choose. JMO, thanks for the intriguing topics. Looking forward reading more!