How Do You Find Recipes These Days?

This short and sweet column in my latest Women in Ag Sampler got me wondering about how my friends and family get recipes for their favorite foods, comfort and day-to-day.

The article notes that 60% of us still get recipes from family and friends. When my mother-in-law was alive, I called her several times a week to go over recipes and talk over proportions before trying her recipes or experimenting. I still think of her when I have a recipe question. She was a master of proportions and always had an answer (and opinion) which never failed to boost my confidence.

A few years ago, my husband and I secretly contacted members of my extended family to pull together signature family recipes for a birthday present for my mother. Interspersed on the pages were photos and quotes from the contributors.

It’s probably the number one book I rely on for recipes.

For technique I watch the Food Network. But I have to admit that lately, the Internet is my primary source of recipes. I even use it as a way to check for proportions and substitutions for some of my grandmother’s church cookbooks that are loaded with ingredients I’d prefer not to use these days.

The most valuable part of my Internet searches, however, are the comments. A prime example is the other night when we threw asparagus on the grill. We usually toss the shoots with a little salt, pepper and olive oil. But I was looking to kick it up a notch, so I summoned my sous chef Google and found a combo at All Recipes for grilled asparagus. The recipe was identical to what we usually do…but in the comments, readers had shared their experiences…subbing garlic salt for kosher salt and another adding a touch of balsamic vinegar. I did both and we were blown away by the taste.

If we do a family cookbook update, that one is going in for sure.

Cooks out there…where do you get your recipes? And do you have a favorite cookbook, source or website?

Photo from monteen’s Flickr photostream.