Show HN: An API for scraping recipe web pages • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: An API for scraping recipe web pages

#111

Post by setr » Wed, Jul 19, 2017, 11:08 PM UTC

drusepth wrote: post #109

setr wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tbh I can't actually imagine the measurements in a cookbook were ever really intended to be precise, at least in the kind I've seen. Like even 4 cloves of garlic is vague; it'd have to be given in weight, but no one actually reading a recipe would prefer 30g of garlic over 1 clove. Maybe differs in a restaurant or business, but for home cooking thinking of recipes as precise seems absurd to me. Its 600g... a number t…

As someone relatively amateur to cooking, this is entirely news to me. Whenever something doesn't turn out right, I just assume I didn't follow the recipe exact enough somewhere along the way, but have no idea where. Outside of "be more precise when baking", I don't know enough to know when I need to follow recipes exactly and/or how much leeway I have for fudging otherwise. It's actually incredibly frustrating when…

just what do you intend to do? Get a recipe that says 2 pounds chicken leg, 30g garlic, 10 sesame seeds and 4.2 cups yogurt; and then sit down and measure everything to these precise requirements? Realize you only have 4.1 cups of yogurt, and start skimming a little meat of the chicken to toss? It'd take you a day just to prepare the ingredient measurements! Drop some yogurt and you're back to the measuring table

Home cooking is an improvised activity, primarily because its so lenient in what it'll accept. Of course, maybe the french will tell you otherwise, but most food doesn't come with any intent to be 100% reproducible (and it'd be extremely boring if it were), or "designed". They come out leniently tasty, and they look good leniently.

Until brown? Until it looks like a good shade of brown. Until ready? Until it feels like its ready. To taste? Until its tasty.

Its imprecise, because its an ancient activity. You do what seems like a good idea, and don't do it next time if it fails. Its a game where losing is kinda fun (unless you're "designing" food, which I have nothing to say about)

Re: Show HN: An API for scraping recipe web pages

#112

Post by cronin101 » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 10:14 AM UTC

tinebak wrote: post #50

cronin101 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once hacked together some very basic code to try and do this, so that I could answer the question "what can I make with the stuff in my refrigerator". I gave up on the project pretty quickly (now I'm really tempted to pick it up again), but you can definitely get 90% of the way there with 10% of the effort: ingredients = [ '200g of heavily salted butter', 'six bottles of beer', '50ml of clotted cream', 'plain brown…

I'm working on this and finding that it's a lot of work (and code) to identify the actual ingredient. Consider "all-purpose sifted flour." That's the same ingredient as "plain flour." So (so!) many ways to write the same ingredient. I'm getting there, though :)

I believe this is "easily" solved by using POS tagging. "flour" is the noun so you can throw the rest away?

That was my approach.

Re: Show HN: An API for scraping recipe web pages

#113

Post by drusepth » Thu, Jul 20, 2017, 12:25 PM UTC

setr wrote: post #111

drusepth wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone relatively amateur to cooking, this is entirely news to me. Whenever something doesn't turn out right, I just assume I didn't follow the recipe exact enough somewhere along the way, but have no idea where. Outside of "be more precise when baking", I don't know enough to know when I need to follow recipes exactly and/or how much leeway I have for fudging otherwise. It's actually incredibly frustrating when…

just what do you intend to do? Get a recipe that says 2 pounds chicken leg, 30g garlic, 10 sesame seeds and 4.2 cups yogurt; and then sit down and measure everything to these precise requirements? Realize you only have 4.1 cups of yogurt, and start skimming a little meat of the chicken to toss? It'd take you a day just to prepare the ingredient measurements! Drop some yogurt and you're back to the measuring table Hom…

Personally, I don't find "losing" (e.g. making food that isn't good) fun at all, but rather a large waste of time. I would love a recipe that details the quantities of everything I need, and -- yes -- I would (and do) measure down other ingredients when I don't have enough of one, because the minor upfront time cost of doing so outweighs the risk of wasting the entire meal if it turns out bad, IMO.

I recognize that some people enjoy the art of cooking, but I personally don't. I cook to make food so I can survive. Perhaps I just haven't found the right cook books for my demographic.