Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

parsnip.ai

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 377 posts

Re: Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

#191

Post by Mikeb85 »

mizzao wrote: post #168
Mikeb85 wrote: post #163

I wish you good luck but I don't get it either. The thing that makes Duolingo great is that right away you learn words in a new language. It hooks you. Within 1 lesson you know several words or a phrase with a few variations. This is more just random trivia about food that no one cares about. I started with the cheeseburger recipe (apparently an advanced lesson or something). Right away it's asking me a bunch of ques…

The goal we're building toward is that you can pick any recipe on the Internet and learn it in this way. But first we have to start with a small group (beginners) and make sure it's actually fun and interesting for them. I explain how this works at https://parsnip.substack.com/p/a-new-hope The unintuitive observation for beginners is that their pain doesn't seem to be cooking the food and making the recipe. It's "I d…

Just curious if you've ever actually taught someone to cook before?

Like, I can definitely see a market for something that teaches skills versus recipes. I've thought about doing it myself. But if someone wants to learn to cook an egg, it's because there's an egg in their fridge and they're hungry. So start with actually cooking that thing. Like, getting a suitable frying pan, setting the right temperature, throwing some butter in and then cracking and flipping the egg, learning to recognise when it's cooked to the desired doneness. No one cares about how to buy eggs... And if they're scared to buy eggs it's not because they don't know ABOUT eggs, it's because they don't know how to cook them.

Anyhow no need to take my advice, I just don't see the 'hook' or value versus a blog that teaches cooking, the millions of books geared towards beginners, TikTokers and YouTubers that teach cooking, etc... In a past career I was a chef (worked in restaurants up to a place that was top 100 in the world) and for beginnners who never cooked the first step was always to put food in their hand and have them cut it, season it, cook it and taste it. Extra information was always on a strict need to know basis mainly because it's overwhelming. The very first time you make a burger you don't care about lean versus fatty meat, you just want to not get e-coli and have something edible.

Also, just want to compare some food apps that are successful.

- Cookpad works because it skips a ton of BS involved in reading recipes and simply gives you the recipe.

- TikTok (IMO the best food app there is) works because you see the entire recipe start to finish in one minute or less. It grabs you, then you can usually go to a link or something to get the actual recipe.

I like your goal and the methodology is sound enough, just seems like there's not a ton of experience with actually teaching cooking...

Re: Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

#192

Post by tclancy »

EddySchauHai wrote: post #187
asoneth wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only do I not know how to make a bechamel, this is the first time I've heard this word or the expression "mother sauces". (Maybe because I'm only a quarter Italian?) If we're going to gatekeep cooking behind a lot of prior knowledge perhaps it would be even more efficient to reduce the lasagna recipe to a single sentence: "Make a lasagna."

This really isn't gatekeeping! But if you're learning to cook there are fundamental things you need to learn. This is like the simplest sentences of learning a new language on Duolingo here, it's not some crazy term. Literally week 1 in many cooking schools, maybe week 2 after stocks. If you're trying to teach people cooking, you want to be taught the fundamental key steps to follow recipes no? How many start with bu…

Mother sauces is absolutely gatekeeping. You can get pretty far, and even know how to turn a roux into a béchamel without ever knowing it’s a mother sauce or that there are others.

Re: Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

#193

Post by EddySchauHai »

admax88qqq wrote: post #185
EddySchauHai wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you take a beginner cooking course you'd normally learn bechamel very early on - it's the base of so many great meals. I mean, it's a white roux and milk. While I was half joking in my previous comment I'd expect the way an app would work is to start with easier meals (maybe a mac & cheese, as this uses a bechamel as the base of the cheese sauce) rather than adapt more difficult meals for simplicity. I thought I'd…

A beginner cooking course of a specific cuisine. Believe it or not there are tons more cuisines out there besides French all their their own prior knowledge, staples, customs, sauces etc.

Okay I concede this is Western, yes. But they're used all over, even if they get slightly adapted over time to the local area. I was learning Creole cooking the other month making a gumbo and it starts very similar to the espagnole mother sauce (a dark roux) with a modified sofrito (red peppers instead of carrots).

And also, if you look at the best cooking schools in the US such as Auguste Escoffier they also start with lessons on Italian and French cooking because of its influence on so many other cuisines.

This stuff is like learning variables and functions in programming - they're just core essentials and if you want to learn cooking, as you'd expect from an app-based course on cooking, you'd expect these to be early topics :)

Of course we're getting off track here because I was originally just joking with the OP as mentioned in another comment and seen in their reply. The Italians are stereotypically very protective of traditional cooking recipes (watch almost any Italian chef on youtube make a dish).

Re: Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

#194

Post by tclancy »

mizzao wrote: post #109
danpalmer wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To perhaps be a bit more constructive, and to suggest a way forward... I'd like to see a cooking teaching app that allows users to work through a recipe in varying levels of detail. For example, consider a Lasagna. A lower level recipe may use ricotta for a quick and easy version, a higher level might explain step by step how to make a bechamel, and the "hardest" level may just say "make a bechamel". As a user, being…

So, we actually built this in an earlier version of the product. Here, you can see 3 variations of shrimp tacos in increasing complexity by famed southwestern chef Mark Miller: https://beta.parsnip.ai/module/E8pxMsWM22jlTzhqMPhf This is a great idea, but it turns out you can't get product traction without actually a scaffolding for teaching the basic knowledge first. So we had to work on that, and we plan to return t…

That looks awesome for me as an experienced home cook, but I appreciate what you mean.

Re: Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

#195

Post by EddySchauHai »

tclancy wrote: post #192
EddySchauHai wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really isn't gatekeeping! But if you're learning to cook there are fundamental things you need to learn. This is like the simplest sentences of learning a new language on Duolingo here, it's not some crazy term. Literally week 1 in many cooking schools, maybe week 2 after stocks. If you're trying to teach people cooking, you want to be taught the fundamental key steps to follow recipes no? How many start with bu…

Mother sauces is absolutely gatekeeping. You can get pretty far, and even know how to turn a roux into a béchamel without ever knowing it’s a mother sauce or that there are others.

We're talking about a course on cooking here, how is it gatekeeping to talk about cooking 101 subjects?

Re: Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

#196

Post by kelseydh »

kelseydh wrote: post #175

I went through the app, and I've answered like 30 questions now on food storage/safety and it feels like I'm taking a tedious course. Weird. Is that all it is, food preparation trivia? Please don't lead with this stuff. Teach me how to make tasty things!

So far the best thing in the burger course was learning how to deglaze, I never knew that trick.

The questions on types of cheeses or how to cut an onion were weird and felt wrong. (What about the easy root method for cutting?!)

Re: Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

#197

Post by motbus3 »

EddySchauHai wrote: post #96
danpalmer wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To perhaps be a bit more constructive, and to suggest a way forward... I'd like to see a cooking teaching app that allows users to work through a recipe in varying levels of detail. For example, consider a Lasagna. A lower level recipe may use ricotta for a quick and easy version, a higher level might explain step by step how to make a bechamel, and the "hardest" level may just say "make a bechamel". As a user, being…

> I'd like to see a cooking teaching app that allows users to work through a recipe in varying levels of detail. For example, consider a Lasagna. A lower level recipe may use ricotta for a quick and easy version, a higher level might explain step by step how to make a bechamel, and the "hardest" level may just say "make a bechamel". Can you hear that noise? That's the noise of a million Italians crying. Because of yo…

there is one to learn with real chefs. there is even a hardware that you put on top of your cooking station to record. you get back a full review of every step you did. from how to slice perfectly, to keeping your utensils neat.

cookwithmoment.com

i am sure they have a english page somewhere and you can order in euroupe. but for some reason it is showing up only in portuguese

Re: Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

#198

Post by bogota »

danpalmer wrote: post #84

I've done a few quizzes on the app now, and I don't get it. The questions feel very contrived, like someone had a quota to fill so just put whatever looked plausible together. They are also _very_ culturally specific. Questions about eggs barely made sense to me being from the UK, with incorrect pack sizes, animal welfare terms, and completely missed our great standards body that makes it easy to know which eggs have…

100% agree about this not working unless it’s culture and country specific. It’s also not very interesting to me if i can’t go in and say i want to learn how to cook Venezuelan cuisine today.

Basic cooking skills are easy enough to find on youtube.

Re: Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

#199

Post by EddySchauHai »

motbus3 wrote: post #197
EddySchauHai wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd like to see a cooking teaching app that allows users to work through a recipe in varying levels of detail. For example, consider a Lasagna. A lower level recipe may use ricotta for a quick and easy version, a higher level might explain step by step how to make a bechamel, and the "hardest" level may just say "make a bechamel". Can you hear that noise? That's the noise of a million Italians crying. Because of yo…

there is one to learn with real chefs. there is even a hardware that you put on top of your cooking station to record. you get back a full review of every step you did. from how to slice perfectly, to keeping your utensils neat. cookwithmoment.com i am sure they have a english page somewhere and you can order in euroupe. but for some reason it is showing up only in portuguese

Cool! I took a course with Leiths that's similar (16 weeks of online classes where you record and get feedback from a chef) and Rouxbe for a longer vegan-based cooking course (with good support and reviews by chefs), both during covid. Leiths is pretty affordable as you can pay monthly.

Once I leave the Bay Area and move back to Europe I'm keen to take an extended work break and complete a 'proper' cooking course at Le Cordon Bleu for fun but realistically I don't think I can just take 6 months out of work and spend 22k on a hobby! https://www.cordonbleu.edu/london/diplome-de-cuisine/en

Re: Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking

#200

Post by simsla »

mattknightlewis wrote: post #27

What I really need is a browser extension that recognizes I'm on a recipe website and automatically scrolls past the recipe writer's whole autobiography to the section with the ingredients and instructions.

I remember there being a very good extension that did exactly this.

It got review bombed by food bloggers, and they ended up taking it offline.

Post reply on HN