The Computer Chef for Windows

The Computer Chef for Windows
The Prof's Software Review

Many of you know him from his eGGSalad column and his Ask the Prof message board and chat on AOL. Chef Steve Holzinger, Professor Emeritus of Culinary Arts (NY Technical Institute) has decades of experience in recipe creation. He is also a master cyber-chef, turning computers into culinary aids with the same facile strokes he uses to whip egg whites into stiff, frothy peaks. Here, Chef Steve reviews a software program designed for recipe management and nutritional analyses. The short synopsis of his review is noted below, and the longer, more complete evaluation can also be accessed by those wishing more details.

The Computer Chef for Windows

by ESHA RESEARCH, Recipe Management Software.

Reviewed by Steve Holzinger

System requirements....Windows 3.1 (16 bit) PC 386 or better, 21 meg disk space, 8 meg of RAM

In the past, Chefs, cooks and serious at home cooks have been hampered in nutritional planning by the lack of an accurate and easy to use nutritional analyses program, that has a professional data base, and is designed to analyze recipes, instead of diets. The Computer Chef for Windows by ESHA was designed from the start to be used by chefs and cooks to provide them with accurate nutritional analyses and basic recipe management. Given the current wide interest in healthy eating, the Computer Chef provides an accurate professional tool for nutritional analyses of recipes that is much needed by the culinary community.

This program takes full advantage of the Windows interface to make using the program user friendly. Anyone who knows how to use Windows and write good recipes will have no problem using this program to do nutritional recipe analysis as well as to manage recipes, right out of the box. Accurate analysis and ease of use are the primary quality that chefs most need as a tool to create healthier recipes. As for recipe management, a distinct plus, there is the ability to create shopping lists; identify cooking methods, temperatures, times and categories; and the ability to scale recipes up and down as well as an easy way to include preparation instructions. You will be able to print recipe cards for any quantity to send into the kitchen for use.

This is a program that will not be easily outgrown by even the most demanding nutritional requirements of the professional chef, and yet is easy enough to use for the average person interested in analyzing their own recipes. It was written by a company with a respected history in nutritional databases, who in the years I have been using their products, have constantly improved and added functionality and speed as the state of the art allowed. I rate this program at four Toque Blanche.

For an extended review of The Computer Chef please click here.

You can order the software from ESHA Research. PO Box 13028 Salem OR 97309, fax 1-503-585 5543. You can call free at 1 800 659 ESHA (3742) The price is $299 and it is available now (1996).