Is the Cooking Club running out of steam?

Lovely Bloke

Tom Dunne wrote: »

First of all, to the mods - stop beating yourselves up.

First of all, this. It's a brilliant forum run really well.

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Also, would bringing in an element of wine/beer recommendations add an extra angle to proceedings?

Love this idea!

John Mason wrote: »

Once a month might be a fit.

When it started out, there was much more everyday recipes now i find a lot of the recipes need special ingredients. i am always full of great intentions but I forget to the buy or cant find some of the ingredients.

i would also say, i have had a baby in the last year so that has limited my time massively.

I wonder how many other people are in the same position. Is it an aging population?

Oh i hate all the photos. the scrolling up and down to get to the words does my head in

Yeah, we had a baby which has massively impacted on participation on both the posting recipes and making the weekly recipe departments.

Also, I found the last couple of years hard in terms of thinking up a recipe, making it once or twice then posting it. And then if the feedback is sparse it always seems like it wasn't worth the effort.

I said this at the start, and I'll say it again now - any recipe that has even one "specialist" ingredient is going to look like it falls flat, because not many people will have this or that in their regular cupboard staples - and I know for me that if I read a recipe and I'm dithering as to whether or not I'm going to try it out, one of the factors is whether or not I've to go hunting out something I might only use once.

But then you get something genuinely special, that makes me go "YES! I'm making that one" - that was the Kebabs this year so far. Absolute genius recipe to post, and so easy.

Maybe once a fortnight is the way to go for the latter part of the year, take the 12 sign ups and divvy them out over 24 weeks.

Loire

Faith,

On the Pictures in Recipes poll, would it be possible to add an option where the number of pictures could be increased, to say 10, in addition to the limitless option. For me, I would be happy with more photos, but wouldn't like a whole plethora of photos.

Loire.

Dizzyblonde

I love the idea of the recipe being posted in its entirety and the photos being at the bottom, or in another post. Then I wouldn't mind if there were lots. There's nothing worse than trying to follow a recipe that's posted between photos. Not to mention trying to copy and paste!

Personally, I couldn't actually think of a recipe to put forward this time. The ones I did think of have already been posted and mine would offer nothing new. I think I need to expand my repertoire!

Someone mentioned doing 3 courses.. This would be fine as long as it wasn't mandatory because it can be expensive, and also we don't want to put new posters off. The beauty of this whole forum is that we have posters of all ability levels and with very different taste in food.

hdowney

I wanted to sign up for the second batch but didn't think I was allowed since I posted in the first.
I LOVE the cooking club and come in to get recipes all the time. I can see how it would stagnate a bit tho so maybe a recipe fortnightly or something. And I LOVE the special ingredient suggestion mentioned.

ibarelycare

I don't post a huge amount in this forum but I read it very regularly. It's very well-run with a really lovely friendly sense of community. I love how there are so many different levels of cooks in here, yet I've never seen anyone been treated patronisingly or made feel like they've asked a stupid question.


As for the pictures - they're my favourite part I LOVE as many pictures as possible, however I do understand how it can be annoying for those browsing on their phones or with slow connections. So my suggestion would be to limit the amount of embeded pictures allowed in your post (so those posting a recipe could pick out what they consider the "main" 3 or 4 photos relating to their recipe), yet give posters the opportunity to post links to other photos or a link to an album they've created on the recipe (to keep those of us who view this forum as food porn happy :pac:)


I think a thread in the main cooking forum linking to this week's recipe might garner more traffic, and I'd also be encouraging posters to give feedback when they do try a recipe. I'm sure many people (me included) are guilty of making a recipe then not posting in the thread!

Malari

I didn't realise there was a new sign-up Actually I noticed that MissFlitworth has recipes in her sig and I saw "swiss roll" and thought...nope, not for me this week. But of course now that I look at it, it's a link to the sign-up thread, not a recipe.

I guess my previous recipes I've posted are my specials - things I cook regularly, or like doing. My kitchen repertoire is not THAT wide, and I mostly cook things that I wouldn't consider...recipes. It's just stuff I throw together for dinner! More often than not, I don't measure or time.

Or else I cook things as a once-off. They may or may not be successful (or repeatable!) and it's hard to make up recipes if you are this kind of cook, I think.

MissFlitworth

Disclaimer: I read all the recipes religiously but very rarely make them the week they're put up. I'm not organised enough.

I think the participation part is so important. When you put your baby out into the world and you've worked on it and you're excited to share it, the wind can be knocked right out of your sails if people don't appear to have made it. Obviously tastes differ, people don't always want to make a particular recipe that week etc. but I'd love if people who made the recipes or had questions about the recipes participated on the thread as much as possible. I think people are more likely to come back if they get feedback. (So, if you're a lurky type who makes the recipes please feel free to decloak, sign up & join in the club! We're nice, come talk to us).

I'm another shameless picture lover.

I haven't stuck my name in for the club in the last while because I haven't wanted to take a space that someone else might want. Feels odd as a 'mod' doing that (like a dance teacher in a friend's ballet school who took the prima ballerina role in all their shows every year!)

Padraig Mor

It does seem to have stagnated somewhat over the last year or so. It's hard to tell why, but my comments are:

1. Submitting your 'beloved' recipe and seeing it disappear into obscurity with nary a comment is bigtime disheartening, no two ways about it. Most of us won't let it knock us, but I guess some people don't bother going again when it happened. I'm sure we're all guilty of making something and not commenting - I know I've done it. Hopefully members might make more of an effort to comment, good or bad; I do think that it can all be a bit 'positive' sometimes, and that people who've made it don't feel that they can criticise.

2. I think it's lost its original focus as a cooking CLUB - i.e. everyone tries the recipe the week it's posted, or soon after. This is not necessarily a bad thing - I know I'd struggle to do something in that time, and it's often months before I try something of interest.

3. Pictures. I used to be of the "as many as possible" mindset, but I think the five pic rule works very well IMHO. Posters can always link to an online album if they wish. I am very unlikely to pay much attention to a recipe without pictures; I doubt I'm alone in this.

4. There's, what, 200+ recipes in the club? Don't discount that people may find it difficult to come up with something novel.

5.

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

I said this at the start, and I'll say it again now - any recipe that has even one "specialist" ingredient is going to look like it falls flat,

Yip, put exotic ingredients at the heart of your dish and you're immediately on a loser. The only reason I haven't made Sparks' Chilli is because I don't have ready access to chipotles in adobo (and the irony of me picking one of the most popular recipes here is not lost on me!).

6. I don't think once a week is too frequent; make it once a month and people might get out of the habit of checking the place.

Suggestions etc:

1. The Cooking Club is a fantastic repository. It's a rare fortnight I don't make something from it, often a repeat. I'm having Creamy Bacon and Pea Pasta tomorrow night. Again!

2. Ingredient of the week. I dunno, I just don't see this working. Seems messy.

3. Perhaps somewhat related to the IOTW: recipes based on supermarket offers, although I know something like this didn't fare too well over in Bargain Alerts. We menu plan at home every week. I have a Dropbox folder stuffed full of 100+ recipes (expanding all the time, and many from the CC) and pick from this every week to match what's on offer at that time. Minimum one 'new' recipe per week (usually more). Works great for us: we eat better and more varied, spend less, and throw out less - what's not to like? Perhaps alternate an 'offer' recipe one week with the 'normal' club the next week?

The Black Oil

Cooking clubs exist IRL? :cool:

The drop off might be cyclical. This happens on many forums and is often unavoidable. There's still a ton of recipes here I want to try from 2014 to date. Some people have in the past said they try recipes and forget to add their feedback in the threads. It's very hard to predict interaction - quantity and quality.

Re pictures, I've no strong opinions on the quantity. Something like what's been suggested sounds good. Opening post with core pics, then a few extra if needed, or extra ones as links only.

Maybe we need to review the recipes that have been the most 'successful' and see why this is the case. Not the just the content, but the style of write up. If people have a particular story behind a recipe it's often fun to read.

Dr.MickKiller

What about a Cooking Club recipe request thread? It would serve as an "ideas" thread to potential contributors and also give an insight into how popular a recipe might be.

BaZmO*

I'm getting the impression that some people might feel under pressure to make super elaborate or overly complicated dishes, and while they can be fun to try out, people should feel free to post whatever they want however simple (or complicated it is).

I like the pictures, but I understand why it can annoy people, especially if there are lots of pictures. I think if you're posting lots of pictures you need to post a simple list of ingredients followed by a simple step by step for people to follow without having to scroll up and down through lots of pictures which often means you can miss some of the steps.

As for suggestions, what about doing a classics week every now and then. We agree on a recipe, say stew, or bolognaise, or the infamous coddle! and everybody just cooks and posts their effort? It might spark a bit of life into it again, and it'd be a nice way to see variations of the same recipe.

eviltwin

Is there any way of keeping all the 2015 recipes together separate from those of previous years?

ibarelycare

BaZmO* wrote: »

As for suggestions, what about doing a classics week every now and then. We agree on a recipe, say stew, or bolognaise, or the infamous coddle! and everybody just cooks and posts their effort? It might spark a bit of life into again, and it'd be a nice way to see variations of the same recipe.

I love this idea.

The Hill Billy

eviltwin wrote: »

Is there any way of keeping all the 2015 recipes together separate from those of previous years?

Not automatically. The search function can help though...

http://www.boards.ie/search/submit/?forum=1355&title=1&sort=newest&date_to=&date_from=&query=2015

hdowney

I love the classic recipe idea too

MissFlitworth

the idea of a classics week!

Toto Wolfcastle

Classics week sounds like a great idea.

You could sign people up as usual and then every couple of months have a week where the mods suggest something like a classic, or ingredient of the week of even a Ready Steady Cook type thing where they stick a bunch of ingredients into a randomiser online and randomly choose 5.

I don't really have many recipes that are my own so I don't sign up any more. I do try to make some of the recipes but I live with a fairly picky eater who wont eat most of them and I don't fancy just cooking something for myself so I often wont bother.

Faith

This is all great feedback, folks, and there's some great suggestions coming in! I feel pretty confident that we can refresh and rejuvenate the cooking club in 2016

Dial Hard

I'm actually the total opposite to the "specialist ingredients being offputting" contingent - I lost interest in the Cooking Club because a lot of the recipes being posted were (and this is obviously only my opinion) very basic. I like cooking things I've never made before or that are interesting/challenging in some way, so stuff that I've made hundred times before and wouldn't even follow a recipe for just doesn't interest me.

I still check it every week though, and would definitely report back on any recipe I did make. I guess it's just very hard to please everyone - as others have said, they lose interest if they think a recipe is too esoteric.

Faith

The Black Oil wrote: »

Maybe we need to review the recipes that have been the most 'successful' and see why this is the case. Not the just the content, but the style of write up. If people have a particular story behind a recipe it's often fun to read.

The top five recipes, based of number of replies, are:

- Pulled pork
- Indian restaurant curries
- Chilli
- Malaysian Chicken/beef curry
- Caramel squares

The only real consistency is that they're all very indulgent recipes. They range from an insane amount of pictures, to a handful of pictures, to no pictures at all. Sparks' are extremely long and detailed posts with a lot of 'story' elements that are irrelevant to the recipe; Curry Addicts are concise with no extra detail; and mine is pretty much to the point, with a little elaboration on a tricky bit that people were getting stuck on.

So there's no 'formula' that leads to a successful recipe, as far as I can see. It seems that people want comfort food that isn't too difficult to make, on the whole.

quaalude

I signed up for the first time ever a couple of days ago! Like confusticated, I always think of it as hard to get on to the sign-up sheet but I only realized now that it isn't.

I love the cooking club, and I've made several recipes from it over the years. Cheers to the organizers and posters!

I *always* post to the thread when I actually make the recipe - but I'd never post if I haven't made it yet (I don't think "Oooh that looks great" posts contribute much to a thread, so I don't like scrolling through them).

So I read every recipe, and look forward to trying them - I'm really excited to try 015 Cooking Club Week 15: Cheesy Spinach Dip but I haven't gotten round to it so I've not posted to the thread yet!

I too like pictures - the post above has the right amount in my opinion.

I am looking forward to posting my recipe!!

biddywiddy

Faith wrote: »

The top five recipes, based of number of replies, are:

- Pulled pork
- Indian restaurant curries
- Chilli
- Malaysian Chicken/beef curry
- Caramel squares

I've contributed twice, both cake recipes, which I know aren't exactly a regular weeknight venture (though, shouldn't we all eat cake everyday?!). I agree that it can be disheartening when you don't get a lot of 'likes' or replies.

Having said that, I am terrible at liking and commenting. So what do I expect?!

I've tried quite a few recipes from CC and I'm not sure I've ever given feedback. I love the pulled pork and chili recipes, and also the chorizo and chickpea rice bake. I find I take a lot of inspiration from the posted recipes too, even if I don't replicate the dish exactly. I would hate to see the CC die!

I was going to add my name when I saw the sign-up thread, but then, once I thought over the stuff I usually pull together during the week and realised it's usually embarrassingly simple, I didn't. But, I just signed up again anyway.

hdowney

you wouldn't believe how well a simple recipe could go over. a lot of the posters above have mentioned becoming parents and having less time. i am sure they'd be right in the market for a wonderful simple cc recipe

Ted Plain

These are my thoughts on The Cooking Club:

I have made many of the dishes in the past and, with the best will in the world, it is very hard to keep up with them all. Might it be an idea to have 'seasons' during the year? Maybe two or three runs of five to ten recipes?

I love looking at photos. The more the merrier, as far as I am concerned!

There are lots of really good recipes that have not attracted many replies. In fact there are some fabulous recipes that have inexplicably few replies.

Sometimes the simplest of recipes are simply winners. One in particular that I make time and time again takes only minutes to make but tastes great.

So, well done to all the contributors and organisers!

Neyite

I tend to do a new recipe a month, rather than weekly, though I'd manage fortnightly. I don't have the money for a weekly one, or the time to shop for it. I'd really hate to see it discontinue. So maybe fortnightly might be the way to go.

One idea I'll put forward that might revive the current weekly format would be to have an occasional 'celeb' slot, maybe every six or three months - I'm thinking of say, rather than TV chefs who I'm not really a fan of, it would be a chef from various restaurants posting a cooking club recipe in that particular quarter. They get advertising exposure for their business - there could be a banner advert on the rest of the site advertising the slot, and that would draw more footfall to the cooking club. Kind of like an AMA for chefs, I guess?

My recipes had little response, in hindsight though they were fish/shellfish dishes and a lot of people arent keen on seafood. I'd happily sign up for another but my problem is that anything I make that gets raved about and wolfed down by guests are Cooking Club Recipes in the first place. I do still have one popular one up my sleeve so I'll sign up next round.

Sunny Dayz

I have never contributed to the Cooking Club before - but I have done a couple of the recipes, off the top of my head the American pancakes and the caramel squares (I think that was the one with the mars bars?).


I wouldn't be an adventurous cook and my hubbie and son wouldn't be the best for experimenting with new foods.


Was wondering do the recipes have to be your own? There are a few dishes that I like making at home and they go down well and but they are out of published recipe books.


In relation to the pictures I like a few of them at different stage to see if I am on the right track.

polydactyl

Another who loves the recipes but with a baby is put off my anything that takes hours or is too expensive/exotic. I would love the special ingrediebt(s) week though . It would get me out of my comfort zone I think!

ChewChew

I love this forum, and check in regularly. I've cooked many things from it and try to give feedback as much as I can but most times the food is gone before I remember to take a pic.

Reason I'm not participating this year is because I'm due baby no 1 in a few weeks so it's been a bit hectic and I remember the stick Baldy conscience got last year when he said he'd post in September after his first came along in April because it should be a bit calmer :pac:

As for the pics, I've thoroughly enjoyed them over the years and like others have said, I miss them big time too. 5 pics just doesn't cut the mustard for me and no pics means I'm not going to attempt a recipe, I open a thread and go straight to the photos so that puts me off.

Hopefully things pick up and more people sign up. I'd miss it every week!!

Lovely Bloke

Is there going to be a 2 and 3 :eek:

Curry Addict

i love the cooking club, i check here ever week hoping the new recipe will suit my tastes. We all have our things we like. mine is a limited as i am allergic to to red meat but we all have a narrow bandwidth in our own ways so we are selective by nature.

I like to think that the repertoire of recipes is so big now, everyone has such a big choice. the recipe for the week becomes less important maybe in this context.

I'm not sure there is a real problem here, maybe its just a perceived problem?

I also didn't sign up as i had already submitted a recipe this year and wanted to give others the opportunity which i feel is in the spirit of the concept.

i think its hard for people in general to choose the current week recipe over a legacy recipe and I really don't think its a negative thing.

I love the format and think its great please don't change it :pac: