November 30, 1995
Web posted at: 8:45 p.m. EST
From correspondent Brian Nelson
(CNN) -- Flustered by the prospect tackling that holiday turkey? Loathe to even think about how to cook that ham in the freezer? Techno-savvy cooks can now find help only a mouseclick away.
"The Four Seasons of Gourmet French Cuisine" is the latest in a series of multi-media cookbooks hitting store shelves in time for the holiday party season. The program, from Arome, combines the advantages of videos, books and private cooking lessons in one program.
"Four Seasons'" recipes can be selected by season, ingredients, dish or from an alphabetical listing. Hypertext words link to videos which show appropriate cooking techniques for each recipe, and comments about specific recipes can be stored on note cards for future reference. (517K QuickTime movie)
"On the Menu" by Cookworks is another savory program. Its strength is a drag-and-drop electronic meal planner and shopping list. The user picks the recipe and the software does the rest.
"On the Menu" remembers the items already available in the user's pantry and eliminates those items from shopping lists. Starting with breakfast, the program tracks a person's daily nutritional information one recipe at a time.
"Multimedia Kitchen Companion" from Lifestyle Software Group is an another easy-to-use and powerful program that features more than 700 recipes. A coupon organization tracks expiration dates, and a wine cellar log tracks and recommends the best wine for particular meals.
"The Kitchen Companion's" entertainment calendar makes it easy to keep from serving the same meal twice or wearing the same clothes during social occasions. It also includes a versatile shopping wizard that helps organize shopping trips and even comes up with the best route up and down the aisles of the grocery store. Other ad-ons that can be included are the "Kitchen Companion Recipe Collection" and the "Healthy Heart Cookbook."
Another computer cooking option is the program "Cooking with Dom DeLouise" by Allegro New Media. (105K AIFF sound or 105K WAV sound) With more than two hours of video and 200 recipes, most cooks will find it fits the bill.
Unfortunately for Macintosh aficionados, the programs are only available for Windows machines.
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