Top 20 Food and Recipe Blogs — Part 1: 1 to 10

I love food and cookery and though I spend a lot of time pouring over historic and ancient recipe books (I translate these and make them freely available) I do view other peoples' blogs to see what they are doing and how they are presenting their recipes, as well as gaining inspiration and finding areas of cookery that I might not know much about.

Below is the first half of my list of the top 20 food blogs. The list is based on relative rankings in Google over a few weeks, in addition to my personal view on the long-term longevity of the blog.

1. simplyrecipes.com This is the blog of Elise Bauer, showcasing the best of her family's food and recipes that she cooks. The blog is updated at least every other day and there are a number of guest posts. It is beautifully illustrated throughout and has anecdotes and descriptions associated with the recipes, as well as a very well presented version of the recipe, which is printer friendly. Preptime, cooktime and number of servings are given for each recipe. You also have the option of printing the recipe out with or without the image of the dish. Excellent food blog and well worth visiting.

2. RECIPEgirl  This is the blog of Lori Lange, who describes herself as a recipe developer, food writer and a mom. The bog is to share 2500 of her recipes with readers. There are anecdotes with the recipes and the recipes themselves are nicely presented and easily printable with good images. The blog is well laid out and easy to navigate. New recipe are added every couple of days. My only quibble would be that the recipes can sometimes be buried in the other text on the page and they sometimes feel as if they are not the main focus of the site. But the recipes themselves are well written, cover a wide range and this blog is well worth visiting.

3. SkinnyTaste This is the blog of Gina Homolka, who describes herself as an author, photographer and recipe developer. The blog began in 2008 and presents healthy and low-fat recipes. The recipe images are beautiful, but there is a popup, when you navigate to a recipe page and that's something that instantly turns me off, especially as the popup is US-based only (geo-targeting is not hard). On the recipe page, the images and the recipe are the main focus, but the page does look a little cluttered. There  is a short description of the dish and then the recipe. As you would expect the recipe itself is well presented and the range of food is good. Worth visiting.

4. For the Love of Cooking This is the blog if Pam, who is obviously a good photographer. There is a wide range of recipes here, with Asian recipes being a big features. Recipes are the main focus and they are beautifully illustrated throughout. Recipes have a nice print option, which comes with a thumbnail of the dish. Lots of recipes, lots of different dishes and a nice simplistic layout. I really liked this blog.

5. No Recipes This is the blog of Marc,  specializing in cooking techniques, classic and Asian recipes (Japanese and Korean being a speciality). The pictures are beautiful, there is a long description (which is very informative) of the recipe. The recipes are simply and nicely presented with images of ingredients and methods. There is no easy print option though. However, the recipe is obviously written by someone who is knowledgable about food and loves cooking. Highly-recommended blog.

6. 101 Cookbooks This is the blog of Heidi, who describes the site as a 'recipe journal'. The blog is written based on the premise that at some point, your shelves won't fit even one more cookbook. Great recipes and gorgeous food photos for those who want to 'eat smart and do it in style'. It is beautifully and simply presented and there is quite a lot of information about the recipe and text to describe it. The recipe is simply presented in conversational style (which I like). Indeed, it's rather like reading a well-written Victorian cookery book. Highly-recommended blog.

7. Baked Bree This is the recipe blog of Bree and the blog has a nice, uncluttered layout. The images are beautiful and plentiful, including step-by-step guides. I like the images, but I am not sure having such big ones breaking up the text is such a good option. But others I have shown the Blog to like this as it gives a visual guide whilst cooking.  Still, a number of the recipes (but not all) have a summary of the recipe at the bottom with an easy print option. However the print version does not have an image of the dish. Liked the recipes and the range and I would definitely recommend this blog for a visit.

8. The Spiced Life This is the recipe blog of Laura, and brings together a large and eclectic collection of recipes (many ethnic). The blog has a nice, uncluttered, appearance and the recipes are beautifully illustrated throughout. There is descriptive text to go with the recipe and a summary is presented at the end. The recipe summary is nicely presented in descriptive form and has a print option, making it easy to keep a copy. This is an excellent blog with an excellent range of dishes (Thai is particularly well represented). Visit this blog today.

9. eCurry A blog focussed on Indian cuisine and is written and photographed by Soma. It's not just Indian dishes, but they are the focus. The recipes are all beautifully and copiously illustrated with extensive descriptions. The recipe is presented at the end of this with a descriptive method that's easy to follow. My only quibble is that though the recipe is nicely and clearly presented separate from the other contents of the page, there is no easy print option for just the recipe itself. But given the quality of the site and the recipe that's a minor quibble in this case. This is a brilliant blog, well worth a visit.

10. Steamy Kitchen This is the blog of Jaden Hair, who describes herself as: a professional recipe developer, food columnist, and food photographer specializing in fast, fresh, and easy recipes for the home cook. There is a large selection of dishes mainly separated into meal types. All the recipes are copiously illustrated and extensively described. The recipe is presented at the end with a thumbnail of the finished dish and an easy print out option. Nice presentation and good writing. Highly-recommended for a visit.




If you enjoyed this listing of ten of the best food and recipe blogs on the web, and you find it useful, please consider linking to this page http://celtnet-recipes.blogspot.com/2012/10/top-20-food-and-recipe-blogs-part-1-1.html also mention this page on your favourite social networking site.

On to part 2, detailing sites 11 to 20.