I am not a natural cook. But in the last year, I’ve been using LLMs to help figure out recipes with more stuff in season, on sale or any combination of things I’m trying to get rid of. It’s also been fairly good at “I liked this, what are similar dishes?” It’s really helped me eat more local and vegetarian foods and be willing to grab whatever is on sale at the grocery store as I know I’ll be able to make something out of it.
Tips etc so far:
I usually ask for three recipes with whatever constraints (vegetables in season here on this date, using a cup of cream etc), just a name and brief description for each. Repeat, varying as necessary.
Once I have something that appeals, I’ll ask for three or four different recipes for that dish of increasing complexity and select as appropriate.
I don’t quite trust the LLMs with cooking times so I’m pretty careful to check w a meat thermometer.
Any thoughts, suggestions etc?
Try reading the recipes and blog posts on Serious Eats.
Then you can learn from skilled chefs who have taken the time to test different variations on recipes and figure out what works best and why.
I’m quite partial to J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s recipes, but most of them on that site are quite good and show a great deal of labor and practice has gone into them.
Why? It’s a skill I’m content not to hone and I’m damned busy with a full time job, night courses, a side hustle and keeping active while trying to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
I’ve lived with really good chefs and know the time, effort and skill required.
I’m asking for tips on leveraging technology to improve my life. Is there no place where we’re okay with LLMs doing something helpful?
Edit: “Git Gud” isn’t particularly helpful here.
They just got tried and true recipes there… it’s like asking the LLM to make something up for you but someone’s already made sure it’s good.
You don’t have to read the blog posts either, it’s just nice to get insight into why something works.
I wouldn’t trust cooking to a program anyway. The LLM has no concept of flavor or nutrition and some shortcuts and techniques can be counterintuitive in a way that a memetic approach isn’t necessarily helpful.
The LLM isn’t really making up a recipe, it’s borrowing from hundreds of recipes and can figure them out pretty well.
Have you taken a look at an LLM generated recipe and evaluated for yourself?
The thing is, if I want to combine local in season veggies with things that are going to expire, I’ve got to google or search for however long on this recipe site, then repeat a few times until I find one that fits the mood etc.
If you don’t have the requisite cooking skills and knowledge then you really won’t be able determine when your LLM hallucinates bad instructions, which it absolutely will. This is true even without the involvement of an LLM because a lot of blog and recipe sites cut corners to make recipes look shorter and easier than they actually are and you need to know how to navigate that.
A great deal of cooking skills just comes in understanding your ingredients and how they chemically change as they cook. There is no substitute for knowledge and experience, especially when poor preparation can be damaging to your health in cases. Unfortunately, yes, “Git gud” is the answer because the LLM isn’t going to cook the food for you.
God help you if it ever attempts to do so.
LLMs don’t understand the context of food or technique and will merge all kinds of shitty things together as an answer. It’s not gonna work out the way you think.