Scoring
Everything about food is subjective. Applying a standard scoring system to recipe testing and final cookbook judgment attempts to provide transparency and consistency across the reviews on this site in service of that subjectivity.
How are cookbooks reviewed?
Cookbooks are assessed on a 50-point scoring system weighted to the quality of the recipes themselves:
Recipe Quality (30 points)
Clarity & Approachability (10 points)
Consistency (10 points)
Let’s talk about each of these factors in more depth.
Recipe Quality
Recipe quality accounts for 60% of the cookbook’s overall score, which is based on a sample size of 6 recipes that I’ve tested from the cookbook.
How are the recipes selected? Every cookbook gets a recipe that fits into each standard category:
Basic
Something pretty simple to make, that could be easily on the table in under an hour.
Complex
A recipe that either takes a lot of time, uses lots of technical skill, or simply has a ton of ingredients.
Original/Unique
Original recipes must include a flavor combination or a cooking method that I haven’t tried before.
Laurel’s Pick
This one is up to my discretion! I try to pick the one recipe that stands out to me as having the most potential.
Eric’s Pick
My husband’s pick! Not just to make him feel included — we have quite different tastes in food and this dampens the subjectivity.
Wildcard
csafd
Once the recipes are selected, prepared, and tasted, they are scored and can receive up to 5 points each. Points are awarded based on a Y/N answer to the following questions:
Would I make it again? (Yes = 1 point)
Were the directions clear? (Yes = 1 point)
Did I have to adjust any ingredients, baking times, etc to make it work? (No = 1 point)
Did I want to adjust anything to make it better? (No = 1 point)
Was it good? (Yes = 1 point)
When reviewing the recipes themselves, I always answer these questions transparently so you can see the logic behind my assessment of quality. For example, “was it good” is clearly a subjective question; however, adding details about why I ultimately stamped something as good or not should help you know whether or not we’re on the same page.
6 recipes x 5 points = 30 total points.
Clarity & Approachability
Clarity and approachability make up an additional 20% of the cookbook’s total score.
This category can be quite subjective, so I’ve given myself a fairly binary scoring system:
0 points = not good
1 point = fine
2 points = something to write home about
I then award points to the following questions:
How well is it organized?
Are the instructions generally helpful and clear?
Does the pre-recipe commentary add value or is it just fluff?
Does the ingredient list provide weight equivalents, helpful substitutions, etc?
Do photos and illustrations add value?
Five questions x 2 possible points each = 10 points.
Consistency
The final 20% of the cookbook’s review comes down to consistency.
Many cookbook authors promotionally release what they (or their publishers) consider the best recipes from the book, in blogs, magazines, NYT cooking, etc. So why do you need to actually buy this book? This category is all about ensuring that the cookbook is going to add longterm value and isn’t just a one-recipe pony that takes up space in your bookshelf.
I give a percent value to each question below:
What percent of recipes would I actually make in this cookbook?
What percent of recipes would I make as written (as opposed to using as inspiration)?
What percent of the recipes actually tested were good as written, without any adjustments?
What percent of the recipes show the author’s originality / point of view?
I evenly average these percentages, divide by 10, and then round to the nearest whole number for a possible total of 10 points.
Final Scoring
Based on the possible 50 points awarded above, I round down to the nearest multiple of 5 and from there, we get a standard star rating. You’ll always see the total point score on the site, as well.