Did you want fries with that? (Feedback thread)

The Hill Billy

As the dishes are dried, the 'good' knives & forks are put away & The Cooking Club 2014 draws to a close I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my co-mods for all the time & effort that they put into this forum (I just ban the no-shows).

But, most importantly, The F&D Mod Team would especially like to thank YOU for posting your recipes, for trying them & for giving your feedback each week. Without your ongoing active participation in the forum, there would be no club.

And as the heart & soul of this forum we would like your feedback...

How was The Cooking Club 2014 for you? What worked well? Are their any improvements or changes you would like to considered for 2015? Is Friday still the best day to get the new recipe? Images - is the 5-pic limit OK? Anything else?

Tell us what you think...

Bon appetite!

Mr. CooL ICE

I honestly can't think of anything to improve the cooking club. It works perfectly for what it is, is well moderated and all participants are friendly and helpful.

Unless someone has an amazing idea, you shouldn't try to fix it if it ain't broke (IMO)

Dinkie

I really like the setup of the cooking club.

The only small change I would like is to see the recipe of the week stickied for that week.

I have a lot less time now then I used to and give up trying to remember the week number and the year sometimes!! (perhaps me being a bit lazy). But I often look at it in the supermarket if I can't workout what to buy, and get frustrated trying to find them sometimes.

Which reminds me, i must start posting feedback again... I used to and have gotten out of the habit....:rolleyes:

Thanks for all your work over the past year.

The Hill Billy

Dinkie wrote: »

The only small change I would like is to see the recipe of the week stickied for that week.

I like it!

leahyl

Loving the Cooking Club and although I may not try a lot of the recipes simply because I live at home so it's hard to get access to the kitchen sometimes....I do hope to try a lot of recipes in the near future as I plan to move out and rent in the new year so looking forward to cooking up a storm!

I think the sticky idea is good also

MissFlitworth

Dinkie wrote: »

The only small change I would like is to see the recipe of the week stickied for that week.

Clever!! I love this idea.

Faith

I like the stickie idea too. The current stickies probably need a bit of a tidy up to make a recipe more visible, which I'll look at now.

Gloomtastic!

Only really discovered the Cooking Club this year and it's now one of my top places to get dinner ideas from. Very well organised, thanks all.

My only suggestion would be to put the recipes together and publish them as a book. With help from some of the folks on the Photography forum, I reckon it would be a winner with proceeds going to Santa Strike Force......

Loire

I love it and really enjoyed my first contribution this year. I'd actually only like MY contribution stickied though

Faith

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Only really discovered the Cooking Club this year and it's now one of my top places to get dinner ideas from. Very well organised, thanks all.

My only suggestion would be to put the recipes together and publish them as a book. With help from some of the folks on the Photography forum, I reckon it would be a winner with proceeds going to Santa Strike Force......

That's something that has been discussed several times over the last few years. It's a lovely idea, but not particularly feasible without serious man hours. Firstly, all of the mods have full lives outside of boards with jobs, families, responsibilities like everyone else, so putting together a book would take time that we don't necessarily have.

Secondly, there's huge copyright issues that would need dealing with. I'd say 50% of recipes here have been previously published elsewhere, so they couldn't be included. Weeding out those recipes would take forever, and that's only including recipes that acknowledge the original author. There's a few other recipes that are copy & paste jobs, but you wouldn't know it unless you accidentally stumbled across the original (which I did once, which is how I know!).

Finally, you're left with a batch of recipes that can be included. Who chooses which are included and which are excluded? The posters would have to give their consent to have the recipe included. Professional pictures would need to be arranged (and paid for, including a kitchen, cookware, crockery and a team to cook and present the dishes). Then there's typesetting and all of those things that go into publishing.

So, while I'm not saying it will never happen, it's a lot more work than it sounds at first glance

Dizzyblonde

Another thumbs up for the stickie idea

Lovely Bloke

Just going to add a huge thanks to the organisers, I know how much work went into it at the beginning, and it's even more now, so fair play for keeping it running so smoothly.

One thing - it's been 4 years, and the quality of the recipes remains quite high, but it's quite hard to think of something that isn't sortof/kindof repeating something that came before, and you might feel like you are stepping on toes by posting a similar recipe to one that came before "What was wrong with MY dish".

I like the split into parts of the year, that worked well.

I do think there's less feedback coming though, obviously people can't be forced to contribute, but I'd encourage anyone reading this that if you do happen to cook an entry, then do let people know.

The Black Oil

I think the way it's run is fine. On the sticky situation, maybe some recipes that have received less attention could be stickied once a fortnight. I'm not sure everyone will read the list to find something to their taste.

Faith

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

I do think there's less feedback coming though, obviously people can't be forced to contribute, but I'd encourage anyone reading this that if you do happen to cook an entry, then do let people know.

This is something that niggles at me as well. More people than ever are cooking recipes from here, but feedback has gone down totally. It has lost the feeling of a 'club' and now is more like a resource, like BBC Good Food or something. I also worry that posters will feel rejected or disappointed when there aren't many comments on their recipes, even though lack of comments isn't a sign that people aren't making the dishes.

I don't know what we could do to improve that aspect, though.

BaZmO*

Yeah that's quite an annoying aspect of the CC. It takes a lot of work to submit a recipe, but it only takes 30 secs to say that you've tried the recipe.

It disheartens me when people mention in other threads that they've made a CC recipe when they haven't given feedback in the actual thread.

hdowney

agree the both comments - the feedback and the sticky. I LOVE the cooking club and love being a part of it.

Oranage2

I'm very new here, from the little time I've been here I think it works very well. Good point about commenting, I know I've made the doughnut jam cupcakes, pizza dough, sweet and sour chicken dish and a few others without commenting so I will comment on all the recipes I make in future, give the dishes the recognition they deserve.

TeletextPear

Another vote for the sticky idea! And many thanks to the mods for organising it all, I'd love to see it continue in 2015

Sparks

Faith wrote: »

...copyright issues ... posters would have to give their consent ...

Just for the record, in the event this ever can get done (and yeah, I grok the problem), mine are original and if it's for the SSF, you have my full permission to use them...

Sparks

Faith wrote: »

I don't know what we could do to improve that aspect, though.

Just an idea, but what about a rule that for the week that the recipe is the recipe of the week, the OP has to babysit the thread (ie. answer questions, engage with it and so on, not just post and log off for a month)?

Faith

I don't anyone posts and then disappears, to be fair. Most posters are very good at engaging with others on the thread, but there's rarely questions asked or anything that requires a response.

Malari

I haven't tried a whole lot of recipes from the latter part of this year, life got in the way a bit for me. I'll come back to it in 2015 when I can though.

On the topic of giving feedback, I've sometimes found that even the people who post recipes can do a bit of "post and run!" Once their recipe is done that's it, and I know I've asked a couple of OPs for clarification, etc on the recipe and never been answered. The interaction is what makes this a club, rather than just an online recipe resource, and it's a shame when it slips.

Mr E

I'm subscribed to this forum and love seeing what people come up with every week. Thanks to all the contributors (I know first hand how much work goes into preparing a recipe here) and great job by the organisers. The success of this forum is a credit to you all.

hattoncracker

I love this forum.. I think that this year splitting it in three was a great idea. It really helped with the drop-outs.

I also love the sticky idea!!!

ChewChew

I'm guilty of little feedback in the latter part of this year too, and haven't looked at the recipes is a good few weeks but being part of the cooking club is fantastic and I wouldn't change it but I will absolutely make a conscious effort to give more feedback!! Also I love the idea of the stickies!! Never thought of it!! And finally a massive thanks to all the organiser and contributors!! Another great year was had

The Hill Billy

Sparks wrote: »

Just an idea, but what about a rule that for the week that the recipe is the recipe of the week, the OP has to babysit the thread (ie. answer questions, engage with it and so on, not just post and log off for a month)?

To me, it is a given that the poster keeps an eye on the thread to answer any questions & also to thank those who try it. I always follow any recipe that I post so that even months or years later I am notified of any new posts. When any comment is made I follow up on it.

Sparks

The Hill Billy wrote: »

To me, it is a given that the poster keeps an eye on the thread to answer any questions & also to thank those who try it. I always follow any recipe that I post so that even months or years later I am notified of any new posts. When any comment is made I follow up on it.

I took it as a given as well, but like Malari says, sometimes the OP doesn't do what everyone takes it as a given that they will. I blame the parents




Also, on an entirely different point, I know why the rule's in place, but I think that limit on the number of pictures absolutely sucks from a reader's point of view. Not everyone can describe how to do something in a readable way, but pictures fix that. And it's a damn sight easier to post a ten-second youtube clip showing how you form a tight doughball for a bread roll than it is to explain it in text. Honestly, I'd say peanuts to the mobile users and bring the photos back. There's a reason why sites like foodgawker are so popular...

BaZmO*

Realistically though, how often does it actually happen that someone posts a recipe and then goes AWOL? I'd say it happens very seldom. If anything, I'd say that if people post a recipe and then get absolutely no feedback whatsoever they are more likely to bugger off.

mirrorwall14

Sparks wrote: »

Also, on an entirely different point, I know why the rule's in place, but I think that limit on the number of pictures absolutely sucks from a reader's point of view. Not everyone can describe how to do something in a readable way, but pictures fix that. And it's a damn sight easier to post a ten-second youtube clip showing how you form a tight doughball for a bread roll than it is to explain it in text. Honestly, I'd say peanuts to the mobile users and bring the photos back. There's a reason why sites like foodgawker are so popular...

Id like both. there's nothing I hate more than having to watch videos in the middle of the recipe (pictures I don't mind as I can scroll past). If videos/pics were unlimited the descriptive text should have the same info

Sparks

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Id like both. there's nothing I hate more than having to watch videos in the middle of the recipe (pictures I don't mind as I can scroll past). If videos/pics were unlimited the descriptive text should have the same info

I dunno. I mean, for me if the choice is this:

Pretzel Roll Recipe wrote:

Okay, now to shape. No, you do not just squish them up and roll them into a ball, you'd have no internal structure, no decent crust if you did that. Instead, you pick up each piece, tuck the corners under into the middle, and then the new corners get the same treatment and you kinda shape it like that for a few seconds, then you sortof make an ok symbol with your thumb and forefinger and squeeze the doughball out through that, twist the base to secure it, then drop it on the surface from a few inches up, and then do that doughball scoop-and-twist from before only with a smaller doughball. It's easy once you pick up the knack and it doesn't take long to do that.

Or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A65g20ijyUM

Well, I think the latter's a damn sight better.
Granted, that's just me, but still.

Mystery Egg

Sparks wrote: »

Also, on an entirely different point, I know why the rule's in place, but I think that limit on the number of pictures absolutely sucks from a reader's point of view.

It is pointless to look at picture after picture of ingredients in a bowl though...