TopTenREVIEWS
Don’t be fooled by the simple, user-friendly façade. “TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award” winner, Chow, contains a wealth of recipes, articles, how-to guides, blogs, videos and restaurant listings and reviews, all while offering a community that lets members share recipes, discuss topics and share in a common love of food. With special attention given to member profiles that includes social-networking staples such as “favorites” listings, photos, posts and others features, Chow just might become a replacement to MySpace and Facebook for food and cooking enthusiasts.
Though most of Chow’s strengths are obvious upon visit, there are some that deserve a more in-depth appraisal.
Simple Chic:
Chow’s site sets a new standard for usability, combining depth of content with simplicity of format that combine for a user experience unlike any other. Unlike many Online Recipe sites that are cluttered with links, portals and other information, Chow boasts a clean, intuitive design that invites users to search recipes, articles, how-to guides and other resources without confusion or distraction.
Chow Lists:
Whether you are looking for some restaurant recommendations for an upcoming trip, hunting for new good eats in your area or just want to spread the word about your favorite restaurants, bakeries, bars and events, Chow equips users with the tools to make lists, provide a summary and, with the help of Google Maps, find and locate them without getting lost.
In-Depth Recipes:
Unlike many Online Recipe sites that lack photos, difficulty ratings, user feedback and other helpful information, Chow offers it all, letting you know just how difficult the recipe is, how long it will take and how many it will serve without having to look for it in the recipe body. Best of all, Chow members can leave comments and recipe feedback based on their experience with the recipe. With so many tools and features, Chow takes the guesswork out of choosing a recipe and lets you focus on the cooking.
Entertaining Video Tutorials:
Let’s face it, sometimes even the most simple tasks can be the most difficult to execute. Whether it's properly opening a wine bottle, steeping tea, grilling etiquette and a host of other subjects that, though simple enough, often end in disaster, Chow offers in-depth video tutorials. “You’re Doing It All Wrong,” might sound like an assault on your culinary abilities, but watching these tutorials is surefire way to remain in the Right and have a good laugh while you're at it.
Forget the tired side-bar category searches and fruitless advanced search bar results that most Online Recipe and Entertaining sites provide. With Chow's unique search engine, you can search through recipes with expanded and enhanced criteria requirements, browse related member forum topics and pick up any related how-to guides, articles, video tutorials and other resources, all without having to leave the results page. With cooking generally becoming a messy task, it's comforting to know that Chow makes finding a recipe and resources to prepare it as cleanly and conveniently as possible.
Though Chow’s recipes tend to fall on the Gourmet side of things, its intuitive and advanced recipe search features can help you find a recipe that is ideal for your skill set, time commitment and necessary ingredients, among others. Though Chow still offers countless recipes for culinary mainstays like traditional casseroles, meatloaves and others, there are even more recipes that feature subtle twists and improvements on these mainstays, allowing you to branch out—at your own pace, that is.
Chow has taken a page from several social networking sites to make for a fun, engaging online community. With a special emphasis put on user profile features, including photos, bios, favorite listings and others, members can find one another, form networks, share recipes, give helpful feedback for bars, restaurants and events, all without leaving their computer. But not to worry, with detailed restaurant, bar and event listings, Chow takes its community offline and into real life.
Finding and choosing a recipe is only half the battle. Fortunately, with Chow you will have all of the resources to help get your recipe off of the page and onto your plate. Offering in-depth how-to guides, informative and highly-entertaining tutorial videos, food and cooking related stories, as well as a well-organized member forum for recipe and other topical discussions, Chow stands committed to ensuring that both your culinary creation and your experience in making it are fun, informative and, above all, tasty.
Some issues aren’t always covered by how-to guides, articles, video tutorials, blogs, user forums and other venues. Whether you are having problems viewing a pictures and videos, need help navigating the site or want to leave feedback to the site, Chow offers help and technical support with a detailed FAQ section and Site Map, with additional assistance available via Email.
Though No. 1 ranked Epicurious remains several paces ahead of Chow for its member community, recipe catalogue and resources section, Chow is hardly a runner-up. With its simple, user-friendly site interface, detailed and informative recipes, entertaining and insightful resources and a network-friendly community, Chow is unlikely to disappoint.
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