Torrere
Torrere docs · Getting a recipe in Torrere
Torrere writes the recipe when you ask for a dish
Type the dish you want into Torrere's start screen, where it says "What are we cooking?", and send it. Torrere writes the whole recipe for the number of people you picked, saves it and names it. You can name a dish, describe a craving or say what's in the fridge. Then tell Torrere what you'd change, and the recipe itself changes.
Torrere asks first only when the dish could go several ways
Torrere asks before writing only when your answer would make a different dish. "Make me a curry" could be a Thai green curry or a rogan josh, with chicken or with chickpeas, so Torrere asks. "Chicken tikka masala" already names the dish, so Torrere writes it. There are at most three questions, each with two to five answers to tap, plus Other and Choose for me. Once you've answered, Torrere writes the recipe without asking again.
Torrere starts the recipe with whatever has to happen first
Before writing any steps, Torrere works out what has to start earliest and begins there. A sourdough loaf starts with feeding the starter, not with mixing the dough. A stock, a marinade or soaked beans that the dish needs are part of the recipe, and a part that another part uses comes first, so a risotto's stock is made before the rice goes in. Every wait is its own step with its time in it. When a dish can't be made in one sitting, the first sentence of Torrere's reply says how long it runs from start to finish.
Torrere ends every recipe with how to serve it
Torrere writes the times into the steps, like "simmer for 15 minutes", because cook mode reads them and offers a timer set to each one. An oven is heated about 20 minutes before it's needed, not at the top of a recipe that proves overnight. The last step is always how to bring the dish to the table: how to plate it, what to finish it with, and what it goes with.
Torrere writes every amount for the number on the Serves control
When you start typing on Torrere's start screen, a Serves control appears above the message box, set to 2. Pick any number from 1 to 99 before you send, since Torrere writes every amount for the number the control shows. It says what the recipe makes the way a recipe would: "serves 4", "makes 12 egg bites" or "one 9-inch pie". After that, servings and scaling changes the number and rescales every amount exactly.
Torrere cooks around your kitchen and your allergens
Torrere's cook profile and your allergens go with every request. A recipe for someone whose profile says "No food processor" uses a knife or a pestle instead, and a declared allergen is written out of the recipe, then checked for once the recipe is written. If you mention something in passing that will still be true next week, like "we're five", Torrere may offer to remember it on a Remember this? card. What Torrere remembers and allergens have the details.
Torrere saves the recipe and names it once it's written
The recipe is in Saved recipes from the moment you send the first message. Once it's written, Torrere names it from what's in it. The first change card has a one-line summary and two buttons: Ingredients opens the list, and Get Cooking opens cook mode, which shows the recipe one step at a time.
Torrere changes the recipe when you say what you'd change
From there, the conversation edits the recipe. Say "swap the butter for olive oil" and Torrere changes the recipe itself, with a card listing what went in and what came out, and undo on every card. A plain question, like "why is my custard splitting?", gets an answer from Torrere and changes nothing. Change a recipe explains how changes work.
Torrere writes the recipe itself
Torrere writes each recipe from what it knows about cooking. It doesn't search the web for one or copy one from a site. To start from a recipe you already have, Torrere can read one from a link, read a photo of a recipe card or read pasted text.
Torrere writes recipes as part of Chef
On the web, asking Torrere for a recipe is part of Chef, Torrere's subscription, and of Chef's free week. The Torrere apps for iPhone and Android come with a small amount of free cooking on each phone, and writing a recipe uses it. Subscription says what each plan includes.