Jamie's Recipes Review

We’ll assume for a moment that if you’re reading this, it’s because you have some interest in celebrity chefs in general and Jamie Oliver in particular. If that’s the case, an app like Jamie’s Recipes is likely to appeal to you much more than it would to non-Food Network followers. Celebrity-themed apps aren’t uncommon and neither are virtual cook books, but if nothing else, Oliver’s latest actually sports nice production values.

Jamie’s Recipes is a free-to-download virtual cookbook based on the British chef’s personal recipes and style. Of course, nothing is really free, and to get the most out of this app, you’ll actually end up shelling out more than if you’d simply bought Oliver's actual hard-bound cookbook. There are a wide variety of recipes packs available already-- including all the recipes from his previous 20-Minute Meals app (now broken up into smaller chucks). The packs cost two bucks each, and most contain ten new recipes and an additional video.

The free app comes with ten recipes and three videos. The videos are all commendably high resolution, and look and sound excellent. The first video is merely an introduction from Jamie, while another is a very short, if helpful video about keeping your cutting board stable. The third video is an informative tutorial on knife-chopping techniques. The recipes themselves are vividly portrayed with a series of easy-to-read instructional captions, set against sharp photographs.

Each recipe includes both an ingredients list and a supplies list, which tells you what kind of pots, pans, and other equipment you’ll need. The app features the ability to create shopping lists based off both, and allows you to easily e-mail these lists without leaving the cookbook. So, overall, there’s no doubt that the structure, design, and presentation of Jamie’s Recipes is excellent.

Just the same, you’ll likely need to be a hardcore fan of Oliver’s cooking style and tastes to really use Jamie’s Recipes. With so many other virtual cookbooks on the App Store that are either cheaper or free, and the whole web beyond that for recipe searches, it’s hard to imagine anyone but the chef’s most stalwart fans viewing this app as essential.