Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat?

I came across this japanese programme (while on holiday in the Philippines during Christmas), which showed a woman using her DS teaching her how to cook. Step by step it was instructing her for every part of the recipe. When she was ready to move on, she just tapped the screen to continue!
It was great, forget 'cooking mama' ,you can actually use this 'cooking guide' to actuallly cook something. No need to bring out your big book (I have many and it takes alot of space in my small kitchen!), this 'cooking guide' is handy! Bring it with you to the supermarket to shop for your ingredients, sit your DS on your kitchen counter, follow the steps and start cooking away. You know you won't get lost through the recipe unlike looking at the cook book (this happens to me!) However thinking about it now when you start using this to keep your DS away from liquids, you wouldn't want to ruin your DS!!
Price wise, not so keen... maybe it should be a little cheaper! Like brain training,… more »

I came across this japanese programme (while on holiday in the Philippines during Christmas), which showed a woman using her DS teaching her how to cook. Step by step it was instructing her for every part of the recipe. When she was ready to move on, she just tapped the screen to continue!
It was great, forget 'cooking mama' ,you can actually use this 'cooking guide' to actuallly cook something. No need to bring out your big book (I have many and it takes alot of space in my small kitchen!), this 'cooking guide' is handy! Bring it with you to the supermarket to shop for your ingredients, sit your DS on your kitchen counter, follow the steps and start cooking away. You know you won't get lost through the recipe unlike looking at the cook book (this happens to me!) However thinking about it now when you start using this to keep your DS away from liquids, you wouldn't want to ruin your DS!!
Price wise, not so keen... maybe it should be a little cheaper! Like brain training, this is helping your brain get younger, so says Dr Kawashima, so why not similar pricing!!!
Anyway I'm glad it will finally reach to this side of the globe and I've given this a 4*, as i yet to try it, but i was very impressed by how easy the woman was able to follow the instructions at her pace. So for those who have not yet mastered the skills of Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey, or needs more variety of meals to cook (that's me!) or not enough kitchen counter space to get out the big cook book (that's me again!) then I believe this is ideal for you.

When Nintendo announced this DS title, everyone was confused why they were releasing such a title? With around 250 in depth guides to cooking though, this isn't an application to be sniffed at.

To get started, you can choose what you wish to make by searching the country it originates from or what you want it to include. The advanced search tool works really well, and includes options for the amount of calories, the main ingredient (such as meat, fish, veg) and the cooking time. This narrows your search down to all of the recipes that apply, and from here you can view details of each one, and then check you've got the correct utensils and ingredients ready.

When it's time to cook, you get help from a cheerful British "man", who reads out each of your instructions for you. The instructions are also available in a little more depth on the screen, and sometimes more details will be available alongside each step. These extra details might explain why you're doing something or… more »

When Nintendo announced this DS title, everyone was confused why they were releasing such a title? With around 250 in depth guides to cooking though, this isn't an application to be sniffed at.

To get started, you can choose what you wish to make by searching the country it originates from or what you want it to include. The advanced search tool works really well, and includes options for the amount of calories, the main ingredient (such as meat, fish, veg) and the cooking time. This narrows your search down to all of the recipes that apply, and from here you can view details of each one, and then check you've got the correct utensils and ingredients ready.

When it's time to cook, you get help from a cheerful British "man", who reads out each of your instructions for you. The instructions are also available in a little more depth on the screen, and sometimes more details will be available alongside each step. These extra details might explain why you're doing something or they may give you tips on how to get a nicer taste. Sometimes, there will even be a video (displayed in a very good picture quality for the DS) to help you further, making sure that you hardly ever get it wrong.

To progress to the next step, you can either touch the respective icon on the screen, or say "continue" out loud for the microphone to hear. You can also ask the cook to repeat instructions or go back a step if you need any more help.

In addition to all this, there are several extras also worth mentioning. First of all, there is a guide that teaches you the meanings of all the terminology used, and how to perform each technique described when cooking. These are packed full of information, and are also available whilst you're cooking a recipe. There are also lists of all the ingredients used, with an image and description of each one, and (where applicable) a substitute ingredient that may be used instead.

Plus, the cartridge also includes a timer that can be activated at any point during a recipe, further ensuring you get everything perfectly right. Whilst your meals are cooking, there is also an option to busy yourself with the Game & Watch title "Chef", where you move a character left and right to toss falling sausages before they hit the ground. It may be a simple game, but it's also pretty addictive and is a welcome addition.

If you're not in the mood for cooking, though, then you can still browse the recipes, and mark them for notification later. Plus, you can add comments (written by handwriting on the touch screen, Brain Training style) to each meal, search for a particular something, or browse the calendar to see which meals you have made and when you made them.

There are a few letdowns in the software though. For starters, many of the recipes are foreign, and will most definitely not suit everyone's taste. The problem with the recipes being foreign also means that there are quite a few ingredients you won't be able to get because they originate from Japan, or other countries. The substitute ingredients list helps out, but it's still a shame it's been done this way. In addition to this, the microphone (marketed as one of the most important features) is often too responsive, and there is no option to alter this. If you clatter a pan or rapidly stir some food, it can pick this up, and often skips back a step, or repeats the step again, which eventually led to me switching that option off, and instead getting my DS covered in food by using the on screen "buttons".

Overall though, there's loads to do in this package, and it is well recommended for anyone who can or would like to cook, providing you've got a liking for a wide variety of foreign food.

I love this DS game, not really a game more of a life tool lol.

I'm not very good at cooking, not one for making proper sunday roasts and stuff like that, whacking a pizza in the oven or a pasta bake is about as much as i know, maybe the odd omelette but thats hardly difficult.

This program makes it so easy to learn, i've so far tried a few english dishes, some spanish and tonight i cooked my folks the szechuan chicken from the chinese list and it was gorgeous.
The instructions are clear and easy to follow, it adjusts the ingredient quantities depending on the amount you're feeding

It has speech recognition so u can control the cooking steps just by talking if u have your hands full, this is a nice touch but a little sensitive for my liking, i found the odd clack and sizzle noises from the kitchen moved on / backed up the steps on its own without me wanting it to.

The only other moan i have is the cooking times, during the steps it rarely tells you how… more »

I love this DS game, not really a game more of a life tool lol.

I'm not very good at cooking, not one for making proper sunday roasts and stuff like that, whacking a pizza in the oven or a pasta bake is about as much as i know, maybe the odd omelette but thats hardly difficult.

This program makes it so easy to learn, i've so far tried a few english dishes, some spanish and tonight i cooked my folks the szechuan chicken from the chinese list and it was gorgeous.
The instructions are clear and easy to follow, it adjusts the ingredient quantities depending on the amount you're feeding

It has speech recognition so u can control the cooking steps just by talking if u have your hands full, this is a nice touch but a little sensitive for my liking, i found the odd clack and sizzle noises from the kitchen moved on / backed up the steps on its own without me wanting it to.

The only other moan i have is the cooking times, during the steps it rarely tells you how long you should be frying something for but merely gives you a visual thing to look for. I understand some hobs and cookers may act different and vary times so this doesnt bother me too much, just as a beginner cook it does make u panic a little if you're doing it right.

All in all this game is fab and i love using it, perfect for people who arent too familiar with cooking and are tired of eating the same meals they only know how to prepare.

also, i have tried the Jamie Oliver game and i thought it was utter pants compared to this, the visual aids are terrible and theres hardly any talking in it apart from Jamie saying the name of the dish which hardly helps me cook to be honest. I'd recommend this one any day.

I was a little sceptical about this, but now after trying a couple of recipes I love it. I should warn you that if your expecting thousands of recipes, there is only about 250, which is a good number of recipes, but I suspect they will bring out more depending on the popularity.

But this is definitely not a discouragement; the recipes are nice and varied; there are over ten contires to choose from: recipes from America, Britian, France, Italy, India, Thailand, China, Japan, Australia, and so on. You can also search via difficulty, an ingredient, time and calories. Another good thing is that you can favourite certain recipes and add notes, so when you browse you can find your favourites easy, rather then searching all over again.

It is easy to read the ingredients, the steps and the actual cooking guide. While your cook your "Chef" friend tells you how to do each step (you also get text and pictures to follow); you can go back, repeat and ask to set the time with the sound… more »

I was a little sceptical about this, but now after trying a couple of recipes I love it. I should warn you that if your expecting thousands of recipes, there is only about 250, which is a good number of recipes, but I suspect they will bring out more depending on the popularity.

But this is definitely not a discouragement; the recipes are nice and varied; there are over ten contires to choose from: recipes from America, Britian, France, Italy, India, Thailand, China, Japan, Australia, and so on. You can also search via difficulty, an ingredient, time and calories. Another good thing is that you can favourite certain recipes and add notes, so when you browse you can find your favourites easy, rather then searching all over again.

It is easy to read the ingredients, the steps and the actual cooking guide. While your cook your "Chef" friend tells you how to do each step (you also get text and pictures to follow); you can go back, repeat and ask to set the time with the sound of you voice or by touching the screen (you can turn the voice activation off at any time during the cooking process). You can also change the speed of the Chef's voice.

Another little feature is the "shopping list" section at the menu. The basic idea is that when browsing for a recipe, you can tick the ingredients you need to buy, and it will be transferred to the "shopping list" section. This section is easy to browse and it even has a calculator to do your price sums if you take it with you in the supermarket.

A couple of drawbacks are when adding a note to a recipe it sometimes has trouble reading some letters, depending on your handwriting: example would be that sometimes it misreads "t" and puts down a "x", other examples are "a" is misread as an "o" or "p" and "k" is misread as a "r" . It is easy to correct it's just a tad annoying after a while. Other drawback is a the price: I recommend waiting for it to be a little cheaper before buying it.

Overall it's a good investment: it has a wide range of recipes and anyone can cook with this. Just wait for it to be cheaper and you will never need a cook book again!