The familiar cooking ritual can become simpler. The New York Times editorial team is testing a new feature in its Cooking app that uses artificial intelligence to adapt recipes. Now, users will be able not only to substitute ingredients or kitchen equipment but also to scale a dish for any number of servings, and "generally make our recipes work for what the cook needs at that moment," as noted by NYT Cooking Senior Editor Genevieve Ko.
This technology is designed to help in situations where the right product is not at hand or when it's necessary to prepare food for an unexpectedly large number of guests. For example, if you've run out of spinach and the recipe calls for kale, the AI will suggest an adequate substitute and adjust the cooking process. In one example, the system advised adding baby spinach later, as it cooks faster than regular kale, preventing it from overcooking. This demonstrates a depth of analysis that goes beyond a simple substitution.
For the average user, this means fewer culinary compromises and more flexibility in the kitchen. There will be no more frantic searching for substitutions online or abandoning the idea of cooking something new due to the absence of one or two ingredients. The technology promises to make the cooking process more intuitive and less stressful, adapting to the real conditions and capabilities of the home cook. Essentially, it's a step towards personalized cooking, where a recipe becomes not a dogma, but a flexible tool.
Of course, such a feature has also sparked debate among users, but its potential to simplify daily life is obvious. AI as a culinary assistant, capable of considering nuances like the cooking speed of different types of greens, is no longer science fiction but a reality that can make home cooking more accessible to everyone.