They really enshittified the internet so hard that it’s more convenient to have these bulky ass (expensive too if you don’t get second hand…) books that you have to flick through and find room to store and try not to spill shit on and stick little bookmarks in to save commonly used recipe, god damn.
For years I used a search engine, and used Pinterest a lot too to save recipes and categorise them. But the SEO slop, the AI slop, the ads…. It’s just become horrific half the time. I did try downloading a few eBooks and pdfs but the format is really not great for cookbooks.
If anyone has any recommendations for sites or apps that aren’t fucking terrible I would love that. Especially 
ones.
https://www.scribd.com/document/753040963/The-Vegetarian-Flavor-Bible-by-Karen-Page
Once I have a basic idea of how to make a dish, I always just go back to this for recipe variations. It’s a very intuitive kind of cooking based on explaining the ingredient you have and suggesting what it pairs well with. You don’t get specific recipes or ingredient proportions from it but it teaches you how to be that chef standing over a pot with a
knowing what should go in it.
Damn thanks for this, looks awesome
There’s another Flavor Bible that isn’t vegetarian, and then there’s also textbooks about how to cook and combine flavors and textures. Not recipes, but the actual theory of what makes good cooking.
Second this - flavor bible series is incredible