Tastymatrix

Nemo runs a recipeblog with some friends at http://tastymatic.wordpress.com

This is the tastymatrix formula developed with Nerissa for scoring foods.

Note: it is not in fact a matrix.

Formula

Rating system is YAH/ETC

Yum*Adaptability*Health / Ease*Time*Cost

All ratings are between 1 and 5, except Yum and Ease between 1 and 10.

• YAH are "higher = better"
• ETC are "lower = better"

Ie, multiply stuff where higher=better and divide it by the stuff where lower = better.

In theory this gives a scale between 1/250 and 250, but in practice we expect numbers to come in between 5 and 20.

Yum

Subjective out of 10

Adaptability

A rating related to how easily can components be changed. Greater weight will be given to possible changes that relate to dietary reasons (eg: vegan, gluten free, nut free, etc), than simple availability or cost reasons.

Health

Could you live off this? A rule of thumb:

• 1 = toffee
• 2 = cake
• 3 = burger
• 4 = your basic healthy meal, but not "balanced" completely
• 5 = Something you could probably live off if you had to

Ease

At first glance you'd think 'ease' would be something to maximise. But then the rather neatly balanced equation falls down. Instead, think of this as complexity (C in the acronym was taken!) or a diving-like "difficulty" rating. It's about conceptual ease, as opposed to the actual *effort* (eg: peeling 100 potatoes takes much effort, but is conceptually easy. In that example, the additional effort would count against in the 'time' factor)

• 1 = make a sandwhich
• 3 = make tacos (the cooking requires extra skill, see)
• 6 = pavlova - getting those proportions right is getting more and more important
• 8 = less margin for error than a 3?
• 10 = requires Master/Iron-chef like skill

Time

How much time is invested in attending to this? A rule of thumb is to count every minute in preparation, but only one minute in 5 whilst it's cooking (and the only time requirement is to check on it now and then, and keep in mind to stop it at the right time.

• 1 = less than 5minutes
• 2 = 15 min
• 3 = 30 min
• 4 = 45 min
• 5 = 60+

Cost

Calculate PER serving. With expensive ingredients (eg, carnivores who like an expensive steak) this could go up. Our guidelines are:

• 1 = $1
• 2 = $4
• 3 = $9
• 4 = $16
• 5 = $25

Recipes

• Roast veg wraps = 9x4x5/3x2x2 = 180x12 = 15
• Garlic damper = 7x3x2/2x2x1 = 42/4 = 10.5 ???
• corned beans for tacos and nachos