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 (/10)

Subjective

Adaptability (/5)

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 (/5)

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 (/10)

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 a measure of required skill, complexity 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

Culinary snobs who think that complicated meals are inherently superior, regardless of relative taste/health/etc, may want to scale this differently.

Time (/5)

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 (/5)

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