Crowdsourcing a smarter search

Our new “popularity” sort for books, authors, and recipes

What do you do when you need a recommendation for a new recipe or book? You typically turn to a friend. Now, you can turn to many friends—we’re gathering popularity and usage data from all the food-loving folks who hungrily browse ckbk, giving you a real-time look at the most popular elements from our site. Here are a few ways our smarter search will enhance your ckbk experience:

Flexible search and sort

Sometimes you want to see ALL the chocolate chip cookie recipes to find just the perfect one to satisfy your craving, and at other times you want to quickly find the recipes that others turn to most. We’ve consolidated the search data from thousands of members so you can sort by “popularity” to surface the recipes that are accessed most frequently.

Writing a research paper on the evolution of apple pie? Sort by “publication age.” You’ll discover one of the oldest recipes, A Buttered Apple Pie, from American Cookery, the first American cookbook published in 1796. You’ll also discover the newest recipe, Blackberry and Apple Pie, from A Long and Messy Business by British chef Rowley Leigh.

Working your way through every paella recipe on our site? Sort by “recently added” so you can be sure to keep on top of the latest from Valencia and beyond.

More tips for mastering advanced search »

Five Most Popular

We’ve added the five most popular recipes to every author and book page, so you can immediately find the crowd favorites as you browse the site.

Recipes by author

ckbk features the work of world-renowned authors, some of whom have spent a lifetime chronicling their expertise through cookbooks. Take Paula Wolfert, for example. She’s a celebrated cookbook author who has written nine cookbooks on Mediterranean food and earned many awards and accolades including a James Beard Lifetime achievement award. So how do you find the best recipes from her vast collection of work? Easy: visit her author page to find the five ”most popular” recipes (out of nearly 800 on ckbk!) to get a crash course in Paula Wolfert’s cooking.

Recipes by book

A common question authors are asked about their books is, “which recipes should I make first?”

Since we don’t have the ability to ask an author every time, our usage data will lead you to the five most popular recipes of any book.

Trying to master bread baking and don’t know where to start? Here are the top five from Jeffrey Hamelman’s encyclopedic guide, Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes. Master his beautifully braided Challah, then graduate to the challenging Baguettes de Tradition.

Find your new favorites

ckbk offers the best in digital browsing for cookbooks. Explore new-to-you discoveries from our books and authors menus. Sort by “most recommended”, our new “popularity” sort or several other options. You’re bound to find some new favorites, like author Molly Yeh, city-girl turned farm-girl and host of Food Network’s Girl Meets Farm. She’s currently the most popular author on ckbk, known for her melting pot approach to cooking with a Chinese-Jewish background and a Midwest sensibility (her most popular recipe is Cauliflower Shawarma Tacos). Or take a journey through global cooking with Around the World in 80 Dishes by celebrated food photographer David Loftus who penned this currently most popular book (which is also our June #ckbkclub selection).

Have ideas for new features?

We’d love to hear from you! Send us a note about the feature ideas you would most like to see, reach us at hello@ckbk.com.

ckbk is home to the world's best cookbooks and recipes for all cooks and every appetite. Start exploring now ▸