Cook'n Deluxe 6.0

Cook'n Deluxe, a Windows-only program, adeptly performs all of the usual tasks expected of cooking CD-ROMs. Menu planners and recipe managers take the grunt work out of deciding what to cook and adjusting recipe amounts. One excellent, and very thorough, feature is the Grocery Shopping Assistant. Cooks decide on a recipe, open it, click on "list," and a grocery list appears, complete with preferred brand names, package sizes, estimated cost of the shopping trip, and a nutritional workup of the meal. With a couple of clicks, not only do we have a shopping list for Dixie Grits Casserole ($16.95), we also discover that one serving contains 19 grams of fat. Hardcore cybershoppers can send all of this information to their PalmPilot and hit the aisles.

The recipes are broken down into 70 cookbooks: Farmer's Market, Never Say Leftovers, Cooking on the Run, and 50 Pies are some of the titles. Recipes range from Corn Dog Squares to Choucroute Garni (sauerkraut and meat). We would have liked to see more fresh ingredients and a few more basics--there was no plain apple pie among the 50 Pies--but cooks can remedy that by entering their own recipes. An Enter the Ingredients section allows cooks to tally up whatever's sitting in the pantry, and search the entire database for recipes that match. Some recipes have accompanying photos, and a small handful have instructional videos that feel like filler--is it really necessary to demonstrate wrapping rolls in foil?

Cook'n Deluxe is a friendly program that's easy to use. Its strongest features are the amount of recipes it offers, and that "too much information" shopping list feature. The flavorless videos are probably this CD-ROM's weakest area, though the producers redeem themselves by hiding a yummy blooper reel of the cooking experts' goof-ups within the program. --Anne Erickson