The Best Twitter Recipes (less than 140 characters!)

Sometimes the best way to get into home cooking is to keep it simple. You know: Five ingredients, one pot or pan, and a scant 140-character recipe.

Yep, you heard the last part right: 140 characters, as in, the length of one tweet on the social networking site, Twitter. Twitter recipes, or twecipes, boil down even complex recipes to the bare minimum. On the upside, twecipes can encourage you to try something you wouldn’t have attempted before. (Beef bourguignon? So easy!) But ingredient abbreviations and slimmed-down instructions could mean you miss the nuances that make for a good risotto, if you’ve never made one before.

“To keep a balance, make sure you also follow a few talkative foodies who can answer your questions, like Mark Bittman and Michael Ruhlman,” says Yos Schwartz, chief culinary officer of The Fresh Diet. “[A Twitter recipe discussion] is way more helpful and useful then trying to cram in a recipe in 140 characters,” he says.

For short recipe inspirations, add these foodies to your feed:

@chefvos

Four Seasons Hotel Boston’s executive chef, Brooke Vosika, has pledged to post a twecipe each Friday after his weekly cooking chat. The first: Wassail punch.

• Recent twecipe: .5gal apcider,1c OJ,3orange,20clove,6 cinastix,.5c cointreau,.5c brandy,.5c rum. Combine all but liq,bring2 boil. Turnoff cover 10min. +liq

 

@cookbook

“Eat Tweet” author Maureen Evans sends out regular tweets covering everything from standbys, like mashed potatoes (sent before Thanksgiving), to complex dishes, like prime rib roast and puff pastry dough. Not sure what an abbreviation means? There’s a Wiki page for explanation

• Recent twecipe: Parsnip Risotto: Brwn onion/lb shredparsnip/3T buttr; +2garlc/c arborio; +⅓c wtwine to absorb. Rpt+½c stock 10x in 25m; +2T lem/t sage/s+p.

 

@mixologist

Far from simple rum-n-cokes, this feed picks up fancier fare that might require pulling out your cocktail shaker (“Summer Solstice”), muddler (“The Bootleg”) or other barware tools.

• Recent twecipe: APPLE PIE SIPPER: Pour 4oz hot apple juice in mug. Stir in 2oz cinnamon schnapps & .5t brown sugar. Garnish w/ skewered apple slice & serve.

 

@nishakatona

“Curry in a Hurry” author Nisha Katona shares cooking tips and recipes, not just through twecipes but also linked videos and blogs. A few recent tweets help followers create fast veggie curry formulas.

• Recent twecipe: Broccoli w Mustard seeds-fry seeds til popped,add broc,a little extra butter,salt,a touch of lemon.Guests fought over this dish last nite

 

@tinyrecipes

The feed hasn’t had anything new since August, but what is up there – including grilled pears and a cranberry-tomato salsa — is interesting.

• Recent twecipe: Overnight oats: Stir 3T dried berries, 10 crumbled walnut halves, 1C non-instant rolled oats, 1C milk, 6oz yogurt & let sit overnight.

 

Frugal Foodie is a journalist based in New York City who spends her days writing about personal finance and obsessing about what she’ll have for dinner. Chat with her on Twitter through @MintFoodie.