APPetizing - Carry Rick Bayless Around In Your Phone

By Anthony Todd in Food on Apr 27, 2012 4:00PM

It's no secret that we love Rick Bayless: his food is amazing, he is a good teacher and he has a sense of humor. Oh, and an amazing garden. But, unless we're headed to Frontera, we've always had to turn on our TV to actually see him. No more. His first app, Rick Bayless: Mexican Essentials, puts some of his most popular recipes onto your phone.

The app, which costs $2.99, features 35 classic recipes including his guacamole, salsa, ceviche, tortilla soup and red chile tamales. Even better, the app includes 40 instructional videos, most of which are about technique. That means that this app is much more than an electronic cookbook—it's a whole little electronic culinary school! If you watch all of the videos, you can learn how to properly take apart an avocado, rinse onions, puree chiles, chop cilantro and tons of other kitchen essentials. It's this feature that puts this app on the top of our list, as most cookbooks and cooking apps assume everyone already knows the techniques.

There are a bunch of other neat features, including a shopping list generator, a favorites list and a detailed discussion of all of the speciality ingredients Bayless uses. If you've never cooked with achiote seasoning paste or corn masa, don't worry. He lays it all out.

We happen to be iPhone users, but we have a strong feeling this app would be even more impressive on the iPad. Set it next to your cutting board and spend an afternoon practicing some techniques, and then make a Mexican dinner to wow your friends.

Watch one of the instructional videos (at a somewhat low resolution) below—Bayless chopping cilantro.