Synonyms at Cookthink.com
August 8th, 2007
You say “scallion” and we say “green onion.” You say “aubergine” and we say “eggplant.” You say “parallel” and we say “synonym.”
We have some good news for those of you who have written to us about your preference for “garbanzo bean” over “chickpea” or “prawn” over “shrimp.” We’ve built ingredient synonym recognition into our “cookthink it” search tool!
So now, when you type in a search for “New York Strip” or “NY Strip steak” or “strip” and then hit return to add it to your list of cravings, our “cookthink it” tool will recognize that you’re looking for what we simply call a “strip steak.” You’ll notice that the term we use will appear in the orange “I’m craving…” box.
We’re very excited about this feature and we hope you will be, too. Thanks for prompting us to build it.
We also hope you’ll keep suggesting new features and telling us what you like and dislike about Cookthink.com. We’re adding new recipes every day and are putting the finishing touches on our next big feature: a personalized meal building tool.
In the meantime, please play around with the search tool and let us know in the comments if, for example, you call “arugula” something other than “rocket.”
August 8th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
I was told that a green onion is a young onion, but a scallion is a young shallot. So they are apparently not equivalent. But I applaud what you are trying to do with your blog.
August 8th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Good point, Meta. We should have clarified what we mean by synonym. I’ve heard “scallion” used to refer to both young onions and young shallots and also to refer to what we call spring onions. We’re less concerned with definitional precision than we are with how something is used in the kitchen. Because “scallions” and “green onions” are used interchangeably in most kitchens, we consider them synonyms. Thanks for the heads up. Applause back at you.
August 8th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Just to continue that thought, the same could be said for “prawns” and “shrimp.” Technically, we could be talking about two separate decapods. But practically, we think any recipe that calls for shrimp could also be made with prawns. Put another way, we didn’t want to have a recipe for Prawns and Grits. Doesn’t have quite the same ring.
August 8th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
You say prawn. I say shrimp.
Cookthink allows you to search for recipes based on what you’re craving: ingredients, dish type, cuisine and mood. Now, they’ve built a synonym feature that recognizes different names for an ingredient. Prawn=shrimp. Scallion=green onion.
August 11th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Very clever team cookthink. I wish Google search worked that way.
April 24th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Well maybe. I can’t think we ever sya parallel when we mean synonym as parallel is too vague a word. A synonym is always a parallel but a parallel i only someyimes a synonym !! as to scalians I thougth they were always sprint onions and didn’t know they possible link to shallots. They’re certainly a lot smaller than shalllots. The point is most recipes including them would work with shallots.
Now prawns and ships. I call a shrip a tiny version of a prawn and we tend not to come across them except in potted shrips. With prawns there are various sizes. It always feels odd to me when Americans call these huge things shrimps !
You missed off that you say zucchini and we say courgette or ne thing that makes us really laugh that you say suspenders which to us are braces and suspenders are garter belts !!