MasterCook 5.0: Food & Wine

One of the best features of the software is its expansive nature. Upon installation, you can add six different recipe books, with 50 to 75 recipes apiece, into the software. You can also download additional recipe books from the MasterCook Web site and add your own concoctions into the "My Cookbook Folder" to increase your recipe database. We found the process of importing and exporting recipe files via the Web to be straightforward and worthwhile.

MasterCook also shines when working to plan meals and dietary needs. The calendar feature allows you to see weekly menus, using recipes from all of the separate cookbooks within your MasterList. If you're monitoring your caloric or sodium intake, you can click to get a nutritional analysis of each recipe to make sure it suits your dietary needs. You can also edit recipes within the software if you want to substitute or reduce an ingredient or scale recipes up or down to accommodate the number of people you'll be serving. Weekly menus can be imported into a shopping list that you can print out and bring to the grocery store, saving valuable time. There is a time requirement, though: while we were eventually able to figure out how to use the meal planning and shopping list features, we needed to spend additional time with the manual on our first try.

With software this complex, we encountered some frustrations. The software offers videos on in-depth topics, such as how to make a pie crust; however, we were unable to get the video to run. While MasterCook: Food and Wine's box promises "52 complete special occasion menus," this feature was not mentioned in the lengthy manual and we couldn't locate it within the program. (An obvious disappointment, since the presence of complete menu plans is a huge advantage for the less experienced cook.) In addition, we had a difficult time locating Food and Wine Magazine's Official Wine Guide within the program. Once we found it, we were impressed with the extensive list, but wished that the program would assist in pairing wines with particular entrees.

In spite of its few shortcomings, we found MasterCook: Food and Wine to be a valuable planning tool for the home chef. Besides its lengthy list of features, it eliminates the need for bulky cookbooks and gives you more space in the kitchen for cooking. --Cristina Vaamonde

Amazon.com Product Description
Entertaining and eating well have never been easier. Anyone who's ever hosted a dinner party, had friends over for a barbecue, or just needed to select a wine to go with dinner will appreciate the convenience of a complete entertaining guide. Menus include wine pairing advice, plus valuable serving and entertaining suggestions from the connoisseurs at Food and Wine. Together you'll have over 1,000 delicious recipes and 52 special-occasion menus to provide the right meal for every occasion. MasterCook Food and Wine also contains an indispensable wine guide for selecting just the right wine with each meal.

MasterCook Food and Wine can save you time. Users can search for recipes by ingredient, scale recipes for any numbers of guests, learn food preparation techniques through instructional video clips, and plan nutritional meals days, weeks, or months in advance. This software is the ideal complement to any household that enjoys entertaining, eating well, and exploring new wines.