Sun Lee

Your culinary creativity knows no bounds, but your chef-fu is only half-baked. Here are some smartphones tools sure to spice up your next epicurean endeavor.

Menu Planning

Paprika Recipe Manager Easily collect recipes: Grab them off the web using a built-in browser, sync them to the cloud, and download them to any device. Folders keep things organized. Paprika Recipe Manager | $5 ioses

Big Oven Browse a database of over 250,000 recipes or add your own—the Pro version can scan your handwritten ones and make them searchable.
Big Oven | Free/$2.50 per month for Pro androids

Weights & Measures

Escoffier Cook's Companion More skills than the nerdiest sous chef: a built-in timer, unit converters, an equipment database that shows usage tips for hundreds of utensils, even a glossary. Escoffier Cook's Companion | Free ioses

Knowledge Book: Cooking Did Grandma measure milk in drachmas? Knowledge Book converts the most obscure units. It also lists yields and suggests common ingredient substitutions. Knowledge Book: Cooking | Free androids

Pantry Power Ups

Gojee Got a hodgepodge of ingredients and no idea what to make with them? Gojee will scour the web's best food blogs and find recipes to match your stash. Gojee | Free ioses

Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner Use the barcode scanner to enter what's in your pantry and the app saves them. Pro version creates a shopping list based on what you have. Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner | Free / $3 for Pro androids

Meal Delivery

GrubHub You never know when culinary disaster (or simple laziness) will strike. GrubHub offers menus from restaurants in more than 500 cities. Order and pay straight from the app—easy. GrubHub | Free ioses

Eat24 This app for ordering delivery is cross-platform, but the androids version lets you pay via credit card, PayPal, or Google Wallet, so you won't need to dirty your fingers with cash. Eat24 | Free androids