Beta yourself

SMART COOKING

Already got a kitchen full of clever gadgets? Add one more, says Craig Grannell, by recruiting your smartphone or tablet to help you plan, schedule and make great meals…

THE BASICS

■ Dedicate a device

If you only own one smart device, use it when cooking. But ideally work with a spare phone or tablet in the kitchen so it doesn’t matter if it gets covered in flour. Give it a permanent spot on the counter, and ensure its stand (see panel opposite) and charger are stable so it won’t topple into your casserole.

■ Keep your kit clean

Naturally, a charging port you somehow fill with jam during baking is something you’ll need to fix. But it’s also vital that you don’t transfer germs from gadgets to food. So whether or not you’re using a dedicated device, give yours a wipe with a suitable anti-bacterial cleaner before you start cooking. ■ Be hands-off

Cut the risk of germ-transfer and device-trashing by limiting your interaction with the touchscreen. Explore what you can do with voice commands, be that setting timers or switching steps in cookery apps. Turn off the automatic lock so your screen doesn’t shut off when you’re halfway through a particularly tricky bit. ■ Prepare yourself

Any good chef will ensure things run smoothly by sorting ingredients, tools and accessories in advance. If you’re using a phone or tab, that thinking extends to your technology: install and keep timers and conversion apps handy; where possible, run through what you’re going to do, so you don’t mess things up at a critical moment.

■ Protect your tech

If you use your main phone in the kitchen, keep it well clear of anything that could splatter it. But even spare devices shouldn’t be drenched in hot fat, random spices and that half-litre of sherry you’d planned on using to give your trifle an extra kick last year. So do consider a screen protector, and investigate affordable but effective protective cases.

Measure up

Chances are you’ll need to convert between metric and imperial with some online recipes. Morpho Converter (£free, iOS) lets you pin conversions for regular use. START COOKING

■ Master key skills

Kitchen Stories (£free, Android and iOS) is great for cookery newcomers. It provides a photo for every recipe step, and prior to tackling a dish you can delve into how-to videos on prep work and other techniques.

■ Watch some videos

Tasty (£free, Android and iOS) is like cookery telly for people with no attention span. Each recipe comes to life in about a minute – and clips are cut into tiny looping snippets for when you’re working through a dish’s individual steps.

GET ORGANISED

■ Browse the web

Paprika (£4.49, Android and iOS) is a digital take on recipe clippings. Using its browser, you grab the useful bits of online recipe pages by tapping a download button. Saved info can be edited so you can put your own spin on things.

■ Build a menu

Along with managing recipes, Paprika also wants to help organise your meals. You can assign recipes to a schedule, and create new menus once you’ve decided that you are now, in fact, an actual chef. Just make sure your pantry tab is kept up to date. BE A MELA DWELLER

■ Follow feeds

Mela (£4.49, iOS) combines recipe management and RSS. Under ‘Feeds’, tap ‘…’ and then ‘Add Feed’. Paste a blog’s address and its articles will be piped into the app, ready to explore and pilfer bits from with the ‘+’ button.

■ Start from scratch

Want to add your own recipes, or some of Great Auntie Doris’s classics? No trouble. Under ‘Recipes’, tap ‘…’ and then ‘New Recipe’ to input one from scratch, or ‘Scan Recipe’ to have Mela extract its details from printed pages.

■ Label your stash

There’s no point in replacing a big stack of papers with an equally big stack of virtual recipes, so eradicate chaos. Flag recipes by tap-holding to assign categories, and revel in your orderly chefness. CUT DOWN WASTE

■ Track your food

If you have a fancy fridge that alerts you when food is about to go rotten, great. If not, use reminder lists to perform the same task. Armed with an iPhone? Kiff (£3.49, iOS) can put bold countdowns right on your homescreen.

■ Use what’s there

Get into the habit of using food you already have rather than buying more. Not sure how? Fire up SuperCook (£free, Android and iOS) and dictate into it a list of items lurking in your fridge. It’ll then serve up matching dishes for you to try.

STAND AND DELIVER

IKEA BERGENES

You could get a flashy metal stand for your kitchen-based device. Or you could come to your senses, realise it’ll get covered in muck and plump for something cheap. This bamboo holder is sturdy and can be wiped clean with a damp cloth. £1.50 / ikea.com

TRYONE GOOSENECK TABLET HOLDER

If you’re rocking an older device that you want level with your face while you’re chopping carrots, this stand can be yanked into submission for precision placement. It clamps to any worktop up to 75mm thick. £25 / amazon.co.uk

MOFT SNAP-ON (MAGSAFE)

Another good option for propping up an iPhone is this MagSafe foldable stand – which has the added benefit that you can take it with you and use it as a wallet. Moft also does self-adhesive stands for other devices. £25 / madebymoft.com