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So every (good) recipe enumerates several lists of things:

  • Ingredients: a list of all the foods/seasonings/etc. that you'll use when following the recipe
  • Utensils: a list of all the tools, utensils and appliances that you'll use when following the recipe

My question: Is there an umbrella term for both ingredients and utensils? Meaning, some term that implies both of them?

In other words, instead of maintaining two lists, 1 for ingredients, and 1 for utensils, I'd like to make 1 master list of everything you'd need for a recipe. What would I call that master list?!?

(Not-so-pro-tip: it can't be "recipe" because the recipe is the algorithm you follow to produce some final dish.)

Joe
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smeeb
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    For what it's worth, plenty of good recipes don't really list tools, utensils, or appliances - it's generally only potentially helpful to call out equipment if it's something irreplaceable people would be likely not to have. – Cascabel Jan 11 '16 at 15:52
  • I'm building food/culinary related software and am trying to understand the domain language. A Recipe has a list of dependencies, Ingredients and Utensils, but need a meaningful, domain-specific term to refer to them both. – smeeb Jan 11 '16 at 17:12
  • @smeeb : a concept only needs a label if you're going to be presenting it to the user. If you're just using it internally, any identifier will suffice. (although most people *really* object to it, but it's often needed in multi-language ontologies where concepts don't neatly match up between languages/cultures ... like that whole [cobbler/betty/crisp](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/65270/67) thing. – Joe Jan 11 '16 at 17:24
  • Technically a "recipe" includes variables (lists -- the ingredients/utensils), function/algorithm (the instructions on what to do with the variables), and metadata (e.g. name of recipe, servings, nutrition information). It's not _just_ the algorithm :) – Erica Jan 11 '16 at 17:28
  • Okay, so this is a "what do I name my variables" question. I believe what I said is still relevant: if you want to ever show the recipe to a user, you need to be able to show just the ingredients, so having the ingredient and equipment lists merged is maybe not so good! Yes, you can tag your items with types, and select only items of the appropriate type to show - but the point is that it's worth trying to have your data structure design mirror the way people actually think about recipes. – Cascabel Jan 11 '16 at 17:30
  • @Jefromi : he might have a structure w/ sub-structures. Of course, I'd want software where I could specify what equipment I had and it'd remember that, so that it wouldn't show me recipes that I couldn't easily make. (an ingredient or two, I might go shop for ... but buy a food processor just to make something?). Also, to make it more confusing, equipment is often a modifier -- I could knead bread by hand, or toss it in a stand mixer ... so the level of effort varies by what equipment you have. – Joe Jan 11 '16 at 17:52
  • I think the comments above can be summarized as: Do not name the utensil, name the action. You want the recipe to say "*knead* the dough", not "*knead* the dough with a ". You need to be able to state/store *what* has to be done to *which* ingredient, and quite possibly also including *volume, weight, or time*. Not *with what* to do it. For the latter, tips are fine, instructions are not. – Willem van Rumpt Jan 11 '16 at 18:05
  • @Joe I was referring to "instead of maintaning two lists... I'd like to make 1 master list". Anyway, no need to debate design in too much detail here; I just wanted to make clear how people actually write and read recipes, since that's what we do know a lot about here. – Cascabel Jan 11 '16 at 18:05
  • lol - thanks for the input everyone - I think Supplies will suffice :-) – smeeb Jan 11 '16 at 18:07
  • @Jefromi : oh ... yeah ... that's a bad idea. Utensils are (typically) not consumed in the making dish. There are some things that might blur the lines between 'utensil' and 'ingredient' (bamboo skewers, paper towels, cheese cloth, etc), as they're non-food but not available for re-use afterwards. – Joe Jan 11 '16 at 18:10

1 Answers1

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Supplies

(which is way too short of an answer for the site to accept on its own)

Joe
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