Gadget Review: Nintendo DS Personal Trainer Cooking

ds_CookingTrainer_pkg_01

Several weeks ago, I attended a BlogHer event sponsored by Nintendo, introducing the new Personal Trainer Cooking experience. At the party, I actually won two Nintendo DSs, which my children promptly claimed. This weekend I managed to sneak one away to test Personal Trainer Cooking, the giveaway from the party.

My initial reaction is that the tool is pretty interesting – for the beginner cook. The chef walks you through the preparation of several basic recipes, including Bolognese Sauce (isn’t there supposed to be milk in traditional Bolognese?), New England Clam Chowder, and even Coq au Vin. Included in the program are descriptions of terminology, preparation tips, and ingredient substitutions. You can use the stylus to manage the pages, or voice commands, which makes it nice if you are up to your elbows in flour!

When you initially power on the game, you can choose to go directly to Recipes, or Cooking Basics, or your Shopping List. In Recipes, you can browse through 245 saved recipes, by country, ingredient or requirements. Italy has the most recipes, at 39, while the U.S. has 10 recipes, including Macaroni and Cheese, which looks suspiciously like the stuff out of the blue and yellow box.

After choosing a recipe, you can view the ingredients, view the steps, or launch right into the cooking. The system also allows you the opportunity to double or halve the recipe, depending on how many people you plan to serve.

The pictures all look attractive, although ever so slightly off, reminiscent of my cookbooks from overseas. Most look appetizing, although I cannot say that I am going to rush right out and try one.

Nintendo Personal Trainer Cooking Screen Shot

The most interesting part of the system, from my perspective, having been cooking for the last 30 years or so, is the videos which describe certain techniques. The first one I watched, Finely Chopping Onions, was great – I think I might actually use some of that information. I was disappointed that there is not a Dicing Onions video, but I suppose I could figure that out myself.

The biggest video disappointment was Folding In, showing how to fold flour into wet ingredients. This one video would be the reason I would not purchase the trainer – after sprinkling the flour over the top of the batter, the chef is shown stabbing at the mixture with a spatula, not folding anything at all. Might be better labeled Mixing. As it is currently labeled, it is totally incorrect and misleading. If you used the technique in the video, any egg whites you would fold in would loose all their volume.

As an experienced home cook, I don’t believe I am the target market for this, and had I not received it for free, I would definitely not purchase it. I will, however, share it with my daughter – since she already has a DS, maybe she will enjoy the experience.