How we source, test & correct recipes

Last reviewed 2026-08-20.

Where the recipes come from

Consomee publishes three kinds of recipe, and every recipe page says which kind it is. We use these exact labels:

• Original recipe — developed and tested by a named person at Consomee.
• Adapted recipe — tested and edited by a named person at Consomee, based on a credited source.
• Structured source recipe — not yet independently kitchen-tested by Consomee. We have taken an openly-licensed recipe, structured it, and added our own tools around it. The ingredients and method are the source's.

Base recipe data comes from TheMealDB, a free and open recipe database with a public API, and from openly-licensed community cookbook text (CC BY-SA), which we credit and link on the page itself. We link back to the original entry on every sourced recipe page.

Who reviews recipes

We do not currently employ a named recipe tester, and we do not pretend otherwise. Every recipe on Consomee therefore carries the Structured source recipe — not yet independently kitchen-tested by Consomee label. When a named tester joins, their biography and qualifications appear here and the recipes they sign off change label on the page and in their structured data at the same time. We would rather publish an accurate absence than an invented byline.

What we check before a recipe is published

Every recipe passes an automated review before it can be built into the site. The checks are deterministic and the build fails if any of them does — they are not advisory:

• Each ingredient is resolved against our canonical ingredient ontology, which records whether it is animal-derived and which major allergens it carries.
• A diet label is published only when every ingredient resolved. If even one ingredient is unknown or ambiguous — an unqualified “stock” or “bouillon cube”, which may be meat or vegetable — the recipe carries no dietary claim rather than a guess.
• Allergens are derived from the ingredients, never typed by hand. A recipe missing an allergen its own ingredients imply fails the build.
• A category that contradicts the ingredients is corrected from the ingredients.
• Titles, methods, source links and structured data must be present and parseable, and every URL we submit to search engines must resolve.

How diet and allergen labels are verified

This is the part of the site we get asked about most, and the part where being wrong matters most, so here is exactly how it works.

Every ingredient label is normalised and then classified into one of three states: known animal-derived, known plant or mineral, or unresolved. A recipe is published as vegan only when every one of its ingredients is in the second state. “We found no meat words” is not evidence of a plant-based dish — that reasoning is exactly what once let mutton, lard, herring, crayfish and honey sit inside a vegan collection, and it is why the classifier now has to prove the positive rather than fail to prove the negative.

Where an ingredient line offers a choice — “vegetable or chicken stock” — we read the option that restricts the diet most. Where an ingredient is certainly vegetarian but not certainly vegan, such as margarine, we treat it as dairy. Both rules can make a recipe look more restricted than your version of it will be. Neither can make it look less.

Allergen labels cover the eight major classes plus sesame and mustard, derived from the ingredient list. They are informational and may not cover cross-contact, processing lines, or a manufacturer changing a formulation. Verify every package, and consult a qualified professional for medical dietary needs.

What Consomee adds to every recipe

• An answer-first introduction written from each recipe's own ingredients, cuisine and method.
• A serving scaler that re-calculates every ingredient quantity (fractions included).
• An ingredient checklist split into pantry staples and a shopping list.
• A unit converter for volume, weight and temperature.
• Estimated time, difficulty and equipment, derived from the recipe's steps and ingredients and clearly labelled as estimates.
• Substitutions, storage tips and common questions.
• Structured method steps and links to related dishes.

We never invent ratings, reviews, or precise nutrition or cooking times we haven't derived — anything estimated is labelled as such. Where a recipe shows a photo, it's from the source database or a clearly credited open-licence image; we don't claim it as our own.

Corrections

Report a correction to corrections@consomee.com. Safety or allergen reports are triaged within one business day; other corrections within five business days.

Tell us the recipe URL and what is wrong. If a report concerns a diet or allergen label we take the page out of the affected collection first and investigate second — a wrong label is worse than a missing page. When we change a published recipe's ingredients, method, diet or allergen data, the page's review date moves and the change is reflected in its structured data.