[fps_doug]

I use recipe websites. When I want to try something new, I read a handful of recipes there, usually those with high user ratings. But what I really pay attention to is the writing style. If it's just a dry "do this then that then that", it might very well be some stuff someone made up on the spot. But if people go into detail, like "yes this seems like an awful lot of butter, but trust me, this is how the real thing is done at the restaurant where you don't see it", and little details that make me believe the person is actually writing from experience and dropping hints of what to watch out for, it's usually a really solid result for me.

[MereInterest]

Even when comparing across several recipes, I can still run into issues. For example, about five years ago I wanted to make banket, a Dutch almond pastry. I found several recipes online, compared them, and started testing them out. Every single one of them had a runny filling. Worse, most of the recipes were just copies of each other, sometimes with unit conversions, but the same wrong recipe.

I ended up experimenting with the recipe over the next six months, eventually getting the texture of the filling right. But those initial recipes were so far off, I doubt any of the authors had actually made it.

[capableweb]

There is so many variables that could ruin it that it's hard to know exactly what went wrong. As an example, I've had relatives come visit me from a very humid place when I lived in a very dry place, and trying to cook the same way they do it at home but everything turning out differently, just because of the humidity of the air and the hardness of the water used.

[clove]

Now it is your responsibility to publish the real recipe alongside all those online recipes that were incorrect.

[rightbyte]

One would guess the "story mode" recipes are the made up ones? Sounds like a inaccurate rule of thumb.

[fps_doug]

Well sure, in essence that's just a "works for me" thing. Also, no idea how much this is a regional/cultural thing, I exclusively use a German site for this. It doesn't seem to suffer fake ratings like Aamzon etc., probably as there isn't too much to gain from that. Story mode might sound a little extreme though, it's mostly that I like useful hints about common pitfalls, rookie mistakes, ingredients that can have vastly varying properties, these kind of things that an experienced chef might just know, but not a rando like me. :)