When did ChefSteps start charging for recipes?

[FeChef]

I just bought a joule and installed the app. I was planning on making risotto with it for Valentines day. I found the recipe, but when i went to view the full recipe it wants me to pay for some membership! No thanks, this thing is getting returned and im buying another Anova. I have the old bluetooth version which still works, but is making rattling sounds. Chefsteps was great 5 years ago, but they lost my respect.

[pastrygirl]

Didn't they go bankrupt then get bought out by someone?  I vaguely recall being excited by the pending liquidation auction for all their toys a year+ ago but the auction never happened ...  so probably new evil corporate overlords charging 🤣

 

edited to add:  they were acquired by Breville in 2019

https://www.geekwire.com/2019/months-significant-layoffs-joule-cooking-device-maker-chefsteps-acquired-breville/

Edited February 14, 2021 by pastrygirl (log)

[FeChef]

I think its rediculous to expect people to pay an additional fee to use the recipes on the required app. I can't support a company like that. Already printed out my return label for amazon. Got to love free returns via local affilliate stores.

[btbyrd]

ChefSteps started selling recipes and classes in 2013.

 

None of the recipes in the Joule app require additional payment, and anyone can download the app and check them out for free.

[lemniscate]

I just checked the app and the sous vide risotto recipe takes me to the Chefsteps.com website.  I am a Premium and Studio Pass member so I could see the SV risotto recipe.  However, I experimented and logged out of my subscription, now it shows the SV risotto as a Studio Pass recipe only.  So, that recipe is indeed behind the paywall.  

[btbyrd]

The Joule app itself doesn't have a SV risotto recipe.

 

The Joule app's search function can search within the app itself (which provides no results for "risotto") or the ChefSteps website (several results for "risotto") or both at the same time. All of the recipes actually contained in the app are free and aren't behind a paywall. The recipes on ChefSteps.com are mostly free, but there are some behind paywalls. And it's been that way for many years.

[jimb0]

@btbyrd is correct, but the difference is not at all obvious to new users, which is partially the point of doing it that way. and as we can see from this topic, people clearly make the mistake of not differentiating. imo you're sort of well actuallying the issue, and really the fault lies with chefsteps for implementing poor ux

[FeChef]

On 2/15/2021 at 4:12 PM, btbyrd said:

The Joule app itself doesn't have a SV risotto recipe.

 

The Joule app's search function can search within the app itself (which provides no results for "risotto") or the ChefSteps website (several results for "risotto") or both at the same time. All of the recipes actually contained in the app are free and aren't behind a paywall. The recipes on ChefSteps.com are mostly free, but there are some behind paywalls. And it's been that way for many years.

Well, i find that rediculous since their video recipe for rissoto uses the Joule. It just so happened i recieved the Joule a day or two before V-day and my wife wanted rack of lamb and mushroom Risotto. Very disappointing to find out the dish you wanted to make the first time using the Joule, cost an additional $$$ to read. That said, i am happy i returned Joule and got another Anova with WiFi. Not that i really need WiFi with SV though, lol.

[IEATRIO]

ChefSteps is a total loss as far as I'm concerned, and I say this as somebody who was once one of their biggest fans.  I was an early adopter and paid for Premium usage ($75 or so) that I was told would get me access to everything forever - and it didn't bother me that they later gave away the full Premium membership with Joules. But "forever" didn't last nearly as long as I had expected.  First the site sat idle for ages without content or support, and then when it was bought by Breville they renamed the highest level of access to "Studio Pass" that cost $75 a year or so to get the new "Premium" content.  I paid the first year as soon as it was offered but quickly came to realize that I was hoodwinked as the new videos are more commercials for mediocre Breville equipment than they are interesting recipe ideas - which means that the equipment used in the recipes is no longer pro or even cutting edge (Breville Blender instead of Vitaprep, Breville Mixer instead of Hobart or even KitchenAid, etc.) -  and there was precious little of interest.

 

It was an easy decision when they tried to bill me again the next year, as I had barely been using the site I had paid for at all, and as I write this haven't even looked at Chefsteps for several months.  It's a pity, as ChefSteps really engaged me and encouraged a new level of enthusiasm for cooking and cooking technology. But fortunately there is more than enough good free content on YouTube such that I don't miss it much at all. The new ChefSteps is just something entirely different from what it was. 

[jimb0]

39 minutes ago, IEATRIO said:

ChefSteps is a total loss as far as I'm concerned, and I say this as somebody who was once one of their biggest fans.  I was an early adopter and paid for Premium usage ($75 or so) that I was told would get me access to everything forever - and it didn't bother me that they later gave away the full Premium membership with Joules. But "forever" didn't last nearly as long as I had expected.  First the site sat idle for ages without content or support, and then when it was bought by Breville they renamed the highest level of access to "Studio Pass" that cost $75 a year or so to get the new "Premium" content.  I paid the first year as soon as it was offered but quickly came to realize that I was hoodwinked as the new videos are more commercials for mediocre Breville equipment than they are interesting recipe ideas - which means that the equipment used in the recipes is no longer pro or even cutting edge (Breville Blender instead of Vitaprep, Breville Mixer instead of Hobart or even KitchenAid, etc.) -  and there was precious little of interest.

 

It was an easy decision when they tried to bill me again the next year, as I had barely been using the site I had paid for at all, and as I write this haven't even looked at Chefsteps for several months.  It's a pity, as ChefSteps really engaged me and encouraged a new level of enthusiasm for cooking and cooking technology. But fortunately there is more than enough good free content on YouTube such that I don't miss it much at all. The new ChefSteps is just something entirely different from what it was. 

 

this sums up my thoughts on the subject, regrettably. i think there's still potential for them to turn it around, but. given that they're being supported by a majorly successful brand that is clearly using it as a gateway to sell appliances, i'm frankly surprised that they kept up with a premium membership at all.

[IEATRIO]

7 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

 

this sums up my thoughts on the subject, regrettably. i think there's still potential for them to turn it around, but. given that they're being supported by a majorly successful brand that is clearly using it as a gateway to sell appliances, i'm frankly surprised that they kept up with a premium membership at all.

 

And maybe that's first of the many reasons why I find it so offensive - asking me to pay to see their commercially driven material. 

 

 

[jimb0]

i am grateful for the free content they provide, and even now i don’t regret paying for a premium membership. i am annoyed at the lacklustre contents that the single year of the new system bought, though. 

 

imo things went a little downhill when they decided to do the joule. it started to get shoehorned into everything even when using it was frankly silly. it was at least understandable as a small co though. 

[lemniscate]

I am a happy Chefsteps subscriber.  I joined up with the Premium before Joule ever existed.  That Chefsteps was a lot molecular gastronomy and early sous vide.  I adopted the sous vide, avoided the "spherifications and centrifugy" stuff.  But it was a better food entertainment than any dedicated cable cooking channel.  And the content is on-demand, I can rewatch it as much as I like.  When they emerged from their hiatus, I decided to up to the Studio Pass also.  I like it, they are not so lab equipment focused, much more accessible for me.  I am actually trying more of the new recipes/techniques than I did with the legacy recipes (BB, Before Breville).  To each their own.   I don't pay for any cable anything, so my food video subscription $$ go right to the source of creation.  

 

As for the Breville stuff being mediocre (?), isn't the Breville Control Freak considered a cutting edge induction hob?  The users here on EG who have it really seemed to like it.

[jimb0]

breville stuff is hit and miss ime. some of it is very very good (i have a couple of appliances i super like, like the food processor). some of it isn’t.  does tend to at least look nice though.

Edited February 28, 2021 by jimb0 (log)

[IEATRIO]

On 2/28/2021 at 10:37 AM, jimb0 said:

breville stuff is hit and miss ime. some of it is very very good (i have a couple of appliances i super like, like the food processor). some of it isn’t.  does tend to at least look nice though.

 

I've got two expensive but identically defective Breville Ovens - the start/stop buttons stopped working reliably, sometimes leaving the oven on when you think you've turned it off (potentially dangerous) and vice versa (annoying to pre-heat to later realize its off and cold) - so I am not charitably disposed to them even beyond the Studio-Pass ripoff.

[jimb0]

like i said, hit and miss