Cool Hunting

Harnessing iPhone capabilities, Jamie Oliver's new cooking application solves some of the most common cookbook pitfalls with a clever interface that puts helpful images, instructions and videos literally at your fingertips. With 50 brand-new recipes that all have the kind of twists—a Mediterranean salad with avo, cauliflower cheese and chili risotto—that made us Jamie fans in the first place and geared towards beginners who don't have a lot of time, the content matches the intuitive design perfectly.

On first launch, Jamie himself introduces the many features that make the app so useful, not the least of which are the 21 other videos that also keep his charm close at hand and teach techniques. Other image-driven tools, like step-by-step pictures accompanying the instructions, make for a foolproof approach to cooking.

For prep, each recipe comes with a rundown of ingredients linking directly to an interactive, sharable shopping list that sorts by aisle and provides a way to satisfyingly cross off items. Jamie also details his kitchen essentials and, along with his notes on each recipe, prompts and tips along the way, the experience feels like having the friendliest culinary coach in your pocket.

At 400MB, it's not for the faint-of-storage, but for $8 from iTunes, you too can have the best cooking app we've come across yet.