The Cookstr web site launched this week is the first recipe site to partner with cookbook publishers and includes celebrity chef recipes from cookbooks.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the launch party for Cookstr, a new recipe web site that will feature selected content from actual published cookbooks, which includes the celebrity chefs you all know and love (Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver, Julia Child, etc) as well as non-celeb but hardcore cookbook authors such as Mark Bittman or Madhur Jaffrey, and famous four-star restaurant chefs such as Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Eric Ripert and Daniel Boulud. This differs significantly from other recipe-type sites such as Recipezaar, where the content isn’t vetted or even tested, or even recipe sites like Food Network’s where the recipes are limited to what their own specific celebrity chefs have cooked on TV. If you want Nigella’s actual cookbook recipes, you either have to buy her cookbooks — or go on Cookstr.

This recipe for Achiote Oil is the actual recipe from the Daisy Cooks! cookbook by PBS chef Daisy Martinez. Cookstr is adding an average of 1 new chef and 20 new recipes per day.

Who’s behind this new website gem? Well it turns out that the man behind the helm is William Schwalbe, who is a 10 year veteran and former Editor-in-Chief of Hyperion Books, a major cookbook publisher. Schwalbe is alsoco-author of a recently published book about how not to screw up when sending emails, so he’s also a fellow computer nerd like myself.

Prior to joining Hyperion Schwalbe was a Sr. VP and Editor-in-Chief at William Morrow and Company, which is now owned by HarperCollins. To launch Cookstr, Schwalbe made use of his long collected list of publishing industry contacts and negotiated with a number of other major cookbook publishers to secure the rights to re-publish selected recipes on the Internet — and in turn, use Cookstr as a vehicle for the publishers to drive additional cookbook sales.

It’s an interesting business model and there aren’t any ads on the site yet, so I’m obviously very curious as to how it’s going to be capitalized as far as revenue streams go. Having been down the content website road myself, I know how difficult it can be for a site like that to make money. Still, with the recession that we’re now knee deep in, cooking at home as opposed to restaurant dining is more popular than ever, and I suspect that Cookstr has come out at just the right time.

The key features of the “Beta” version of the site are:

• High-quality recipes from trusted cookbooks – partnerships with reputable cookbook publishers to provide thousands of vetted recipes by notable cookbook authors and chefs.
• Superior proprietary search – all recipes have been reviewed and meticulously tagged by a team of culinary professionals; guaranteed to find the recipes you are looking for.
• Chef page – features chefs with their recipes, interesting facts, a selection of their cookbooks, and even a list of their restaurants with links.

Right now, Cookstr is just doing recipes, but the site will be rolling out discussion forums and other community-based features such as the ability to comment on recipes in the near future. I’m really looking forward to seeing what these guys can do, and I’m very impressed with their initial beta product.

Oh and did I mention it doesn’t cost anything to use?

Yes, you! The one who claims to have an allergy to certain foods in order for the restaurant to make you a special version of the dish without the hated ingredient. Stop that insidious behavior right now.

In reading the comments of Michael Ruhlman's post pertaining to culinary sissies, there seemed to be a fair amount of people who stated that it was there right to have ingredients that they disliked out of their order, even if it meant that they had to deceptively state that they were allergic to said product. In my opinion, these are the worst sort of customers, using a fake illness as a pretense to get what they want.

A distinction should be made between restaurants here. I'll concede that many mid-level and lower-level restaurants make it policy to alter dishes to fit the need of a specific customer. Removing onions from a salad, or asking them to not put ketchup on a hamburger is part of the restaurant/customer agreement.

But at some point, this behavior becomes unseemly. At some point, the chef becomes the center of the show, not the customer. A great deal of time and energy has gone into making a dish into a very specific manner, and requesting a version without a specific ingredient is akin to asking for a entirely new dish.

Additionally, if a kitchen allows for making a new dish for one, then they have to make that an option for all. Changing one dish may not be a problem. Changing ten becomes more problematic.

So what are your options if you don't like, for example, onions, and see Chicken Marsala with Charred Onions on the menu? Either order the item as is, or move on to the next menu option.

I'm sure that this plays into the larger issue of ego-centrism that permeates our society. But if I delve too deeply into this aspect, I'll rant and rave myself hoarse without talking about food, and none of us wants that.

But what it really comes down to is this: True allergies aside, there is only one correct response when Thomas Keller offers you a bowl of sea urchin soup, even if you don't like sea urchins. That answer?

"Yes, please!" Because it's Thomas-effin-Keller offering you a bowl of soup.