Cooking up a storm on the Internet

(CNN) -- Whether you're a seasoned cook or a novice preparing something in a pinch, the Internet has lots of sites to help you with your next gourmet dinner. CNN's Natalie Pawelski talked with consumer tech expert Marc Saltzman to get some cooking tips on the Web.

NATALIE: So Marc, they tell me that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Can the Web help me out with that?

MARC: Absolutely. The Internet has the world's biggest cookbooks and they're all completely free. So why don't we take a look at epicurious.com. This is probably the most popular one. It's the home to both Gourmet and Bon Appetite Magazines.

NATALIE: So are all these recipes very formal and fancy? They sound really complicated.

MARC: Well, some of them are. They'll have some simple ones and some more complicated ones; many recipes are pulled from the pages of the magazine. Also there's a forum where you can type in, 'Hey, does anyone know a good tuna casserole out there?' And then you can get or swap recipes that way.

NATALIE: So let's try one. It's hot outside, so let's try gazpacho.

MARC: Yes, they have twenty-five.

NATALIE: Twenty-five recipes of gazpacho? I see shrimp gazpacho with basil croutons, white gazpacho, creamy cucumber gazpacho. I didn't even know that was still gazpacho!

MARC: Let's take a look at one -- Mom's gazpacho. It tells you the date that it was posted. Now, the first window that pops up here asks if you wanted to save to your personal recipe file. This is a free service that epicurious.com offers and it stores essentially all of your recipes online for you. As you can see, it has the full recipe here, exactly what you need, and at the top along the left-hand side, where it says 'save to your recipe box,' you can view all of the contents of your box, and e-mail that to a friend right from the Web site.

NATALIE: So, if you're going over to somone's house who doesn't cook very well, you can say, 'make me this'?

MARC: Right, subtle hint. And then last, but not least, you can print out the recipe. A lot of us are not going to lug our computers to the kitchen, so you can copy it over to a PDA, like a palm, or you can print it off, using a printer, and bring it to the kitchen.

ON CNN TV For more stories about science, technology and space, watch Next@CNN  at 1 p.m. ET on Saturdays and 4 p.m. ET on Sundays

One thing that epicurious.com does that I like, is that you can click off ingredients that you might have in your kitchen and it'll spit out recipes for you. Let me show you how that works. You start from the main epicurious Web page. Then you go down to recipes, and then search. And look below that little query window and you'll see it says 'Main Ingredients.' So let's click off garlic, mushrooms, and pasta. So you've opened your cupboards and know for sure you have those ingredients. Then you can go to 'must include all those selections.' And then you hit submit and what it's going to do is immediately search through its database and make sure it's got all those ingredients.

NATALIE: That's my kind of recipe! Well, let's say you're in a rut -- you like your McDonald's hamburgers or your Bloomin' Onion.

MARC: Right, you have no need for health food and you want to copy your favorite fast food recipes. Well there are a few Web sites on the Net that actually reveal these top secret recipes from your favorite restaurants. The first one is aptly named, TopSecretRecipes.com.

If you want to find out how to make a Starbucks' Frappucino or an Outback's Bloomin' Onion, or a McDonald's secret sauce, this Web site will have what you're looking for.

NATALIE: Let's check another restaurant.

MARC: Okay, let's type in KFC. Okay look, KFC fat-free coleslaw. Here is the top-secret recipe, claims to be the official recipe. Then you can type in what you're looking for in the recipe search window. Or you can just scroll if it's a lazy Sunday afternoon and you just want to look at the ones they've got there. You can also do it alphabetically. And there's another Web site that's similar to TopSecretRecipes.com that also aims to recreate those famous restaurant recipes and its called CopyKat.com.

NATALIE: Of course, the chefs on TV is a big trend these days. Do they have any Web sites?

MARC: Absolutely. All the food network chefs are at FoodTV.com, so fans of Emeril can kick it up a notch. Naturally, it lists all of the episodes and all of the shows there, and you can scroll by show or you can use the handy search engine and type exactly what you're looking for. Along with the recipes, they also have videos and guides to preparing food and how to cook certain foods. They've got holiday ideas, cooking 101 and various kinds of etiquette tips. They've got forums and chat groups so people can chat about a particular dish or show.

NATALIE: I like that because sometimes they tell you to do something and you have no idea what they're talking about.

MARC: Exactly. That's really what the Internet is all about. It's interactive television.