# Recipe Curation for Batch Import

How to find popular, high-rated recipes and import them into Mealie.

## Workflow

1. **Find popular collections** on reliable scraper-compatible sites
2. **Extract individual recipe URLs** (not category/search pages)
3. **Filter by dietary preference** (e.g., no pork/bacon)
4. **Batch import** via the Mealie API with polite delays

## Reliable Source Sites (near-100% scraper success)

| Site | Notes |
|---|---|
| **BBC Good Food** (bbcgoodfood.com) | Has curated collections like "All-time top 20 recipes", "Best rated recipes", "Most popular recipes of [year]". High rating counts (500–3000+). |
| **RecipeTin Eats** (recipetineats.com) | Has a "Most Popular" category across 12 pages. Many recipes have comments/ratings. |

**Both sites consistently return 200/201 from Mealie's scraper.** Avoid sites behind Cloudflare (Damn Delicious, AllRecipes, Simply Recipes) — they fail with HTTP 400.

## Finding Popular Recipes

### BBC Good Food

Known collection URLs (direct recipe lists, not just articles):

```
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/all-time-top-20-recipes
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/most-popular-recipes
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/most-popular-recipes-on-good-food
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/news-trends/popular-recipes-2025
```

Search strategy: `site:bbcgoodfood.com "most popular" OR "top" OR "best rated" recipes collection`

Each recipe on these list pages links to its individual URL (e.g., `https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chilli-con-carne-recipe`).

### RecipeTin Eats

The "Most Popular" category has 12 pages:

```
https://www.recipetineats.com/category/most-popular/
https://www.recipetineats.com/category/most-popular/page/2/
...up to page 12
```

To extract URLs from a category page programmatically, use the browser console:
```js
JSON.stringify(Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('article a[href*="recipetineats.com"]')).map(a => a.href))
```

Or scrape with web_extract + regex on the class/HTML (the article titles contain links).

## Filtering by Dietary Preference

When the user has restrictions (e.g., **no pork or bacon**), skip recipes with these in the title before importing:

- "pork" (pork tenderloin, pork chops, pulled pork, etc.)
- "bacon" (bacon-wrapped, bacon cheeseburger, etc.)
- "chorizo" (often Spanish pork sausage — check if user is ok with it; chorizo is typically pork)
- "pancetta" (cured pork belly, common in carbonara)
- "sausage" (can be pork — check recipe page)
- "prosciutto" / "ham" / "gammon"

**Checking individual recipes:** Open the recipe URL, scan the ingredient list for pork/bacon before importing. BBC Good Food often lists dietary tags (Vegetarian, Vegan, Healthy) which help quickly ID compatible recipes.

Curated safe categories with high success: vegetarian, chicken, beef, lamb, fish/seafood, pasta (without pork), curries, baked goods, soups, salads.

## Batch Import Script

See `references/batch-import.md` for the full Python import script.

Recommended settings:
- **2-second delay** between imports (avoids rate limiting on BBC Good Food)
- **60-second timeout** per URL (Mealie's scraper can be slow on first parse)
- Filter URL list **before** importing — it's easier than cleaning up after

## Real-World Example

20 recipes imported in a single batch (13 BBC Good Food + 7 RecipeTin Eats):
- **Pork/bacon recipes skipped:** Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin, Sausage Ragu, Bangers and Mash (sausage = likely pork)
- **Result:** 20/20 success (100%)
- **Time:** ~68 seconds with 2-second delays