85 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
85 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
# Recipe Curation for Batch Import
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How to find popular, high-rated recipes and import them into Mealie.
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## Workflow
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1. **Find popular collections** on reliable scraper-compatible sites
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2. **Extract individual recipe URLs** (not category/search pages)
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3. **Filter by dietary preference** (e.g., no pork/bacon)
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4. **Batch import** via the Mealie API with polite delays
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## Reliable Source Sites (near-100% scraper success)
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| Site | Notes |
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|---|---|
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| **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+). |
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| **RecipeTin Eats** (recipetineats.com) | Has a "Most Popular" category across 12 pages. Many recipes have comments/ratings. |
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**Both sites consistently return 200/201 from Mealie's scraper.** Avoid sites behind Cloudflare (Damn Delicious, AllRecipes, Simply Recipes) — they fail with HTTP 400.
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## Finding Popular Recipes
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### BBC Good Food
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Known collection URLs (direct recipe lists, not just articles):
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```
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https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/all-time-top-20-recipes
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https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/most-popular-recipes
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https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/most-popular-recipes-on-good-food
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https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/news-trends/popular-recipes-2025
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```
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Search strategy: `site:bbcgoodfood.com "most popular" OR "top" OR "best rated" recipes collection`
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Each recipe on these list pages links to its individual URL (e.g., `https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chilli-con-carne-recipe`).
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### RecipeTin Eats
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The "Most Popular" category has 12 pages:
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```
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https://www.recipetineats.com/category/most-popular/
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https://www.recipetineats.com/category/most-popular/page/2/
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...up to page 12
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```
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To extract URLs from a category page programmatically, use the browser console:
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```js
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JSON.stringify(Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('article a[href*="recipetineats.com"]')).map(a => a.href))
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```
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Or scrape with web_extract + regex on the class/HTML (the article titles contain links).
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## Filtering by Dietary Preference
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When the user has restrictions (e.g., **no pork or bacon**), skip recipes with these in the title before importing:
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- "pork" (pork tenderloin, pork chops, pulled pork, etc.)
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- "bacon" (bacon-wrapped, bacon cheeseburger, etc.)
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- "chorizo" (often Spanish pork sausage — check if user is ok with it; chorizo is typically pork)
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- "pancetta" (cured pork belly, common in carbonara)
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- "sausage" (can be pork — check recipe page)
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- "prosciutto" / "ham" / "gammon"
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**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.
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Curated safe categories with high success: vegetarian, chicken, beef, lamb, fish/seafood, pasta (without pork), curries, baked goods, soups, salads.
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## Batch Import Script
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See `references/batch-import.md` for the full Python import script.
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Recommended settings:
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- **2-second delay** between imports (avoids rate limiting on BBC Good Food)
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- **60-second timeout** per URL (Mealie's scraper can be slow on first parse)
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- Filter URL list **before** importing — it's easier than cleaning up after
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## Real-World Example
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20 recipes imported in a single batch (13 BBC Good Food + 7 RecipeTin Eats):
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- **Pork/bacon recipes skipped:** Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin, Sausage Ragu, Bangers and Mash (sausage = likely pork)
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- **Result:** 20/20 success (100%)
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- **Time:** ~68 seconds with 2-second delays
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