When you vote for a recipe on food52, you become one of the editors of the cookbook, deciding which recipes go in the book. (And there will be more voting later on, as we decide the title, cover and photos.) But there's more to it than that -- by voting, you're letting us know what kind of recipes you like most, which helps us figure out what kind of recipes to choose as potential finalists. In a few contests, one recipe has dominated, and in those cases it's really great to understand what you don't like. And some contests have been extremely close, which is also helpful information because it signals to us that the runner-up may deserve to be named a wildcard winner or featured in some other way on the site.
So we hope you'll continue voting week to week. We make slideshows and try to publish one video each week to help you make your decision. Of course, if you want to cook every recipe, nothing would make us happier. We want this to be an excellent book, so anything you can do to help is appreciated. But cooking them yourself isn't necessary -- we've tested both recipes for you, so either finalist is good enough to win. And it's completely acceptable to treat your vote much like when you're browsing through a cookbook deciding whether or not to make a recipe. if it looks and sounds good, you make it. If not, you don't. So vote with your eyes and your stomach!
And if you want a good barometer for who's winning, look for Mary Velasquez's votes in her Twitter stream. So far, she's picked the eventual winner in every contest she's voted for.
See what other Food52 readers are saying.