Ratio
Ratio by Michael Ruhlmanby Michael Ruhlman
Ranked 7 of 7 cookbooks by recommenders
Recommended for teaching the underlying mechanics of cooking as simple ratios rather than individual recipes.
Recommended for teaching the underlying mechanics of cooking as simple ratios rather than individual recipes.
2 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 2
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 2 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Distills cooking mechanics into an algorithm
“Ruhlman's "Ratio" is also quite good at distilling the mechanics of food into an algorithm of sorts.”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “All of human cooking compressed into 2 megabytes” Memorize ratios instead of recipes
“I like the concept of memorizing ratios rather than recipes (thanks to the popular eponymous book)”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “You Need a Kitchen Slide Rule”
Other cookbooks people recommend
The four most recommended other cookbooks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Food Labby J. Kenji López-Alt | 7 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| On Food and Cookingby Harold McGee | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Modernist Cuisineby Nathan Myhrvold | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Sourdough Frameworkby Hendricius Ruppel | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Ratioby Michael RuhlmanThis page | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 2 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Ruhlman's "Ratio" is also quite good at distilling the mechanics of food into an algorithm of sorts.”
“I like the concept of memorizing ratios rather than recipes (thanks to the popular eponymous book)”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.