Sort By

[DrGaellon]

Under the Sort By, "Most Popular" gives you the item with the most reviews, regardless of the score. "Relevancy" gives you the closest match to what you typed. There is no way to get the list sorted by "Highest Rated," as far as I can tell.

[:(]

Highest rated sort got trashed after a recipe with one 5-star review could usurp the place of a recipe with a hundred 5-star reviews and one 4-star review. I do think there is more to it than just review numbers, as date of the last review, and things like how many cookbooks a recipe is in play a part as well.
Remember the Top 100 Recipes? I used to love browsing that, as well as the Top 100 Recipes posted within the last 30 days. That was back in the old days when we first came to RZ. Top 100 is like the Top Recipes now, but it kept the pool size limited.

[Chocolatl]

The only reason I sort by rating is to try recipes that either aren't rated or may have undeservedly low ratings.

I don't think a top rating necessarily means much. People who haven't tried a recipe will give it one star because they don't approve of an ingredient or it isn't "authentic" (i.e. the way they'd make it). And some people never give low ratings. I pick recipes by the ingredients and cooking method.