> You mention iteration, but I don't think we should cater to agents that aren't sure of exact recipes they are looking for. 

I disagree.  This is where all of the interesting problems are.  I'd actually like to see us move completely away from the concept of recipes.   Or at least recipes as predetermined things.

> I am not universally against public members.

I am the inverse.  I am not universally against private members =). 

In any event, I think we have gotten pretty far off of the beaten track here.  What do you think that we should do to get back on?  Arguably this PR isn't about assessor / mutators nor about the relative merits of recipes.  What do you think that we should do to make us both happy?