Yes, search engines monitor result clicks, bounce rates, dwell times, etc. They do affect ranking. And if you have Google analytics on your recipe site, Google has even more data about it.
I think they specifically mentioned it does not affect it, someone asked that question in a webinar. If it would affect it, than it could be abused (eg. just send 10k bots that spend 1 hour on the site), plus a longer session doesn't necessarily mean a better site or better user experience. Google itself is a good example, where the point of Google is to spend as little time as possible on their page, as it's just a step between the user and his destination.
