Who is Your Audience?
Tailoring your writing to your intended audience is the number one consideration for this, and any other kind of writing.
Just For You?
You may intend the recipe just for yourself, but if it’s good, friends and family will ask for it. Consider that your best recipes may be a legacy you leave that will be more valued by your heirs than the typical inheritance.
For Publication?
If you are submitting a recipe for publication (or even a contest entry), the editor will have a style guide you will have to follow. The tips I give below will suit most publications, but always read the style guide so you don’t run afoul of an editor’s proclivities.
Recipe Title – Descriptive, but not Too Long
Make it easy to pick your recipe from the hundreds of Mac & Cheese or Chili recipes, for example. Don’t include all the ingredients in the title, just the ones that make the recipe unique.
Too Long: “Beef and Pork Chili with Tomatoes, Pinto Beans, Chili Powder and Monterey Jack”
Better: “Joe’s Favorite Mac & Cheese with Bacon and Jalapeno
Introduction Provides Context
This is your chance to personalize the recipe, give it some memorable color. Tell which restaurant, which relative from whom you stole the recipe idea. Share the story of roaming the neighborhood at dawn to liberate the neighbor’s most fragrant rose blossoms for your rose petal jelly.
Number of Servings
The typical yield for most published recipes is four servings unless otherwise specified. Best practice: always specify. Surprises on yield are not fun.
Special Equipment
If the recipe needs a slow cooker or a mandoline, say so up front.
List of Ingredients
A bulleted list of ingredients makes it easy for a reader to scan and consider the questions:
- Is it a flavor combination I like?
- Will the kids eat it?
- Do I have the ingredients on hand?
- What do I need to shop for?
To make the recipe easier to follow, always list ingredients in the order that the preparation steps use them. Where the recipe has multiple sections, like crust and filling, list them separately with the preparation steps that apply.
Measurements
Most American cooks don’t have scales in their kitchens. Most British and European cooks don’t have a set of measuring cups and measuring spoons. If your audience might include both, give equivalencies. Give oven temperature in both Fahrenheit and Centigrade. “Gas Mark 6” will leave most American cooks moving on to a different recipe.
Process Steps
Number the process steps. Some publications have gone to longish paragraphs, probably for space considerations. I find these harder to follow.
Be clear on the size of bowl or pan, the temperature, and how to know when a cooking step is done. Avoid “until done” directions without telling how a less experienced cook knows it’s done. Better: “until golden brown, about 20 minutes.”
Notes
For your future reference you may want to note the date you prepared the recipe and who especially liked it, ideas on how to do it better next time, whether the portions were to small, or if it needed more or less seasoning.
References
Give credit to the source and author of published recipes. List or link to resources for exotic ingredients.
Nutritional Information
Some publications require nutritional information. LiveStrong's website will calculate the numbers from your ingredients and quantities. This may also be important for friends or relatives with diabetes or other conditions that require watching intake.
Larry Ervin - Foodie, self-taught cook and cookbook addict, I never met a recipe I didn't want to twist, simplify, add or switch out ingredients.
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