How To Write A ReCipE

The elements of effective recipe writing vary according to the recipe's intended purpose and audience. For example, a personal reminder by a working cook will be very different from a travel writer's evocation of the flavor of an exotic dish. Yet some requirements are relatively constant, including the need for accuracy, completeness, and lack of ambiguity. Like a rotten apple, just one missing ingredient, mistaken measurement, or misleading instruction can spoil the whole recipe, and one faulty recipe can spoil a whole collection. Seeking to maintain a reputation for reliability, many publishers provide authors and editors with recipe style guides, and expect recipes to be tested in test kitchens.


Food businesses and industry associations that use recipes for marketing purposes also go to great lengths to ensure that the writing is effective. Such marketers want newspaper cookery writers and others to relay the recipes, which they will do more readily if they have confidence in the source.


The (U.S.) National Cattlemen's Beef Association keeps its recipe style guide up-to-date, and revised it in accordance with the the results of research (Gatten & Company, Chicago, 1992) regarding consumer preferences in recipe formats. This study found that consumers primarily desired "ease of preparation." Recipes should not merely "eliminate guesswork," but also appear easy, something accomplished by a simple format and style.


Based on this research, the recipe style guide of the Beef Association's test kitchens includes these recommendations:

• Use a straightforward descriptive name for the finished dish, rather than a name that is fun or creative.
• Indicate preparation and cooking times at the beginning.
• List ingredients separately at the top of the recipe.
• List the main ingredient (such as meat) first.
• Group other ingredients according to the part of the recipe for which they are needed.
• Choose readily available ingredients or substitutions.
• Try to give more than one measure for each ingredient, for example, "4 cups cooked shell macaroni (8 ounces, uncooked)."
• Avoid abbreviated measures, for example, "tea-spoon" rather than "tsp."
• Specify the equipment and utensils when possible.
• List the preparation steps with numbers or bullet-points, since this makes the recipe look simpler.
• Do not "divide" an ingredient (for example, "mix half the flour"); provide a precise measurement for each use.
• Do not write "one teaspoon each of sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg"; repeat the measurements for each ingredient.
• Provide preheating directions.
• Make the recipe easier to read by using large print.
• Provide a photograph of the finished dish.