Recipe for Recipes

[liv4fud]

Dear Sara,

Me and my family all love(d) your shows when they were on foodtv. We dearly miss those. Your simple take on complex dishes was so great - we actually made chicken korma - using your recipes (and we are supposed to be from southeast asia!). Though there were other reasons we got attracted to foodtv, YOU were the reason we stayed with it...

Now the question: I do remember you mentioned once during your show an advice to the caller about how to right a recipe. I would request you if you can share that here. I have begun to get my feet wet in the culinary world. And I would love to keep a tab of the recipes that I try and perfect.

Thanking you for your earliest attention.

And great job EG for this opportunity (we must do this more often )

[Sara Moulton]

Just about any recipe can be fixed. There are only 2 exceptions that I know of - 1. you burned it and 2. You pureed the mashed potatoes in a food processor (= wall paper glue)

Sooo, Having said that I would need to know the specifics of what went wrong or general problems you have had. Why don't you get back to me with an example?

[liv4fud]

Just about any recipe can be fixed. There are only 2 exceptions that I know of -  1. you burned it and 2. You pureed the mashed potatoes in a food processor (= wall paper glue)

Sooo, Having said that I would need to know the specifics of what went wrong or general problems you have had. Why don't you get back to me with an example?

←

Sorry!!! I was toooo excited to write!!

in the earlier post it should be:

Your advice to WRITE (and not right) a recipe.

I guess I don't have enough caffeine in the system yet.

Thus the actual question:

I do remember you mentioned once during your show an advice to the caller about how to write a recipe. I would request you if you can share that here. I have begun to get my feet wet in the culinary world. And I would love to keep a tab of the recipes that I try and perfect.

Once again apologies for the inconvenience

[Sara Moulton]

Ok, Here are some general guidelines:

Start with the title of the recipe (make it tempting without too many words)

Put the yield underneath the title or at the end of the recipe, serves 4, etc.

List the ingredients in the order in which they will appear in the recipe.

Think about what you are looking for when you read a recipe - the weight, the cup, tablespoon amount, the size (large plum tomato)

Was it chopped, minced, grated, washed and spun dry, etc?

Then in the procedure just put the actions in the order in which you would do them

Include the size of the pan, the temperature on the stove, how you would add the ingredients (in one layer, etc)

Finally make sure you tell the reader how to serve it. Give them brief food styling instructions.

It is also nice to let them know if they can make it ahead or even freeze it.