The most important step in writing a recipe is having a new idea or interpretation of an old favorite. Once an idea comes to mind, jot down all the ingredients and kitchen tools needed, and take some careful notes about the instructions themselves. Once all the information is in one place, take special care to proofread the recipe to make sure that it is free of grammatical and cooking mistakes. Finally, get a friend to test the creation to make sure it’s easy to understand.
Writing Recipes Online
Online recipe writers need two things in order to be successful: traffic to the recipe, and good feedback about the recipes.
- Good web traffic to an online recipe depends more upon using keywords that would be searched by a prospective recipe user than anything else. Links to the recipe page are helpful if (and only if) it would make sense for a human being to click on them, as search engines are more sophisticated than ever before. Posting recipes to a more prominent site is also advantageous, but learning how to pick good keywords is the best skill to master. Be specific when you choose a keyword: don’t use “chicken” if “quick chicken recipe with onions” makes sense. The recipe may be competing with far fewer other pages with a more specific keyword.
- Positive feedback is provided by users that try a recipe and find it to be everything that was expected. This is where having a third party test the recipe before posting it is critical.
Layout
- List the ingredients in the order they will be used. If it’s necessary to separate a single ingredient into more than portion, list the total amount first and then the divided amounts on the same line, in parentheses: 2 cups flour (separated into 1½ cup and ½ cup portions).
- Prominently note both the preparation time and cooking time near the top of the recipe.
- Put each step on a new line, and bold the action word: Saute the onions on medium heat.
Preparation Times
Prep times for recipes are often misleading, and it’s a bone of contention for new users. The prep time should include all the time needed to prepare the ingredients for cooking. For example, a recipe entitled “Fruit Salad in Seconds” which has, as its first ingredient: “one pound grapes, halved” will not be made in seconds. Anyone trying that recipe doubtless pondered its name as they carefully split two cups of grapes.
Use Appropriate Measurements
Recipes should consider the needs of the modern home cook, a hurried and harried person with a bunch of standard kitchen tools, and often no time to adapt.
- Modern terminology. Many tasty recipes adapted from older ones have unrealistic portion ideas. For example, try to find a 2-3 pound chicken in a grocery store, a staple of many older recipes – the birds are all at least 4-5 pounds in size. Similarly, a recipe that instructs to “bake in warm oven, gradually reducing heat until done” will put undue strain on a less creative cook.
- Fluid portions. It’s not uncommon to find recipes that refer to fluid ounces of an ingredient. Use standard fluid measurements, like cups, for ease of use.
Well written, easy to use recipes are much sought after, so don’t let minor problems with writing style stand in the way of brightening kitchens the world over.
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