The Art of Writing Workable Recipes
A piece written for professionals and others
who want to categorize,
store or share their recipes
There are very few things as important to either
professional chefs or those who cook simply for pleasure as the recipes
they have in their collections. Whether we collect recipes for our own
use, to share them with colleagues or students, to publish them in books
or journals or simply for the fun of having them to read is unimportant.
What is important is that our recipes are readable, that they give us a
fair guarantee that the dish we prepare from them today, tomorrow or next
year will be basically the same and that if we pass them on to someone
else that he or she will be able to have more or less the same chance of
success.
Unfortunately, a great many of us do not know how to
properly write a recipe. In my various professional roles, for example, I
receive a great many recipes that have been submitted for possible
inclusion in either a newspaper or magazine. Because many of the recipes
are so badly written, they serve to trigger my sense of humor more than my
appetite. Take, for example, one recipe that I recently received.
8 eggs, large shrimp, 2 slices of bread, clarified
butter, salt and pepper, 1 container sweet cream
Heat the clarified butter in a frying pan and fry the
bread slices. Peel the shrimp. Place butter in 4 ramekins and melt it.
Break two eggs into each ramekin and bake for 2 minutes. Put the cream and
nutmeg in a saucepan and boil. Take the eggs out of the oven, put the
shrimps on top of them and pour over the cream. Place in the oven again
until done. Serve with the small croutons.
My objections to this recipe are many, but the most
important is that trying to prepare anything from it would be almost
impossible. The person who wrote it gives us not a clue from where the
recipe has come. He did not even bother to give it a name. The amounts of
the quantities of the shrimps and clarified butter are left entirely to
our imaginations as is the question of whether the author wants us to use
a container that holds 150 ml, 250 ml or a half liter of sweet cream. A
glance at the instructions for how to prepare the dish also reveals that
several of the ingredients have been left out of the list altogether.
The instructions themselves are almost indecipherable.
Frying the bread is fine but later we are told to use croutons. Precisely
what miracle transformed whole bread slices into toasted croutons is not
stated. How much butter is to go in each of the ramekins seems to the
author not important. Nor does he seem to care very much about the
temperature of his oven, how long we should boil the nutmeg and cream
mixture (there was no nutmeg in the list of ingredients).
Even as a person who enjoys reading recipes, I found this
one beneath contempt. Perhaps only by chance, I recognized the recipe as a
classic dish of Normandy, and made a point of finding the original. The
differences are enormous.
Baked Eggs with Cream and Shrimps
Adapted from a
Recipe by Michel and Albert Roux
80 gr. clarified butter
2 slices of white bread, with
the crust trimmed and cut into small cubes
40 gr. butter salt and
freshly ground pepper
8 eggs
150 ml. sweet cream
a small pinch
of nutmeg
4 large or 8 small shrimps, peeled
Prepare croutons by heating half of the clarified butter
in a skillet and in this frying the bread cubes gently until golden. Drain
the croutons and then spread them on paper toweling.
Divide the remaining butter between 4 individual ramekins
and melt it over a very low heat. Season the bottom of each ramekin with
salt and pepper and then break 2 eggs into each. Bake in an oven that has
been preheated to 200 degrees Celsius (400 Fahrenheit) for 2 minutes.
Meanwhile put the cream and nutmeg in a saucepan and boil for 2 – 3
minutes. Take the eggs out of the oven; the whites should be half-set and
the yolks not cooked but just warm. Arrange the shrimps on top of the eggs
and pour over the hot cream. Return the ramekins to the oven until the
eggs are done to your taste (about 2 – 3 minutes longer). When the eggs
come out of the oven scatter croutons over the them
The First Written Recipes
It was probably during the 6th century BC when men and women
first felt the need make a permanent record of their recipes and there is
a good chance that that the practice was begun by a group of generals in
the Persian army. The logic of the generals was simple enough. Cyrus the
Great, who had founded the empire, insisted that all soldiers, no matter
what their other work might be, would also be fighting men. Not even the
cooks of generals were exempt, and this meant that from day to day even
the best of cooks might die in battle and his recipes, all of which were
stored in his head, would be lost. The generals were not so concerned
about the death of their cooks as they were about the fact that their
favorite dishes could no longer be served. The practice thus began of
using captured soldiers and other hostages to formally record the recipes
of whatever cook happened to be alive on any given day.
Later, during the days of Imperial Rome, wealthy Senators
and merchants continued this practice and at least one slave was always
assigned to the kitchen in order to watch and carefully record the methods
and ingredients used in preparing various dishes. The job was not as
comfortable as it might seem, for if a dish did not come out as it should
it was always the scribe and never the cook who was punished. Punishment,
depending on the character and momentary mood of the person who owned the
scribe, varied from a few lashes with a bamboo stick to crucifixion.
Collections of recipes meant for the every day use of chefs
and housewives only began to appear in the 15th century, and then
primarily in Italy. The only problem with all of this was that it took
another five hundred years until any two people cooking from the same
recipe could actually succeed in preparing the same dish. Instructions
were either so poetic or otherwise ambiguous that whatever came out of the
pot was more a question of luck than a reflection of the talents of a cook
and lists of ingredients were described in such vague or confusing
terminology that that very few people would wind up using the same amounts
of any raw materials even though they were working from the same recipe.
Steps Towards Standardization
The first major steps to standardize recipes were made by
Eliza Acton and Isabella Beeton. Acton would rather have been a poet but
her publisher advised her that a good sensible cookbook was what she ought
to write. Her book, “Modern Cookery for Private Families” was published in
1845 and even though most of her recipes were terribly dull, she
contributed greatly by making a serious effort to standardize quantities.
Mrs. Beeton was a journalist, and even though she had no special talent in
the kitchen, her “Book of Household Management”, which appeared in 1861
went even further by including estimates of cost, quantities and
preparation times for each of her recipes.
The process was completed less than a century ago when Mrs.
D. A. Lincoln (a niece of President Abraham Lincoln), who had founded the
Boston Cooking School, was offended by the inaccuracy of lists of
ingredients that still included such traditional descriptions as “pinches
of salt”, “nuts of butter” and “spoon of honey” – lists that produced
inconsistent results. Mrs. Lincoln approached one of the graduates of her
school, Fannie Meritt Farmer, and suggested that she find a way to
standardize measurements. The book that resulted, was originally known as
“The Boston Cooking School Cookbook”. Several years later, when Mrs.
Farmer became director of the school, she changed the name of the book and
it became “The Fannie Farmer Cookbook”, which remained the basic text of
the American kitchen until the “Joy of Cooking” took over from it in the
1960s. By whichever of its two names, the book marked the beginning of
American cooks’ obsession with accurate measurements.
The idea was a sound one whose major virtue was that it
would allow low anyone attempting an unfamiliar recipe for the first time
to be sure of achieving something that is at least reasonably presentable
and edible. Despite this, standardization has still not completely caught
on in Europe where many writers still cling to traditional forms such as
“add a glass of sugar”. Whether such writers are referring to a burgundy
glass, a liqueur glass, a champagne glass or a tooth glass, whose volumes
can vary by as much as 180%, is something left to each cook to decide.
Some of these recipes are so vague that even the most experienced cook
hesitates before trying them.
Chefs and cooks everywhere agree on only one thing – that
the purpose of a recipe is to allow anyone who reads it to prepare the
dish described with a minimum of confusion. Towards this end certain
internationally accepted standards have evolved that are now widely
accepted by those who compile and write recipes. Although there is plenty
of latitude in which one can show off one’s virtuosity, certain
conventions are now generally adhered to, and whether chefs are simply
recording their recipes for their own use or with the idea of using them
one day in professional articles or in the compilation of a book, these
conventions will make life considerably easier for both compilers and
eventual readers.
A Few General Rules
A written recipe is a kind of permanent reference and both
chefs and cookbook writers will do well to keep in mind that the primary
purpose of any recipe is to aid the writer or those who later read the
recipe to prepare the dish being described. Keep in mind as well that more
than 50% of the people who buy cookbooks or read about cooking in
newspapers and magazines do not cook. Much as a knowledgeable lover of
music can enjoy reading the score of a symphony as much as actually
hearing the piece performed, many food lovers gain enormous pleasure by
reading recipes.
One
In order to make recipes both enjoyable easy to use and enjoyable to
read, they should never be so long or so full of technical details that
they are threatening. Nor should they threaten the reader or potential
cook by using terminology that is understood only by a few top level
professionals.
The precise style in which recipes are written will to some extent be
determined by what the writer plans to do with it. Recipes meant for
one’s exclusive private use can use as many shorthand or personal quirks
as the writer likes, so long as the person has written the recipe can
later interpret it. Those meant to be shared with colleagues or friends
should use language style, abbreviations and culinary conventions that
they share in common. Those designed especially for use with students
should be free of technical jargon or tricks of which students may not
be aware.
Recipes meant for inclusions in one’s own cookbook should go along
with general conventions but may be prefaced by one’s own observations
on life, geography, travel, sex or whatever one likes. Keep in mind
though that there should be a certain consistency throughout any book,
because if this is lacking it tends to confuse readers. Confused readers
neither buy books nor enjoy cooking from them if they have been given as
gifts.
Nearly every newspaper, magazine and professional journal has its own
style of presenting recipes. Because of this, before writing recipes to
submit to such journals, the wise chef or cook will check one or more
issues of the magazine in question to determine precisely what their
style is. A truly brilliant recipe by a great chef will be accepted no
matter how badly it is written but the magazine will always change it
around to its own format. The danger for must of us is that even the
most brilliant recipes by all but the greatest chefs will be rejected
unless they more-or-less follow the style of the newspaper or magazine
to which it is suggested. The most respected newspapers such as the New
York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian and Il Stampa, like the best food
related magazines such as Gourmet, Bon Apetit and La Cuccina even have
“style sheets”, pages describing their requirements, and they will send
them to potential writers on request. Unless you are already known to
the editors of these magazines, it is wise to read their style sheets
before submitting your recipes.
When preparing recipes for competitions, be sure to check and see if
there is an official guideline for writing recipes. If not, use the
standards presented in this article and minimize highly personalized
writing style. The use of anecdotes before, after or in recipes has no
place in recipes submitted to competitions..
Special Recipe
The following recipe is presented in order to demonstrate
the generally accepted ways presenting both lists of ingredients and
instructions. The dish that will result from the recipe is well worth
considering for our own kitchens.
Turkey in Raspberry Sauce Adapted from a recipe by Chef
Alice Waters
1 turkey, about 3 1/2 – 4 kilos
chestnut stuffing (see
recipe immediately following)
1/2 cup butter, softened
salt and
pepper to taste
2 large onions, quartered
1 1/4 cups beef stock
1/2 cup Madeira wine or port wine
1/4 cup raspberry jam
2
Tbsp. lemon juice
rind of 1/2 lemon
1 piece orange rind about 2
1/2 x 5 cm.
Prepare the chestnut stuffing.
Wash the turkey, wipe dry inside and out and fill the body
cavity with the chestnut stuffing. Tie the bird, spread with half the
butter and season with salt and pepper. Place the bird in a greased
roasting pan.
Melt the remaining butter and into this dip a large double
piece of muslin cloth and spread this over the bird. Add the onions to the
pan and roast in a medium-hot oven for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven
temperature to medium and roast for 1 1/2 hours longer, basting frequently
with the drippings.
In a saucepan simmer together 1/4 cup of the beef stock, the
wine, raspberry jam, lemon juice and the lemon and orange rinds until the
jam is melted. Remove the cheesecloth from the bird, pour over the
raspberry sauce and continue roasting until the bird is cooked (about 1
hour longer) basting frequently. Transfer the turkey to a serving platter
and let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before carving.
While the turkey is standing, skim off the fat from the
liquids in the roasting pan, add the remaining stock and deglaze the pan
by heating gently and scraping the bottom and sides well. Strain the gravy
into a sauceboat and serve together with the turkey. (Serves 8 – 10).
Chestnut Stuffing
A traditional New England
Recipe
1 kilo chestnuts
1/4 cup corn oil
3 cups beef stock
1/4 cup butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 1/4 cups farina
225 gr. seedless raisins
1/2 tsp. each dried thyme and dried
marjoram
salt and pepper to taste
With a sharply pointed knife carefully cut slits in the flat
side of the chestnuts. In a heavy skillet heat the oil and, over a high
flame, cook the chestnuts for 5 – 6 minutes, shaking the skillet
constantly. Cool and peel the chestnuts, removing and discarding the
shells and inner skins.
Transfer the chestnuts into a saucepan with the beef stock
and simmer for 20 minutes.
In a skillet heat the butter and in this saute the onion
until translucent. Add the farina and brown lightly. Add the raisins and
prunes, season with the thyme, marjoram and salt and pepper to taste.
Crumble the chestnuts and mix into the flour mixture. Use the mixture as
directed in other recipes. (Yields stuffing for one 4 – 5 kilo turkey or 3
large chickens).
THE SPECIFICS OF RECIPE WRITING
Listing Ingredients
With only one exception, ingredients should always listed in
the order in which they will be used. It makes cooking and planning easier
and more logical when the reader of the recipe can scan the list of
ingredients in order to know what they will need at what stage of the
preparation.
The exception to this rule is that the major ingredient (in
the exemplar recipe above, for example) the turkey may be listed first
even though it will not enter into the instructions until midway in the
instructions. This is done so that those scanning recipes in order to see
if the one they want to prepare will immediately be able to decide if the
most important ingredient is one that is available or desirable to them.
Most steps of most recipe will require the use of more than
one ingredient. Here too the rule is that ingredients should be listed in
the order they are to be used. If they are to be used at the same time,
however, the ingredients should be listed in order of their amounts,
greater amounts always appearing first in the list.
If some of the ingredients to be used at the same time are
to be used in the same amounts, they may sometimes be listed on the same
line of the text. (The following example and those in the paragraphs that
follow are taken from the exemplar recipe presented above).
e.g. 1/2 tsp. each dried thyme and dried marjoram
Even if a series of ingredients are to be used at the same
time and in the same amounts, they should be separated if each of the
ingredients requires a different description.
e.g. 225 gr. seedless raisins
225 gr. dried prunes,
pitted and chopped
One of the most critically important factors in the list of
in ingredients, and the one open to greatest interpretation in its use, is
that which deals with quantities of various ingredients to be used in any
recipe. European chefs have a passion that leads them to list nearly all
ingredients by weight, American cooks are obsessed with volume
measurements, but the most intelligent writers of recipes, regardless of
from where they come, rely on a combi nation of the two systems. The best
rule to follow is to list those ingredients most easily measured in
spoonfuls, in cups or in liters in liquid measures; and those that are
easiest weighed by weight. What is critical, however, is that recipes
refer to weights and measures that have been standardized. In cookery,
the reference to 1 cup refers not to a tea cup or a coffee cup but to a
standardized measuring cup that is always the precise equivalent of 16
Tbsp., 48 tsp., 8 fluid ounces and 227 fluid grams.
Even though the rules of common sense often prove best for
writing recipes, common sense varies from person to person. Although not
all professional writers of recipes agree, my own preference is to list
all liquids in terms of liters, cups, tablespoons or teaspoons, and to
list items such as flour, sugar and butter in the same way unless they are
used in large quantities when I list them by weight. I also list herbs and
spices by teaspoons, tablespoons or cups because I find that it is easier
to measure them in this fashion.
There is a movement towards the worldwide adaptation of the
metric system, but different systems of measurements are still used in
Europe, the United States and England, the nations from which we receive
the vast majority of our recipes. A series of conversion charts is
presented at the end of this article so that local chefs can easily adopt
the recipes of any country to their own use.
If a recipe is written with the idea of international
distribution, it is a good idea to refer to two different systems of
measurement for each ingredient measured by volume or weight:
e.g. 1 turkey, about 3 1/2 – 4 kilos (7 1/2 – 9 lbs).
225 gr. (8 oz.) seedless raisins
Before setting down the list of ingredients or the first
word of instructions on a recipe, one must decide on the audience that the
recipe is aimed at. Is your audience sophisticated enough that the
ingredients can list such items as 1 cup of mirepoix; 2 cups of sauce
Bearnaise; or 1 cup of duxelles or will just the mere mention of such
terms throw your readers into a state of panic. Such recipes, which often
include other recipes in them, are referred to as “compound recipes”. When
writing compound recipes for a professional audience, such terms can be
used, but when writing for a general audience one cannot take for granted
any advanced knowledge whatever. There are three general methods in use
for presenting such compound recipes.
In the first method, generally aimed at chefs or an
otherwise sophisticated audience, the list of ingredients for the classic
recipe for sole fillets with duxelles by Francois Pierre de La Varenne
might appear as follows:
Fish Fillets a la Duxelles
1 kilo sole, plaice or other fish fillets
salt and
pepper to taste
3 cups duxelles
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2
Tbsp. oil
1 1/2 Tbsp.
butter flour as required
2 Tbsp.
parsley, chopped
Season the fillets with salt and pepper and then dredge
lightly and in this saute the fillets until done. lemon wedges for serving
In a mixing bowl combine the duxelles with half the
tomato sauce and mix gently but well. If the mixture seems dry, add more
tomato sauce, just until the mixture is moist but not runny. Distribute
the duxelles on a preheated serving platter and on this arrange the fish.
Sprinkle over the parsley and pour over the oil and butter that remains in
the skillet in which the fish was fried. Serve with the lemon
wedges. (Serves 4 – 6).
Knowing that they are writing for an audience composed
entirely of professionals, some compilers of recipes would present the
above recipe with no quantities at all, leaving such decisions to
individual chefs. Such writers are in a minority today. Personally, this
is not a system of which I approve.
If one’s target audience is not overly sophisticated, (and
thus not necessarily expected to know what “duxelles” are), two options
are open. In the first, the recipe for duxelles can be “built into” the
recipe itself. In the second, more accepted method, the recipe for
duxelles can appear separately. In a journal or newspaper article, the
secondary recipe should appear immediately after the main recipe, but in a
book or collection of recipes it would most logically appear in a
reference section. In the sample recipe for Turkey with Raspberry Sauce
given above, the recipe for the filling is referred to in the main recipe
and, as indicated, appears immediately afterwards. The same thing could be
done with a recipe for duxelles:
Duxelles
Note: This is a recipe so versatile that it is regularly
used in the preparation of hors d’oeuvres, soups, vegetables or garnishes.
It may also be used in stuffing fish, poultry and meats as well as in
making sauces and stocks.
125 gr. mushrooms (including the stems), chopped finely
2 Tbsp. clarified butter
1/2 onion, chopped finely
2 shallots
or the white parts of 4 spring onions, chopped
salt and pepper to
taste
Place the chopped mushrooms in a clean cloth, fold over
and squeeze out as much of the liquids as possible.
In a skillet melt the butter and in this saute the onion
until lightly browned. Add the mushrooms and shallots and stirring often
over a high flame, continue to saute until the mushrooms are cooked (5 – 6
minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper. May be used immediately or
may be stored for 2 – 3 weeks if placed in a tightly closed jar and
refrigerated. Use as instructed in specific recipes or in recipes of your
own devise. (Yields about 1 1/2 cups of duxelles).
Although it is not required, some recipe writers supply
their readers with a list of the cooking utensils that will be required in
the preparation of each recipe. If such lists are supplied, they should
appear in a separate box, generally located alongside the list of
ingredients.
Instructions for Preparation of the Dish
Those who write recipes should never forget that the recipe
instructions are not meant to impress readers. What will impress is the
quality of the dish that is prepared. The purpose of the instructions is
entirely to help readers in the preparation of the dish being described
and while intelligent compilers of recipes have plenty of leeway for
personal style, the instructions themselves should always be clear and
easily readable.
Here, as in the compilation of the list of ingredients, the
terminology used should always be in tune with the level of sophistication
of one’s target audience. It is generally reasonable, for example, to
assume in writing individual recipes that your readers will know (or have
available a reference book that will tell them) how to carry out such
processes as sauteeing and stir-frying, and that they will know the
difference between such processes as steaming, boiling, grilling and
roasting. It is not always reasonable to assume, however, that all readers
will be familiar with such processes as par-boiling or blanching.
Terminology that is not widely known should be explained:
e.g. Blanch the vegetables by plunging them into a large
quantity of rapidly boiling water for 30 – 45 seconds and then draining
them rapidly and running them under cold running water.
Whether one numbers each step of the cooking instructions is
much a question of personal choice. Some find that numbered steps allow
readers to refer easily to other parts of recipes.
e.g. Place the vegetables prepared in Step 1 of the
recipe in a well-greased baking pan.
Recipes should clearly state that oven temperatures always
refer to ovens that have been preheated (that is to say, have attained
their temperature before the ingredients are placed in the oven).
There are two methods for giving oven temperatures. In the
first, which assumes a certain amount of knowledge on the part of the
reader, one refers to oven temperature as “low, slow, medium, medium-hot,
hot or very hot” and so on. In the second, reference is made to “an oven
that has been preheated to 180 degrees Celsius.” In such cases, because
many stoves and ovens have been imported from North America, it is wise to
also include the Fahrenheit equivalent:
e.g. place the food in an oven that has been preheated to
180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit).
Where appropriate (especially in giving oven times), well
written recipes will always give the approximate cooking times.
e.g. Place in a medium-hot oven until the bird is nearly
done (about 45 minutes).
A recipe that does not inform the reader how many portions
he is preparing is a useless recipe.
e.g. Serves 4.
e.g. Serves 4 – 6.
e.g. Serves 6 – 8
as an appetizer or 4 – 6 as a main course.
Warning: Whenever you write a recipe that calls for the
flaming of brandy or any other liqueur, be absolutely certain to include a
warning that this should be done carefully. (…and then carefully flame
the brandy). If you do not do this and someone burns themselves while
following your instructions he has the right to sue you for negligence.
Although the practice of suing has not yet become popular in Europe, it is
considered a major sport in the United States and in 1992, Mrs. Lois
Wittgenstein was awarded $350,000 in damages for burning her eyebrows
after following a recipe in the “New York Times Magazine”.
Testing Recipes
One of the easiest ways to lose the respect of your readers
is to have them prepare one or more of your recipes only to find out that
“they just don’t work”. All recipes, regardless of whether they are
original or adaptations, should be tested before they are printed. This is
especially true of recipes that have been adopted from other sources
because both the amounts of ingredients used and the cooking times can
vary from country to country. American eggs, for example, are larger than
Israeli eggs and Israeli flour reacts very differently in the oven than
French, American or English flour.
Morality and Recipe Writing?
A great many of the people who write cookbooks seem to have
been so impressed with the joke about the old Polish recipe for chicken
stew that starts: “First you steal a chicken…” that they assume that the
first direction for writing a cookbook is to steal a lot of recipes. My
own advice to such writers is to be very careful, for in addition to being
illegal, it is also pretentious and vulgar to claim credit for recipes
that are not our own. Although there is a good chance that most
plagiarists will never be sued, stealing recipes is a sin that many of our
colleagues will justifiably) never forgive. Keep in mind that giving
credit to an original source is not an embarassment. It is, in fact a
reflection of our sophistication.
Where the original source of a recipe is known, credit
should be given directly.
e.g. A recipe by Richard Olney.
e.g. This recipe
first appeared in “Gourmet Magazine” in March, 1982.
Even in presenting a recipe that is considered standard, it
is in good taste to give credit:
e.g. A traditional recipe from the area of
Provence
e.g. A traditional Serbian recipe.
Even in cases where writers are convinced that they have
made “improvements”, “advances”, or “extensions” of existing recipes,
credit should be given.
e.g. Based on a recipe originally presented by Richard
Olney.
Those tempted to steal recipes and claim them as their own
may be pleased to learn that they cannot be sued for plagiarism. They may
not be so happy to realize, however, that they can be sued for
infringement of copyright. The classic case in such affairs occured in
1984 when Richard Olney sued Richard Nelson for $50,000 for infringement
of copyright and $1 million in punitive damages. A study of Nelson’s book
revealed that he had “lifted” 39 of Olney’s recipes and claimed them as
his own.
The case against Nelson was not difficult to prove. Olney
has a very individual style. In his recipe for onion pudding, for example,
Olney’s instructions called for you to “bake the onions until swelled up
and well browned”, and Nelson’s recipe asked us to “bake the onions until
puffed up and well browned”. In another recipe, for creamed broad beans
and bacon, Olney wrote “turn the flame high for a few seconds to launch
the cooking … cook the bacon gently in butter until limp but not crisp,
add the sprouts and season and toss over a medium-high flame for a
minute”. Nelson instructed us to “cook the bacon lightly in butter until
limp but not crisp. Add the sprouts, season and toss over a medium heat
for a minute”.
This was not the end of Nelson’s sinning, and Robert
Schoffner, the food and wine editor of “Washington Magazine” found 75
other recipes that had been purloined: 40 from Francesco Ghedini’s “North
Italian Cooking”, 8 from three books by James Beard; 5 from a book by
Craig Claiborne; and 21 from other sources.
Those who do decide to steal recipes should be especially
careful when lifting recipes from people like Olney, Elizabeth David and
others whose personality is clearly stamped on each of their recipes or
from Claudia Roden and others who often publish recipes that have never
appeared in print before. True professionals have little respect for those
who steal recipes, paste them onto blank pages, change a word here and
there and claim them as their own*
The Question of Personal Style
* The notes on plagiarism in this article are based largely on a
chapter in “The Official Foodie Handbook” by Anne Barr and Paul Levy,
who write that their own report on plagiarism “was largely plagarised
from the work of various excellent journalists” of whom they then list
more than fifteen.
Even though there a certain amount of conformity is required
in any recipe that is to be readable, many recipe writers have a unique
style that marks their recipes as their own. Cookbook writer Elizabeth
David, for example, loves to tell anecdotes in her books but her recipes
themselves rely on a minimalistic style that some have called “culinary
shorthand”. Despite this, her recipes are fun to read and easy to prepare.
Pommes de Terre Framagees
A recipe by Elizabeth David
Fill a small shallow baking dish with new potatoes,
boiled but kept rather undercooked. Pour melted butter over them, then
cover them lightly with a mixture of breadcrumbs and grated Gruyere
cheese. Cook in a moderate oven, turning the potatoes round from time to
time until they are lightly browned.
Another cookbook writer, Apicius, who wrote during the days
of ancient Rome also used a kind of shorthand. Alas, although his shorter
recipes are possible to understand, those that are longer are all but
impossible to prepare.
Fried Red Mullet
Patina ex Piscibus Mullis
A
recipe from Apicius
A dish of mullet consists of 2 scaled salted red mullets
placed in a clean pan with enough oil as is necessary for cooking; when
done add a dash of honey, wine or raisin wine, sprinkle with pepper and
serve.
The Larousse Gastronomique, the bible of many chefs and
cooks, also uses a unique style in that they assume that readers will flip
from page to page seeking the cross-references to which they refer. The
following is a relatively simple recipe from Larousse but nonetheless
requires the reader to check and incorporate no less than four other
recipes.
Partridge a la Souvarof
From the Larousse
Gastronomique
Clean the partridge as instructed (a), and stuff it with
foie gras and truffles cut in large dice, seasoned with salt and pepper
and sprinkled with a dash of brandy. Truss as for an entree (b). Brown
quickly in butter, to stiffen it. Put into an oval-shaped earthenware
cocotte. Surround with 3 truffles cut in large pieces, or whole truffles,
peeled and seasoned.
Moisten with 1 dl. (6 Tbsp., scant 1/2 cup)
Maderia-flavored game fumet (c) to which the pan juices, diluted with
Madeira, have been added. Sprinkle with a dash of brandy.
Cover the cocotte with its lid and seal with
flour-and-water paste (d). Cook the partridge in a hot oven for 40
minutes. Serve in the cocotte.
Richard Olney’s recipes incorporate his personal philosophy
of life, observations on nature and an abundance of hints for general
cooking.
Honey Ice Cream
A recipe by Richard Olney
500 ml. milk
5 eggs
2 heaped Tbsp. honey, or to
taste
small pinch of salt
250 ml.(8 fl. oz.) sweet cream Raspberry
Sauce for serving (see recipe following)
I use lavender honey made by bees which have fed on
flowers from the lavender fields of the Alpine foothills. In autumn, when
it is fresh it is thick but liquid; as the year progresses, it solidifies.
Use liquid honey, if possible. If your honey has crystallized, scoop it
into a bowl and immerse it in hot water for a few minutes before trying to
incorporate the other ingredients.
Bring the milk to the boil. Whisk together the eggs,
honey and salt and slowly pour in the milk, whisking the while. Stir in
the cream with the whisk and leave to cool. Pour the cooled mix- ture
through a strainer into another bowl and then into the ice cream maker,
following instructions that accompany your maker.
Serve with a sauceboat of Raspberry sauce on the side.
(Serves 4).
Raspberry Sauce
225 gr. (8 oz) fresh or frozen raspberries extra fine
sugar
Pass the raspberries through a nylon or stainless steel
sieve with a wooden pestle. Stir in sugar to taste.
The great Escoffier was also an individualist and from his
lists of ingredients to his instructions, he invariably assumed that his
readers had a fairly wide knowledge of cookery. Despite the many “faults”
in his writing style, no one has ever complained about any of the dishes
they have prepared from his recipes.
Tournedos with Brandy and White Wine?
A recipe by
George Auguste Escoffier
salt, pepper, 4 tournedos, butter, brandy, white wine,
shallots, 12 mushrooms, 6 Tbsp. demi-glace sauce with tomato, 1 Tbsp. meat
jelly, pinch chopped parsley
Season and saute the tournedos in butter and arrange on a
round dish. Add a little brandy and white wine to the pan in which the
tournedos were cooked and mix well with remaining butter and sediment. Add
minced shallot and the mushrooms sliced and sauteed in butter. Add the
demi-glace sauce, meat jely and parsley. Boil for a few seconds and pour
over the tournedos. (Serves 4).
© Daniel
Rogov