Recipe Writing

Cuisine vs. Dish

A cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region.

A dish is a specific food preparation, a "distinct article or variety of food, ready to eat, or be served.

Course vs. Meal

A course is a specific set of food items that are served together during a meal

A meal is an eating occasion that takes place at a certain time and includes prepared food. The names used for specific meals in English vary greatly, depending on the speaker's culture, the time of day, or the size of the meal.

Recipe vs. Cookbook

A recipe is a set of steps that lead to raw food to cooked food i.e. ingredients to dish. 

A recipe is a set of ingredients and instructions need to make a food item. 

Instructions for preparing a dish are called recipes.

A cookbook is a reference containing recipes.

Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food.

Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: 

by course (appetizer, first course, main course, dessert), 

by main ingredient, 

by cooking technique, alphabetically, 

by region or country, and so on. 

Recipe writing

Name of the dish 

- a brief introductory note include 

- kind of food it is  - staple, festive, ritual, etc. 

Photo

Equipments - tools, utensils

Ingredients and their measure

• Ingredients - The starting point of all recipes is a table of ingredients.
• List your ingredients in the order they appear in the method.
• Be precise, especially in measurements, timings, oven temperatures and tin or dish sizes

Preparation Method - step by step description

• Start with the prep work
• Indicate advance preparation if something needs to be done ahead of time. 
• Clearly describe how the ingredients should be prepared
• Write clear, easy-to-read descriptions of the process
• Provide hints to help the cook stay on track
• Make section, if required to cook separately - crust and filling
• Offer substitutions for unusual ingredients or else people might just omit them completely. 
• Explain unusual ingredients in the headnote, if possible.
• indicate the heat level needed
• Include simple techniques like chopping, mincing, and melting as part of the ingredient list. 
• List the ingredient measurement first, followed by the technique. 

1 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons shallots, minced

Servings/Yield 

• number of people; serving size; warm/cold

Cooking/prep time

Additional note

• Etymological, Historical and cultural notes
• Food pairing, is a method for identifying which foods go well together from a flavor standpoint
• Nutritional Value: Helps for dietary restrictions. Includes number of calories or grams per serving.
• Eating etiquette
• Aesthetic notes 

Aroma (smell) and taste (tongue, texture) = flavour

Sight - aesthetics - food presentation 

Ear have nothing - spluttering, cracking, etc. -  Hence, food to be praised!