The Food Chain How to write a recipe
18 snips
Feb 12, 2026 
Kenji López-Alt, recipe developer and bestselling author, talks testing, timings and sensory cues. Emily Takoudis, cookbook editor, explains turning chef notes into clear recipes and editorial standards. Iona McCleary, food historian, traces how recipe formats evolved over centuries. Easter Belfridge, chef and writer, shares her notebook-driven testing and the tension between precision and creativity.
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Bedside Notebooks And Repeated Testing
- Easter Belfridge keeps a notebook by her bedside to capture midnight recipe ideas and tests dishes repeatedly at home.
- She often needs two to three tests, sometimes up to 15, and finds over-tinkering can harm the original idea.
Recipes Evolved From Prompts To Full Guides
- Early cookbooks gave minimal instructions assuming prior skill, so recipes historically acted as prompts not full guides.
- Detailed ingredient lists, timings and temperatures developed later to teach novices, exemplified by Mrs Beeton and Delia Smith.
Always Test Recipes Thoroughly
- Test recipes thoroughly before publishing; lack of testing is the most common cause of failure.
- Include practical sensory cues and clear steps so readers can adapt for equipment and oven variation.
