Cooking Illustrated Recipes

How to Write Cooking Instructions

Need to write a recipe for a friend? Thinking about starting the manuscript for a cookbook? Whatever need you have for preparing cooking instructions, this guide should help you to put together a clear and easy-to-follow set of instructions.

Check your favorite cookbooks and you will find a common pattern: the best recipes are usually written in a simple and strict structure. While long, flowing essays and flowery text typically have their uses; recipes are hardly the place for them. With cooking instructions, all you typically need are clear step-by-step guidelines, along with sensible writing (thanks to a good English grammar software, of course) and you’re good to go.

A good cooking instruction will have all of the following things:

Ingredients. Make sure to list the ingredients, preferably in bullet or some other form with plenty of white space. That makes it easier to jot them down both before shopping for a meal and while preparing them in the kitchen.

Clear Measurements. Always put exact measurements for each ingredient. While saying “a dash of pepper” may not be a problem for experienced cooks, someone with less kitchen-savvy will end up in a panic at what it means.

Advanced Preparations. Make sure to create a separate paragraph or section for the advanced preparations that must be made. If the meat needs to be marinated for one hour before cooking, make sure it’s understood. If the onion needs to be diced or sliced round, say so.

At-A-Glance Reading. Keep your recipes as concise as possible so that the reader can glance at it occasionally while preparing the food. While they will likely take the time to read through it beforehand, most folks typically need to take a gander at their recipes during the actual cooking.

Sequence. Make sure you add a logical sequence to the piece. Detail which ingredients should be prepared first and which ones go to the pot at which point during the activity.

You need to take note of some important tips in writing in order to create effective and efficient instruction writing. There are instructions that are hard to be followed and are sometimes confusing. And you don’t want to make your readers suffer from this kind of writing. Always bear in mind that you need to be a reader for your own writing for you to determine the things that you need to alter for your reader’s sake. Always remember your readers since they are the ones who are going to follow your procedures. Make your instructions as simple as possible and as clear as possible.

Your readers must understand those procedures that you have written. Within your instructional statements, it is best to start it with a verb as if you are commanding them. Also, make your statements short so that it can be quickly followed. You can add some illustrations with captions for clarification and additional information. Just don’t take it quickly, take time to study your instructions writing for the benefit of your readers.

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is anyone a member of cooks illustrated.com or americas test kitchen.com?

i want this recipe for chicken pot pie.

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/login.asp?name=&did=1630&LoginForm=recipe&iseason=0&incode=atkSearchCenter

but im not a member. are there membersthat could copy and paste this recipe for me?

not a member, but go to cuisineathome.com, great magazine, also try williams-sonoma for recipes, they have hundreds, free online, i have tried many and have never been disappointed.

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