Writing Recipes, and a Favorite for Spring

Not everyone likes long recipes, but recipes that teach best are packed with information.

A recipe for minestrone should talk about the role of cheese in enriching broth and adding salt, how when you add bacon affects how much you'll need, when and why to add fresh and dried herbs, how potatoes thicken differently than beans, and why good stock matters. Some dishes take almost as long to explain as they do to make.

But what if not everyone can take in information the same way? Or even the same way on different days?

I've started to play around with font type and size, format, and phrasing in my own recipe writing. When appropriate, I like to write recipes for a cooking class only after I've taught it, and even if I've written the same recipe many times before. This way, I can refer back to shared class moments in a recipe, linking it to a specific place and taste. The instruction is better for it, I think.

But how should published recipes be written, so that not only can the most people follow along, but are even willing to?

What do the recipes you most use look like?
How do your favorite recipes read?

One Favorite Recipe for Spring

While I'm at it, here is a recipe for a quick buttermilk dressing from The Nimble Cook that you should make at the first sight of spring. No matter how you write it, it's delicious.

Buttermilk Dressing

If you’re going to buy buttermilk to make pancakes, you might as well use the extra to make something else.

Here, enriched with sour cream, aromatic with tarragon, and brightened with lemon juice, the buttermilk mounts to a full, tangy dressing that clings beautifully to milder lettuces but also stands up to rich game meat. I pair it with peaches, celery, asparagus, duck, and more.

Makes ½ cup

¼ cup sour cream

Up to ¼ cup buttermilk

Grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

¾ teaspoon coarse kosher salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon

Combine the sour cream, 2 tablespoons of the buttermilk, the lemon zest, salt, pepper, and tarragon in a bowl and whisk vigorously until smooth. Add more buttermilk to get the consistency you want. Store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.