Which recipe style do you like better?
RECIPE STYLE 1: Conventional The style most magazines and cookbooks go with where all ingredients written in a list before the instructions. Like this delicious looking tagliatelle I will be making soon.
OR
RECIPE STYLE 2: Casual Ingredients are integrated with instruction usingย casual estimates for measurements (โa handful of walnutsโ or โa few glugs of olive oilโ or โa big heaping spoonful of Dijonโ). Like this recipe forย easy shrimp tacos (and like 95% of recipes that appear on DALS.)
Iโm torn. The dinner diarist in me gets comfort from seeing a clear list and exact plan and everything in order. But sometimes, I feel like it can have the opposite effect. A long list of ingredients can scare me off. And I worry that being so exact about measurements makes readers less likely to improvise, i.e. less likely to learn and experiment and, ultimately, feel confident. Thatโs why I usually write in Recipe Style 2. But I could see that this might alienate people would rather be told exactly what to do and how to do it.
Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts โ beginning cooks are especially welcome โ even if itโs just a quick comment below voting for โCasualโ or โConventional.โ ย Thanks!
Iโm with the hybrid votersโ a list of the ingredients at the beginning, but a casual style. That way I know if I have everything, but Iโm perfectly happy throwing in glugs, handfuls and pinches.
Casual โ in fact, one of my favorite posts of yours was when you showed the photo of chicken with brussels sprouts and challenged us to figure out how to make it. My husband and I love that dish and make it all the time now!
I prefer baking to cooking and maybe thatโs why I prefer conventional to casual. I just like to know how much of everything I need. But I am also a die-hard Cooks Illustrated person, so thatโs probably playing a role here as well. Sadly, improvising during dinner does not happen much at my house. Lots of good things to eat, surely, but they are not improvised. They are planned to a T. (I should mention that I donโt have kids, so planning is probably much easier.)
I donโt mind casual measurements/instructions, but I like being able to scan an ingredient list to see what I need to pick up from the store.
Jenny, I like a hybrid- the casual with a list so when I print it out itโs easier to shop for.
Conventional for all the reasons already stated โ but then notes at the beginning or end of the recipe stating where possible adjustments and variations can be made to allow for creativity. Most experienced cooks know where they can adjust/vary without having a casual style whereas most beginner cooks need direction or are intimidated by a lack of ingredients and structure.
My mom always did sort of a combination between the two: on the left side, a list of ingredients and quantities in the order that they enter the process, and on the right side, brackets that list of the instructions for the recipe, indicating which ingredients are involved. Maybe not the easiest to replicate on a blogโฆ?
I prefer conventional. Easier to follow, easier to shop, justโฆeasier. ๐
Conventional โ I like to see a simple list of ingredients. Makes shopping so much easier.
I like casually written instructions, but definitely prefer to have a seperate list of ingredients. If I have to search through paragraphs of instructions for the ingredients I always end up missing something when I go to the grocery store.
Conventional! There is something about the casual style that actually makes me overlook ingredients; itโs happened to me more than once that Iโve gotten midway through a recipe and noticed I have none of something important or Iโve completely omitted something and only realized after the fact. I think itโs the fact that I speed/skim over written paragraphs; I love reading anything, but I do read quickly, and when it comes to a recipe, my brain has apparently been trained to register the conventional format.
Iโd say conventional. Iโve started many a casually written recipe only to find that things take MUCH longer than the casual writer cared to indicate. Then dinnerโs late, and mama gets grumpy.
Conventional. I like to know what all the ingredients are and a list above the directions makes it easier for me to make sure I have everything. I agree that when they are written in casual style that I sometimes miss an ingredient.
Itโs easier on the eye too when you are looking back nโ forth from the recipe to your food prep.
Casual!
Conventional. Itโs easier to scan for things I may (or may not) have or like in a recipe and the format is easier to cut and paste into my digital recipe book.
Conventional for me. i like directions and instructions broken out. i am more likely to screw up if its all in one paragraph.
Conventional or hybrid, otherwise I have to carefully read the entire recipe first, which Iโd rather not have to do.
A hybrid. Casual instructions with a shopping list or list of ingredients at the end or in a sidebar.
I prefer conventional. When I print your recipes, I find myself having to underline ingredients and re-read too often. I end up marking it up to add ingredients to add to my recipe book.
I agree with some earlier comments. A little of both. If itโs a really easy recipe with just a few ingredients, I love casual. But, if itโs more involved, conventional, at the very least a list of ingredients so I donโt miss anything important when Iโm shopping. Then the instructions can be more casual.
If everyday was a Saturday and I could spend my day perusing cook books and then making dinner- I would go for casual. But as a working mom who likes to try new things, even mid week, I love the conventional. I can quickly scan the ingredient list and see what I have. BTW- you blog has added a great dimension to what is served on my table. Thanks!
Conventional for baking, where measurements usually count (maybe not so much in pies, which I never measureโฆ). Casual for everything else. Mark Bittmanโs Kitchen Essentials is our favorite cookbook precisely because of its casual style.
I mean, of course, our SECOND favorite cookbook. Whoops.
I prefer casual, but that being saidโฆ most cooks who are comfortable with casual style recipes will take a traditional recipe and just toss in things anyway. I can not remember the last time I followed a recipe to a T. For this site, I would think that traditional would work better simply because you have all manner of cooks coming for ideas.
I almost always hear from my friends that they want measurements (mostly because the vast majority of my โrecipesโ are super casual) and they arenโt comfortable just throwing things in. It can be intimidating for people who arenโt comfortable in the kitchen to have to figure out how much of what to add.
Casual, most of the time, with ingredients in bold for pre-shopping scanning. ๐
But, I donโt find conventional off-putting, either.