The typical recipe contains at least a list of ingredients with their measurements and instructions on how to prepare the dish. What is a recipe for then if not just those two items though? A question posed by Gopnik is “What’s the recipe for?” A recipe can mean much more than just a simple instruction book. According to Gopnik, it can be “self-revelation.” The recipe can have an introduction detailing the story or the history behind the food itself, the discovery of the food by the author, or even just a reason for why they chose to write the recipe. For example, Fisher describes in “The Art of Eating” that minestrone is “probably the most satisfying soup in the world for people who are hungry.”  Interestingly, two aspects that Fisher’s minestrone recipe is missing is the number of servings and the preparation and cook time that many other recipes have such as V’nut- Beyond Redemption’s “Japanese Chicken Karaage (Fried Chicken).” Her recipe lacks an introduction, but includes the total time (1hr 20mins), serving size, yield size, and a lot of commentary such as “Don’t put only a few pieces,” and “If you see bubbles as soon as you put a wooden chop stick into the oil, this is too hot.” So another answer could be that maybe the recipe or cook book is that it “should supply the rules, the deep structure—a fixed, underlying grammar that enables you to use all the recipes you find” as stated by Gopnik. Recipes come in all shapes and sizes, with some lacking an introduction, the time to cook, or serving size, and maybe someone can try to write a recipe without measurements or instructions. In general, a recipe seems to just talk about the preparation of a food.

With all recipe writing though, there’s more than just the form. There’s also the content in the form of a recipe, which is written by the author for a given audience. As in Fisher’s minestrone recipe, she wants to write for an audience that is hungry and wants to make soup. An interview by the New York Times in 1990 states that while many others were writing about “the struggle for power and security,” she instead chose to write about food. Her reason for writing is instead that “our three basic needs, for food and security and love are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others.” It is a basic need and a love for it that makes her want to write about food. It’s a combination of the author’s experiences and what they want that a given text exists.

Brown and her book, “Good and Cheap,” was made with another idea in mind. Brown wanted to write about dishes that could be made with “$4 or less,” showing that her target audience could be beginners or people who are on a budget, and it was published during a time where the American people were still struggling from the downturn of the economy. There’s context for why the recipe exists. With the idea of “$4 or less” and that the book should be freely distributed, she had hoped that more people could eat well despite the many struggles of the middle class and below. Brown shows that experience of living in that time by writing such recipes, showing her expertise.

So a great recipe does more than just state a dish and how to make it with a given list of ingredients. V’nut- Beyond Redemption’s recipe may have more features of a recipe with the serving size, cook time, and yield size, but it does not hold the same strength as recipes that are found in Fisher’s or Brown’s books.  A great recipe brings you in as the author displays their expertise through storytelling and giving you reason to cook a recipe. It’s through their vivid imagery or being able to make it relatable, such as recipe writing for the downturn of the economy, that can convince the reader to want to consume what they are reading about. To be able to connect the reader with the content within a given context is a great success for the author.