When I first made these noodles it could not have come at a better time. It was the first semester of my junior year and after a whole school year of dry chicken breasts and frozen chicken nuggets, I had grown tired of the whole “I’m an adult and I can cook on my own” thing. What I wanted was simple. I wanted to cook cheap, delicious meals, and I didn’t want to spend exorbitant amounts of time cooking them either.  I decided to search online for ideas. Originally, I set out to determine how to emulate Kung Pao chicken from Pei Wei, but after realizing that any viable choice involved way too much time and effort, I settled on simply looking at Asian recipes. That’s when I stumbled across a recipe on the Budget Bytes website for spicy Asian noodles. I made them the first time and I was hooked. I added a meat (chicken) so that the meal would be more filling and nutritious. The combination of the noodles and chicken is really delicious and will definitely add some flavor to your life!

 

Noodles:

4 oz. (1/3 package) lo mein noodles

2 Tbsp. butter

1 egg

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp sriracha (you can use more or less depending on how spicy you want it)

¼ Tsp. Crushed red pepper flakes

 

Chicken:

2 medium sized chicken breasts

1 bottle of Oy Vey Spicy and Sweet Chili Heat marinade

 

 

Directions:

Chicken:

1. Place two medium sized chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag. Add enough of the marinade to thoroughly coat all sides of the chicken breasts.
2. Let them marinade for 4-5 hours (the longer the better- the more flavorful they will be!)
3. Cook chicken in a non-stick baking dish lined with foil at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until done.

 

Noodles:

1. First, take a large pot and fill it half full of water. Put it on the stove and begin to boil it.
2. While the water is heating up, go ahead and prepare the sauce for the noodles. Take a small bowl and combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, and sriracha. Stir them together until they are well-blended (hint: there should be no graininess from the brown sugar)
3. By this point, the water should be boiling. Add the noodles into the pot and cook for about 6 minutes (or according to package).
4. In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat on the stove. As the butter is melting, sprinkle the red pepper flakes into the pan. Crack the egg into the pan and stir around until it has been scrambled. Turn off the heat once the egg has cooked.
5. Once the noodles are done cooking (they should be very tender,) drain all the water and add the noodles to the same pan with the egg. Put the heat on very low so that the food will stay warm.
6. After adding the noodles, add the sauce as well. Stir pan until the noodles have been sufficiently coated with sauce. Once the noodles have been coated, they are done!

 

Now, serve the chicken on top of the noodles and most importantly, enjoy!

 

 

Adapted from: https://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/08/spicy-noodles/

Notes:

If you have a hard time finding lo mein noodles, try looking in the cultural cuisine aisle at the grocery store. It took me a really long time to find them the first time but eventually I did. The chicken marinade pairs really nicely with the flavors from the noodles, but you don’t have to use that specific one. There are lots of Asian sweet-and-spicy marinades that could be used, and sometimes I coat the chicken in the same sauce as the noodles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Potato Hash

Sweet potato hash,

The wonderful mixture of

Savory and sweet.

Makes 2 servings

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time 40 minutes

Cost of all the ingredients except for spices and olive oil: $11.56

Cost for meal based on what you use: $4.42

Equipment needed: potato peeler, foil, large pan, large skillet, sharp knife

Ingredients:

Sweet Potatoes

• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• ½ teaspoon of paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Toppings

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• ½ an onion chopped
• 4 ounces sliced mushrooms
• 5 ounces of ground sausage
• ¼ cup of mozzarella cheese
• 2 eggs

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450°F
• Peel and chop sweet potatoes into bite size pieces
• Place sweet potatoes on a foil-covered pan coat in olive top and spices
• Cook potatoes for 30-35 minutes or until crisp

Wait 20 minutes after you put the potatoes in the oven to start cooking the rest of the meal:

• Put onions in skillet with olive oil
• Cook for 2-3 minutes on medium heat and add mushrooms, stir occasionally
• Break sausage up into small pieces, then put sausage in pan
• Cook until sausage is finished cooking and then turn stove off
• In separate pan cook eggs over easy. Crack eggs in pan and cook on medium heat until the egg whites are firm, but the yolks are still runny.
• When potatoes are done combine the potatoes and toppings
• Sprinkle with cheese
• Put one egg on top of each serving
• Enjoy!

Good recipes hook me with a picture that makes me forget all my fears and worries. All I can think about is how soon I can eat all of the food. After the spectacular picture comes a title followed by a description. Whether short or long the description generally relays the significance that the author has to the particular dish. It might be an explanation of what goes well with the dish, the cultural background and history of the dish or a fun, personal anecdote from the author about the recipe. Also near in proximity to the title is generally the amount of servings the recipe makes and the amount of time it takes to make the recipe. After that comes the ingredients and the measurements needed of each ingredient. After the list of ingredients come the directions necessary to make the dish.

Authors write recipes in order to help other people experience food. Whether they are writing to help people on a budget or working class families stay well fed under $4.00 a day (Good and Cheap) or to nostalgically recreate a meal that is has a personal meaning to them (From My Mother’s Kitchen: Birthday Cake). With Good and Cheap, Brown is trying to make healthy food very accessible to people who don’t have time to make a budget for affordable, healthy food. Brown is taking an economic approach to helping people experience food and it is very specific to the context around her. On the other hand you have people who are nostalgically trying to recreate recipes that have a sentimental place in their hearts. The motivations for writing recipes are as vast as the motivation for people to write stories, essays, poems. Recipes and the rhetoric of food can be very personal and cultural and can also be very impersonal and universal. The author through the description communicates the motivation and audience. The directions and ingredients needed can also help to identify the audience that is targeted. If there are many obscure or culture specific ingredients needed then it is more targeted to a specific audience.

The author needs to be a good guide – that is what separates a good recipe from a bad recipe. How do we navigate different cultural foods? How do we navigate the temperature and time needed to make sure the chicken is cooked perfectly? How do we navigate the spice rack? A good recipe is written by a good guide.

 

http://www.biggirlssmallkitchen.com/2009/10/from-my-mothers-kitchen-birthday-cake.html

https://cookbooks.leannebrown.com/good-and-cheap.pdf

 

All recipes should be made with the thought of who the audience is going to be. Important details on all of the ingredients and supplies to create the dish is very necessary and for me, pictures are also a huge help. I believe that going into detail on each ingredient is important for the audience so that they can get a clear understanding for what they are about to make. While all recipes are different, the purpose of them are always the same. The goal is to create a perfect and clear guide to readers on how to create their food. Step by step instructions are believed to be the best way to get the audience hooked. Often times when people are making food by looking at others recipes, they are rookies when it comes to cooking. Having a step by step guide makes it way easier for those new cooks and they enjoy their time making their food more. Authors who describe what they are making help readers by making them eager to get the job done. If I were an author, I would describe each ingredient with as much information as possible so that the audience is more intrigued.

My favorite dish is a tasty teriyaki chicken bowl. I picked “http://natashaskitchen.com/2015/12/11/easy-teriyaki-chicken/” to show a great technique as a cook for audience members. In the video, it shows a clear step by step guide on how to make teriyaki chicken. I think it is essential for readers to have a clear understanding of how to do everything in order so making a video to provide that is a great idea.

While I think most recipes are of good structure, there are definitely some out in the world that are not easy to follow. For instance, when a recipe is out of order it is expected for the audience to know how to make the dish when most of the time, the audience members trying to make the dish do not even make food following recipes very often. Many times there are hand-written books for recipes that are given to people who want to cook. A key issue with this sometimes is that handwriting may be bad and hard to read. Luckily, I believe that there are more good recipe books, videos and ways to share recipes out there than there are bad. I enjoy authors sharing their recipes very much as I think it is very interesting and fun to make new things. I look forward to making more in the near future thanks to this class!

Recipes.  A broad genre of work, they can involve everything from a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich to a complicated turducken.  Although varying in content, their purpose remains the same: to give instructions on how to synthesize ingredients and create a food.  Sometimes, they include a spin to a certain direction: cheaper foods, luxury items, authentic cultural cooking, homestyle, and many more, but they always are written to instruct.  Often, they include an introduction, a list of ingredients, a set of steps, and a photograph to illustrate what the finished product should look like.  However, sometimes these are omitted: for instance,  Marco Canora’s “How to Make Gnocchi” leaves out an ingredient list. Recipes use multiple step structures, for instance, they could be written as numerical steps, in bubbles of instruction, or occasionally in one large block of text.  This affects how people navigate the recipe, along with many other factors: sometimes, different parts of the text are written in different sizes of font indicating  varying levels of importance.  For instance, the biggest text is the name of the dish, the ingredient list and steps are in the middle, and the smallest is the yield.

Cookbooks and recipe websites usually include a plethora of recipes, organized by type of food (appetizers, main entrees, desserts) or by cuisine (American, French, Italian, etc). Sometimes, recipes are made as adaptations of others, for instance, Maricel Presilla’s “Grandmother Paquita’s Chunky Calabaza Puree” in Gran Cocina Latina.  The audience for recipes includes, simply, people who desire to make their own foods.  Often, this person is an upper middle class homemaker, but some cookbooks appeal to others. For example, Brown’s Good and Cheap book is targeted towards people looking for simple and inexpensive meals, such as people who are newly on their own and looking to budget their money.  Also, Σουηδός Μάγειρας’s “Old Fashioned Sokolatina”, published on cooklikegreeks.com, appeals to another audience: people who want to create an authentic cultural dish.

Recipes should, to be of good quality, include clear and detailed instruction to make the process of making the dish as foolproof as possible.  Bad recipes are often hard to follow, not well explained, and result in lots of mistakes.

Recipes, in general, serve one united purpose: to portray to an audience how to make food.  Although the format in which this is done varies from author to author, all food writing is essentially similar.  Recipes exist to inform and share information about one of the most integral parts of human life: preparing and eating food.

A recipe should at least include a list of portioned ingredients and instructions on how to properly use those ingredients to cook the dish. In my mind, a complete recipe should also include a name for the dish as well as a preface giving context to the dish, and serving suggestions. So, the ideal recipe for me follows this format: title, contextual preface, list of ingredients, step-by-step instructions, and finally a serving suggestion (how to serve the dish and what to serve it with). A low quality recipe may include a list of ingredients but not portions, or it may include the list of ingredients and a confusing set of instructions. I also believe that an ideal recipe has visuals to go along with it, whether it be a picture, a video, or a GIF. In fact, social media accounts that post GIF recipes have amassed tens and millions of followers.

The “Kung Pao Chicken” recipe from the Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees cookbook is an example of a perfect recipe, for me. Before the written part of the recipe even begins, there is a step-by-step visual of the cooking process, showing the reader the way the dish looks from the beginning to the end. The author then gives a short but succinct preface, giving cultural context by saying the “dish would not be recognized by anyone arriving in the United States from China” (Kho, 109). The recipe lists all the ingredients with portions, lists detailed instructions, and provides a serving suggestion as well.

On allrecipes.com, one of the most popular online recipes, one of the current top recipes is for a dish called “Easy Smoked Sausage Skillet.” The preface to the recipe simply reads “Dinner’s on the table in no time with this one-skillet sausage and veggie dish served over rice.” It’s not that this is necessarily a bad recipe because of this, but the recipe lacks a certain type of context and excitement because of the minimalist preface. However, you can find a great amount of information and variations on the dish from the user comments section.

While the “Kung Pao Chicken” recipe is the superior recipe for me, it all depends on the audience. The author of the “Easy Sausage Skillet” recipe wrote the recipe for a broader audience looking for a quick and easy dish to serve for dinner. The author of the “Kung Pao Chicken Recipe” most likely wrote the recipe for those more experienced in the kitchen, and those with the time, money and energy to make recipes from a unique cookbook.  It is much harder to find the “Kung Pao Chicken” recipe than it is to find the “Easy Sausage Skillet Recipe”; one is on the main page of a top recipe website, and one is on page 109 of a physical cookbook. It is important to note that this resource is a paid resource, as one has to purchase the cookbook to get access to the “Kung Pao Chicken” recipe.

The “Kung Pao Chicken” recipe may seem to be the better, more complete recipe, but for all I know, the “Easy Sausage Skillet” might just be tastier. At the end of the day, if a recipe gives you the right information to make a dish, and that dish is good, then the recipe has served a meaningful purpose.

Sources: Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees by Kian Lam Kho; http://allrecipes.com/recipe/245932/easy-smoked-sausage-skillet/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/245932/easy-smoked-sausage-skillet/?internalSource=rotd&referringContentType=home%20page&clickId=cardslot%201

     Food is a part of every life. Other than being a necessity for living, food evokes certain emotions and memories that are otherwise impossible to capture. Through the art of recipes, authors of all different cultures and backgrounds are able to offer a piece of themselves through food.

     Authors write recipes to share with others. Whether it has been passed down in your family from your great-grandmother or from a world renowned chef, recipes are created to share. Food has always brought people together whether it be through celebration, solemnness, or just because people are hungry. Food can also be used to unite people together as different cultures have unique flavors and techniques that bring people together; although you may not understand each other, food is a universal language.

     When analyzing the genre of recipes, there are usually three elements that are found in nearly all published works; an introduction, a list of ingredients, and directions. Though other elements can be added, this is the genre standard.

     The introduction is the most personal section of any recipe. In this section, the author has the most freedom to personalize the recipe and truly make is their own. The introduction should not just be anecdotal though, it should also describe the dish in some way. The next section is usually the ingredients. This is typically the most impersonal part of a recipe, as it usually is just a list; however, some authors also use this space to give their readers alternative ingredients, allowing for different types of readers to still use their recipe. Marcella Hazan does this beautifully in her book Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking in her Pesto recipe. Hazan is aware that different levels of cooks are going to read her recipes, and that not have wants or has a mortar. By giving an alternative, more modern recipe, she broadens her selected audience. Finally, the author gives directions on how to create the dish. Using the introduction as a way to describe the dish through words or photos, as seen in the recipe for kung pao chicken in the book Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees by Kian Lam Kho, the reader should have an idea of what they are making. While the introduction should set-up the dish though, the directions should be the clearest part to read in a recipe. A great example of very clear directions is from this bruschetta recipe. This recipe breaks the dish down into three parts, allowing for the audience to easily follow along and create the three separate parts in their own time. While this recipe clearly explains how to make each step, some recipes will not explain things that may be simple knowledge to more experienced cooks, ultimately alienating more novice cooks.

     Although these elements are almost always prevalent in any recipe, having these features does not always make a good recipe. Having now examined and read several types of recipes, I have learned about my preferences in a recipe and have seen recipes that are just bad. I prefer introductions that give a short anecdote that ties in with the dish. However, having a long introduction doesn’t make it a bad recipe. In my opinion, a good recipe is one that can be followed and properly executed by a novice cook. One of my favorite dishes that I have been making since I was about 11 is a take on this scalloped potatoes au gratin recipe. While any recipe with French roots sounds more complicated than it usually is, this recipe is very easy to follow and requires minimal ingredients and tools.

     Recipes are becoming more and more accessible due to the internet. This allows for different cultures and authors to reach a wider audience. However, this has not changed the format of recipes. Introductions, ingredients and directions are almost always going to be the foundation to any good recipe. Food will always be a part of life, and with that, so will recipes.

Recipe is one unique style of writings that has existed for a long time. Recipe does have big frame but its style varies by the author. One important part in recipe is an introduction. Introduction is how every recipe of one certain food becomes special. There are many different versions by different authors of one same food and that is possible because each story and background of that food depends on author’s own experience. That is how others adapt the existing recipe and put in their own stories and their own cooking tips to make it their own recipe. One interesting introduction is Brown Good and Cheap recipes. Most introductions starts with food’s history or authors experience with it but this book talks briefly about the taste and its look and sounds like the food is introducing itself. It sounded to be more tasteful and fun to make. Another thing that is important in recipe is marking the ingredients. This is also crucial because it tells or warns person who is allergic to certain ingredient. Putting exact amount or ratio of ingredient leads to perfect food. Direction is the next important step in recipe. Some recipes have pictures included or Internet recipes can put some video clips to help understand each step. Especially in baking, baking needs good technics in order to success and well-explained directions will help.

The purpose of writing recipe is basically to help and inform readers to cook but every author’s goals are different. In Brown Good and Cheap, author’s target is those who wants to cook with low money but want to have good quality of foods. One of the recipe I researched before also helps to make good Korean food with small money. It also has historical background, where during war where people had nothing to eat and cook, just put everything they had and mixed together.(http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kimchi-bokkeumbap) That is the origin and after several years someone wrote it down as a recipe and now it has became one of Korea’s most favourite food and still many different recipes of Kimchi-bokkeumbap is coming out. There is no same recipe in the world, unless one copies exactly same from others. Every recipe has its own story and its own style. The purpose or target readers will be different even the final food is similar. That is one characteristic of recipe that differs from other writings.

The genre of recipes is designed for people to share their knowledge and love of food with others. Although throughout the genre there are certain conventions that are followed, recipes are written in a variety of ways from a wide variety of authors and circumstances. For example, the book Good and Cheap by Leanna Brown, was written to give people the ability to eat healthy, tasty meals for under $5 a meal. Because of the economic downturn during this time of 2013 when this book was written, Leanna Brown caters specifically to a working-class audience or to anyone watching their money with the low prices of the ingredients. She maintains the same structure as most recipes (introduction, ingredients, cooking times, etc.), yet the premise of the cheap ingredients is what sets her apart.

Another important way that authors of recipes make themselves unique is through the commentary and descriptions that are given either in the introduction or in the steps of making the recipe. For example, in the recipe for “All Purpose Chili Lime Chicken” from Carlsbad Cravings, The author, “Jen”, shows her personality through phrases such as “A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!” and “until golden deliciousness is achieved”. These phrases are not phrases that are necessary to have in the recipe, yet from the amount of positive comments, the audience for this recipe loves the personality. Another example of this is through the historical background about Pesto by Hazan. Instead of showing his personality in the descriptions of the dish, Hazan describes the history of this dish, going in depth about its importance in Italian culture. Instead of cultivating a friendly environment for the audience as in the Chili Lime Chicken example, Hazan is stressing the cultural and historical themes that pesto has throughout Italy. He even talks about how certain chefs do not consider the dish “pesto” unless it is made with a mortar and pestle.

While these characteristics show the variety of purposes, authors, and audiences of recipes, all recipes have the same general structure. The recipe for Dunlop’s Gong Bao Chicken has a very generic and universal structure. It has an introduction to the dish, then the serving size as well as a list of ingredients and amounts, finally concluding with a step by step instruction manual on how to cook the dish. This recipe even has a picture of it in the beginning which is another very popular convention in the recipe genre. This Gong Bao Chicken recipe is a great example of a generic recipe layout that can be used by anyone and fitted to any recipe.

Despite the differences that recipes have, whether it be different authors, environments, or purposes, all recipes still have a similar structure and an overall similar goal: sharing the love of food with others.

Whenever an author is writing anything, they do so with an audience in mind. Recipes are no different. Whether that audience is students, anyone on a budget, experienced bakers/cooks, someone cooking for a big dinner party, etc. it’s important when analyzing a recipe to know who the recipe was written for.

In order for a work to be considered a recipe, it must be “a set of instructions for preparing a particular dish, including a list of ingredients required.” This definition is universally accepted because most recipes list all of the ingredients before explaining the steps or have them in a column next to the steps. In better recipes, the author will be much more exact in measurements of ingredients than in others. In Lean Brown’s “Eat Well on $4/day Good and Cheap,” she does an excellent job of saying how many servings the amount of ingredients will get you and even tells how much it will cost, something that is especially helpful and unique. She does this because of the specific audience she is writing for: anyone on a budget.

After the ingredient lists, recipes will either have step-by-step instructions or a paragraph explaining the steps. Majority of recipes also have a quick introduction explaining why the author wrote it/their connection to it. Recipes that are published in a book usually have the same format as the other recipes in the same book. The style is generally the same because it is more aesthetically pleasing.  When comparing Kian Lan Kho’s “Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees” recipe book to an online blog Smittenkitchen.com, it is very interesting to notice the different style techniques. Kho’s Kung Pao Chicken recipe has a full page of pictures showing every step prior to the recipe. On the page of the actual recipe, it has a short paragraph explaining how even though it’s a Chinese recipe, it is really Americanized and then tells a different dish in the same cookbook to pair it with. It then has the list of recipes for the chicken and the sauce. On the other column of the page, it has small paragraphs which each step carefully written out. This style technique is easy to follow and the pictures would be helpful to reference while trying to reproduce the recipe.

On the online blog the Smitten Kitchen, for the recipe of breakfast-pizza, the author starts out with a personal story about why she chose to re-create this recipe. There are photos attached, but they are all placed in-between the explanation and before the recipe itself actually starts. They give credit to where the recipe is adapted from, and then she begins with an ingredient list. The steps are listed in paragraphs. At the end, the author then says what she did differently than the original recipe based on trial and era.

Online recipe blogs like this one are very personal and have many helpful tweaks because the author can go back and change a recipe whenever, because she doesn’t have to republish and print new copies of her cookbook. They are also open to everyone, because it’s a free blog and she posts everything for free.

Recipes are something that can be published in many different formats, have many different styles, but all of them-good or bad- contain an ingredient list and the steps necessary to be successful in cooking the dish.