{"id":625,"date":"2017-02-01T09:43:37","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T15:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/?p=625"},"modified":"2017-02-01T09:43:37","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T15:43:37","slug":"the-rhetoric-of-recipes-whats-in-a-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/2017\/02\/01\/the-rhetoric-of-recipes-whats-in-a-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rhetoric of Recipes: What\u2019s in a recipe?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cWhat\u2019s the recipe for?\u201d<\/a> A recipe can mean much more than just a simple instruction book. According to Gopnik, it can be \u201cself-revelation.\u201d 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 \u201cThe Art of Eating\u201d<\/a> that minestrone is \u201cprobably the most satisfying soup in the world for people who are hungry.\u201d \u00a0Interestingly, two aspects that Fisher\u2019s 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\u2019s \u201cJapanese Chicken Karaage (Fried Chicken).\u201d<\/a> Her recipe lacks an introduction, but includes the total time (1hr 20mins), serving size, yield size, and a lot of commentary such as \u201cDon’t put only a few pieces,\u201d and \u201cIf you see bubbles as soon as you put a wooden chop stick into the oil, this is too hot.\u201d So another answer could be that maybe the recipe or cook book is that it \u201cshould supply the rules, the deep structure\u2014a fixed, underlying grammar that enables you to use all the recipes you find\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

With all recipe writing though, there\u2019s more than just the form. There\u2019s also the content in the form of a recipe, which is written by the author for a given audience. As in Fisher\u2019s 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<\/a> states that while many others were writing about \u201cthe struggle for power and security,\u201d she instead chose to write about food. Her reason for writing is instead that \u201cour 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.\u201d It is a basic need and a love for it that makes her want to write about food. It\u2019s a combination of the author\u2019s experiences and what they want that a given text exists.<\/p>\n

Brown and her book, \u201cGood and Cheap,\u201d<\/a> was made with another idea in mind. Brown wanted to write about dishes that could be made with \u201c$4 or less,\u201d 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\u2019s context for why the recipe exists. With the idea of \u201c$4 or less\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s or Brown\u2019s books. \u00a0A great recipe brings you in as the author displays their expertise through storytelling and giving you reason to cook a recipe. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cWhat\u2019s the recipe for?\u201d A recipe can mean much more than just a simple instruction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions\/626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/rhetoric-of-food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}