Injecting creativity into a cookbook
I'm a chef. I'm also a writer. It's inevitable that I would want to write a cookbook. In fact I've probably started a dozen that I just never got around to finishing. Partly because I'm not sure how to.
Before I even get to my question I think it important to distinguish between two types of cookbooks. One is sorta a how to cook tutorial with a few recipes sprinkled in. There other is a reference book. It's mostly recipes with very little superfluous writing. I want to write the second.
And that's the problem. There's very little room for any creative flair. Surely, I can inject a little personality into it, but I'm not sure when the best way to do it is.
During the introduction that most people won't read and those that do read once? During the recipes themselves? That seems unlikely to work well. Should I write a description of each dish before each recipes. Will this be to much reading for people who just want to jump straight to the technical details? It's there perhaps something I haven't considered.
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I recall "Two Meatballs In The Italian Kitchen", by Pino Luongo and Mark Straussman. It was two chefs with different styles of Italian restaurants that got together for a cookbook.
The basic premise is they told a 1/4 to one page personal story or anecdote about a dish. Where they first had it, who taught it to them, a celebrity that eats it every time they come to the restaurant, where it originated or how it became famous or where in Italy it is most popular, something like that. Sometimes its just a fond memory of a trip, or finding an unexpectedly good version in a town where you wouldn't expect it.
Anyway, nearly every recipe has a little story with it, always on the even-numbered page. If the story is short, the recipe and any special instruction starts on the same page with a large-type heading, if there isn't much room, it starts on the facing page.
People interested in just the recipe can skip the human-interest story pretty easily. But you are left some room for creativity. You don't have to follow their formula, exactly, your writing can be additional ideas or flairs with the dish, or what you have seen people do with it, convert it from an entreé into an appetizer, etc.
I think its an approach that gives you the best of both worlds.
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Your cookbook's primary function is being a reference book: providing clear recipes. My personal preference is to always have a picture of the final product, and preferably also intermediary stages, especially if the process is complicated. Everything else, every bit of writing creativity, is secondary to the cookbook's primary function.
Now, secondary doesn't mean it has no place at all. That introduction, which you treat with disdain, you can do quite a lot with it. The introduction is in fact the part that should make people want to cook from your book. Not just in the general sense of "I might find a recipe from here useful", but in the immediate way of "I want to make something from here now".
How do you do that? Tell your reader, in the introduction, what your book is all about. It's not just a random selection of recipes, is it? If it's the food of a particular region, tell about that region, about the part that food plays in local culture, about local flavours. If it's all about one particular kind of food (meat, or bread, or whatever) - talk about that. If it's about recipes being easy, talk about how everyone can cook and what a delight it is. Cooking is something you love, and you love this particular selection of recipes, right? Show that.
If there are sections to your book, you can treat the introduction to each section just as you treat the general introduction, only briefer.
And then, there are the recipes. To each, you can add a note about what makes it special for you: "my mother used to make this for special occasions", "my children love helping me with the making of those, as much as with the eating", etc. Add a personal touch, help people see themselves making the thing. Encourage people to make new things - stepping outside one's comfort zone is not easy, make people feel you're right there with them.
Just don't let the creative part overwhelm your cookbook. If I'm being sold more "talk" than actual recipes, I feel I'm being swindled. I bought the book for the recipes, after all - the rest is a bonus.
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Full confession: I read cookbooks like novels.
The best cookbooks, in my opinion, are those with great descriptions of the recipe that turn it into a story. History of the recipe or the ingredients. This can be family history or history of a country or ethnic group. Where does the recipe come from? How does it fit into food culture?
If done well, you can also incorporate stories that aren't as cook-booky. You can even write cookbooks that are novels.
While I wouldn't buy this book for the recipes alone, it has plenty to share. One of my favorite books of all time... Like Water for Chocolate. The recipes have their own following too. Aztec Chile Truffles, Spicy Grilled Chicken with Creamy Pumpkin Mole Sauce, Polpette di Fagioli...how can you go wrong?
Back on the nonfiction side, Joan Nathan is famous for her cookbooks with commentary included. For example:
The Jewish Holiday Baker Drawing upon the recipes, stories, and secrets of a baker’s dozen of bakers from around the world, she captures the art of Jewish baking....The bakers who have perfected these recipes represent the breadth of Jewish history and geography: they come from America, Israel, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Syria, and Egypt. Their personal stories offer a fascinating window into the Jewish experience of this century.
I would be remiss if I did not mention my very favorite food historian / cookbook writer / everything to do with food, Michael W. Twitty, author of The Cooking Gene. If you haven't read his book and blog, it will change forever how you view food writing.
Cookbooks as history, travelogue, memoir, ethnology, and so much more. That's part of what you can aim for.
Normally the commentary is in the header on the specific recipe page. Other times there is an introduction to a section of recipes. This works especially well if your cookbook is organized geographically or historically. You can also write in the introduction to the book, or in chapters before the recipes. Or you can do it however you want.
Food writing is a genre that is growing and spinning and creating. There is more creative energy in food writing now than ever before. Whether you just include a few notes about the technical aspects of the recipe, or you infuse your family's life history into your pages, a well-written cookbook will do well.
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