Whether you’re compiling a cookbook of your favorite recipes, or contributing to a collaborative cookbook, remember to add more than just your recipes. Lend your personal touch, too!
Cookbooks are perfect gifts for brides-to-be, community groups, and families. When collecting recipes, gather the stories behind them. For instance, when does the cook like to serve their dish? Was the recipe handed down to them, and by whom? What do they know about its history? Whose favorite is it?
In one of the cookbooks we created, a recipe for Tomato Pizza was improved with this comment, “When the kids were very young, I made pizza every night for a snack. I always canned my tomatoes and the sauce was so good. When I opened the tomatoes I used to say to the kids, ‘You can smell the August sun.’”
Another idea, particularly for family cookbooks, is to infuse comments from people who consider the recipe their favorite dish. A grandma’s Gnocchi recipe (an Italian potato dumpling) was enhanced with her granddaughter’s comment: “I absolutely love grandma’s gnocchi’s! Nobody can duplicate them – even my dad who claims he is the best chef in our family. No matter how hard anybody tries, no one can make gnocchi’s like grandma. I love grandma, but I think I love her gnocchi’s even more!”
Don’t forget to add photos of family or friends eating special meals or even pictures of the prepared dishes to your cookbook. By blending in a personal touch, the recipes will be savored for years.
- Jennifer Sauers