Whip up a cyber cookbook!
Compile and share your favourite recipes — digitally
By Cindy Waxer
When Elise Bauer started SimplyRecipes.com, her goal wasn’t simply to convert dog-eared, milk-stained recipe cards into a picture-perfect blog. Rather, she wanted to preserve an important piece of family history for her and her five siblings.
“My parents were in their 70s, and I was concerned that they would leave the planet and none of us would ever know how to cook what they cook,” says Bauer. “SimplyRecipes is about preserving the recipes that my brothers, sister and I grew up with.”
So Bauer began the painstaking process of posting age-old recipes onto a personal web site. Today, the site features more than 600 concoctions such as chicken curry and homemade mango chutney. Boasting an easy-to-navigate recipe index and carefully organized categories, SimplyRecipes.com lets Bauer share traditional dishes with family and friends as well as gain easy access to favourite recipes while on the road.
Piecing together a web site may have been a tedious task back then, but today Bauer says there’s simply no excuse for letting recipes remain paperbound. User-friendly blog platforms such as Microsoft Windows Live Spaces allow users to publish step-by-step cooking instructions within minutes. Beginners need only set up an account, name their blog and select a template.
There are, however, a few key ingredients when it comes to whipping up a digital cookbook. Here are Bauer’s suggestions to help get you started.
Organize your recipes
With only moments left before your dinner guests arrive, you decide to whip up some Bavarian sauerkraut. Make it easy to find all your recipes by arranging them in categories such as appetizer, bakery, main course and salads.
Food oughta be in pictures
Help friends and family replicate your recipes by including a photo of the finished product. For best results, Bauer recommends using a digital camera, avoiding the use of flash and taking advantage of direct, natural light.
But be warned: photographing food is harder than it looks. Bauer admits to taking about 50 shots for every photograph worth publishing online.
Edit, edit, edit
Typos are always annoying, but a slip of the key on a food blog can be downright disastrous. Have a friend with a discerning eye take a look at your template before clicking publish.
Forget about the Joneses
If your goal is to create an online source for friends and family, don’t try to impress. Instead, stick to family-friendly recipes that are fun, simple and affordable. Says Bauer: “There are more people in this country who are interested in learning how to make coleslaw than there are in learning how to sear foie gras.”
Create a critic’s corner
Add an interactive element to your digital cookbook by encouraging visitors to offer feedback via e-mail or the comment board on Windows Live Spaces.
“When you allow other people to comment on your recipes, you are opening yourself up to a universe of knowledge that you would never in a million years have access to otherwise,” says Bauer.
You’re also opening yourself up to criticism, so be prepared for the occasional harsh complaint. Thick skin advised.
Revisit and revise
Whether nestled in the pages of a cookbook or posted online, recipes aren’t meant to remain static. Bauer recommends returning to age-old recipes to clarify instructions, tweak ingredients and incorporate readers’ recommendations. After all, says Bauer, “A food blog is almost like a living cookbook. It’s constantly getting updated.”
Check out these other tasty food blogs for recipes, tips and culinary inspiration. Aside from countless recipes, you’ll find photos, journal entries, links to cooking information and interviews with chefs.
