Lechazo Archives - 55000 Recipes to prepare and delight

VIII Lechazo gastronomic conference in Aranda de Duero

Aranda de Duero celebrates until June 29 the VIII edition of the gastronomic days of suckling lamb roasted in a wood-burning oven. Although we really arrived a little late, as … Read more

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In gastronomy, a cookbook, a recipe or simply a recipe is an organized description of a culinary process. It usually consists first of a list of necessary ingredients, followed by a Set of instructions according to which a particular dish or beverage is to be prepared. It often contains a list of appropriate utensils for preparing the dish. Sometimes it includes a social and historical description that motivates the recipe.

Recipes may have been passed down through the history of nations from generation to generation, through oral tradition, or written down in cookbooks or recipe books. This accumulated knowledge is an important part of the culture of a human group, and its evolution allows us to understand the changes to which the culture is subject. Its use in sociological and anthropological studies or in history allows us to learn about the culinary conditions, tastes and influences of a given period. In the 21st century, culinary recipes often appear in the media, for example in television programs, magazines, newspapers and blogs.

History

One of the earliest known records of recipes dates back to 1600 B.C., in the form of a clay tablet from southern Babylonia, with cuneiform writing and expressed in Akkadian. The Greeks had specialized culinary writers, such as the poet Archeostratus and the prolific food writer Timachides of Rhodes. None of their recipe books survive today. One of the earliest cookbooks known in the West is De re coquinaria, written by the Roman cook Marcus Gavius Apicius.

The name «recipe» comes from the Latin recipere, which means «to give» or «to receive». Originally, culinary practices were described in recipe texts as a set of instructions. The earliest medieval cookbook is a 13th-century German manuscript. Spanish cuisine has one of its earliest cookbooks in the Libre del Sent Soví of 1324.
In Europe, French chefs Antonin Carême and Georges Auguste Escoffier began to define cooking techniques, and one of their tasks was to collect and systematize culinary practices. In North America, Isabella Beeton wrote her Book of Household Management in the late 19th century, one of the first modern cookbooks. The anthropological phenomenon of culinary recipes as cultural transmission was explored by Claude Lévi-Strauss in Les mythologiques: L’origine des manières de table. In the 1960s, television shows showed how to cook.

Culinary recipes before the 20th century had a more narrative structure, which allowed for some parallel literary creation. It is in the early decades of the 20th century that a distinct ingredient/process structure emerges in the description of culinary recipes. While the oral tradition crystallized in culinary literature in the form of cookbooks written from the 18th century onwards, in the 20th century, recipes were described in television shows, in magazines and were also very popular on various specialized blogs.

Features

There are specific rules and standards for writing recipes. If a recipe is intended for the general public, it must be written in plain language. In many cases, they assume a basic knowledge of cooking techniques. Recipes are usually grouped according to main ingredients, preparation method, country, etc.

Formal recipes include as elements

– The name of the dish with an indication of its origin.

– The preparation time and sometimes the complications have been appropriately evaluated on a scale. In general, units of time expressed in minutes, at most hours, are used to describe the time to prepare a dish. The complexity of a dish is usually a combination of the number of ingredients, the number of procedures and the time required for preparation. If a dish needs time before serving, it is a good idea to include it in this introductory section.

– Provide a list of the ingredients needed, indicating their quantities or proportions. International, local or even culinary units of measure are usually used . From the list of ingredients and their quantities in relation to the number of portions to be prepared, the number of final portions is expressed and, if a different quantity is required, the rules of proportionality are applied. Ingredients are listed in order of use. When the availability of ingredients is limited, substitute ingredients are usually required. Also, dictionaries are often referred to for unknown ingredients.

– Tools needed for preparation. This description is not common in most texts. It can be inferred from the process description. A professional recipe includes the size of the containers to be used.

– The steps to be performed in chronological order. This process sequence begins with the indication of the procedures for preparing the ingredients and ends with the tasks of final presentation and placement on the table. It usually has a numbered structure, with each step included at each point.

In recipes published in books or cookbooks, there is usually a photograph of the dish already assembled and usually already decorated to show to guests. Sometimes a sequence of the main procedures is given. To increase the didactic value of the recipe, information on how to choose good ingredients and details on the quality of the ingredients are usually included. If the reader is unfamiliar with the ingredient mentioned, provide tips on where to find it. Providing some details about unusual cooking techniques used can help the reader reproduce the recipe.

Recipes sometimes include the total number of calories to be taken in the recipe as well as any nutritional information. For culinary recipes, it is generally less desirable to know the historical, sociological origins of the dish. And the recipe is supposed to be sent to the person who tells how to prepare it.

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