Cooking From Memory: How To Write A Family Cookbook

Last updated on May 15, 2020

These days, when virtually any recipe is a click away, it’s a paradox that those most prized are oftentimes not written down, but passed on from generation to generation.

I usually cook from memory and not by recipe. I cook what my mother and grandmothers passed down, and I’ve also embraced my mother-in-laws recipes. My kids love to make these family dishes, too, and they often call me to ask how. At times it’s been a challenge to detail the steps exactly, because it’s something I just know how to do. With these thoughts in mind I decided to take on the project of writing a family cookbook. Thinking this would be a quick and simple task of collating a score of recipes turned out to be a wild miscalculation. That said, it’s a project I highly recommend because the end result will beget your family a priceless heirloom.

If your recipe folder resembles mine, it is a hodgepodge of snippets and inspirations; long pre-dating the digital era. Magazine articles, recipe cards, handwritten pages; many cherished but long forgotten, others destined for the trash bin. Step one was to organize all of these. Once this was done, I created a list of family favorites that I cooked from memory. When it became clear that my little pamphlet was indeed going to be a book, I realized my project required help. Weren’t there apps for this? There were, and then some.

The first one I came across was CreateMyCookbook.com. I was able to input my recipes, shift pages around, and divide my book into categorical chapters. There were numerous template choices for recipe, photo and story pages, but not so many alternatives as to trip me up. This allowed me to proceed more quickly with my task, which was no small one as I now had over one-hundred recipes to include in my book. I watched as a Table of Contents created itself intuitively, and as the app automatically formatted instructions into succinct numerical steps. I organized my cookbook into chapters: Soups, Mains & Sides, Baked Goods and Holiday Recipes. When I wasn’t sure of a recipe I spoke with family members, and often transcribed their recorded version. This made a priceless, if less easy to follow, rendition. “How To Make Grandma’s Chicken Soup,” in Grandma’s own words, will surely go down in infamy. 

There were some bittersweet moments, too, when loved ones were no longer able to impart the recipes for dishes I grew up with and wanted to pass down. At times, assistance came from unlikely sources. I was touched by the invaluable help I received from my meat purveyor, Grow and Behold, when the support team banded together to help determine what I needed: The meat I remembered my mother making: How was it cut? Was  it marbled? What was the color? Everyone, it seemed, had a soft spot in their heart for the foods they grew up eating. Eventually I was able to duplicate my mothers’ recipes exactly, and everyone involved – total strangers – celebrated my success.

Writing a book for family allows you to use your own voice and humor, as well as editorialize with personal anecdotes; for this is a tribute as well as a cooking guide. I began to comb family photo albums for old pictures that corresponded to a recipe: autumnal apple-picking, holiday dinners, baking cookies. I cooked like a demon and we ate like kings as I tested each recipe for accuracy, and then stylized each dish to photograph for the book.

Inspired, I customized further, adding two additional sections at the beginning of the book: 25 Cooking Tips and My Favorite Kitchen Objects. Another section, Tributes, included a collection of essays, written by both my husband and myself, of food memories we associated with our parents and grandparents. Renditions of how neither of our dads cooked, but expected to be served, were priceless. The process of assembling this book sparked too many recollections to have those memories left unspoken. My family cookbook became a testimonial of love that paid homage to the connection we all had through food. 

These simple guidelines can help streamline an otherwise overwhelming process.

• Write in your own voice! You are talking to your family.

• Choose a style! Titles and copy can have different fonts, but be consistent from page to page.

• Pick an abbreviation type and stick with it, i.e. teaspoon, tsp or tsp.

• Proofread, proofread, and proofread again! Perfect copy is your goal.

• Consider binding options carefully. Hardcovers may be beautiful, but they can be difficult to read from while cooking. I opted for a spiral binding because it lays flat, and also bought ebooks, because they come in handy while shopping for ingredients.

Site reviews:

There are a multitude of on-line self-publishing options; sites exclusive to cookbooks, or basic publishing sites with cookbook formats. Most offer creative assistance as well as free graphics. Some sites allow you to make your book available for sale to the public. I found CreateMyCookbook to have a wide range of style options and excellent customer support, so I dove in and stuck with the site. However, in the interest of this article I researched other sites as if I were just starting my project. I found they all differ in the creative process, as well as the final product.

blurb.com is a diverse publishing website that offers a cookbook format. The design options offered are endless, and you can create a book in virtually any style you like. While this is a good feature, I think some parameters help keep a project streamlined and professional. I found blurb to be both inspiring and overwhelming at once. You have to download the Blurb software prior to beginning your project.

heritagecookbook.com is a super-intuitive website for writing a cookbook. They offer a lot of personalized creative support; a real plus. The catch to this site is the $29.99 monthly fee if your project isn’t complete within the 30-day free trial period. (My cookbook took me 8 weeks to finish!) Fundraising and non-profit organizations are exempt from the fee; if you fall into this category, definitely consider Heritage Cookbook.

cookbookcafe.com is part of the BakeSpace social network, an on-line community of cooks from around the world who share their recipes with each other. The site itself is free, but allows you to publish and sell your work, if desired. Cookbook Cafe is different because it only allows for web-based ebooks, however these can be interactive and accessed across many platforms. In this age of both high technology and global families, who knows; that option may be suitable for some clans who all want to contribute to the family cookbook. Another advantage is that new recipes can be added to your book at any time. Cookbook Cafe has won a bevy of awards for its publishing and technology, and its capabilities are intriguing. Had I desired an ebook only, I surely would have gravitated to this site.

createmycookbook.com is my site of choice. After wading through all those folders of recipes, I was very excited to begin my cookbook, and this user-friendly site made it easy to do. It was free, there was no software to download, and a quick tutorial guided me at every step. The extensive options for both layout and styling was easy to navigate, and I liked that I could edit my photos on site. CreateMyCookbook encourages choosing one uniform style, and I began to see that a cohesive “look” presented a more professional end result.

It was a moment of supreme gratification and emotion when I presented the finished cookbook to my family. They still call me to find out how to make something – even coffee! – but they know they have this cookbook at their fingertips for reference. I, too, use it; especially the online version, to double-check a recipe. Of everything I have done, this has been my favorite, and most lasting, project. Food, after all, is love.

Please contact me with questions, or for my services in creating your own family cookbook heirloom.

This post is adapted from an article I wrote for Edible Orange County, Spring 2018.