Q/A: Recipe Editor Christine Gallary Explains 5 Common Recipe Writing Mistakes to Avoid
Any time I have a technical recipe writing or testing question, I turn to Christine Gallary for answers. After all, as an editor-at-large at Kitchn, she edits hundreds of recipes per year. She also develops and tests recipes for a range of outlet, teaches cooking classes, and styles food. In other words, she’s a true recipe pro.
Christine attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and interned at America’s Test Kitchen before returning to the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked first at CHOW and later Kitchn while also taking on a range of freelance projects, including taking on the job as recipe developer and recipe writer for the groundbreaking Mr. Jiu’s In Chinatown cookbook by chef Brandon Jew and writer Tienlon Ho. She chased down information for specific steps and methods so we can make those incredible recipes at home (or at least appreciate them all the more if we visit Mr. Jiu’s).
In this interview, I tap into Christine’s expertise, asking her to share the most common recipe-writing mistakes she encounters as well as the differences she sees between creating recipes for print and online. I also asked her what she likes about her job. Spoiler: being a perfectionist is a good thing. Also: never assume you know everything.
Follow Christine’s beautiful Instagram feed, catch up on her recent work at Kitchn and visit her website. Now, to the interview:
Q. How did you learn to write and edit recipes? Was it something you learned on the job? What professional experiences were the most important in getting a feel for recipe writing and editing?
I started out learning just how to test recipes at America's Test Kitchen, which was, not surprisingly, very rigorous and thorough. I loved watching the test cooks taste and put into words what they were tasting. This critique was really great to watch and learn from to give me language to use when tasting food.
I started writing and editing recipes in the CHOW test kitchen after that, which was where I learned the whole process from start to finish: pitching a recipe idea, researching, writing recipes, testing recipes, editing them, and even food styling. What I loved the most was seeing how a group of test cooks made a recipe so much better than a single person—there's a bigger base of knowledge and experience. I also learned how to take constructive criticism and not be emotional when my recipes were being critiqued.
I've been the recipe editor at Kitchn for many years now, and I've used my experiences to edit all the recipes that flow through the site to not only conform to their house style but also make each recipe as home cook-friendly as possible. You have to like being a bit of a perfectionist in this type of editing, and luckily, I love it.
Q. Do people read recipes differently online versus in print? How does that affect how a recipe is written?
Oh definitely! Online recipes have to be quickly scannable, but you also have the bonus of being able to add videos or links to show people techniques or where to find ingredients. I've found many times people search for a recipe, glance through a few of the results, and then cobble together their own version. Sometimes it's successful, sometimes it's not, unfortunately.
People seem to stick a bit more to the recipe when it's in print, which is great. From a recipe writing perspective, you are often beholden to the house style of the publisher, which can be a bit limiting (I found that out when working on the recipes for the Mister Jiu's in Chinatown cookbook). Print recipes are also forever and can't be edited, so you have to be especially confident that the recipe is just the way you want it and that it works. The beauty of digital is that you can easily correct mistakes!
Q. As the food editor at-large at Kitchn, have you seen online recipes change over the years to reflect how people read online? Do you write the instructions in a slightly different order from print?
At Kitchn, our style is now to repeat the ingredient amounts in the instructions because we found that our users were cooking from a digital screen and didn't want to do a lot of scrolling back and forth to see the amounts. We also decided that instead of adding how something should be prepped next to the ingredient in the ingredient list, we would incorporate the prep in the instructions instead.
Incorporating all prep into instructions actually makes for a longer recipe, but it benefits the person cooking: we map out the prep in the best order to do things and even tell you if things can be added to the same bowl so you do less dishwashing. Done properly, this style of recipe shows you the most efficient way to make it.
Q. In Judith Jones’s book The Tenth Muse, she shares some stories about working as Julia Child’s editor. A reader wrote to her with a question about one of Julia’s recipes. The instructions said to toss lemons in a bowl. He wanted to know exactly how far away from the bowl he should stand before throwing the lemons into it! In other words, it’s impossible to anticipate everyone’s questions from a recipe. Still, how important is it to know your audience when writing recipes?
It's so important! For the Mister Jiu's cookbook, we assumed the audience was people who were fairly advanced home cooks who would understand the more complicated techniques the restaurant uses. We also assumed they would have some specialized equipment and access to harder-to-find ingredients. Even then, I tried to write thorough, descriptive recipes that took you through every thing step-by-step.
For Kitchn, we try to write all our recipes in a way that most home cooks can follow and try not to use too many special ingredients.
That being said, we can never anticipate anyone's background and experience, so at some point you just have to assume some basic knowledge and also hope they can quickly Google a term they don't understand!
Q. Along those lines, when you teach cooking classes, does what you see in class affect your understanding of how people actually read recipes?
Definitely! Teaching people live is the absolute best way to see how people read recipes. Some skip the ingredient list completely and miss prep notes that may be listed there, while others have to mise out the entire ingredient list before they read the instructions.
I always teach people the best way to make a recipe: read it from start to finish, gather all your ingredients and equipment, note what needs to be prepped first, and figure out if there are big chunks of free time in the recipe to do more prep.
Q. What are some of the most common recipe writing mistakes you see?
I edit literally hundreds of recipes a year! Here are a few mistakes I see a lot:
Giving timing for each step without a visual indicator. I care more about how you know when something is done (taste, smell, etc...) than the timing, which can be dependent on so many outside factors. (More on that later)
Vague ingredient lists. It's better to give too much description than not enough. Weights and counts are also important. Such as “1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes (about 4 medium).”
Not using standardized equipment. If you want to do a lot of recipe testing, it's key to have standard equipment like half-sheet pans, popular-sized baking dishes like a 9x13-inch pan, or large frying pans that are 12-inches wide. Cook's Illustrated is great at listing out what they consider standard equipment.
Not measuring. Use those measuring cups and spoons to measure things after they are prepped as well. Sometimes a lot is trimmed off an ingredient, so knowing the final prepped amount is useful.
Ingredients that aren't listed in the order used. Double-check this before finalizing your recipes!
Q. What do all well-written recipes have?
I love recipes that give weight and volume and hope we move more toward weights here in the US. Well-written recipes also give specific measurements, like what size to chop things, or what size dough should be rolled out to. Every recipe tester needs a ruler in their kitchen!
Most importantly, like I said before, you need to have really good visual indicators for each step in addition to how long it's supposed to take. Sometimes people see the timing as an absolute and don't realize that the visual indicator is much more important. Timing is dependent on a myriad of factors, like how hot your stove is or the size of pan you're using, so it isn't the most accurate measure of when something is ready. A good recipe has easy to understand visual indicators or common frames of reference (i.e. - form the dough into ping-pong ball sized balls, about 1 1/2-inches wide).
Q. While working on the recipes for the Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown cookbook, what was one of your favorite discoveries—either in flavor pairings or techniques (or both)?
Steaming is such an integral part of Chinese cooking! It's such a gentle way of cooking and preserving the inherent natural flavors of things like fish, or for infusing the flavor of lotus leaves into sticky rice. I used my steamer so much and really grew to appreciate it.
I also loved how much dried seafood was used. There are stores in Chinatown that only sell dried seafood, and for good reason: it's the basis of XO sauce, adds chewy briny texture to turnip cakes, gets fried to top candied spicy peanuts, and is the basis of a really good broth for hot and sour soup in the book. I'm always surprised how many places and delicious ways dried seafood can show up!
Q. What was one of the challenges in developing restaurant recipes for a cookbook?
Restaurant recipes are rarely codified—they live in cooks and chefs' heads and in little notebooks they scribble in that rarely include technique, just amounts. Chefs are also incredibly busy and focused on getting ready for service, so it's a bit of a challenge to ask them for recipes while trying to stay out of the way in a restaurant kitchen. I basically parked myself in the kitchen at Mister Jiu's with my laptop and continually asked questions until I had a complete recipe to work with. It was a lot of hands-on, on-site time that I didn't anticipate, and you have to be comfortable chasing down all the information you need so you can make the recipe at home and get the best results.
Q. What’s one tip from aspiring food writers and recipe developers that you wish someone had told you when starting out?
Don't be afraid to continually ask questions, just do it respectfully. I am on the shy side and was nervous to ask a lot of questions when I first started out, thinking it would make me appear ignorant. But I've found that the more questions you ask, the more you learn. Never assume you know everything about an ingredient or technique, I guarantee there's someone out there who knows even more! Oh, and do as much hands-on learning as you can. Food is tactile and just reading about it or watching a video isn't always enough.
Bottom line: Recipe writing requires attention to detail—don’t go just by time to explain when a step is done but rather by look, aroma, or anything else to indicate the cook is moving in the right direction. Also, keep a ruler in the kitchen so it’s always handy.
Thanks, Christine!
ICYMI at the beginning: Christine’s beautiful Instagram feed, her recent work at Kitchn and her website.
And for anyone who missed earlier posts, you may like:
Author interview with Daniel Shumski on how a cookbook author sells more than 400,000 copies, How to Write a Recipe Part I, and How to Write Engaging Headnotes. Also, visit the bog archives.