Are published recipes required to be tested?
Part of our Ultimate Guide to Recipe Testing. Click to see more answers to your questions.
Before the digital age, an author would be assigned an editor who would take real ownership in your book. Today, Lebovitz explains, “editors leave or suddenly get replaced, and the person who was so keen on your project – who you’ve been working with for months is up and gone…” Publishing houses are cutting editors to cut costs. Their work is being “farmed out to freelance editors, who are essentially copyeditors,” says Workman.
“They are not saying, ‘Does this recipe make sense? Do these ingredients make sense? Is this something someone could make at home?’”
There are a few who get lucky, as Amanda Hesser did when writing “The Essential New York Times Cookbook.” For one, most of the books’ recipes were previously tested at least once by the Times. She and her partner Merrill Stubbs tested every recipe several times again. Norton then hired a copyeditor who had worked on “The Joy of Cooking”, among other notable books. “Judith Sutton has such an incredible brain,” Hesser says. “She whipped the recipes, which were from all different time periods, into a consistent style, so that any cook could understand them.”
The current state of cookbook publishing is a “reflection of both the economy and of the semi-disposable times we live in,” says Workman. “Things are meant to give immediate gratification and then ‘break’. What’s unfortunate and short-sighted is that you cannot build brand loyalty this way. You won’t buy the second cookbook because the first one didn’t work for you.”
Child’s first book set her up for the rest of what was a very successful career. And that’s because she was meticulous. Her recipes worked because she took the time she needed to make them right. Not an easy feat.
